Hounds of War [Yandere Generals x Female General Reader]

36. The Old Dog of the Army.

Vanbinicci stared at his father in shocked silence. After several moments he remembered general Denlleonis's presence and tried to block her from his father's view but, it was too late, he had already seen her.

"What are you doing here?!" Vanbinicci asked, but on the inside, he was shaking. Something about his father's presence made him feel like a scared little boy again, and he hated it.

"I wanted to see if the rumors were true, I see now that they are," he replied, giving a knowing glare at general Denlleonis with green eyes that were the same as Vanbinicci's. "Come with me, we need to talk."

Even though he was growing older he stood tall and carried himself with an air of someone to be respected. His emerald tunic was even more embellished than Vanbinicci's. He took hold of his son's arm and dragged him roughly from the tent, Vanbinicci was too preoccupied wondering how his father had been able to get so far into the camp without being noticed to care. Surely if any of the other generals had seen him they would have warned him.

His question was soon answered as he stepped out of general Denlleonis' tent to see that the three other generals were being restrained by several soldiers bearing his family crest and not the one of the Luccian army. Maccio was still thrashing against the two soldiers holding him, while it took five to keep Baccoso restrained. Esclave lay unconscious on the ground, several of the old General Arrogari's men towering over him. They had knocked him out after he proved to be impossible to restrain any other way.

"I'm sorry Vanbinicci, we tried to stop him!" Meccio cried as he saw Vanbinicci emerge from the tent, but he was quickly silenced by an elbow strick from one of the guards.

Vanbinicci didn't respond as he continued to follow his father, his mind racing. The two men walked in silence through the camp until they eventually reached the tent where the generals would devise their strategies.

"Now that we're alone I'll ask again, what are you doing here father?" Vanbinicci said, breaking the thick silence between them, leaning over the table and staring intensely at his father.

"I've come to set you straight, you useless boy!" The old general bellowed, slamming his fist on the table. "As soon as I caught word that some woman from Estain had been placed in control of the army by our wretched king I thought I made it perfectly clear in my letter that you were to do whatever you had to do to end this war so that whore would be sent back to Estain!!"

"Don't call her that, father!" Vanbinicci protested, feeling a hot flash of anger spark in his chest.

"Why not? It's what she is," he snapped, glowering at his son. "Weeks went by and I heard nothing, so I decided to make the long trip from Bocio to check on the Army. And do you know what I found? My disgrace of a son playing nursemaid to that harlot when he should have been capitalizing on her sickness to take back the army!!"

"I said don't call her that!!" Vanbinicci growled more irritated than before. He balled his hands into fists. He wasn't sure why, but he hated hearing the general degraded in such a way even though he had called her such things himself at one point.

"You disgust me!!" The old general snarled, reaching out and slapping the brunette's face before he could react. "I can't believe that such a vile woman was able to turn you into her pet so easily!! Are you even my son?!"

"Father, you don't understand-!" He started, desperately trying to explain that there was more to her than met the eye.

"Oh, I understand perfectly!!" He scoffed, not letting his son finish. "Women are all the same, weak and deceitful swine. This toy general is just the same, a place of command is no place for a woman!"

"You're wrong!!" Vanbinicci exclaimed, feeling his irritation at his father increase every moment.  "General Denlleonis is unlike any woman I have ever met!!! She is far from weak!!! She is stronger than you will ever know!!!"

"Look at yourself son! She has you so entangled that you're even defending her," He waved his hands to express his exasperation at his son's protests. "If she wasn't from Estain I would think that she used some dark witchcraft to coerce your mind-"

"Don't insult her like that!!!" Vanbinicci yelled, losing what little remained of his composure. "She has more honor than even I do, and certainly more than you, father."

"Listen to yourself boy, you're speaking nonsense!!" The old general growled as his composure ebbed away too. "The next thing you'll say is that you love her and want to marry her."

"In-in love? No I-I," Vanbinicci faltered, caught off guard by his fathers mocking suggestions. He wanted to reject the idea at once. He couldn't have fallen in love with general Denlleonis, but the mere mention of it had him blushing.

"Come to your senses Vanbinicci!!!" His father exploded, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. "This is the peak of foolishness!!!"

"Do I... Do I love her...?" He muttered quietly, oblivious to the shaking as his cheeks turned an even more prominent shade of pink.

"Of course not!" The old general Arrogari snapped. "Don't be ridiculous!! I know that women can be attractive and pleasing in bed, but they are whiny and manipulative and grow boring quickly."

"I-I think I love her..." Vanbinicci said in a barely audible whisper, his green eyes wide and his cheeks flushed. She may have been stubborn and brutish, but it had grown on him, and he felt like he was connected to her in a way that was different from everyone else.

"Trust me, son, women are not worth it," His father said, clapping a hand on his back. "Just let me report her failures at leading the army and I can have the king send her back to Estain, and the army will be yours like it should be."

"But... I don't want her to leave..." Vanbinicci mumbled, a sudden and terrible loneliness gripping his heart at the thought of Y/N no longer being a general in the Luccian army.

"Don't be foolish son," he chided him, attempting a more gentle approach. "However she's pleased you to get you so enthralled I assure you that the same thing can be done by any man and better."

"But, I-I don't want someone else..." Vanbinicci said slowly, as he realized that he was no longer interested in anyone else, they all paled before what he felt towards Y/N. He didn't want to lose her. "She... She is the only one I want..."

"It's for your own good that I expose her weakness to the king and pronounce her as unfit to lead the army," The old general Arrogari continued, oblivious to his son's change of mood. "You'll be thanking me once you come to your senses-"

"-You-You're going to take her away from me!!!" He rambled, his green eyes wide as his breathing began to become uneven. "You- you want to send her back to that forsaken and barbaric country... I wouldn't allow it! I vowed that I would save her, no matter what!!"

Rage and fear bubbled up within him, too powerful to control. They washed over him like a tidal wave and he was unable to resist. Without thinking he lunged forward as everything went red.

A/N

And it seems as though another yandere has been born into the world.

Sorry, not sorry for the cliffhanger ^~^

Until next time I'll see you on the other side.

~J. C. Coltt.~