The Prince and His Warrior Wife (Joy x OC Version)

Chapter 8

Sooyoung flipped the page on the history book, continuing the story of a great battle the Nilfgaardians won against the Tamarelians four hundred years ago. She had decided to take a break from reading rapier manual treatises and read up on Nilfgaardian military tales.

Sooyoung loved practicing with her blades, but she too needed a break once in a while. While Nilfgaard was part of the so-called civilized world, it too was a society built up by conflict and had its respectable share of glorious military victories. She was glad for that, for she could not stand reading about philosophy and the sciences.

Begrudgingly, she had to admit that the Nilfgaardian Empire had a military history as illustrious as the Khuzait Empire’s.
Sooyoung turned her attention back to the book, continuing where she left off. Emperor Franz had led the Nilfgaardian army in a titanic clash against the Tamarelians at the Battle of Haastar, where he decisively beat the Tamarelians despite commanding a smaller army. The victory won here had ensured that the Tamarelians would spend the next few centuries licking their wounds and they were only just starting to really recover in the last few decades.

“I see you found something interesting enough for you to read,” said a now-familiar voice.

Sooyoung turned around from her place on the couch to find Maddox looking down at the book with an amused expression.
“I still can’t believe he gambled the entire empire on this one battle by bringing almost the entire Nilfgaardian army to fight the Tamarelians. What if he lost?” said Sooyoung.

“Well, the Tamarelians literally marched their entire army into the Nilfgaardian heartlands. I’m pretty sure the Khan would have done the same,” said Maddox.

“You Nilfgaardians always liked to fight head-on,” remarked Sooyoung.

“If we can destroy our enemies in one fell battle, we’ll take that opportunity, although we Nilfgaardians tend to be a bit more careful these days. Admittedly Emperor Franz was pretty creative with his tactics and we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for that victory. It made us the prosperous Nilfgaard we are today,” continued Maddox as he moved to sit beside her on the couch.

Sooyoung gulped as the distance between them decreased dramatically, clearly not having anticipated him to sit beside her. It was a good thing that his gaze was on the books and not on her. She still hadn’t figured out what was going on with her whenever he came close to her, but she was determined not to make a fool of herself.

Maddox continued to read through the page she was on…….. and looked up at her.

Sooyoung’s felt the now-familiar uncomfortable feeling within her as his piercing gaze met hers, but she held her gaze and kept as normal a face as possible.

“This was my favourite battle to read on when I was a child. I never got bored of it and it inspired me to become a general,” said Maddox, a slight excitement evident in his voice.

There was a brief pause before he turned his gaze back to the book and ran a hand over the picture of Karl Franz charging on horseback toward the Tamarelians at the climax of the battle.

“Its all I ever wanted to be ever since,” said Maddox nostalgically in a whisper.

The silence in the air was deafening as neither of them spoke. Sooyoung watched as he continued to stare at the picture, probably lost in old memories. His latest revelation made her feel a renewed sense of kinship with him. It seemed that they had a common shared experience between them.

“I wanted to be a warrior since young too,” revealed Sooyoung.

“I believe you. And you ended up becoming one, just like I did,” said Maddox as he looked up at her once more with a smile.
The two stared at each other, holding each other gazes without saying a word.
Sooyoung broke her gaze first as she turned her attention back to the book.