Chapter 451: Provoking Brida Goes Wrong...

The women weren’t glaring because their Lord had received a larger portion of food.

As the Lord of Blessed Land, Silas was entitled to the finest feasts in the cosmos.

They were glaring because a single woman was completely hogging him!

Sitting directly in the center of the large mat, Silas was comfortably cross-legged, leaning back with an amused affectionate smile.

And seated directly upon his lap, nestled securely between his thighs with his left arm wrapped snugly around her waist, was Tasmin.

The agile commander had completely stripped off her sky-iron armor plates, leather pauldrons, and harnesses, leaving her clad only in a lightweight form-fitting black sleeveless singlet and a pair of snug training shorts that exposed her toned athletic shoulders and long smooth legs.

Her usually sharp aloof demeanor was completely dismantled.

Her sharp amber eyes were wide, her porcelain cheeks were flushed a brilliant radiant pink, and her body was practically melting against Silas’s broad chest as he held her close.

"Come on, open up," Silas coaxed gently.

Silas reached into a wooden platter resting beside them, picking up a thick succulent piece of roasted venison that had been thoroughly dipped into a savory sweet-garlic herb sauce.

Holding the glazed meat delicately between his fingers, Silas lifted it right to Tasmin’s lips.

Tasmin’s throat bobbed as she swallowed hard.

Her heart was beating so violently against her ribs that she was terrified Silas could feel the vibration through his chest.

"Ah..." Tasmin parted her lips obediently, taking the tender meat into her mouth and chewing slowly.

The rich savory flavors exploded across her palate, perfectly seasoned and cooked to melt-in-the-mouth perfection.

"Well? How is it?" Silas asked, his blue eyes crinkling with warmth.

"It’s... it’s exceptionally good, my Lord," Tasmin murmured softly, her raspy voice carrying a rare vulnerable sweetness as she ducked her head slightly.

"Oh? Is that so?" Silas grinned.

Without breaking eye contact, Silas smoothly brought his thumb and index finger which had lightly brushed against the inside of Tasmin’s lips and were coated in the savory sauce up to his own mouth.

"Mm..."

Silas casually licked the sauce clean from his fingertips, letting out a satisfied hum.

Tasmin’s entire face instantly erupted into a volcanic crimson blush that reached all the way to the roots of her hair.

Her toes curled against the linen mat and her hands clutched the fabric of his trousers as steam practically rose from the top of her head.

’Why is my Lord doing all this... in front of the entire army...?!’ Tasmin screamed internally, her mind completely short-circuiting as she buried her burning face against the crook of his neck. ’All because of dark circles under my eyes...?!’

Silas continued licking his finger as Tasmin sighed.

’I’ve been training...’ Tasmin thought, her amber eyes shimmering with a mixture of overwhelming bashfulness and deep quiet satisfaction. ’Every single night, while the rest of the barracks slept, I stayed awake refining my shadow manipulation... I pushed through the exhaustion, ran perimeter sweeps across the jagged ridges, and drilled until my muscles tore... all just to prove my worth. All just to impress my Lord.’

Silas reached down toward the wooden platter once more, his fingers deftly selecting another thick succulent morsel of slow-roasted venison.

The meat glistened beneath a rich, dark glaze of honeyed herbs and crushed garlic.

"Come on, Tas," Silas murmured softly, his voice low and rich near her ear. "You didn’t eat nearly enough before we marched out this morning. Take another bite."

He brought the piece to her lips, and Tasmin obediently parted them, letting him place the tender morsel onto her tongue.

As she chewed, savoring the explosion of savory, melt-in-your-mouth flavor, a tiny drop of sauce lingered at the corner of her lower lip.

Subconsciously, Tasmin extended the pink tip of her tongue, delicately and cutely licking the stray drop of glaze from her lips.

Silas let out a genuine laugh, his chest vibrating against her back.

"Look at you," he chuckled fondly, reaching into his pocket with his free hand and pulling out a clean linen napkin.

Gently, with the careful touch of someone handling fragile porcelain, he brought the cloth to her chin, softly dabbing away the remaining sheen.

Tasmin’s breath hitched. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs, her toes curling involuntarily against the fabric of her training shorts.

She absolutely loved being treated like this.

To be held, spoiled, and cared for like a delicate, cherished princess... it made every drop of sweat, every sleepless night of training, and every aching muscle entirely worth it.

’It feels like... like we’re already married...’

FLUMP!

The blissful romantic illusion shattered instantly as an armored figure violently planted herself directly onto the edge of the woven mat.

"Oh, come on! This is blatant favoritism and I demand an official review from the high command!"

Brida sat cross-legged right beside them, her heavy iron gauntlets resting on her armored knees as her large fierce amber eyes locked onto Silas with an exaggerated pout.

’This bitch...’

Her broad shoulders slumped forward, and she puffed out her cheeks like a giant disgruntled mastiff.

"My Lord!" Brida whined, gesturing wildly with her thick calloused hands. "Look at this! Tasmin gets the royal cushion while I’m over here withering away from lack of physical affection! Move over, Tasmin... it’s my turn to sit on the Lord’s lap!"

Silas looked at the towering six-foot-four woman, whose broad muscle-dense frame weighed easily twice as much as the agile Shadow commander currently in his arms.

Silas let out a dry deadpan chuckle, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Brida, if you sit on my lap in full plate armor, you’re going to snap my femur into three distinct pieces. You’re far too heavy for this seat..."

"Heavy?! I am built of pure territorial defense capability!" Brida protested loudly, placing a hand dramatically over her heart. "Fine! If I can’t have the throne, then I demand the royal feeding service! My soul is crying for protein, Captain!"

Silas shook his head with an amused sigh. "Alright, alright. Open up."

He picked up a prime-cut piece of roasted boar rib from the platter, generously swirling it through the sweet-garlic dipping sauce before extending it toward the pouting woman.

Brida’s face lit up with instant triumphant glee. "Aaaaah—"

She lunged forward, snapping her jaws around the meat with eager ferocity but she didn’t just take the boar rib.

As Silas tried to pull his hand back, Brida deliberately closed her lips tight around his thumb and index finger, sucking the savory sauce and his fingertips into her mouth with an audible lingering sound.

SLURP! SLURP!

Silas blinked in mild surprise, finally pulling his glistening hand free with a soft wet pop.

"Thank you..."

Brida swallowed the meat in a single gulp, a wild wicked grin spreading across her broad face.

She tilted her chin down, catching Tasmin’s glaring gaze, and slowly mouthed six silent mocking words across the mat.

’You can taste my saliva next.’

TWITCH!

A visible vein instantly ruptured in the corner of Tasmin’s forehead.

The romantic warmth that had filled the commander’s chest evaporated in a second, replaced by a roaring volcanic eruption of outrage.

’That shameless, thick-skulled, muscle-brained barbarian...!’ Tasmin fumed internally, her amber eyes flashing with dangerous malice. ’She really thinks she can mock me on my Lord’s mat?! Let’s see how smug you look when you’re stripped bare in front of the entire vanguard!’

VUUUUUUM.

Without making a sound, Tasmin subtly flicked her slender fingers beneath Silas’s thigh.

The pitch-black shadow stretching beneath the woven linen mat violently surged.

In less than a fraction of a millisecond, five needle-thin tendrils of condensed shadow mana erupted beneath Brida’s seat like invisible guillotines!

SNIP-SHRED!

The sharp shadow blades didn’t cut flesh... they were aimed with spiteful precision.

In a single, seamless, instantaneous shredding motion, the tendrils ripped straight through the seams of Brida’s leather breeches, tore through her undergarments, and completely disintegrated her boxers and trousers into microscopic threads of useless fabric, leaving her lower half entirely naked to the open air.

Tasmin leaned back into Silas’s chest, a smug, satisfied smirk curving her lips.

’Hah! Enjoy the humiliation, you overgrown bruiser! Let’s see you try to flirt while desperately covering yourself in front of thirty recruits—’

Tasmin froze.

Sitting on the mat, Brida didn’t shriek and she didn’t gasp either.

She didn’t make a frantic scramble to pull down her tunic or hide behind her tower shield.

’O... oh... I fucked up.’

Instead, a wide unhinged grin spread slowly across Brida’s face.

Tasmin’s stomach instantly dropped through the floorboards of reality.

A cold bead of sweat trickled down the scout’s neck as a horrifying realization slammed into her brain.

’...Oh gods. I forgot... I forgot what she acts like.’

Without a single microsecond of hesitation, Brida pushed off the ground and stood straight up to her full towering height.

"HEY! LOOK AT WHAT THE SNEAKY WOMAN JUST DID!" Brida’s booming thunderous voice roared across the peaceful encampment, cutting through the chatter of all four squads like an artillery blast.

Every single recruit in the clearing instantly stopped eating and turned their heads toward the Lord’s mat.

Brida stood tall in the midday sunlight, unbothered by the cool mountain breeze brushing against her bare lower half.

She turned around slowly, proudly presenting her rock-hard and fully exposed rear end to the entire expeditionary force.

"Captain! Look at this treacherous act of sabotage!" Brida shouted, grabbing both cheeks of her massive muscular ass with her iron-plated gauntlets.

CLAP! SLAP!

She gave her rear two heavy reverberating smacks that echoed loudly across the quiet clearing, vigorously shaking her hips back and forth in a wild unrestrained dance.

"Look at this immaculate form!" Brida praised herself loudly, completely shameless as she flexed her powerful glutes. "Toned through hundreds of hours of heavy shield-bashing! Perfect curves forged in the fires of siege warfare! And Tasmin just tore away my armor out of pure jealousy because she knows she can’t match this mass!"

Across the encampment, the reaction was immediate and catastrophic.

"PFFFFFT—!" Helen choked on a mouthful of spiced tuber stew, spraying a cloud of broth across the grass as she hacked violently.

"BY THE GODS! MY EYES!" Sarah screamed, toppling backward off her woven mat in breathless hysterics.

"COMMANDER BRIDA! PLEASE! WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MILITARY EXPEDITION!" Catelyn yelled, covering her blushing face with both hands while peeking widely through her fingers.

Several younger recruit maidens simply fell sideways into the soft black grass, clutching their stomachs as they laughed so hard tears streamed down their cheeks.

Silas sat frozen on the mat, his wooden platter still in hand, staring at the towering Commander with an expression that perfectly balanced deadpan exhaustion and genuine amusement.

He slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose, his lips twitching as he struggled not to burst into laughter.

Brida wasn’t finished.

Seeing Silas looking at her, Brida’s grin widened with provocative audacity... That was what she was known for after all.

’If I don’t take advantage of this chance, when else will I be able to take advantage of it?’

She took a heavy step forward, plant-pivoting her boots into the turf, and bent deeply at the waist, sticking her bare rear end directly toward Silas’s face, barely two feet away from the edge of the mat.

She looked back over her broad shoulder, winking with wild flirtatiousness.

"Well, Captain? SinceTasmin was kind enough to clear away the obstacles... why don’t you take a break from feeding and rail me right here on the grass? I promise I won’t break the mat!"

POOOOOOF!

Tasmin’s entire body went rigid.

A volcanic crimson blush exploded across Tasmin’s face, turning her cheeks, neck, and ears a brilliant shade of scarlet.

Steam practically whistled from the top of her head as she violently buried her face straight into Silas’s chest, groaning in agonizing mortification.

’...She doesn’t know the meaning of shame,’ Tasmin whimpered into Silas’s tunic, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her whole. ’She truly does not know what shame is!’

[Author’s Note]

See you all next month.