Chapter 32

The following month or so went about the same. The three lovers would wake up just before dawn and go to breakfast. Then Marion and Gabriella would go into town to check on various projects’ progress and talk with the people. Gabriella would always take notes of anything Marion needed to look into for more detail. At first, the people didn’t want anything to do with them but began to accept Marion and Gabriella as time passed. It helped that any concerns revealed to Marion were investigated. Luke, meanwhile, would always start his day off with reports from the front and would send out orders or work to organize supplies to be sent off. They would gather for lunch to catch each other up on what was happening and offer suggestions for various problems.

After lunch, it was down to the hospital to visit the sick and wounded. They always saved Pollyanna for last so they could sit and talk with her. She was starting to recover in addition to getting close to giving birth. After visiting with Pollyanna, it was Luke’s turn to see some of his projects like the powder mill or the textile mill he had built to provide the army with uniforms. When he wasn’t making uniforms for the army, he made clothes for the people. These cost much less to produce than other textiles, enabling him to sell them for much less.

While Luke was doing this, Marion handled her civil administration duties. These usually took the rest of her day. Supper was always about seven in the evening, which marked the end of business for the day. The rule was that business stopped at supper unless it was a matter of life or death. After they ate, they would play games or work on their hobbies for a couple of hours. Luke had set up a workshop in the castle so he could make various items. Marion found she had a talent for singing and composing music, and Gabriella did woodworking. One would start heating the water for their nightly baths about an hour after dinner. They always bathed together so they could save water and time. Plus, it was fun. After bath time, it was bedtime. Usually, Luke would alternate which woman he flooded with cum first. He always ensured that both of them got some before sleeping. After their romp between the sheets, the women would use Luke as their pillow and go to sleep.

Alice, in the meantime, had found someone of her own. She had always been jealous of Marion because Luke was a kind and gentle lover. Alice had been in town one morning to buy more herbs when she almost ran into a young man in uniform. He had been on leave to attend his mother’s funeral and was returning to his unit. They apologized to each other and ended up leaning against each other, laughing. After that, they ended up in one of the taverns, where they talked for a couple of hours. There, they found out more about each other.

His name was Markus Fletcher and he had joined Marion’s army because he had been an escaped serf from one of Cecilia’s estates. He was deeply impressed with Alice being a doctor, and she knew what she was doing for the most part, unlike almost every other doctor in the known world. The fact that she was a doctor didn’t bother Markus in the slightest, and this impressed Alice, who was used to men losing interest once they learned that she had no intention of giving up medicine. Markus was impressed that Alice didn’t care about his former occupation as a serf. The important thing was that he was trying to improve himself and working hard at it. He had enrolled in classes through the army to learn how to read and write because he needed to know to advance up the ranks. Finally, they had to get going, exchanged contact information, and agreed to try and stay in contact.

Over the weeks, they wrote back and forth and got closer. Alice just loved Markus’s sense of humor and dry wit, while Markus adored Alice’s intelligence. The fact she had flaming red hair and bright green eyes didn’t hurt matters either. Then, the letters from Markus stopped. At first, Alice wasn’t too concerned since he was a soldier, but she started getting worried as time passed.

She knew the army was taking light casualties during their campaign up north and would get a new batch of casualties every few days. By the time they got to her, they were stable, but she still had plenty of work to do. One of these wounded looked familiar, but the bandages across the lad’s face kept her from recognizing him. She did the first time she went to change the bandages, though. This man who looked like he had caught a club to the face was Markus. Alice was relieved Markus was alive, and he quickly became her favorite patient. While under Alice’s care, Markus became interested in medicine and volunteered for medical training. By this time, his reading and writing had gotten very good. After he got over the blood and guts, Markus started proving he had a talent for medicine.

Pollyanna continued her healing under Alice’s close watch. She was relieved her child had survived and was even more relieved when Matt didn’t leave her. It wasn’t unheard of for husbands to leave their wives after the misses had suffered such terrible injuries. Instead, he transferred to the York engineering brigade to stay close to Pollyanna, even though he had to take a low-level supervisor position. This unit was responsible for overseeing all the engineering projects around York. Although Matt wasn’t much of an engineer, he was a natural supervisor. Pollyanna continued to advise in all engineering projects that didn’t involve her going into the field. Luke had made her a table that she could pull up to her bed to work from bed when she was hurting. Usually, she just worked from her office, which was just down the hall from her and Matt’s chambers, so she wouldn’t have to risk stairs.

The army campaigning in Southwest Scotland continued to win battle after battle. It was getting to the point where nobody wanted to fight them, and towns would open their gates to Marion’s army without even being told to. As the army campaigned, they built roads and bridges to help solidify the conquest. The army hired anyone who wanted a good-paying job for the labor to build these projects. Marion used funds seized from rebellious nobles and the light taxes Marion had instituted to fund the construction. These taxes were popular with the people because nobody was exempt.

It didn’t hurt matters that the economy in Marion’s lands was starting to grow rapidly. This was fueled by her light but fair taxes and the complete elimination of tolls to use the roads. Now, anyone could take goods anywhere in Marion’s lands and not pay to use the road network. If they transported them by water, they still had to pay to use the locks, but that money was used to maintain and improve them. Combined with the unprecedented demand for raw materials from the industries built in and around York, these factors pumped money through the economy.

Marion used taxes to suck up the extra money floating around to keep inflation down. She would adjust them about every two months, which worked very well. Luke told her that, eventually, this would become too complex, but they would cross that bridge when they got there. Everyone knew it would take a while before all the changes took full effect, but Marion had done an excellent job of making changes that would have immediate results to buy time to make the serious ones. Marion got the credit for all this happening but refused to accept it, saying everyone had contributed. Those close to her knew Luke was driving many of the new ideas, but he would never admit it.

It was now mid-May; at least, that’s what Luke said. One of the changes he was fighting for was standardizing calendars and timekeeping. The now named Lake District had been pacified for the time being, so Luke recalled the army. He had another reason to do this. Marion had started getting disturbing intelligence reports coming from the south. Some rambunctious midlands nobles had started eyeing Marion’s land and were recruiting a large army to take it by force. Their first attempt, though, was by diplomacy.

The most powerful noble among them had offered to marry Marion, and in this way, he could protect her with her being a woman and all. Marion sat quietly through the ambassador’s entire presentation of why she should marry the noble. The ambassador was none other than the noble’s younger brother, and he assured Marion that his brother’s army would crush anyone who would threaten these lands if she married him.

Through his self-confident presentation, the presenter didn’t notice that everyone in the room associated with Marion was doing their best not to laugh. They all knew how much Marion loved Luke and how powerful Marion’s army was. Marion was polite throughout the entire presentation and had to give some of the others in the room the stink eye to keep them quiet. One of those that Marion had to quiet down was Gabriella. She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing and telling the arrogant idiot off. Marion had a better idea: buy some time to recall her army safely.

“You make a very persuasive argument, milord, but with something of this magnitude, I feel that it would be better for everyone if your brother came here and made his case. This had nothing to do with you, just that we have done well so far, and I do not wish to risk damaging our progress by deciding without adequate evidence.”

“You are a very wise young woman, milady. I will give my brother your response, and I expect he will accept your most gracious invitation.”

“Very well then; I await him eagerly. GUARD. See this man to his horse and safely out of York.”

“Yes, Milady!” snapped the guard. “This way, sir.”

On his way out, the ambassador couldn’t help but notice all the beautiful women that inhabited the castle, and it was a mighty battle to restrain himself from tasting the local cuisine. Still, he did have a critical mission to accomplish. Anyway, there would be plenty of time to fuck the local wenches senseless after his brother married Marion.

He would have been far less confident if he had seen what happened in the hall after he left. Marion kept everyone quiet until about ten seconds after that idiot had walked out the door. Then God himself couldn’t keep the people from laughing.

“Was that an ambassador or a comedian?” asked a crying Gabriella.

She had been laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe.

“Tell you what. If science can figure it out, I’ll let you know,” was Marion’s response.

This garnished even more laughter from everyone in the hall. It was almost half an hour before anyone in the hall could function again. During this time, Luke had walked in and was thoroughly confused. ‘Whiskey! Tango! Foxtrot! Have I done something funny?’ he thought. When Marion told him what had happened, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“So, sweetheart, you going to have some fun with this?”

Marion smiled widely and nodded at him. After Luke escorted Marion from the hall, he asked:

“So, what are you thinking, sweetheart?”

“Not sure yet, but we should have a few days to figure something out to put those idiots back in their place.”