A Righteous Female Knight Never Compromises!-Chapter 29 : Anna Broke Defence
{Chapter 29} Anna Broke Defence
"Anna? Anna?"
When Helga woke up this morning, she could tell something was off about Anna.
Though she didn't seem as sleep-deprived as yesterday, her vacant expression was eerily similar to someone who hadn't slept well.
"Atala? Do you know what's going on?" Sensing Anna's unusual state and getting no response, Helga turned to Atala sitting nearby.
"I don't know either..." Atala shook her head, her eyes filled with equal parts confusion and concern.
Anna moved mechanically like a robot, finishing her bread before slowly leaving the dining hall.
"...Child, did you make Anna angry?" Helga's parents had been observing everything. Her mother's tone turned stern, "If you drive Anna away, I'll dig a hole and throw you in it."
"Who's your real daughter here?!" Helga retorted at her mother's "justice before family" attitude, though her worry only deepened.
"Stop looking like that. Go after her if you're going."
Darlak spoke up seeing Helga's expression.
"...I'll go then."
Uncharacteristically composed, Helga simply said this before immediately chasing after Anna.
Left behind, Atala seemed to lose her appetite too. After forcing down some breakfast, she silently left the dining hall as well.
Watching the two depart one after another, Helga's mother sighed:
"That Anna girl really is quite lovable, isn't she?"
......
"Anna! Anna!!!"
Seeing Anna still wandering in a daze, Helga hurried to catch up.
But no matter how she called, Anna seemed completely deaf to her voice.
In desperation, Helga embraced Anna from behind. Only feeling the warmth against her back did Anna finally stop walking.
"What's wrong with you? Why have you been like this since morning?"
Only when Anna showed signs of responding did Helga speak.
"...Helga."
Finally recognizing who was holding her, Anna spoke.
"Let me... recover a little."
"Anna, tell me first, what's really the matter?"
"...Consider it that I had a nightmare I never wanted to dream."
That ending was the worst nightmare Anna could imagine now.
Her greatest fear wasn't just having a longer lifespan than her beloved, she could at least accompany them through their shared remaining years.
But being separated for decades right after confessing, only to meet again across the boundary of life and death...
"If it's just a nightmare, forget about it, okay?"
Helga chose to believe Anna, or rather, wanted to believe her. She turned Anna around to face her.
"I don't remember you being someone who'd get so shaken by just a bad dream."
"...Helga, hold me."
Ignoring Helga's encouragement, Anna instead gazed up with vulnerable, animal-like eyes.
"Please... hold me tighter..."
"Okay."
This time it wasn't just an embrace. What followed was the moist touch of lips against skin.
Anna melted into Helga's arms as Helga gently kissed her forehead, treasuring her like fragile porcelain.
Even nestled in Helga's warmth, Anna still trembled like a freezing little animal.
"Helga... please... hold me more."
"I want more and more of your love... and Louise's too..."
"Don't mention her at a time like— mmph..."
Seeing Anna like this inexplicably irritated Helga.
This irritation wasn't directed at Anna, but at Louise's absence.
‘That idiot! How can she handle paperwork when Anna's like this!’
Spotting a passing servant, the frustrated Helga barked:
"You! Come here!"
......
Minutes later, with a dazed Anna still in her lap "disturbing" her, Helga hastily wrote a letter handed to the servant.
"Deliver this to the young lady of the Latimir household at once, understood?"
"Yes!"
Recognizing the urgency, the servant left the Bartham family's usual casual manner, actually behaving like a proper attendant for once.
Watching the servant leave, Helga sighed at the now sleeping Anna in her arms.
"What in the world is going on..."
Looking at Anna now, Helga felt no physical desire whatsoever, in fact, feeling lust toward Anna in this state would be utterly despicable!
She'd heard some scumbags would deliberately make their partners emotionally vulnerable to manipulate them into complete devotion... but that was truly vile.
However much she wanted Anna all to herself, she'd never resort to such methods!
This was Anna at her most fragile, she needed to give her all the comfort she could.
Carrying Anna to bed, she tried closing the door.
"Whimper..."
The moment she left Helga's embrace, sleeping Anna began trembling again.
"...Why didn't that idiot close the door on their way out."
Grumbling internally, Helga hugged Anna on the bed while summoning a Mage Hand to remotely shut the door.
Thankfully being a mage meant she didn't have to sleep embracing Anna with the door wide open... even if nothing happened, the embarrassment alone would be unbearable.
......
Unbeknownst to them, everything had been witnessed by Atala standing silently in the corner.
"...Anna."
Seeing Anna like that made Atala's heart ache inexplicably.
She wanted to embrace Anna.
She wanted to voice her concern.
...Why did she feel this way?
When had these feelings for Anna developed?
Atala didn't know. Atala was lost.
Though technically an adult at eighteen, Atala's understanding of emotions, life and society remained immature, part of why she'd come to experience human society.
Only by comprehending these could she qualify for her coming-of-age ceremony.
"Is this feeling... love?"
"But Anna already has Louise and Helga..."
Chapter 29 : Anna Broke Defence
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