The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 201 - A Fortress Defends Her Understanding Against Similar Eyes

Chapter 201: Chapter 201 - A Fortress Defends Her Understanding Against Similar Eyes

After her declaration, the woman started to play with the ring on her finger again. It was one of the first things Ondua bought for her after their marriage, once things had started tilting their way financially. The gesture had been ’loud’ in its own way.

Though his proposal had been more like the kind of thing she was talking about with her son-in-law. That individual has clammed up after their hand was held. After the complaint and its motherly fear was levied her way.

"I..."

The Yecine’s quivering voice steadied as the tall girl met her mother-in-law’s gaze directly. She wanted to correct what she felt was a misunderstanding, but wanted to do it calmly.

Qat’s fingers drifted back to touch the hilt of her blade again. When it came to gifts, the Goltbred Patriarch’s daughter absolutely had the style of being at ’full volume’. Yatrel had heard from her husband years ago that soft inquiries had been made his way - asking where the blade had been procured.

The Yecine at The Ironclad Order hadn’t believed his denials, but he truly hadn’t known the merchant Elua had used. He was also too stubborn at the time to openly approach and start a conversation about a gift that his precious little girl had given to Qat... even if it might have been obtained with his own money!

"If I ever feel what she is up to isn’t what I want, I’m not afraid to talk to her about it. Though you’re right that she can be too willing to restrain herself for my sake."

The few times when the cute girl had grown obedient in a way that showed a lack of... *will* to even try to compromise - they had bothered her. She could rationalize it as her El not trusting herself, but it also felt like the reincarnator was superimposing old broken trust onto Qat.

"I know the face she shows others isn’t who she truly is. Perhaps I understand that particular burden better than most."

A flash of something crossed the Yecine’s expression - too quick for Yatrel to interpret. When it came to compromises, the blonde felt keeping her gender to herself for now was still the best route. After all, even Elua had slipped and misspoken... and she trusted her wife more than anyone to keep her secrets.

"But, I accept all of her. I vowed it because I meant it. Both the person she wants to become and the person she tries to hide."

Pigeon-blues stared directly, powerfully at the mint across the desk. The wrong mint, no matter how similar. If she wasn’t afraid to admonish her El if needed, who was Yatrel?

"My acceptance isn’t just patience or duty. It’s selfish, mother. There are times I’ve demanded she embrace parts of her own hidden self almost purely because I was willing to do it first."

The conviction in her low voice carried the strength of someone who had thought deeply about these matters - and she had. When meditating and thinking of the present or future... there was always the brunette with her.

"El understands that about me too. She isn’t nearly as afraid to tell me anything as you might fear... though she is stubborn sometimes. We may dance carefully around others, but never with each other. Not for long."

A very warm smile had spread across Yatrel’s face - the first since the conversation began. She stood and walked around the desk, her fingers clutching down on the young man’s shoulder.

"Good."

She left it at that for a while, merely staring down happily at the sort of Qatrand willing to refute her. The woman had no idea how bold the heir really had been at times in front of his elders when it came to Elua... but seeing it for herself in this private study was reassuring.

"Still, when all the busy times coming up are over, you must make sure to keep it that way. You both deserve to have your love seen plainly."

She felt the muscles under her hand tense, but just assumed it was nerves. She chuckled as she let go and walked around the furniture again. The woman sat back in her chair, all of her earlier severity completely transformed into maternal affection for the son she had gained.

"You know, when you first started visiting Onya so regularly... I watched how naturally you stepped into being her ’big brother’. You’d even speak about Elua because you missed her yourself. Well, you would say ’your sister’, but the point remains."

Qat nervously scratched her neck. She knew she hadn’t been alone in the room with the infant a lot of the time, but why had the woman waited until *now* to tease her?

"I hope you understand that you’re every bit as much my child now as they both are. Which is precisely why I had to say all this. I needed to voice my honest complaint and see how you took it. Now... I’m that much more confident in my desire to protect you alongside them."

Qat felt her chest tighten with emotion. It wasn’t the first time that she had been invited to treat them like parents. To be considered family in more than name. It was something she wanted, but sometimes had difficulty being natural with.

"I understand the concern you had."

The words came slowly... deliberately chosen. Yatrel noted how the young Yecine’s composure had evolved from her daughter’s influence. Though unlike the slowly changed estate gardens, the mother felt that it was Qatrand that made the choices to appear this way.

"And I... I appreciate that you care enough to speak with me about it. That you care for El and me."

The woman’s mint eyes glazed at the careful response as Qat’s fingers traced the edge of the desk. While one was gathering her thoughts, the other was contemplating something else.

’This child is still too unaccustomed to talking to an adult about their feelings. I know Anper is like that and his wife perished when she did, but was there no one sensible raising him? Are the Yecine all so lacking?’

The teenager mimicked the gesture of knocking their knuckles against the desk, though not half as loud.

"I’ll remember your advice. Though adhering to duty isn’t what makes me cautious - it’s wanting to find the right path forward for everyone involved."

Yatrel blinked away her simmering ire and stood.

"Good. Now, I believe I’ve kept you from the one you actually came to see... and I have work to get back to. I had no idea settling everything before the competition and Descent is truly such a chore."

As if summoned by the first words, a squeal of ’mama’ echoed from the hallway as harried requests from the nanny to stop tugging on her hair followed. The timing drew a small smile from them both and broke the last of the tension left in the room.

"Well, I can’t go back to work quite yet, it sounds. I’ll sneak off when she becomes more interested in you."

"Alright, mother."

--->

The pair walked side by side around the perimeter with the smaller clinging onto the arm of the taller. Qatrand had told the story to Elua as best as she could remember it... in between the cute girl throwing gentle waves at any passing evening patrols.

The swordswoman could almost feel the girl’s mood increase with every one that looked twice - or more than a few seconds. Being seen together was the right choice!

"So ultimately, her complaint was just a worry that you might let me get overwhelmed and not notice."

After the heiress spoke, dull mint eyes looked up with ’mischief’ cloaked behind them. The brunette’s fingers still traced idle patterns on her fortress’s arm.

"Also, we never dance around each other? Is that really what you told my mother?"

A soft ’hmph’ escaped her wife’s lips as luster and emotion returned to her features.

"What would you call all our careful steps around my urges then? Our little performances of restraint?"

The fragment in Qat’s chest caught the surge of ’amusement’ tinged with something darker. Elua’s voice dropped lower as a hand snaked up to the black ribbon binding the blonde hair.

"Or perhaps that moment in your tent last night. When you wanted little more than to ask me to come back. When I could feel exactly how much you wished to break your family rules... and I ’danced’ away instead."

The Yecine’s grip tightened around the Goltbred’s waist. She’d known that her feelings had surely been noticed, but was too involved in the moment to think about it at the time. The illusionist must have forced her own spirit to be silent in return - because now it sputtered with ’regret’, ’ache’, and ’zeal’.

"That’s different. You know what I meant."

"Do I? Sometimes I think we step and twirl far more elaborately in private than we ever do in public. Maybe it only looks that way because we have only a single real restraint left"

Her ’sweet’ smile carried an edge of truth that made Qat’s spirit flutter with recognition. The taller girl guided them to continue their walk, though her steps held less certainty than before. It was hard to refute!

"Perhaps you’re right."

"No, I’m just being facetious and twisting your words. You were right to say what you did. Though I wasn’t wrong to say what I just did~"

The heiress stared at the ground as she took her steps. The playful tone she used couldn’t fool her fortress. There was still an overall sense of ’displeasure’ that surprisingly had little to do with the constant bursts of ’hunger’.

"You weren’t. But is that why you are still upset?"

She looked up at the pigeon-blues with a puffed out cheek. The sight made Qat tense, not realizing how much she’d missed seeing that expression.

"No comments about my dress? At all?"

The tension grew. The tall teenager had noticed... but-

’Why does it seem like it was a crime to appreciate it silently?’