Chapter 318: The Commander Has a Request
What started as her attempt to subtly convey her appreciation for his willingness to cater to the mages who were important to their order, despite being a southerner, evolved into a device the Commander used to catch her off guard. It was the entire reason she tried to only speak to this man about things involving her work as the third in command.
"Actually, Siverly decided that he was going to stay behind," he had said.
Irene fixed her expression, knowing she had faintly come undone. She didn’t receive a solid answer on whether or not the Commander was for or against mages. Even if they were now being given a place to stay, was it perhaps because he wanted them further off? They were clearly useful to the order, but that didn’t mean the highest man in their duchy had to live under the same roof as thim.
She became more cautious, returning to the way she normally was around him and not realizing it was alienating him further.
While she did feel a bit guilty to still test someone who had been improving their lives for weeks, she had to carefully brooch this topic or she wasn’t going to be satisfied.
"Are you happy about that, Commander?" she asked.
Felix stood off to the side, wanting to sigh or roll his eyes that Irene was being so combative. He hoped that it was only because he could read her so well that he was picking up on this.
"Of course," the Duke responded without hesitation. "Out of all the mages I’ve worked beside, he is by far the one I’m closest to. Even if his willingness to stay is merely because he’s amused by knights, he is still quite useful for our order."
Irene pushed a bit further.
"Then it is you rather than he who wants him to stay?" she asked in thinly veiled disbelief.
Commander Henry’s expression became warm as a small smile pulled at his lips. He and most mages were in a bit of a cat and dog relationship. He seemed to be the large dog who was always chasing the small cats around who wanted to hide.
Occasionally he would catch one of the cats, but it was usually only when they allowed him to.