"Alvaro Siandoli..." Bernardo said as he looked at the man with a smirk on his face "Glad to see this place even livelier than usual."

The man looked to be of a slightly gruff exterior, wearing modest clothing fit for laborious work with a piece of red cloth tied around his head above his brows.

"Don't try to change the subject, Bernardo." The man, Alvaro, said with a tired looking face and an expression that showed he had more questions to ask Bernardo "I met up with the boys last week and you know Julio had the most interesting thing to say. He said, 'the commander was in a hurry with a noble-looking girl and sold his horse to leave'... Do you realise how suspicious that sounded? What happened? Why are you still here and I see in fine shape with a... fine looking lady..." Alvaro made a slight bow to Leonia whom he felt a faint feeling of familiarity to which she returned with an awkward nod of her head.

"This is going to be a long story..." Bernardo said

"Oh trust me, I have time." Alvaro eyed him seriously before turning his head to the building and proceeded to shout some orders to the workers "Woi! Karejo na denggan ma hamu sude! Adong urusanku satongkin dohot donganki dison!"("Oi! Don't slack off in there, I've got something to discuss first with my friend over here!")

"Olo!!" The workers inside shouted

"You know, Alvaro..." Bernardo started "While I would love to tell you a good story, me and milady here are starving so..."

Alvaro still with his stern look turned his head again inside and shouted again,"Bodat on naeng mangan! Bahen ma jolo tolu piring panggang, sangsang, dohot indahan dua mangkok!"("This asshole wants to eat so bring three plates of roasted pork, sangsang, and two bowls of rice!")

"Was that the Rumasilian language you were using?" Leonia asked

"Si, senorita." Alvaro answered with a more cordial tone towards Leonia "My mother was a member of the Martorang family, descended from one of the many commanders during King Adrian's invasion. They were subordinates to the Sihoras family before then."

"It's amazing how you still hold a great amount of skill in using the language even though it's been about a century since King Adrian's conquest. Even I only know a little bit thanks to my education."

"Not necessarily. Most of the descendants of the common soldiers still keep in touch with their roots like my employees here. Besides, my father was a merchant from Rumasil and he always made sure I know everything there is to know about the traditions..." Alvaro said with a hint of a smile forming his face as he was talking about his heritage to which Leonia happily listened "...anyways, sorry about that. But who did you say you were again, milady?"

"She is the cousin of King Esteban, señorita Leonia de la Valamen, soon to be Duchess of Valencei." Bernardo answered in her stead

Alvaro couldn't hide the surprise on his face when he heard of her identity. As a man proud of his heritage, he had always respected the great Valamen clan. Inside the building there was even a portrait of the first Valamen king of Provaria. For a second Alvaro thought Bernardo was joking but as he examined the face of the girl, she bore striking similarities to an officer he served under during his time in the army. Without dwelling on it much longer, Alvaro asked, "Are you related to Lord Vasco 'el Caballero' de la Valamen?"

"He was my elder brother." Leonia answered to which Alvaro made an astonished gasp and immediately stood up and bow towards Leonia. Alvaro had moist eyes when he said, "I apologise for my earlier rudeness, milady. If you would be so kind as to forgive me."

Leonia looked to Bernardo with an awkward glance asking for his help on what to do with the situation to which he only raised his shoulders in bewilderment.

"It's really not much of a problem, senor Alvaro..." Leonia said trying to calm the man down

"All the food you'll have here will be on the house." Alvaro said

"There really isn't a need for that..." Leonia became a little more uneasy "The King has already given me an allowance and...". As Leonia was about to decline she could see the disappointment starting to show on Alvaro's face so she decided to give in "Well I guess there's nothing wrong with saving a bit more money..."

"Wonderful! You're always the best, Alvaro!" Bernardo said excitedly

"Who said anything about giving you freebies?" Alvaro returned to his disdainful look as he said so "You still owe me an explanation."

When the food finally came was when Bernardo started telling the full story of what had happened to him the past week and the situation he's in now though he omitted the part about him being named governor of Valencei to which he claimed the authority to be given to Leonia. Alvaro was undoubtedly amazed at the story he heard.

"Bring two bottles of the good stuff boys!" Alvaro shouted to his employees "This story is starting to get good..."

"My mouth's aching from all of that, in fact I think It's been half an hour of just me running my mouth off..." Bernardo said "I could use some drinks... by the way how are things going for you? By the looks of it you're still doing pretty well..."

"What is this establishment anyways? The food you serve I believe is also Rumasilian traditional cuisine. I wouldn't think you'd open up shop of such a kind in the middle of Gissario power." Leonia asked as she was slightly fanning her mouth from the spiciness of the food before drinking a whole glass of warm water

"It's what you would call a 'lapo', milady. It is as you say, a place where Rumasilian food is served." Alvaro explained "You'd be surprised at the amount of traffic this place would get back then. When I was little, the place would always be packed though there were a few times we almost had to close down during the anti-Rumasilian riots and the coup..." Alvaro looked at the dozens of soldiers from Rumasil who were eating, drinking, playing cards, and some were even singing while someone played the guitar. He couldn't help but have a smile on his face. "We were lucky with this invasion. At least there's a little more joy in this occupation period..."

"Now that you mention it, my brother had once mentioned a similar establishment in Siesia." Leonia inquired

"Ah, that would be my eldest sister's place." Alvaro answered "After 1575, my sister went along with her husband and children to Siesia and opened up shop there too. She's a real monster when it comes to business. I hear she's rich enough to buy herself a couple of fishing ships and a crew as well. It did help that she married a de la Valamen."

"Really? who?" Leonia was beginning to get intrigued as she was starting to piece together the information in her brain

"Don Juan Pedro de la Valamen..."

"Uncle Juan?! Then that means, you're Aunty Imelda's brother?! Than that means I'll have to call you uncle too!" Leonia said with a laugh "Why didn't you say earlier you were related with the Valamen?"

"Well you see..." Alvaro said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head "I may also be a bit embarrassed since I was the one who set fire to his house all those years ago... But luckily it managed to be saved and wasn't completely destroyed."

"Pfft...hahahahhaha...!" Bernardo couldn't hold back his laughter as he heard it "You actually admitted to it!"

"But why?" Leonia couldn't mask the confusion in her face as she recalled the time her uncle told her a story of how a madman once tried to burn his house down

"You see..." Alvaro was trying to come up with an explanation but couldn't focus with Bernardo's laughing.

Before explaining himself, he slapped the back of Bernardo's head to shut him up for a bit. He explained, "You see, though my family did have some wealth back then, we weren't exactly on par with the likes of the great noble Rumasilian houses. We were at the end of the day just a family of merchants. In fact this was around the time before I joined the army so about sixteen years ago. Your uncle was a frequent visitor of this establishment while my elder sister was the main serving girl. Needless to say I could see the way he was eyeing my sister and Valamen or not, I didn't like the way he was eyeing her. I didn't want her to be just another plaything for a noblemen so I was never warm to your uncle. I know for a fact that the Valamen of Rumasil had all but abandoned the law that ruled over their marriage and how they should keep their purity to marriage and so I was always weary."

"And then it came at one night." Alvaro continued "I was out taking out the trash one night when in the back alleys I saw it! Your uncle was having his way with my sister! Long story short, I demanded justice to be done and that he take my sister as his wife but he was still being very dodgy about it so I may have gotten a little hasty with my actions but in the end it all worked out so that's that."

"That was quite an amusing tale, uncle." Leonia said "Don't you think so, Bernardo?"

"Indeed it was, milady. And I would also love to continue this chat but I have a horse I need to buy back and Julio might close up soon, so..." Bernardo said motioning to Leonia of his intent to leave

"Why so hasty there?" Alvaro asked "You can just give me the money and I can give you back your horse."

"What do you mean?"

"When Julio told me and a couple of the other boys of what happened, he left the horse in our care not wanting to actually sell it."

"Well then that settles it..." Bernardo said but his thoughts began to wander around to the girl beside him and once more he was thinking about all the things he had to talk to her about "But... maybe me and the lady would need a little time to talk about some...important matters..."

"Really, now?" Alvaro raised an eyebrow as he shrugged and took a pouch of money from Bernardo "Well, I need to get back to work. These soldiers are hungry."

As soon as Alvaro left, Bernardo looked to Leonia and faintly smiled, "So is there something you've been meaning to say, senorita?" he asked as he put his hand against his chin "Judging from the looks you've been giving me, you also have a lot you want to talk about... Don't worry, I also think we need to have talks like this..."

Leonia bowed her head for a bit, trying to search for words to speak. Her head was filled with so many things she wanted to say but then when she actually tries to say them it just won't come out well.

"I don't think my brain is working too well right now." Leonia said as she finally breathed a heavy sigh and slumped over the table "I have so many things I want to say I end up not being able to actually say them."

"Why don't we start with simple things, then?" Bernardo asked

"Like what?"

"Like... can you at least tell me how you're feeling at the very least?"

"Confusion?"

"Hahahah, aren't we all? I mean besides that... Alright let me start then." Bernardo said with a slight chuckle "Do you know for the longest time since I was younger I've greatly admired a certain woman?"

Leonia raised her eyebrow intrigued by what kind of woman her fiancee might be interested in and to see how much she compared to her.

"You look quite jealous..." Bernardo teased to which Leonia rolled her eyes

"Please continue, I'm actually quite curious what kind of a woman you would fall for..."

"That's the thing. I wouldn't exactly call it falling for. I mean don't get me wrong she was and still is immensely beautiful in my eyes but this type of admiration is I feel maybe a little different to the feeling of longing. Maybe because I've realised since a long time ago it would be most useless to even dream about being with someone like that as I imagine we are worlds apart... She was always kind and gentle, like an angel put upon this earth by God to show me that there are still people who even in the midst of all the hatred I've experience still look to me like I'm human and not just 'the bastard boy'... she's just amazing."

Looking at Bernardo's expression Leonia couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed, but her curiosity still had to be satiated.

"So who is it, then?" Leonia said a little impatiently "Come on, I'm your fiance, por Dios, you can at least tell me..."

"...The queen mother Esmeralda..." Bernardo finally said after holding it in for a while

Leonia showed a quick look of surprise before she started laughing in amusement. Bernardo got noticeably more embarassed as his face reddened. "Please don't laugh it isn't funny..."

"I didn't say I won't laugh..." Leonia said "But I admit I was feeling a little jealous when you kept on describing how amazing this girl was."

"Jealous...?" Bernardo couldn't help but smile feeling a little flaterred that someone would be jealous over him "Really now...?"

"Don't misunderstand me... I meant..." Leonia quickly tried to cover her reddening face as she realised what to say but she quickly gave up trying to cover for herself "...I also have people I admired but not to that extent... my late brothers who were always there to lookout for me... And you..."

"Me? I... don't know what to say... We haven't known each other for that long..."

"I know but... even with all the feelings of mistrust I had for you when we first met, when I realised that you were genuinely looking out for me regardless of your other interests at the time... I felt safe and..." As her face was reddening again she couldn;t help but cover it up with her hands "You're making me feel embarassed again..."

Looking at how this talk was getting a bit embarrassing and the cute look on Leonia's face as she was struggling to hide her embarrassment, Bernardo couldn't help but chuckle and gently stroke her head with care "There, there..."

"You and your bloody head stroking... making me all embarrassed..."

"Oh... if it's making you feel uncomfortable, then-..." As Bernardo was trying to remove his hand from her head, she stopped it by grabbing his wrist

"I never said it was uncomfortable..." Leonia admitted "...It actually makes me feel safe..."

"What was that?" Bernardo asked pretending not to hear

"You heard what I said and I'm not repeating myself... don't push your luck, senor."

"Alright, alright... But just so you know. The moment I laid my eyes on you for the first time, I was just overcome with the feeling of wanting to protect you... As long as I'm alive, just as I promised, I won't let any harm come to you and maybe... even in this arranged marriage, some feelings will begin to sprout."

"...maybe they've already begun to sprout." Leonia said

"Then maybe we should continue nurturing it." Bernardo answered with a smile to which she smiled "Anyways, I think that's enough embarrassment for a day."

"Agreed."

"You want to eat again or...?"

"Sure... is it on you?"

"Of course..."

Bernardo ordered another round of food and the two continued enjoying the atmosphere in the eatery as the music was getting livelier and some of the soldiers even started to dance. After a couple of drinks, even Bernardo joined in on the fun. It was a beautiful night of merrymaking.