Chapter 885: La-La-La-La!

"Yes!" Cassius confirmed loudly. "Very, very cute! Especially the way you described sneaking away to read forbidden novels—I can just picture it!"

"The mighty commander, surrounded by her soldiers, reviewing ’important strategic documents’ at the officers’ table, while secretly being swept away by the forbidden love of a goblin and a dwarf."

Ragnora hurt at the memory. She had, in fact, read a book exactly like that once.

It had been...very good.

"It’s like a great, terrifying beast gently cradling a tiny puppy."

Cassius continued, practically bouncing in his chair.

"Or an armored warrior who can crush skulls with her grip carefully turning pages so slowly she doesn’t crease a single sheet! It’s absolutely adorable! I can’t get enough of it!"

Ragnora felt dizzy. Words swirled around her like a windstorm.

"...You really don’t find it strange?"

"Not in the least."

"The world would laugh at me. They would say such books are only for children, not for the commander of all—"

Cassius waved a hand.

"I don’t care what the world thinks. And I’m not saying they won’t judge you for it. But I am saying—"

He met her gaze, honest and warm.

"—that I don’t find anything wrong with it. You have an interest. It makes you happy. So go for it. Find joy in the things that bring you joy, Commander. Even if that joy comes from books like these."

For a moment, Ragnora simply stared at him with a whole bunch of chaotic thoughts swirling through her mind.

Then, slowly, hesitantly, she picked up the top book and cradled it against her chest, like something she’d been afraid to touch for years.

"Sir Cassius." She said slowly. "You are...a very strange man. Probably the most unpredictable figure I’ve ever met."

"So I’ve been told." He replied with a smile.

"But..." She hesitated. "I think I understand why Isabelle loves you so much."

"So, you’ve finally realised my charm!"

She just rolled her eyes before sincerely saying,

"Thank you. For this. For everything."

"And thank you, Commander for trusting me with your secret."

Ragnora let out a small, self-conscious laugh. "I’m not sure I had much choice in the matter. You backed me into a corner."

"That’s what I do best!"

She shook her head, but she was smiling now, a genuine, unguarded smile that transformed her fierce features into something fiercely beautiful.

—

Just as the mood between them settled into something warm and companionable, Cassius suddenly straightened in his chair, his eyes widening with a spark of sudden recollection.

"Oh! I completely forgot."

Ragnora looked up. "Forgot what?"

"Here I’ve been rambling on about how anyone can enjoy anything regardless of who they are, giving you example after example of people defying expectations...and I somehow managed to forget the most obvious example of all!"

Ragnora tilted her head, her curiosity piqued. "And what example would that be?"

"The truth is..."

Cassius said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"Despite being the manly man I appear to be...I also enjoy reading romance novels!"

The statement hung in the air.

Ragnora stared at him with a perturbed gaze.

"...You’re joking."

"I’m absolutely serious."

"You’re telling me that you—" She gestured at him, taking in his confident posture, his easy smile, his distinctly masculine presence— "enjoy reading romance novels?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

Ragnora shook her head slowly. "Because romance novels are written for a very specific audience. Teenage girls, mostly. Sometimes lonely housewives. But men?"

She let out a disbelieving laugh.

"I’ve never met a single man who would admit to reading such books, let alone enjoying them. They’re considered...well, they’re considered frivolous. Silly. The kind of thing that men mock openly."

She met his eyes with genuine confusion. "I simply can’t picture a man like you curled up with a sappy love story."

"Fair points, all of them. But consider this."

He reached forward and tapped the stack of three books still sitting on the table between them.

"Why exactly do you suppose I happened to have these in my possession? The final three volumes of a thirteen-part romance series that’s been out of print for decades?"

"That could simply be coincidence." She managed, though her voice had lost some of its conviction. "You’re a merchant. You carry many strange things."

"A fair counter-argument." Cassius nodded sagely. "But allow me to present my evidence."

He cleared his throat. Then, to Ragnora’s utter astonishment, he began to speak—not in his normal voice, but with the practiced cadence of someone reciting memorized lines.

"’My lady, you ask me why I continue to pursue you despite your repeated refusals. You ask me why I return to your doorstep like a moth to a flame that has burned me time and again."

"And I shall tell you the truth—not because I believe I deserve your affection, but because the mere act of loving you has made me a better man than I ever was before I knew your name.’"

Ragnora’s jaw dropped.

"That’s—" She started.

But Cassius wasn’t finished. He pressed a hand to his heart, his expression shifting into something soft and wounded.

"’Do not speak to me of duty!’" He recited, his voice now carrying the crisp, defiant tone of the novel’s heroine. "’Do not tell me that I must marry the prince for the good of the kingdom!"

"My heart belongs to another, and I would sooner throw myself from the highest tower than stand before the altar and speak vows I do not feel!’"

He switched seamlessly back to the Hero’s voice, turning slightly as if addressing an invisible figure beside him.

"’Then we shall run. Tonight, under the cover of darkness. I know a ship captain who owes me his life, and there is a village across the eastern sea where no one knows our names."

"Come with me, and I shall spend every remaining day of my existence proving to you that you made the right choice!’"

Hearing those final words, Ragnora shot to her feet so abruptly that her chair scraped backward across the stone floor.

"You actually read them!" She exclaimed, her voice cracking slightly on the final word. "Those are—those are direct quotes from the Twilightovers!"

"From the scene in the garden when Vinny finally confesses to Garcia! And the tower scene! That’s from the climax of—"

She caught herself, her face flushing a deeper shade of crimson as she realized she had just revealed that she knew those passages by heart.

"You—" She still sputtered, pointing at him. "How? When? Why!?"

"I told you—I genuinely enjoy romance novels." Cassius shrugged. "In fact, I can prove it even more thoroughly."

"How?"

He tapped the stack of books meaningfully.

"Unlike you, I’ve already read these final three volumes. The entire conclusion of the series."

His smile turned positively wicked.

"I could spoil it for you right now, if you’d like."

Ragnora’s face went pale.

"No."

"I’m just saying—"

"NO."

"The main character and the princess, they—"

"STOP!" Ragnora clapped her massive hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes shut.

"LA LA LA LA LA! I’M NOT LISTENING! I CAN’T HEAR YOU! LA LA LA LA LA!"

Cassius stared at her in disbelief. The mighty Commander Ragnora was sitting across from him with her hands clamped over her ears like a child avoiding a scary story.

It was one of the most adorable thing he had ever witnessed.

"Commander." He said, fighting back laughter. "Commander, it’s fine. I won’t spoil anything."

But Ragnora kept her ears covered, her eyes squeezed shut, still chanting her protective "la la la’s" with fierce determination.

Cassius sighed, rose from his chair, reached out and gently took hold of her wrists, pulling her hands away from her ears.

"Commander." He said softly. "I promise. No spoilers."

Slowly, hesitantly, she opened one eye. Then the other.

"You mean it?" She asked, her voice smaller than he had ever heard it.

"I swear on my wife’s honor." He said solemnly. "And I would never, ever joke about that."

Ragnora exhaled a long breath. Her shoulders, which had been tense enough to crack stone, slowly relaxed.

Under normal circumstances, she would have instantly realized the impossibility of what had just happened.

She possessed of godlike physical strength; pulling her hands away against her will should have been like trying to lift an anchor rooted to the core of the earth.

Yet Cassius had casually unclasped her hands without a single drop of exertion.

But Ragnora’s mind was far too overwhelmed by the surreal reality of the situation to notice physical anomalies.

"I simply cannot believe this."

She muttered, staring at him with an expression caught somewhere between awe and bewilderment.

"A man. An actual man who reads romance novels."

"At least you’re a woman." Cassius said, settling back into his seat. "There’s some logic to it, however unconventional. But I’m supposed to be out there swinging swords and drinking ale and grunting about honor and glory."

He shrugged.

"Instead, I’m curled up in the library with a book about forbidden love between rival merchant families, and I’m genuinely invested in whether the youngest daughter will defy her father and elope with the spice trader’s son."

Ragnora’s lips twitched. "The Spice Merchant’s Daughter?"

"That’s the one."

"I remember that book." A faraway look entered her golden eyes. "The scene where she disguises herself as a dock worker to sneak aboard his ship..."

"And he recognizes her immediately but plays along because he wants to see how far she’ll take it."

Cassius finished, nodding enthusiastically.

"Brilliant sequence. The tension was absolutely unbearable."

"It really was."

They shared a look. The look of two travelers who had unexpectedly discovered they were walking the same obscure path.

"But how?" Ragnora finally asked, leaning forward with genuine curiosity. "How did you even start reading romance novels in the first place?"

Cassius’s expression shifted into something shamelessly unrepentant.

"Ah. Well." He scratched the back of his neck. "The truth is rather...strategic."

"Strategic?"

"I steal the good lines!"

Ragnora stared at him. "I beg your pardon?"

Cassius leaned forward, lowering his voice as if sharing a classified military secret.

"Think about it, Commander. Romance novels are written specifically to make women’s hearts flutter."

"Professional writers spend months, sometimes years crafting the perfect declarations of love, the ideal romantic gestures, the most heart-stopping dialogue imaginable. Every single word is designed to evoke emotion in the female reader."

He spread his hands like a merchant displaying his finest wares.

"So I read them. I memorize the best lines. And then, when the moment is right, I deploy those lines on my wife!"

Ragnora’s jaw dropped. "You used romance novel dialogue on Isabelle?"

"And she had absolutely no idea! She thinks I’m some sort of poetic genius who can summon beautiful words from thin air!"

Cassius laughed, his grin turning slightly mischievous.

"That’s...that’s..."

"Genius." Cassius supplied. "I know."

"I was going to say devious."

"Same thing, really."

Ragnora shook her head in amazement. "You truly are something else, Sir Cassius. Using romance novels as...as seduction material. I never would have thought of that."

"But I also genuinely enjoy the stories."

Cassius added, his tone becoming more sincere.

"The passion. The drama. The way love conquers all obstacles. There’s something beautiful about that, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman."

Ragnora nodded slowly, finding herself relaxing even more.

This was what she had always believed but never dared to voice. And here was Cassius, saying exactly what she’d felt in her heart for decades.

They shared a moment of understanding, two kindred spirits who had finally found each other.