*Huff*Huff*

Raymond breathed out a little erratically. His chest hummed up and down as he took his seat on the lush ground beside Rose.

“Hah!”

“Your stamina is still well below average.”

“Hmmm…” Raymond agreed with his redheaded cousin’s assessment.  He calmed his breathing as he gazed at the gradually thawing ice caps. The distant pine trees had a green shade to them which looked incredibly beautiful in the setting sun rays. The tall trees still had flakes of snow on their leaves. The vegetation was starting to peek out from its winter slumber.

The valley ahead carried a stark difference from the forests of Gelodesh. Raymond marveled at the natural beauty of Beltran as he rubbed his hand over the hard, slightly moist ground and felt the softness of the grass. To be able to drink in the natural scenery in the company of a world-class beauty he would be thanking his good fortune, if not for the sourness from his one-sided defeat in their sparring session.

“Well, you were a little better than the previous times, so it’s not all bad…” Rose said in a consoling tone when Raymond looked a little down.

“Yeah? You think so?” There was a thin smile on his face, happy to hear that there was progress for his hard work.

“Sure.”

“Hmmm… good!”

Raymond brought his sword a little close to examine its sharp edge. Tracing the cold metal between his fingers, he exclaimed inwardly at the fine craftsmanship. He loved his sword, a precious gift from his cousin sitting beside him.

He replayed his moves from their spar a few minutes ago, trying to make out where he was going wrong. And the conclusion he reached, the same as every other time, that he, his body was still far off from comparing to Rose’s. His skills were good, he could predict and understand her attack pattern, however, his body couldn’t keep up with her speed and power.

‘Still too weak…’

It had been more than a couple of weeks since Rose arrived in Beltran. They had a little time to prepare before the allied forces moved against Tristinia, thus commenced the extra hard difficulty level crash course on how to properly utilize his newfound awakened power. Rose was a little surprised at first due to the nature of his recovery. It was a swift and complete recovery after his mana channels were damaged due to overzealousness.

Raymond remembered how he haughtily asked her not to hold back against him and how then he proceeded to bite the dust every damn time. Rose was special in the sense that she didn’t have to put much effort to train, her naturally violent manner and her affinity with fire element had propelled her to unimaginable height in Raymond’s narrow view.

The slightly cold but comforting breeze against his skin somewhat pacified his angst and the memory of his recent injury, the bedridden condition due to it, did the trick to console him of the importance of patience. He couldn’t become strong overnight; it was a gradual process one where he would have to put in the hard yards.

“I wonder what Mom is doing right now…”

“Huh?”

Rose turned to face him and spoke in a low tone, “I’m a little worried about how the discussions are going…”

Raymond’s mind was blank for a few seconds before he caught on to his cousin’s worries. Suzanne had left to discuss the terms of the cooperation with the Tibals. The upcoming joint military expedition against Tristinia was to be the first one for the combined forces of the Northern Forest Alliance and the giant that was the Tibal Alliance.

“She should be fine,” Raymond muttered, his tone unconcerned. “It’s Aunt Suzy after all!”

Rose shook her head a little concernedly. “And? So what? It’s not just about her, her personal power or capabilities, there’s more to it.”

Raymond seemed to be taking in her words before he waved his hand dismissively. “Nah! She would be alright; after all, she was chosen as the representative for a reason. She is the most suitable candidate for it in all of our three kingdoms.” By the end of his sentence, Raymond was quite convinced and it showed in his tone and expression.

“Hope so…”

His thoughts inevitably turned towards his aunt and that wonderfully salacious night. As it happened though, Suzanne had been long gone before he woke up the next morning. She had left him a touchy letter and apologized for her abrupt exit. She had also asked him in the letter to take care of the lovely Ingrid.

Raymond had been a little taken aback after his mind cleared up of the groggy memories. He was a little lost and a lot overwhelmed. Most of it all though he was upset that his Aunt Suzy had left before meeting him, however, he understood the grave importance of her departure and just sighed in helplessness.

When Raymond had later met Ingrid, all his memories came rushing back to him and it made him blush a little. He didn’t quite know how to behave around Ingrid after their tryst. Quite obviously there wasn’t a repeat of that night’s event. Maybe because the glue between them, Suzanne, was absent or maybe because of something else but both of them never seem to be comfortable around the other, blushing and behaving like two teenagers in love.

He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts about Ingrid as he felt himself getting aroused by the lustful memories.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Raymond said a little loudly, ashamed of the dirty direction of his thoughts.

“You wanna go again?”

“Huh?” Raymond took a second before he understood Rose’s intention. He, too, wanted to get in one last session before the sun went completely down. “Oh, wait… before that… let me ask you something first…”

“I’m listening,” Rose responded with her gaze fixed ahead on the distant, tall, trees.

“You know, this would be my first time… on an expedition… and I’ve never really… you know, killed anyone…”

“What’s there to think about it?” Rose flicked her stray, long lock of red hair behind her as she continued, “You just treat them as pieces of meat… they are just enemies, nothing more and nothing less… don’t dwell on it too much.”

Raymond was shocked by her cavalier attitude towards the life of a fellow human. Especially how she asked him to treat them as pieces of meat. He couldn’t believe she held such disdain towards her enemies. However, before he could ask her about it, Rose said something else which caught his attention.

“I just mean that everyone has a different way to deal with it. Don’t make it a bigger deal than it is. There’s always the first time.” The battlefield will get chaotic so make sure and keep close to Ingrid at all times! And-” Rose took a deep breath as she turned towards him. Her expression was serious and she concluded in a grave tone. “During the fight, stay away from me!”

Raymond blinked his eyes, taking in the meaning of her words. She had said a lot of things in those few sentences, but most pressing for him was to ask about the last bit. “Why? Why should I stay away from you?”

“I’m serious!” Rose glared, her tone allowing for no further question on the matter. “You will know later. So don’t ask me now…”

Raymond stared into her eyes and studied her face. She was beautiful, as always. There was a sharpness to her features that he had never found in anyone else. Her red hair was blowing in the mild breeze, and the leisurely way she was sitting on with her knees bent made him shudder in awe. Her tight pants were an ode to her figure and her white shirt didn’t do justice to her fit figure. The blue mantle hanging to her back added a regality to her look, it suited her.

He extended his hand and took the mantle between his fingers. Feeling the soft touch of the velvety cloth, his vision was taken by its blue color. He got reminded of an azure haired beauty as he kept staring at it.

‘Miranda…’

It was a bittersweet feeling. The thought of her was always enough to bring a smile on his face, at the same time though, it told him of the wide chasm between their abilities. He was still ways away from catching up to her, to be able to look in her eyes with pride.

“Say,” Raymond began, his thoughts now completely dominated by his azure haired cousin and his cute but silent sister. “Have you ever felt like… that… you… maybe are in love with two people at the same time?”

“What?!” Rose spurted as she eyed him suspiciously.

“Come on, it must have happened to you!”

“Haha… is little ray ray in love? Hahah…” Rose laughed uproariously and slapped his back. She kept shaking her head as if in disbelief.

“Yeah-yeah-yeah very funny. Now, can you answer my question?”

Rose smiled mischievously. “I’ve never been in love with two people at once but I’ve been with two people at once, if you know what I mean…” She ended her sentence with a smirk.

“What?!” It was now Raymond’s turn to be shocked. He couldn’t swallow that she would say something like that. He stared at her with his eyes wide open and his mouth hung agape.

Rose laughed heartily at his shell-shocked reaction. It wasn’t in their habit to share each other’s sexual conquests. In fact, Raymond downright despised to hear about her countless sexual exploits, so much so that he would leave the room in a hurry whenever she seemed to be about to brag about her latest encounter.

She seemed happy to have caught him off-guard with her comment. After laughing for a while more, she went silent as she gazed at the valleys ahead. With a contemplative look on her face, she muttered, “I don’t think I have ever had that problem, to be honest.”

“Oh…”

“To tell you the truth,” Rose continued in the same vein without paying attention to him, “I don’t think I have ever been in love. Yeah… I am sure I have never actually loved someone like that…” She turned to him and smiled.

“Are you for real?”

“Uh huh.”

“Why, though?”

“Hmmm…” Rose took her time before she continued, “I don’t know, never found anyone worthy, I suppose, not powerful enough…”

Raymond sighed at her response. He felt a little sad for his cousin. He always thought that she was a muscle head who didn’t value herself or her relationships, in actual case the truth was something else entirely.

“And as for your “problem”, it’s not a problem at all!”

“What does that mean?” Raymond asked sharply.

“Yeah, if you love two people or three people or whatever there’s no problem. Go with what your heart says… and if you aren’t able to decide between them… just have them both… if you can’t do it, that just means you are not strong enough…”

“Strong enough?” Raymond murmured, deep in thought.

“Yeah… now, come on, if you want to get in one last session for today, there is not much time left before dark!”