Under the Maltese Skies

[Loyola]

Loyola perfectly understood what Charlotte is feeling and why she behaves this way. Outcast could respect that this primal royal spirit is not bent or broken to the slightest. She listens to Charlotte very carefully, Loyola's facial expressions are clearly indicating that she calmed down and now is a little sad. And while Charlotte could think that her going hard on Outcast noble might be the reason, it really wasn't. Enma turns her head to look at the window and enjoy the sight of beautiful mountain peaks. The white light would outline her pale, exhausted face, her lips tensed and then her eyes expressed even more pity. She sighed, hoping to relieve the wave of mental pressure that was covering her again.

She would turn her look back on Charlotta as she finished speaking, that tone wasn't exactly pleasing as she got even more pressure on top what she was already feeling. Enma takes an unreasonably long pause, which would just raise the tension, but Loyola needs her time to think about how to approach this best. She did not realize it would be that hard. Charlotta still lives in the world where Gallia reigns supreme and mightly fleet is about to arrive and free her from this captivity. She now thinks that it probably would be a better idea to get someone else to tell her, but that would be unfair. After all, it's her fault that Charlotte was captured and put under this isolation. She finally spoke, her voice is still being low and not very confident, but now it's warm and more caring, but can this Outcast really feel any empathy?

— Now, when I am here, you will have neural net access and many things that you desire, but... Right, about the war.

Loyola knelt in front of her, but not as a vassal would, but as someone who wishes to calm someone down and begging not to be overly emotional. She would cover Charlotte's hand with her own. Princess would notice a minor and irrelevant detail of Loyola's fingertips feeling cold, and skin actually felt drier than it should have been at En's age. Still being nervous, she would lick her tips, looking right into Charlotte's eyes, as she is to bring a number of harsh and devastating mental blows to confident and objectively beautiful noble sitting in front of her.

Then Enma's lips would open, hammering down the first terrible news out of the list.

— The Royal Navy was... defeated at the battle for New London by Libertorians and was forced to hastily retreat to Leeds...

Loyola stopped, swallowing her own saliva, and taking a deep breath, trying to find powers to proceed.

— Supply lines in Tau-31 were cut out, someone ordered to glass Leeds... the planet. And that order was executed, now everyone is denying responsibility. The war was in fact, well, it was lost.

Enma really hoped that she won't get hit with that glass of orange juice or another manifestation of rage that she naturally expected to come out... Loyola now really wished that it was the end of the story, but it will only get worse.

---