Chapter 284 - The Lecherous Prince

Lucia and Serilla were enlisted as mercenaries at the start, but after finding out that the two were her sisters-in-law, Fatima had assigned them to be part of her unit which was under Rowan's army division.

After about half a day's meeting and strategizing, the First Prince decided to split the army into two. There were 10 divisions in the Regulus Army in all and each division consisted of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers.

3 of those divisions will be sent back to support the border army currently defending against the ongoing siege from the Merkruz forces while the rest would be marching to meet the main army of Merkruz Principality.

Karen was in charge of this support army and when she donned her battle armor, she now looked the part of a commander and warrior. Lucia was impressed since, during their trip, all she knew about Karen was that she acted like a spoilt little princess.

Inside a tent, Fatima was currently debriefing Lucia about the arrangements that she had made for the Wanderers.

"So, we'll be heading out to the main battlefield?" Lucia asked.

"Yes, since your mercenary company hasn't been formally registered as part of the mercenary division, I took the liberty to assign you to my unit instead," Fatima answered as she revealed the arrangements she had prepared for them.

"Alright, anything works with us. We'll just follow your commands later, Captain~"

"As long as you both have no complaints," Fatima replied before handing out 4 emblems to Lucia. "Place them somewhere on your equipment and place one on your wagon. It'll identify your group as part of our army."

"Okay~ I'll go let Seri know about the arrangements."

"Lucia, before you go..."

"Hm? Is there something else?"

"...I know that both of you are powerful, but later in the battle...don't display too much of your strength."

Lucia looked at her puzzled, "Why?"

"Although Rowan already knows and accepts that you're my sister-in-law, the royalty of Regulus...could sometimes be forceful about things."

"Hm?"

"If you and Serilla both show your abilities later, they might try to forcefully recruit you into the army or try to tie you down with them..."

"...Is that how you were dragged into the battlefield despite not officially becoming a part of the Regulus Royal Family?" Lucia asked with a frown.

"A little bit...it was also because I just couldn't sit around and decided to be a busybody."

"Hmph, well, you won't have anything to worry about, big sis-in-law," Lucia replied with a carefree smile. "If they try to do something, they should be the ones worrying about the consequences, so just use us as you see fit, we'll follow your orders only."

Fatima smiled at her response. In truth, she was somewhat forcefully put into the position of the kingdom's strategist because she had advised Rowan offhandedly one time and the results of the battle had turned in their favor.

Although Rowan did try to be discreet in asking for her strategies and advice, Prince Armano had somehow found out and had informed First Prince Albert and the King about Fatima's strategies and contributions to the war effort.

From then on, she was 'asked' to go to the frontlines and direct the battle. Formally, she was 'asked', but her men had found out that the king had begun snooping around for information about her family members and Cecil.

When she heard that even the king was now looking for info about her lost brother, Fatima knew that something was up. Rowan had even informed her of the king's actions and the fact that he had an ulterior motive behind looking for her missing brother's whereabouts.

On the surface, the king wanted to repay Fatima by adding in extra manpower for the search, but in fact, the king wanted to search for Cecil and hopefully find him before she does. This way, the king would be able to play the 'family' card if Fatima one day refused to head out into the battlefield.

They didn't know how long the war would last, but by employing all of their information networks in the nearby surrounding powers, the king believed that his chances of finding Cecil were much higher than Fatima's who was only looking into the Merkruz Principality and the surrounding neutral territories.

Of course, nothing came up even after a full year of searching, and now that Fatima had a concrete lead that her brother was still alive and nearby, she no longer worried about the king's schemes.

She was still anxious to meet her brother, but right now, Fatima needed to find a way to extricate herself from the war. They were employing her help for free and now that they were winning, the kingdom had demanded Fatima to lead their armies into the Merkruz Principality so that they could thoroughly wipe them out.

This was something Fatima didn't want. Defending her fiancé's land was good and all, but aiding the kingdom to invade and conquer another power? There were no benefits to that for Fatima.

******

When Lucia was heading back towards the Wanderer, she happened to pass by the Second Prince. Armano had placed some of his men to watch the wagon and when Lucia had come out, one of them had come to inform him. Ever since then, he had been waiting for the girl to come out of Fatima's tent.

Now that Lucia was out, Armano naturally walked up to her and began trying to flirt with her.

"Hello, pretty lady~" Armano said amorously as he strode up to Lucia.

Lucia gave him an indifferent glance before walking past him. She already knew who this person was. It wasn't like she and Serilla didn't take notice of the people who were constantly watching their wagon.

It didn't matter to her whether this person was royalty or not, even if she was under the influence of the M-Jammer and couldn't use her mana, she'd still send him flying if he kept on pestering her.

"Ohohoho~ the cold treatment right from the start, you're just like Fatima," The Prince laughed as he caught up to Lucia who had left him behind. "I am Armano Regulus, Second Prince of the Regulus Kingdom."

Lucia didn't respond to his introduction and just continued walking away. Armano only chuckled at her behavior.

"May I at least have the honor of knowing your name?"

"..."

Lucia remained silent. No matter what the Prince said, she didn't give any response and soon enough, they arrived at the wagon.

Quinn was outside, feeding Sleipnir. When he saw Lucia walk over with a bug buzzing around her, he immediately frowned.

"Milady, as you know, I'm part of this Kingdom's royalty. It would be an offense if you continued ignoring me," Armano warned.

Even with the 'warning', Lucia continued ignoring him and was about to walk into the wagon. Armano was about to grab onto Lucia's arm, but Quinn immediately flashed next to him and blocked his way forward.

Armano frowned when he saw this man blocking him. "Who the hell are you?"

"I am this family's butler. Please sir, it would be in your best interest if you leave our family's madam alone," Quinn responded in a flat tone.

"Heh, and it would be in your best interest if you moved out of the way. No one blocks royalty!" Armano scoffed in reply.

Quinn only smiled at him and replied, "And no royalty would go around harassing a married young lady."

"A good dog doesn't block the road, now move out of the way, peasant!" Armano demanded loudly.

Lucia was just about to open the wagon's door, but immediately froze in place when she heard Armano insult Quinn. She was just about to turn around and put the prince in his place, but the door immediately opened.

"Quinn, that's enough. Lulu, stand down," Serilla ordered as she walked out. Seeing the newcomer, Armano's eyes widened and he couldn't help but cast a l.u.s.tful gaze at Serilla's body. She was wearing her casual clothes so her s.e.xy body was in perfect display.

Quinn's eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw the lecherous look the Prince was casting at his Madam. Just as he was going to stab those disgusting eyes with his fingers, Serilla gripped his shoulder and said, "That's enough. He's still this kingdom's prince."

"...Yes Madam," Quinn responded respectfully, but with clear reluctance in his tone.

"...Madam?" Armano questioned.

Serilla ignored his questioning look and greeted him. "How do you do, Your Highness."

Bowed and signaled Lucia to head into the wagon. Lucia furrowed her brows, but upon seeing the meaningful look Serilla was giving her, she relented and walked straight into the wagon and closed the door.

Quinn remained outside and took a few steps back to stand respectfully behind Serilla. Lucia was still by the door and eyeing the Prince dangerously. If he so much as placed a hand on Serilla, she'd immediately rush out and cut it off.

Serilla was already used to dealing with nobles and royalty. She knew her way around these things. She knew that her sister and husband weren't particularly good at handling these kinds of troublesome characters, so it was always up to her to deal with them.

If she let Lucia deal with the Prince, the only outcome would be the scene of the prince flying through the air and a large group of soldiers surrounding them due to her reckless actions. If Cecil was still here, Serilla wouldn't have cared about this outcome because from just one look already, the Second Prince's character was one that she hated. Also, Lucia was still unable to use her mana, so with the way things were right now, she couldn't allow her sister to run amok.

It wasn't possible for Lucia, Quinn, and her to face off against a multitude of soldiers without mana, they'd exhaust themselves very quickly. Serilla herself wasn't affected, but she'd have to divide some of her attention into protecting her family members if they got into a brawl.

"Ah, another beautiful woman, I am Armano Regulus, Second Prince of the Regulus Kingdom. May I have the honor of knowing your name?" Armano asked.

"My name is Serilla Silvaria," Serilla responded.

"Silvaria?"

"Yes, Silvaria."

"Are you Fatima's sister?"

"I am her sister-in-law," Serilla confirmed.

"So you are married then?"

"Yes, I am indeed married, Your Highness."

"Ahahaha~ is that so, well it matters not! May I take you out for a drink, milady?" Armano asked with a smile.

"Your Highness, I think that would inappropriate."

"Why? Is it because you are married?"

"We are currently in the middle of battle preparations," Serilla immediately replied as she gestured to her surroundings.

All the soldiers were currently packing away their tents, checking their equipment, readying the horses, carts, and wagons. Everyone was preparing to march and so it was hardly the time to go and have a 'drink'.

The 3 divisions who were sent to back up the border army had already finished their preparations and under Karen's lead had already begun marching back towards Regulus' border.

"..." The Prince eyed the busy surroundings and couldn't help but shake his head in regret.

"Well, this is such bad timing. Let us postpone this date, yes?"

"Aha, you jest, Your Highness," Serilla responded calmly.

"Oh no, I do not jest. Please accept, it is just a harmless drink. I'd like to...get to know you better. You are after all my brother's future sister-in-law."

Serilla only smiled and didn't respond. Armano smiled back and asked, "I haven't seen your husband. May I at least greet him before heading into battle?"

"My husband isn't present with us, he's out on a mission and he'll be joining back with us soon."

"Oh, so your husband isn't here, yes? What a shame! To think he left his beautiful wife behind, how foolish." Both Quinn and Serilla felt like they popped a nerve.

'How dare this bug insult darling!'

'How dare this bug insult, my Master!'

The two thought in unison.

"Then before he comes back, I'd like to share a drink with you," Armano eyed Serilla meaningfully, his gaze still lecherous as he eyed Serilla's body up and down.

Serilla felt disgusted being stared at by this disgusting bug in human form. She immediately opened her mouth and rejected the man's invitation.

"I apologize, Your Highness, but I don't think I'm in a situation where I can just move about freely, I'm only a mercenary, after all."

"Then I shall allow—"

"Seri, we're tasked with protecting and escorting Lady Fatima. We're assigned to her unit so we have to move now." Lucia said as she got down from the wagon. "Quinn, prepare Sleipnir. We'll move to join Lady Fatima right now."

Armano was a little upset when he was rudely interrupted. However, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he heard Lucia's words.

"As you can see, Your Highness, I'm not in the position to be roaming about. Orders are orders and our mercenary company has to quickly regroup with our unit, I'm afraid I cannot accept your invitation—"

'—and obviously, I can't and won't go because I'm married you asshole! If darling was here, he'd gouge your eyes out for staring at me so dirtily!' Serilla added in her mind furiously.

Armano was just about to continue saying something to try and coerce Serilla into accepting his offer, but he stopped when he saw Fatima striding over to them from the distance with a frigid look on her face.

One of her subordinates had reported back to her that Armano was pestering her two sisters-in-law and she immediately went to pick them up. Fatima didn't think that Armano would move so quickly, but now the only thing to do was minimize the bastard's contacts with her brother's two wives.

"Ah, Fatima, you are here~"

"Yes...I've come to fetch my two sisters-in-law. Are you both ready to set off?"

Lucia and Serilla both nodded in confirmation.

"Good, we should go then. Prince Armano, I believe that the Supreme Commander has requested your presence. The march is about to begin."

"Alright then, this prince shall be going then, and Serilla—"

"Serilla, Lucia, let's go," Fatima quickly cut him off and pulled Lucia and Serilla with her.

Quinn immediately jumped onto the wagon and began following after the 3 girls slowly. They left behind the Second Prince who was now awkwardly just standing there.

Armano only chuckled and licked his lips, "If the soft approach doesn't work, then shall I go with the hard approach?"

He curled his lips wickedly and turned around. Unlike with Fatima, who was his brother's fiancée, these two girls were only married to Fatima's brother. He had already received a report that Fatima's 3 brothers were all unmarried, so Armano assumed that it was a lie that those 2 girls were married to anyone.

As for the missing younger brother, Armano hadn't received any reports of this elusive one's whereabouts so it was obvious that he was still 'missing'. Armano didn't even consider the missing one to have returned because if he had, then there was bound to be at least one of his subordinates reporting to him about it already.

Armano could only assume that these two were just women under Fatima's protection so he wouldn't mind forcefully taking them away from Fatima. The woman still needed the kingdom's help in finding her brother, so she wouldn't fall out with them over two random servant girls.

"Gildart, I have two women that I want... please prepare 'that'."

It seemed as if Armano was only talking to himself, but a reply was heard from out of nowhere.

"Yes, Your Highness."

When he heard the reply, Armano only lifted the corner of his mouth. He couldn't wait until the time he'd be able to have a taste of those two delectable fruits.