Before the games

10th march 1574

As soon as I woke up, the freezing cold of the morning almost instantly made a short work of my drowsiness, with only a thin layer of cloth in form of a tent shielding a bundle made out my body, Elia and some thick furs that we used to cover ourself from the coldness of the still wintery weather.

"Good mo…"

Before I even managed to finish my greeting, I realised that Elia was still sleeping, tightly hugging to my bare body, latching to every hint of warmth that it presented. Enveloped by her arms and legs, I could enjoy her softness as she continued to rub her cheek against my breast, unwilling to poke her head from under the furry blanket.

Moving my palm along her naked back, I enjoyed this warm, little moment between the two of us for as long as I could, only for the camp trumpeter to barge in with his usual and never as annoying as today melody, waking everyone up.

"What's going… on?"

Instantly bursting out from below the fur, Elia sprung up alerted by the high-pitched sound, exposing her lovely curves right to my eyes, only to waver still in the middle on her sentence, and fall to her knees, with her head hanging forward and backwards as if she had trouble staying awake.

While the sight was lovely, it was too damn cold to just enjoy myself while she was risking catching a serious cold!

Prompting myself up, I pulled the fur with me and embraced Elia, making sure to cover her with the animal blanket whole and pressing her closer to me to repel the coldness that managed to reach her skin in this short period of time that I hesitated between simply adoring her beauty and acting as a proper man should.

"Good morning, dear."

With how I pressed her entire body against my chest, I was unable to reach her lips, so I limited myself to kissing her cheek while enjoying the sweet smell of her hair. Even though there was no perfume for the use of moderately wealthy nobility like us, she still somehow managed to get overwhelm me with her adorable fragrance!

"What made you so lively in the morning?"

With her hands moving along my spine, she swiftly reached the part that should not be uncovered before anyone else, taking her time caressing it while I continued to hug her. Even if there was a trumpeter in the camp as an honour for the militaristic origin of the nobility, no one would be rude enough to intrude on our tent just like that. After all, the sound that was still lingering in the air was that of a wake-up call, not the enemy attack!

"It's a soldier's duty to always be ready for orders!"

Nibbling on her ear a bit as she continued to play with my energetic part, I finally got my fill of the skinship, lightly pushing her away. While it was a pain in the ass to reach for my clothes in such lovely situation, but there were things that I had to attend in order to establish a positive impression in the eyes of the governor!

"Are you really bored enough to take part in the game?"

Falling powerlessly back on her knees, Elia sat on the side of her bottom, slowly pulling the fur out from her legs, exposing just a tiny little bit of skin with every second, while looking at me with a provocative smile on her lips.

"Do you really think I prefer to waste my time, playing the circles instead of playing around with you? But we can't build the relationship with governor only on the spice trade alone. If I want him to support me properly, he needs to acknowledge my military capability as well, otherwise, we would end up like nothing else but a tool in his hand!"

I explained as I pulled on the pants and moved to the simple, cavalry shirt. Playing circles was a fairly simple game, that most of the nobles that could still fit on the horse loved to play. On a long field, surrounded by the lines that restricted the playground, a set of simple wooden poles was stuck into the ground, with a set of circles hanging from their small, horizontal arm.

From the start line, one had to guide his horse perfectly along the line of the poles, tearing the circle out of the pole's arm with his lance, allowing it to fall near the weapon's handle while continuing the run.

While there was no time limits that would force one to do it all in one jump, it was commonly agreed that it was better to score only half of the circles at proper speed instead of proving one's incompetence by taking them all while just marching with the horse!

"Of course, I know this… But it doesn't change the fact that I would love to have you for myself a bit longer!"

Suddenly dropping the fur completely to the side, she revealed her entire naked body to my eyes, while moving forward on all fours only to reach with one of her hands to my head, and pull it towards her lips.

After sharing a long, deep kiss, Elia finally let me go, gracing me with a wholesome smile, before reaching for her own clothes lying similarly at the side of the tent.

"Just remember. I will be cheering for you, okay?"