From here, watching numerous rainforest trees and various sizes of hills, we can see some encampments from every direction. Atop of the main building inside the fort was a roofless watchtower of the highest vantage point.

As summoned, no areas inside the fortress were restricted from us.

Also, her [Shadow] was currently scouting the surrounding fortress.

“We should spend some times sky gazing here.”

While Vefal smiled brightly while expanding her sight, I nodded. It was a perfect place after all. Strangely, for the past few months, even though the environment here was like that of a rainforest, there was barely any rain at all so I was wandering where all the humidity would go.

“So, did Rino confessed to you?”

Out of the blue, she asked such unexpected question.

“You do know that she did pledge an allegiance at me but nothing like ‘Will you be my man’ more like ‘will you be my lord’.”

Hearing me saying as such, Vefal chuckled.

“That’s a subtle confession don’t you think?”

……

It’s been bothering me for quite some time, so I think this is the best time to ask her.

“Vefal… I…”

“Yes, I love you too.”

Guh!!

So casual and straightforward… but when I looked at her face, there was no dishonesty in it but it was truly what she had felt.

“Then why…”

“I can understand that you are bewildered but I did tell Kiefy in the letters to inform you as such.”

Inform me with what and how does she know what I was actually concern about? Kiefy did tell me about all the stories and cultures but I realized something…

“Is it relating to the tradition of marriage?”

I realized Kiefy had deliberately left out such detail in our interaction.

“Perhaps he was too embarrassed to tell you of that since he never had any experience on it and neither do I but… to better convey it, let me tell you about the story of my father and my mothers.”

Wait, did she just said ‘mothers’?

“In your world, the concept of polygamy had also exist right?”

I remembered telling her in one of our many conversations about life on earth back then. It was a very minor thing when she suddenly asked about the concept of marriage.

“I remembered you told me that they were abhorred in majority part of your world but in our world, it is possible to take on multiple wives and the reverse also works the same as some prominent women can take on multiple of husband without being looked down or frowned upon.”

She then told me about the marriage custom in the empire that she and Kiefy had lived. From what I understand, it’s no different than the polygamy we had back on earth but it was tolerated over there but even so, that sort of marriage was considered a special case.

“Contrary to what most of you think, I’m actually just a half-sister with my brother.”

Wait, they are not a twin?

“How come both of you looked almost the same?”

“I guess we’re both genetically the same even though our mothers were different. What a funny word, ‘genetically’.”

“How do you feel about polygamy? I mean you’re technically sharing…”

I couldn’t finish my question because it was too preposterous as far as I’m concern.

Vefal stood there as she was pondering, seemingly understood what I was trying to ask.

“This was what my mother had told me. Both of my mother’s seem to be best of friend although from what I heard before that, during their childhood, they both met father separately and fell in love. I heard this from my real mother.”

She told me that her real mother was a daughter of a poor farmer. When she was ten, there was a period of draught that made her whole family starving, so she decided to steal other farmers produce nearby because nobody would willing to donate their produces to fellow farmers, one of which was her grandfather’s farm.

The first one she picked was that farm.

She successfully snuck inside and began stealing. While in the process of stealing, her father alone caught her red-handed. Usually, she would get apprehended and hand over to the law but when her father saw such a frail, malnourished, and thin girl with a despondent yet frightful expression facing him, instead doing that, he assisted her mother packing the produces. She stood baffled and only reacted when he finished packing for her.

Her father hurriedly ushered her out of there. When she was out of the farm, she looked back at her father who was shooing her away. The next day, she saw my father red with bruised as he was obviously punished by his parents for the missing produces. She snuck again but it was not to steal but she went towards her father, who was tending the farm animals. She asked him-

‘Are you alright?’

“My father turned at her with weak smile-”

‘Aside from the bruises, I’m fine. I lied telling that on whim, I decided to feed the animals with missing produces. Obviously, he knew I was lying so I was given corporal punishment and to tend the farm animals for one month without supper.’

Vefal paused and smiled.

“She then asked-”

‘… Why did you help me last night?’

“My father answered her”

‘… We have about six farms here but through the years we lived, side by side, everyone here is looking out for themselves. Your dad was the hardest working person here even though he had the poorest quality in terms of land amongst us but even so, last year, he gave the largest donation of produces to the poor for the nearest city and yet, as your family sat starving now, not even one of us is handing out any help including my family. My dad always told me how smart I was and I should aim higher in life but what’s the use of being smart if I can’t em-empa-thize? Yeah I think it was ‘empathize’.’

Vefal turned to look at me.

“I think at that point my real mother had fallen in love.”

We paused taking a short silence.

“My second mother or Kiefy’s mother was from a noble family living on the nearby city. As a young girl at the age of ten, she was told by her stepmother how she ugly was so she often stayed or ‘imprison’ in the manor. Since she was the middle of her five siblings and she held no importance, so she was often left to her own device. She often followed the old maid, who had doted on her, to the market. The reason was she wanted to find some children to befriend with but children’s around that age were cruel. After several encounters, she avoided most people but she still followed because there was nothing else to do for her back home. Then she met my father.”

Vefal become very talkative when she talked to me about her personal memories. The trust she had in me was pure and blinding, I felt that my existence is a sin being so near to her.

We both sat down on the floor and watched the skies as I realized this would take up our whole one hour before the meeting.

“Since my father was twelve at that time, he had the responsibility of following grandfather to the city to sell the produces. The first time they met, they had stumbled and knocked each other down. From what I heard, my second mother had avoided my father several times as he tried to approach her. She only relent after he got injured trying to approach her again. It turns out that father was like a country bumpkin that was excessively curious about life in the city. He detested most of the kids in the city as they always made fun of him but he found my mother was different as the first time they met, she apologized for knocking him over. I don’t know much about what happened between them but she fell in love with my father as well.”

She gazed at the cloud with a wistful longing expression.

“When my father was twenty, he inherited the farm. Surprisingly my grandfather only had one wife and he was the only child. A few months he had a surprise visit from my second mother who was led by my real mother. Apparently, they both met while my second mother who grown into a wonderful lady, was lost looking my father’s home and my real mother seeing her as such, decided to be her guide as she was curious on why such a beauty was looking for her crush.”

I can see where this is going.

“Afterward, they realized they had the same intention and so there was only two way to resolve. Either one of them gave up or they initiate the rite of Ghelbaki or ‘Hearts become One’, a Herlf marriage rite of multiple of persons. The rites required that the brides would live together for two years along with the proposed. If after two years had passed, they would decide whether they would marry the same man or not.”

I understand what she was trying to do and the result of her mother’s speaks for itself.

“So you were getting close with Rino because you wanted to do the same thing like your mothers did.”

I asked as we both looked at the sky.

“Yes because for her, she might have a change of heart after sometimes had passed. It’s understandable for me that sharing someone might be inconceivable in your world or her. I made her aware of my intention and she has”

I nodded.

Then again, how this devolved into talk of marriage was only natural I supposed.

Love is such a vague and limitless concept and how thoroughly synonymously it was with the word ‘marriage’.

About marriage, the one we had on earth where the majority of the world had acknowledged was that a monogamous marriage is a sacred union between a pair where they exchange vow. Personally speaking, it can’t be denied that is it inherently possessive in nature and pride plays a major part in it as well. Throughout the ages, we modified the concept of marriage to the point that it was so excessively tied with the human laws.

Even so, polygamy is quite the controversial subject back there and for someone like me who was raised in the environment of absolute monogamy, I naturally felt inclined to feel disdainful towards the concept of polygamy.

All in all, we were geared to despise those who committed that as we would empathize with the notion of ‘what is exclusively ours’. Modern love was treated more like a real estate or maybe it was always like that since the advent of humanity.

Hell, I honestly would feel burning jealousy if Vefal would bring another man and take him as a husband and trying me to agree to that.

This is too unexpected.