Next day, and next couple of weeks.

“So how was it?” Akina asked, “Was she really like a dead fish?”

You were sitting in a bath that was prepared, playing with a Phebisian silver coin in one of your hands. The ounce of silver reflecting the morning light was somehow captivating to your eyes, but surely not as impressive as the gold standard of Itheria. It was a subtle proof that Itheria had **** the former Kingdom of Phebis into a one-sided trading agreement by military occupation. That would change now that it’ll be a Dukedom under the Itherian crown.

“She actually took initiative,” you said. Not really paying attention to your spymaster as much as the coin, “She was the first virgin that bled for me too.... Akina? Back in Itheria, Victoria told me she was a virgin. Are you able confirm that?”

Akina crossed her arms before replying to you.

“Are you trying to convince yourself that she lied to you? Not all virgins bleed, you know? And if I’m being honest I couldn’t care less who the slut may have had besides you. She was not a concern of mine until she tried using her cum-dump to sway you. So, no. I can’t confirm she was ‘pure’ when you bedded her.”

“Hmm,” you sat thinking about who to give Lady Victoria to up until the moment you accidentally dropped the silver on the hardwood floor. It provided a sharp ring and a start from you upon falling and it rolled over to Akina’s foot. “…A tip for your thoughts.”

“I’d rather have your tip up inside me,” Akina smiled, deftly picking up the coin, “but perhaps we don’t have time for that.”

“We don’t,” you say as you stand up from the bath of warm water. Akina, without orders this time, made haste in drying you before the chill of the morning air can claim the heat of the bath water on your skin, “Reinforcements from Rublia will be arriving in a couple days time, and we need to make sure none of them are Eria’s agents.”

Over the course of the next couple of days and week before the countess and her army arrived was spent securing fortifications, rations and forces. Each time you walked the halls, you had Clara educating you about the nobles of the land and the general opinion of the populace. Akina would provide updates about how her agents were causing some level of discord within the approaching armies either by **** or sabotage. Sir Garret’s scorched earth failed due to the rainy season along the river, but flooding and muddied roads had a better affect at slowing down the advance. Additionally, news of Countess Eria’s **** of the king was helping your cause, as you were being heralded as a champion of justice in the southern parts of Phebis.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to happen was several days into the war, and the day the Countess arrived at Philos, beginning her siege of the city. The last few days that court was in session you noticed that many of the nobles and generals of Phebis were going to you for questions and opinions on plans. You sat upon the throne of the court while Gregan was pushed evermore to the side as his vassals looked to you for wisdom you were sure you lacked without Clara at your side. Queen mother Mereen and Queen consort Lilya as came to you for many things too and both grew evermore coquettish as the days went by. What it ultimately came to was on the night of the first day of the Siege of Philos, while cold steel and shouts echoed throughout the night, you were in Duke Gregan’s personal baths fucking both queens senseless. While Gregan had to **** a maidservant to get off, you were putting your seed inside his wife and mom in the connecting room to his. Mereen and Lilya’s screams of passion would echo in Gregan’s dreams all night, as well as your words, “You both will bear me daughters! Mereen, you will claim it Claudius’, and Lilya, you will claim it Gregan’s. So when I grow old I can fuck them too!”

It was all the power going to your head, but Akina confronted you the next day in your own bath trough with a reality check, “You might want to be careful not to stick your cock inside every warm pussy you see. If Gregan’s spymaster wasn’t the same as Cludius’ and under my check, your throat would have been slit last night!”

The worry and anger on Akina’s face was genuine, but it did not stop you from more discreet sexual encounters with the entire Phebis family, including your future wife.

Two weeks had passed since Claudius’ ****, and a week of siege as well. It was about the time that Lady Vessa and Duke Magus’ armies should have been arriving, but no word had come back from either of them. Countess Eria was using Elven warriors to scale the walls at night and siege equipment and magic to torment the walls during the day. Countess Eria must have known her time was short, and had to slay the royal family of Phebis before more reinforcements arrived. She had already managed to breech the walls at least once this week and had to be pushed back out. Rubble from the magic explosion was used to reseal that section in a speedy manner as a brave contingent of troops fought to hold the invading armies back. None of them made it back, and they were drilled through by massive stakes to be presented to those defending the walls. In retaliation, those defending the walls hung prisoners from the walls to show the enemy that those acts would be answered in kind. It was brought up in court the next day.

“Who authorized the slaying of all those prisoners?! We are not savages like the Countess!” It was Gregan shouting. His beta self was certainly better, since he had been relatively quiet until today to speak about the atrocities happening in the defense of Philos. For once, you had to agree with him, so you let him shout.

“Their methods are beyond savage, my liege!” Gregan’s marshal was speaking. He was a young man, the original marshal under King Claudius had disappeared with many other nobles on the night of the old king’s ****, “This is the most recent of hundreds of atrocities her army has committed in a week! They’ve burned, staked and crucified our captured alive! **** children they’ve snatched from the fields! And **** their own deserters en masse! The Countess is a devil!”

It reminded you of some of the claims that Countess Marissa had gotten before going to Luxem to nail the problem as a demon possessing her. Was war just something that brought out this side of people so quickly? Or was it a tactic by the Countess to expedite the conclusion of the war?

“Mind your tongue, boy! Do you forget who you’re speaking to?” Spit escaped Gregan as he spoke.

“My men are tired, my liege!” The young marshal didn’t seem to care who he was speaking to, “Come the light of the sun or the light of the stars, the countess uses her numbers to keep us awake with the cries of our countrymen. Children! And women too! These elves she’s conscripted, they don’t sleep, and don’t have remorse torturing whatever isn’t their own.”

“Guards! Cut this man’s throat out!”

A few Phebisian levies began to move hesitantly before you finally raised your hand and intervened, “Halt. We will have no further blood spilled this day.”

“Your Majesty-,” Gregan’s marshal turns to you with hope in his eyes, “Surely a King like yourself understands the plight of our armies?”

“I understand that these elves are being **** into their actions by my intelligence. We cannot let them cloud our vision from the true evildoer here, Countess Eria. At least this once I agree with Duke Gregan, we cannot stoop to her level. Both sides of this war are Itherian now.”

“Understood, your majesty. But noble causes alone will not cease the rage within my troops.”

“For now we are all fellow Itherians spilling blood to find out the greater good. We will not spill more than what is necessary. If your troops have frustrations they need to vent out, have them do it on the Elven prisoners exclusively.”

“It’ll be as your say, Your Majesty.” The young marshal saluted and bowed you, not doing the same to Gregan. Once again, undermining his authority.

“Fine!” Gregan conceded, “Then what of these armies that were supposed to show already?”

Now he was trying to make you the fool after saving the previous situation. If that’s what you could call it. You had to gamble that Countess Eria was doing something worse to the elves to **** them as a **** army than what you had authorized, otherwise relations with the elves of Elileithel would certainly worsen.

“They will be later than anticipated, but they will come.” You were trying to make it sound like you did have a line of communication with them, despite the contrary.

“How long?”

It was clear Gregan wasn’t happy about you fucking his wife, mother and sister. And you’d have to lie about your answer. You knew Lady Vessa would come, she had never let you down and you trusted her as much as you did Lord Gilbert, but Magus was a different story.

“Within the week.”

“I sure hope so, King Bryce.” Gregan said lying back in his seat, “It would not do well if you lie to your subjects so early on.”

Again, he was right. Countess Eria, just like you had feared, clearly had a considerable magic arsenal helping her streamline this siege. The numbers she had compared to yours was also looking pretty grim as the loses Philos was suffering to defend was ever-growing. So what would happen? Would neither army show? Would it just be Lady Vessa, and would the might of the Crownlands be enough for victory? Or would Lady Vessa and Duke Magus answer the summons of their King?