Leonel took a slow step forward, and then another. His aura continued to grow, the burden on his shoulders solidifying as he faced off against the now somewhat shaken army of a thousand.

However, though they were shaken for a moment, their discipline ultimately shone through. Their own momentum began to climb, clashing against Leonel's and almost smothering it down to ash.

And yet, Leonel still took another step, and then another, before he suddenly broke out into a run.

His heart shone resplendently, and his momentum wouldn't be waned by the likes of these people.

With his spear, he would cut down anything that stood in his way.

Aina sat on a rocking chair, slowly rocking back and forth. Her mind seemed to be at peace, a far cry from Elaine, who seemed to be losing her mind.

The middle-aged housewife had noticed that her husband wasn't here, and rumors were already flying around in the city about a thousand-man army being outside their gates.

She wasn't a fool. She knew what happened in situations like this one.

There would be a forceful conscription.

Usually, her husband would be out of the age range for such a thing, but if the situation was bad enough, how could they have the time or care for such a thing? Her boys had already gone off, but she wasn't even allowed to get close to the wall to figure out what was going on... and she certainly had tried... several times by now.

But they weren't allowing civilians not part of the conscription to get close to the walls, so she had no idea what was going on, and it was making her lose her mind.

Her boys... her husband... maybe her boys would have a chance to survive, but that old man, what chance did he stand?

In her delusional fantasy, she thought that she should be there by his side swinging her rolling pin. Maybe she would be able to stop a few enemies that tried to stab him in the back.

Elaine rushed to the open pit over and pulled out the third apple pie of the day.

The house was practically steaming with the scent of fresh baking. This might have only been the third apple pie, but she had lost count of the other baked goods she had made already.

"You should try cutting the apple slices thinner next time," Aina said lightly. "More cinnamon, less brown sugar. Also, bake the crust ahead of time a little longer..."

She spoke these words with a casual flair.

"Right... right..." Elaine nodded, looking down at the pie on the counter as though it held the dreams she was suppressing. "Again... do it again..."

Elaine listened to Aina's vague instructions, somewhere in the back of her mind knowing that Aina was doing things like this on purpose.

After all, if she just told her how to make the perfect apple pic, maybe she wouldn't have anything to distract her anymore.

Plus, the variables of the cook changed every time she started. Controlling the flame of an open pit fire was almost as difficult as controlling the forge. Then there was the fact they didn't have any measuring cups or devices, so everything was by look and feel, increasing the variables all the more.

This meant that almost no matter what advice Aina gave, so long as she remained so vague, there would always be something for Elaine to improve.

This sort of distraction was about the only thing Aina could use to try and calm the middle-aged housewife. But it was clear to Aina that she was quickly fraying at the edges. There wasn't much that could be done other than this.

Eventually, after the fifth pie, Elaine could only stare at Aina.

"Why are you... so calm?"

She had been hesitating about asking this question because it could easily be seen as disrespectful. What if Aina assumed she was saying that she didn't care about her husband? Any woman who had married for love would take offense to such a thing. And even women who had married for more superficial matters would fight tooth and claw to avoid such labels. How could they so easily admit it?

In fact, in the latter case, the reaction might be even fiercer because they had something to hide.

However, Elaine wasn't a woman who had much of a filter to begin with. So after her mind had been frayed more and more with the ticking time, she could no longer hold back.

"Hm?" Aina looked up from her thoughts with a smile, rubbing her large belly with one hand and rocking back and forth slowly. She seemed... content.

"Never mind..." Elaine shook her head, realizing that she might have overstepped.

Aina's smile deepened. "I once was worried all the time. But I stopped that a long time ago..."

Elaine blinked. "... Why?"

23:41

"Our situations are different. I do not want to say anything that you might take the wrong way," Aina replied.

Elaine's mouth opened to reply before she laughed. It seemed like both of them had been holding back for various reasons.

"You can speak. I'm not so fragile, and it seems that neither are you."

Aina chuckled a bit before her eyes became a bit hazy, as though she was reminiscing about something.

"In the past, I used to harp on all his actions, wondering why he wasn't doing things the way I wanted, why he wasn't protecting his life the way he should, why he was

always making me worry about him...

"But recently, I stopped doing that."

"Why's that?"

"Because... he earned my trust."

Elaine's brows shot up, realizing why it was Aina had been hesitant to say this earlier. Even now, she wasn't quite sure how to take it.

"But like I said..." Aina continued. "... Our situations are different. In fact, just a year or

so ago, he was dead. Maybe I should have stopped trusting him again. But, right now...

I don't feel that way at all.

"In fact, I'm confident that there can only be one outcome to all of this."

Leonel stood silently in a field littered with corpses, his hair dancing in the wind and two broken spears dripping in blood in his palms.