Darkness sat over the Adrestian Empire like a heavy cloak. They were well into the cooler seasons though, with the Empire being mostly tropical, cool was a relative term. They were still far warmer than the Kingdom or Alliance but for Hubert, the cool of night during these seasons always broke back morose memories of Edelgard being taken from him. Despite that, though, she had been Empress for a while now. They had graduated from Garreg Mach without any real hitches and she had found a wealth of supporters there. Her gentle demeanor always drew people to her. Thankfully, she had befriended Dimitri and Claude well despite her misgivings about trust.
He blinked when he heard a knock on his door deep into the night, the only light in his room came from a flickering candle. He took the candle and stood up, then answered the door.
He tensed as a small figure ran into his free arm, though he recognised the woman and wrapped her in a protective hug. "Lady Edelgard, what's the matter? It's not like you to be up this late at night. Is something troubling you?" Shouldn't Juliane have been handling this? The former Empress was a good woman that was much better with emotions than he was. He could respond to her emotional needs in the short term, but shouldn't she have turned to the woman she saw as a mother instead of him?
She looked up at him, tears streaking down her face. He frowned. "Come in. Please." He led her inside and settled her down in the more comfortable chair in the corner while he pulled his desk chair over. She pulled her legs into the chair with her, curled into a tight ball. This...wasn't good. She was rarely ever this upset. The last time he'd seen her this upset was when she'd been forced to leave the then-prince Dimitri. Family was so important to her that leaving her only brother after graduation had been hard on her. To be separated from the one remaining sibling she had, regardless of blood connection or not, had been difficult on her. What was troubling her so badly that she felt the need to come to him instead of Juliane? Why would she feel he was better at handling this matter than the woman who had been the heart of the Imperial family for so long?
He let her sit for a while until he moved over to sit on the arm of the chair, then pulled her against his chest. "My lady... Please tell me what's bothering you." Normally he wasn't so soft with people but...this was Edelgard. She was a soft, kind woman with few rough edges about her. Treating her roughly as he did other people would end in disaster. He had seen her in the months following the Crest experiments and just how sensitive she had become. This was begging for trouble if he didn't treat it with a delicate hand.
"I can't hold them off anymore, Hubert. They want me to get married. I've run out of excuses." Her voice was quiet and cracked, betraying how hard she was crying. Her entire body quivered in his arms. Damn those bastards. He understood why she needed to marry. She was the last of House Hresvelg. The burden of ruling should never have been hers to know. She should've been living life to its fullest, enjoying falconry each season and doing whatever else she would've liked to. Not being chained down by the responsibilities of the crown. It was so unfair to her, but it was unfortunately the only recourse.
He frowned as he rubbed her back gently. "Why are you talking to me? Wouldn't Her Eminence be better for this?" The former Empress wasn't a woman to cross in the realm of politics. Even the former Duke Aegir and current Count Bergliez knew better than to try to cross her. She was a quiet and soft woman but fierce beyond measure when it came to protecting the children she cared about so deeply. She was extremely emotional and logical, a dangerous combination. Why did Edelgard think that he was better than Juliane...?
She looked up at him and wiped away her tears, sniffling a bit. "I-I'm scared, Hubert... I don't want an arranged marriage. And they want me to marry a noble. They don't want common blood..." He was fairly aware of all of her proceedings though he hadn't heard about this. Why had she not told him until now? She was scared, which was underable. She could potentially be easy to manipulate due to her gentleness as well as those cursed memory issues. He would always keep an eye out for her, though. He was her loyal vassal and nothing would shake him from that. But no common blood... That marked out a good portion of the population. She and Dorothea had been close in the Academy, but again, Dorothea was of common blood. And she wouldn't want to push anything onto Bernadetta. Aside from King Dimitri, those had been her closest companions at the Officer's Academy.
"Well, it is my job to arrange for consorts... Would you like me to start looking at the rest of Adrestia's nobility...? Though... That doesn't solve the issue of you not wanting an arranged marriage." He wasn't exactly following what she wanted this time. Normally, she was incredibly easy for him to puzzle out. She wasn't very difficult to read no matter how hard she tried. She very much wore her heart on her sleeve due to how deeply emotional and empathetic she was toward others. She cared about them so much that it hurt to see sometimes. It conflicted with her trust issues, borne of the trauma that had come from being in court during her teenage years following the Crest experiments.
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She sniffled again and looked down though he saw a few tears drop onto her hands. She squeezed her hands together, her body still shaking faintly. "I-I have one idea that might get me out of their requirements..." She loosed her hands and took one of his, though it was so tiny comparatively. She looked so fragile right now. But an idea...? He couldn't see what she was getting at. Her body language was absolutely collapsed and getting a read on her mind was hard right now. "You, Hubert..."
His mind ground to a halt at the statement. Him? Why him? He was the furthest thing one could get to a good partner. He could respond to her emotional needs somewhat, but he was far from being good for her. He was the Minister of the Imperial Household. Consorting with the Empress in such a way would be practically treason in his mind. For once, he actually hesitated before speaking. He needed to handle this gently for how upset she was. He couldn't risk damaging her further. "My lady... I don't see how this is a solution. I'm not good partner material to be quite blunt." He had committed untold numbers of heinous crimes and killed countless assassins after her. Yes, she was all he cared about, but to the point of wedding her...? That didn't feel like a solution to the current issue.
She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, squeezing his hand. "I know there's no love between us in a romantic sense which was all I kind of wanted in a partner... I just wanted somebody that could and would love me...but I didn't find anybody at the Academy. Yes, Dimitri loved me and I love him but...that's familial. It's purely platonic." They had been quite close but that was just how Edelgard tended to be with her siblings. She was affectionate, warm, and caring toward her family. She had grown up in a warm environment that permitted that kind of affection.
"If I can't get that, then all I want is respect . I just want somebody that can attend to my needs and respond kindly to my requests and emotions. I know emotions aren't exactly your strong suit but..." She sighed and looked up at him, tears still misting over her eyes. They rolled down her cheeks silently. "I don't know if I can find anybody else that will respect me as much as you do, Hubert." He frowned but couldn't really find the words to express what he wanted to say. She wasn't wrong. He respected her more than anybody else. Juliane was a good woman and practically a second mother to him. He respected the former Empress because she had been so instrumental in his upbringing. Far more than even his own father…
"I suppose you aren't wrong about those points, but is this truly what you want...?" Her heart was a delicate thing. She recoiled from unkindness and harshness. Even so long after the Crest experiments, she couldn't understand how anybody could be so cruel. She had seen to the trials and imprisonment, then executions, of five of that had participated in the Insurrection. She hadn't carried anything out herself, though. She had left that to the executioners. Well. Hubert had been the one to see to his father's death by his own hand. He would not let that monster get away with all of the ills in the world that he had committed. He simply could not be forgiven for taking away Edelgard from him.
"It's my last resort, I'll admit... I had hoped I would find somebody at the Academy, but that didn't pan out. Do you want time to think about it?" The tears continued to roll down her cheeks and he held her close. Damn it all. He had never expected this.
"If you order it, than it shall be so." He couldn't say no to her. He did things for her own good that went against her will, but in this case... She might very well be right. He wasn't sure if he could trust anybody else with her. The nobles of Adrestia could be vicious. She had cleaned up the nobility a fair bit, but it didn't mean court was a pleasant or easy thing to deal with. A lot of the second-generation nobles were still cutthroat and as cruel as their progenitors so her clean up hadn't had the effect she'd been hoping for. Still, it did give her a new crop to work with rather than trying to ram into the unyielding walls that were people like the former Duke Aegir and his own father. The Agarthans’ plan to have her as a puppet figure didn't work in the slightest.
"Thank you... I know it's less than ideal but it might be my only hope of finding even the barest amount of respect." She ragdolled against him, her gaze still up at him. He could see a tremendous amount of fear in her purple eyes though her continued shaking betrayed that fact. Well, she could at least rest assured he would never betray her and he would be loyal to her until the end.
However long that may be.
He squeezed her hand and rested his head against hers. "I'll be yours until the end." He wouldn't betray or leave her, no matter what. This was nothing he particularly wanted but...if she wished it, then so it would be.
