Tyrant's Obsession With The Heiress-Chapter 47: An Angel Seated At The Devil’s Dinner Table

Later that evening, as requested, Lady Karina had joined Orpheus and his knights for the evening meal in the great hall.

The meal wasn't anything fancy due to the depleted stores but it was certainly plentiful for the starving war machines around the oak table.

Great loaves of bread, cheese, dried fruit, and half a sheep were served on large platters across the table.

The Van Merikh knights conversed rowdily while they gobbled down food like animals, mostly between themselves as they bantered for more wine at every second.

Orpheus was mostly part of their conversations, leaving Lady Karina nearly ignored, to which she was wholly grateful.

It was no better than being seated at the devil's dinner table.

She could feel the evil cloaking the hall like a fog, invading her senses and causing her to shrink away when one of the knights laughed loudly or spoke in tones with too much volume.

The lady was suddenly wishing Orpheus had never invited her to share a meal with them.

She was no better than a lamb amongst wolves.

It was a fact that none of these men wanted anything to do with her, nor did she with them.

They were also Van Merikh generals after all; that in itself meant they were a different breed of warrior.

Lady Karina was unfortunately forced into a seating arrangement between Orpheus and Lyall.

The blonde-haired knight was absorbed in conversation with a few of Orpheus' generals, and she picked up bits of their conversation about the structure of Walcian longbows and how the artificers of their armies were experimenting with modifying those bows magically.

While magic could be channelled from a person capable of it through a weapon, it was unheard of for weapons to be independently capable of magic.

She was intrigued about how they would accomplish creating magical weapons.

However, their conversation deviated into something else, which left Lady Karina picking at the meat on her plate because she wasn't particularly hungry.

Lost in thought, her mind wandered over to the southern orchards where the apricots were planted.

It was quite a large orchard that was cultivated many years before her birth.

It reminded her of her sweet mother and how the lady loved to create apricot compote with sugar, apricots, and nutmeg.

Many ages had passed since she last reminisced about her mother; the lady Hyacinth Rosetta Reinhardt had succumbed to a fatal disease when her daughter was eight years of age.

Sit Gerald never took well to her death and he mourned his wife for every year that passed, refusing to take another lady as his spouse.

Lady Karina's head perked up when she realised someone was trying to gain her attention.

Startled from her rambling thoughts, she looked up to see that it was Lyall focused on her.

"As I have been saying, Moonveil is undoubtedly one of the most organised fortresses we ever encountered," Lyall said with a surprising amount of pleasantness in his tone.

"The castles we've taken before were rather unkempt and failing, and there was simply no excuse for their poor states when they were well placed and well supplied," he added, speaking to the rest of the men while keeping his attention on her.

It took a moment to realise the man was attempting to make conversation with her and lighten up the mood.

Lyall knew very well that Orpheus would have his head on a golden platter if the lady was made to feel ill at ease.

Hence, he thought of a way to involve her in the conversation.

And the knight seated next to Lyall was focused on her as well. He was one of the Walcian generals, being a big man with very dark curly hair and onyx-coloured eyes.

Lady Karina was somewhat unnerved.

"I am greatly honoured that you praise Moonveil so highly for its abilities," she replied politely.

Lyall observed her in an appraising manner, perhaps a closer look than what he normally would have taken given the fact that his liege intended to marry the lady.

He was very curious indeed.

"I have heard that such efficiencies were due to your management," Lyall said. "Cleric duties are a rather unusual skill for a woman."

It was somewhat of a backhanded praise, but considering he was a Van Merikh knight, it was the only bit of politeness you could expect from him.

Lady Karina simply shrugged lightly.

"As the only child of the Reinhardt family, my father sought to impart all of his knowledge regardless of what it was."

She leaned back in her chair before continuing, "I am capable of literature, reading, writing, and mathematics. I was also taught to wield a sword, although most of the time it hurts my wrist just to lift it."

Lady Karina smiled subtly, attempting to bring some lightness into the conversation.

She suspected that Van Merikh men perhaps knew nothing of humour or very little of it, wondering if the last bit was better left unsaid.

But to her surprise, Lyall smiled but it was the general beside him that spoke.

"You possess the skills of battle then, my lady?" The man said rhetorically; he had an unexpectedly deep yet gentle voice. "Did the garrison commander perhaps expect you to defend Moonveil on his behalf in his absence?"

Lady Karina wriggled her eyebrows playfully.

"There is much doubt that my sword skills would have been that useful. I reckon I might have done better booting men in the shins or clawing their eyes out," she teased.

Her words drew a loud laugh from Lyall and the general beside him, in turn earning Orpheus' attention.

The other knights turned their attention toward Lady Karina and before she knew it, the entire table had been looking at her.

Her smile faded when she felt their intense stares on her, her heart beginning to pound.

"Care to share what you find so hilarious?" Orpheus nearly demanded, not too pleased with how familiar his two knights behaved with his future wife.

Lyall simply shook his head. "The lady was simply sharing the extent of her battle skills."

"Is that so?" Orpheus' dual-coloured gaze lingered on Lyall almost warningly before he looked at Lady Karina. "I wasn't under the impression that you were capable of wielding weapons."

Lady Karina could very well see that he was in pure Van Merikh mode—deep, dark, and menacing.

And this was the man she had met the first day of his invasion of Moonveil—the man she was terrified of.

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She didn't understand why he seemed to bleed destruction and evil at everything around him whenever his men were present.