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Fuegoleon knew why he was called to the Roselei mansion. It had been a long time coming, but receiving the letter in their current situation was still surprising to him. There were more demanding matters than the one Lord Roselei surely wanted to discuss with his daughter and him. When Fuegoleon arrived in front of the Roselei mansion he knocked politely. Not a second later Charlotte arrived in front of her family home as well. Despite that she wasn't wearing her helmet and breastplate it was obvious that she came from a mission.
“Fuegoleon, my apologies. The mission took longer than expected.” She greeted him.
“You were investigating disturbances in the west if I'm correct?” When she nodded in confirmation he continued. “Were they as dangerous as we thought they would be?”
“Sadly they were even worse because of their unique magic.”
Now that Fuegoleon looked closely at her, he saw that she was putting more weight onto one leg than the other. However before he could ask her about the outcome of the mission she spoke up again.
“There are such dramatic changes in the kingdom and still my father wastes our time with whatever he wants to discuss with us. Hopefully he won't keep us too long from fulfilling our duties.”
Fuegoleon had always held a deep respect for the woman in front of him. She had worked so hard to not only get stronger, but also give every female magic knight a chance to prove themselves. Charlotte and him had known each other even before they had been captains and along the way they had become friends. Over the years she had lost some of her coldness in Fuegoleon's eyes, but looking at her now she was back to putting up her unreadable facade.
It was no secret to him that the relationship between Charlotte and her family was a difficult one. They had never really accepted that their only daughter had chosen the path of a magic knight captain instead of a noblewoman. Not once had he heard them hold her in high regard and Fuegoleon couldn't understand why. What Charlotte was doing and how far she had come was amazing and she deserved nothing but respect for her achievements.
“Lord Roselei is already awaiting you.” A servant pulled Fuegoleon out of his thoughts.
The two captains followed the servant silently until they arrived in the extravagant living room. While Fuegoleon greeted Lord Roselei politely the atmosphere between father and daughter was tense. If Fuegoleon had thought that Charlotte had ever been cold to someone the way she was now was downright freezing.
“I'm glad that you two could find the time to follow my invitation.” Lord Roselei began. “As you both know the families of the Vermillions and Roseleis were always close and I would like them to be even closer. So I want to offer you, Fuegoleon Vermillion, my daughter as your bride.”
Fuegoleon felt the Blue Rose captain next to him stiffen. Surely she hadn't agreed to any of this. Charlotte wasn't a woman who was alright with being offered to someone. It wouldn't be the first arranged marriage between nobles and certainly often parents decided for their children, but this didn't mean that Fuegoleon thought it was right. It was disrespectful in every regard and Fuegoleon voiced that thought.
“With all respect Lord Roselei, I don't think that is for you to decide. It's your daughter who should decide in this matter.”
At his words Charlotte turned to him and for the first time today he saw a softer look in her eyes. There was anger mixed in it, but it wasn't directed at him.
“Fuegoleon, I'm glad that it's you they chose. I respect you as a fellow magic knight captain and friend, but you know where my feelings lie.”
“I would have been honored to be your husband, Charlotte. You're an amazing woman on and off the battlefield, but I know that I'm not the one you're meant to be with.”
Fuegoleon knew what Charlotte was about to do. It was a step that she couldn't turn back from and the consequences would be dire. Gently he lay a hand on the small of Charlotte's back.
“You're a strong woman and I respect that, but let me lend you some of my strength in this moment.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at Fuegoleon before turning to look at her father, the cold look in her eyes returning.
“I respect and value Fuegoleon Vermillion as a friend and fellow magic knight captain, but I don't love him. You would never accept the man I love because he is not a nobleman. You would never realized what an amazing man he is and I can't see myself with anyone but him, so I refuse this arranged marriage.” Her voice was shaking with barely restrained anger.
“You know what that means.” It was more a statement than a question from Lord Roselei.
“I do.” There was nothing but determination in Charlotte's voice and Fuegoleon respected her deeply for it.
“Then hereby I disown you. You will no longer be allowed to bear the last name Roselei. I'm ashamed to have called you my daughter.”
“And I'm ashamed to have called you my father.” With that she turned around and left with Fuegoleon closely following her.
“I'm sorry that he wasted your time like that.” Charlotte was the first to speak when they stepped out of the mansion. “Now we'll be late to our captain's meeting.”
Fuegoleon knew that she was refusing to acknowledge what had just happened and he respected her wish to not talk about it.
“I'm sure we'll only be a moment later than planned.”
Yami was surprised when he wasn't the last one arriving to the captain's meeting. Sure, this was an emergency meeting called by Marx, but he had never thought that he would be there before Charlotte or Fuegoleon. When a few minutes into the meeting both arrive together it confused him even more. Fuegoleon had always been overly polite in Yami's eyes, but when he gently lay a hand on Charlotte's back while he lead her to her seat and even pulled the chair out for her, Yami's stomach twisted unpleasantly. It got even worse when instead of insisting that she could do this herself and refusing his gestures, Charlotte smiled thankfully at him. Had he missed something? What was this new closeness between them and why was he so annoyed by it?
The whole meeting Yami could barely pay attention. That was nothing new, but instead of his usual thoughts everything in his mind revolved around the woman sitting next to him. The weird feeling in his stomach, when he thought about her, never left and he had just taken a dump this morning so that couldn't be the reason why he felt like that.
After the meeting had ended and everyone was still sitting Charlotte spoke up.
“I want to apologize for being late to our meeting today. It's also my fault that Fuegoleon was late.” She took a deep breath before continuing. It would take less than a day for the news, that she was no longer a Roselei, to travel around Clover and she at least wanted to be the one to announce it to the people who she fought side by side with. “Lord Roselei offered Fuegoleon an arranged marriage with me without my consent and despite that I respect Fuegoleon with all my heart I refuse to be offered.” Before she could continue Yami's booming laughter could be heard.
“You two together? Who would even think that Prickly Queen would give up the battlefield as a partner? Looks like you'll be single forever after all.”
Charlotte saw Fuegoleon wince from beside her. So that were Yami's true feelings. Refusing the arranged marriage was one of the best things she had ever done, but it had come with dire consequences. She would never take her decision back because she had done that for herself, but hearing the man, who she loved, make a joke out of it hurt. For a long time she had wanted to confess her feelings to him, but she had always feared his rejection. When she had finally confessed in Spade he hadn't heard her and now without him ever acknowledging her feelings, he was rejecting her. What a joke she must be to him.
In that moment the last few hours of her life caught up to her. The difficult mission she had been on, the meeting with her father that got her disowned, then this meeting where she had to reveal a part of her private life and now Yami was even joking about it. All the hurt and anger suddenly broke through the carefully crafted facade that she had kept up over the years and she stood up, her fists clenching tightly.
“I'm glad that this is so amusing to you, Yami. My life must be a joke to you. So must be my love for you. I was a fool to ever let my guard down and you into my heart.”
With as much composure as she could muster she stood up and left the room. Once the door closed behind her, she ran. The Blue Rose headquarters were not far away so she arrived just in time in her room to let the tears fall. The feelings she held for Yami for almost a decade were worthless. He would never see her as more than someone to tease. She had thought that with her finally being true to her feelings her girls would lose respect for her, but they had all been so supportive. The tears kept coming faster when she thought about telling them that there would never be anything between her and Yami. There had not even been a battle, but this was still the worst loss of her life. He had made her fall in love with him only to break her heart. As more tears fell she hated her heart for choosing him.
Back with the captains Fuegoleon shook his head in disbelief. Yami had a reputation for being dense, especially when it came to Charlotte, but this had been going on for too long. It was the second love confession Charlotte had made to Yami, granted the first one he hadn't heard, but now it was time to end this.
“I'm sure everyone has matters to attend to.” He looked at the other captains, before he turned to the Black Bull captain. “Yami, I would like you to stay behind with me for a moment.”
The other captains nodded at him in understand as did Marx before they left the room. Yami stayed indeed behind, but Fuegoleon was not sure if the other captain had even heard him. The confused and shocked look on Yami's face was proving that he really was surprised by Charlotte's words. However the hurt expression on Charlotte's face, when she had left the meeting close to tears, made Fuegoleon have less empathy for Yami.
“Your words were uncalled for. That went beyond teasing and you really hurt Charlotte. What have you to say for yourself?”
The name of the woman,who had just confessed her deepest feelings, seemed to snap Yami out of his daze.
“What do you want? This is none of your damn business.” He sounded defensive, but it lacked the usual confidence and harshness.
“It is, as you so politely said, my business. I was involved in what you so foolishly made fun of. Charlotte means a lot to me, she is my friend and she almost became my wife.”
“You would have married her just like that?”
There was something in Yami's voice that Fuegoleon found quite interesting. Normally the captain of the Black Bulls wasn't one to hold his emotions back, but the tone of his voice just now was trying to hide something and Fuegoleon knew what it was.
“Of course. We both know what a strong fighter she is and that she is the most beautiful woman in Clover is undeniable. Who wouldn't be jealous of me with Charlotte by my side?”
There it was plain and simple for Yami to hear. Fuegoleon was sure that jealousy was what Yami was trying so desperately to hide. The captain of the Crimson Lion found Yami harder to read, but he had caught his fellow captain looking at Charlotte with a look in his eyes that showed that he was interested in her. In their younger years it had been more obvious and Yami had outright flirted with Charlotte, but with her cold attitude he had closed off. Despite that they were bickering instead of flirting, Fuegoleon didn't have a doubt that there were feelings from both sides that had only gotten stronger over the years. He would give Yami one last push in the right direction and hope for the best.
“I'll explain something to you that you might not know. As a noble there is nothing worse than getting disowned. Today that happened to Charlotte because of her decision. It is the most brave thing a noblewoman can do. If you are the man I always thought you were, you will be as honest to her as she was to her family today. I never took you for a coward, Yami. So think about what you feel for her and give her finally an answer.”
With that said Fuegoleon left Yami to his own thoughts. All he could do now was hope that Yami could be as true to his feelings as Charlotte had been to hers.
The next morning after only a few hours of sleep Yami found himself in front of the door of the woman who was the reason for his lack of sleep. It had taken him the whole night and countless trips to the bathroom to figure out the situation and now he was exhausted but ready to face her. How he had gotten to the Blue Rose headquarters and who had shown him where her room was, was a blur to him, as was that Charlotte called him Sol and to leave her be when he knocked on the door. However politeness was never something he bothered with, so why start now. He opened the door and stepped into the room, his eyes already searching for his woman.
When he saw her dressed in a simple white dress, sitting on the windowsill looking out on the kingdom with her hair flowing freely in the wind, she had never looked more beautiful to him. Well then again he also thought that whenever he saw her on the battlefield. Charlotte really had so many sides to her. At the moment she was showing him a new one as well, one that he refused to except. Over the years he had often thought that she was cold, but what she displayed now was truly a cold side of her. While she looked absolutely stunning sitting there, her whole demeanor was cold and detached. Even her Ki felt cold and muted. That took high skills and Yami would have been amazed by it if the situation had been different.
“What do you want?”
“I came here to talk to you.” In this moment there was no time for nicknames or teasing. He was ready to end this dance that they had done for the past few years.
“There is nothing to talk about. Get your rejection out of the way and then leave my base.” Her voice was just as cold as her whole demeanor and she didn't even look at him.
Yami had wanted to be mature about this, but her refusal to even look at him made his temper rise. Their whole relationship had considered of insults, teasing and refusing to admit what they really felt, so why had he thought that his confession would go over any differently. Sighing he quickly stepped closer and gently pulled her up from the windowsill into his arms.
“Listen here, Prickly Queen. You can't confess something like that and then just leave. This night I slept like crap and it's your fault, so take some damn responsibility and hear me out.”
The previous cold demeanor of the woman in his arms vanished. She was now looking into his eyes and her Ki was back to being all over the place. That he could work with. This detached Charlotte wasn't the one he wanted to confess to, but to the woman who he had known for over twelve years. However now that he had her back and was about to reveal his feelings, he got nervous. It wasn't like him to be nervous, but then again he had never been in love nor confessed that to someone. He reached into his pocket for a cigarette, but was stopped by her sharp voice.
“If you smoke right now, I'm going to throw you out of the window.”
“Good luck trying that.” He laughed at her angry expression. Their bickering had lightened the situation and unknown to Charlotte, she had helped him get his confidence back.
“Seriously now, I came here for a reason.” He wasn't the best with words and even worse when it came to romantic words, but he wanted to try. For her. She deserved to finally hear those words after so long and he refused to let her surpass her limits while he didn't. “I'm not some graceful man with fancy words or anything, so I'll just say it. I love you.”
Yami watched her blink a few times in confusion before she spoke up.
“What?”
“You want some fancy words or what? I told you I'm not good with that shit. I love you, plain and simple. What do you-”
He didn't get to finish because Charlotte stopped any attempt to continue with her lips. The kiss held all the longing and love she had felt for him over the years and he reciprocated with full passion. Her arms wound around his neck while his encircled her waist and lifted her up, so they were the same height. He had never imagined that when he had first stepped foot on Clover ground that he would find love let alone such a wonderful and strong woman, but here he was holding his Prickly Queen in his arms.