Summary:
Rita and Raven passing notes, Judith causing trouble, Estelle being the oblivious princess.
2
The next morning when she returned from breakfast, her room had been filled to bursting with flowers. Fire lilies, red roses, and peach carnations. Freaking everywhere! Along with them was a note written in neat cursive.
Miss Mordio,
I would be honored if you would accompany me to the princess's birthday celebration this coming weekend. Please accept these flowers as a symbol of my interest in spending more time with you.
Schwann Oltorain
There was a stupid little heart beside his name. Idiot. She wished no one had seen any of it, but naturally she'd walked back from the dining room with Estelle and Judith, who snatched the note out of her hand as soon as she'd finished reading it. "Oooohhh. So are you going to say yes?" she said seductively. "I - I mean, I guess. Why wouldn't I, right? It's not like I would want to go with anyone else." She was blushing ten shades of red and she knew it by looking at Judith's expression. "Oh, that's wonderful!" Estelle exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I'll go get some of my stationary so you can send a note back!" And with that she was off to her own room. Rita lifted one of the (many!) vases of flowers and took an appreciative inhale. "I have to send a note back?" she asked quietly. She was so not good at this stuff. Judith nodded. "It's proper etiquette," she said cheerfully.
That morning, Schwann was wrapping up his postponed meeting with the commandant and the prince over breakfast when LeBlanc knocked to deliver a note. As he read the messily scrawled words he couldn't help the smile that spread over his features.
Sir Schwann,
Thank you for the flowers, although there are really too many. I'm not sure if I'll even be able to find my bed so I can sleep tonight. Yes, I will go to the party with you. You could have just asked me, you idiot.
Rita
"Good news, I expect, Captain?" Yoder asked. Schwann worked hard to fade the smile off of his face, sliding the note into his back pocket. "Of course, your highness. Now where were we…"
Rita caught a glimpse of him in the dining hall at lunch. He was surrounded by his adoring men, and she didn't fail to notice some adoring female nobles staring at him. Some worked up the nerve to approach him and speak to him. He was polite, but didn't encourage the behavior. "You should go and say hello instead of just staring at him from across the room," Judith whispered from beside her." Rita gave her a look. "It's more etiquette," she said knowingly. Rita shrugged and stood up, crossing the room slowly. He was distracted by all of his knights who were updating him on various happenings. It was clearly a working lunch. If you could call it a lunch when there was no sitting or food involved. She stopped in front of him. He hadn't looked up from the paper someone had handed him right before she got there. "Hi," she said, not knowing what else to do. His eyes raised to hers, and he handed the paper off, taking her hand in its place. "Miss Mordio," he said softly, "it's a pleasure to see you." He held onto her hand for what seemed scandalously too long while they just looked into each others' eyes and his men looked around uncomfortably. She could feel the noble women he had ignored glaring daggers into her back. "Sir," LeBlanc interrupted, "we should be getting back." Schwann glanced at him and nodded, gesturing for the knights to go on ahead. "I'll just be a moment." Rita had to force herself to swallow. "Sorry if I interrupted. I just wanted to say hello," she said, hoping she wasn't blushing too much. "I'm glad you did," he said. "Come and see me later." And then he turned and walked away.
"My, that was quite scandalous," Judith purred when she returned to their table. "I thought those women were going to attack you." Rita sighed. "That was definitely… awkward." She paused, unsure if she wanted to share or not. "He asked me to come see him later." Judith squeezed her hand. "See? It was totally the right move to go and talk to him." Rita's eyes narrowed. "I thought you said it was proper etiquette?" Judith smiled at her as Estelle arrived and sat down at the table. "What did I miss?" she asked with a bright smile.