"All in favor of the motion to adjourn for today?"

Several people, myself included, raised their hands.

"All opposed?"

Nobody moves.

"This motion clearly passes and this meeting is suspended until 10 am tomorrow. Gentleman, we wish you a good night and to enjoy the arrangements we have made for you," the Chair said as everyone stood up and left the multi layer meeting hall.

"What do they mean by arrangements?" I murmured to Lieutenant General Alexander Nachtsohn, the only person who bothered to treat me by my rank and not my age.

"Seriously? You don't know? Consider it... a woman who will fix your pent up frustrations," he said with a smirk as he moved the light brown bangs from his eyes.

I suddenly stopped, causing the person behind me to stumble before he walked around me, cursing under his breath in the foreign language spoken here that I cannot understand no matter how hard I try, before I kept walking and muttered to Alex, "You mean a prostitute?"

"Oh, look at you saying these things out loud. I still remember that time George went on a tangent about his one-night-stand while you looked utterly mortified. But yes, that's what that means," Alex said with a chuckle.

In all honesty, as a perfectly healthy 23-year-old man, I can't say I was entirely repulsed by the thought, as long as what's done is consensual. Otherwise, I doubted I would be too into it, unlike some other people here. I'd seen enough suffering by my hand, whether it be by word, weapon, or magic.

"I suppose I'll be leaving you here. They gave me a rather crappy room compared to yours, in all honesty. I suppose I had a bad word put in by Nikita," I said with a tinge of annoyance.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case, the man hates you for your accomplishments. When are you going to tell me what you did to become a Major General at 21, anyway?" Alex questioned.

"Hopefully never," I said as part of me seized up at the thought. I bid him farewell as I walked away.

The hallways close to assembly room were pristine in their white shade, however, the further I walked away, the more broken down it got until there were visible cracks in the walls. It's obvious that they cleaned up the parts that the majority of us would see as an attempt to save face, but the rest of what was probably a great palace was in ruin after the bombing raids we had done at the end of the war. 

Nonetheless, this was nothing compared to the damage done to the civilian population.

I turned a final hallway before I reached my quarters, where, to my surprise, a eunuch was standing outside. I knew there were some guards placed outside of the rooms of some generals who had never seen combat, but it was strange for a guard to be here when I am very well the most capable general here to defend themselves.

Once he spots me, he bowed before saying in heavily accented English, "Servant was ordered to alert you that she might be not to your liking, but that there was no other substitute."

"What do you mean by that?" I said, my voice the tone of a superior giving orders. This was unintentional, but after years of commanding soldiers, it came naturally.

"She's inexperienced and she's not... especially attractive. Please forgive our accident. Servant was told to tell you that you'll be compensated tomorrow with the best food our kitchen has to offer," he said still bowing as I forgot to tell him to rise.

"Food will certainly make up for anything, you may leave," I said with a wave of my dominant right hand as the guard walked away, still bowing while facing me before he turned around and walked properly.

I opened the door with a sigh to see my room just as I left it, with the same papers scattered across the desk, begging to be organized. The few exceptions I noticed included an incense on the bedside table burning the scent of vanilla, the addition of curtains on the windows, and, of course, the girl sitting on my bed.

I honestly didn't understand why they said she was unattractive. She had long dark brown hair gathered in clips in front of her that was more reminiscent of the hair of the girls back home versus the black hair everyone here seems to have. Perhaps they were referring to her body or height, as she was rather short and wasn't stick thin like the other women I had caught glimpses of in my time here. 

But the only thing I felt when she looked at me was guilt as I stared at her fearful face.