Chapter 79: Nymira & Vemir

Before the era of global castration....

Nymira had lived quite a different life....

One where she had found love and been loved.

As a young orphan girl, Nymira was brought in by the then duke and his mistress at the time, Lady Faerwyn.

She was shown love and care, and treated no differently than their own little offspring at the time, earning herself a really special little sister.

Her talent was quickly discovered and nurtured, and she rose through the ranks in realms like a shooting star, quickly earning herself the position of knight commander in only a few years.

But she wasn’t the only one talented in the duchy....There was Vemir.

Vemir, just like her, was taken in personally by the duke for his unwavering spirit and talent.

This began a competition on who would outshine the other, which eventually led to Vemir being appointed Vice Commander.

Though he wasn’t quite as talented as Nymira, he was relatively close....

And like the unpredictability of changing weather conditions, their competition had since slowly been transforming into something else....something more.

Like the buds on a rose, their love bloomed into something very special.

They made each other promises.....

Promises to share a life together after all was said and done.

Promises to never ever be apart from one another.....

Promises to face everything together.

Their relationship was pure, and she believed nothing would tear them asunder.

That was until the world empress came into the picture, and their world was changed forever.

Along with the duke, Vemir, her one true love, ran away with all his strength for fear of being castrated.

The promises they shared never to be apart, their vow to spend the rest of their lives together, didn’t seem to matter in the face of losing his penis.

He didn’t even leave her a note, not to mention saying a proper goodbye.

It’s been nearly two years since then.

Nymira wondered if that was the reason why she was instantly drawn to this person called ’Hardwood’.

The first time she had seen him, there was no fear or despair in him, regardless of his impending predicament.

Even in those moments where realistically he could have been dispatched just like so many others before him....His eyes were full of life and positivity.

He wasn’t like Vemir.....He wasn’t a coward.

Maybe the mistress saw the same thing in him as she did...

Which earned him her favor, enough to take such a big risk.... Even when her actions had been more than risky enough.

However, Nymira strangely found she wasn’t upset by this...

She found this person was slowly crawling his way underneath the walls she’d built up since Vemir.

It wasn’t like he was doing much to hide it anyway. His obvious advances to someone so high above his station.

A fact that made her all the more fond of him.

She knew her countenance had changed ever since what happened in the past.

The brightness to her had dulled to a chilling lull, and most people simply feared and avoided her now.

There was also the power division in the duchy, the vacuum the former Duke had left.

A festering greed, led by the one she considers a predator and his forces who had infested all facets of the duchy, the same person who had demoted her to the role of hunt squad captain.

Nymira spends most of her days training personally, and occasionally training the members of her hunt squad, as well as managing decisions regarding the hunted and covering for the mistakes of her reckless madame whom she values dearly.

Her life was monotonous, repetitive, and dull, carrying out her duties as well as everything else in between.

Before a certain someone whom she considers both bold and stupid began to unravel the walls she’d built up thus far.

She knew that his claiming to have come all the way to her accommodations on the estate’s northern fringes to seek her training on how to fight wasn’t all there was to his intentions.....

Still....she entertained him.

And if she was being honest with herself...She liked it.

The loneliness that had slowly crept into her heart was slowly being dispelled the more time she spent with this person....The more time she laughed at his cheesy jokes and remarks....

The more times he said things that were clearly flirtatious but somehow spun it into an innocent remark or gesture.

The more time their bodies got into contact, awakening a need she had refused to acknowledge... a craving she had pushed away since the one promised her innocence had long since abandoned their promise.

But what was the point....

What was the point of holding back when her heart was beating once again for the first time in nearly two years for this person?

For once....

For once, Nymira chose herself.

The festering discontent of a lady who never got to be a proper woman was let out in a glorious spool the moment she gave herself to this person.....and she could tell deep down inside that he also was special in ways she couldn’t yet discern.

As Nymira became a woman, becoming one with Hardwood in that moment, and experiencing such a transcendent sensation that unmade and remade her.

In her happiness, she also felt extreme guilt and sadness.

Memories of her and Vemir promising each other their firsts underneath a Yugor Tree just a short distance away by the silent lake kept playing through her mind.....

Thoughts of what could have been, but never was.

Even what is at the moment... wasn’t truly hers.

This man before her, this man she had given herself to... He belonged to another.

Nymira Knows this.

And that’s what made it hurt even more.

Unable to face him and have him see her in such a state, she had excused herself when all she had wanted to do, just like any other young lady who had just become a woman, was to indulge in the warmth and safety of those they called dear.

But the person she is wouldn’t allow this.....

And she knew that this wasn’t a fairy tale. Nymira sees no way this could end well.

She knew what type of person her mistress was, and what type of person she too was...

There was no compromise.

So this....

This should be the end of whatever this thing between them is... or whatever it could be.

It would be best if she avoided him going forward.

But as Nymira walked towards her cabin, slamming the door shut on the person who had ignited her womanhood and brought her into full bloom, the feel of him still lingering inside her.....

As her back rested on her wooden door, her eyes steaming beyond her control, she wondered why.....

’Why does it feel like Vemir all over again?’