Hounds of War [Yandere Generals x Female General Reader]

30. The Third Conquest.

The days flew by in a blurry haze, and soon Vanbinicci was feeling well enough to walk around within the cabin and even ventured outside upon occasion. Y/N would hunt small game such as rabbits and cook them for dinner in the evenings, insisting that they forgo returning to the army until Vanbinicci's wound had healed enough that it wouldn't be reopened by the ride back.

For two accomplished generals with equally large egos, their time together at the farmhouse was surprisingly harmonious. Vanbinicci would go so far as to describe it as domestic at times. While Y/N had been caring for him he noticed that beneath her blunt words and crass humor there was something that he would almost describe as gentle and compassionate; almost.

Over the past week, he had caught glimpses of the person that she might have been beneath her brutal persona, and he had become obsessed with knowing that woman. That was not the only thing that he had seen, however.

He had caught a glimpse of scars between her shoulder blades. He had only seen them for a moment so he was uncertain what they were from, but they seemed different from the rest of her scars. And he needed to know why.

His opportunity came one fine morning when general Denlleonis crossed the single room of the cottage holding a fresh tunic in her arms as she called over her shoulder that she was going to take a bath. After the front door closed behind her Vanbinicci waited several minutes before he slowly sat up and clambered out of the bed.

On slightly unsteady legs he crossed the small wooden cabin barefoot, using the wall for support when he needed it. Being careful to close the door as quietly as he could he crept around the wall of the house. It was located on beautiful pastureland and had he not been so focused on his objective he would have taken the time to stop and admire their horses grazing in the sunny meadow.

He planned to just peek around the corner of the cabin and get a good look at the scars on her back while she washed in the water trough, but all that was cast aside when he caught sight of her.

"By Luccia!" He gasped in shock and horror as he stared. Her wet skin gleamed like porcelain in the sunlight. Indeed, Vanbinicci would have mistaken her for a porcelain doll had it not been for the brutal scars that clumped together, running up and down the length of her spine. "What happened to you?!"

Y/N jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice and snapped her head in his direction. She regained her composure quickly. "I'm glad that you are well enough to leave the house without my aid, but refrain from coming out here while I am bathing, alright."

"What happened to you?!" Vanbinicci repeated, oblivious to what Y/N had said. His green eyes were wide as he continued to stare at the lines on her back, not believing what he was seeing.

"Oh, these?" Y/N chuckled, almost fondly as she glanced over her shoulder at her exposed back. "They're whip scars, what do they look like? I received them at the Military Temple of Estain, where I was trained to become a general."

"But-but how could they do this to you?!" Vanbinicci spluttered, horrified that someone had done that to her. The faintness of some of the scars meant that they must have been dealt to her when she was little more than a child, a fact that made him feel ill. "You are the child of a general, surely your father if he knew-"

"My father was the one to give me the worst of these -like that one there," she interrupted him, pointing at an especially nasty lashline to the left of her spine. "I wear them with pride because the scars of every lashing that I endured for weakness and cowardice throughout my training as a general prove that I am strong. Prove that I am a general worthy of the name Denlleonis - do you think they are beautiful, general Arrogari?" She asked genuinely as she turned her attention to the brunette.

"I-I don't know," he stammered, shaken. He found it unsettling that she could talk about something like that so casually. Trying to lighten the mood he joked, "and hear I thought that the beatings that my father gave me were bad, but he only ever used his fists. You are lucky that you are such a strong woman."

"Well, it's not like I had a choice," she scoffed quietly, sinking a bit further into the trough. "The only option I was ever given was to be strong."

"Why is that?" Vanbinicci asked. The more she said, the more he needed to know about her.

"The house of Denlleonis is one of the eight military families in Estain, Esclave's family is another one of the eight," She explained, lifting her hands out of the water to show eight fingers. "Each family's bloodline stems from one of the eight sons of the Goddess Estain."

She let her hands fall into the water with a splash, and her shoulders drooped. "When you are seen as the descendent of a war god it is expected that you are gifted with martial talent." With a sigh, she continued. "I am strong, and I am skilled at fighting, but it was not my decision to become either of those."

"What do you mean?" Vanbinicci continued to ask questions, even though he was already overwhelmed with information. He just couldn't help himself. "Why-why couldn't you just be who you are?"

"Ha," she laughed a joyless laugh as she reclined further into the trough. "I had a twin sister you know, she was actually the eldest."

"I-I don't understand," the brunette stammered, confused by what that had to do with his question and alarmed by the use of past tense.

"When we were eight years old my father brought us both before the council of the eight elders to choose which of us would become the next Esedict General Denlleonis," Y/N recounted with a far-off look in her E/C eyes. "My twin was weaker than me and more sickly, so the council said that I was to be the next general Denlleonis. They killed my sister on the spot to prevent her from spreading her weakness any further and entered me into the Military Temple of Estain."

Chills traveled down the Luccian general's spine, and he took an involuntary step back, as he heard her blunt reference to her sister's death. After a moment's pause, she continued. "My father warned me that if I proved to be as weak as my sister he would kill me as easily as he had killed her and produce a new heir for the house of Denlleonis." She stroked the angry red lines on her back affectionately. "And that's why I think that my lash scars are beautiful, they prove that I'm strong enough to be a general; that I'm strong enough to live."

"Then... I-I think they're beautiful too..." Vanbinicci said, fighting back the tears forming in his eyes. It was heartbreaking for him to see. To know just how much general Denlleonis had suffered, and she didn't even know that she had, it was normal to her. He had vowed to save the other generals from her brutality, but now that he knew all that had been done to her to turn her into such a savage beast he promised that he would save her too, save her from herself. He had glimpsed the good in her, the traces of a broken and the scarred little girl within the heartless general, and he was going to protect her, he was going to save her, no matter the cost.

A/N

Vanbinicci thinks that he's going to save Y/N, but we all know that he's going to destroy who he is in the attempt.

Now that you know more about both Luccia and Estain I am curious to hear which country you think is better?

Until next time I'll see you on the other side

~J. C. Coltt.~