Chapter 7 Chapter VII

Jura was standing under a tree.It had been a week since Saul's death, and she had not left the women's training grounds except for the funeral.She had caught Ron staring at her at Sol's graveyard, but he had turned away quickly without speaking to her. He turned and left, and she thought his anger had not subsided.All the women of the guard saw her, looked at her disapprovingly, or murmured about her.Three days after the game, the new members of the female guard did not obey her orders.One of them, Honora, a bad-tempered, vain girl, said that Ron had despised her, laughed at her, and said she had been deserted by the King.Therefore, a dozen young recruits disrespect her and despise her.

Impulsively, Jura pulled out her knife, intending to throw it at Honora.But she would not take advantage of dealing with a dozen strong women by herself, so she had to give up.Still maintaining her dignity, she left the training ground. No one seemed to support her.Women's Guardians thought it was a lie that she didn't want to win the contest, that she had been calculated to win Celian and earn a reputation for humility.As for Cillian, who lay in her room slowly recovering, she refused to see Jura. Now, Jura was leaning against a big tree, angry with Ron for putting her in such an isolated situation.

In spite of her anger, she didn't hear anyone approaching her. A man almost came up to her. She drew her sword and glared at the person who came—a young English knight. "Put down the knife!" he cried sharply. "The king bids you go and see him." "I disobeyed his orders," Jura said, not putting down the knife in his hand. The knight took a step closer to her. "Go away! Don't threaten me with a knife, or I will skin you, which will do you no good." "Neil!" came a deep cry from Jura's left. She turned around and pointed the knife at the place where the sound came from.Another rider stood there. It seemed that he was a little older, with gray hair and a scar on his face.

The knight stopped Neil from getting angry, and then said to Jura: "Your Majesty, King Ron wants you to go to him, and you must not resist!" "I have work to do here," Jura said. "You shrew!" Neil cursed, taking another step closer to her. The older rider also walked up to her. "This is not a request, but an order, please come with us." Jula gave the warning signal in his eyes, knowing what might happen if she didn't go with them.Winning Sirian was such a sin that it must be paid for.She sheathed the knife and said, "Okay." She followed the older knight towards the edge of the forest.A saddled horse and another pack horse with her luggage and clothes were already waiting here.She then rode with the two men to the city of Escalan.

After the wedding ceremony, Jura left Ron to live alone.She wondered how the people of Ariel would react to her actions.Now two English knights jokingly refer to her as the "virgin queen".It seemed they liked the name of the young and pretty woman, for they knew that many women had courted Ron but had been turned down by the King. After they rode into the city, they went straight to Thor's castle.Jura threw her head back and held her chest high, acting cocky.The castle was exceptionally clean, much cleaner than when Jura lived here.She guessed that Ron had organized the cleaning.He's not training, wasting his time doing such nonsense, she shook her head.

An English knight opened the door of a stone house.Jura is familiar with everything here. This room is the command room used by Sol to deploy military operations.She walked over boldly and closed the door behind her.After her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, she saw Ron sitting at the far end of the room.Due to the lack of light, his hair appeared to be black. "You can sit down," he said. "I'm standing," she replied. She sensed that he was annoyed, but he was not so angry compared to her. "We have to talk." His voice seemed to come through his teeth.

"I have nothing to talk about," she replied simply. "Damn it!" he cursed angrily. "It's your fault that I believed you wanted me because you seduced me." This Ron was as tough and resolute as Saul's character. He didn't think it was his own troubles, but someone else's fault. "Someone needs to get married and not have promiscuous sex," she said quietly, "but I am different. I can have fun with a blacksmith, but I don't want to marry him." "I am your king, not a blacksmith." She looked at him. "You are not my king, you are an Englishman. Due to the misunderstanding of the gods, you become my husband, but you can dissolve our engagement."

Ron stood up and walked to the window farther in the room. "Yes," he said calmly, "I have already conducted an investigation, and it is absolutely impossible to dissolve the engagement, at least not now. Because this match is still fresh in people's minds," he turned and turned his back to her, Continued: "I will unite the tribes of Lanconia. If I leave Gerald's half-sister aside, I am afraid that the Ariel will not follow me." Jura smiled at him. "Unite the tribes of Lanconia? Then you also want to move the Tarnovian mountains? Maybe you like to move a little south, do you want to move the rivers?"

His eyes shot a sharp gleam at her. "What a fool I am! Why is this game being held?" "I think that was Thor's order. The king's choice of queen should be made so that all the tribe's women have a chance to participate." "I asked for this match. My only hope is to get you. I have every confidence that you will win." Zhu La clenched her fist and shouted at him: "You hurt my friend Xilian, you broke my engagement with Dale!" As she was about to leave, he grabbed her.With his back against the stone wall, he was terribly annoyed with her, but when he touched her the annoyance turned to lust.He put his arms around her, lips to hers, and Jura responded instantly, her body seemed to dissolve and become a part of him.She put her arms around his neck tightly and opened her mouth to kiss him desperately.

Suddenly, he pushed her away, and Jura sat on the hard stone. "We have to talk," he said again through his teeth. He was panting like a panting horse.He looked down at her, a beam of sunlight shining through the window on his face, and his hair was back to its original golden color. "Jura, I will curse you!" he said. "I have sworn before God that I will not touch you or kiss you." Jura also gradually regained consciousness. "We're married," she said.Now she needs nothing but him. "Then you must ask me," he said. "What do I need?" she said, stepping back.

"If you want me in your bed, you have to ask me." She squinted at him. "Is this your British custom? Do you make your gentle English women plead? Isn't that an attempt to insult women to establish your own authority? Lanconian men don't need women to grovel to make pleas, don't they man!" His irritation dissipated, he took a step towards her, then back again. "I swore to God I wouldn't break our engagement, but I can't touch you either. Well, now let's discuss something." "I have nothing to discuss with you," Jura said, and started for the door. He pulled her back and let go. "Sit down!" he ordered. Jura shrugged and obeyed. Ron wandered on the ground. "It is destiny that I marry you. If, in other circumstances, I am not half-breed, people do not suspect me, or you and Geralt are not half-siblings, I can promise you a divorce. But because of this , we have to make some concessions, do you understand? Tomorrow I am going to leave here and go to the Waters tribe to negotiate with their chiefs, and you must go with me." Jura stood up, "I can't go." Standing in front of her, Ron leaned forward until his nose almost touched her forehead. "I don't believe you won't gather your army to put your pompous brother on the throne after I'm gone. I'd rather we both be together. I can see what you do." He looked into her eyes. "But I will never sleep with you unless you beg me." "That way you'll keep your wife virgin," she said sarcastically. What absurdly English reasons he had turned her down, just to preserve his dignity. "I can't go with you, I want to stay, and..." "No!" he said loudly. "Whatever you think, you are the queen and you must act with the king. We shall be together no matter what happens in the way of uniting the tribes." "If I stab you with a sword, then..." "If that's the case, I'll feel better," he said dryly. "What do you need to take with you?" she said, staring at him.She turned from denial to curiosity. "How do you plan to unite the tribes? How to subdue them?" Ron went to the window. "Speaking of strategy? I want the tribes to intermarry and pass it on from generation to generation." Jura laughed at him. "Are you going to ask them to marry the haters?" Her smile disappeared. "You don't know anything about us Lanconians. If they dropped their national identity, the tribe wouldn't exist." "That's my purpose. After they intermarry, the descendants will not know which tribe they belonged to, they are all Lanconians!" Jura shook his head and said, "If you want to live, you'd better go back to England, otherwise you will start a war..." "Are you going back with me?" Jura was taken aback. "Living in England, where they're having fun, should a woman ask a man?" Ron opened his mouth and closed it again. "I'm not going to explain to you. Your duty is to obey. You're going to travel long distances with me, through all the tribes of Lanconia. I don't need any advice from you, as long as you obey, because you are my legal wife. " "You mean, I'm an English mouse," she said, "and what does it matter if I can go with you? I'll be a widow in a fortnight." As Jura walked down the dim stone-walled passages to the Great Hall, she thought Ron was very stupid, subjective, as if he could go to every tribe at will and they would obey his orders to stop hating and fighting.This is all fantasy.Someone will kill this fool in a few days. As for him not sharing the bed with her, she was baffled.Or is this true of all British men towards women?She shrugged, who can understand the mind of a foreign idiot? "Are you Zhula?" A soft voice came into her ears, "You won!" Jura looked down and saw that it was Lola's son.His face seemed carved out of ivory. "What do you want?" she asked, looking down at the child, who was also an enemy of hers. "I want to see you," said the boy, his eyes as round as blue flowers on the prairie. "I've seen you win, I've seen you beat every contestant. Can you teach me to run, wrestle, draw a bow and shoot like you?" Jura couldn't help laughing, the child showed no hostility. "Yes." She promised him. Philip laughed at her. "Are you here?" A voice came from the corridor.It was Montgomery the Englishman, and Jura's hand unconsciously grasped the handle of the knife.But the young man just looked at her and saluted her, and she let go. "This is Jura," said the child proudly. "Yes, I know her," said Montgomery, laughing.Jura saw that, despite his youth, Montgomery was tall and quick, and would be an outstanding man in the future, and she nodded to him with a smile. "What are you talking about?" Ron called after the three of them. "Montgomery, you have nothing to chat. No armor to wash? No weapons to sharpen? No lessons to learn?" "Yes, Your Majesty," the young man agreed, smiling at Jura. Philip heard his uncle's cry, and at once ran up to Jura, and put his little hands round her thighs, and held them tight.Jura looked down at him in surprise. "Philip!" said Ron sharply. "What do you want to do?" "She's Jura," he replied. "I know exactly who she is, and now you leave her." Jura smiled at Ron: "You can't control a child, how can you expect to control Bretta, Yeni and Marek, and unite the tribes they rule?" "I can't conquer you either. But time will prevail." Ron tried to drive Philip away, but the child hid behind Jura, who shielded him with her body. Ron stopped. "I can't control you, but you have power over me," he said gently to Jura, "you have made me younger than my entourage. I don't argue with you about children, you are deluded too He. But remember, he's my nephew, and it won't do you any good if you hurt him." "Hurt a child?" Jura asked in surprise. "You've gone too far. I don't need to hurt any Brits. We Lanconians loathe your smug superiority, but we won't kill anyone's head," her eyes narrowed. "Like your Neil, I don't care about him." "Neil," Ron asked, "has he been forgiven by you?" "Don't you worry about women hurting you. How about hurting me like you did. Now that I'm hungry and I smell food, allow me to eat something, or will you swear not to let me eat?" Ron's nostrils were filled with anger, but he restrained himself, "Come on, get something to eat." He turned and walked down the hall. Jura followed him.Philip was going to take her hand. "Lanconian warriors don't hold hands," she said. "Stand up straight. How can you be a Lanconian if you're languid?" "Yes, Your Majesty," Philip answered briskly, and stood upright without Jura correcting him. She smiled at him and said, "Perhaps I can find you some beautiful clothes, more suitable for being an Ariel warrior." "Knife?" he asked, his eyes sparkling. "Okay, there's a knife." There are many long dining tables in the hall, which are full of people.The servants brought in discs of meat and vegetables, and Jura wanted to sit across from Ron, but when she saw him frowning, she moved a bench and sat beside him.Philip followed her like her shadow. "Philip, come here," Lola called to her son from the other side, asking him to sit beside her. "Jura would like me to sit with her," said the child, his spine straight. Lola tried to get up, but Ron stopped her. The pastor blessed the meal, and more than fifty people began to eat.They all seemed to be famished with hunger, and ate and drank like leaves, while arguing about weapons and horses, who was the greatest warrior, and so on. After eating for about a quarter of an hour, the two men suddenly strangled each other's necks and started fighting. Ron had seen the habits of the Lanconians, and he was not going to reprimand them, but still talked to Lola. Seeing this, Zhu La immediately jumped over the table, took two steps forward, and clasped fists at both sides of the fight. She knocked down one person first, and then went to hit the second one. As a result, the three of them got entangled and fell down. On the floor, a dog that was gnawing on a bone was startled and barking. Jura immediately stood up, pulled out her knife and roared, "I'm going to cut out the hearts of both of you, and you're interfering with my meal!" The two men got up from the floor and were silent for a while.Others also felt that the fighter should be punished for disturbing their meal.Only Ron and the British didn't respond.Jura flicked the dust off her body, and her eyes caught Ron and his trio riding, Lola stood aside, her eyes showing panic, and she hugged her son quickly. It never occurred to Jura that her behavior aroused the Englishman's great disgust.Ron's face was as red as the rising sun, and the blood vessels in his neck swelled, shaking up and down; and his three knights also showed expressions of astonishment. Jura put the knife in its sheath and said, "The food is cold." Philip broke away from his mother, came running, and hugged Jura's thigh. She stroked the baby's soft hair, smiled, and then stooped to pick him up and put him on her lap.He seemed to tremble a little. "Why," she asked him tenderly, "are you afraid of the Lanconians?" "A woman can't beat a man," the child whispered. "No, Lanconian women fight a lot too. Now stand upright and sit..." Jura stopped, as Lola recovered from the shock and was about to pull her son away. "You don't touch my son," said Lola, "you teach him your rough ways and habits. You are not a good woman, and you are not fit to be near children." Jura stood up and took a step towards Lola, her eyes hard and unforgiving.Ron stood between the two women. "Come with me," he said, looking at Jura with a fascination she hadn't seen before. Now the Lanconians stopped eating to see how the scene would end.It started with Jura jumping over the table, and it is understandable that a guard should do his duty to stop the fight.But they suspected that these eccentric Englishmen would take unreasonable means with her. "Come with me," Ron said again. "I'm not full yet," Jura said, looking back at the food on the table, which had long since disappeared. Ron tightened his grip on her arm, and Jura tried to shake him off, but he held so hard he couldn't break free, and she cursed him for embarrassing her in front of people. He pushed her into a room with an open door.This is a small storeroom for lager and mead. "I've never seen a woman do that before," he said when he closed the door. "May my wife never do that again." Exasperated, his manner was restless "as if you were an ordinary Woman, jump on the table, and...and..." He almost choked, "Get out with the men!" Is he crazy? "That's my job," she said patiently. "When we in the Women's Guard train, we ask that disputes be unresolved when necessary. As Saul's representative, I should do my duty. If Geralt eats here, he will deal with them." Ron turned purple with rage. "Sol is dead!" said he. "I am the King, and I will settle disputes without my wife." Jura is on fire. "I understand now that I can't stop fighting just because I'm a woman. Do you think Lanconian women are so timid and useless, like your sister?" He said angrily: "I tell you, you act like one of my guards, you are a woman and you must act like a woman." This man is really ridiculous. "I must sit down and mend to prove I am a woman? Do I look like a man?" Ron involuntarily looked down at her high breasts, her long, round thighs, and the knee-length bodice that hugged her curvaceous figure tightly.He cursed himself for being too irritable, he swore a thousand times for it, but he still couldn't control it. "You have to listen to me, or Tsukuru will regret it," he said, his voice softening. "What do you want me to do? Order me to be a prisoner? Have you ever thought that if you hurt me, the Lanconians will never allow you to leave the city of Escalan alive, which means your naive plan to unite the tribes the end of." Ron clenched his fists tightly.No one had ever made him so angry but her.In the past, he had never lost his temper once when dealing with disputes with William's sons.He believed that women should be sweet, kind, and make life comfortable and pleasant for men.They should listen to their husbands with admiration.If a man went out hunting, and he came back and told his wife the dangers of the hunt, she would sigh and praise him for his bravery.But that was not the case with Jura, who had already killed a bison bigger than herself. "Don't you have women's clothes?" he asked. "You must wear that guard uniform?" He hinted that he didn't like her loose trousers and high boots with spurs. "You're not much older than a child," she snapped. "Why are you interfering with what I'm wearing? Will that help me with my duties? And..." She paused as Ron hugged her into a into his arms. "Your duty is to obey me," he said roughly. "You can't put your body on top of another man." "Do you mean I should stop training?" Her voice was very low, very low. "I did nothing to you, Jura, and I see it myself." "Then, I tell you, who are you? You are an Englishman in our country. This country does not belong to you. You should go back and give the throne to my brother." He pushed her away violently. "Leave me! Go fill your belly, but don't allow you to interfere with me and my people." "They are Lanconians, not yours." She left the room quickly and returned to the hall in a hurry.The table was cleared, she got food by chance, took a leftover venison pie from someone's tray, and as she ate she left the castle to get some fresh air. She was walking toward the men's camp when Geralt came up to her. "Have you had lunch yet?" she asked. "Sit with my enemy?" he replied mockingly, and then asked, "I heard you live with him now?" "He wants me to go on a trip with him. The fool wants to unite the tribes," she said, eating the whole pie. Geralt quipped: "He goes into the territory of the first tribe and he's killed." "I told him that too, but he won't listen. He'll be killed soon. It's better to convince him that some men like him. Zanti is very close to him. Maybe he can listen to Zanti's advice." Geralt moved closer to her and whispered to her, "You are in a position to facilitate his death." She spat out a piece of fleshy bone and said, "I am not a murderer, and his actions will kill me soon." "That's true. You're on his side, though, and Cillian says you want him yourself, so you beat her down in the game. Tell me, do you love the Englishman, or your own people?" " The blood all over her body suddenly rushed to her girl's face, and her face was flushed and purple due to hatred, shame and the stimulation of excessive anger. "Do you want to instigate me to assassinate him in a cunning way? Do you want blood on my hands? Well, you don't know me yet! Tell you, he's a fool, and you are a fool! He does what he wants You don't need anyone's help or interference. You want to be king, you can't let your or your sister's hands be stained with your brother's blood!" Geralt watched her, and for a moment almost never saw his sister.After a short pause, he changed his attitude: "Do you want to give him a child?" "There's no chance," Jura replied reluctantly. "Isn't he a man?" Geralt wondered, asking her. "I don't know, he said, he swore to God..." She stopped, gasping. "I will have no children while I live with this man for the time being. Be patient, you will be king." Not wanting to say anything more to him, she turned away from him and walked towards the city.Everywhere is quiet now, the people are asleep, even the poultry are lying down. Of course, she thought, uniting the tribes was impossible, it was just a fantasy.The hatred between the tribes was too deep, too long, and the Englishman didn't understand it.It seems that only the Lanconians understand the psychology of the Lanconians. Well, she thought with a shrug, his actions did matter, how was the fool going to get away with being killed?She stood and thought for a moment.Death would be a disgrace to him, and it would be a blow to her, they were married after all. She yawned back, feeling sleepy, and headed to Sol's old castle.Tonight, she will secretly sleep in the same room and bed with him, maybe tomorrow she will no longer be a virgin. She smiled and stepped up.