In a dim lit room with moonlight shining through the window, a man and a woman could be seen lying on the bed. The man who was shirtless slowly repositioned himself to the backboard of the bed before looking at the woman with a not so cold gaze that wasn't noticeable with his serious looking face.
As he looked at the woman who had her face buried into a pillow, he brushed his hand over her hair and gave a slight smile for a moment before his face reverted back to a stern one as he said.
"So I heard Kurao decided to enter the treasury today."
The woman who still had her face planted in the pillow, dug it in further upon hearing his question. The man didn't mind that she didn't respond as he continued.
"What did he pick from the treasury?"
The woman picked her head up from the pillow before looking at the man with her enchanting light brown eyes, and then let out a short sigh.
"He choose one of the books like the ones on the shelf over there." She said flipping over and pointing at a bookcase at the corner of the room.
While getting up from the bed she continued.
"I didn't even know there was a book like that in there. It was a lot bigger then what you have racked on the shelf, but it looked like it had more pictures then all those stupid looking rows of text in there then ones on the bookshelf. It does make me a bit sad that he choose that over anything in that room, I even saw that he picked out a few other things while he was contemplating on what to choose, but what's done is done."
The woman then rested her back against the backboard with her shoulders touching the man, as she looked at the man who was staring intently at the bookshelf.
Seeing that he wasn't changing gaze from the bookcase after a few moments she changes her position and puts her hands on the mans shoulders while looking him straight in the eyes.
The usual aloof light blue eyes she was used to seeing were shining with a bit of radiance while looking at the bookcase. Giving the man a little nudge the man's eyes lose their the radiance they held before as he stopped staring at the bookcase.
"Are you okay?" The woman asked, concerned over his unusual staring behavior.
"I am fine." He responded then gave a glance to bookcase before looking back at the woman.
"Did the book he pick have a black cover?"
"Yeah it was a big book that had a black cover, do you know what the book is about?" She nudged his shoulders lightly as she gazed at the man.
"I don't remember what its about." He said with a stern voice, but there was a hint of melancholy in it.
"What do you mean you don't remember what it's about?"
"I was just curious on what he choose. You can let the boy keep the book." Ignoring the question he deciding to switch topics as he asked.
"What do you think of the decision I made to engage him to the first princess of Vaefir?"
She looked at him questioningly for a moment before lying back on the backboard of the bed and gave a reply.
"I think inviting a rival empire's blood to become part of the family and making alliance with them is a bit pointless. But knowing you, there is probably a reason to why you made this alliance then to just conquer them like you usually do."
"The main reason was to get a constant supply of Blessed Spirit Water. You know how valuable it is, and the reason I didn't conquer them is the fact of not knowing where their guardian spirit is. It would be a foolish decision to attack on three fronts with our current forces."
Vayla stared at him and scoffed.
"Why did you even take a small risk of inviting our enemies to the family for a few liters of Blessed Spirit Water? It's not like we need to ally ourselves with them, since Xetal Empire already has a puppet in place, and Bryhorn Kingdom will soon come under are control within the next few years. It's not like we cant fight them then."
Crossing her arms she tapped her arm with her hands impatiently, awaiting an answer from the man with an annoyed look.
"It wasn't just a 'few liters' it was a way into getting access to the Spirit Lake. All our operatives don't hold a high enough position in Vaefir to get ahold of this regularly, since they also have high security on the lake as well. So if this deal makes it possible to get access to such a resource. Plus if we are allies we can search more for their guardian, so I don't think the very minor 'risk' outweighs the benefit."
She stop debating the topic after hearing why he accepted the engagement though still with much annoyance.
She was still wondering why he was willing to ally with such a empire they have been at odds with for a while, but understood as after hearing the prospects of getting access to the Spirit Lake was definitely a big deal.
She was well aware of how precious the resource was and how expensive it was to obtain, since the Vaefir Empire had
a full monopoly on it. The man slightly amused by her sour look, scoffed as he said.
"Plus I don't think Kurao will mind getting a wife that will probably be a looker, if she inherited the looks from her mother, so I don't think he is losing out with this deal."
The woman nodded her head agreeing with what he was saying as a teasing smile graces her face.
"I thought you dropped this attitude a long time ago? What makes you so chatty now?"
The man just looked at her dubiously as she pinched his thigh and continued to tease the man.