I don’t think this was the first day that I woke up with tits in my face. Nor do I intend for it to be the last. And since the breasts that I was snuggling on were large and pillowy, I can confidently say that it’s Minerva who I’m being snuggled by. 

Yawning lazily, I tilted my head slightly to observe my current position. Currently, Minerva was peacefully sleeping below me, her arms gently wrapped around my back and her silver hair spilling over the whole bed. 

Considering the position I was in, I would probably rouse Minerva if I tried to get out of bed. So with that in mind, I decided to just go back to sleep. Or that was the plan until Minerva started to wake up.

“Oh, you’re still here?” Minerva asked while blinking drowsily.

“Well I just woke up,” I informed her. “I was planning to go back to sleep to not bother you, but I think I can go for some morning training now that you’re awake.”

Pouting, Minerva pulled me tight against her. 

“It’s such a perfect time for cuddles though.”

As I considered my options, I could feel the warmth radiating from Minerva as well as the softness of her skin pressing against me. 

“Cuddles would be nice,” I hummed contently. “Especially if it’s with you.”

Minvera giggled happily as the two of us snuggled against each other. She even began to play with my hair a bit, planting a few light kisses on my head while smiling brightly.

“Hey, you want breakfast in bed later?” I asked while stroking her face lightly. 

“I’d love that,” she replied. “Oh and let’s take a bath together after that.”

“Dear, you really are getting bolder,” I remarked before giving her a peck on the lips. “And I love it.”

For almost two hours, Minerva and I nestled in bed together, hugging and kissing while gazing at each other with warm eyes. When it was finally time for breakfast, I tried slipping out of bed but found myself held back by Minerva clinging onto my waist. 

“Uhh, those eggs aren’t going to fry themselves you know?” I replied with a conciliatory smile. 

“Bend down a bit,” she requested with a gleeful gleam in her eyes. 

Like I expected, Minerva planted a chaste kiss on my lips before smiling happily.

“Alright I’ve had my fill for a little while. But I might ask for more during breakfast.”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” I said with a teasing grin before departing from the room. 

 Upon arriving in the kitchen, I saw Irene and Justin leisurely eating the breakfast that they had prepared, even pointing towards excess fresh produce from their meal, no doubt meant for the other people living here. 

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” I told them as I gathered the bread, eggs, and other goods that they had purchased from the market. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Justin brushed off. “You buy us food sometimes so we get you food sometimes. Frankly, I feel like we don’t do enough to repay your kindness.”

“You’re good tenants,” I told the two. “Never a bother and always helpful. So don’t stress out too much about repaying us.”

“Helpful?” Irene wondered. “I honestly don’t feel like we do much. Sure we accompany Sekh and Zeph on forays, but those two are formidable by themselves. And Minerva clearly does not need us to act as hired muscle. In fact, we have to go to her when we need to apply more pressure than usual.”

“I know,” I answered, causing the two to almost stagger in their confusion. “But have you considered how much easier things are with you two. Sekh said that her workload for cleaning has been lightened tremendously. Zeph doesn’t have to strain herself near as much as before when she goes out into the field since she has two more reliable people to watch her back. And Minerva told me that having you two around means that she doesn’t have to rely solely on Sekh when she needs to take a softer approach with people.”

“It’s really nothing,” both of them replied, though I just smiled in their direction.

Since things were already somewhat prepared for me, I could quickly finish making breakfast, which was just toasted bread, omelets, and a light salad with crumples of cheese. 

Right around the time that I was finishing up, I was approached by a sleepy looking Sekh, no doubt that she had just gotten out of bed. 

“Good morning sleepyhead,” I greeted her before the still yawning leopard girl went over to nuzzle her face against my torso. 

“Breakfast smells good,” she replied while her tail waved about with unusual vigor. 

“Oh, Minerva and I are having breakfast in bed today,” I added. 

Before I could elaborate, Sekh brushed her hand against my cheek and grinned. 

“Good. I uh… feel a bit bad having you all to myself for so long. So please give her some exclusive treatment.”

“I’ve already started,” I told the Sekh who gave an approving thumbs up in response. 

I really do consider myself to be lucky considering how understanding and gentle Minerva and Sekh are, particularly towards each other. Back in the Marches, bickering amongst the wives of a noble was just part of daily life. Though there were far too many instances where mothers would instigate small scale conflicts regarding the succession of half siblings. And even recently, Mikhail’s group wasn’t doing so well. While there was generally a sense of peace among the heroes, there was notable tension between the princess and the daughter of that general. Though I might be biased since Aethel would always complain to me and Florence about the matter since we were the only “sane people.”

When I got upstairs with the food, I found Minerva eagerly waiting, an outright silly grin plastered over her face. 

“Cute,” I remarked, making sure that it was loud enough for her to hear. 

“Uh, let’s be careful while we eat,” Minerva said while blushing slightly. “I don’t want to cause a problem for the person cleaning the sheets.”

“Good point,” I replied. “But I’m still feeding you.”

After getting onto the bed, I gently slid a piece of bread towards Minerva’s mouth, which she bit down on with an adorable bob of her head. But as I was enjoying my bliss, I suddenly felt a piece of toast thrust towards my mouth, Minerva smiling gleefully as she pressed it against my lips. 

Obliging, I opened my mouth and bit down on the slab of crunchy bread, the fragrant aroma of butter spreading through my mouth as I chewed. As I was eating, Minerva continued to grin giddily, even patting my head a few times. 

“I thought you didn’t like doing this?” I asked her. 

She paused for a moment, pursing her lips to consider the question. 

“Well I guess it’s still embarrassing in public. But I’m really enjoying it when we’re just together.”

“I have a feeling that you and Sekh are developing a fetish for doting on me,” I commented, prompting Minerva to nod. 

“Isn’t that only natural?” she responded. “And besides, you seem to enjoy it.”

Furrowing my eyebrows, I leaned over towards Minerva and gently poked her on the cheek. 

“Why would I not?”

“I’ll have to tell Sekh about that,” she giggled.

“She already knows,” I informed her before pushing a forkful of eggs towards her lips. 

For the rest of the morning, Minerva and I spent our time leisurely with one another. Once we finished eating breakfast, we went down to clean the dishes for a bit before going over to the library to read together. 

After lunch, the two of us decided to go horseback riding with each other, particularly because Sekh and Zeph were going out fishing together.

The two of us led our horses out of the city gates towards a flat field, pleasantly chatting as we walked along the way. Once we arrived at the field, the two of us mounted our horses and began to slowly ride around the outskirts of the city. 

“Hey Azel, you want to race?” Minerva suggested out of the blue.

“I wouldn’t mind,” I answered. “I assume that you plan to put up a fight?”

“Of course,” she replied with a bold smile. “In fact, I intend to win.”

Sometimes it really is refreshing to see Minerva be all confident. Because in spite of how cute she can be, it’s genuinely admirable when she’s in her element. But unfortunately for her, that meant that I had no reason to go easy on her. 

The race was fairly simple: just one complete lap around the walls of Damask. But the real challenge was maneuvering around the muddy terrain and waterways. 

And although Minerva was certainly a good rider, I was just better. So before long, I was able to make headway by taking the fastest paths through the wetlands. Still, I made sure to stay close enough to Minerva that I could rush to her aid in case her horse had trouble with the wet terrain. Or it might have been better to say that I couldn’t really pull that far ahead of her in the first place

“That was fun,” Minerva laughed when she arrived at the makeshift finishing line. “Though I definitely got cocky today.”

“Well you would have won against most people,” I replied, prompting Minerva to playfully poke my cheek.

“But I did challenge someone much better than most people,” she pointed out. “So that’s why I consider it to be cocky.”

“Fair enough,” I said while shrugging. “Though you definitely have a reason to be cocky. You’re certainly skilled as well. I assume you rode a lot back home.”

“Of course,” she replied. “Even if Tyros is a port city, we still maintain similar traditions to the people around us.”

“Or maybe because it’s harder to rear large herds of horses in Tyros that it became a way for the nobility to display their wealth?” I suggested. 

“Well that’s the case for a lot of places,” Minerva added. “So you're probably right.”

“Actually, I’m curious to know if there’s a place where horses aren’t a sign of power for the nobility,” I reconsidered. “Because I know that even orcs prize their overly muscled ponies.”

“I guess the Marches and Fars are the places where horses are the most common,” Minerva continued. “But I don’t think that there’s enough for them to not be perceived as an item of value.”

“It’s better to say that we consider them our most reliable partners,” I explained while stroking my horse’s mane. “Though I would say that the majority of horses, even workhorses, are owned by nobles.”

“So I guess the main difference between the Marches and Tyros is just the sheer amount of horses, not the distribution among people?” Minerva suggested. 

“Pretty much, but the more horses available means that the common folk have more workhorses for their fields and there are even regiments of cavalry formed purely from freeholders,” I answered. “Anyways, how did we get this deep into horses again?”

“Who knows?” Minerva said gleefully. “But it was pretty interesting right?”

“Of course,” I replied. 

The two of us continued making smalltalk and enjoying the outdoors. It was on our way back that we met Sekh and Zeph carrying their catch for the day, a number of medium sized river fishes as well as some small crustaceans.

 But the real treat that night was being able to sleep with both Minerva and Sekh. Granted we didn’t do anything beyond cuddling, but that was more than enough to warm my heart. Though it was certainly difficult to get out of bed when I woke up in the very tight embrace of not just one but two cute girls. Truly a wonderful way to start off my day. 

With an already good start to my day, I proceeded to energetically plough through the tasks of the day, eager to return home to the warm embrace of the two. 

It was during the afternoon that a messenger came into my office bearing a letter with the seal of the emperor. Most likely he had finally selected a suitable candidate to serve as the permanent Doux of Damask. And that meant that I would be able to step down once they arrive. 

Taking the letter from the messenger, I carefully opened the envelope with a knife and took out the letter to read. But upon finishing through the contents of the letter, I blinked twice before checking once more to ensure that I had read it correctly. 

“Well I should've expected this,” I sighed mentally. 

Instead of finding another candidate, the emperor decided to make my position permanent. And while I was actually quite fond of the responsibilities I held as temporary serving Doux, a permanent position meant that I would be pulled into far more politicking than I had the stomach for. Regardless, I think it would be best to consult the others on this matter. 

I continued with work for the rest of the day, pondering the issue of my promotion as I went about.

Since I wanted to discuss the matter with those intimate with me first, I decided to wait till after dinner to bring up the topic with Minerva and Sekh. 

“So this is why you were so worried today,” Sekh remarked

“I don’t think I looked that bad,” I remarked, prompting Sekh to tap me on the nose. 

“I can tell with these sorts of things,” she answered. “So Azel, what do you want to do with the promotion?”

“Well I’m not too sure about that,” I replied. “I actually enjoy serving as the Doux so far. But I think that getting a permanent promotion might complicate things since I’ll be more involved in politics.”

“I can help you with the political matters,” Minerva offered. “My family has plenty of influence and I have a lot of training for dealing with such things.”

“Sorry I can’t help out much,” Sekh added. “But I’ll try to do whatever I can to help. So just let me know if you ever need anything.”

“Thanks, it’s really nice to hear that you’ll both support me,” I sighed. “Sorry for just wanting to hear the verbal confirmation though.”

In response, I ended up getting hugged by both of them, Minerva even patting my head while Sekh struggled to reach that high. 

“I’ll be honest though,” I said after a bit of silence. “I genuinely want to be able to continue leading here. So unless the emperor has absurd conditions, I plan to become Doux of this region.”

“So we’ll be going to the capital then,” Minerva remarked. “How big of a retinue are you planning to bring?”

“Well I thought about just going with you two and Zeph,” I started, earning flat stares from the two girls. “But it would only be reasonable to travel with at least a dozen more people. Though I’m fairly certain that the emperor will send an escort to meet us once we get near Megara so we can send them home at that point.”

“Speaking of which, we’ll get to meet the other heroes right?” Sekh wondered.  

“That’s right,” Minerva added. “But we don’t have to stay too long if you’re uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine,” I told them. “I’ve actually been wanting to meet my friends for a while. Though I think some of Mikhail’s wives might still hold a grudge against me.”

“As long as they aren’t unreasonable about it then we should be fine,” Sekh asserted. 

“That’s…possible,” I said while rubbing the back of my head. “But I definitely want to go on a few dates with you two in the capital. So let’s be sure to make some good memories.”

“Of course, but let’s still remember that we’re going because of your appointment,” Minerva gently reminded me.