Days of harsh weather on the sea had both women throwing up, Lisa was scared to death because of her fear of deep water, but she did not speak of that fear to the woman. They saw Khougon from far away and in a matter of hours, they would arrive.
~~
When they arrived they said their goodbyes to the captain and her crew, they were nice people. Good people on the other hand... Lisa, Haruto, and Jennie lifted their belongings off the ship.
The three people had 3 chests of treasure and had no clue how to get it to their town, it was a few kilometers away from the smaller town. Lisa's attention was on the woman, how good she looked in her clothes, flower patterns decorated them entirely. It was the normal attire for a khougonian, that Lisa had bought for the woman before she stepped off the ship, it was not custom-made for her body, but it fit well enough. Her blonde hair stood out in the crowd of the native people there.
"Can we not pay someone to carry our belongings to our destination?" The young woman shrugged, she looked around and found a horse with an empty carriage, it was not as luxurious as what they used in the kingdom, but it had seats and space for chests and their belongings. Lisa walked over to the man who stood in front of it.
"Would you be willing to take us somewhere? We will pay." She pointed at Jennie and Haruto.
He hummed. "What will you pay?" He asked. The young woman put a couple of rubies in his hand and smiled. He squinted at her and nodded, that was very good payment for the short distance he needed to ride. She walked to Jennie and her brother and told them the deal she had made. They all let their belongings on first, then themselves.
The village was not far from shore, A 15-minute ride would take them where they wanted. The sight of houses could be seen in the distance. When they had come close enough they saw curious looks from other people. Jennie felt that people were staring at her specifically. "Well, the clothes did not help to blend you in. Your beauty stands out like a sore thumb." The woman nodded.
"Stop," Haruto spoke. The man stopped the horse and the two siblings jumped down, Lisa took Jennie's hand and helped her down. A group of people gathered around them including the sibling's parents. Lisa's father was the only one who stood out as much as Jennie did. Their parents held a curious look on their faces.
Lisa's heart started beating faster than usual, she needed to explain why the empress of a region was with them. It was likely that they did not know that she was empress either. "We need to discuss a couple of things." Lisa looked between Jennie and her parents. They nodded and walked into their house.
They heard chatter from behind them, most likely discussing what was going on among themselves. The woman took notice of the house they walked into, it was beautiful. Not anything they had in Fjelland, but the heat was unbearable. The mother saw the woman struggle and gave her a glass of water which she drank. "Thank you." She said. The mother nodded.
"This is the empress I was ordered to protect," Lisa spoke in the language Jennie understood, she did not want her to feel left out. The two parent's eyes widened, most likely wondering why she was brought there.
Lisa sighed, she needed to explain all of it and it was difficult to do. She took a deep breath in and out. She explained most of what had happened during her stay in Fjelland. She purposely left out any part where she discussed their relationship.
"But why here?" The father asked as he looked at Jennie, the woman put her hand over her stomach subconsciously, it did not seem like the parents took any notice of it, but Lisa and Haruto did because they both knew.
"I..." She was speechless, what was she supposed to say in such an odd situation?
"We will discuss it later, for now, I wish to show you something." Lisa and Haruto got the chest they had gotten from the empress, they opened it and showed the chest filled with treasure. "You... you received all of this?" Her mother said in Khougonian. The sibling nodded and smiled.
