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It's not often that Edelgard can find herself allowing for a brief moment of repose in the stress of war. There is still much to be done, and she cannot rest well knowing that she isn't doing the absolute most possible for her people.
However, even she knows that there are moments of quiet and respite that she needs, to clear her mind and ease her worries. Fortunately enough for her, among the Black Eagle Strike force, she can find the small, quiet moments that can set her at ease.
And Edelgard knows she can count on one person will always, always make time for tea and sweet cakes with her, even in the middle of the most time-sensitive tasks.
Though sometimes Edelgard wonders maybe Lysithea’s willingness to drop matters so important just for something to satiate her sweet tooth is a little dangerous…
Regardless, Lysithea is reliable company, and Edelgard gets to see that wide smile on her face when she pulls Lysithea aside from a meeting with Hubert to ask for a few minutes to enjoy some tea. Edelgard tells her that she already has some pastries and sweet cakes delivered from the kitchens waiting for them at the gazebo, and Lysithea’s grin widens even further, but she insists on running back to her own chambers first to bring something of her own. Edelgard nods and dismisses her to leave, taking her time to walk to the gazebo, knowing that Lysithea will join her shortly.
Lysithea shows up at the gazebo shortly after Edelgard herself arrives, carrying a box in her hands, a smile still on her lips. “You weren’t waiting long, were you?” she asks, a little breathless from making such a quick trip.
Edelgard shakes her head with a grin of her own. “Not at all— In fact, I barely waited. Please, sit down,” she says, gesturing to the empty chair across from her.
“Mm,” Lysithea hums as she seats herself, closing her eyes and taking in a pleasant whiff of the fresh pastries. “Those smell divine… I can’t wait to dig in!”
Edelgard smiles fondly. Truthfully, she can’t wait either, but she’s always kept her sweet tooth in line a lot better than Lysithea ever could. “By all means, help yourself. But, I’m curious. What’s in the box?”
Lysithea starts to unpack the box, though her eyes flit back and forth between the box and the pastries hungrily. She unfurls a collection of tea leaves, setting them on the table. “My parents sent me a little present recently. They sent me leaves of my favorite tea among the other little presents.”
The savory aroma from the tea leaves strikes Edelgard immediately, and she’s able to recognize it at a moment’s notice. “Why, that’s bergamot,” she notices, a hint of surprise to her voice. “I thought you said that bergamot tea was much too strong for your tastes?”
Lysithea’s smile softens and turns a little sheepish when she looks back at Edelgard. “I, uh… might’ve told my parents that my favorite tea was bergamot, knowing that they are prone to sending me little gifts while I’m in the army,” she says, sounding very much caught in her small scheme. “I wanted to surprise you with it one day when you wouldn’t expect it! So, did you expect it?” Lysithea asks, a twinge of excitement to her voice.
Edelgard blinks from surprise, leaning back a little in her chair. “That’s— That’s incredibly thoughtful of you, Lysithea,” she says quietly. “No, I was not expecting this in the slightest.”
Lysithea clenches her fists, content with her little victory. “Great! Now, hurry and steep these before the water goes cold!”
Edelgard gathers the leaves, letting out a soft chuckle. “Well, if you wish to keep up this ruse with your parents any longer, it might benefit you to learn a little about the intricacies of preparing these leaves. Anyone with a taste for bergamot knows that the most important rule is to not use water too hot, for you risk depriving the brewed tea of bergamot’s strong flavor and aroma,” she teases.
Lysithea shakes her head and closes her eyes, dismissive. “Bah, details,” she huffs, though she quickly snatches herself a pastry from the tray Edelgard prepared.
“I got you that sweet apple blend you enjoy so much,” Edelgard says, steeping her tea.
Lysithea’s eyes widen from excitement, and she uses her remaining ounce of self-control and decency to stop herself from speaking with a mouthful of cinnamon pie. “Really?! Oh, that goes so perfectly with these cinnamon treats!”
“I figured it would,” Edelgard says with a hint of pride to her voice. She looks up to see Lysithea reaching for another pastry for her plate, and Edelgard swats her hand away and scrunches her nose. “Patience… Save some for me, would you?”
Anyone else depriving her of sweets would later meet the receiving end of her most brutal spells, but with Edelgard, Lysithea just lets out a short laugh. “That’s the closest I’ve ever heard you get to a whine.”
Edelgard frowns slightly, but only in jest. “I like sweet things, too…”
Lysithea laughs a little louder, a small hint of pink upon her cheeks. “Alright, Your Majesty, take your most esteemed pick,” she teases.
“I can do without the condescension, thank you,” Edelgard lets out a huff, reaching for a jelly pastry.
Lysithea just smiles a sly grin before returning to her own sweets. Edelgard manages to grin as well after the defensiveness wears off, instead feeling grateful that she can see Lysithea so carefree around her. It feels as if it took forever to wear down those walls around Lysithea, but she’s glad she did, because she can see Lysithea shed that strong mask she wears for everyone else in the privacy of these little moments.
Edelgard often finds too, that she can shed her own mask and be just a little more herself, and not just an emperor around Lysithea.
Lysithea suddenly lets out a muffled hum around her food, waiting to finish chewing before speaking again. “By the way— you normally only call me to have tea with you when you’re stressed. Is there anything I can help with?”
Edelgard smiles at Lysithea’s thoughtfulness. “Stress comes with the job, unfortunately. However, I called you here because I had a free moment in my schedule, and I do rather enjoy your company. I only hope you enjoy mine as well,” she smiles a little wider, a playful tone to her words. “Or, at least… you enjoy the company of the sweets.”
Lysithea huffs and looks off to the side, a slight shade of red dusting her cheeks. “I enjoy both, thank you very much.”
Edelgard’s smile grows so wide it reaches her eyes, and she closes them with a soft, prideful chuckle. Her favorite moments with Lysithea involve her doing everything she can to elicit that kind of huffy, flustered response out of the other girl. Edelgard finds it thoroughly amusing.
Lysithea catches Edelgard’s smug look and scrunches her nose, letting out an annoyed ‘hmph.’ She pointedly snatches one of the jelly pastries from the tray, knowing that they’re Edelgard’s favorite. “Pity. I guess I’ll just have to take one of these as recompense.”
For a brief moment, Edelgard pouts, but she composes herself out of fear Lysithea will tease her for it. “A rather cruel punishment, but I suppose the punishment fits the crime of merely flustering you.”
Lysithea meets Edelgard’s eye and takes a rather feisty bite from the pastry in protest, as if miming she’ll bite Edelgard’s head off for pressing the subject any further. Edelgard only smiles, finding the attempt at intimidation simply cute.
What makes it even cuter, though is how the large bite results in a smidge of jelly smearing on Lysithea’s cheek, and Lysithea seems none the wiser to its presence.
Fighting off a sly grin (yet unable to keep it fully repressed), Edelgard grabs a napkin and moves her chair closer to Lysithea’s. “Still yourself for a moment,” she says.
“What, you gonna steal the pastry from my hand?” Lysithea asks in a dry quip.
Edelgard doesn’t reply. Instead, she sets her index finger under Lysithea’s chin to keep her steady as she reaches out with her other hand to wipe the jelly of off her cheek with a napkin. Her playful smile breaks out completely as she finishes, and she taps the underneath of Lysithea’s chin when she’s done. “Good girl.”
Lysithea immediately recoils from Edelgard’s touch at those words, her porcelain skin lighting aflame with a blush. Her eyes, however, are narrowed at Edelgard in a glare, but merely because of her fluster, and not any ill-will. “Do you ever do something without the sole intent to make me angry?!”
Edelgard taps her own chin, staring up at the sky in feigned pensive thought. “Hmm… Rarely not,” she looks back at Lysithea and playfully smirks. “But, oh— I thought that was what made my company so enjoyable for you?”
“Hmph…” Lysithea pouts, turning her head away from Edelgard, still blushing. “What a nuisance you are under all those walls.”
Edelgard frowns again in jest, setting a hand on her chest. “Please, you wound me so.”
“As if these attempts to make me embarrassed don’t wound my ego as well!” Lysithea protests.
“You merely make it too easy, dear Lysithea,” Edelgard smiles. “And I rather do enjoy seeing that cute pout of yours,” she laughs, taking one of the cinnamon pastries.
“It’s like you never stop once you’ve begun…” Lysithea lets out an exaggerated sigh, yet she’s betrayed by a slight grin that rises to her lips.
Edelgard smiles in between bites, and Lysithea notices how some bread crumbs gather on her cheek, close to the corner of her mouth. An idea for revenge surfaces in her mind, and once Edelgard finishes her pastry and doesn’t catch the crumbs that stick to her lips, Lysithea smiles slyly to herself.
“Still yourself for a moment,” Lysithea repeats, taking a light hold of Edelgard’s chin. “You got a little something…”
Edelgard lets out a confused hum, but she’s interrupted by the feeling of a soft pair of lips against her cheek, dangerously near her lips. She blinks from surprise, and before she can even think to break from her stunned state to pull away, Lysithea leans back, a proud grin on her face and a light blush on her cheek.
Edelgard can’t fight the fluster that shows on her cheeks in the form of a soft pink. “Did that little something happen to be you?” she musters in reply.
“Hey, I’m taller than you now,” Lysithea counters. “And no. You just had some crumbs on your cheek. Figured I’d get that for you, seeing how you so nicely did the same for me,” she laughs mischievously.
Both comments have their desired effect, and Edelgard averts her gaze, a ghost of a pout on her lips from embarrassment. “A rather unnecessary display, if you ask me,” she says to save face.
“Oh, boo, you’re just as unnecessarily extravagant as me,” Lysithea teases back.
Edelgard comes to smile shortly after, and she lets herself settle back and relax again.
Though, with how quickly they go through the sweets and the tea, their time together approaches its end shortly after that. There are matters Edelgard still must tend to before the end of the day, and Lysithea remembers her own responsibilities once she thinks past the sugar.
“I do hate to cut things here, but I have a meeting in a few minutes, and I need to return to the conference room,” Edelgard says.
“I have to run drills with the mage battalions in half an hour,” Lysithea sighs wistfully. “I would’ve had to cut things short regardless.”
“When I next have a free moment, will you consider joining me again?” Edelgard asks, a playful air to her words. “If I’m not too much of a nuisance, that is.”
“You’re coming awfully close…” Lysithea says in a tone equally as playful. “If it fits in my schedule, I might be so inclined to agree.”
Edelgard almost rolls her eyes, but she keeps herself composed. She opens her arms for Lysithea, and within a moment, Lysithea steps into Edelgard’s embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around her in a quick hug. Edelgard closes her eyes, setting her hands on Lysithea’s back and resting her chin on her shoulder. Her hands linger around Lysithea’s waist when she pulls away, and she looks at Lysithea with a glimmer of mischief in her eye.
“Take care, Lysithea,” Edelgard hums, setting a hand on Lysithea’s cheek and lifting her chin to press her lips to Lysithea’s for a brief moment, pulling away almost as quickly as she leans in. She spares Lysithea one last smile before she turns away and walks toward the reception hall.
Lysithea freezes from the kiss, her face burning a fiery red, her mouth agape, and her hands frozen half-extended after Edelgard, unable to move from the sheer fluster of it all.
When Edelgard peers over her shoulder a few moments later, she finds Lysithea rooted in that very same spot still, and a grin appears alongside the rosy blush upon her cheeks.