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Bartos only shook his head. Commander Jargon was the one that apparently had to take his place more often than not during his absence. From a cursory glance at a few of his men, he could tell that his temporary replacement had done a decent job at keeping them in top shape.

Then again, it should’ve been Gideon that was doing such a job in the first place.

“Remind me to give Commander Jargon my regards then,” Bartos sighed in jest. “It wouldn’t be proper to let Gideon here take all the credit in keeping our soldiers aligned to their training.”

“You wound my heart, my friend,” Gideon smirked, moving his heart over his chest in a mock gesture of being hurt. “Still, I’m glad that you finally found happiness in your life.”

“You’re just happy that I’m back to do my job, are you not?” Bartos pointed out.

“Of course,” Gideon shamelessly chuckled. “I’ve been making a lot of progress these past few days. I might still have a long way to go, but at least I’m getting there.”

Bartos sighed in contentment. With His Majesty and himself having found their respective mates, it would’ve been a shame if Gideon had to be left out in all of the inevitable merrymaking that would happen once their marriages went through.

Shaking his head, Bartos sipped on his own mug of alcohol, the burning sensation in his throat warming him up against the cold of the early winter night. It was a small gesture of celebration, and he was sure that the eventual follow-up to this night was going to be far larger and grander than a few of his fellow men drinking from their mugs and bottles in the middle of a guard shift.

“Still, I’m surprised that you actually managed to complete a Mate Bond this quickly,” Gideon chimed in after a round of drinking. “Even His Majesty hadn’t done it yet with Xen. You really work far too quickly for us to even catch up.”

Bartos scoffed. “I just seized the opportunity. That, and Jayra had been forthcoming to it as well.”

And he was very happy at that fact. He didn’t know what he would do if he had to constrict himself from acting on his instincts for any longer than necessary. If they ever had to go through courtship for far longer than he was expecting, he would’ve probably lost his mind.

“Truly, you are the luckiest of us all,” Gideon teased, taking a small sip from his drink. “Some might say you’re even luckier than His Majesty when it comes to women.”

A round of chuckles erupted throughout the small gathering. Bartos would’ve felt embarrassed if he wasn’t feeling pleased with the fact that he was already married. Even now, his inner wolf was preening at the attention, the fact that Jayra was his was a glowing beacon of pride for the rest of his life.

“I was indeed lucky that Jayra had bothered to interact with me,” Bartos chuckled. “If it was any other woman, I doubt I would’ve had the same amount of success.”

“I don’t doubt that. You don’t exactly have the most approachable of faces out of all of us,” Gideon teased after another swig of liquor. “It was only a mystery that Lady Jayra even bothered to get you out of your stubborn shell.”

“And I will always be grateful for such a gesture,” Bartos smiled with a roll of his eyes. “But enough about me. How goes your progress with Lady Freya?”

“As I said earlier, I’m making a decent amount of progress,” Gideon stated, his hesitation clear despite his earlier boasting. “We’ve been talking, and I’m sure that we’ll come to a mutual understanding come a few weeks or so.”

“Weeks? I would’ve thought that someone as personable as yourself would need no longer than a few days?”

Bartos fired back, grabbing the opportunity to get a bit of revenge for himself. As predicted, some of the men laughed alongside him, teasing their superior for the brief time that they were wholly expected to do so.

“Easy for you to say,” Gideon sighed. “This isn’t the same as any other man or woman I had to talk to, Bartos. This is Lady Freya we’re talking about. She’s the Princess, and I already feel like I’m going way above my stature just trying to talk to her.”

“And yet you can easily talk with the Queen Mother and woo her instead,” Bartos pointed out with a smirk. “I’ve heard, Gideon. And from what I can see, you’re just scared.”

“I-I’m not scared,” Gideon quickly denied. “Isn’t me talking to Freya on a regular basis proof of that already?”

“You being anxious like this is proof enough for me,” Bartos raised an eyebrow, a look of amusement on his eyes as he smirked. “Also, you’re casually addressing her by name now, I see.”

“H-Heh. It’s to be expected, after all,” Gideon puffed up his chest. “We’ve been talking, sharing experiences and the like.” He then deflated as he added, “I still have to make her drop calling me a Lord, however.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Bartos nodded. “You have His Majesty’s blessing, as well as my own encouragements. Lady Freya’s your mate, and surely you’ll both be blessed so long as you apply yourself to achieving it.”

At that, Bartos raised his mug to drink again. Gideon did the same, giving him a grateful smile as he nodded.

“Thank you, Bartos,” Gideon sincerely nodded. “I needed that.”

“You’re welcome,” he nodded in kind. “It’s the least I can do after leaving you with my work for so long.”

Drinking, the two settled into a comfortable conversation with one another. Whatever it was they talked about, all seemed insignificant when compared to what was actually the subject of their celebration. And as the night went on, the two got increasingly more into their respective drinks.

Eventually, they got to the point that they knew they were getting too hammered to continue further.

“We should probably stop,” Gideon suggested, his face flushed from all the alcohol in his system. “I already convinced Freya that I wasn’t a drunkard, and I’m not about to start now.”

“Agreed,” Bartos breathed out, his own body heating up from all of the bottles he had to drink. “And I’m sure our men will be more than happy to clean up.”

A round of groans erupted from the group, a few of their men having also imbibed on far too many bottles for their own good.

“You do realize that we still have to set up the night shift somehow,” Gideon pointed out, having already stood up despite his slightly wobbling knees. “This might impact the quality of our work.”

“I’m sure nothing bad will happen tonight,” Bartos waved off. “Besides, a few of our men are still fit for duty, am I right?”

Another round of groans erupted from their men. Well, even if they weren’t, he’ll make sure that they were still in fighting shape come the next day. They hadn’t gone to the point that they have completely sloshed anyway, and anybody that might have a hangover the next day would surely be confined to cleaning duty for the rest of the week.

“And here I thought I was the only one shirking their duties here,” Gideon teased. “I didn’t think I had it in you, Bartos.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Bartos shrugged. “It’s only once, and I’m sure His Majesty wouldn’t mind it.”

“He would if anything bad happened,” Gideon pointed out. “Then again, who in their right mind would even dare to assault Castle Cordon?”

“Exactly,” Bartos nodded. “So let’s clean up, do our jobs, and go to sleep.”

“You’ve changed,” Gideon teased further. “The Bartos I knew would never-“

“Never what? Tell His Majesty that I’ve been skimping out on our sworn duties?” Bartos raised an eyebrow. “Surely nobody here would object to keeping our current states a secret, yes?”

“Sneaky,” Gideon complimented.

Bartos only sighed. It was a borderline dereliction of duty, but it was only for one night that they’d have some soldiers practically wobbling on their feet during the night watch. So long as nobody squealed, then there wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, he would take full responsibility for any mishaps their mini celebration would cause, though he doubted they would have any.

He felt Gideon pat his back as his friend said, “Come. Let’s talk a bit more. I feel like I need a few more pointers from you when it comes to a woman. Experience is still the best lesson after all.”