The Blood-Drenched Female Knight

"Luna, everyone is pardoned and reinstated."

-I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see. Understood.

What the—?

I thought she'd go 'kyaaak,' but she's dead quiet.

"Anyway, you're now a member of the Standing Inspectorate too. Send a proxy."

-Understood.

It's unthinkable for a noble to send a proxy for legislative duties, but the upper house operates however we want.

We've even received the King's seal, so there's no turning back now.

Even if the lower house votes to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠abolish the upper house, all we have to do is veto it.

"Colonel Piel, but does this budget review authority hold any real meaning?"

"It may seem meaningless right now."

In this era, the concept of a central government budget is extremely faint.

Whenever the kingdom needs public funds, the nobles each levy contributions on the spot.

That's why the nobles paid no mind to the budget review authority, focusing solely on the veto power.

"However, more than the veto, this budget review authority will be the knife that bleeds the great lords dry."

"Then when will that knife be drawn?"

"It will come soon enough."

And once drawn, that blade will not return to its sheath until every noble territory is confiscated—no, 'repossessed.'

'In my country, there is no need for nobles.'

Rich nobles will be bled dry, and impoverished nobles turned into administrative slaves.

That is the future of nobility I pursue.

***

I contacted Rebecca via shortwave communication.

-Piel, so you're coming back now?

"Yes, I depart in two days."

-As soon as you arrive, you'll throw a samgyeopsal and whiskey party, right?

"Of course."

-I'll be waiting.

Rebecca's voice was brimming with excitement.

I, too, felt a rare surge of energy at the thought of seeing that swaying motion again after so long.

"Colonel Piel, you've worked hard dealing with the Noble Council all day once again. I'll give you a mana massage. Lie down here."

"Thank you."

After receiving the full-body mana massage that pressed firmly into every muscle,

I lay down with Hildea and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

These days, sharing a room in the royal palace, this routine has become a pattern.

As I felt Hildea's breath stretched over me, I suddenly wondered.

'What exactly are we to each other?'

No matter how much it's security, sleeping glued together like a married couple every night isn't exactly normal...

I can't bring myself to ask first—she's a lofty four-star general. It would be nice if Hildea spoke up first.

"There's no need to send additional dispatch units, right?"

"No. The forces already deployed in Count Anbelrum's territory are enough."

The North has already laid down the 'Marshall Line.'

As long as we defend the western landing zones, the interior won't be raided again.

And to the east lies the Cape Kingdom.

After even their second landing force was annihilated, the elf legions seem to be testing the waters.

"We'll have to completely seal off Count Anbelrum's territory, but there's no need to thoroughly help the other regions."

"So you intend to guarantee them ample time to suffer at the hands of the elves."

"Precisely."

If elves infiltrate the interior, the Northern Army's subjugation will, regrettably, arrive a step or two too late.

Once word spreads that Count Anbelrum's territory is under ironclad defense, the lords will be unable to stop their people from fleeing.

For reference, Marquis Hapscorten's territory has now officially become Hildea's territory.

I received it as a fief and entrusted its management to Elenoa.

"Once we return north, I'd like to rest thoroughly for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a while without doing anything... but I'll have to check on my territory as well."

"Don't worry. It'll be comfortable traveling by palanquin official residence."

"Will you be coming with me?"

"Of course. It's common sense for the commander-in-chief to share an official residence with her duty officer."

Hildea whispered, pulling my neck into an embrace.

"And I must always stick close to you to prepare for elf assassins."

"I'm all for it. You give me a mana massage every day, so my daily fatigue melts away completely, and..."

Falling asleep like this every night while murmuring in each other's arms feels like an extension of the undercover newlywed-play we did back at my hometown.

I fell asleep,

and woke up to the sound of groaning.

"Ugh... ughh... ugh...."

The groaning jolted me wide awake.

Hildea was writhing, drenched in a beaded sweat.

"Hildea-nim? Hildea-nim?"

"Ughh...."

No response to my voice?

Is she in so much pain she can barely stay conscious?

'What is this? A disease?'

Do Sword Masters even get sick?

The moment I tried to rise, I felt dampness on my lower belly.

I laid Hildea, who was drifting in and out of consciousness, next to me, looked down, and recoiled in shock.

'Blood?'

My clothes were soaked in blood.

When I saw that Hildea's lower half was also drenched in blood, my mind went blank.

"Hildea-nim! Hildea-nim! Are you with me? What's going on?"

"It hurts... never in my life have I hurt like this... even when my leg was severed, it wasn't this bad...."

Could she have contracted a serious illness?

I hesitated, about to call a priest via radio.

'Healing Grace only works on wounds. It has no effect on diseases.'

"I'm sorry. I'm going to check the affected area."

"Ugh...."

I hurriedly removed her lower garments.

This was an emergency; there was no time to stand on ceremony or propriety.

I was horrified to see the area around her groin soaked in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blood.

'What could cause bleeding like this?'

Such massive hemorrhaging.

What illness includes high fever, full-body pain, confusion, and vaginal bleeding?

'Damn it, I'm not a doctor.'

First, I radioed Lord Deville to find a female priest who also serves as a physician,

then stripped off all of Hildea's clothes and carried her into the bathroom.

Her whole body was covered in sweat, and her hair was completely soaked with it too.

The bleeding was still steadily flowing even now.

There was no time for her to feel shame or to be modest.

I laid her on the floor, drew hot water, and washed every inch of her.

After cleaning and drying her thoroughly, I placed a thick towel against her groin and laid her back on the bed.

As I took out fresh clothes and dressed her, Hildea opened her eyes with great difficulty.

"Colonel Piel... it seems to be a mana overload...."

"Mana overload?"

"Every part of my body aches as if it's being torn apart. I don't even have the strength to lift a single finger...."

Mana overload? I've heard of that somewhere.

"After my Sword Master awakening... I have never experienced such agony... this is undoubtedly mana overload...."

"Then what will happen?"

"I must endure it... but it hurts so much...."

To think a Sword Master who endured the amputation of her leg and the pain of Healing Grace would say this.

I radioed Lord Deville again and explained.

-How could this be. Mana overload, you say... Is it striking harder precisely because she's a Sword Master?

"What should I do?"

-Nothing can be done for her. The commander-in-chief has no choice but to overcome it herself.

"Healing Grace wouldn't work, would it?"

-It's not a wound, so no. If it's mana overload, you absolutely must not summon a female priest.

"Understood. The Noble Council must not learn anything is amiss with Hildea-nim."

I bought a painkiller from the PX emergency supplies and had Hildea take it. But it had no effect whatsoever.

'Since she's a Sword Master, does she need dozens of times the adult dosage? But this is medicine, not food.'

I'm not a doctor and I know nothing about Sword Masters, so I couldn't dare do that.

Watching Hildea, who could only groan in pain, was driving me insane.

To think all I could do was watch.

-Wait, Colonel Marshall? From what I can hear, the symptoms seem quite different from mana overload.

"Excuse me? But the commander-in-chief is absolutely certain it's mana overload."

-Hmm... Could it be because she's a Sword Master that the overload symptoms differ? Still, something's strange....

I replaced the towel on her groin.

Hildea, eyes half-open, saw the blood and let out a moan.

"It is... undoubtedly mana overload.... Colonel Piel... if I die...."

"You will endure. Absolutely."

I put a fresh towel under her,

washed the blood-soaked towel in the bathroom, and returned to the bed.

Hildea's complexion was far worse than before.

Sweat streamed from her whole body as if she might draw her last breath at any moment, so I continued to wipe her down.

"This is a pain I have never once experienced... the first time in my life... it's too much agony... ugh...."

"Hold on."

With sweat-soaked hair clinging to her cheeks, Hildea murmured in a daze.

"I think I'm going to die... shedding that much blood... I'm surely dying...."

This is the first time I've seen her this vulnerable.

It's really driving me crazy.

"I've never shed blood even once in my life... I'm so scared...."

I froze for a moment.

Something just stabbed sharply at my intuition from deep within.

"You've never shed blood even once? Not a single time in your entire life?"

"Of course... I've always been in perfect health...."

Without thinking, my eyes went to her flat A-cup chest.

No way. That can't be.

"Don't you bleed every month?"

"Every month...? What do you mean...?"

A dizzying sensation struck me as if I'd been hit in the back of the head.

I thought, no way...

That can't be. It's nonsense.

But to confirm it, I had no choice but to throw out this question.

"Are you telling me you've never once had a period—or menstruation?"

I don't think I'll ever forget Hildea's dazed counter-question for the rest of my life.

"Period? What is that...?"

Oh my god.

Hildea's chest is only flat; her skeleton is unmistakably an adult woman's. She's about 168 centimeters tall.

So I never once thought about 'that kind of thing.'

A chest that had never developed all this time due to a lack of calories.

A twenty-year-old woman for whom shedding blood is a first in her life...

"It's a monthly event for women. For several days, one bleeds from that area, and depending on the person, it's accompanied by tearing pain in the lower abdomen...."

"Ye-yes, exactly. It feels as if an aura blade is stabbing my intestines...!"

The world went dark before my eyes.

Damn it, it was menstrual cramps, wasn't it. Menarche at the age of twenty, seriously.

'Her body really did grit its teeth and invest everything solely into combat power.'

She postponed breast growth and menstruation to the absolute limit, yet still completed her bone structure.

Since bone structure completion is crucial for survival and combat, the calorie allocation mechanism makes sense to me.

"Hildea-nim, listen carefully. I think this is...."

***

I finished a universally rated sex education lesson.

Only when Hildea understood the reason for her body's change did a look of relief settle over her face.

"Is that so... all women endure this pain every month...?"

"Did no one ever tell you?"

"No one ever told me...."

Considering Hildea's upbringing, it's perfectly understandable.

She revealed her knighthood talent at age ten, hit Sword Master at fifteen, became a count, and was posted to the north.

Who would dare give that kind of sex education to a frontline commander-in-chief from a commoner orphan background?

The very few female soldiers naturally assumed Hildea knew everything,

and Butler Andrea naturally had no reason to engage in that sort of conversation.

I purchased sanitary pads from the PX and adhered one to a pair of panties.

After slipping them over her slender ankles and pulling them up to her thighs, I asked again.

"Is it still difficult to move even a fingertip yourself?"

"If I move, it hurts too much...."

"Understood."

I lifted the towel covering her groin, then pulled the sanitary pad panties all the way up.

I'm breaking into a cold sweat.

'This is going to happen every month from now on? Is the cramp worse because she's a Sword Master? Or is it because it's menarche?'

This is a big problem.

My beautiful tank is going to be combat-incapacitated once a month.

"May I discuss this with Rebecca-nim?"

"Absolutely not... it's mortifying...."

"But every woman does this. Rebecca-nim is a Bow Master, so she would know much better."

"Still no...."

I've never heard of cramps this severe.

'Should I give her an emergency kit? Damn it, who gives fentanyl for period cramps?'

Left with no choice, I kept administering small doses of PX over-the-counter painkillers.

Considering her meal intake, I might even need to give her an elephant-sized dosage or more.

After continuing the painkillers, Hildea's expression finally relaxed at some point.

"Colonel Piel. This is truly astonishing. The pain has subsided greatly."

'Of course. You just downed several people's worth of period cramp meds....'

"Hildea-nim, watch closely. This is something called a sanitary pad...."

Teaching my direct superior how to use a sanitary pad.

And I just learned it from the instruction manual myself.

When I demonstrated with the panties and pad and explained, a look of shame settled on Hildea's face.

It seemed it had finally sunk in that I'd washed her naked body and continuously replaced the towel on her lower half earlier.

"You do it like this. Do you understand?"

"...I want to die."

"...Endure it."

By morning, Hildea's cramps had eased, and she could move again.

But in the afternoon, the pain worsened once more.

In the end, we were cooped up in the bedroom all day.

For security, I ordered the palace staff not to come anywhere near.

'Rumors about this are going to spread weirdly, I can tell.'

We had originally planned to leave tomorrow,

but we had to stay three more days until Hildea's first period ended.

At last, her menarche was over.

Currently, Hildea, who had barely survived, was wolfing down the Marshall Burgers she hadn't been able to eat, right here in my arms.

With sauce smeared around her mouth, Hildea suddenly asked,

"But Colonel Piel, why must women endure this pain every month?"

This is a red alert.

How on earth do I supplement Hildea's sex education, which is built on sand?