RD 5 Ch 19

As Simone stormed out of the room, I couldn't suppress the smile that spread across my face. Her being upset was a far cry from the indifference she'd shown me previously. 

To be upset, there had to be something she was upset about. There had to be an emotional stake for her. Whether I was or was not her Bran, if that stake wasn't there, why would she be upset?

So, the grin that I struggled to wipe off my face was glorious evidence that Simone, in some way, cared. At a very basic level, she had to care to be upset. All in all, I counted it as a win. Even if the emotion wasn't affection, love, or devotion, something was a much better start than ambivalence.

I noticed the cracks when I had stepped forward to fight Winnie's assassin. She was angry at me, perhaps for muddling her plans or risking myself, but that anger had sparked doubt, and my words had only fanned the flame.

Perhaps I needed to act far younger than my mental age and antagonize Simone until I was all she could think about. I chuckled at the thought, then quickly suppressed the smile, lest Simone get the wrong idea or any of the other Mul Branova report my actions to her.

This four way war was, unfortunately, complex and adding more variables to my relationship with Simone was only going to make things harder.

Before Simone had stormed in, I had found my newest source of amusement. I had been mulling over the best move for myself, trying to subdue all four.

Simone, I figured, would be the easiest. If I could crack her shell and convince her or the other Mul Branova that I was Lord Bran, then I could absorb the Mul Branova and subdue Simone. It would unlock more of my abilities and my strength, hopefully enough so that the next time I fought one of Winnie's assassins, it wouldn't be nearly as risky.

Once I had some strength, I could go after the others.

Yet, it seemed Simone’s love for me might actually be a far harder bridge to cross than I realized.

My eyes drifted over the options. Princess Almeria was an unknown variable to me. There simply wasn't enough information on her for me to know how I would stack up against her. Ultimately, that meant it was safest to leave her for last. 

I pushed her out of the way in my mind, leaving Circe and Winnie. Both came with their own difficulties. Circe might be the weaker of the two. And it was already clear that Winnie's ability to create powerful soldiers was a good head and shoulders above Circe's.

On the other hand, Winnie had a critical weakness. Even here in the Trial of Kings, her curse should have followed her. Meaning, I could be unscrupulous and use it to my advantage. Of course, that would potentially infuriate the woman afterwards. But I had to use every advantage I had to bring as many of them out of this as possible. 

Now, if I had either Circe or Winnie at my back, perhaps I could take a risk against Princess Almeria. But I still thought the best opportunity would be to take one and then the other between Simone and Winnie. And if I could take either of them without damaging the Mul Branova overly much, then I could very possibly snowball this whole ordeal. 

I moved around, some last vestiges of grain in my bowl, lining up the four forces in my mind like a strategy map.

Quite possibly the greatest risk amongst all of my current plans was that if I captured two, the other two would immediately ally against me. And if I damaged the Mul Branova in taking my second, and the other two were relatively unscathed, then ultimately I would lose and bring Simone down with me.

The more I looked at my present situation, the more I realized trying to take one of the two, with as little damage to the Mul Branova as possible, had to be the plan. The risk of the other two allying was simply too great. I nibbled at my lip, playing with the ball of grains that was Circe, and the ball of grains that was Winnie. Which of the two did I think I could most easily take after Simone? Or could I strike both quickly before Almeria had a chance to sweep in and ally with the other?

Never in my previous life, nor in this one, did I think I was going to have to seduce my way to any sort of victory. I chuckled to myself, drawing the attention of several Mul Branova before pressing my lips into a line and suppressing my amusement. 

“Lord Bran”, one of the ladies, skipped over with a smile on her face. I recognized her as the new recruit who had asked so many questions on our way back. I tried to pull her name from the recesses of my brain.

“Ah, Talia, right?” I smiled at her, and she blushed, looking bashfully at the ground. 

"You remember my name," she said excitedly, though it seemed it was more for herself than me. So I ignored it and kept a smile on my face.

"What can I do for you?" I asked.

"Lord Bran, there's been a lot of talk about the seals that you're under hindering your power and ultimately the progress of the entire Mul Branova. Me and some of the girls…" she looked off to the side, but no other group was watching her. "Well, we were wondering if there's anything we could possibly do to break those seals and make sure you were as strong as possible. For the fights to come."

I chuckled, smiled at her, and shook my head. "The one I need help with is actually Saintess Simone. We are working on it. The process is just longer than either of us expected."

Talia's face fell. "That's really a shame. I was hoping—"

I held a hand up. "If you hope a little too much, you might upset Simone." I gave her a level gaze.

"Ah, of course," Talia stuttered.

Simone was actually a fairly effective deterrent for any of the ladies making a pass at me. Whether they wanted to help me with my curse or seek a second blessing, I had heard more than a few euphemisms that I was fairly certain did not exist outside. Or perhaps I had completely missed the signs with the Mul Branova outside the Trial of Kings.

"If you change your mind, or if the situation changes—" Talia corrected herself, "please seek us out."

I chuckled. "You will be the first person I come to if I need the Mul Branova's help in lifting the seals or other problems in the future."

The new recruit beamed at me before skipping away, and this time there was a group that collapsed around her in a girlish huddle of giggling and whispering.

"And what are you up to now?" Somewhere in all of this, Simone had reappeared behind me.

"Nothing. They were asking about the seals, and rather than give them anything direct, I said that you're the one that I need help from." I flashed her a smile. "So I think that's the story we're going to use."

Simone cleared her throat. "If you're done, there is plenty of work to do. Another batch of new recruits is coming in, and we need your blessings. Not to mention, another group has reported that they've managed to collect several more ladies with bloodlines."

"Oh, well, why didn't you say so?" I smiled at Simone. "Which of the dungeons is this batch in?"

"The East Wing," Simone answered with a strange furrow of her brow as if she expected more resistance from me.

"Well, I'll get right on that." I flashed her my best charming smile and stood up quickly, half wanting to salute, but also knowing that would not fit my image of being Lord Bran. And while I wanted to throw Simone off her game, I did not want her upset or thinking I was not taking the present situation seriously.

So I slipped out of the table to do my job and go drain the bloodlines from my newest batch of unfortunate souls.

Perhaps I was enjoying confusing Simone a little too much. Because suddenly I found myself whistling a jaunty tune as I walked away, enjoying and savoring the frown on her face as she stared after me. It got even worse, because not only did she stare after me, but she slowly followed me as if wanting to make sure I wasn't up to no good.

Her interest was exactly what I wanted, even if I was irritating her to get it. Perhaps I still had a little smug teenager in me, we all did.

I paused once we were in an empty hallway and glanced over my shoulder. "Did you realize I'm just going to do what you've asked me to do?"

"I find myself feeling incredibly uneasy about whatever it is you're about to do," she said.

"And here I thought it was because you were going to miss me." I clicked my tongue in disappointment.

"Please, keep such jokes to yourself. The Bran I knew wasn't very funny." She told me.

"No, I wasn't, was I?" I replied. "Though in fairness, I found myself staring down the barrel of a loaded war when there was quite a bit of pressure on my shoulders."

"Stop speaking like you are Bran," Simone snapped.

"Right, right," I said quickly and performed an admirably swift about-face, marching down to the dungeons, still whistling my jaunty tune.

"Are you going to keep whistling the whole way?" Simone asked, sounding more annoyed than ever.

"I'm not going to stop," I said, more amused than ever. "If I say I have a sudden desire to whistle, is that going to cause problems?" I asked with a smile.

"Problems relevant in the grand scheme of things? No. In the short term? Highly probable." She told me.

"And would those problems be with you?" I asked.

"Yes. Since you're pretending to be Bran, I would advise you to do as few suspect things as possible. That includes acting wildly out of character." She replied.

"Couldn't Bran just suddenly have a feeling, a need to whistle? Sometimes people can be happy, Simone.”

“Be happy I have allowed you to remain as autonomous as I have. And do not push your luck." She looked pissed, but still beautiful.

My smile dipped marginally before it shot back up on my face. "You're only mad because you care. So I'll try not to take offense."

My joke elicited a growl from Simone, and I realized perhaps I had crossed a few too many lines.

"A joke, it's a joke," I said hurriedly.

"Jokes are funny. This is not." She was clearly being pushed too quickly, so I decided to back up.

"Fine.” I put my hands up in surrender. “I'll drop it. On the condition you stop being so damn icy to me." I told her.

"You can make demands when you have something more valuable to give me," Simone said.

At this point I was earnestly debating picking a fight as I stopped, turned, and stared hard at her. Several thoughts flicked through my head before I squished each and every one of them that would most likely make Simone in front of me incredibly upset, to the point I doubted logic would work any longer.

“Look. Regardless of what you think about me, we’re allies in this. I need you to treat me like one instead of treating me like a criminal.” I locked eyes with her.

She held my gaze for another long second and nodded. "Carry on. I do need you to transfer the bloodlines."

I rolled my hand and bowed. “Of course my lovely saintess.”

That pissed her off because she had made it clear she was Bran’s and not mine. Even if they were really the same thing, she didn’t understand that. She was about to snap my head off when there was a large explosion in the distance.