Wania had just jumped into the arena to kiss Agnius. She grabbed him by his face and pulled him into it. It lasted a few seconds, long enough for everyone to notice and understand what they were seeing. When they stopped, she took his hand and walked out of the arena, heading home.

“That’s my boy”, Tushar proudly stated loud enough for the empress and the imperial consorts to hear. The empresses blocked the prince’s view with her hands.

They let out a disgruntled sigh, glaring at him. The women were shocked, about to go into a frenzy of questions, but the emperor stood up and declared

“Congratulations to House Sapphire on their victory. Clearly, the newest member also upholds the strength needed to protect our nation. The past soldiers would have been glad to have you among their ranks. Let us conclude the day’s events here and return home to prepare for the next”

With that, he turned to leave, and Tushar followed closely behind. The empress was about to follow, but the prince asked to meet his aunt since the event was over. The imperial consorts were advised to escort the emperor's guest. With that, Rasputin and Tushar had evaded his wives.

“Thank you for the assist, your majesty”, Tushar said “I didn’t know how I would have gotten out of there without your help”

Taking Tushar by the collar, “That’s enough out of you. I asked you to bring your son under my service, and you said you would do it for a title, land and a high position in the imperial army, which I gave. Tell why said son is not lip-locked with Wania Sapphire. Rasputin was letting out his anger; the piece he's looking for was in Wania’s home all this time, and now she’s parading it for all to see. When he heard she was getting married, he should have questioned it.

He tossed Tushar to the wall and wandered into his thoughts, “Rosa. She knew, that day she went to Wania’s home. She knew, but she didn’t know that it was the man he was looking for, so she couldn’t have informed Wania. It was only Tushar and I that knew of the agreement. But Tushar had no reason to betray me. It’s only been two weeks since we met, and I’ve given him everything he's asked, unless…”

Rasputin pulled out a short sword and pointed it at Tushar. “You’ve been working with Wania all along”

“I'm sorry?” Tushar replied with confusion, “I’ve never even spoken to General Wania, other than the day you introduced us, and she left your castle almost right after” he was pleading his innocence, and Rasputin swung at him

“Yes, after you told her where to find him, you two were walking together since the bar, you spread the rumour to get my attention, just to” Tushar grabbed the emperor by his wrist and neck with both hands, holding him against the wall. Emperor Rasputin had a strong body that was trained since birth, he was on the front lines of the very war that formed the empire alongside general Wania, there was no way he would lose in terms of strength to an old man that was only just a mercenary but here he was helpless against the wall, he wanted to break free but strength of Tushar grip around his throat discouraged his, if Tushar wants he could break his neck right now and escape.

“Listening to me, your majesty, I did not plan anything with general Wania, I admit when you men came to summon my both from the inn, I sent him through the back door, told him to head north and wait to hear word from me, I do not know why his here as the general’s husband. Believe me or not, I'm just a mercenary trying to make a profit here,” he loosened his grip around his neck, “If you have calmed down, I will release you and be going.”

The emperor nodded, and Tushar let him go, but he took his short sword, turned around, and started working away. “Where are you going?” Rasputin asked, “I think you hate that the one who guards you also nearly killed you”, Tushar answered. “True, but we still have a deal, and until you get your son working under me, I’ll keep you hostage as my guard. Now, hand over my weapon,” Rasputin stretched out his hand. Tushar took it, shook it firmly, “I hear you loud and clear”, the two glared at one another, Rasputin with a frown and Tushar with a smile “, My weapon?” “You can go ahead and take it back from me.” The emperor did not want to experience something like that again so soon, so he left it with Tushar. Upon reaching the palace, Tushar was told his separate office and bedroom had been changed to a single room further from the emperor’s quarters.

In previous years, the day after the tournament usually focused on its winner, but it was a simple footnote in the papers, “Headlines focused on the general’s worry for her husband, after seeing him set ablaze during the tournament, she jumped in to soothe the pain with many kisses and-”

“Helga, that’s enough”, Wania snacked the papers she was reading from and threw them into the bin. “It was one kiss. Why is the media like this?”

“My lady, it was one kiss from a woman madly in love with a mercenary, people from two worlds that were never meant to cross, and the general didn’t want to lose the man that she just got”

Wania was staring Helga down with an expression of unbelievable audacity of the middle-aged maid. “You memorized the paper”

“Only the parts about your romance…and the crossword section”

She sighed, “At least with that, I seemed convincing enough that Agnius and I are inseparable, so enjoy it while it lasts” She was done with it; another task crossed off the bucket list, a plan executed perfectly. She fills like she made a fool of herself, kissing a stranger in public like that just to foil a plans of which she is still not aware, she’s been looking into the emperor’s recent actions, but all she found out is that his been too busy to see neither the empress nor the imperial consorts “At least my nephew’s position is secured” she’s checked the people and things going on and out of the capital. Nothing seemed amiss, the only thing that stands out is the people the emperor brought to the capital, records mentioned it as an envoy, but from where? It doesn’t say.

There shouldn’t be any kingdom on the continent that isn’t affiliated with the empire. She’s exhausted all normal and legal means. Even the spies planted in the palace reported nothing unusual; they didn’t even know of the mentioned envoy. At this point, she would hire an information broker.

“Helga, contact the brokers guild; I need them to”, she paused at Helga. Helga looked at her with sarcastic confusion, “-what is it?” “You want to hire info brokers when your mercenary husband is right here?” she asked “You can’t be serious? Helga, this is an important work-related issue; it needs to be done efficiently, it needs-” It needs to be done secretly by someone you can trust, plus you said that the man taking over your position was his father”, Helga interrupted.

“That could just alert the emperor.” Wania said, “You told me, sir Tushar, that the emperor wants Agnius, he's practically inviting Agnius into the palace, so there’s no need to sneak about, plus Agnius could reject the emperor outright, even if we learn nothing that still affects his plans”

Wania heard Helga’s words. They were logical, and the plan made sense all around, but she couldn’t help but wonder if there was something that could get Agnius to betray her. Mercenaries move for profit, and he would be no different.

“If you think he’ll betray you because the emperor offers him more, stop it. You were going to send in a mercenary either way, so plundering that fact is useless,” Helga replied like she read her mind.

“But we’ve worked with Glon for a long time,” Wania said, looking for excuses at this point. “True, but we’ve also paid him more to betray others who hired him against us.” She couldn’t go on arguing, “Why hire a mercenary from outside when you have one at home?” Helga won the argument, so she danced lightly in Wania’s office.

Agnius was out going about his day as usual, he was at the training ground at this time, but he was training with Claris, they were doing push-ups, Claris was straining to keep, only the entities that watch them know how many they’ve done. “Agnius, I have something for you to do”, Wania's voice called out from the edge of the training. “Rest till I return” He stood up, and Claris collapsed.

“Should she really be doing that? You beat her pretty badly the other day,” she asked, showing concern for the still recovering Claris, who had bandages over her eye, wrappings on different parts of her body. She wasn’t in a condition to be training at the moment.

“I’m keeping it light, you said you wanted me to do something?” his replies were always straight to the point, there were no emotions behind them, Claris having him train her to go, to show how rough the road ahead would be. Wania said a silent prayer for Claris. “We will be going to the imperial palace in two days, there is going to be a banquet, and we will be the centre of attention”, she was about to continue talking. Still, Agnius interjected, “Another day as the dutiful husband” Wania was slightly stunned. Agnius usually just listened to any comment to understand the mission more, even this one was like so. Still, his tone sounded edgy. “Have you fallen in love with me so much that the mission excites you?” she said. At the same time, she smiled arrogantly and gestured her body, “No, the excitement from yesterday has yet to subside” he was back to his monotone self; the excitement was gone, and not a shred of shyness or nervousness showed. Yet again, Wania found it boring to tease him.

“Fine. Anyway, yes, you’ll play my husband. You would investigate the emperor’s special guest. I want to know about them before everyone else.” She returned to her professional nature. Still, she had yet to give up and amusing herself with Agnius “Understood, ma’am” “yeah ma’am is no better, just come up with a pet name for me or something” she turn around to leave but remembered something “Oh and if the emperor, offers you something to betray me, reject it” “Yes…..”

“Really, that’s all it took. I asked you to don’t betray me, and you agreed to it. You could be losing out on major profits.” She raised a brow. “Yes…… it is a simple request. You just have to pay more.” She chuckled. They started working away. A mercenary is loyal to money, and whoever has more money has more loyalty.

Wania had left, and Agnius returned to Claris. She was sweating profusely, her breath was shaking, she was barely conscious, and the pain from her injuries was getting to her. Agnius, looking down on her, said, “If you can still move, sit up, let me check your wounds.” After checking, he took him to the infirmary for more treatment and recovery. As he left, he gripped the right side of his chest; his breath became hot, but quickly turned back to normal.