The three house leaders were in trouble. They were being chased by thieves, after their gold and likely their lives. Dimitri was a bit preoccupied with something on his wrist. His timer.

Everyone is born with a timer on their wrist. This timer counts down to the exact moment you'll meet your soulmate. Dimitri's showed he was to meet his soulmate in the next five minutes. Claude nearly clapped him upside the head when he noticed Dimitri staring down at his wrist.

"What are you doing, Your Highness? We're being chased by bandits! Pretty sure you'd like to live to see that timer run down!" Claude said, a smirk showing despite the danger to their lives and belongings.

"Oh, of course, my apologies," Dimitri said as they came up to the village. They had been camping nearby Remire Village, when bandits showed up. The three had a brief moment of respite as they came up on an inn. They had heard tell that some mercenaries were in town and were seeking their help. Edelgard did most of the searching, as Dimitri was quite preoccupied by the timer on his wrist.

"Dimitri, please pay attention," Edelgard said with a sigh. Dimitri snapped up and walked over to join her and Claude at the door of the inn. She knocked on the door. Dimitri spared a glance at his wrist, the timer had gone down to two seconds.

One.

The door opened and a man answered. Dimitri almost balked until he noticed the young woman right behind him. She was expressionless, not even a smile or curious look. She glanced down at her wrist, and her eyes shifted between the three. Her timer must have run down too, but she wasn't certain which of the three was intended for her. Her face showed none of her thoughts.

Alois had shown up after they dealt with the bandits, and Edelgard almost got an axe to the face, and invited the man, by the name of Jeralt, and his daughter Byleth to Garreg Mach Monastery. They talked all the way back to the monastery, Dimitri intent on looking at his now spent timer. The timer stayed on zero, claiming he'd already met her, and he was at least a little bit certain that person was Byleth. It only made sense.

However, Byleth was a bit puzzled. She stared at her timer, also spent, wondering exactly which of these strangers could be meant for her. She didn't want to ask about their timers, Claude liked to keep his sleeve down over his, and Edelgard's had been spent for the longest time, a fact she was a little hesitant to share, but Byleth noticed her timer was on zero, and was the slightest bit faded. But Dimitri was almost entranced by his, he wouldn't stop staring at it. Byleth would wager a guess as to which of the boys it was, but wasn't sure because whenever asked, Claude would always redirect the question away from his timer.

Dimitri was certain Byleth was his soulmate, but Byleth wasn't sure if it was Dimitri.

Byleth is their new professor?

Dimitri couldn't believe it, Byleth was the professor meant to teach the Blue Lions? He had such trouble keeping himself together that he almost collapsed in Dedue's arms. His vassal was starting to get more than a little worried about the prince. Dimitri could barely string two words together in shock. It wasn't until Ingrid gave him a swift slap in the face that he was able to pull himself together.

"Dude I can't believe you're this worked up over a girl," Sylvain said with a laugh, narrowly dodging an Ingrid slap of his own.

"Just because you hit on anything with a pulse, you can't understand what it's like to meet your soulmate, Sylvain!" Ingrid scolded. Sylvain put his hands up in a surrender.

"I think it's rather adorable for His Highness to be all worked up over love," Mercedes giggled.

"I can't believe it's the new Professor, that's so funny!" Annette laughed.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" Ashe said when he noticed Dimitri had his head down on the desk.

"I'm quite alright, Ashe," Dimitri said, raising his head to show he was blushing furiously.

"Your Highness…"

"Honest. And please just call me Dimitri, we're not in the Kingdom, no need to be so formal."

Ashe grumbled a tiny bit but dropped the subject for now.

"This is gonna be a fun year," Sylvain remarked with a laugh. Felix just laughed a little.

"You look ridiculous."