Leah began her training as a housemaid a couple of years back, but because she was often off on her own somewhere, doing god knows what, she still hasn't been promoted to a full-time maid. Because Leah was the youngest maid in her house, Anna became friends with her. They sometimes go shopping or drink tea together, despite her objections, saying that a maid should act more like a servant. There was a lot more to Leah that Anna doesn't know, but she really liked her reserved yet bold personality. Her appearance and conduct were more than suitable for a maid. Anna can imagine if Leah puts on a pretty dress, she'd look like a mistress herself. Anna recalled the first time she brought Will to meet Leah, he blushed, which he hasn't done to anybody else other than Anna and her mother.
"Also, Leah, can you prepare me some casual clothes for this afternoon?"
"Sure thing, Ms.Hastings."
"Thanks a lot."
Anna walked into the lobby and was greeted by several other servants. She walked through the hallways toward her mother's study. The downside of having a huge mansion was that simple tasks like traveling between rooms took a lot of effort. Before she arrived at the Study, she saw her mother walking in the hallway. She reached out to say hello.
"Hey, mom." Anna waved.
"Anna. You are back. I heard everything from a letter. Come here, let's talk somewhere else."
"Ok."
Anna followed her mother into the sunroom. Anna's favorite room in the entire mansion was the sunroom. Even though she was a girl, she wasn't really a big fan of flowers or plants. She liked it because it was her father's favorite place, and there were many wonderful memories they shared in this room. For the first few years after her father left, Anna couldn't bring herself to go inside the sunroom, but slowly, she learned to look at her memories through a happy lens rather than a sad one.
Mrs.Hastings sat Anna down in the middle of the room. She asked the maid to bring some tea. Anna picked up a cup and started sipping it. Anna had been taught high-class etiquette, but her personality just wasn't compatible. Even so, the little hints of proper etiquette that leaked through her actions were enough to make people see that Anna wasn't just the daughter of a normal soldier.
Mrs.Hastings sat down across the tea table from Anna and picked up a cup of her own. She was a perfect mother. She was gentle, caring, and loving. She placed Anna's feelings above all else. She treated everyone well regardless of their social status. She often donates to charity and helps those in need. In other words, she was a completely different person from the Battle Queen on the battlefield. For somebody that was not in the know, there was no way they could make out the merciless, efficient killing machine in the battle tales from the warm Mrs.Hastings.
As a soldier, Mrs.Hastings was not big on appearances. She didn't really dress up nor did she wear any accessories. She solely relied on her natural beauty and aura, but that was more than enough to obtain great attention at parties. Anna was very similar to her mother in that respect.
"So, Anna, or shall I say, Sergeant Hastings." Mrs.Hastings smiled.
"Oh, so the letter told you about that, too?" Anna said.
That cheeky principal, he knew I was going to accept all along, didn't he, Anna thought.
"Of course. I can't believe you are already getting your own unit, Anna. I am really proud of you, I am sure your father would be, too." Mrs.Hastings gently held onto Anna's hands.
Anna was happy. She already had everything, beauty, status, wealth. Her only motivation to work hard was to meet everybody's expectations of her and to make her parents proud. Her mother's words meant a lot to her.
"Thank you, mom."
"Even as a girl, you have already outdone your brother at such a young age."
Anna's brother was 3 years older than Anna. They have always been on good terms. He was loving, just like everyone else in Anna's family. He wanted to become a pilot and joined the Air Force, and was currently training for the Special Operations Aviation Regiment, or SOAR for short, so he hasn't been deployed, yet.
"So, what division will you be working under? Is it part of the Navy like I was?" Mrs.Hastings asked.
"No, mom. I will be working directly under the secretary of defense."
"Really? Jenny?"
"Yeah. The principal told me she asked to be our supervisor."
Anna's aunt had occasionally visited her and her mother. She was a strict woman who was very stiff but loving nonetheless. She brought Anna gifts every visit but was always embarrassed when Anna hugged her sweetly.
"Well, then, you are sure to be in good hands. There's nothing for me to worry about."
"Oh yeah, the son and daughter of General Arden will be with me as well."
"Little Chris and Charl? Oh, they were such adorable darlings the last time I saw them. I heard they have both grown into fine adults."
"Mrs.Hastings, sorry to interrupt, but lunch has been prepared," Maria said after she knocked on the door to the sunroom.
"Thank you, Maria." Mrs.Hastings said to Maria and then turned back to Anna, "Anna, let's talk later, I am really hungry."
"Okay."
Anna rubbed the crevasses on her naked body with a sponge. As she held it tighter, water squeezed out of the sponge and dripped down her slender neck.
"Ahhh…" Anna exhaled as she leaned back against the wall of her bathtub and closed her eyes.
Hot steam filled the bathroom. There was a splash when Anna relaxed her arms and dropped them back into the water. Anna loved her baths. She could easily spend more than an hour in her spacious bathtub during her days off. She found it to be a great stress relief.
Anna was not a model, but a soldier trained for combat. Her hands were covered in corns from her daily use of weapons built for killing. Her knee was bruised from the time when she kicked Jason's body armor. Her feet had a layer of callus from her frequent, extensive stamina training. But that was not to say she didn't take good care of her body. Many of her maids were nutritionists or cosmeticians, and she had a fair amount of knowledge in body care from her etiquette classes.
After enjoying her closed-eye euphoria for a while, Anna continued to caress her soft, smooth skin. When she got to her breasts, she stared down with frustration. Anna raised her hands up her front and cupped her breasts. They were still slowly budding and just barely fit in her palms. Not quite flat like Emily, but not quite softly bountiful like Charl or her mother, either.
I wonder what Theo thinks of them every time I hug him, Anna thought with a chuckle. Her breath disturbed the steam in front of her face. Despite the overwhelming affection Anna shows toward Theo, she only sees him only platonically, and she is sure that he feels the same way, too, unlike Will.
"Ms. Hastings, your clothes have been prepared for you." The voice of a maid who's neither Leah nor Maria came from outside the bathroom door.
"Oh, thank you. I will be there in a moment." Anna responded.
She stood up from the bathtub. That was always the most difficult thing: to leave the warm water and expose her naked and wet body to the cold. Water trickled down her body and splattered back into the tub. She slowly lifted up her leg out of the bathtub, then the other. Anna reached for a towel and briefly wiped her body with it and wrapped it around her under her armpits. After she was dried, she picked up the holster holding the Golden Rose and tied it around her thigh. She opened the door and walked into the dressing room. As she stepped into the cold air, the steam escaped out the door.
"Where is Leah?" Anna asked the maid.
"She is off doing her own things again, Ms.Hastings." The maid answered.
Anna grabbed the clothes that had been prepared for her. She didn't have a strong preference as to what clothes to wear, so she usually just left it up to the maids. This time, since Anna requested casual clothes, she was given a sky blue one-piece dress with a corset belt, a pretty casual attire for high-status ladies like Anna. The maid was fixing Anna's hair as she put on her dress. It was almost time for the rendezvous at the flagpole.
"Hey, Charl." Anna waved at her, who was standing beside the base of the flagpole.
"Oh, hi, Sergeant Hastings." Charl turned her eyes toward Anna and waved back.
"Please, Anna is fine. Anyways, are you the only one here?" Anna asked.
"Yes, my brother had a meeting with our father, he will be here in a moment."
They met at the square in front of the academy's entrance. In the center of the square stood 3 flags: The Gladakian National Military Academy, Gladakia Meritocratic Republic, and the capital city. The ground was paved with bricks. Benches and flower beds were arranged organically around the square. The school's entrance gave off a strong, elite vibe. There was no one else there, as school was canceled for the next couple of days because of the incident, but the club activities that operated outside of school hours were allowed to continue.
This was the first time Anna had been alone with Charl. She didn't really pay much attention to her before, but now she's had a good look, she understood how she got her nickname: the "Saintess". She resembled many features from her brother but also had a charm of her own. She was one of the best-looking students in 5th year. Her beauty, exceptional skills in field medication, combined together with her gentle and kind soul, had led boys and girls alike in their academy to see her as something of a divine being. As the daughter of the highest authority in the country, the way she dresses is also miles more sophisticated than Anna and the other girls in their school. Today, she was wearing a beautiful golden-brown gown matching her wavy twin-tails. She was accessorized luxuriously as well. A huge emerald gem that's the same as the color of her eyes hung around her neck.
"I guess the others are kind of late, then."
"Not really, I think we are just early," Charl said she looked toward the clock tower. It was 5:30.
"Well then, do you want to go shopping while we wait?" Anna asked.
"Sure," Charl answered with a smile.
The two started heading for the shopping district. Since the academy was at the center of the downtown area of the city, the shopping district was only a couple of streets away.
As the two walked down the streets, they attracted a lot of attention from the other pedestrians. Both Anna and Charl were considered beauties, not to mention that they were from really high profile families. However, they were both very much used to the attention.
"Oh, hi, Ms.Hastings. Out with your friend today?" The baker lady from that morning was walking down the street, holding a paper bag in her arms.
"Hi, Mrs.Clark. Nice to see you again. This is Charl."
"Nice to meet you." Charl bobbed a curtsy. Clearly, she didn't visit the town very often, since there was no way Charl wouldn't be recognized with her appearance.
"Oh my, what a sweet girl." Mrs.Clark smiled. "I am in the middle of an errand, so I will leave you girls to it."
"Bye, Mrs.Clark." Anna waved.
"You sure are popular, Anna," Charl said as they continued walking.
"Hehe. The people in this town are very friendly, that's all." Anna chuckled bashfully.
Something at the corner of Anna's eye caught her attention. There was a store that had a panel of radios on display.
"Oh, look. Aren't those the new communication equipment Stuart & Swinton introduced?" Anna pointed it out for Charl.
"Yeah, I think so." Charl looked toward where Anna was pointing.
"I think it's best for our team to have the most recent gear, right?" Anna said. Her shopaholic side started kicking in.
"Sure," Charl said as she followed Anna into the store.
They had lost track of time.
"How come they are still not here?" Theo asked.
Chris was at the flagpole with Will and Theo. He took out his pocket watch from the breast pocket on his tailcoat. It was a quarter past 6. The sun was starting to set.
"This is odd. Anna is usually not late to meetings like this." Will mumbled.
"Same with Charl," Chris said as he put his watch back into his pocket.
"Maybe they already went ahead without us?" Theo asked.
"Maybe," Chris said.
"Well, you guys go on ahead then. I will look around the town for them just in case they went somewhere else." Will suggested.
"Okay. Do you want to meet up at the cafe over there at 2000, then?" Chris pointed at a shop across the street from the academy.
"Sure." Will took off.
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