Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Chapter 169: The Power Of Love

"How much farther until we reach your home, Jae?" Kirienne asked for the millionth time.

She had grown weary of travel quickly and wanted to get settled into her new home as soon as possible, especially since discovering she was pregnant when they had only been at sea for a week. She had asked this question every other day the entire time they had been on land.

When they were at sea, she pestered the captain because her husband was unfamiliar with nautical matters. No one had been happier to see them reach land than the poor captain.

"We're nearly at the base of the mountains. We should be there within the next three days," Jae said patiently, giving his wife's hand a loving squeeze.

She sighed and nestled against him in the wagon. "Tell me about our house again to give me something to look forward to."

"Well, I convinced my brothers and brothers-in-law to build it for us while we were gone so everything would be ready when we arrived. They said it would have three bedrooms and won't be far from the playground for children"

Blaise drowned the rest of the conversation out. He was likely as tired of hearing it as Jae was of repeating himself. But the other man never complained about his wife's pestering. That was the power of love.

Marcy stayed in the capital because that was her home and there was no further reason for her to accompany them now that her job was done. She gave Jae a few letters for Katie and that was the end of her role in this matter. With her gone, Kirienne was the only woman left in the party.

Edmund was sulky about leaving her behind but he had to return to the earldom. While he was gone, the earl had passed away after an accident falling off his horse. His brother Percival had taken over the title and had an awful lot of work to do.

He wasn't terribly upset at the news of his father's passing since he had never shown any affection for his children. He had mixed feelings about it. He should be sad that his family member had died but this also allowed him to marry Marcy once the required year of mourning was up. Guilt and excitement warred within him.

There was still the obstacle of his mother but the dowager countess no longer lived at the du Pont estate. Percival was married and she felt that her purpose of staying at the estate had been stripped away from her now that there was a new lady of the house.

She would have a place in the dower house on the estate as long as Percival was the earl but preferred to spend her time visiting friends rather than stay there. Edmund sighed as he told Blaise all of this, claiming she had always been difficult.

At the very least, with her gone from the estate so often she wouldn't be able to give Marcy a hard time. That was the one positive to her temper tantrum.

They had passed the du Pont estate a few days ago so Edmund had left the caravan too. All that was left were a few dozen Warriors who were every bit as weary of the road as Kirienne even though they were too well-trained to show it in front of a lady.

Their group must have looked very strange to the locals they passed. After Edmund left, every single person in it was from Shibatsu except Jae. These people had likely never seen so much silver hair in their lives.

Blaise was starting to feel like some sort of exotic bird in the royal menagerie of Nyria from all the staring. He wanted this journey to be over too but he was equally nervous about the prospect of seeing Abby again.

When they finally arrived in the main settlement, he was amazed by how much construction had happened in the time he was gone. There were new buildings everywhere and some were still in the process of being built.

As much as Kirienne wanted to settle down, Jae had to stop and properly introduce the Warriors to Alamar and make his report before they headed to Raisha. She was quite put out about it until she realized there was a bakery here.

Sick to death of roadside rations, she begged her husband for a few coins to get herself something sweet. He handed them over without a single complaint to get her out of his hair while he talked with the clan leader.

"I'll bring you back something nice!" Kirienne promised as she made her way inside.

The Warriors all looked around Ilmir curiously. They had heard mixed rumors about the Kanta region but hadn't expected such an advanced place with so few people.

Blaise had noticed during his brief time with them before that their lack of numbers was made up for by determination and teamwork. People here helped each other out more than they did back in Shibatsu.

Originally they started out by receiving quite a bit of help from the kingdom of Annalaias as restitution for the previous king's crimes against the clan. Workers were sent in from all over the country to help them build the original structures in Ilmir.

But the Kanta weren't content to stop there. They continued building on their own or used money from their mineral exports to hire additional hands from the base of the mountain. All of Raisha and any additional buildings in Ilmir were constructed without royal assistance.

"This place is nothing like what I heard," one Warrior whispered to another.

His friend nodded. "I know. Staying here for the next three years might not be so bad."

Blaise felt a small bit of pride well up inside him for these plucky, determined people that had been homeless a few short years ago. They loved their home and that had led to a desire to make it better than ever.