"And in the Iron Line?" Blanc asked after hearing Miyanna's story.
"After I've accepted, I trained for years and did small work with them until I joined as one of the commanders for the vanguard you all fought against," she explained.
"And then you gave all the information you knew willingly to survive and condemned your people to die a horrible death only so you could live?" Blanc asked.
"Yes," she nodded, looking straight at him, her back straightened.
"Good," Blanc nodded back, "Condemning, but it makes sense. Thank you for telling me."
"Now that you all know everything, does that change anything?" Miyanna asked the two.
Blanc sighed as he started thinking. Losing himself as he watched the cup full of red wine.
There were things he still did not get.
But he understood her roughness.
Her way of keeping a distance.
He could not judge her choices. He respected them.
He knew in such a situation as hers, he would surely do exactly what she did.
He was a bit sad, truth be told, that the Empire was the way it was and that such things happened.
He was shielded from such a thing.
He knew how things stood from the side of a Noble Blood.
And that side, too, had its truths. However, such inequality was not humane.
Either way, it was one of many inequalities commoners found themselves with.
They had less and were forbidden to attempt to have more.
Especially when it came to strength.
The way to harvest Raw Vita and the attempts at harvesting it were mostly a secret and illegal practice for common folk.
Such was the way of the world.
And he was just a broken wheel in a system that by now was a millennium old.
He could not change it.
Yet now stood in front of him both the reason for the events that the Senvia Empire found themselves in, as well as one who suffered under such a system.
Could he really blame her?
Now that he knew all this, would he be able to raise his sword against her and terminate her life just because she was an unknown that made him uncomfortable still?
She was so different, so raw, so far away from all he knew.
Celine was too, but she had a grace that could be compared to that of a jewel.
Celine's rawness, like raw metal, like… bronze.
Her way of speaking her mind was simple yet beautiful when she wanted it to be, or intricate and hard to decipher the meaning of her words if she considered it necessary.
But Miyanna… she was raw and harsh as the wind during wintertime.
Her simplicity, her way of speaking, and the way she acted were, in theory, so simple that one would not question their meaning as one would do to Celine.
And that was the issue Blanc found so uncomfortable.
Was it really that simple?
That was the fault of a Noble Blood found itself having when talking with a commoner.
A Noble Blood with the knowledge of courts, politics, and schemes could not help themselves to not question if the words were as shallow as they seemed to be.
Blanc was not made for courts and politics, but he knew schemes.
He knew the Noble Bloods that were and how the mind of such a person would think.
And over time, he took it as his own, just in case.
And that case was now confusing him more than a military campaign would a general.
Once again, he thought about his Birth Mother, Mera, and how he wished he had asked her to teach him more things about the mind of women and the diplomatic mastery it required.
For that reason, after a long time of thinking, he turned towards the part of this whole situation that told him to have patience in concluding too soon.
"What do you think, my love?" asked Blanc.
"Well, what I think does not really matter yet," Celine replied.
"Yet?" Blanc asked, confused by the way Celine said it.
"Miyanna," Celine began, turning towards her, "Your whole life was about survival. About living another day. What do you want to do?"
"What do I want to do?" Miyanna muttered, thinking about the answer.
"We are in the position to dictate your life. If you live or die. But now, if we were to let you go. To be free of the danger we pose to your survival, what would you do?" Celine asked.
"What I've always done, I guess. Try to survive. But…" Miyanna said, losing track of her words or the courage to mutter them.
"Do you wish to come with us?" Celine asked her.
Miyanna's eyes widened as she looked at her with shock.
She sent a glance at Blanc's face, but soon abandoned that idea as he also stared at her.
"Is, uh, is that really okay?" Miyanna asked.
Celine shrugged her shoulders, "I cannot answer that for you. As I said. You have survived, however you could, doing whatever was required. Even betraying those who thought of you as their own. Could you say, now, that you would not betray us if it assured your survival? If it came to it, would you choose your life over ours?"
"Yes. I would choose my life over yours. Who in their right mind wouldn't do that?" Miyanna said the next moment, "But I've lived for so, so long all alone. Even in the Iron Line, not much changed. Most of the men there were just thieves, rapists, and killers, and these things did not just suddenly stop just because they were now in an army. So, it was smart to be alone," Miyanna continued explaining, as she grabbed the wineskin, "But I grew so tired of being alone. When I was younger, I hoped that maybe I would have something I could call my own. Someone, somewhere that would cherish my existence. I gave up on that dream. Or at least I thought I did. *sigh* Look, all I can say is this. I would choose my life over yours if it came to it. But until then, I promise, even swear that, as long as it does not come to that, I will never betray you. Is that good enough?"
As Miyanna finished, Celine turned to Blanc.
Both stared into the other's eyes as though they could speak with one another just by looking at each other.
Blanc nodded after a moment.
"What's your full name, Miyanna?" asked Celine.
"Did I say all that for nothing?" Miyanna muttered.
"Is it that difficult for you to answer without questioning anything?" Celine muttered.
Miyanna sighed, realising how long it had been since she told someone her full name, "Beleel Miyanna."
Good name, Blanc thought.
"Beleel Miyanna," Celine said, rising from her chair and turning towards her, "In my name as Celine Maroux, fiancée and future first wife of Denegis Blanc, today, I sent my request for you to become my right-hand woman and friend. Do you accept?"
Blanc looked shocked at his fiancée. Such an offer was a very serious thing.
If Miyanna accepts, she becomes an unofficial member of the family.
Just as Drew and his family were to Blood Denegis. They were maids and butlers, but were protected and considered a branch of Blood Denegis.
With members of their family allowed to take the name of Denegis as a second family name.
What was before Blanc's eyes was the second of the Traditums.
The Capesso.
Such a thing cannot be removed easily, as this also usually requires an official Blood contract in front of a representative of the Archivum Civitas, or the Order as a witness.
But Blanc stood silent, even witnessing this.
Even understanding what it meant.
He trusted Celine enough not to question this. Such a decision does not come on a whim.
And Celine took Miyanna's side since the moment they met.
Maybe she felt some sort of kinship with her in an odd way, but now that he knew Miyanna's life, it somehow became even weirder in principle.
However, he kept his tongue. He will have enough time to question her later.
After all, this wine was beginning to do its job properly.
Seeing that his mind was running too early to such thoughts, he turned back to the two, who, for a few moments now, kept staring at each other.
"What say you, Beleel Miyanna?" Celine asked.
"I say that it will be my honor. My… uh, my lady?" Miyanna replied.
"Not quite," giggled Celine, putting her hand in front of her, "Celine is enough, Beleel Denegis Miyanna."
"D-Denegis?" Miyanna muttered, with her hand halfway towards Celine's.
"Yes. I am to take my husband's name. And you, just now, became my sister," Celine offered her a smile as she took Miyanna's hand and shook it.
Miyanna was shocked, only able to turn her face slightly to stare at Blanc.
Who, in all his wisdom, only nodded to her, letting her know that it was the truth.
From strangers to family with the shake of a hand.
Celine took the wineskin from the table and poured it into their three cups.
With the least amount in her own, "Now, let's drink to a new member of our family."
This will be a long night, thought Blanc as he rose to his feet.