As usual inside the room of the couple, the faint traces of night battles could be seen in the form of scattered clothes. Natalie snuggled up to his chest and she was the first one to wake up.
Staring at the reliable man that slept beside her, she felt blessed that she met such a man that didn't care about her past. His puffed rosy cheeks that could make every woman feel envy, looked adorable to her as she poked.
Even if she was older than him for several years and even had a child. He displayed that he didn't care about such things and that he thoroughly loved her. How could she be dissatisfied, she wouldn't even mind it if Dan would find other wives other than her as long as she can stand by his side.
Natalie's incessant poking woke him up, and when Dan opened his eyes, the scene that greeted him was her sweetly smiling face that said, "Good morning," Dan revealed a satisfied smile, ruffling her head, Dan found her cute and loved to dote on her, even though she was much older than him.
As the saying goes at his previous life, Age is just a number, and jail is just a-
Wait, let's forget about that...
Dan shook his head and returned her gesture with a kiss on her forehead. These several days, both of them tirelessly engaged in activities between husband and wife, Dan felt quite guilty about his insatiable desire, yet Natalie just accepted it all and endured, he knew that she must be exhausted and he promised to himself that he won't do anything to her, at least, for the rest of the week.
Standing up, he deployed his lance adjustment technique and hid his morning wood from her sight. But Natalie who was familiar with him already knew that he would normally be energetic in the early phases of the day. Seeing his gesture of hiding his desire of her, she became confused and stared blankly at him.
"Is there something wrong?" She inquired and Dan revealed a wry smile before saying, "You must be quite tired, after all, we've been training early in the morning for several days already, and in the afternoon, we still have that Field Simulation Training that father said..." He pampered her by ruffling her hair and patting her back.
Natalie's expression indicated her satisfaction, but Dan's visage didn't really look satisfied at all, but still, he endured and was about to stand up before being stopped by Natalie who grabbed his wrist.
"Are you trying to endure?" She mumbled, her words contained meaning that both of them understood as her expression turned crimson.
Dan's figure froze, turning around. He stared at her with a guilty expression, "We just did it all night long, I can't just selfishly force you for my own satisfaction..."
Natalie's heart was moved, as a woman, how could she not want to hear these words coming from the man that she loved? These kind words akin to the whispers of the celestials pierced through her soul as her eyes teared up.
Dan who saw her reaction became even more somber, her clear eyes became wet in tears and Dan embraced her in response, "Don't cry, please don't cry, I hate it the most when the person that I love is crying before me..."
"No, you've got it wrong, I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying because I'm happy." All sorts of memories flooded her mind, including those tragic and joyful moments that she experienced in the past years, and it made her realize how thoroughly lucky she was that she met Dan, who accepted her without judging her by her past.
Her words echoed inside Dan's mind. But still, he maintained his embrace until her tears halted. Pushing him away, Natalie mumbled, "It's fine, I understand your urges, even though I'm tired, I'm pained to see you enduring because of my sake..."
"As your wife, I have the obligation to make sure that you're happy and satisfied, please don't take my role away from me..." By this time, she buried herself deep unto her chest and Dan couldn't take it anymore. His hormone driven body exploded as a storm manifested in the room, only calming down when Natalie pleaded to be spared.
At noon, the entire family went towards the Western Guard Camp, and as expected, Dan was respectfully greeted by the soldiers whom he fought with, side by side when retaking the Azure Hamlet.
"Vice-Commander! Why didn't you tell us that you will come here, today? We could've prepared a much better reception!" The men chimed and upon Zaramias' order, all of them gathered on the muddy training grounds.
Because the current climate of the Empire of Dawn leaned on the rainy days, the roads were sticky with mud and that includes the training grounds. The soldiers gathered under the cloudy skies without any voices of complaints.
"As you bastards know, today is the day that we will commence the Field Simulation Training, right?"
"Yes, sir!"
Zaramias nodded his head," And since I still haven't handed you guys a commander, I will take this opportunity to announce that my son, Dan Longinus will lead Squad A while Natalie here will lead Squad B." The letter that Zaramias showed the two yesterday wasn't actually sent to the Fiery Blood Army, after all, he had a much better plan to use.
The soldiers who didn't know the relationship between the young woman and Dan doubted their ears, 'Will the commander make us the lackeys of a woman?' They raised their eyebrows in suspicions.
In the Empire of Dawn, the status of women was innately lower than their male counterpart. Part of the reason was they believed that women should just stay in the kitchen and take care of the children, while the other reason was they didn't believe that a woman could possess a strength that could surpass men.
Granted, there were women that were powerful, however, there were also men that were more powerful than them. And paired with the lack of information about the woman's identity, they thought that the reason why the Commander included her in this Field Simulation Training was that the woman must've done something despicable for the Vice-Commander. After all, he was known to like beauties, it was easy to trap him in a honeytrap.
And any woman who managed to trap someone from such a prestigious clan would surely soar in status.
By this time, the soldiers thought of Natalie as a leech who relied on her beauty to deceive their Vice-Commander who looked green and young.
Dan stared with a long look at his father, and when the gazes of the two met in mid-air, they simultaneously nodded. When his father didn't announce Natalie's relationship with him, he already knew the reason why. And that was, to have the soldiers underestimate Natalie's ability.
And the end result should be something amusing that he looked forward to seeing...
However, it would only work if his wife could defeat him in a battle of wits.
Smiling to himself, he gathered the five men of his squad and so did Natalie whose expression transformed into a cold and domineering one.
Arriving at their assigned location, both husband and wife stared at each other, from now on, it will be a fierce battle of supremacy for both of them!