Side Chapter Two: Last wish

"Good evening Godfrey." "What are you doing here, my lord?" "Care for a drink?" I said as I shook the bottle of liquor that I had with me. Godfrey let out a small chuckle. "Don't have to twist my arm. Come on in."

We entered Godfrey's home, or should I say a new home. I have to give it to Lenka and her team, who built this. The wood floors had a nice polished finish, and the brick walls were painted a nice shade of white. Godfrey grabbed some glasses from one of the cupboards and then poured us a glass of liquor.

"What's troubling you this time, my lord." "I can give you one guess." "Lenka." I nodded and took a drink. The liqueur burned my throat as it went down.

"What did she do this time?" "That's a loaded question." We both took a drink. "You're right. I should have asked what hasn't been done." I gave a slight chuckle. "This time, she managed to piss off a noble." "How the hell did she do that?""Apparently, someone new to this city ran away from an arranged marriage. When the noble demanded her back, she sent him a copy of her proclamation and a note that said we will not force anyone to marry someone they do not wish to."

We both took another drink. "Has the noble responded yet?" "No, and that's what worries me." "And I thought I had problems." "Oh, and praytell what your trivial problem is?" "My boy is a fool." I tried to stop myself from laughing but ended up failing. "That's nothing new, Godfrey." He grumbled, gave me a mean look, and then chugged the rest of his drink.

"This time he is doing something really foolish. Isn't that right, Annabelle?" I turned around to see Annabelle and her devious smile. It scared me so much that I spilled my drink and almost fell out of my seat. "Damn it, Annabelle. You're like a ghost." "What is sir scary cat afraid of a little ghost," Annabelle said mockingly.

"Whatever. Godfrey pour me another drink. I'm definitely going to need one now." Godfrey went to grab the bottle, but Annabelle snatched it. She poured me a drink and then drank a sizeable amount from the bottle. "Would it kill you to use a glass?" Godfrey snapped. "Yeah, yeah. So what are we talking about?" "Godfrey's foolish son," I said. Godfrey smacks an empty glass on the table and grumbles again.

"That's nothing new, but I think I know what he's referring to," Annabelle said in her usual mocking tone. "Just go ahead and say it, Annabelle. I already know you're dying to gossip." Godfrey grumbled. "Come on, Godfrey, don't be like that, but you're right. I am dying to know what our lord thinks about it." They both looked at me, but I had no clue what they were talking about.

"About what?" I asked. Annabelle laughed loudly. "You were pretty oblivious to my sister, so I'm not surprised you don't know what we are talking about." "What does this have to do with my late wife..." Oh... is she talking about romance? But what does that have to do with me? Wait, we were talking about Godfrey's foolish son. How does that... I looked up to see Annabelle's devious smile. She burst out laughing again.

"Does Sir oblivious finally get what we are talking about?" Annabelle teased. "Yes, but Lenka's too young for that!" I yelled. "Relax, my son, maybe foolish, but he's not one to go after young girls. The problem is, in a few years, I have no doubt that he will try. After all, it's obvious that she will become a beautiful woman."

"The problem is that he's not the only one who sees Lenka that way," Annabelle said as she took a drink. "Wait, there's more people? Who?" I demanded. "It's a secret." Annabelle teased. "You know, I'm really starting to question how you managed to get married." Godfrey joked as both he and Annabelle laughed. "Well, let's just say our lord had a little help from me." Annabelle teased again.

All of us took another drink. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. Lenka doesn't seem to have any romantic intentions or any emotions, for that matter. She seems too occupied planning for something that's way beyond our reach to care about anything else." We all sat there in awkward silence. Annabelle's right; none of us know what she's planning, but whatever she's planning is well beyond what any of us can imagine. Maybe I shouldn't have been so lenient with her and allowed her to do whatever she wanted.

"I had another dream last night, my love. Our daughter is a gift from the goddess of humanity and will one day change our world. Promise me you will do whatever it takes to make her shine." My wife's words echoed in my thoughts. I gulped down the rest of my drink.

"It was fun chatting like this again, but let's talk about the real reason we are here," Godfrey interjected, knowing that we were all trying to stall. I nodded to him and looked at Annabelle. "Annabelle, there is something I need to know, and I've been ignoring it for far to long." "Go ahead and ask my lord." She was no longer teasing or smiling. Godfrey also steadied himself, waiting for me to ask the dreaded question we both have been thinking about. "You once had access to the capital's forbidden library. So tell me, what is a gift from the gods?"

She gripped her glass and prepared herself. "According to the golden age texts, it's someone summoned by the gods to change the world." "Why?" "I don't know. There were many theories, but the biggest one was to stop our world from stagnating. It is believed that the last ones chosen by the gods ended the golden age."

"I see, and what about Lenka? My wife seems to think that she was chosen by the goddess of humanity." Annabelle shook her head. "Do you truly wish for me to answer that?" "Yes... for my own sake. I want to know before..." Annabelle reached over and patted me on the back. "I understand." She drank the last of her liquor and took a deep breath.

"Yes, she is. My sister was never one to lie about something like that, and I already confirmed it, but I knew that it would only bring you grief so I choose to keep it to myself. I noticed long ago that her intelligence goes way beyond her years, and her eyes are not the eyes of a child. She has the looks of someone who has been through hell and back. However, despite that, I do believe that she is different than..." She stopped and clearly held back tears and anger. "I understand Annabelle. You don't need to continue." Annabelle has never told my wife or me what happened in her past, but it's clearly still tormenting her today.

There was an awkward silence between us all. There is nothing we can do about it. Lenka has already started changing this world, and the nobles are not going to sit around and do nothing. "Hey, Annabelle and Godfrey. I need you two to promise me something. No matter what happens, I need you two to protect Lenka. I wish... to keep my promise to my wife even after I'm gone."

They both looked at me and were about to say something, but I shook my head. "My influence has taken us as far as we could go, but they won't turn a blind eye to us for much longer. I need both of you to be ready to swear your allegiance to Lenka and do whatever it takes for her to reach her goals."

I take a deep breath as I hold back the tears. "I thank you all for going out of your way to fulfill my wife's last wish. I know it's been hard going along with everything Lenka has put you through, but in the end, my wife would have been proud of all of us. I don't know what our future will bring, but let's enjoy this night together. After all, it could be our very last time together."