It has been almost 10 years since she came to these barren lands. Where there was nothing but snow, monsters and enemies.
Looking at the blade in her hands, she wondered how many days it had been since the last time she hadn't held the sword in her hand, or how many days it's been since she didn't color it with blood?
She couldn't bear looking at it, nor could she bear it not being in her sight!
Hating the blade was futile, as it was nothing but a weapon. An instrument that, based on the wielder, could both protect and kill. Just like her.
She awakened her aura when playing with her older brother, Bryan, when she was only 8 years old. Thous, even though Bryan's illness wasn't that severe, she got trained in case there would be a war.
Just two years into her training, a war actually broke out. Upon his coronation, the young emperor had declared war against North, West, and East. Thus, she, as a member of Croft dukedom family, alongside the Croft knighthood, got dispatched to this northern land.
Thank's to her luck and, of course, innate martial talents, she survived and concurred land after land after land, until there was nothing but barren land and wild monsters.
From what the knights had heard from the food distributor, not all the aristocrats dispatched were as lucky as her. From the high society, Allan's dukedom had lost two sons, the marquise of Randolph had lost a daughter and a son, county of Mayer had lost three sons, while grand duchy of Golding had lost both the duke and his successor and now the second son has been in the battlefield for 3 years. The second son, who apparently just turned 16 this year.
Of course, all of them didn't die at once. Like a family of mice. First, one mouse sent to find food. Then when the mouse doesn't come back another one gets sent, and it continues until one comes back with food or there are no mice left to send.
At first, the young emperor only wanted the neighboring countries. Then, the neighboring countries' neighbors and then the latter's neighboring countries, a never-ending loop.
A really never-ending loop. They concurred was the countries, but not the people who saw their children, parents and siblings die at their hands. She had gotten poisoned more than a dozen times. These days, if there was no poison in her food, she would add some herself to further boost her poison tolerance.
Now, if there was a child coming her way, she would touch her sword's handle to make sure it was there. Maybe it was just her hallucinations, but now days, she couldn't even trust her own knights. She was going to lose it soon.
She felt it coming. It was just a matter of time to see which one came first. Her insanity or an end to this insanity.
"Commander, his grace has summoned you!" A man in silver armor shouted happily.
They were finally going back home.
While Briana had made sure that they could have a short vacation home, there were still people who hadn't visited their hometown for a long time...
One of them was Briana herself. Looking at the sword in her hand, her eyes had a glister, that of a little girl receiving her favorite doll as a present. No, it wasn't even comparable. She felt way happier than the time when she got her favorite doll.
"Pack everything we are leaving immediately," is what she had said that day.
Not knowing what awaited her, she, without even wasting a day, departed for croft. Taking brief pauses only to replenish the war horses' energies and galloping again.
*
"Emperor arranged a marriage between our house and grand duchy of Golding. You are to depart this afternoon." ordered duke Croft in a monotonous tone.
"But in the letter.. You said Valentina was going to get married. It isn't even funny!"
The duke's golden eyes became dark and cold. "She ran away."
Not intimidated, Briana's eyes turned even colder than his as she responded with an unbelieving expression.
"So go find her!! I have done enough of my obligations, haven't I? After everything that I have done for our family, is it really how you are gonna reward me!!?"
She looked at her father, angry and sad.
"All I ever asked of you was a few years older, a soft-hearted husband who faints at the sight of blood! Now you want me to marry a four years younger bloodthirsty man, who also is our house's enemy? Have I not dealt with enough enemies?"
The handsome duke's expression became darker. In fact, the gravest Briana had ever seen it to become after what happened with her mother. What she could read as the pain of betrayal by someone you never dreamed of getting betrayed by. Something she wanted to argue her owns to be much larger in scale.
"It is His Majesty's orders. " Soon his face turned to its original icy demeanor. As if he never made that hurt face.
"..." Briana felt it to be quite unfair.
"Did I tell your sister to run away? No! Do you think we should become a family of traitors? Do you expect our entire house, which is at its weakest, to die because you want a cute husband?" He shouted with that very same neutral face and eyes that had a snow storm in them.
He was a father who never lost his temper. "Yes! I don't care!" She shouted back. The enthusiasm, even lacking for herself to believe.
"Guards, drag Briana to her room!" He stared at the unfazed Briana. The guards could not move an inch. She knew the meaning of that look.
He would drag her himself if she as much as dared to drag this one second longer. Her body was brained-washed too well, after all obeying the strong held her alive on battlefields all these years. "Servants! Make her look like a decent lady! Her carriage will be here in one hour!"
Just like that, with a heart heavy with disbelief and a broken trust, she arrived at the grandiose aisle of the grand church of the Golding duchy. Exchanging lifelong promises with someone neither she knows nor believes to be known by.
Inside the carriage, she felt like laughing at how hard she had gotten played by destiny. In the morning, she was but a cold-hearted soldier from the Croft duchy, deciding on how to deal with spies sent by the duchy of Golding.
Now, she was sitting in the same space as that enemy. Soon she would get sent to the same room as him, and sooner than she could even understand how any of this had happened, she would be with his children.