Under the soft light of vibrant oranges of the twilight-painted skies.
Inside the massive multi-room pavilion tent of Marquise Arina Ursunovsky lies a luxurious set of furniture crafted from the finest walnut and birch, a fine bed covered in soft fur, an ornate set of table and chairs, a wooden circular bathtub filled with warm perfumed water and flower petals, and even a massive wardrobe filled to the brim with luxurious clothes of many different colors and styles.
After a long day of travel inside her carriage, Arina is currently resting by taking a bath while a couple of her personal maids prepare an outfit for her from the wardrobe.
"Is this one good enough, my lady?" One of the maids presents to her a magnificent green hussar jacket adorned with gold thread from the wardrobe.
"Too plain, I want something that can make people catch attention!" Arina answers, while rubbing a bar of rose-infused soap on her smooth and fair skin.
"What about this one, my lady?" Another maid presents to her a grey trench coat with a green body ribbon from the wardrobe.
"Umm... looks too depressing, something brighter!" Arina answers while dousing warm water on her skin.
The two maids then turn back to the wardrobe and start finding a new outfit to present to her.
Meanwhile, she continues to bathe while humming a song with a melody similar to that of the lullaby named 'Bayu Bayushki Bayu'.
But as the bubbles and foam drip down her skin, a voice calls out to her from outside of her tent.
"Arina! Arina!!!" A familiar voice of her sweetheart shouts out to her with such loud and passionate power that it makes her body tremble with heat.
"You two! Prepare my bed, and spread rose petals on it!" She snaps to her maids in an authoritative tone, as her hand grabs for a towel and wraps it around her body in quick succession in such a tight design that it seductively reveals the outline of her small and slender body.
As the maids scramble to set up the bed and douse it with rose petals, she hurriedly tries to set up her posture in such a way that it will surely draw the attention of any man witnessing it.
In that moment, the curtain entrance that leads up to her bed chamber is pried open, and a noble man of pale skin and snow-white hair appears from behind the curtains. He's the man she knows and loves, Libertas "Victor" von Vindia.
"Kyah! I'm naked!" She fakes a surprised reaction and screams with a playful smile to draw in her supposed lover's reaction.
But when she glances at him to see his reaction, there is none. Instead, what she sees is his clearly furious expression, as the veins can be clearly seen throbbing on his forehead in a stressful sequence.
He stares at her for a while until he speaks with an enraged tone befitting that of a commander berating his incompetent subordinate.
"You halt our entire reinforcement process for this?" His cold yet clearly angered voice pierces both her eardrums like a slew of ice-cold daggers.
She immediately knows what he's on about. It's about the absolute order that she gave to her troops that they couldn't march out without her leading them, and thus while she was resting her troops couldn't reinforce the front.
It's not really her fault, since if they had a little bit of brain to prioritize commands, they'd know to ignore her and march ahead after her sweetheart told them to, instead of taking her order as an unbendable mantra.
"I... I already told them to march forward already, there might be a misunderstanding." She answers with a somewhat shaken voice, clearly lying to save face.
"The officers told me that they won't move without your order. They also ignored my command." He replies in an even more irritated tone as he turns his back to her.
"I'll give you five minutes to dress up and get out of the tent. If you can't do it then I'll have Elena's troops reinforce the front instead of you." He speaks as he slowly uses his hand to pry open the curtain once more.
Hearing all that he says, she swallows her own saliva as cold sweat drips down from her forehead and into her bathtub.
But as he about to exit her bed chamber, he drops his last bombshell sentence that hit her like a frost-stricken dagger stabbing a maiden's heart.
"What I hate the most is a liar, even more so if said liar puts people's lives on the line for their own selfish desires." He says coldly before exiting her bed chamber.
Leaving her with teary eyes, as the maids slowly step away from her, knowing full well what will happen if this short lady of equally short temper throws a tantrum.
-----
Just a bit more than ten minutes later, under the gleaming silver light of the shining twin moons,
Elena and her cohorts of mercenary companies show up at the outskirts of the besieged Vertenville city, their armor bathed in greenskin filth and blood in a somewhat fatigued condition.
But as they approach their supposed camp to report their situation, Elena, their leader, is immediately called in by their army's messenger for an emergency meeting with their leader, Victor himself, along with all the other mercenary company captains.