The door swung open. High Priestess Malery entered first, her expression serene but eyes sharp as daggers. Behind her, the Duke and Duchess hovered like anxious sentinels, their gazes locked on Rommel—still rigid on the bed, arms folded like a general awaiting surrender terms.
"Well?" the Duke demanded, voice tight with barely restrained panic. "What did you find out about her, Nora? Is there any problems?"
Nora curtsied, the picture of demure innocence. "Nothing, Your Grace. Lady Eris simply needed... reassurance. She had a frightful nightmare about... desert foxes." Her eyes flicked to Rommel, daring him to contradict her.
But Rommel remained silent. He was no longer willing to speak after understanding her true conditions.
Eris's mother, the Duchess sat beside Rommel and brushed her hair. She broke the silence first.
"Can you tell me what she saw?" Her tone cautious and serious, "I don't want to see my daughter like this again. Is there a way to prevent them?"
Every eye in the room was on Nora. They wanted to know what the little girl saw that changed her behaviour so much, except for the Duchess who kept looking at Eris.
Rommel/Eris looked at Nora with a dark grin. Though she remained silent, her eyes spoke in her stead.
"Say something funny, and I will finish the job of El Alamein right now."
Nora, ignored, she replied straight, "Your daughter saw metal beasts roaring through the deserts engulfing the lands in fire and dust."
Everyone was stunned. The duchess involuntarily held Rommel tightly. Duke was stunned and looked first at Rommel/Eris and then to Malery who was lost in her own thought.
"Malery, is this some kind of omen or prophecy?"
Duke's words brought her back to present, "I am not sure your grace, but I will check things out." She replied.
Rommel was getting anxious. This was never his style. To him this conversation has dragged for long enough and he needed time alone to evaluate his position. He looked at Nora who immediately understood what he was saying.
Rommel's eyes clearly said to Nora, "I blame you. Now clear this mess out."
Nora or Monty, hesitated for a bit. She thought for a while and decided to help her long time rival out from this dilemma.
Nora's voice rang out, bright and dismissive as a truce flag. "Don't worry, Your Grace. It's not a prophecy or omen—just the reaction of reading too many bloody monster books! Lady Eris has quite the vivid imagination, especially before bedtime."
She offered a conspiratorial smile toward the Duchess. "Perhaps a temporary ban on gothic literature?"
The tension in the room dissolved like smoke. The Duke's shoulders slumped, a flush of embarrassed relief coloring his cheeks. "Monster books? By the Goddess, Eris! We told you not to read those too much!"
He ran a hand through his hair, muttering about "overactive young minds."
However, things calmed down for now. After being reassured, everyone left the room. Malery took Nora with her as well leaving Rommel to think about the matters alone.
"This was worse than El Alamein." He sighed. His/her heart ringing like the Jericho trumpet. He now needed new strategy and plans.
he lay down on the soft bed with hands behind his head and planned about his/her next course of action. It was only noon now. Probably 12:00.
He decided to get up and as if speaking to his staff officer, called Elsa.
He stood rigidly by the window, silhouetted against the midday sun streaming onto the manicured gardens below.
His posture was unnervingly straight, hands clasped behind his back, surveying the grounds below not with a child's idle curiosity, but with the piercing assessment of a general scanning enemy territory.
"Milady?" Elsa ventured, her voice hesitant. The sight of her young mistress in practical trousers, radiating an aura of cold authority, was deeply unsettling. "Did... did you call?"
"Ja, Ich want details. Bring me everything related to this world und..." He hesitated for a bit and couldn't even believe the words he was about to say, "magic."
"But lady Eris..." Elsa hesitated, "the saintess asked for you to rest and your parents explicitly told you to stay away from books." She said.
"All halten Fraulein." Rommel barked, in her new sweet voice, that sounded less like an order and more like a naive brats rant. "I issued a direct order."
This was Rommel's new strategy to dominate this new world just like the trenches of France, mountains of Romania and deserts of Arabia.