"And in the Iron Line?" Blanc asked after hearing Miyanna's story.
"After I've accepted, I trained for years and did small work with them until I joined as one of the commanders for the vanguard you all fought against," she explained.
"And then you gave all the information you knew willingly to survive and condemned your people to die a horrible death only so you could live?" Blanc asked.
"Yes," she nodded, looking straight at him, her back straightened.
"Good," Blanc nodded back, "Condemning, but it makes sense. Thank you for telling me."
"Now that you all know everything, does that change anything?" Miyanna asked the two.
Blanc sighed as he started thinking. Losing himself as he watched the cup full of red wine.
There were things he still did not get.
But he at least understood her roughness. Her way of keeping a distance. He could not judge her choices. He respected them. He knew in such a situation as hers, he would surely do the exact same.
He was a bit sad, truth be told, that the Empire was the way it was and that such things happened. He was shielded from such a thing. He knew how things stood from the side of a Noble Blood. And that side, too, had its truths. However, such inequality was not humane.
Either way, it was one of many inequalities commoners found themselves with.
They had less and were forbidden to attempt to have more. Especially when it came to strength.
The way to harvest Raw Vita and the attempts at harvesting it were mostly a secret and illegal practice for common folk. Such was the way of the world.
And he was just a broken wheel in a system that by now was a millennium old. He could not change it.
Yet now, standing before him, was both the cause of the events the Senvia Empire found itself tangled in and someone who had suffered under that very system. Could he truly blame her? Now that he knew everything, could he raise his sword against her, end her life simply because she was an unknown who still unsettled him?
She was so different, so unrefined, so far removed from everything he understood.
Celine was different, too, but she carried a grace that could be compared to a jewel.
Her rawness was like raw metal, just like the bronze in Miyanna's eyes.
When Celine chose, her words could be simple and beautiful, or intricate and layered, difficult to decipher if she felt complexity was needed.
But Miyanna… she was raw and harsh like the winter wind, just like the sapphire blue of Celine's eyes.
Her simplicity, her way of speaking, the way she moved, was, in theory, so straightforward that no one would question her meaning the way they might question Celine's.
And that was what unsettled Blanc.
Was the meaning of her words truly that simple? he had asked himself countless times since meeting her. It was the flaw of a Noble Blood when faced with a commoner.
A Noble Blood, built, raised, and prepared for courts, politics, and schemes, could not help but question whether words were ever as shallow as they appeared. Blanc had never been built for court life or politics, yet he understood schemes. He knew Noble Bloods well enough, their minds, their habits, and over time had adopted some of that manner of thinking, just in case.
And that habit now confused him more than a military campaign would confuse an untested general.
Realizing again his failure to understand women, his thoughts drifted once more to his birth mother, Mera, wishing he had asked her to teach him more about the minds of women and the diplomatic mastery it required.
It was for that reason that, after long consideration, he turned toward the one person in this entire situation who had told him to be patient, not to act too quickly.
"What do you think, my love?" asked Blanc.
"Well, what I think does not really matter yet," Celine replied.
"Yet?" Blanc asked, confused by the way Celine said it.
"Miyanna," Celine began, turning towards her, "Your whole life was about survival. About living another day. What do you want to do?"
"What do I want to do?" Miyanna muttered, thinking about the answer.
"We are in the position to dictate your life. If you live or die. But now, if we were to let you go. To be free of the danger we pose to your survival, what would you do?" Celine asked.
"What I've always done, I guess. Try to survive. But…" Miyanna said, losing track of her words or the courage to mutter them.
"Do you wish to come with us?" Celine asked her.
Miyanna's eyes widened as she looked at her with shock. She sent a glance at Blanc's face, but soon abandoned that idea as he also stared at her.
"Is, uh, is that really okay?" Miyanna asked.
Celine shrugged her shoulders, "I cannot answer that for you. As I said. You have survived doing whatever you could, doing whatever was required. Even betraying those who thought of you as their own. Could you say, now, that you would not betray us if it assured your survival? If it came to it, would you choose your life over ours?"
"Yes. I would choose my life over yours. Who in their right mind wouldn't do that?" Miyanna said the next moment, "But I've lived for so, so long all alone. Even in the Iron Line, not much changed. Most of the men there were just thieves, rapists, and killers, and these things did not just suddenly stop just because they were now in an army. So, it was smart to be alone," Miyanna continued, explaining while grabbing the wineskin, "But I grew so tired of being alone. When I was younger, I hoped that maybe I would have something I could call my own. Someone, somewhere that would cherish my existence. I gave up on that dream. Or at least I thought I did. *sigh* Look, all I can say is this. I would choose my life over yours if it came to it. But until then, I promise, even swear that, as long as it does not come to that, I will never betray you. Is that good enough?"
As Miyanna finished, Celine turned to Blanc.
Both stared into the other's eyes as though they could speak with one another just by looking at each other. Blanc nodded after a moment.
"What's your full name, Miyanna?" Celine asked casually
"Did I say all that for nothing?" Miyanna muttered, annoyed.
"Is it that difficult for you to answer without questioning anything?" Celine muttered.
Miyanna sighed, realising how long it had been since she told someone her full name, "Beleel Miyanna."
Good name, Blanc thought.
"Beleel Miyanna," Celine said, rising from her chair and turning towards her, "In my name as Celine Maroux, fiancée and future first wife of Denegis Blanc, today, I offer you to become my right-hand woman and friend. Do you accept?"
Blanc looked shocked at his fiancée. Such an offer was a very serious thing. If Miyanna accepted, she would become an unofficial member of the family.
Just as Drew and his family were to Blood Denegis. They were maids and butlers, but were protected and considered a branch of Blood Denegis, with members of their family allowed to take the name of Denegis as a second family name.
What was before Blanc's eyes was the second of the Traditums.
The Capesso.
Such a thing cannot be removed easily, as this also usually requires an official Blood contract in front of a representative of the Archivum Civitas, or the Order as a witness.
But Blanc stood silent, even witnessing this. Even understanding what it meant.
He trusted Celine enough not to question this. Such a decision does not come on a whim.
And Celine took Miyanna's side since the moment they met.
Maybe she felt some sort of kinship with her in an odd way, but now that he knew Miyanna's life, it somehow became even weirder in principle.
However, he kept his tongue. He will have enough time to question her later. After all, this wine was beginning to do its job properly.
Seeing that his mind was running too early to such thoughts, he turned back to the two, who, for a few moments now, kept staring at each other.
"What say you, Beleel Miyanna?" Celine asked.
"I say that it will be my honor. My… uh, my lady?" Miyanna replied, placing a hand on her chest.
"Not quite," Celine giggled, putting her hand in front of her, "Celine is enough, Beleel Denegis Miyanna."
"D-Denegis?" Miyanna muttered, with her hand halfway towards Celine's.
"Yes. I am to take my husband's name. And you, just now, became my sister," Celine offered her a smile as she leaned in, took Miyanna's hand, and shook it.
Miyanna was shocked, only able to turn her face slightly to stare at Blanc.
Who, in all his wisdom, only nodded to her, letting her know that it was the truth.
From strangers to family with the shake of a hand.
Celine took the wineskin from the table and poured it into their three cups, with the least amount in her own as she raised it up high, "Now, let's drink to a new member of our family."
This will be a long night, thought Blanc as he rose to his feet.