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First things first. A lady ought to be made comfortable in the presence of a man- your father disapproved of the character you’d developed in manhood, had developed when you left the household earlier than most youths, but he had taught you a few things useful to both gentlemen and rakes alike.
“Before I talk about that? If your shoulders hurt,” you offered, standing behind Edelina, “I’m told I’m pretty good as a masseuse. If you’d like, just ask, and I’ll push the strain out of them.”
“Would you?” Edelina asked quickly, then caught herself. “…It would be unseemly. It is inappropriate for me to be touched so…intimately.”
“It’s nothing like that, is it?” You returned, “Besides, it isn’t like anybody’s around to see.”
Edelina was still hesitant, but one need overpowered the other in the absence of reinforcement. “Do so, then.”
“As her majesty requests,” you took off your gloves, cracked your knuckles, and loosened the Queen’s capelet, to get under to her neck and shoulders. “Sheesh. You’re tensed like you’ve been scared stiff.”
“I have been frightened a long time.” Edelina offered an explanation that wasn’t <span class="mu-i">I have huge tits</span>, as she shifted her arms under her bosom, perhaps to offset some mass. “…Your hands are very warm.”
“They’ve got enough blood on them.”
“…Do you think yourself so?”
“Bad joke, sorry.” You pinched and rubbed around the bones, the tendons in need of relief. Edelina was right, this was usually more a matter of intimacy for you rather than something casual, but when you felt for the pain, you could tell that it was left for long. “You know,” you finally addressed her initial question, “Sometimes, we get a deal put on us that’s real heavy. It could be something really good, really important, but there’s no shame in wondering if we can really bear the weight. Hell, I’m at a rank where most people would be a lot more certain they earned it, but I’m both a man plenty grown but not near old enough to be a <span class="mu-i">Oberst-Leutnant</span>."
You gave a clench that made Edelina squeak, but sigh right after. "But even back when I was only in command of a company, I didn’t have to shoulder that weight alone. Not in leading, not in even crewing a tank. You’ve got more to shoulder than most people can think of. If you’re not strong enough for what’s been put on you, maybe the answer isn’t to try and become strong enough to keep trying yourself. If you can’t break away from that weight, for whatever reason? No shame in sharing it with people who trust in you. Who you trust. If it's something you can’t set aside, what choice do you have? Sometimes you need a shoulder rub.” You paused, having rambled on long enough to think yourself mostly done. “Or to let somebody else take some of the weight off, hold them for a while. Only if you ask nicely, though.”
