#Puli Angel

[vilandel]

Silver Cats & Black Roses

Chapter 15 – Determination

A/N Luck and two Blue Roses are already aware of Yami and Charlotte being in a relationship 💙 Meanwhile, Nozel can't help but daydream about Vanessa, making the Silver Eagles worrying about his health 💜 Shall I mention that this chapter was one of my favorites to write?

Ao3 link

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“I think I need more of that.”

“Shut up, Yami.”

The captain of the Black Bulls just let out a loud laugh at the tired protest of the beautiful woman lying beside him. Honestly, he was tired too, so there was no way he had enough reason to make fun of her. At least, not too much.

No wonder actually that they were both still tired, the sun only started to rise and they didn’t had a lot of sleep last night.

Well, Yami took Charlotte three times last night, which was the reason why they were still tired when they woke up. To be fair, if his body and more importantly her body, wouldn’t have been exhausted after three times, he would have taken her at least one more time.

Yami couldn’t help but smile as the memories of last night started to dance in his mind. Okay, it hadn’t been the plan to actually sleep with his Prickly Queen, but he would rather stop to drink booze before he would regret it. Damn, that was the best night in his life.

If he had known how wonderful it would feel to have Charlotte in his arms, to love and make love to her, he would have given up on his pride a long time ago.

Gosh, he really had been stupid and dense all this time. Kaiser had been right, Charlotte actually loved him back. This woman had proven him enough last night.

Yami turned his head to look at the woman he loved. Charlotte lied on her belly, eyes closed, head lying on one arm, the hair undone except the cute little braid, naked and the blanket only covering down her knees. Which was good, so he could look at her sexy butt.

He put a hand on that specific body part and laughed as he heard Charlotte groan. It sounded frustrated and flustered at the same time. What a woman.

“Must you always be so vulgar even in your gestures?”

“Don’t act like you dislike my vulgarity, woman. You more than appreciated last night, each time I took ya. Besides, there is honestly nothing I haven’t seen already during our night together.”

“Yami!”

She was protesting, but he could hear the smile in her voice.

Honestly, who would have thought that Charlotte Roselei, captain of the Blue Roses and the woman with the coldest behaviour he knew, would actually take the initiative and gave herself to him, body and soul?

Yami thought he had known her well for years and yet, Prickly Queen always managed to still surprise him. Her Ki was still so unique and practically impossible for him to read, but Yami didn’t care anymore. He was in love with her and this was probably the reason why her Ki wasn’t easy for him to understand.

“Yami…”

“Hm?”

“I… I love you.”

“I know.”

“Seriously, that’s all you have to say to me after everything?”

Yami laughed at her reaction. “I know you love me and you said it yesterday, I’m more a man of action and I think I show you more than enough what you are to me. This is enough for yours truly. Although, I wouldn’t mind to give you another proof.”

“You… You brute,” Charlotte laughed, trying to look falsely offended.

“Your brute, please use the right word, my Prickly Queen.”

Charlotte blushed, making her cheeks look like rubies. At least, Yami assumed that the colour was the shade of those kind of gems, as he never seen rubies in his life.

“Well, I don’t know what I expected from you, Yami. But you haven’t changed your personality and that is actually a relief, so don’t get me wrong,” Charlotte said as she sat up on her side of the bed. But as soon as she tried to stand, she fell back on the mattress, groaning.

“You seem a bit wabbly on your feet, Prickly Queen. Quite the unusual sight, actually, don’t tell me I was too harsh last night,” Yami laughed. Dang it, he haven’t been in such a pure good mood for way too long.

“Not that much, even though we did it three times,” Charlotte mumbled. “It’s more that… well… it was my first time…”

Yami stopped laughing abruptly.

Wait… that was her first time?

Shit…

Yami immediately took the blankets, eying them carefully before throwing them away to inspect the mattress.

If he had knew that, he would have at least tried to hold back, to be soft as much as he could manage. And maybe he wouldn’t have taken her from behind on their second turn. Charlotte was a strong woman, but this doesn’t mean that he would hurt her, even unintentionally. She meant too much for him for that.

Thankfully, he found no trace of blood on the blankets or on the mattress. Either he actually did hold back on instinct… or Charlotte was also the strong woman he knew on this particular domain.

Okay, could he stop loving her more and more for a moment? He started to felt overwhelmed by all this new open emotions.

“I wouldn’t have thought that it was your first time, Prickly Queen.”

“And how so?”

“You were taking initiative. You didn’t blush in offense like a prude old girl and well… I honestly don’t know how to explain it, ya were just that amazing.”

“Would you stop teasing me?”

“Hey, that wasn’t teasing this time, ya truly were amazing!”

Charlotte blushed again, turning her head away. And still, Yami had time to see  the little happy smile on her lips. Yep, she really wasn’t prude, that was just the normal old Charlotte he knew and love.

It was somehow weird. He discovered many sides of her only lately, especially during their common investigation and even more during their night. But all those sides of Prickly Queen seemed so familiar, as if he already knew them.

How could he knew already things he just discovered.

Charlotte turned back to him, giving up on standing on her feet for now, bringing her legs back to her and putting her arms around them, while her head lied on her knees and she looked at him in the softest smile he ever saw.

That wasn’t a sexy position, more like a cute one and it was enough for him to get all thirsty for her again.

Did she even realize what effect she had on him?

“Will you cuddle? Or is this not badass enough for you, captain I-Surpass-My-Limits?”

Yami laughed loudly. She wasn’t the best teaser as she was a newbie on that domain, but her attempts were actually pretty good. At least, he loved them.

“You know that I have a reputation to hold. But who gives a fuck, you’re the only one I wanna show my softer side.”

“You have a softer side?”

“Just come here and enjoy your privilege, woman.”

Charlotte chuckled – why the hell did he never realized how lovely that sound was – and practically half lied down on his chest, while Yami put an arm around her, the other one behind his head.

It was peaceful. Really peaceful…

Yami used to make fun at those kind of fluffy things, to make fun at corny shit like that. Maybe it will still don’t change, knowing him. But he didn’t find it ridiculous anymore right now. He also never would have thought that Charlotte would be so hopelessly and deeply in love with him and he was still having a hard time to believe it. But still, there she was, in his arms and despite her still complicated Ki, Yami could tell how happy she was.

He slowly started to understand Finral, when he was almost singing a hymn about how beautiful the quiet, peaceful moments were he shared with his wife. There was no way Yami would ever admit it, but having Charlotte in his arms and just enjoying the moment together, it was indeed precious. Maybe Finral became smarter in romance shit now that he was married to the love of his life.

It was like being a bubble, as if it was just the two of them. As if nothing else was important, as if the world outside was far away.

Yami sighed deeply. He kinda wished that it would be like that forever or at least for very long.

And he hoped that he wouldn’t have the urge to take a dump soon. For the first time, this perspective would clearly piss him off.

“Yami…” Charlotte whispered after a while.

“Hm?”

“What will come next?”

That was a good question, actually. A damn good question and clearly something they needed to discuss one time or another. Yami might not care that much about nobles and all their shitty complication in their status, but it wasn’t like he didn’t catch up on a thing or two. Especially during all those time he spend with his Prickly Queen.

And Charlotte was actually the reason why he started to care more about the world of nobility. He wasn’t that dumb, he knew that she was one of the best matches by noble standards and she had mentioned here and there that her family were planning to marry her off to a douche.

That thought of course didn’t sit well with him. In fact, it was pissing him off just as much like when Asta had been set on trial as a scapegoat – another proof about how important his Prickly Queen was for him. He just couldn’t handle the simple thought of Charlotte being chained into a loveless marriage to an asshole who would just see her as a trophy or as a tool for his own goal. Heck, HIS Prickly Queen deserved far better than that! Charlotte Roselei, captain of the Blue Rose squad was the most amazing woman she knew and even though he still had no idea how nobility worked behind the scenes or what would happen in the future, Yami was already decided to not give her up without a fight.

But he didn’t want to think about all those details and hurdles right now. In this very moment, everything was so far away and peaceful, he didn’t want to spoil this new sweetness. And he didn’t want Charlotte to lose her mind about it right now. Yami knew very well how she was when she was stressed and stress was undoubtedly the last thing she needed right, after what she had to deal with after Spade.

“Prickly Queen, let’s just say that for now, those will be future Yami and future Charlotte’s problems.”

“Haha, very funny. You do realize that sooner later future Yami will be present Yami and the same applies to future Charlotte. It’s not something we can just continue to ignore until it’s too late.”

“You worry too much.”

“You relax too much.”

“Yeah, true. But trust me, Prickly Queen, it’s not like I don’t give a fuck what all those noble bootlickers would think about us. Okay, I don’t really care about their opinions. But I know that it won’t be easy and this I care about. Because you’re worth it to me.”

“Yami, I…”

She was clearly flustered, having no idea what to say and Yami would lie if he would say that it didn’t meant the world to him. He put his other arm around her, holding her closer.

“We’ll deal with it, I promise you that. But I just wanna enjoy the moment right now, it’s the best way to spend my time.”

“Okay. But still… Would you agree to keep our, well… to keep a secret what’s between us? Even from our squads? Just to have some more time in peace. I know my girls and I know the members of your squad, it won’t be calm once they find out about us. Especially Luck.”

“Oh yeah, that’s the best idea. I don’t want to deal with ups and downs right now. Now, can I have a kiss or something more?”

“Kiss is enough for now, I’m still exhausted from the three times you took me.”

Yami laughed deeply before Charlotte shifted a bit and to put her lips on his. Yami gave in to the kiss, enjoying her unique and rosy taste. Despite being softer than what he was used to give and get, the kiss still felt full of passion and burnt in his body just as much as the wild kisses from last night.

They continue to make out for a while. Minutes or an hour, maybe more? Yami couldn’t tell and honestly, he didn’t care about it. Nothing seemed more important to him right now than the beautiful woman in his arms.

Both lost all notion of time, almost as if time itself decided to stop for a while, just to give them more moments together.

That is, until there was a knock on the door, pushing them back into the normal timeline.

“Captain Charlotte,” Pulis voice came from behind the door, sounding slightly mischievous. “Most of us will have breakfast soon and we decided to make a common breakfast all together in your little brothers honour, since he’s our guest. Would you like to join us? We can ask captain Yami what he wants, since he’s here as well.”

The last sentence made the lovers jump apart in shock.

Wait, how…

Charlotte jumped from the bed with a squeak, her legs suddenly not all wobbly anymore and she somehow gathered a bathrobe while jumping around and yelling “Wait, Puli!” or something like that.

Yami just groaned as he himself got up and tried to gather some of his clothes from around the bedroom. No, they weren’t in the same place, he had to grab each one from another corner of the bedroom and to wabble to each piece of clothing like a dumb dude with a hangover who somehow got drunk again.

Did he throw his clothes at different corners or was it Prickly Queen? Yami couldn’t recall and both were highly possible, given how thirsty Charlotte was, especially for her first time.

And why the heck didn’t focus on that except on the fact that it was more than probable that the Blue Rose knights already known that he and Prickly Queen slept together?

Oh. Oh! OH!

“Fuck.”

Now Yami didn’t wabble, he run across the room, trying to at least put his pants on while finding himself in a rare situation of panic.

This was bad, this was really bad.

How much did Prickly Queens girlies know? And more importantly how much did they hear?  Yami didn’t gave a fuck last night that the Blue Roses might or might not came to hear him fucking their captain and now this was coming back to bite him in the ass.

Damn it, he and Charlotte did just talk that they wanted to wait before telling their respective squads about their still very young relationship. Just to have some peace, was that too much to ask?

Not to mention that those fricking Blue Roses were always high on gossiping and even worse, Luck was present…

Oh fuck!

Luck was present. Luck was present! One of his own brats! And even worse, Luck happens to be the brat who is also Prickly Queens long lost found little brother! Not to mention that Luck was already very overprotective over his big sis and for some reason, especially when Yami himself was involved.

Wait… Does this mean than Luck already knew about Prickly Queens feeling for him? How did he even found out about it before his own captain? Yami couldn’t believe that he had been so dense about Charlotte that even one of his dumber brats knew about this obvious secret. Who else of the Black Bulls knew about this as well, then?

While Yami just stood there, thinking about problems that should have been future Yami’s problems, Charlotte actually managed to get her royal blue bathrobe on and opened the door. He felt her Ki tense for a second, before she actually sighed deeply, frustrated and relieved at the same time.

“Puli, this is NOT funny!”

“I apologize captain Charlotte, especially for having plopped your happy bubble. But you know, Luck, Églantine and I really had done our most to keep this spicy little secret safe from the others, especially Sol and we agreed that we should better warn you.”

Wait! Does this mean that the whole Blue Rose squad didn’t know after all?

But before Yami could join Charlotte at the bedroom door, some kind of blonde lightning bold made him fall right back on the bed.

“Can we fight, captain? Can we fight? Since you’re here, can we fight?”

“For fuck’s sake, Luck, we are NOT fighting in your big sis’ bedroom, have some decency!”

“But you had a beddance with her, captain Yami and as her brother, I can’t let that pass, you know. Gauche told me that.”

Damnit Gauche, why did gave Luck some lessons about being a good brother? And where did he learned such a word like beddance? Did that word even exist? If Vanessa started again to invent some words, he would put her on Astas cleaning duty for the next ten years!

“Luck, please, I did consent and actually, it was in fact me who took the initiative,” Charlotte immediately protested. She was blushing a lot – to be fair, which older sibling would want to admit their sex stories to their younger brothers and sisters – but her voice was still firm. Damn, not losing her authority while embarrassed? No wonder she became such a strong woman.

“But big sis, he hadn’t realized you’re head over heels for him for ten years, I still have some beat up to do with him, please!”

“Luck!”

Woah, that long, huh?

Wait, THAT LONG! Ten fucking years? Prickly Queen had feelings for him for ten damn years and he hadn’t realized it all this time?

Yami groaned, closing his eyes. He would never hear the end of it.

Could he please get back into the nice bubble from before with Charlotte? Gosh, how mushy did he became to actually wish for something as corny as that?

“Don’t worry, captain Charlotte, you and captain Yami don’t need to came down for breakfast with the whole squad. As you see, Puli, Luck and I brought you something you can eat here.”

Eat? Now that sounded like a good idea. Not as much as going back to the corny bubble, but still a good one.

Yami opened his eyes to see to whom that third voice belonged. A Blue Rose, of course, not older than twenty at most he’d say, with big turquoise coloured eyes and azure blue corkscrew curls. Typical noble hairstyle, he’d say, although he couldn’t tell if those curls were styled or actually natural.

Corkscrew put a silver tray with lots of food and some things to drink as well on a table, before turning towards him. Yami immediately frowned, trying to determine if this Blue Rose was hostile or not.

But Corkscrew just smiled at him and put a hand in front of him. “I’ve already heard about you, of course. But still, I’m happy to finally make your acquaintance properly, captain Yami. I’m Églantine Évantail and as you could guess, I’m a Blue Rose.”

“Um, nice to meet you,” Yami just mumbled, shaking her hand. Églantine Évantail, huh? Such a typical noble name, why were those always so elegantly complicated and difficult to learn by heart? He would call her Corkscrew still, it worked with her hair.

Évantail did she say? Wasn’t this also the family name of that old noble fart that tried to court Charlotte in this restaurant weeks ago? When she told him about her long lost sibling? Well, Corkscrew had the same eye colour as that Reggie guy or whatever his name was. Who could forgot people with turquoise shade in their eyeballs?

But unlike Reggie, Corkscrew’s eye colour wasn’t dull and from her Ki, she seemed like a genuinely nice girl.

“Ah, here’s the man of the hour,” Puli laughed, one of the rare Blue Roses Yami already knew. Actually, maybe he needed to learn about the whole squad than just that nice fatty and that earthy amazon that was fangirling over Prickly Queen. The Blue Roses meant so much to Charlotte, he was only fair that he should get to learn her girls.

But this was something for future Yami.

“It’s really a good thing that you finally got a grip on herself, captain Charlotte waited very long for you,” Puli continued, Yami couldn’t define if she was subtly warning him or she was just very happy. “You should be happy that it was just us three who woke up that night and heard you busy being busy. If it would have been Sol, Wainsley or Galgaria, goodness, the whole kingdom and even the three others would know about you right now. Maybe the far away land of the Sun as well.”

Puli, Luck and Corkscrew laughed as if it was some kind of joke, but Yami and Charlotte were more embarrassed. The thought that not only Clover but also Heart, Diamond and Spade would know about them… That was actually kinda scary.

After a while, Charlotte coughed a bit. “I’m grateful to the three of you for keeping the secret. You might understand very well that Yami and I would… like to be in secrecy for a while. You know… The nobles, everything… So, can we count on you three to guard our secret until we’re ready to make our relationship open.”

“Of course, captain Charlotte, you can’t count on us.”

“Hey, I know first-hand how my house has their eyes on you, so don’t worry, you have my support.”

“That’s mean I know something Magna doesn’t? That is actually cool, I have your back, big sis! Just a question, will I be soon an uncle?”

Puli and Corkscrew laughed, while Charlotte blushed heavily. As well as Yami.

“Geez, you brat, do you wanna die so badly? Just because we’re fucking doesn’t mean we intend to make babies already!”

“That’s right, we’re… we’re not even married!”

“Well, not being married doesn’t stop from making babies, you know,” Corkscrew replied, before actually bursting into laughter again.

“Églantine is right, but yes, it is way too soon to talk about babies,” Puli chuckled, before actually passing through the door. “We’ll leave you alone for now, sorry for having bursting in. Captain Charlotte, captain Yami, we see you later. Do you come, little Lucky? You can have breakfast with Églantine and me, if you want.”

“Hell yeah!”

Luck gave Yami one last punch and hugged Charlotte before jumping after Puli and Corkscrew, leaving his sister and his captain alone again.

Once the door was closed again, both lovers sighed deeply in relief.

“Well, that went better than expected,” Charlotte muttered as she came back to him on the bed, literally falling on the mattress.

“You really think so, Prickly Queen? Our secret is out in the open.”

“But it’s not our two whole squad who are aware. Just my brother and two of my knights. And we can trust them to keep the secret until the time is ready. Puli knows better than anyone how I feel about the whole situation, Églantine will always help me against my unwanted suitors, especially coming from her family and Luck is just happy about us, of course he’ll keep the secret.”

“He still tried to beat me up every time, especially when I’m close to you.”

“He’s just protective of me, that’s all. I think that’s what brothers do usually.”

“What a pain in the ass. I actually have question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Is Corkscrew-“

“Cork- Yami, please, her name is Églantine!”

“- related to Reggie or something? The one who bothered us at that restaurant weeks ago.”

“Actually, yes. I think it’s her great-uncle or something like that. House Évantail have one of the most complicated family tree in the whole kingdom. But don’t worry, Églantine is one of the rare nice Évantails out there.”

“Is she also the one with the bastard sister she wishes to know better?”

“Yes, that’s her.”

“Okay, then. Well, she’s a nice gurl in that case.”

They went silent again. Not awkwardly, it was like the comfortable silence of their bubble was coming back.

Yami was honestly relieved about that. But if he could fill the silence with moans and groans and cries of pleasure again, it would be even better.

“Shall he have breakfast?”

“Later, Prickly Queen. For now, I’m hungry for something else…”

He didn’t wait for her answer as he rolled over her, already getting rid of his pants and her bathrobe.

Charlotte wasn’t even surprised by his actions, on the contrary, she seemed quite appealed. Damn, how much could he love this woman?

Yami pulled her in a very deep and passionate kiss, barely noticing how he entered her again, making love for her already for the fourth time.

♣♣♣

“Are you sure he’s not dying or something? Or at least sick?” one of his junior knights, Aurelius Or, asked quietly, sounding almost like panicking.

“Trust me, kiddo, he it was that, he won’t be there working in the first place,” Julia Ambrosia, the oldest Silver Eagle in his squad, replied, sounding really amused by the whole situation.

“He’s not working right now, Granny. Captain Nozel seems more like… dreamy, somehow,” Alysanne Dragonstone replied.

“Yes, but that’s Nozel Silva, captain of the Silver Eagles and Head of house Silva we’re talking about, he was never dreamy before, so why now.” This panicking voice belonged to Nils Ragus.

“Well, there can be a start for everything, even for captain Nozel,” Curtis Warren said, although he sounded quite unsure about his own statement.

“So, there is something wrong with him?” Aurelius asked again, almost panicking even more.

“I wouldn’t say something is wrong with him, but something is definitely happening to him lately,” Simon Vivaldi said.

“Not even lately, I think something changed within him since he came back from Spade.”

“Alysanne is right,” Rob Vitesse replied, sounding as if he just joined the group. “There was a change with him since the return from Spade, but it was only more obvious since two months and especially since a few days.”

“Good observation, young man.”

“I’m not that young anymore, Granny.”

Julia had a cackling laugh. “Compared to my old age, you’re all young. But let this old and weak lady knight tell you this still.”

“Old and weak?” six voices asked quietly, knowing better than to argue with Julia Ambrosia.

“Well, you hatchlings, I can’t be entirely sure. But from my long experience as a knight and in gossip as well as in observation, I firmly believe that captain Nozel is in love.”

Silence.

“In love?”

“No need to look so shocked, you hatchlings, it happens even to the best of us. And if captain Nozel comes even halfway after his late mother on that matter, he is even deeply in love. Come on, you can trust the frail old lady I am.”

“Well, it would definitely explain his attitude lately,” Alysanne said thoughtfully. “It’s just… You have to admit that it’s difficult to imagine captain Nozel of all people being in love.”

“Especially since he’s so stuck on his duty, more than anyone else I know,” Nils added.

“You know, silver hatchlings, even the most disciplinary people like captain Nozel can be fed up at some point. And trust me, given how most nobles and royals treat him behind closed doors, even some of our good for nothing squadmates, he has every excuse to finally screw them.”

The other six only nodded at Julia’s little speech. Aurelius, Alysanne, Nils, Simon, Rob, Curtis and Julia were all nobles, but each of them belonged into the rare category of Being A Knight Before A Noble and who also didn’t appreciated the common attitude of nobility in general.

“But who would captain Nozel be in love with?” Aurelius asked naively. “Do you think it could be captain Dorothy Unsworth? She is always so familiar with him.”

Alysanne immediately shook her head. “The captain of the Coral Peacocks is always familiar with practically everyone. And according to my friend Gisela who is a Coral Peacock, captain Dorothy might be interested in the love stories of others, but not into having a love life herself.”

“Oh, then what about captain Fuegoleon Vermillion?”

This made Simon laugh. “Goodness, Aurelius, you’re really green still. Don’t you know that captain Fuegoleon is courting and maybe even properly dating a member from his own squad, Lital Lys? It’s practically an open secret at this point.”

“Not to mention that captain Nozel knows this two colleagues very well for long years already,” Julia added. “If he was in love with one of them, he would have that kind of dreamy attitude LONG before the raid in Spade. No, it’s most certainly someone he met afterwards or at least getting to know better.”

“But who could captain Nozel be in love with?” Nils asked quietly.

“That is a good question, he is not of the most easy people to read,” Curtis said with a shrug.

“Not to mention that he’s like vice-captain Agatha when it comes to his private life,” Alysanne added. “A closed book with three locks and four other locks for each one of them, just to be safe. We should think twice or even trice before considering investigating about his secret lover.”

“Ah, but doesn’t stop us for at least speculating, silver hatchling,” Julia cackled.

Nozel could hear them very well while he was more or less discussing some reports with his vice-captain. In fact, she did most of the talking and while he was well aware on every word that came out of her mouth, Nozel couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander away.

Those last two days – or was it three, he couldn’t tell – he spent with Vanessa had been the sweetest and happiest he ever knew since the death of his mother. In fact, he had been in such a dreamy state that real life felt at best like a harsh slap in the face.

First, the investigations about the thievery acts in the Common Realm all ended to be dead ends and he knew that even the Wizard King was starting to be fed up with this affair. But honestly, Nozel could live with that.

Then his most wannabe knights, also known as those who never got the job done, leaving their squadmates to overwork themselves, were making a fuss. Lucinda Sandler already asked six times in the row of two days for a maternal leave, despite not being pregnant. Nebra made her a visit last week and confirmed what every Silver Eagle already suspected. Linus Gem had the audacity to demand a raise of his salary, despite never coming to the Headquarters when it wasn’t pay day. Samuel Évantail became more and more a pain to the whole squad by refusing orders at best and attacking his squadmates in rage over stars he never got and deserved at worst.

And that was just three knights, but Lucinda, Linus and Samuel were pretty good examples of every Silver Eagle who were just knights by title and not by work.

But this was also something Nozel could deal with.

No, the most difficult task he got today sadly had nothing to do with the Silver Eagles. It has to do with his so-called duty of an arranged marriage.

As if the urge of nobles to marry off into royalty and to marry off in general wasn’t already such a pain since the war with Spade was over. But these last few days, many nobles houses, be it from high, medium or low nobility, seemed to have the very specific goal to marry some of their members into house Silva. And for some reason, he became their principal target.

Nozel wasn’t stupid. It was more than probable that his father was behind this. To make him yield or to make his life miserable or maybe even to just mock him, he didn’t know. It didn’t matter anyway. Lac Silva always got what he wanted in the past and he always knew exactly what to do and who to use, to manipulate to obtain what he wanted. Nozel didn’t know what his father said to the nobles to make them believe he was the most eligible candidate to marry right now. His ways were diverse and Nozel didn’t believe he wanted to know them.

He hated it, he hated so much. It reminded him of all those years he denied himself any kind of happiness, just thinking about following his duty so that his siblings would be free. Now looking back at those time, Nozel find himself so pathetic. Being with Vanessa gave him a sweet happiness he was now clinging on.

Being away from her, like in this moment, wasn’t doing him so much good. When Vanessa was with him, in his arms, it was so easy for Nozel to forget their rather complicated situation, their different status and worse, how most people of this society of prejudice would view their relationship. Love wasn’t important in their eyes, it has nothing to do with marriage, it was an inconvenience when potential alliances between noble or royal families were considered.

And Lac Silva was practically the embodiment of this mantra.

Nozel knew more than anyone how his world was. He was swimming or more like trying to not drown in this sea since his mother died and all he saw for years were horizons with nowhere to land.

Until Vanessa…

When she wasn’t with him, Nozel wondered sometimes if there was a future for both of them, for their relationship. He knew how royalty was like a golden cage and he refused to put her in any cage. There was something about her, about how free she was, that just make it not right to put her in a cage, literally or not. Nozel couldn’t do that to Vanessa, he loved her so deeply.

When she wasn’t with him, Nozel wondered if Vanessa would be better off and happier without him…

But he refused to give in to those doubts. He always done that for years and where did it brought him? It might be selfish, but he refused to give up on her, at least not without a fight. Giving up on Vanessa… and Nozel was certain it would kill him one way or another.

He wanted to be with her so much right now. Everything seemed so simpler in her presence, it was so easier to forget their situation, to not overthink and to not worry. He couldn’t stop doing this alone yet, he still needed her.

Nozel sighed silently. Was this what Fuegoleon felt when he was with Lital Lys? Was it what his poor mother to have with his father?

He was tired. It had been a while since he overworked himself like that, even forgetting to have dinner. For a long time, this had been always how he followed his duty, as a captain and as a royal Head of House. But then Vanessa came into his life and now, Nozel found this kind working day really despicable.

If only nobles would be more cooperative, knights or no knights.

“I think this is all for today, captain Nozel,” Agatha said, getting him out of his thoughts.

Nozel just looked at her, her eyes in the colour of old parchment and her ink blue hair as always hold together in two low braids. Agatha Austen had become a Silver Eagle around the same time as himself and was now his vice-captain for as long as he was captain himself. There weren’t many people he could really trust but thankfully, Agatha was one of them.

Nozel sometimes wondered if he should tell Agatha about Vanessa. His vice-captain was someone quiet and very understanding. But at the same time, she was also as private as him and his relationship with Vanessa was still very young, so Nozel didn’t know if he should tell Agatha already.

But if he wanted a future with Vanessa, no matter how still blurry and unsure it was right now, he would need allies. And this was a subject that was still unknown land for him. Having people willing to help him of all people. Was that even possible?

“Um, captain?”

Agatha was looking at him, frowning. Oh. Of course. She was still waiting for an answer from him.

“Thank you, Agatha. This will be enough for today. Will send this reports to the Wizard King first thing the next morning. You can go home now, it’s rather late.”

“Good night, captain.”

Very late indeed. He was exhausted. Nozel had decided to sleep at the Headquarters for this night. That hadn’t happened since very long. Would he still be able to properly spend time with Vanessa tonight? He had written her, to tell her he was drowning in work and that he might won’t be able to come back to the palace.

But all Vanessa did was calling him – thank goodness at a time when he was alone in his office – ask him were his usual room was at the Silver Eagles base and telling him she would be waiting for him.

It was a bit of a risk, meeting at the Silver Eagle’s base, given that some of his knights were either on night shift or had their chambers here.

But Nozel didn’t care. The perspective of seeing Vanessa was the first wonderful thing to look forward to this day.

Agatha left, but Nozel stood where he was, looking out of the window. But he didn’t see the already dark sky, the last lingering small lights of the sun, the first stars, the whole landscape.

All he saw was Vanessa…

He closed his eyes, smiling at all those memories with her. How she talked with him about everything that could came to their mind. Her naked body under him or on top of him. Her gorgeous smile, her hugs, all those kisses they shared…

A soft, happy smile escaped his lips.

“Oh, shoot!”

Nozel turned around, realizing he wasn’t alone, as the seven Eagles were still there. Aurelius, Alysanne, Rob, Curtis, Simon and Nils all froze when he lied his eyes on them. Julia wasn’t frozen, she was way too old to be intimidated by him, but she still looked at him as if he cut his braid or something.

Did his cold mask work so little lately? Probably, otherwise they wouldn’t be gossiping about him and his so secret love life.

And for the first time in life, not only did Nozel Silva not care at all about his own knights gossiping about him, he was even rather amused by it.

Vanessa must have bewitched him by how wonderful she was, he saw no other reason for that.

What would mother say if she saw him like that?

“Does anyone of you have to take night shift today?”

The words fell of his mouth before he could even think about them. A question any normal Magic Knight captain would ask almost automatically.

And still, his voice seemed so much softer than usual when he asked this question.

“No, captain.”

“Good. You can go home now or back to your chambers in this base. Good night.”

His voice was still soft. And the eyes of his knights were still frozen and shocked.

Nozel passed them by and couldn’t help but put a hand on Aurelius’ head. He heard the gasps and still, he smiled. Now it was already enough to think just of Vanessa to be at ease again, not worrying anymore.

She made a better person out of him. Did she even realized that?

He went away, walking through the halls he had known for years since he became a Silver Eagle. He reached the night quarters pretty soon.

But Nozels own room was a bit apart from the rest of the chambers. Of course it was. He had free choices of rooms when he joined the squad and the grieving, chained boy he was back then had to choose a chamber that was not only away from the rest, making him even more lonely, but also the same chamber his mother had when she was a knight and later captain of the Silver Eagles.

Different from his room back in the Silva palace, smaller but more cosy, green tapestries with simple gold yellow embroidery, an atmosphere as like his mother never really died…

This was his room when he slept at the Silver Eagles base. He never shared it with anyone. Not even his siblings, it was just too painful. But today, he wasn’t alone in this room that keep his guilt and loss alive, despite all the cosiness.

He wasn’t alone.

“Hey there, handsome eagle. You took your time, I was so lonely while waiting,” Vanessa greeted him as he entered the bedroom.

She smiled brightly while she put something on the table. Nozels eyes widened as he recognized the smell of roasted duck.

“You…”

“Yep, I brought you something to eat. Knowing you, you certainly haven’t eaten yet. Come on, jumping a meal because of too much work is never a good idea. I asked Charmy to prepare your favourite meal, I think you deserve it.”

“I… thank you.”

“You’re welcome, stud. Now, come eat.”

He knew that tone. When Vanessa used it, there was no option to decline, he learned that pretty quickly. According to her, some of her squadmates still haven’t got the lesson and that made him laugh.

So, Nozel sat down and started eating his roasted duck, while Vanessa stood behind him, making sure that he was eating and hugging him at the same time.

It was strange, somehow. Everything right now seemed so domestic, so calm and serene. Was this normal for a relationship, especially still a young one?

Nozel never asked himself how domestic life would feel like. Such a bliss was not required when nobles and royals married, only the alliances mattered. He remembered how his mother tried to have some domestic bliss with his father, only to have that hope shattered every time until she gave up.

If this was how domestic bliss should felt like, then he definitely wouldn’t mind having it.

Nozel was finishing the dessert Vanessa brought as well, a slice of orange cheesecake, while she took a proper look at the chambers.

“This is a very cosy room. And a very unusual style for you, I have to say.”

“It was already like this when I took it. It belonged to my mother.”

“Oh, I see.”

Her voice was always so soft, so full of compassion when they talked about Acier Silva. Sometimes, Vanessa asked questions about his mother out of curiosity and the more he told stories, the more his pain seemed to soothe.

Maybe he needed that from the start.

Nozel remembered that Vanessa mentioned she never had a nice bond with her own mother and still, she was never envious when they talked about his memories of Acier. Was it possible to be this kindhearted?

Vanessa took a framed picture in her hands and Nozel blushed as he realized which one it was.

“Oh my gosh, Nozel, is that you? Aw, you were such a cute little boy, look at those chubby cheeks. And you already had such a serious look, so adorable.”

Since when where serious glances adorable?

Nozel finished his cheesecake and walked up to her, hugging her from behind. A hint of sad nostalgia pierced his heart as he looked at the small painting. His mother smiled, not much older than twenty, while a two or three year Nozel was in her arms.

“Your mother was really a beautiful woman.”

“She was. Noelle got really lucky to get most of her looks from her.”

“Don’t be so harsh on yourself, you’re one of the most handsome people in the kingdom. And you got a few looks from your mother as well.”

“Oh, really?”

“First off, you got her eye colour, I love that metallic shade of purple, it’s so unique. And the smile. Noelle has a very different smile than this, but when you’re happy, you smile just like this as well.”

Nozel scoffed, but her words touched him very much. He couldn’t recall that anyone ever pointed out the similarities he had with his mother. Being the only one of his siblings who was perfect mix of his parents, he never got that.

But Vanessa was doing it. Because she seemed to see all the smaller details most people would ignore.

He hugged her more tightly, diving his face in her rosewood curls. The scent of rosewater filled his nose.

Was it too much to ask to have this in his life, in his still blurry future? Was it bad to wish to do the most simple things with her, like…

“Can I brush your hair?”

“Oh my, handsome eagle, I know no one else who has such simple wishes. Well, except maybe Gordon and Finral in a way.”

They both sat down on the canopy bed, Nozel took his brush and started to entangle her beautiful curls. It was such a soothing task to do. He vaguely remembered doing this to Nebra once when she was four or five years old and his sister had seemed to hate it, preferring to have mother brush her hair.

But Vanessa seemed to love what he was doing.

When he was finished, Vanessa turned around, smiling so softly at him that Nozel forgot everything around him for a second.

“Alright, now it’s my turn, captain eagle.”

She started to undo his braid. A habit she took just yesterday, but she seemed to love to undo his braid and then later, braiding his bangs again. Nozel let her do it and even came to enjoy each time she touched his hair, no matter if it was to play with it or to try something.

Vanessa took her time to brush his hair, she clearly enjoyed gliding her fingers through it, along the brush. But when she finished, she dived both her hands fully in his thick hair and started to give him a scalp massage.

Nozel didn’t except this gesture and at first, he had no idea how to feel about it. But it was so relaxing he stopped caring about it very soon.

“Just enjoy it, honey. I know you had a hard day today and you deserve to finally relax for this evening.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

By the heavens above, he loved this woman even more each day. Was this even possible? Well, for him it certainly was and he just wished he could find a way to properly show it to her, as she deserved it.

“I want this for the rest of my life.”

He hadn’t meant to tell those words aloud, but his mouth rebelled, like always when Vanessa was with him, actually.

“Me too, Nozel. Me too.”

They both stared at each other, full of emotion but also full of understanding. Vanessa wasn’t stupid, she was also pretty much aware of the situation they were in and even though she had a carefree attitude, she understood more than most people would probably gave her credit for. And yet, they loved each other.

Nozel sighed as he pulled her into a deep kiss. He didn’t want to keep his relationship with Vanessa secret. When he was with her, he wanted to show her to the world, to show everyone what a wonderful woman she was and how lucky he felt to love her so deeply.

For now, it wasn’t possible. But despite all his worries when she wasn’t with him and the burden he still carried with him, Nozel found herself more and more determined to fight for her. The future was blurry and he didn’t know yet what Vanessa wanted for later in her life. But she always told him to stop worrying from time to time and enjoy the presence more often and right now, it seemed like the best thing to do.

Their kiss deepened, became hotter and both of them knew what would come.

It didn’t took too long until they got rid of their clothes. Like every time, they lost every sense of time and place, only knowing each other, only loving each other.

As their bodies were completely intertwined in their lovemaking and Nozel kissed Vanessa again with all the passion he could manage, one certitude became clear to his mind.

He was too far gone already, as he knew he would not hesitate to give up his royal status to be with Vanessa.

For once since long, Nozel felt completely free.

[funky-sea-cryptid]

puli angel >>>>>>>>

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Btw, now that angels are what they are in canon, it’s interesting to think about the three other canon characters who are associated with angel/fallen angel thematic

[idontthinkimokaymentally]

Hello there Puli Angel fans.

[kharmii]

Zora with his hang dog look....

Black Clover Vol 15

[www-findringo-com]

I recently got back into Black Clover, and i miss my sweet princess yuno so much. So i'm making this series out of boredom.... enjoy!!!

Next

From Afar

A Yuno Grinberryall × Fem!reader written by Ringociocco.

Playlist

1. Somethin' stupid - Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra

2. See you again - Tyler The Creator, Kali Uchis

3. Heart racing - Kanii, Riovazz, Nimstarr

4. I must apologise - Pinkpantheress

5. Pain - Pinkpantheress

6. Back to the old house - The Smiths

7. Hatachi no koi - Lamp

8. A night to remember - Beabadoobee, Laufey

9. Infrunami - Steve Lacy

10. Lovers rock - Tv Girl

11. Tek it - Cafunè

12. Something about you - Eyedress, Dent May

13. Notion - The Rare Occasions

14. Looking out for you - Joy Again

15. Show me how - Men I Trust

16. The perfect pair - Beabadoobee

17. Duvet - Bôa

18. The way things go - Beabadoobee

19. Lovesick - Laufey

20. Glue song - Beabadoobee, Clairo

21. Bad Habit - Steve Lacy

22. First love/ late spring - Mitski

CHARACTER LIST

not stealing Sawako from kimi ni todoke,

this is just the way i visualise the MC.

https://pin.it/5qqyzbuSk

(Hanabi Pinterest Board)

Name: Y/N Hanabi

Age: 6 (Prologue) 15 (meeting Julius) 16 (at the entrance exam)

Pronouns: She/Her

Magic: Firework Form

Mana: Royal level

Status: Commoner of the common realm

Squad: Blue Rose

Close friends: Asta, Noelle Silva, Mimosa Vermillion, Magna Swing, Luck Voltia, Leopold Vermillion, Sol Marron, Puli Angel, Charlotte Roselei, Wainsley, Yuno, Serene Kira .

Name: Yuno

Age: 16 (when he meets Y/N)

Pronouns: He/Him

Magic: Wind form

Mana: Royal level

Status: Paesant of the forsaken realm

Squad: Golden Dawn

Close friends: Asta, Mimosa Vermillion, Klaus Lunette, Y/N Hanabi, Bell .

Name: Asta

Age: 16 (when he meets Y/N)

Pronouns: He/Him

Magic: Anti-Magic

Mana: None

Status: Paesant of the forsaken realm

Squad: Black Bulls

Close friends: Yuno, Noelle Silva, Magna Swing, Luck Voltia, Finral Roulacase, Vanessa Enoteca, Charmy Pappitson, Gauche Adlai, Gordon Agrippa, Grey, Secre Swallowtail, Zora Ideale, Henry Legolant, Nacht Faust ,Yami Sukehiro, Mimosa Vermillion, Klaus Lunette, Leopold Vermillion, Rill Boismortier, Sally, Kahono, Kiato, Mars, Fana, Fanzell Kruger, Liebe, Rebecca Scarlet, Y/N Hanabi, Lolopechika .

Name: Sol Marron

Age: 19 (At Y/N's entrance exam)

Pronouns: She/Her

Magic: Earth Form

Mana: Commoner level

Status: Commoner rescued by Charlotte Roselei

Squad: Blue Rose

Close friends: Charlotte Roselei, Puli Angel, Y/N Hanabi, Wainsley, Borja, Risacca, Selena, Galgaria .

Name: Charlotte Roselei

Age: 27 (At Y/N's entrance exam)

Pronouns: She/Her

Magic: Briar form

Mana: Noble level

Status: Noble, Blue Rose brigade Captain

Squad: Blue rose

Close friends: Sol Marron, Puli Angel, Y/N Hanabi, Wainsley, Borja, Risacca, Selena, Galgaria, Dorothy Unsworth, Yami Sukehiro( kind of).

Name: Noelle Silva

Age: 16 (When she meets Y/N)

Pronouns: She/Her

Magic: Water form

Mana: Royal level

Status: Noble of the house of Silva

Squad: Black Bulls

Close friends: Asta, Magna Swing, Luck Voltia, Finral Roulacase, Vanessa Enoteca, Charmy Pappitson, Gauche Adlai, Gordon Agrippa, Grey, Secre Swallowtail, Zora Ideale, Henry Legolant, Nacht Faust ,Yami Sukehiro, Mimosa Vermillion, Kahono, Kiato, Y/N Hanabi, Lolopechika .

Name: Mimosa Vermillion

Age: 17 (When she meets Y/N)

Pronouns: She/Her

Magic: Plant form

Mana: Noble level

Status: Noble of the house of Vermillion

Squad: Golden Dawn

Close friends: Yuno, Klaus Lunette, Asta, Noelle Silva, Y/N Hanabi, Lolopechika, David, Letoile, Hamon, Dorothy Unsworth .

Name: Julius Novachrono

Age: 43 (When he meets Y/N)

Pronouns: He/Him

Magic: Time form

Mana: Royal level

Status: Wizard King

Ex-Squad: Grey Deer

Close Friends: Yami Sukehiro, William Vangeance, Marx, Damnatio Kira, Owen, Serene Kira.

PROLOGUE

Ever since i was a kid, I could remember the townsfolk around me praising me for my silly magic: " Wow, Y/N! you're really living up to the Hanabi name"

I never understood if they were making fun of me for my name and magic or if they were actually impressed by my childish magic, either way I played along: I acted nice and thankful to them, entertaining them with my fireworks and putting on a show for those who were so unfortunate to not own enough magic. As I grew up, I kept seeing my magic as stupid and useless, but everything changed when that woman from the land of the sun stumbled in our hostel.

"Uhm, excuse me, are there rooms available?"

That woman was beautiful, with long silky black hair, and her deep black eyes had a shape that could make the prettiest woman in the world jealous. She was so different, yet it was impossible not to find her beautiful. Even I ,a 6 year old, found her attractive.

Time passed by, and that woman never left, Mizuki was her name, and she said it meant hope. Hope is a concept that she embraced wholeheartedly. Being able to survive the trip from the land of the sun to the clover kingdom was a miracle, and thanks to it, she regained the strength to "hope." Mizuki taught me a lot about her homeland, and I was so fascinated by it. Not only that, but she also helped me work my magic with her knowledge and with her "hope."

"Your magic, it reminds me a lot of festivals back home," She spoke softly: "It's a very unique attribute. I think you'll become a great mage Y/N-chan!" .

I scoffed. Me? A great mage? As if, I'm a lowly commoner with the stupid magic of creating silly sparkles. Yet she was so convinced of herself that I almost believed it for a moment. Time passed, and I grew, and Mizuki never left. To be honest, I was glad. She was the first person who was true to me.

I was 14 now. One year left before i could get my grimoire. I was walking home when I saw Mizuki walking out of the town with her bags. I froze.

"Mizuki! Please, wait. "

She turned around, and in that moment, my memories of her arrival here came back in my mind.

Even if i didn't notice, she had changed so much. Her long silky black hair was now short and not as beautiful as it once was, her clothing from the traditional clothes of her land to the rowdy commoner clothes of the clover kingdom. The only things that didn't change were her piercing, unique black eyes that, to my surprise, were swelling in tears as she took in the vision of me.

My vision was blurry, my lips started to pout, and i could feel something ticklish and wet falling down my cheek. Mizuki dropped her bags, froze for a second, and then started sprinting towards me. I knew what was coming, so instinctively, I opened my arms, waiting for her embrace. One that had conforted me for 7 years, the same one that made me feel safe and happy.

" Y/N-chan, I am so sorry. I never meant to leave you like this, but my homeland has summoned me back, and I still have a duty to fulfil back there." She stopped for a second as she sobbed uncontrollably. "My dear, I'll miss you so much. These years have been the greatest of my life, and with you, I sealed a bond no magic will ever break. So please. Never forget me and know that I will be back!"

" I hope so, Mizuki!"

The feeling of her embrace was one I could not forget. She was gone, but her touch was still on my skin.

I walked back into my family's hostel, and I was met by my relatives wearing gloomy faces. They, too, had a bond with the foreigner. I went up to my room, reminiscing on everything I could have done with Mizuki or everything i should have told her. When I noticed a medium-sized box on my bed, next to it laid a letter titled : To my Dear Y/N. The letter was signed by Mizuki, so i took no second thoughts and immediately opened it.

Inside, the letter read:

Dear Y/N, I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly, but there are just many things in my country that I yet need to discover. Over the years, we have built an amazing bond, a string that no matter how strong the magic it will never break us apart. A string that will always lead us back to one another. That is my hope.

Even if it takes us a hundred years, we will meet again, and for me to recognise you From Afar i gift you this piece of clothing from my country. It is a modified piece to be more comfortable in battle because I know you will become the strongest mage in the whole kingdom of clover. In the occasion that it happens, I ask you not to forget your values nor me, the same way as I will never forget you, my darling.

As of now, there isn't much for me to say, I hope you don't despair for me because I don't want my beautiful sparkle to loose it's fire. Whatever happens, just know I will protect you From Afar Y/N-chan.

All my love. Mizuki.

I stared at the letter for a few minutes before little water droplets started to fall on the paper. I hated crying it was a way to express weakness, yet I couldn't stop my tears from overflowing in my eyes.

I sat there in silence a few second, the only thing you could hear were my short sobs and my breath hitches. Then, I decided to open the box.

Inside was a kimono, but it was different from the ones she wore: It didn't have a skirt and the ends of it were very loose; even the top was loose which was weird since she taught me that wearing the kimono incorrectly was just offensive and rude yet here it was an immodest kimono wow. Ironic Mizuki. The sleeves started very tight and after the elbow it got insanely large. Even if this was VERY modified, it still looked cool. The whole cloth was mainly a dark red adorned with traditional cloud motives and the bottom of the sleeves had red hibiscus flowers on them.

Next to the kimono sat many other things: An obi alongside an obi-age and an obi-shime, a big headpiece with a bow and somesort of upside down small fan? That's what it looked like. And huge wooden sandals, which I'm pretty sure the sole was a bit too big.

" Thank you, Mizuki "

Even when she was going to abandon me, she still thought of leaving something for me to wear in the future. That woman is full of kindness in her heart.

We'll meet again someday, I know it

Author's Note

Ermmmm, I have no idea if this will actually make it in my brain as a fanfiction, but i'll try to keep it updated! In the meantime, please enjoy this intro + short prologue!!!

The MC is kinda based off my Oc and you can kinda see that, I did also put in another Oc of mine who i didn't give info about if you want to know more about Serene Kira let me know!

[notsoattractivearenti]

Surprise x2 (Christian Pulisic x Reader)

Word Count: 1.5K

Warnings: few cursing words; mentions of pregnancy; possibly can cause baby fever lol. nothing else but fluff fluff fluff! 🥰

A/N: This was supposed to be the first fic I posted, but I just finished it after 2 weeks! Heavily inspired by the video above lol (not the gender reveal, but Christian's reaction). Written especially for dad!Puli nation 🥰🫶 Feedbacks would be appreciated!

---

“Shit, it’s 6 fucking AM!” you quietly said to yourself as you just woke up and already feeling extremely nauseous. You got up and rushed to the bathroom because you felt like you were so close on throwing up on the bed. Your husband, Christian woke up to the sound of you throwing up, which was pretty loud. He immediately got off the bed, grabbed some tissues and a glass of water from the bedside table, and went to the bathroom.

You were sitting on the floor, facing down the toilet, and you heard him coming over. You were looking up at his tired-yet-worried face as he said “Y/N love are you okay? Do you want me to get any meds or anything else? I also got you water in case you need it.” You were feeling too weak to say anything so you just nodded, then threw up again. He was there the whole time holding your hair up, caressing your back, and even said “sorry baby” multiple times. You were feeling extremely sick and so worried, so his presence made you felt a lot better. 

“Okay, I’m done,” you said as you wiped your mouth with a tissue, “everything inside my stomach is pretty much gone now, ugh.” He helped you stood up, you flushed the toilet and he asked, “what happened?” 

“I have no idea. Just got nausea out of nowhere.” He then nervously said something that made your heart skipped a beat: “Y/N, I don’t know but um, do you think uh, it’s possible that… You’re pregnant again?” 

You suddenly remembered that you did go through the same thing before finding out you were pregnant with Maxine, your firstborn. You froze for a second then responded, “Fuck. Chris, I need to get a pregnancy test like right now.” 

“I’ll get them for you, come on.” You both went back to your bedroom, then Christian grabbed his jacket and car keys, and kissed your forehead before he left. You had mixed feelings about the possibility of being pregnant again but you started questioning yourself: are you ready for another child? You are a great mom to Max and you love her very much, but going through pregnancy and taking care of a baby were no joke. You felt like you needed more time to do it all over again, but now it seemed like you weren’t given enough time. You and Christian just started talking about trying for baby number 2 — now that Maxine is already 2 years old — but somehow you might have ended up conceiving before you two were even actively trying.

While you waited for Christian, you went to Max’s room to wake her up. You opened the door and saw your beautiful daughter who was still asleep while cuddling her beloved stuffed penguin Christian got her after she was born, which she named Fuzzy Penny. You sat on her bed, and shortly before you woke her up you looked at her and thought how lucky you are to have her in your life. 

Max was a surprise baby, since you and Christian didn’t plan on having a child before you two got married yet you got pregnant with her 3 months after you got engaged. You remembered how scared you were, because you didn’t think you were ready even though you wanted to keep your baby, and Christian convinced you that everything was going to be alright. You’re so glad that he was right, because you couldn’t and don’t want to imagine your life without Max. Even though it’s not always sunshine and rainbows, she without a doubt has made your life so much better than you thought it could ever be. It felt like you just gave birth to her yesterday and now she is probably going to be a big sister.

“Good morning my little angel,” you whispered to her little ear as you gently kissed her head and caressed her arm, “time to rise and shine!” She slowly opened her eyes, looked up to you, then gave you a big, bright smile and softly said “Mommy!” Her little voice has never failed to make you smile. You were filled with worries before and thanks to Max, now you felt at peace. “How was your sleep? Was it good?” Max nodded her head while smiling, then grabbed her shoulder-length wavy hair and said to you “messy hair mommy.” “You have the cutest messy hair honey,” you laughed, then you picked her up “let’s get you out of this bed, and come find Daddy!”

Christian had just come back and as he entered the living room, Max spotted him and shouting “DADDY!!!” His eyes widened when he saw her, “Oh hey look who’s awake! Good morning my princess!”

He bent down to pick her up, wrapping her around his arms. She rested her head on Christian’s shoulder, had her arms around his neck, and Christian gave her kisses on the top of her head – he knows she loves it when he does that, and of course he loves doing it too. 

You couldn’t help but smile, thinking how beautiful that moment was even though you have seen it many, many times. You felt like there were millions of butterflies in your stomach, so in love with the man who is not just the best husband, but also the best father in the whole wide world. 

You were so caught up in the moment you forgot that you needed to take pregnancy test, but then Christian reminded you as he handed the bag over. “Honey, I wasn’t sure how many tests you may need but I got like 4 or 5 in there. I’ve checked all expiration dates so you’re good.” 

“Woah, thank you,” as you took the bag, “I’ll take them all right now.” He smiled, nodded and mouthed “I got you”. 

You went to the bathroom to took all the test. “Okay,” you sighed, “let’s get this over with.” You waited anxiously until you got the results. You heard the timer sound on your phone, meaning 2 minutes had passed. You closed your eyes and took 3 deep breaths, trying to calm yourself down before you saw the results. 

Two red lines. “Pregnant”. You couldn’t believe what you saw. You gasped, and stood still for a minute, trying to process everything. You’d gone through this before, but it still caught you off guard somehow. You were nervous, but now you have positive results, you didn’t feel that way anymore. You’re going to have another child, and you felt good about it. Even though you weren’t sure you were ready, at least you knew you can count on your loving husband for everything, especially much-needed support.

Now that you’d spent some time in the bathroom, you finally felt ready to tell your husband he's going to be a dad for the second time. As you walked to the kitchen, you heard Max and Christian laughing. You then took a peek to see what it was all about, and you saw they were cooking breakfast. He was making Max’s favorite breakfast: pancakes with berries and chocolate sauce – he couldn’t cook before, but the day you two found out you were pregnant with Max he started learning how to cook because he wanted to be able to make homemade meals for his family. You saw they were having so much fun cooking those pancakes. When he was cooking, he held Max on his hip, while flipping the pancakes with his other hand. The kitchen was messy, and they were covered in flour – you could tell they were having a lot of fun while making the batter. He shook the pan for a bit, lifted it, then flipped over the pancake. In awe, Max laughed, clapped her hands in excitement and told him “good job Daddy!”

You didn’t want to interrupt their moment, so you just stood where you are until they noticed you. “Oh hey, there’s Mommy! Come here, we made pancakes!” As you approached them, Christian set up the table with Max’s help – she was still attached to his hip, of course ­– then sat her down on the chair.

“Wow, these pancakes look so good! You two made the best pancakes in the world!” you complimented them. Max gave you a big smile then looked to her dad “Daddy did good.” Christian was blushing, kissed her cheek and said to her “I did good because I have the cutest little helper.” 

Before he sat down, you softly grabbed his arm, and you whispered, “Honey, seems like we got another surprise...” You saw his eyes lit up as you said those words. He looked at you as he responded, “Oh my God, Y/N, you’re really pregnant???” You grinned and nodded. 

He gave you the biggest hug and was smiling ear to ear. He’s always loved being a father, and now he’s going to be a father of two. You could feel his overwhelming joy, which brought you back to the day you found out the first time. Still hugging you, he told you “I love you so much, Y/N! Thank you for giving me two best surprises!” 

Before he released the hug he kissed you on the lips, then came towards Max, hugged her and told her in his excited, high-pitched voice, “Max! You’re gonna be a big sister!”

taglist: @pulisicsgirl @neverinadream @masonspulisic @swimmingismywholelife @chelseagirl98 @bracedes @lovelynikol16 @thoseboysinblue @lizzypotter14

[rpfisfine]

i cannot get over this photo of a puli dog catching a tennis ball it looks like a biblically accurate angel

[nehirceliknews]

How a Tiny Island in Europe Sold Its Soul to Online Gaming

SLIEMA, Malta – It’s a Friday night at one of Malta’s larger upscale hotels in a fishing village turned sprawling town called St. Julian’s, and in the ballroom on the lower ground floor a woman in a silver dress is performing a not-quite-acoustic set, seated beside a guitarist whose long, dark hair is pinned back by a pair of sunglasses. 

“So good, so good,” she sings. “I’ve got you.” Before her are two dozen tables of wine bottles, tuxedos, and dresses. Most of the male guests appear middle-aged and some are mildly intoxicated, while the women present are mostly younger. A large advert at the side of the stage proclaims that a digital consultancy called MYC will ensure that your business images are distinctive, bold and respected. “We can be extraordinary, together,” it adds, helpfully. 

In the foyer outside, another tall display features the name of a group established by the Maltese government and the country’s gambling regulator to promote the island as a destination for businesses that develop, market, operate and profit from online gambling websites and apps. In front of that, a small strip of red carpet has been unrolled, where a photographer waits, lights raised high on stands, to capture the departing guests. 

Four older men in jackets, all clutching awards, surround a woman in a dark top. The event photographer snaps several formal group shots, then grabs a spotlight in one hand and, with the other, rattles off a short series of photos on proffered smartphones. There are high-fives and backslaps, and a young British guy in a grey jacket enters stage right, shouting “I won it” to a possible acquaintance with a beard and a large disc earring, before walking on and quickly pulling out his phone, suddenly oblivious to the surrounding melee of hugs, squeals and whoops. 

The evening’s Malta iGaming Excellence Awards had recognised excellence in a variety of categories, including top software platform provider for web-based betting and online gambling CEO deemed “best” – most effective, friendliest, or whatever, it’s unclear. The Intercontinental St. Julian’s may not quite rival Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, the traditional venue for the Academy Awards, but Malta has in recent years become to online gambling what Hollywood has been to the movie industry, drawing entrepreneurs and executives from across the European continent to this sun-blasted island. The EU’s smallest member state is home to one of the world’s greatest gambling booms since 1960s Vegas. 

Someone who has enjoyed a front-row seat to Malta’s blockbuster growth is Emanuel “Eman” Pulis, a club promoter turned conference planner, whose own career transition mirrors the transformation of the St. Julian’s neighbourhood that he describes fondly as a former “mecca for nightlife, clubs, bars.” It’s early afternoon and outside the temperature has just spiked to 30 degrees Celsius, as he offers a fist-bump before heading into his frigid conference room. He takes a seat under the fluorescent lights, his tan contrasting with the white piping on the collar of his dark blue Ralph Lauren polo shirt. 

“I used to be a party organiser,” he says. “I ditched that because I realised the only people who were spending money buying bottles at my parties were the gaming crowd.” His attachment to the dance party life ended conclusively during the summer of 2012, at an enormous house music event inside a venue called Amazonia. About 7,000 tourists and locals were enjoying a set from headliners Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, the half-Greek, half-Belgian fraternal DJ act that’s collaborated with artists ranging from Wiz Khalifa to Paris Hilton. In the partygoers’ midst an elevated area served as the VIP bubble, which Pulis realised was “full of Swedish, Norwegian, Scandinavian, great-looking people having a great time,” he recalls, smiling. “They were having fun on their own, spending a tonne of cash. And I realised I needed to be in that bubble.” He pauses, tucking his long, well-conditioned hair behind his ears, drawing attention to several small scars on the side of his left eye. “Why waste time bringing 10,000 people to my party when I can just focus on these few 100 people?” he says with a smile. 

The free-spending swarm of Scandinavians and other Northern Europeans had been drawn to Malta by an online gambling law passed several years earlier that provided the fledgling industry with legal protections and operating rules, which did not yet really exist anywhere else. “You can come to Malta,” Pulis says, summarising the official message from local authorities at the time, “and have the peace of mind that we’re not going to arrest you next day because you’re operating illegally.” 

And while gambling revenues have undoubtedly boosted the country’s tax revenues, their consequences are often most visible in concrete. Lots of it. Pulis now runs well-attended annual conferences centred on internet gambling that depend on industry participants from around the world travelling to Malta, but he’s also not blind to the local economy’s extraordinary transformation over the past two decades. “It did change the landscape of the Maltese islands,” he says of the new nexus. “Restaurants don’t struggle anymore, and the real estate market shot up, especially in certain areas.”

Sandwiched between two small bays named for figures of Catholic devotion, St. Julian’s and nearby St. George’s, the Portomaso marina development includes a subterranean casino that has hosted European poker tournaments and live events for some of the world’s largest gambling operators. It was one of several luxury projects thrown up to cater to Malta’s burgeoning expat population, and the family behind it has ridden the island’s boom to become one of Malta’s wealthiest. That makes sense when high-end real estate agent Trevor Gauci Maistre starts describing the increases to the area’s sale and rental prices, while sitting at the edge of the sprawling Portomaso estate, outside an elegant cafe. It’s all tidy palm trees and high-priced espresso, and it’s named for the two owners, who made appearances in offshore leaks known as the Panama Papers.

Maistre is charming and candid about his success over the past 20 years in the explosive commercial property sector, attributing it to “sometimes hard work, but also the right place, right time.” He closes around six or seven deals a month and “three-quarters of the rental market is iGaming.” He says that in one five-year period, an internet gaming company he worked with went from spending €6,000 (about £5,000) a year on its office lease to €200,000 (about £168,000). In the Sliema neighbourhood, a promontory just down the coast, some prime commercial building rents have almost quadrupled, from €160 (about £135) to €600 (about £500) a square metre. And for those looking to buy high-spec homes, the values of most nearby residential properties have “doubled, even tripled” since 2015, Maistre says. Inside the complex looming over the estate, a large three-bedroom penthouse apartment with a sea view might have been worth €200,000 15 years ago but will now sell for 10 times that amount.

At a new office building nearby, one of his clients – a Swedish-owned gambling firm – rents a floor with dozens of desks in several rows, and large windows at one end. Its Malta-based workforce totals 150, half of them local citizens and 32 other nationalities among the rest. “There are hundreds of millions of rules” in Sweden, says Marie-Louise Theobald, the company’s Maltese head of HR, explaining why so much of the operation is here. “It’s not worth it for a company of our size.” (After this article was published, Theobald messaged to clarify that the company is not opposed to the rules, and seeks to “operate responsibility wherever we offer our services” – but the level of regulation in Sweden makes it “harder for operators like us.”)

She sounds confident her own firm remains committed to the island, but expresses concern about the potential for public corruption in her homeland. “Companies are not as tied down in Malta as they used to be,” she acknowledges, for the reasons that first attracted such firms, like minimal taxes and low wages. She pauses and casts around for other explanations for their continued presence, and comes up with good schools and flight connections. “Besides that, the weather?” 

Robert de Marco is the company’s chief financial officer, a relaxed older man whom Theobald jokes is the office grandfather, since he’s twice the age of many of the younger game designers. Leaning in a doorway between the open-plan space and a well-appointed kitchen area, he laughs at the evolution of the industry. During his first trip to a big internet gambling confab in London many years ago, “it was guys in ponytails and tattoos,” he remembers. “Now it’s all suits.” 

Few participants in the iGaming industry lament that shift, but the easy money in Malta has had a broader impact on its reputation, says Alexandre Tomic, founder and chief executive of a gambling provider called Alea. Raised in France of Serbian heritage, he had planned to travel to Malta for a conference this summer. But COVID-19 kept him at home in Barcelona, where on a video call he runs through several notable instances of malfeasance involving the island’s financial sector. 

In the volatile period that followed Libya’s uprising and the death of Muammar Gaddafi, European investigators reported Maltese authorities had done “very little” to determine the origins of more than a quarter of a billion euros in cash that arrived on the island during 2013, of which they found “substantial amounts” were used to buy yachts and properties. More recently, prosecutors in Sicily and southern Italy have repeatedly linked arrested individuals to gambling-business licences in Malta – several of which were subsequently revoked. 

And then there was the closure in late 2018 of Bulgaria’s Satabank’s Maltese operations. The island’s financial regulator took unprecedented action to shutter the institution, with an extraordinary directive that insisted the bank could no longer welcome new customers, take fresh deposits, or process withdrawals. Assets were seized, paperwork forensically examined, and an independent auditor placed in charge of all operations, after investigators identified that safeguards designed to prevent terrorism financing or criminal financial chicanery at the bank were “lax and at times inexistent.” The European Central Bank eventually withdrew the Bulgarian-owned bank’s licence in mid-2020, and while under the control of auditors it was late last year forced to pay hundreds of thousands of euros in fines to Malta’s financial regulator. 

But perhaps a greater challenge to operators in Malta, Tomic explained, will happen away from the island, with the introduction of gambling regulations in countries like Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, where until relatively recently Malta-approved firms could legally target customers. The island hosts and licenses dozens of businesses that operate online casinos and sports betting sites marketed to gamblers all over the world, known as B2C (business to consumer) firms. But there are also hundreds of licensed ancillary suppliers like game providers, platform providers and payment providers that are contracted by those operators, known as B2B (business to business) companies. Tomic argues the larger B2C companies won’t stay much longer in Malta, since it no longer offers the low cost of living and correspondingly low wages of a decade ago, and will instead move portions of their workforce closer to their consumers, to newly regulated countries like Germany or Sweden. “Who’s going to stay in Malta?” He asks rhetorically of B2C businesses, before answering his own question. “The dodgy ones who are going to try and address unregulated markets.” 

Those unregulated markets include countries like Brazil and Argentina, where there are no laws on the statute books that govern online gambling, at least for now. But at least half a dozen people with a professional interest in Malta’s online gambling sector acknowledged that more and more developing countries will eventually introduce iGaming regulation. This would hamper companies licensed in Malta from targeting their citizens legally, limit the number of accessible players, and thereby reduce the benefits of holding a Malta gaming licence. And that could mean, argues Tomic, that Malta becomes simply a back-office hub for internet gambling, with its low taxes offering some measure of protection for the profits of B2B companies.

His own business, Alea, allows online casinos to access thousands of prefabricated games through its portal, and he insists its location in cosmopolitan Barcelona is an attractive consideration for would-be employees. The workforce he’s previously encountered in Malta was under-motivated – “lazy” was the word he used – with young employees of the larger firms drawn by the beaches, parties and corporate perks. “They move from one company to another without learning anything,” he says, calling it “an industry of spoiled kids who were earning an insane amount of money.” 

His Norwegian friend, Tobias Svensen, turns 30 this year, and as one of the youngest gambling CEOs on the island, he largely agrees with that characterisation of his peer group. Boasting a minor belly and a major beard, he’s often bullish about his own prospects, having left a role running a team of 35 telemarketers near Oslo when he answered an online advert for a job in Malta five years ago. Less than five months after he arrived, he was overseeing all Norwegian gamblers on his employer’s platforms. “I actually got promoted into the management group while I was technically still on my probation,” he says with a laugh. “That’s a cool story.” 

The Bosnian waiter at the steakhouse where Svensen sat greeted him cheerily and, without producing a menu, listed some of the Norwegian’s preferred dishes, including a generous cut of wagyu beef. Svensen explained that his full-time focus, recording video feeds of internet gamblers to usher interested viewers through to online casinos themselves, had once been merely a side project. He began to use YouTube and Twitch to garner traffic and eyeballs, and these efforts won him enough recognition that he began attending conferences from London to Las Vegas, Amsterdam to Asia, often as a speaker. “When I realised that it’s a serious and achievable goal to actually end up in my position within years,” he continues confidently, “I did put a lot of effort into making sure that you network and hang out with the right people.” He went to great lengths to stress that “the networking opportunity in Malta is amazing.”

It’s a network that exists, at least in part, thanks to Olga Finkel. She’s a computer scientist from Kharkiv, Ukraine, who long ago moved to Malta for personal reasons she doesn’t race to divulge. 

Her 60-person law firm was the first to specialise in servicing internet gambling companies in Malta. It has since helped hundreds of businesses apply for, win – and, during several regulatory disputes, retain – their gaming licences. In a bright orange conference room, she explains her role in designing much of the legislation that governs online gambling in Malta, but she doesn’t hesitate to highlight what she considers past deficiencies in its application.

She recalls a time in the mid-2000s when she used to accompany officials from the island’s gambling regulator to buildings that hosted her client’s gaming servers. “There’s all kinds of security cameras everywhere,” she remembers noticing, as the designated functionary went around marking individual servers – each one had to be located in Malta – with numbered stickers, designed to seal them from possible tampering – something that now seems absurd. “Fifteen years ago, the industry was an unruly, impulsive teenager,” she says, suppressing laughter. “Now it’s a responsible adult.” Some firms do see their licences revoked by the island’s regulator, though – are some of the unruly teenagers she mentioned still kicking about? “You can’t guarantee anything 100%, obviously,” Finkel responds. “But by and large, I think it is a very serious regulated industry.” These days, with the use of cloud storage and blockchain, “there is no cash that they give you across the table,” she said of online gaming firms. “It’s not allowed and it’s not possible. Everything is traceable, everything is checked.” Any problems with the island’s international reputation these days are simply “clouds” that will go away at some point. “We just hope,” she says, “it will happen sooner rather than later.”

Outside Finkel’s building, a few yards from the waterfront, a line of boats glints in the heat from a cloudless sky. Across a small dusty park is a kiosk selling chartered water tours around the capital Valletta, visible in the distance on the right. A striking jumble of sandy-coloured buildings on a peninsula, it was constructed in the 16th century by the Knights Hospitaller, a Christian organisation originally established to help sick pilgrims in the Holy Land, which later grew wealthy plundering foreigners’ vessels offshore. 

[longlistshort]

Dummy- Nine Clean Nails

This song is from Dummy’s 2024 album, Free Energy.

The band is playing at Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles on Sunday, 12/15/24 with Guck, Puli, and GMO.

[newsforukuse]

How a Tiny Island in Europe Sold Its Soul to Online Gaming

Malta, the EU’s smallest member state, is home to one of the world’s greatest gambling booms since Las Vegas in the 1960s.

SLIEMA, Malta – It’s a Friday night at one of Malta’s larger upscale hotels in a fishing village turned sprawling town called St. Julian’s, and in the ballroom on the lower ground floor a woman in a silver dress is performing a not-quite-acoustic set, seated beside a guitarist whose long, dark hair is pinned back by a pair of sunglasses. 

“So good, so good,” she sings. “I’ve got you.” Before her are two dozen tables of wine bottles, tuxedos, and dresses. Most of the male guests appear middle-aged and some are mildly intoxicated, while the women present are mostly younger. A large advert at the side of the stage proclaims that a digital consultancy called MYC will ensure that your business images are distinctive, bold and respected. “We can be extraordinary, together,” it adds, helpfully. 

In the foyer outside, another tall display features the name of a group established by the Maltese government and the country’s gambling regulator to promote the island as a destination for businesses that develop, market, operate and profit from online gambling websites and apps. In front of that, a small strip of red carpet has been unrolled, where a photographer waits, lights raised high on stands, to capture the departing guests. 

Four older men in jackets, all clutching awards, surround a woman in a dark top. The event photographer snaps several formal group shots, then grabs a spotlight in one hand and, with the other, rattles off a short series of photos on proffered smartphones. There are high-fives and backslaps, and a young British guy in a grey jacket enters stage right, shouting “I won it” to a possible acquaintance with a beard and a large disc earring, before walking on and quickly pulling out his phone, suddenly oblivious to the surrounding melee of hugs, squeals and whoops. 

The evening’s Malta iGaming Excellence Awards had recognised excellence in a variety of categories, including top software platform provider for web-based betting and online gambling CEO deemed “best” – most effective, friendliest, or whatever, it’s unclear. The Intercontinental St. Julian’s may not quite rival Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, the traditional venue for the Academy Awards, but Malta has in recent years become to online gambling what Hollywood has been to the movie industry, drawing entrepreneurs and executives from across the European continent to this sun-blasted island. The EU’s smallest member state is home to one of the world’s greatest gambling booms since 1960s Vegas. 

Someone who has enjoyed a front-row seat to Malta’s blockbuster growth is Emanuel “Eman” Pulis, a club promoter turned conference planner, whose own career transition mirrors the transformation of the St. Julian’s neighbourhood that he describes fondly as a former “mecca for nightlife, clubs, bars.” It’s early afternoon and outside the temperature has just spiked to 30 degrees Celsius, as he offers a fist-bump before heading into his frigid conference room. He takes a seat under the fluorescent lights, his tan contrasting with the white piping on the collar of his dark blue Ralph Lauren polo shirt. 

“I used to be a party organiser,” he says. “I ditched that because I realised the only people who were spending money buying bottles at my parties were the gaming crowd.” His attachment to the dance party life ended conclusively during the summer of 2012, at an enormous house music event inside a venue called Amazonia. About 7,000 tourists and locals were enjoying a set from headliners Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, the half-Greek, half-Belgian fraternal DJ act that’s collaborated with artists ranging from Wiz Khalifa to Paris Hilton. In the partygoers’ midst an elevated area served as the VIP bubble, which Pulis realised was “full of Swedish, Norwegian, Scandinavian, great-looking people having a great time,” he recalls, smiling. “They were having fun on their own, spending a tonne of cash. And I realised I needed to be in that bubble.” He pauses, tucking his long, well-conditioned hair behind his ears, drawing attention to several small scars on the side of his left eye. “Why waste time bringing 10,000 people to my party when I can just focus on these few 100 people?” he says with a smile. 

The free-spending swarm of Scandinavians and other Northern Europeans had been drawn to Malta by an online gambling law passed several years earlier that provided the fledgling industry with legal protections and operating rules, which did not yet really exist anywhere else. “You can come to Malta,” Pulis says, summarising the official message from local authorities at the time, “and have the peace of mind that we're not going to arrest you next day because you're operating illegally.” 

Since then, tens of thousands of coders, marketers, game designers and gambling fanatics have settled in a handful of neighbourhoods that extend north along a series of coastal inlets from the capital Valletta, with names like Ta’ Xbiex, Sliema, St. Julian’s, Paceville and Pembroke reflecting the island’s unique history of Arabic, Catholic, and British influences. And that vast workforce in this chain of former villages has helped create what many of the gambling executives VICE World News spoke to inside and outside Malta described as a formidable ecosystem that they hope will secure the island’s place as a longtime constant in the world of online betting. The exponential growth that derives from this kind of congregated talent and expertise is what business strategists like to call a “cluster effect.” 

And while gambling revenues have undoubtedly boosted the country’s tax revenues, their consequences are often most visible in concrete. Lots of it. Pulis now runs well-attended annual conferences centred on internet gambling that depend on industry participants from around the world travelling to Malta, but he’s also not blind to the local economy’s extraordinary transformation over the past two decades. “It did change the landscape of the Maltese islands,” he says of the new nexus. “Restaurants don't struggle anymore, and the real estate market shot up, especially in certain areas.”

Sandwiched between two small bays named for figures of Catholic devotion, St. Julian’s and nearby St. George’s, the Portomaso marina development includes a subterranean casino that has hosted European poker tournaments and live events for some of the world’s largest gambling operators. It was one of several luxury projects thrown up to cater to Malta’s burgeoning expat population, and the family behind it has ridden the island’s boom to become one of Malta’s wealthiest. That makes sense when high-end real estate agent Trevor Gauci Maistre starts describing the increases to the area’s sale and rental prices, while sitting at the edge of the sprawling Portomaso estate, outside an elegant cafe. It’s all tidy palm trees and high-priced espresso, and it’s named for the two owners, who made appearances in offshore leaks known as the Panama Papers.

Maistre is charming and candid about his success over the past 20 years in the explosive commercial property sector, attributing it to “sometimes hard work, but also the right place, right time.” He closes around six or seven deals a month and “three-quarters of the rental market is iGaming.” He says that in one five-year period, an internet gaming company he worked with went from spending €6,000 (about £5,000) a year on its office lease to €200,000 (about £168,000). In the Sliema neighbourhood, a promontory just down the coast, some prime commercial building rents have almost quadrupled, from €160 (about £135) to €600 (about £500) a square metre. And for those looking to buy high-spec homes, the values of most nearby residential properties have “doubled, even tripled” since 2015, Maistre says. Inside the complex looming over the estate, a large three-bedroom penthouse apartment with a sea view might have been worth €200,000 15 years ago but will now sell for 10 times that amount.

At a new office building nearby, one of his clients – a Swedish-owned gambling firm – rents a floor with dozens of desks in several rows, and large windows at one end. Its Malta-based workforce totals 150, half of them local citizens and 32 other nationalities among the rest. “There are hundreds of millions of rules” in Sweden, says Marie-Louise Theobald, the company’s Maltese head of HR, explaining why so much of the operation is here. “It’s not worth it for a company of our size.” (After this article was published, Theobald messaged to clarify that the company is not opposed to the rules, and seeks to “operate responsibility wherever we offer our services” – but the level of regulation in Sweden makes it “harder for operators like us.”)

She sounds confident her own firm remains committed to the island, but expresses concern about the potential for public corruption in her homeland. “Companies are not as tied down in Malta as they used to be,” she acknowledges, for the reasons that first attracted such firms, like minimal taxes and low wages. She pauses and casts around for other explanations for their continued presence, and comes up with good schools and flight connections. “Besides that, the weather?” 

Robert de Marco is the company’s chief financial officer, a relaxed older man whom Theobald jokes is the office grandfather, since he’s twice the age of many of the younger game designers. Leaning in a doorway between the open-plan space and a well-appointed kitchen area, he laughs at the evolution of the industry. During his first trip to a big internet gambling confab in London many years ago, “it was guys in ponytails and tattoos,” he remembers. “Now it’s all suits.” 

Few participants in the iGaming industry lament that shift, but the easy money in Malta has had a broader impact on its reputation, says Alexandre Tomic, founder and chief executive of a gambling provider called Alea. Raised in France of Serbian heritage, he had planned to travel to Malta for a conference this summer. But COVID-19 kept him at home in Barcelona, where on a video call he runs through several notable instances of malfeasance involving the island’s financial sector. 

In the volatile period that followed Libya’s uprising and the death of Muammar Gaddafi, European investigators reported Maltese authorities had done “very little” to determine the origins of more than a quarter of a billion euros in cash that arrived on the island during 2013, of which they found “substantial amounts” were used to buy yachts and properties. More recently, prosecutors in Sicily and southern Italy have repeatedly linked arrested individuals to gambling-business licences in Malta – several of which were subsequently revoked. 

And then there was the closure in late 2018 of Bulgaria’s Satabank’s Maltese operations. The island’s financial regulator took unprecedented action to shutter the institution, with an extraordinary directive that insisted the bank could no longer welcome new customers, take fresh deposits, or process withdrawals. Assets were seized, paperwork forensically examined, and an independent auditor placed in charge of all operations, after investigators identified that safeguards designed to prevent terrorism financing or criminal financial chicanery at the bank were “lax and at times inexistent.” The European Central Bank eventually withdrew the Bulgarian-owned bank’s licence in mid-2020, and while under the control of auditors it was late last year forced to pay hundreds of thousands of euros in fines to Malta’s financial regulator. 

But perhaps a greater challenge to operators in Malta, Tomic explained, will happen away from the island, with the introduction of gambling regulations in countries like Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, where until relatively recently Malta-approved firms could legally target customers. The island hosts and licenses dozens of businesses that operate online casinos and sports betting sites marketed to gamblers all over the world, known as B2C (business to consumer) firms. But there are also hundreds of licensed ancillary suppliers like game providers, platform providers and payment providers that are contracted by those operators, known as B2B (business to business) companies. Tomic argues the larger B2C companies won’t stay much longer in Malta, since it no longer offers the low cost of living and correspondingly low wages of a decade ago, and will instead move portions of their workforce closer to their consumers, to newly regulated countries like Germany or Sweden. “Who's going to stay in Malta?” He asks rhetorically of B2C businesses, before answering his own question. “The dodgy ones who are going to try and address unregulated markets.” 

Those unregulated markets include countries like Brazil and Argentina, where there are no laws on the statute books that govern online gambling, at least for now. But at least half a dozen people with a professional interest in Malta’s online gambling sector acknowledged that more and more developing countries will eventually introduce iGaming regulation. This would hamper companies licensed in Malta from targeting their citizens legally, limit the number of accessible players, and thereby reduce the benefits of holding a Malta gaming licence. And that could mean, argues Tomic, that Malta becomes simply a back-office hub for internet gambling, with its low taxes offering some measure of protection for the profits of B2B companies.

His own business, Alea, allows online casinos to access thousands of prefabricated games through its portal, and he insists its location in cosmopolitan Barcelona is an attractive consideration for would-be employees. The workforce he’s previously encountered in Malta was under-motivated – “lazy” was the word he used – with young employees of the larger firms drawn by the beaches, parties and corporate perks. “They move from one company to another without learning anything,” he says, calling it “an industry of spoiled kids who were earning an insane amount of money.” 

His Norwegian friend, Tobias Svensen, turns 30 this year, and as one of the youngest gambling CEOs on the island, he largely agrees with that characterisation of his peer group. Boasting a minor belly and a major beard, he’s often bullish about his own prospects, having left a role running a team of 35 telemarketers near Oslo when he answered an online advert for a job in Malta five years ago. Less than five months after he arrived, he was overseeing all Norwegian gamblers on his employer’s platforms. “I actually got promoted into the management group while I was technically still on my probation,” he says with a laugh. “That's a cool story.” 

The Bosnian waiter at the steakhouse where Svensen sat greeted him cheerily and, without producing a menu, listed some of the Norwegian’s preferred dishes, including a generous cut of wagyu beef. Svensen explained that his full-time focus, recording video feeds of internet gamblers to usher interested viewers through to online casinos themselves, had once been merely a side project. He began to use YouTube and Twitch to garner traffic and eyeballs, and these efforts won him enough recognition that he began attending conferences from London to Las Vegas, Amsterdam to Asia, often as a speaker. “When I realised that it's a serious and achievable goal to actually end up in my position within years,” he continues confidently, “I did put a lot of effort into making sure that you network and hang out with the right people.” He went to great lengths to stress that “the networking opportunity in Malta is amazing.”

It’s a network that exists, at least in part, thanks to Olga Finkel. She’s a computer scientist from Kharkiv, Ukraine, who long ago moved to Malta for personal reasons she doesn’t race to divulge. 

Her 60-person law firm was the first to specialise in servicing internet gambling companies in Malta. It has since helped hundreds of businesses apply for, win – and, during several regulatory disputes, retain – their gaming licences. In a bright orange conference room, she explains her role in designing much of the legislation that governs online gambling in Malta, but she doesn’t hesitate to highlight what she considers past deficiencies in its application.

She recalls a time in the mid-2000s when she used to accompany officials from the island’s gambling regulator to buildings that hosted her client’s gaming servers. “There’s all kinds of security cameras everywhere,” she remembers noticing, as the designated functionary went around marking individual servers – each one had to be located in Malta – with numbered stickers, designed to seal them from possible tampering – something that now seems absurd. “Fifteen years ago, the industry was an unruly, impulsive teenager,” she says, suppressing laughter. “Now it’s a responsible adult.” Some firms do see their licences revoked by the island’s regulator, though – are some of the unruly teenagers she mentioned still kicking about? “You can't guarantee anything 100%, obviously,” Finkel responds. "But by and large, I think it is a very serious regulated industry.” These days, with the use of cloud storage and blockchain, “there is no cash that they give you across the table,” she said of online gaming firms. “It's not allowed and it's not possible. Everything is traceable, everything is checked.” Any problems with the island’s international reputation these days are simply “clouds'' that will go away at some point. “We just hope,” she says, “it will happen sooner rather than later.”

Outside Finkel’s building, a few yards from the waterfront, a line of boats glints in the heat from a cloudless sky. Across a small dusty park is a kiosk selling chartered water tours around the capital Valletta, visible in the distance on the right. A striking jumble of sandy-coloured buildings on a peninsula, it was constructed in the 16th century by the Knights Hospitaller, a Christian organisation originally established to help sick pilgrims in the Holy Land, which later grew wealthy plundering foreigners’ vessels offshore. 

t’s early afternoon in Siggiewi, a hilltop town in the island’s northeast. The houses lining the streets are butter-yellow, with beautifully carved doorways, and – shutters drawn – they are mostly silent, with only agricultural trucks juddering past and occasionally overwhelming the quiet speech of Robert Aquilina. He’s a public notary but also president of a civil society group called Repubblika, which advocates for greater political transparency in Malta’s democracy. Compared to the baking tarmac outside, his office is as cool as his own demeanour, with a long glass-fronted cabinet, traditional tiled floor and a small wooden table. 

The discussion focuses on the public corruption that several iGaming executives have by now mentioned, and he is narrating the example of a former attorney general who ultimately resigned. When faced with requests to investigate a Maltese bank for illicit transactions, he had advised senior police officers to act with caution because, as he paraphrased, “this could create problems in the country.” The bank’s Iranian founder was later charged by US prosecutors with bank fraud and money-laundering, though he was subsequently acquitted. Aquilina points to another case where the office of Malta’s then-chief of gambling regulation had helped prepare documentation on behalf of a casino operator as part of a casino license renewal application. “In any other civilised country, that would lead to prosecutions,” he says, matter-of-factly, of such collusion. “In Malta, there is no interest at all from the police force.” Aquilina is not alone in Malta for demanding that “people of integrity” should apply the island’s laws, but it sounds like an often lonely task, given the “sense of decay of values in public life” that he describes. “What wasn't acceptable 10 years ago now is acceptable.”

Tal Izhtak Ron is a keen student of the intersection of Malta’s gaming sector and its governance. “The only thing that we are reading all the time,” he tells me from Tel Aviv, "is regarding what's going on with the politics. That is actually, actually, actually just causing damage to the reputation.” As the named partner in an Israeli law firm focused on online gaming, with clients across Europe, including Malta, he says none of the criticism should matter. “Everybody's praying that Malta will continue being a hub on the B2C operation,” Ron says, “that banks will continue to work and the money will be continued.” And however much reputational damage or competition from other jurisdictions the island faces, he is adamant successful gambling executives and workers, “just want to stay in Malta because Malta is like an ecosystem.”

Authorities this summer sought to further strengthen that ecosystem, introducing a digital-nomad visa scheme that allows freelancers from outside the EU to work from the island for up to a year, so long as they can prove a sufficient source of income. This should attract more affiliates or “affiliate marketers” to the island. They’re another important constituency in the internet gambling world – bloggers, influencers or vloggers, like Norwegian video gambling aficionado Svensen – who take internet users on their own sites and usher them through the virtual doors of online casinos.

On the Thursday night of a three-day internet gambling conference this summer, as the sun began to set, a seventh-floor rooftop played host to another awards dinner for online slots developers. Nearby was Ivan Filetti, an advertising executive working at Malta’s main iGaming trade body, who described several educational programmes that had been created to prepare young Maltese for a job in the gambling sector. Several of the larger firms on the island had established academies or graduate training programs, like large banks on Wall Street or tech giants in Silicon Valley. The Malta College of Arts, Science & Technology meanwhile had signed an agreement with the gambling regulator to offer the country’s 18-year-olds a one-year diploma in iGaming, with classes on “data analysis, marketing, SEO,” Filetti said. "The cowboys will always exist,” he said, unprompted. “But they won't last here forever.” Moments later the country’s top regulator sat down to the far side of Filetti, in a cream summer jacket without a tie, a reminder once again of the island’s small-town feel. 

The host, an English woman named Trudy, welcomed the crowd to the awards ceremony, which, she enthused, “represents all that is great about online games and casino.” The first category was “Game Performance – Slot Studio Debut” and a parade of competing companies’ logos and game titles whooshed up one by one on a big screen at the back of the stage. A firm called Alchemy Gaming’s Wheel of Wishes slot emerged as the first winner, and a woman behind that effort clasped her award and a bottle of champagne on stage, thanked the crowd from the mic, then made sure they knew her game’s payout was "17.5 million” – presumably in euros. “Give it a try.” 

In a Hollywood twist, the companies that design these games are known as “studios,” but COVID meant not all studio heads had made it to the event in person. A Swedish executive appeared by pre-recorded video, followed by an Englishman in a white shirt who mumbled his gratitude. A retro-style game called Rainbow Riches Race Day, from a company called SG Digital, was described by the judges as a slot game that “really pulls you in, and one they did not want to stop playing,” surely a key quality in an industry often criticised for encouraging addiction. Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus heralded the winner of best art and design, called Dinopolis, which its designers explain “takes players into a world that could have been, had dinosaurs continued to live on.” A check revealed the slots were decorated with anthropomorphic dinosaurs dressed like the denizens of Rat Pack-era Vegas. 

The crowd’s applause was faltering slightly by the time a British executive in a red seersucker suit, pink waistcoat, polka-dot handkerchief in his top pocket and blue suede shoes approached the stage for a game called Cherrypop – his company’s other nominated titles were Tikipop and Hippopop, forming part of an “arcade slotscape that sees African chimeras come to life, merging with a kaleidoscope of sculpted totems and mysterious Amazonian landscapes.” The Michael Jackson track Smooth Criminal played as a woman handed him his champagne bottle, and at that point just a handful of award categories remained.

“Game marketing – streamer of the year” was one of them. And Svensen’s firm Casinogrounds was announced as the winner. Svensen sauntered up to the front of the gathered tables before bounding on stage with a massive grin. He thanked the night’s party planners for “doing a great job” and returned to his seat. After the final category was announced, to a huge cheer from the relevant table, all the winners were invited back up on stage for further photographs, cameras flashing from several angles at once. Svensen stood there beaming in the glare, alongside nine women in more glamorous attire than his own white T-shirt, before fist-bumping his fellow winners as they stepped down off the platform. Later on he could be found in conversation with several others. The networking looked amazing.  

[vilandel]

Silver Cats & Black Roses

Chapter 14 – Blooming Hearts

A/N Yamichar fans... It is time 💜💙

Ao3 link

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The afternoon sun was tickling on her nose through the leaves of the willow. Vanessa put her book aside and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth.

No wonder Acier Silva loved this place. Well, willows were favourite trees and water lilies her favourite, but it was such a calm spot, away from troubles and burdens royalty gave you when you were a responsible Head of House. A bit like a bubble of calm happiness and joy.

It became one of Vanessas favourite places as well. Along with the Black Bulls hideout, the café and Nozels bedroom in the Silva palace.

Thinking about this bedroom made her think about the owner. And thinking of Nozel filled Vanessa with immense joy. She closed her eyes as she remembered their first time… perfect in every way for her. He was such a wonderful lover, caring so much for her pleasure that he maybe would have neglected his own if she hadn’t make sure he would be satisfied as well.

Their first night together had felt like souls coming together. Vanessa never knew that before. Even more, each of her past few flings and partners paled and disappeared in comparison to each second spent in Nozels arms. Especially since it wasn’t a one-time moment. Their embrace the very next morning and their second night in each other’s arms had been just as wonderful as the first time.

Who would have thought that their very first interaction in Spade would lead to them becoming lovers?

Vanessa certainly hadn’t expected that and neither did Nozel, certainly. Their talk in Spade had been six months ago. It seemed to have happened longer ago and at the same time, it was like it just happened yesterday, as Vanessa remembered it so well.

Even better, all their talks from the last months didn’t suddenly became awkward just because they were now sleeping together. On the contrary, if anything, their talks and their time spend together when not having sex seems to have deepened, to have become more precious. Only the strange tension they shared for the last two months changed, not really disappeared, but they had found the most wonderful way to calm it down.

Yesterday morning especially was one of the memories with Nozel Vanessa cherished the most. Waking up next to him and spending the whole morning with him… She wanted that again for the rest of her life. Just cuddling, kissing, talking about any kind of subject, like their favourite animals or the story behind Nozels braid, making love again… Everything had felt like a dream that became reality.

Vanessa sighed at the memory. Nozel had kept his word and did order breakfast for them, which had been brought to his room. The servants didn’t came in and left the tray just before the door. Apparently it was normal for Nozel and Vanessa suspected that it was not really to keep the secret, but more because for him, it had been like this every time he took meals in his room, another proof of how lonely he had been for years.

Honestly, Vanessa wasn’t upset that the servants didn’t see her. Their relationship was after still young and still a secret. Vanessa would love to be in the open with Nozel and she felt that Nozel would love that too. But they were both concious of the situation outside of their romantic bubble.

To be honest, Vanessa would like to prefer their young relationship to still be a secret for now. She knew that neither Nozel or herself would know peace if nobility would learn abruptly about them. And even more when if their respective family would learn. The Black Bulls might be in shock for very long when they learn who her secret lover was and Vanessa had no idea how to feel especially about Yamis reaction, given how he and Nozel respectfully kinda disliked each other. As for Nozels family, Mimosa Vermillion might be happy and supportive, but she didn’t know the rest of his Vermillion relatives well to have an idea of their reaction. As for his siblings… Solid certainly won’t be happy and even though Nebra was nicer now and might have developed a crush on Zora, who knows if she would be open enough for her older brother being with a witch.

As for Noelle…

Vanessa hold back a burst of laughter. Oh, sweet Noelle. She was close to both Nozel, as her brother, and Vanessa, as her squadmate, so the shock might be double for her and probably long lasting. And given that Vanessa told her squadmates yesterday that her lover is a god in bed, how would Noelle react when she learned that said god is her own brother?

Yes, for now, it was probably better to keep it a secret. The Bulls already know that she has a lover, they don’t need to know his identity yet. Besides, Vanessa enjoyed what she had with Nozel right now and for the moment, it was more than enough for her. She was happy and she would onto it.

Closing her eyes again, Vanessa focused back on the memory of yesterday morning. A happy smile formed on her lips. Since they ended up making love again, they had breakfast rather late, almost at lunch time. So, that meal ended up being a brunch. Funnily enough, Nozel didn’t know the term and Vanessa had a lot of fun of explaining it to him. Her poor eagle sweetheart had been more than confused about mixing breakfast and lunch into one. But in the end, he wasn’t against it.

Their brunch had been delicious. Nozel even asked what she would like and especially ordered the food she wanted, even though Vanessa had to push him a bit so that he would order something for himself as well. But she had to admit, the Silva cooks were amazing, their food was very good contender to Charmys cooking.

Vanessa smiled. As proud as she was on her cooking skills, Charmy had the absolute respect for the work of other chefs and could get angry if their cooking was denied by the Bulls. Magna had to take that lesson at heart once, as he said he refused to eat in a restaurant on a mission, because Charmys food would obviously be better. Charmy had asked if he tried the food and when Magna denied, he was unable to escape Charmys wrath. The Black Bull chef said many things, some didn’t make any sense, but others did. Charmy even said that it was also disrespecting her own cooking by disrespecting other food and end of the story, the Bulls had to try other food before they say if it was just as good as Charmys or not.

Vanessa told that story to Nozel and even got a chuckle out of him. She always loved telling him stories about the Black Bulls and he was a good listener. Especially that he would even listen to her when she was ranting for hours and catch on every word. Vanessa was always surprised about how much he remembered.

And she loved him even more for that.

But well, she couldn’t tell him everything. Like the party to celebrate Lucks and captain Charlottes newfound sibling bond, as she wasn’t there.

Usually, Vanessa would have been beyond pissed to have missed a party. But not this time. The night with Nozel had just been worth it, she would never regret it just for a missed party. Besides, it didn’t stop her for being happy for Luck and Charlotte. They deserved that and she was certain that the Blue Roses would adore Luck. The Blue Rose party was this evening and if she hadn’t decided to spent another night with Nozel already, Vanessa might have sneaked in just for the wine and for seeing Charlotte as a big sister to Luck.

The captain of the Blue Roses was surely an amazing sister. The Black Bulls came to love her a lot when she came to visit, practically accepting her as one of their own. Vanessa thought that she was indeed, alone by being Lucks older sister. They would also accept her as Yamis girlfriend, once those two will finally get together.

Will the Black Bulls also accept Nozel as her boyfriend, once they would be out of secrecy? It might be more difficult than with Charlotte, but Vanessa still hoped that her squadmate would end up being open to it. And it wasn’t like she would give them a choice even. Vanessa loved Nozel deeply and she refused to let anyone try to talk her out of this relationship, not even the Black Bulls.

Vanessa opened her eyes again, continuing to read her book. Well actually it was Nozels book and she just borrowed it. Last morning, she noticed the two pile of books on his night table and ask him about it. So, she learned that Nozel had a secret weakness for romance novels, which made him blush while admitting. But Vanessa found it really adorable. The only other man she knew to like romance novels was Finral, but given how much the other Black Bull boys and especially Yami made fun of those kind of stories, poor Finral never dared to talk about them. Maybe Nozel and Finral could bond upon their literature preferences one day and the fact that most men had such little opinion about romance novels? Vanessa would honestly love for her best friend and her lover to get along.

She asked Nozel which ones were his favourites and if she could borrow them. He accepted, obviously happy to share something he loved with her. The three books Vanessa ended up borrowing were all from the same author and she was more eager to read them once she learned that it was Acier Silvas favourite author.

Vanessa was always curious to learn more about Acier Silva and even though Nozel always had that sad and nostalgic glimmer in his eyes when the discussion was about his mother, it was so obvious that it did him more than good to talk about her. So, Vanessa always asked and always hugged him when she felt that he was close to cry.

One thing to say, Nozel must got his love for romance novels from his mother and Vanessa had to say, Acier Silva had an excellent taste in this genre of literature. She still need to read Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion yet, but Pride and Prejudice alone was a true romantic gem. Magic wasn’t the focus at all in this story, more like the emotions and the bonds between the characters.

Vanessa especially liked the male protagonist, his aloofness reminded her of Nozel. Cold at first sight, but kind-hearted and very caring once you get to know him more. And his deep affection for his sister, of course.

“Which one are you reading?”

“Honey, you’re here! Not much of work today for the busy captain of the Silver Eagles?”

Nozel blushed, of course. He always blushed when she teased him, tried to flirt and even when she gave him a compliment.

But he still smiled and honestly, his smile was the most soft, gorgeous smile she ever saw. What a shame that it had been such a rare sight before. Nozel only started to smile more often when they started to spend time together and since they slept together, his always smiled so brightly every time he saw her.

Did she really had such an effect on this man?

Nozel knelt next to her on the grass and gave her soft kiss on the lips.

“There was, but… not anything I had to deal urgently with. Besides… there is something… Well, I’d rather-“

“Spending time with me than dealing with stupid knights who don’t even do their job at all?”

“I… yes…”

“No need to be embarrassed. You deserve some breaks from work and you clearly need to relax more often. Like the hero of this story, actually.”

Nozel took a look at the book and Vanessa felt her heart filled up with glee as she saw the excitement in his eyes.

“Pride and Prejudice? It’s an excellent story.”

“I know right? I understand why it’s one of your favourites. Seriously, I understand even less that people make fun of romance novels or call them stupid when gems like that exist! Okay, I know some really bad romance novels, but there are bad books within every genre, so why make such a fuss about it.”

“Where exactly are you within your reading?”

“At the part when Lizzie is visiting Pemberley with her uncle and her aunt, and she stumbles upon Darcy.”

“I see. It’s a key point for both of them.”

“I suspected that. Her opinion about him his shifting already and he tries so much to show here that he’s a good man. Which he is, honestly.”

“You’re right.”

“You must know this story by heart today. Um, actually, I want to ask you something. I just wondered while reading.”

“Go ahead.”

“Is it normal for royals and nobles that their residences have names?”

“Only for nobles. Royals never named their residences, be it main or secondary. But I have no idea what kind of etiquette the nobles have to follow to name their residences.”

“Secondary residences? You mean, you royals have other castles than the three in the capital?”

Vanessa burst into laughter and thankfully, Nozel didn’t seem very offended as he chuckled.

“It is rather ridiculous, I know. Especially that our secondary residences are only occupied for some vacations and are empty most of the time. Those are not quite palaces like in the capital, more like manors or very big villas. You can call them smaller castles still.”

“Due the Silvas have some too?”

“Of course. But not as much as the other two royal families. I honestly have no idea what to do with most of them. I don’t think I ever visited each of them? Except one and since it was my mother’s favourite, I want to keep it.”

“Hm, I bet it’s a beautiful small castle then.”

“It is, yes. It’s also the only one that also has a flower garden, like the Silva palace. It’s in the countryside, a beautiful place, as far as I can remember. My mother went there after she gave birth to Noelle, to rest. I was with her. That was the last time I was at this estate.”

“Oh, why did you never go back there?”

“It’s… too many horrible memories. It… happened at this place…”

Oh. Vanessa understood immediately what he meant. Vanica. Megicula. The whole thing with the curses. His mother’s curse. His own curse.

Vanessa put her book aside and hugged Nozel as tightly as she could. He hugged her back, practically clinging on her. For someone who seemed so cold and stern to many people, he was craving a lot for affection.

“I couldn’t go back there after what happened. But my mother loved that estate, so I always make sure it would be taken care of still. But… I never went back to it.”

“Do you want to go back one day? To give this place new memories, happier ones?”

“I would love to, one day. But… I don’t think I’m ready. I’m not there yet.”

“And that’s okay, Nozel. That’s okay.”

It really was. Given that he only recently started to move on from his trauma, it was totally understandable that there were still things he would need time to get ready for.

Like going back to the place where his life was destroyed by devils and he started to lose his mother to a curse.

Vanessa still hoped that one day, he would go back to this small castle. Despite everything that happened there, it was so obvious that Nozel still loved his mother’s favourite estate, in the way he talked about it.

“I want to show it to you one day.”

“When you’re ready Nozel, I would love to.”

She really wanted. She wanted to see many of the places he loved, she wanted to know more about his world. Not only the parts of royal duties and dealing with nobility. She wanted know him even more.

Maybe one day, she would be ready to tell her about her past and the cage. But like him with going back to his mother’s estate, she wasn’t there yet. Not that she didn’t trust him yet, on the contrary, she trusted him like she trusted any Black Bull today. But the memory still hurt and after she ignored it for so long, no wonder she wasn’t ready yet.

But Vanessa promised herself that one day, she will tell him. Nozel was clearly interested about her roots, as he listened to her closely when she talked about the Witches Forest and when he asked her a few things from time to time.

Vanessa knew that his interest into the culture of witches was mostly due to her and his feelings for her, but she didn’t care. It was another proof that he was interested in her, in who she was. That was so much more that Vanessa ever dared to ask for in a partner.

She gave a small peck on his cheek to settle him, but it seems not enough for Nozel. He moved his head to put his lips on hers, pulling Vanessa into a deep and slow kiss.

She hummed happily against his lips. Vanessa adored when Nozel kissed her or when she was kissing him. Be it slow or full of passion, his kisses always left a fire in her. Not to mention that spending time with him gave her so much happiness, no matter what they were doing.

Gosh, she really was somehow addicted to Nozel, now. Vanessa didn’t spent the last two nights in her own bedroom back at the hideout. Instead, she was in his arms, in his bed, in his bedroom.

Well, what she said to her squadmates was true. He was a god in bed, but not only that. She loved even the most simple things with him, like just talking about everything or lying in each other’s arms in a comfortable silence.

They continued to make out, slowly lying down on the grass. Vanessa wished she could stop time altogether, just for this moment to be longer than it should be. It was perfect in her books, even more than perfect.

Nozels tongue brushed her lips, then her own tongue, teasingly and longingly.  Why did she ever thought that he was cold? Why did anyone ever think that he was cold? He was so warm right now, his breath, his touches… he was anything but cold.

Slowly, his hands wandered down her legs, while she let her fingers dancing on his back, descending them gently towards a very specific part on his body.

But just before her fingers could reach their goal, both of them suddenly remembered where they were in this very moment. Surely, the leaves of the willow covered them mostly and this area of the parc in the royal capital never got many visitors. But still, this was a public place and even if they couldn’t be saw, they could always be heard still, especially if their sounds of pleasure ended up being loud.

Nozel and Vanessa quickly let go of each other, both beet red and still feeling the lingering passion. Then, Vanessa burst into laughter.

“Holy witch hat, we’re both hopelessly addicted to each other.”

Nozel didn’t answered, just looking with high focus at the pond with the water lilies, blushing down to his shoulders. He still didn’t get as red as Noelle when she was embarrassed about something, but damn, blushing fast must be a Silva trait. Nebra and Solid probably had it as well.

Vanessa get close to him again and hugged him from behind. “No need to be that ashamed of, just a bit embarrassed. Even if it’s not the place, I feel very flattered that you find me this irresistible. Right back at you, by the way.”

“It’s… not proper.”

“You’re a royal and I’m a witch, this is already not proper from the start.”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” Nozel protested, blushing even more. Gosh, he was so cute when he was embarrassed. “I mean, it’s not proper… to… to take you in a public space, like a… fling with no consequences. You… deserve better.”

That was what he was worried about? That he didn’t treat her respectfully? Vanessa blushed, but joy filled her heart. Why were gentlemen so rare these days and why were they considered boring?

“Honey, I’m a witch and a Black Bull. I’m used to not get treated properly by most people.”

“Well, you shouldn’t. I care a lot about you and I refuse to… to treat you unproperly. I… You deserve better than that. You deserve to be treated like a true lady.”

Nozel still blushed, but his firm voice was enough proof about how convinced he was about his words.

How could she not love this man?

Vanessa hugged him tighter, blowing a soft kiss behind his neck to settle him. “It’s okay, honey. You’re a true gentleman and even if it’s not considered proper, I know that you would never treat me badly. Never on purpose and if it would happen by accident, you would most certainly already apologize before I would have time to even get mad. I know how very kind-hearted you are, Nozel.”

Nozel huffed. He probably still didn’t believed that himself, with all of his issues. But he was already opening up a bit more and one day, he might finally love himself. Vanessa would make sure of that.

“By the way, since we’re so addicted to each other, seems that I have no other choice than to come over at your place again for the night.”

“As much as I love having you with me, wouldn’t you miss your own bedroom after a while? And what would the Black Bulls say?”

“Meh, I’m already more often at the Hideout than vice-captain Nacht and it wouldn’t be new that I’m not there overnight. Only that this time I’m spending time with my lover instead of getting overly drunk in a bar, which would cause Noelle and Finral honestly less headache. Besides, I only use my bedroom at the Hideout to sleep and since I sleep with you, I realized that my mattress is a bit too soft. No wonder I not always slept good in that bed. And most importantly, I don’t wanna sleep alone now that I have you.”

Even though Vanessa said all this in a teasing tone, she meant every word of it. Even more so as she hugged Nozel tighter during the last sentence.

Nozel must have realized it, as he chuckled – seriously, what a lovely sound – and put his hands on her arms.

How peaceful it was. This place, the willow, the leaves in the soft breeze, the pond with the water lilies and him…

Vanessa wondered if the future could have moments like that. Her future or his… Their future.

How ironic. For someone who didn’t like change that much, who always lived in the present and practically never thought much about the future, she started to have fleeting thoughts about it.

Maybe it was still too soon to talk about it, to plan it even. But it gave such nice daydreams in the meantime.

Was this like when you were in a relationship? Vanessa couldn’t remember that it had been like this with her past experience. But to be fair, those never felt really serious back then.

However, this was serious.

She honestly loved this kind of silence. But Vanessa wouldn’t be the Black Bull witch if she just stood quiet forever.

“Actually, did I ever told you that Luck is a noble’s bastard?”

“No, you haven’t. Would explain his immense magic power for a commoner. Uh, I didn’t meant that in offense.”

“None taken, darling, so don’t start to panic. Well, it is actually a very recent discovery.”

“What does recent mean in your vocabulary?”

“Was that teasing? How cute! Well, anyways, it means we Black Bulls only learned it two days ago. That means, the other Black Bulls, I only learned it yesterday. Since I was a bit… preoccupied that night and the next morning. Which made me missed the whole party for the occasion, by the way.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t need to be, it was more than worth it. Besides, I couldn’t leave you alone. And to be fair, I didn’t lost anything.”

She swiftly run her hand on his butt and laughed when Nozel flinched heavily. He was probably blushing right now. Maybe she needed to distract him before he started to overthink again.

“Oh, and we also learned that Luck has an older half-sister through his father. A sister that actually accepted Luck as her brother without any judgement and all.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad for him. Too many nobles would have tried to ignore their illegitimate siblings in the best case or would try to get rid of them or to humiliate them at any occasion.”

Nozel probably thought about Grenadine while saying this. The noble bastard daughter he chose as a Silver Eagle. From the few things he told her, Vanessa assumed that Grenadine hasn’t been as lucky as Luck on the sibling matter. Poor girl.

“Wanna take a guess who the sister is?”

“I can sense that you’re dying to tell me, so why taking a detour?”

“Oh, come on, it’s just for the fun of teasing. Take a guess, please?”

“Well then, can you at least give me a hint?”

“Let’s see. Concerning their features, they have the same shade of blue for their eyes and the same shade of blonde for their hair. When you see them side by side you can tell their siblings and you feel awkward for never have seen it before when you know both of them at least a bit.”

Nozel didn’t answered immediately, probably thinking about any possibility. It didn’t take long before she sensed him flinch and break out of the hug to face her, his metallic purple eyes wide with surprise.

“Charlotte Roselei?”

“You got it right! I don’t know the whole story on how and why and when and all those details, but from what I gathered, captain Charlottes father had once an affair with Lucks mother before he chased her away with her baby boy. Luck thinks that she got a hatred for nobles because of that.”

“I can’t blame that poor woman, she must have been in a very difficult and somehow humiliating position, being the only loser in this whole affair. How does she feel about this new knowledge?”

“We can’t ask her, she died years ago, sadly.”

“Oh.”

The sad glimmer again in his eyes. Each time they talked about Acier Silva…

“Don’t feel so terrible, honey. Luck and Charlotte are actually delighted to be siblings. Charlotte quickly embraced her role as big sister and Luck is already so overprotective of her.”

“Who does know about their blood relation?”

“Except you, only the Black Bulls and the Blue Roses. The Blue Rose is actually throwing a party for Luck this evening, to welcome him or to celebrate the new found little brother of their captain, something like that. Actually, we won’t scream this news in the worlds for now. Not that it matter to us, but Charlotte, Finral and also Noelle remembered us that such a thing could involve a big scandal and we don’t to spoil the sibling’s happiness with offences from nobles. Maybe one day, but it’s not urgent anyways.”

“And still, you just told me.”

“Of course, because I trust you.”

There was no teasing in her voice. Why even would she tease him? It was the truth, she trusted him. She didn’t know when she started, though, if it was because she loved him now or if it started even before she lost her heart to him, whenever that happened.

But Vanessa trusted Nozel and that was all she needed to know.

He looked at her, surprised, touched, grateful, she couldn’t tell, but her last sentence definitely moved something in him. He leaned forward and put his lips on hers, pulling her into a soft kiss.

It tasted like paradise.

When they broke from the kiss, Vanessa took Nozels face between her hands and gently, lead him so that he lied down, his head on her lap. Now, this was perfect.

“Would you read to me?” she asked him, handing him Pride and Prejudice with happy smile.

“Weren’t you reading it already?” Nozel asked while raising a brow. But he still took the book.

“Well, yeah, but no one ever read stories to me and I would love to have that once. The Witch Queen never did, of course, and the Bulls, as much as I love them, don’t understand why it would be fun. Besides, I love the sound of your voice.”

She felt Nozel shifting a bit on her lap, looking at her. While he looked stunned, there was also some nostalgia in his eyes.

“Mother would read to us in the evening, when she had time. She hadn’t much of it, as captain of the Silver Eagles and Head of house Silva. But when she could, mother came to read us good-night stories. I think she already did this to me before she became head of house, but I was a toddler back then, so I can’t quite remember.”

Vanessa smiled. She always loved it when Nozel was telling her some anecdotes and memories about his beloved mother. What tragedy that she was dead. Acier Silva obviously loved her children and Vanessa would have loved to meet her.

Sadly, it wasn’t possible anymore.

“So, can I take this as a yes?”

Nozel just smiled, before taking the book and starting to read out loud, with such a soft voice it made her heart race. It was obvious that he loved this story, Vanessa even suspected he might knew the whole novel by heart.

His soft voice, the willow and it’s leaves slowly dancing in the breeze, the late afternoon sun, the pond and the water lilies, and the two of them… Vanessa closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.

She didn’t know what the future awaited for them, but one thing was certain now. Whatever would happen, Vanessa wanted to spend the rest of her life with Nozel, at his side. And she might be even ready to fight for it.

♣♣♣

“Oh, he’s so cute, so adorable,” Wainsley squeaked, rubbing Lucks hair, who looked maybe a bit lost, but completely happy.

“Now that I see him, it’s so obvious he’s your little brother, captain Charlotte,” Galgaria said with awe, totally fussing over Luck. “That’s the same eye colour as yours and that shade of blonde is more than similar, it’s practically the same!”

“Not to mention he’s strong, just like our captain,” Selena added. “It would be even more difficult to win against captain Charlotte if she teams up with her little brother. But imagine what such a training would do to make us stronger!”

“Training? Stronger?” Luck asked with excitement, suddenly jumping up and down. “Does that mean that I can fight you too? Please, please, please?”

“Well, of course, captain’s brother.”

“Well, not yet, Selena,” Aimée laughed nervously, trying to calm down the excitement. “We’re here to party, not to fight.”

“But soon, then, we can fight? Can we? Can we? Can we?”

“Of course we will,” Églantine laughed, obviously having fun. “Aw, you’re really cute. It’s the first time I realize that going berserk could also be cute.”

“Well, he is called the Cheery Berserker for a reason,” Puli exclaimed, putting a huge plate in front of their honour guest. “Here, little Luck, have some of  Love Angel Puli’s special grilled cheese sandwiches, enjoy~”

“They’re so good! Need to get the recipe for Charmy!” Luck exclaimed, already eating his third grilled cheese sandwich, before he got a closer look at Puli. “Hey, I know you! We were a team with the four-eyes from the Golden Dawn during the Royal Knight fights!”

“Exactly, glad you recognize me, little fella. Gosh, I had no idea I was on a team with my captain’s own little brother! What a small world.”

“Can we fight together again?”

“Well, of course! Ah, if captain Charlotte would allow us to have common training with the Black Bulls, we can even have proper matches.”

Charlotte chuckled. “I’ll talk with Yami about it, but I’m sure it could be done. Would be happy about it, Luck?”

“Yep! Even better if I could also team up with you, big sister, or with one of the Blue Roses! That would be cool, I never beat up Magna with someone from another squad!”

“Well… I guess I can survive to team up with a man to fight the dumb glasses punk, if that man is my sister’s little brother.”

“Sol, call me captain.”

“Yes, sister.”

Charlotte sighed. Some things might really never change. But at least, it looked like even Sol took Luck in her heart, which was honestly very nice to see. Him being her captain’s younger brother probably helped with this predicament.

All in all, this party to present her little brother to her own squad has been a big success. Each one of the Blue Roses loved him immediately, even Sol who still tried to let it show too much. Seeing Luck getting along with her girls and talking with them as if they were already old friends truly warmed her heart. Even better, the Blue Roses could benefit from the training with someone as strong as Luck and now, she had another excuse for a common training with the Black Bulls than Yami.

Thinking of him made Charlotte sighed quietly, unheard from the rest of the party. Yami… Her hopeless love for him was still a problem for her. The both of them got closer during their investigation to find her sibling, yes. But there was still a tension between them, stronger than ever before. Not a hatred tension, but more like… awaiting, anxious and it was driving her nuts.

If anything, her love for Yami only deepened and got stronger during their time together for the investigation. Which actually didn’t made things easier between them. In fact, maybe it made the whole situation even more difficult. Because each minute she spend apart from Yami became almost unbearable and the longing grew so strong that she lost sleep during the nights due to some fantasies no noble woman and no Magic Knight captain should have. But could it really be this bad to dream about Yami naked and doing blush worthy things to her? Well, it wasn’t like she never had that kind of fantasies before, of course. Puli told her once that it was pretty normal when you were deeply in love.

But those fantasies today weren’t fleeting anymore. They were constant and she couldn’t get rid of them.

Charlotte ignored the fact that she wasn’t really trying to get rid of those fantasies in the first place.

At least, Luck knew about her love for his captain and apparently even got overprotective over her because of that. Even though Charlotte told him that it wasn’t necessary, she was still touched about how he wanted help her. Even though his help consisted mostly of trying to attack Yami and fight him in order to either make him realize Charlottes feelings for him or to punish him for having been so dense for over a decade.

The Blue Roses learned about it as well and it just made them adore Luck even more. How many of her girls came to her with congratulations to have such a protective and caring little brother?

With him now in the secret, many of the Blue Roses were certain that they were one step closer to finally get Charlotte together with Yami. Finral and Gordon thought as well that having now Luck on board, her own brother, would be some good help.

Charlotte hoped that they were right and she could only trust them, as her own thoughts weren’t appeasing to her at all.

And still…

Charlotte put a hand in her pocket, holding the small piece of paper as if it was the only thing holding her alive. She got that message today in the afternoon and immediately recognized Yamis terrible handwriting.

Prickly Queen, meet me this evening alone in your yard, I have something to finish and I can’t do that without you.

What was he referring to? Why did he still need to be this ominous? Charlotte was ready to bet that Yami genuinely thought he was pretty straightforward with his words, but well, he wasn’t to her.

Charlotte forced herself to not have too much hope. This was Yami, after all, pretty dense to feelings despite his Ki reading ability. But at the same time, he could also be smart, seeing potential in people no one else would see and was loyal to both the Clover kingdom and his own beliefs and morals, without ever feeling torn apart between the two. Which was a huge success in her eyes, not many would have been able to do that.

And still, she had no idea how to feel about it.

His Ki reading didn’t seem to work with her specifically and she was the only one he ever told to not surpass her limits and to rely more on others.

Now that she thought about it, Yami always treated her differently than anyone else, even the Black Bulls. Of course, he teased her too, because why would Yami Sukehiro not tease and make fun of anyone? Even the Wizard King wasn’t exempted from it.

But it was the little things that made the biggest differences. Charlotte couldn’t really pin point them out, but she knew they were here and that was more than enough for her.

The Blue Roses were all now focusing on Luck, who laughed and ask for fights and occasionally, showed them some tricks with his magic.

Charlotte left the party discreetly. She felt a bit bad to not say anything, but every one of them seemed to have so much fun right now, even Sol, and she didn’t want to take it away from them. Besides, whatever Yami needed to finish with her, Charlotte preferred to be alone with him, with no witnesses, even if it was her little brother and her own knights.

When she entered the garden of the Blue Roses Headquarters, Yami was already there. Of course, he had a cigarette in his mouth, but he also look very tense and maybe a bit nervous. This was so unlike him, given how nonchalant he could be most of the time.

Charlotte was even more worried about the love of her life. What was bothering him this much?

“Sounds like they’re havin’ fun in there,” Yami commented, lazily pointing at the manor that was the Headquarters. Indeed, laughter was heard even here where it was calmer.

Almost too calm maybe.

“Yes. Each one of my knights immediately took Luck into their hearts. They all find him adorable.”

“Adorable? Geez, the Bulls would be shocked to know that a whole squad finds their berserker adorable. Only Gordon and Vanessa would agree.”

“They adore him and honestly, it’s enough for me.”

“Enough for yet as well?”

“Yes. Honestly, for now it’s better to not tell more people about it. I will need to face my family on that matter and most of them won’t be happy that I took my half-brother under my wing.”

Especially not her father, but Charlotte didn’t thought that after what he’d done, he had any right to be offended. As for her mother… Well, they still haven’t talked since Charlotte stood up to her and honestly, the sad and guilty eyes lady Orchidea had for those past few weeks started to make her suspicious.

Especially she saw her mother caress an old and dirty shirt lately, a shirt that would more belong to a peasant than a noble lady… Orchidea didn’t saw her, probably thought she was alone, heck why she took the shirt out of his hidden place. But Charlotte saw her cry silently over this piece of clothing and she wondered what kind of tragic secrets her mother was maybe burdened with.

“Well, at least you stand up for your lil’ bro and that’s probably more than any noble half-sibling would do for bastards bros and sis’.”

“You’re not wrong. I know that my decision is a rare occurrence, but I don’t regret it. Maybe others might find their voice and stand up for their illegitimate siblings. I know that at least Églantine would be more than happy to do it.”

“One of your girlies? She has a bastard half-sibling too?”

“Églantine Évantail, yes. Her father had a bastard daughter with someone from the Forsaken Realm and house Évantail refuse to have anything to do with her. We already met this girl not so long ago after Spade. Do you remember that fan magic user from the Special Selection Exam?”

“That one? She’s related to one of your thorny girls? Geez, what a small world… Course I remember her. She would have been an excellent fit for the Black Bulls, but Bird Braid got his eagle claws on her instead.”

“You were there, many squads raised their hands for her. Which mean that she had to choose and she decided to become a knight of the Silver Eagles. Besides, from what I gathered, she blossomed within the Silver Eagles. You have to admit that Nozel was right to give her a chance and we both know he certainly doesn’t regret it.”

Yami just shrugged with a pouting face, which meant that he agreed, even though he didn’t want to admit it.

Silence settled between them and even though it wasn’t awkward or even tense, Charlotte didn’t like it. As if she needed something first before she could enjoy comfortable silence with Yami.

“Yami please, just let it out.”

“Letting what out?”

“Whatever was so urgent to tell me today. I don’t what it is, but it certainly seems to weigh on you. And it weighs on me, by some strange coincidence. So, please, let it out, I don’t think I can handle this any longer.”

What was this actually? Nothing. Everything. Anything even, because there was so much between them. More than he knew and probably even more than she knew herself.

Yami looked at her, stunned. But then, the look in his dark eyes changed, shining with a determination she never seen before within him.

“Well, I was thinking about the two us and what is somehow between us. Your Ki had always been special, yer the only one I can’t really understand despite the Ki.”

What was he talking about? Something within Charlotte yelled at her that she actually already knew, she just didn’t want to realize it yet. How could she even, after ten years of longing and loving in silence, she was just unable to imagine that-

Wait…

Was he actually trying to confess to her?

Would that mean… that he loved her back?

Charlotte felt her heart racing faster than Lucks lightning and she was grateful that it was already dark, the night hiding more or less how much she was blushing right now. She was even unable to even think calmly.

She shouldn’t get her hopes that high, but Charlotte couldn’t help it, couldn’t fight it. It was so overwhelming, she had no other choice than to go through all this strong emotions.

Maybe she should just stop overthinking and panicking like she used to around Yami and for once, letting it come to her.

“You’re obviously special to me, I just never… Well, let’s just say that I was stupid and dense when it comes to you.”

Did he just called himself stupid and dense? What was going on? Who was this man and what did he do to Yami Sukehiro?

“Well, what I want to say is… Argh fuck it, why is it so damn difficult to put in fricking words!”

Yami turned around, walked up and down in front of her, throwing his hands above him in frustration. Charlotte would have laughed at the sight if she hadn’t been a nervous and emotionally unstable wreck right now.

This was just too much. If she wouldn’t say something quickly, she might run away again in panic and she would regret it for the rest of her life.

“Yami!”

“Yes!”

“If it’s too difficult to put it in words, then just… just show me, okay? Show me what you want to say, but please, don’t torture me with waiting any longer!”

She didn’t wanted to yell at him, but this sudden overwhelming tension was killing her to a point she just wanted it to be over already. It was like all the tension she had around Yami for over a decade started to burden her all at once.

By the three leaves of the Clover, why did she waited for so long with Yami? Now it was coming back at her, practically killing her and stealing away every inch of sense she still had left.

Yami looked at her, completely dumbfounded, before the fierce determination came back into his dark grey eyes. But just as he was about to make a step towards her, he stopped again.

Charlotte almost groaned in frustration. What was now holding him back? She really couldn’t take it anymore!

“Prickly Queen, before I show you anything… Just promise me that you won’t punch me or run away or something like that.”

“I won’t, I promise! Now, what-“

Charlotte couldn’t finish her sentence, as Yami let his mouth crash against hers.

She didn’t had the time to be surprised, to be shocked, to be… anything, really. Her mind didn’t react anymore as she just followed her instinct and gave in to the deep and wild kiss.

Everything felt so fast, she was overwhelmed. But at the same time, it felt like it didn’t matter still. Charlotte had been in love with Yami for ten long years already. Why would she care if it was now going forward in a fast way?

They broke the kiss after a while, because they still needed to breathe, only to give in for another one.

And another one.

And another one.

Charlotte felt that she wouldn’t be able to stop. Why would she even stop? Stopping to kiss the love of her life should be considered a crime.

Yamis lips were rough, she hadn’t expected it otherwise, but there was a subtle softness still behind all that roughness. He tasted like cigarettes, of course, but Charlotte would let him pass for it this time. There was also booze, but this wasn’t what made her feel like she was drunk. His kisses were enough for that.

Gosh, she had dreamed of her first kiss with Yami so many nights. But all of her fantasies disappeared with this reality. It was real this time and so much better than what she ever dreamed of.

If this was love, why did she never gave in before? Why hadn’t she be brave enough to confess way earlier to Yami? And why was it considered as sill and stupid within nobility? Those arranged marriages made even less sense now for Charlotte.

Yami suddenly brushed her lips with his tongue, trying to get in between. Charlotte couldn’t help but let out a sound at his gesture. Was it a moan or a yelp? She couldn’t tell at all.

But whatever it was, it made Yami break the kiss, much to her disappointment. Thankfully, he didn’t fully let go of her. Otherwise, she might would have punched him for that.

Heavens’ what was she even thinking?

“Well, yeah…” Yami said while rubbing his neck, looking away. Why was he so flustered all of a sudden. “That is what I wanted to put in words. Didn’t know that showing it to ya was easier than sayin’ it.”

Goodness, was it new to him as well? Charlotte wasn’t sure why, but it didn’t surprise her. She couldn’t help but put a hand on his chest. She blushed when she felt his heart racing under her palm.

“Yami…”

“Well, you might punch me for that…”

“For kissing me? No, why would I? Have you any idea how many times I dreamed of-“

“You dreamed many times that I kiss you?”

Yami looked directly at her and his confusion was clearly showing. Charlotte blushed as she realized what she just blurted out. Well, to be fair, it wasn’t like she would have keep it as a secret anyway, but she didn’t want to have said it like that!

Does it really matter?

Yami slowly lift up his hand to caress her cheek. His hand was big and rough, but the gesture so soft. She leaned into the touch. Who would have thought that Yami Sukehiro could be this soft in his touches? Well, Charlotte Roselei definitely believed it now.

“So, the Purple Moustache Grandpa was right…”

“What was Kaiser right about? What has he to do with this?”

“Well, I ask for advice… for well, this. And honestly, he gave me the best advices I could get on this matter.”

Yami Sukehiro, asking for advice? For romantic advice? And he asked a fellow captain for them? If Charlotte hadn’t been involved, maybe she would have chuckled at least.

But she was involved, so she couldn’t laugh about it. And despite her surprise of this revelation, she couldn’t help but to be touched as well.

Charlotte knew Yami, she knew his pride. Of course it must have took a lot from him to let go of it eventually and to even ask advice. He didn’t even ask for some advice to some of his closest friend, like William, Jack or lord Julius. But Kaiser was indeed not a bad choice. Maybe one of the best Yami could get advice from.

Kaiser was the most calm and probably normal within the nine Magic Knight captains, he was very open-minded for a noble and unusual for nobility, he married out of love and was openly happy with his wife, lady Isabelle. On that topic, he was probably the best to guide Yami and to advise him.

“I’m proud of you.”

“What for, Prickly Queen?”

“That you push past your limits and forgot your pride to ask someone for advice. I know that it must have been very difficult for you. But I always known that you were strong and not only in battles.”

Charlotte blushed. It felt so natural as the words came over her lips, but she still couldn’t stop the blood rushing towards her face. She wanted to look down, overwhelmed by her emotion, but Yami stopped her from doing that by delicately holding her chin.

Never had she seen such a softness in his eyes, but it didn’t felt wrong. On the contrary, it was actually another side of Yami Sukehiro, captain of the Black Bulls. A side he didn’t show that easily and only rarely. And it was for her…

Yami kissed her again, so much softer than all the previous kisses they just had shared. This kiss was delicately perfect.

As a soft and yet still passionate kiss, it lasted for a long time. To be fair, Charlotte lost all notion of time and she could somehow felt it was the same for Yami. How she could tell, that she had no idea. Maybe it was just because she could feel his heart beating at the same fast tempo as her own.

Vaguely, Charlotte noticed that they somehow moved, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t even able to focus on it, her mind was just so full of Yami, his lips on hers, his muscular body against hers, his hands on her, her own hands in his hair, on his cheeks, on his shoulders, she couldn’t tell and didn’t want anyway. That would be a waste of time.

The kiss and the ones after were soft, but slowly, their lips were dancing faster and with more passion against each other. Charlotte could now even feel Yamis lips not only on her own, but also on her jawline, her pulse, her neck… Everywhere he touched her, it was like a fire burning on her skin, more powerful than the magic of Mereoleona Vermillion.

Slowly, her own hand descended along his back and she felt his fingers almost playing with her own clothes.

A loud sudden laughter took them out of their bubble and they break apart in a jump.

Only then Charlotte realized where they were and what their position was…

Oh, by the three leaves of the Clover! She was lying on her squads lawn, Yami over her in a very specific position and if someone would have left the party as well, they would have been seen making out like there’s no tomorrow.

What would have happen if that loud laugh wouldn’t have broken their bubble? Would they have continue to make out, to kiss as if it was their last day? Would it have been just kisses or would they more probably having gone farther in their passion?

Like… having sex on the lawn?

Charlotte hid her blushing face behind her hands, unable now to even look at Yami now that she had that thought. Goodness, she never made love with anyone before and she didn’t even thought twice about it, her mind full Yami and his lips and her overwhelming feelings for him.

And… she didn’t even regretted it! Even now, with the realization and the embarrassment, she didn’t have one ounce of regret about what almost happened. Between all her blurry thoughts, this one at least was clear.

“Well… that wasn’t planned,” Yami muttered, sitting up. Charlotte was surprisingly very disappointed that he wasn’t over her anymore.

“Did you plan all that? Since when are you of all people sticking to a plan?”

“No need to be so harsh, Prickly Queen, you break my delicate little heart of glass, here. I was actually pretty spontaneous, but all I had in mind was to tell you… show you… you know the deal. But taking you directly in your own lawn, that I haven’t thought about it, sorry.”

“I… I don’t mind it.”

“What, to fuck on the lawn?”

“No, that’s not what I meant! I mean… you taking me… I don’t mind.”

That was very bold of her and Charlotte knew that. Years ago, even months ago, she wouldn’t have even consideredthat idea. But people could change their minds and that was what she did.

She was honestly done with her noble status, her image as noble lady, as perfect party on the marital market. She was also done to hesitate with Yami, to let her cold pride hold her back and to get all embarrassed at the whole idea of being right next to him.

It was bold, yes. But she wanted to jump into the Unknown. Who knows when her usual embarrassment around Yami would come back. She wanted to act before getting all flustered again and run away from him, only to regret her reaction one more time.

Yami looked at her, clearly surprised by her new boldness.

But there was another glimmer in his dark grey eyes. A glimmer that only made her lose more reason and let her getting bolder.

“You sure, Prickly Queen? It might be fast in your books. I don’t want…”

“It’s okay, Yami. I’m certain of it.”

“Are you drunk or something? I’ve never seen you this bold.”

“Yami, for Heaven’s sake, would you please stop holding back? If you want it too, then I can’t take it anymore!”

She was getting bolder by the minute! Even though it was possible she would get all flustered about it in a few hours, Charlotte had to admit that she liked this new side of her.

Yami as well it seemed, as he helped her up while giving her a wild grin. Charlotte couldn’t but smile back, even though she was still very nervous.

It would be her… first time and…

Gosh, it was still so difficult to think about it so clearly. If she would, Charlotte knew she will be all flustered and starting to hesitate and overthink like she always did.

But she didn’t want to hesitate and if for that she has to not think clearly, then so be it.

Taking the lead, which seemed to be appealing for Yami, she took his hand and went straight back to the Blue Roses headquarters.

Back in there, the party was still going on. Charlotte took a quick look in the room. A lot of Blue Roses were dancing or jumping around, imitating Luck who had such a good time and even cheering the jumpers on. While asking for a fight, of course.

“Geez, Luck seems to have become an honorary Blue Rose, good for him.”

Charlotte only hummed, agreeing with Yami. Then she pulled him behind her again, practically running up the stairs and all the way to her room.

She slept most of the time at her squad’s basement, even though it would have been more usual to go back to her bedroom at the Roselei Estate. But Charlotte preferred to sleep in her captains chamber. The Blue Roses were loving her and accepting her for who she was, which she wouldn’t get back at her family’s manor, where she was just another chess piece for some selfish games, especially for arranged marriages.

Once they reached her bedroom and closed the door, Yami went for her lips again, putting all the passion in it he was capable of. And knowing captain Yami Sukehiro of the Black Bulls, he had a lot of passion to put in a kiss.

Charlotte kissed him back, finally letting her mind rest, finally giving in fully. She barely noticed how they fell on the canopy bed, how they get rid of their clothes, almost ripping them off in their impatience, how Yamis face disappeared between her legs for a moment, how they tried to kiss every inch of each other.

She just let him go as well as herself. When they became one, it wasn't just their bodies coming together, but also their souls and their hearts finally finding each other…

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Can I just point out the sheer irony of the MKs essentially battling "angels" at the EOTMNS' hideout due to how Puli's magic made them look like, and the final arc and how it's going?

[loosesodamarble]

Somebody: Man, I wanna hear about some Magic Knight gossip.

Vanessa, Kirsch, Puli, and David: (kick down a door and enter the room) You called?

[succulentsunrise]

《Clover Kingdom’s Magic Knight Squad: Blue Rose》

[transparentmuffinnerdfriend]

She is a Queen