“Grandmother!” she exclaimed, turning to the old woman, a bit annoyed. “That’s too much!”

“What?” shrugged the lady. “I merely gave your man a couple of suggestions, I didn’t do anything!”

Cessilia kept glaring at her grandmother, annoyed. She could bet her grandmother’s suggestions had hit a nerve for Ashen to do such a thing... She turned back to him.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered.

“Don’t worry,” he laughed. “I’ll survive. Moreover, I do feel lighter. ...Do you like it?”

Cessilia blushed and nodded shyly. In fact, she was surprised by how much she liked it. She caressed his hair some more, pretending to play with the new length, well aware of Ashen’s amused eyes on her. He had clearly done this all by himself and quite quickly. Probably with a sharp blade from something like a dagger, judging by the slightly uneven length in some parts. Perhaps he’d let her even it out later... but she also liked it a bit messy.

“...I think I like it a lot,” she whispered.

He smiled and gently kissed her, Cessilia answering the quick kiss with delight. He had even shaved his beard, leaving his chin and cheeks completely smooth. There was a fresh thin cut on his chin already healing by itself.

“Children,” said Kareen, sounding a bit annoyed, “I’m still here. Literally, right here.”

“...Thank you for the suggestion, Grandmother,” chuckled Cessilia, slowly parting from him. “I like it.”

She took Ashen’s hand, while Kareen put on a little amused smile.

“See? Your grandmother’s always right.”

“From now on, I’d like it if you didn’t push your opinions on my love though, Grandmother,” Cessilia frowned.

Ashen chuckled, amused to hear Cessilia come to his defense, and put a quick kiss on her forehead.

“Where were you two headed?”

“The Cheshi Clan’s residence,” Cessilia explained, resuming their walk. “Apparently, Aglithia asked for me... I figured I’d bring Grandmother too.”

Ashen nodded and followed her. Cessilia wondered if it would be alright for him to visit his mother’s birth tribe. Despite knowing of her origins, he actually hadn’t been on good terms with the Cheshi for a long while now... This would be the first time he interacted so closely with that clan. They had remained out of sight when he was a child, and mostly ignored him as a King. For them to have changed their position for the war might not be enough to erase their difficult past with Ashen...

Still, he didn’t say anything for the whole trip, but didn’t look annoyed or reluctant to go either. Cessilia had become better at deciphering his expressions, and she could tell he was completely fine. If anything, he seemed happy to spend more time with her. Their fingers remained interlaced for the entire time they walked to the Cheshi residence.

When they finally got there, Lady Kareen frowned, and raised her eyes toward the door.

“...That’s it?” she asked.

Cessilia nodded, and before she could add anything, the doors slowly opened. Aglithia stepped out, and was surprised to see the two extra guests accompanying Cessilia. She quickly hid her surprise though and bowed politely to the two of them.

“Your Majesty, Lady Kareen, it’s an honor.”

“...You know who I am?” Kareen raised an eyebrow.

“Of course. We have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“Ha,” scoffed the older lady. “...My kind of people.”

Cessilia smiled. Indeed, it was exactly like her grandmother. Even years and years after the last battle in the Dragon Empire, she still had spies in every noble and Imperial residence, so that even while visiting once in a while, no one could hide anything from her. The Cheshi were probably no stranger to those kinds of practices either... Cessilia wouldn’t have even been surprised if they’d been followed all along.

“Please, do come in,” said Aglithia. “We have some tea ready. It’s a good thing you came, Your Majesty, we have already interrogated quite a number of prisoners.”

“The invitation got lost then,” grumbled Ashen.

Cessilia grimaced. So maybe not everything was forgiven yet, after all... but Ashen was right. Even though those were his prisoners, Aglithia had looked for her, not for the King himself. It probably wasn’t out of shyness either. Aglithia pretended not to hear that.

“My granddaughter mentioned that you and your people have interesting knowledge about dragons,” said Kareen, with a mighty tone in her voice. “I’m curious to hear what you pretend to know better than our family.”

“Oh, we are not that arrogant, my lady! But, our clan takes its pride in centuries-old knowledge which we have preciously kept and studied relentlessly... I do have something to show you, if you’d like. As Lady Cessilia’s grandmother, it’s only right for you to see it too.”

“The prisoners first,” said Ashen. “I don’t care much for your legends, I need to sort out what to do with our war prisoners and the Yekara Clan.”

Aglithia nodded.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Just as we suspected, a lot of the Yekara tried to commit suicide before we could interrogate them, but luckily, we managed to stop most before they took their own lives. We lost a dozen this way, but all the others have stopped trying. All the men who weren’t part of the Yekara Clan to begin with were, as we expected, either hired mercenaries, former survivors of the Kunu Tribe, or random bandits. All of them were promised they’d be able to loot after the battle and take what they wanted, but from what information we have gathered, it is more likely that the Yekara had planned to get rid of their allies right after the battle.”

“Where are they now?”

“We decided to detain most of them in our fortresses, and some are still held by the Royal Guards that remained loyal to you, Your Majesty. What do you intend to do with them...?”

Ashen remained silent. It was clear that was no light question, Aglithia’s eyes were scrutinizing him. Cessilia could also tell: whatever Ashen planned to do with the survivors would have long-term consequences on the future of the Kingdom. If he was too lenient, he’d be taken as a weak leader, and expose himself to more attacks in the future. On the contrary, if he was too cruel in his punishment, he would be considered a tyrant no matter how hard he had worked to improve his image. It was truly a difficult choice...

“It’s going to take a while,” he suddenly muttered.

“A while?” Aglithia seemed surprised.

“The Kunu have already betrayed me twice,” he said. “I won’t give them another chance. Those who were captured will be executed.”

“...Understood. What about the others?”

Cessilia couldn’t help but be a bit upset at Aglithia. Although she would obey his orders right away, it was clear the Cheshi were still testing their King. She had hoped they would have already made up their minds after all this.

“The Yekara will pay their debt as war prisoners,” Ashen declared. “They have caused a lot of damage to the citizens’ homes and our Capital’s streets. They will be forced to work and repair everything, and the clan’s money and goods will be confiscated to pay for all the repairs, including some compensation money for those who have lost their family members in the battle.”

This time, Aglithia seemed genuinely surprised. Cessilia glanced toward her grandmother, but Kareen had a faint smile on, one of those smirks that meant she was content with Ashen’s decision. In fact, even without confirming with her, Cessilia would have thought his suggestion was good too. Moreover, judging from what Aglithia had said, there would be Yekara who would commit suicide either way. For them to choose death was not the King’s concern, and their suicides would not stain his honor nor make any citizen cry for them. In fact, having them repair the damages was a far better way to punish them. Even once all the repairs were done, their clan would be ruined, and its members considered traitors. It was truly the end of that clan, a downfall they had paved for themselves.

“...I think that’s a good idea, Your Majesty,” finally said Aglithia. “May I ask why you said it would take a while, though?”

Ashen suddenly glanced toward Cessilia, a bit enigmatically, before turning back to the Cheshi woman.

“The mercenaries were mostly chosen amongst men that were out of jobs, desperate. Many of those we thought had little to no experience with sword fighting. I want all of them to be interrogated one by one. It is unlikely they will also try to commit suicide, so I want their trials to be held fairly. ...As their King, I want to hear each of their stories. How they came to this, how they will redeem themselves, and what is their better alternative. The state of our Kingdom is partially at fault for pushing those men to risk their lives in a fight that wasn’t theirs. I want to hear it all.”

Cessilia was genuinely impressed. So he had listened to her plea, and was willing to go that far to listen to those men. Most leaders would have simply gotten rid of them, or treated them like the others, as war prisoners and criminals. Yet, Ashen was taking a different approach. He wasn’t only going to hear those men, he was going to listen to the troubles his people were facing, to their hopes for the future, and to all the difficulties that were still blocking their way. It was a lot more than what he would have allowed just weeks ago.

“...With all due respect, Your Majesty, what are we supposed to do with those men in the meantime? The Cheshi can provide prisons to hold them, but we won’t feed prisoners with our own money, and if all of the Yekara’s goes to the repairs–”

“I will take care of that,” announced Kareen.