After the meeting drew to an end, Duke Derek Brans retired to his tent. 

Inside was one woman who had been awaiting him, what an unexpected sight for any other pair of eyes.

“Did the meeting end on good terms?”

“Indeed it did, Claudia.”

The lady who was awaiting Duke Brans in his personal tent was none other than the First Prince’s former wife Claudia, now a widow. She resided at ease in Duke Bran’s tent, and the air surrounding the two had completely transformed from prior. Duke Brans approached and kissed her as if he had always done so. Without a hint of repulsion, Claudia wrapped her arms around the Duke’s neck and responded in kind. 

If any other person saw this, they would have been at a complete loss for words. A man who had come on an expedition to wage war with a wife and children back in his homeland, was passionately embracing and pressing lips with a woman who had so recently lost her husband that she still wore robes of mourning. When the societal status of these two was also accounted for, this was a truly shocking scandal indeed.

The two softly looked at each other and wordlessly headed towards the tent’s bed. Before they knew it, they surrendered themselves to their instincts and indulged in each other.

***

After their primal desires were satisfied, Duke Brans was the first to start the...