Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Three Houses, all rights to the owners.
Keeping on keeping on. Plot marches forwards! Er, well, as much plot as there is in this little side-story. More world-building than plot really.
Whatever. The story moves on, let's go.
Angie is dropped off at a nearby village with a few dozen gold to help her, and the villagers are told about the bandit camp so they can scavenge from it, but the Deer unfortunately can't stay around. They're already behind schedule for meeting Margrave Edmund, and might need to stay an extra day on the road because of the time taken to kill the bandits. Claude doesn't expect Margrave Edmund to mind particularly. He doesn't know too much about the man, but as far as nobles go he's on the more rational side. He has all the usual issues like supporting arranged marriages and getting caught up in petty territory squabbles, but he's not known for being particularly petty otherwise.
That said, Claude has personally interacted with the man maybe once, and that was at a social function, so his image of the man might be completely off. Margrave Edmund is also a bit more private than most margraves and lords in the Alliance, and so Claude actually doesn't know too much about him or his family, immediate or extended. He wasn't even aware Marianne existed until she showed up at Garreg Mach. Claude found a bit of information on past Margraves of Edmund, but Marianne's parents? Extended family? Nothing.
Byleth intelligently hires someone to ride ahead of them and deliver a message to Margrave Edmund explaining their delay. That's something that should have been obvious, but Claude never considered it. He never really got used to technically being the heir to the Alliance. Using messengers instead of just finding someone, fancy food, not paranoidly hiding everything valuable to you… he never really adapted to it before he went off to Garreg Mach.
Anyhow…
Everyone is tired. Some people are pretending not to be tired, like Lysithea and Hilda (actually… Hilda might not be tired considering her general physical competence. Lysithea is totally faking though) while others don't bother to hide it. Raphael is already asleep in the corner of the cart. Despite what you might expect, he doesn't snore. Not loudly at least. Leonie isn't sleeping, but she is resting with her eyes closed.
Ignatz is clearly tired, but he seems to be pointedly avoiding going to sleep. The same goes for Marianne. They're also shooting glances at each other, which makes Claude fairly sure something happened when they split off from Hilda. He desperately wants to pry, this could be useful, this could be interesting! He holds himself back though. He knows better to interfere. Besides, with everyone in the cart this would be a terrible time to converse with Marianne.
He has to hold himself back from eavesdropping when Marianne pulls Ignatz aside after they set up camp for the night. He desperately wants to listen in. This looks important, it has to be important! Marianne fed last night, she doesn't need to again. This has got to be important…
"Claude…" Hilda sighs.
"But it is, right?" He whispers. "Right?"
"Maybe, but seriously, stop thinking about it." The girl huffs. "It's a private conversation Claude, and probably a personal one. Don't make yourself curious about an answer you won't get."
Hilda is right of course. Claude knows she's right. Still, he's always had a need to know anything he possibly can about everything. This might be important too! This could be vital to Marianne getting over her issues…
Hilda pokes his cheek. "Claude."
"Fine…"
"Good. Let's play a game or something."
Claude knows what she's trying to do. She's trying to distract him. He really doesn't deserve Hilda. "I have chess."
Hilda sighs again, this time in resignation. "Well, let's see how many times I can lose in an hour then, shall we?"
###
Ignatz has a vague idea that he might be in trouble when Marianne pulls him aside. Not that his life is in danger or anything, just that he's stumbled across a sensitive secret that maybe he shouldn't know.
He's been worrying about this since he stepped into the cart. He was sitting next to Marianne for hours, unable to discuss this extremely sensitive bit of information he'd accidentally learned. He's been mulling it over in his mind too. Marianne is a succubus. A succubus. One of the most feared creatures in the modern day, the sort of being that parents warn their kids about and the sort of accusation levied by fearful villagers at people they don't understand as if it's a justification for shunning them.
Burn the witch who blighted my crops, kill the succubus who seduced my son. Those inhuman monsters. That sort of thing. The sort of stuff Ignatz could never buy into because he isn't human. He's a halfling. By most people's standards that's basically human. Even by human standards he's basically human. Halflings are one of the most welcomed species in human society besides humans themselves because of how similar and "non-threatening" halflings are. But still he knows he's not human. People don't want to acknowledge that fact, and just like to treat him as "human but short", and that's fine under most circumstances but it's irritating all the same. It's like people don't want to acknowledge that he isn't technically human, as if being not human is somehow a negative thing.
So basically he can empathize with Marianne. Granted, she must have it so much worse than him by an astounding margin, but he can empathize all the same. Not being human in a human-centric society is an unfortunate hassle.
Ignatz is well aware that empathy is not equivalent to trust though. Marianne has every reason to distrust him. Knowledge of her species is the sort of thing he could probably use to get her disinherited, or outright killed if he wanted to. Not that he would, but… that's the sort of information you don't want anyone to know. It's dangerous information.
So, when Marianne pulls him aside later that day, Ignatz is worried. He doesn't expect he's going to die or anything, but… he doesn't know what will happen. Is he going to be threatened? Mind wiped? Mind controlled? Succubi can do that, right? That's what whispered tales always say, but those sorts of things are unreliable. She certainly managed to puppet his body like it was nothing before.
As it turns out, Marianne doesn't have a plan at all. She drags him aside, and then immediately starts fretting about what she should be doing.
"Y-You can't know what I am." Marianne mumbles to start the conversation. She isn't looking at him. She's pacing back and forth with one hand clasped to her necklace and the other clenched against her stomach. "It's not safe. Not for me. I'm sorry…"
"I understand, I think." Ingatz offers. He glances over his shoulder at the fire of the camp, a few dozen meters away with everyone just out of earshot. The sun is lowering in the sky, but it's not down. No one is looking at them, though Claude is vaguely gesturing in their direction before Hilda pulls him into their shared tent. "It's dangerous for you, right? What you are isn't exactly… welcome."
"Yes." She nods twice, rapidly, nervously. "I'm dangerous, a threat, and so people would be afraid of me if they knew."
That's… not quite how Ignatz would put it. More accurate to say, in his mind, others would see her as dangerous. "You don't seem dangerous to me."
"You're wrong then." She retorts. Marianne turns her back to him. "I am dangerous. You know what succubi do, right?
"You usually have powerful natural charm magic and a variety of secondary magic powers," Ignatz says, trying to remember traits mentioned in reliable sources. He can't remember much, so he sticks to the general facts he can be confident in mentioning. "You have to hide from general society because you're considered dangerous due to the fact that your species evolved to be really competent at hunting and preying on humans, and are reproductive parasites."
"Well yes." Marianne says tersely. Her hands are still clenched, and Ignatz realizes his response was not at all what she was looking for. "But what do we do?"
"...whatever people normally do?" Do succbi not farm or something? Maybe they've never had artists? What is he missing?
"We feed."
"Oh!" Of course that's what she meant. How could he forget something so obvious? But… erm… "So you do do things that normal people do then, just with this extra task every once in a while, right?" Ignatz still doesn't quite see the problem. So succubi have to feed which is having sex right? Okay, so she has to do it at least once a month. How is this a problem? Is it because she's under eighteen? She literally has to feed or she dies, right? Ignatz would hope that would be understandable. Is it dangerous maybe? Ignatz doesn't know about succubi feeding, and honestly he'd have been too embarrassed to look into it before. Though maybe he should look into it when they get back to Garreg Mach… and just read up on Succubi in general.
"Noooo." Marianne whines. "We prey on people! We hunt them down, corner them, and assault them against their will!"
Ignatz frowns. It's almost like she's intentionally choosing to portray her species as poorly as possible. "I mean, I know some succubi probably do that. Some people aren't that nice, but-"
"I do that!" Marianne says. Her tone is hard to place. She sounds horrified at herself, but at the same time forceful, as if she wants to insist that he believe her words. "I do that regularly! Every week! I find someone who I can corner and feed on them." Her eyes catch his. Her stare is intense and… desperate. Ignatz doesn't know what to think. Is she looking for help? Is she trying to get him to hate her? What is she desperate for? "I do it to you, regularly!"
That brings Ingatz's racing mind to a crashing, burning, destructive halt. Him? Regularly? She feeds on him, regularly? That's…
A shiver goes up his spine, and his stomach clenches. A grain of fear manifests in the back of his mind, but Ignatz pushes the feeling down. This is different. He's dealing with someone who has wronged him, but he needs to stay calm. He knows (or at least suspects) Marianne is trying to make herself look bad, so he needs to be the logical one here.
"What do you mean Marianne? You feed on me?" Ignatz says slowly. "How, exactly?"
"Most of the time I find you painting somewhere." She murmurs. "And I pull you aside. Sometimes into a room, sometimes just an out of the way spot, and I feed."
On it's own that seems straightforward, but the odd thing is that Marianne taps her mouth when she says feed. That's not exactly sex, is it?
Ignatz is steadfastly ignoring his own embarrassment that he's thinking about sex in relation to Marianne. He pushes that out of his mind. "Focus, that's rude." He thinks. "Erm, why are you tapping your mouth?
"I-" She's suddenly flustered and looking away from him. "That's how I feed. I… I… kiss people."
Suddenly Ignatz doesn't feel quite as violated. "I didn't know you could feed like that."
"It's the long way." She mumbles. "The normal way is the short way, but I don't want to do that because it's even worse than the long way. I have to do it more often though."
"Well that's not so bad." Not great, but that's fine all things considered. It's not like he remembers it anyways, and beyond some blackouts and exhaustion (which he assumes must be from feeding) he's not suffered any real harm.
"I have to do it for an hour." Marianne adds with surprising force. "Against your will."
"I understand." Ignatz says gently. "But you also wipe my memory, right?"
"Yes!" She nods fervently. "I do! I take away your memory so my deeds are not revealed."
"And so that I don't remember anything that might make me worry, right?"
"Well…"
"Because you don't want me to worry, right?"
"Well yes…"
So, while what Marianne does is certainly creepy and dubious from a moral standpoint, it's also obvious to Ignatz she's gone out of her way to minimize the impact of her feeding on her victims as best she knows how to. "I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit."
Marianne flushes red with eyes wide in surprise. She catches herself a moment later and tries to restate what he suspects must be a self-reminder. "I'm not a good person Ignatz."
"I respectfully disagree. You're a normal person with an unfortunate burden that you don't quite know what to do with, but you've tried to do as little harm as possible."
Marianne looks more uncomfortable now then when she was admitting her sins. Somehow getting praise is more uncomfortable for her than revealing something bad she's done. That seems very sad to Ignatz, and just a little bit worrisome.
"Look, I know you might be uncomfortable with someone remembering you fed on them, but if you don't have an unwilling victim it's not a problem, right?" Ignatz says hesitantly. He's feeling a little embarrassed too. "So, erm… if you need a willing… meal… I'll volunteer. That way you don't have to assault someone unwilling."
The "and don't have to feel bad about yourself" is implicit, but Ignatz hopes that sentiment comes through anyhow.
"Please don't call yourself a meal." Marianne whines. She just seems mortified now. She puts her face into her hands. To her, Ignatz is being far too forgiving and generous. "Oh Goddess I can't believe I'm not wiping your memory…"
"Sorry?" He replies with a nervous smile, feeling equally embarrassed. "Uh, I'm glad to help though…"
Marianne says something indistinguishable, muffled by her hands. But Ignatz will silently admit that her embarrassed mumbling is rather adorable.
###
Surprisingly, Margrave Edmund meets them personally at the gates when they arrive just before lunch the next day. The Deer silently exchange looks, asking who is going to deal with this. Claude? The Professor? Marianne?
The Margrave solves that issue for them. "Lord Von Reigan, I'm glad to see you've all managed to make it here unharmed despite your unexpected delay."
Claude shifts into formal mode. He's gotta act his part as heir to the alliance. "Sorry again for the delay, Margrave, but we couldn't let such a situation stand. I hope you'll pardon our lateness."
"Of course. I appreciate you taking your time to help the people of Edmund." The man says. He gives Claude a half-bow, bending at the waist. He nods to Byleth as well. "Thank you for teaching Marianne, Professor."
"Of course." Byleth says flatly. His expression is neutral, as normal. He seems perfectly content to let Claude handle this. That's probably a good idea to be honest. Byleth is not graceful in social situations to say the least. Who's to say if Byleth knows that though, or if he's blissfully unaware of his social incompetence.
"And Marianne… it is good to see you again."
Marianne bows silently.
"Come in, all of you. I'll have the cooks make lunch."
"Oh good, I'm starved!" Raphael says cheerfully. "Thanks Sir!"
The Margrave smiles politely. Claude wouldn't be surprised if he's going to slip a word to the cooks to make extra after seeing Raphael.
Everyone settles in around the large table. Some people look at home in this sort of situation like Lorenz, Claude, Hilda, and Lysithea who have dealt with this all their lives. Raphael also looks comfortable, but it would be easier to list the situations where he isn't comfortable. Ignatz and Leonie are clearly not used to this and are mildly unnerved by the huge room and massive fancy table, and Marianne is also uncomfortable though the exact reason is anyone's guess.
Byleth, as usual, looks indifferent.
Margrave Edmund sits at the head of the table. Marianne is on one side, and Byleth at the other. The room is uncomfortably quiet as food is set out on the table. The silence is broken when Raphael cheerfully says his thanks and starts to dig in, at which point everyone manages to relax just a bit and enjoy themselves.
The Margrave makes some small talk at the table, and it's mostly up to Marianne and Claude to answer him. He doesn't ask for a report yet, instead preferring small talk. How is their school work going, what are they learning, are they taking care of themselves? That sort of thing. It's what you might expect a polite family member to ask.
Inevitably though, at least in Claude's mind, the subject he was dreading comes up. It's not addressed to him, but the mood at the entire table shifts in a negative direction when they hear the Margrave ask: "Marianne, have you given any thought to the marriage proposals I've sent to you? Or perhaps you've found someone at the academy?"
The fact that he feels comfortable bringing it up in the presence of company says much about how normal and casual the Margrave thinks the subject of arranged marriage is.
"Ah, well…" Marianne mumbles, and stares at her food. "There is no one at the academy so far. The men in your proposals have been… unsatisfactory."
The Margrave doesn't seem offended. In fact, he nods. "I see. I shall trust your critical eye on the matter. That said, what exactly was unsatisfactory?"
"Age, demeanor, personal histories." Marianne says softly. To Claude it almost sounds rehearsed, but there is some genuine emotion in her voice suggesting that she's not exactly lying. "Many of the men were unpleasant when looked into, and the rest were too old."
The Margrave nods. "You're being very thorough I see. I shall not push the matter then. So long as you are giving appropriate consideration, I have no qualms in how long the process takes."
Claude feels conflicted. On one hand, he hates that the Margrave supports arranged marriage, on the other… the Margrave really doesn't seem like a bad person. There aren't many heads of houses willing to let their heir of all people take so long in choosing a partner, let alone give them so much control and choice during the process.
It's a shame really. Claude wants to like the man, but he just can't. Combined with the Margrave's poor handling of his realm's security and Claude's opinion is mixed to say the least.
The Margrave's eyes turn to Claude, and he subtly sits up straighter. "How about you, my Lord? Have you given any thought, or has your Uncle delayed the matter? You are getting to age, are you not?"
"Uncle, please…" Marianne murmurs, but her voice doesn't carry.
"I'm giving it appropriate consideration." Claude says calmly. "However, my uncle and I have agreed my education must come first so that I may be fit to lead the Alliance. Marriage is a secondary concern at the moment."
Margrave Edmund nods. "A wise decision."
What Claude isn't telling him is how he fought with his uncle for months to be able to come to Garreg Mach. They didn't come to an agreement so much as Claude blackmailed the man into letting him go, lest he expose some of the man's skeletons from his closet. It helped that his uncle knows negative opinions on himself don't really translate to Claude, because most nobles already don't like Claude so a little scandal more or less really doesn't affect the boy as much as it does him.
Claude is also very done with this conversation, and is immensely thankful when the subject changes.
The meal is otherwise uneventful. Privately recounting the events of their travels to the Margrave after the meal is similarly uneventful. The man nods grimly at the account of the bandits, and Claude has the feeling that the Margrave is well aware of his security issue.
"Thank you for dealing with them." The Margrave says, after Claude is done. "I'll give you additional compensation for it."
"Thank you." Claude bows. He wants to admonish the man for his poor security, but stepping on toes is not going to be helpful right now. "I'm glad the Deer could be of help."
The Margrave nods. "If you would, please send Marianne in when you exit."
"Of course."
###
"Marianne."
"Uncle."
"I hope you've been well."
"I have."
"No one has caused you issues?"
"No, they haven't."
"And your secrets? They've been kept?"
Marianne squirms. "The only person made aware of my secrets was Professor Hanneman, as he is an expert on crests and knowledgeable about many species."
"Ah, the ghost of Garreg Mach." Margrave Edmund nods. "A prudent choice. Has he been of help?"
"A little." Though this is no fault of Hanneman's. Marianne avoids him as much as she can. She hasn't given him the opportunity to help for the most part.
"And you've managed to… feed… without trouble?" He asks hesitantly. The two of them have never been comfortable discussing the subject. It's understandably awkward for them to discuss her assault of random students every week.
"For the most part." Marianne mumbles. "Nothing worth mentioning."
The Margrave sighs deeply and sits back in his chair. "Marianne… you know what I am going to say."
"The sooner I find someone to marry, the sooner my secrets are not severe liabilities." She recounts. The sooner she is married the sooner she is bound in a contract the other party cannot easily break, and the sooner she has a security net of knowing she can't be easily cast out for her species or her crest. That's all based on her ability to manipulate someone into marriage without knowing about those secrets beforehand… and keeping them in marriage through use of her abilities.
It's really awful to use people that way and they both know it, but neither of them see another choice. No one is going to willingly accept a succubus, much less one with the crest of the beast. Manipulation is their only choice.
Still, that doesn't mean they both don't want a good partner for her. If she is going to catch someone, they may as well be a good catch. Marianne doesn't really think she deserves that, but her uncle insists she find someone good so she does her duty and meticulously looks into proposed suitors.
Proposed suitors don't mean the Margrave has received a proposal exactly, simply people her uncle thinks she may be interested in that they could potentially make a move on if she chose to. So far, none have met her standards… not that she tries particularly hard. Some of her classmates have actually been suggested by her uncle before. Claude was one that has come up at least once, as has Lorenz.
Because she rejected so many people her uncle has considered the possibility that she may be into women, and so occasionally sends her a female candidate. For that purpose, Hilda was also one of his suggestions. For the record, no, she is not into women, but she allows him to continue suggesting such candidates in the hopes that someone nice will show up. She would take a wife over a husband simply for a kind personality even if she had no sexual interest in them.
That's all on the condition she actually has any intent to choose at all though. She still doesn't think she deserves anyone at all, but she can't exactly tell her uncle that. Similarly an arranged marriage is… distasteful, but considering the massive array of options her uncle has kindly provided her with, she isn't too upset about it.
"And how are you faring mentally?" Her uncle asks in a softer voice. "Are you still stressed? Have you been making friends?"
Marianne is worse than she's ever been, though that's no fault of Garreg Mach or her uncle. He's tried his very best for her, but she's avoided opening up to anyone and that includes him, so he doesn't know the exact issue. "I… have a few friends." She says to placate him. That's a lie, mostly. She wouldn't call anyone in her class her friend, even if they would call her theirs, because she's committed the inexcusable breach of friendship of feeding on all of them at least once.
"That's good." He seems relieved, and Marianne feels bad about lying to him. No, she's not alright. She feels terrible and more a monster than ever. Worse, some of her classmates know she's a monster now. Claude, Hilda, Ignatz… it's only a matter of time before her secrets get out fully and ruin her life.
Not that she doesn't deserve it, she supposes. Though the Goddess certainly took her time.
"Well, I'm glad that Garreg Mach has been good to you." Her uncle smiles. Marianne forces a small smile of her own for his sake. There's a small silence, then Marianne speaks again.
"Uncle… why is security in Edmund so poor?" She asks quietly.
The man grimaces. "We have been unable to subdue the scylla and need to protect our new shipping route to guarantee future prosperity. Unfortunately, the creature is posing an issue. Our profits from the route due to her are also negligible at this point, so I cannot hire more soldiers to compensate."
"You must ask for aid then."
"You know I cannot do that Marianne." He sighs. "Being in debt to another lord would be catastrophic for our reputation."
"Daphnel perhaps? Judith is unlikely to exploit a favor, she is known for her morality."
The Margrave shakes his head. "For Edmund to ask a favor of such a weak house would be equally problematic. Even if Judith would not exploit us, the other houses would never allow such a matter to pass."
Marianne's shoulders droop. The Margrave sighs, leans forward and places a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for your concern and your suggestions Marianne, I'm happy to see you taking our people's issues seriously, but I assure you I have considered many possibilities. I am not oblivious to our people's problems and am doing what I can to solve them."
That's small comfort given what she's seen and dealt with over the last few days, but she doesn't doubt he speaks the truth. "Be swift, Uncle."
"I will try Marianne."
###
The trip back to Garreg Mach is uneventful. There aren't any surprise bandits, no sudden wildlife attacks, nothing. Just a normal trip through the countryside of Leister. It's… horrendously boring if Claude is going to be honest. That's a good thing he supposes, it means there's no danger, but by the gods he wishes he had something to do other than bother Hilda.
Hilda never told him to stop talking to her, but he got the impression her patience was fairly low after about an hour of his chatter so he stopped. No one else really wants to chat with him though, so he sits out front with Byleth and the horses.
Byleth isn't much for conversation, but he does respond if Claude talks to him, so Claude takes full advantage.
"So Teach, how are you feeling about the Deer so far, huh? Have we blown you away?"
"No, you haven't."
"Ouch…"
"You've all been fine."
"Just fine?"
"You'd make horrible mercenaries." He says calmly. "Most of you have the combat awareness of a deaf and blind cow, and survive on raw skill more than your training. That said, your training is starting to show. However it would take years at this pace before I would consider most of you competent enough to join my father's mercenaries."
That's… brutally honest. "Well I suppose it's a good thing that's not our end goal, huh?"
"Yes." He glances at Claude with an unexpressive gaze. "You might be competent enough sooner than the rest. You already have combat reflexes."
Apparently his paranoia is good for something at least. "You flatter me Teach."
"No, I am giving an honest assessment of-"
"Sarcasm Teach."
Byleth goes quiet.
"I've got another question." Claude says after a moment. "What do you know about everyone in our class? What sort of information?"
Byleth stares at him again. His eyes are now somewhat narrowed now. "As a professor, I am bound by student-teacher confidentiality-"
"Okay, geeze, don't tell me then." Claude sighs.
"If there is something specific you want to know, I cannot tell you, but perhaps I can still give advice." Byleth offers. "Giving advice is literally my job."
"I thought it was to teach?" Claude jokes.
"That too." As usual, Byleth misses the joke.
"Right…" Claude muses this over in his head. What can he ask Teach that won't expose his intentions too much? "So let's say one of my classmates has… issues. They aren't comfortable with themselves. How am I supposed to help with that."
Byleth is quiet for nearly a full minute, and only when Claude just about thinks he didn't hear does the man respond. "You need to get them to talk. Force won't help. You need trust."
"That's a problem…"
"Unfortunately, it is the only way you can do anything. Even then, change can only truly be initiated by the person in question. You cannot 'fix' someone else." Byleth says quietly.
"Huh." That makes a certain amount of sense, even if Claude doesn't like it. "That's not what I expected you to say."
"I learned that from my father."
"That makes more sense."
"Can you tell me who it is?"
"What?"
"Can you tell me? Not the details, if it is private, but I am under the impression that your question is not arbitrary. Perhaps I can lend assistance thanks to my position that you are unable to."
Maybe the Professor is a bit sharper than Claude gives him credit for. He also makes a good point, but even mentioning that Marianne is having issues is going to naturally lead the Professor on the path to figuring out her species, and it will be seen as a breach of trust by Marianne if she ever finds out Claude told him.
Still, maybe it would be worth it, but… "I'm not sure you're exactly one to help with self-image issues Teach. You don't seem like a therapist to me."
"I'm not." He agrees. "But I know many people, and often one does not need a therapist. They simply need someone with a similar life, but a bit more overall experience. A mentor."
That's… fair enough. Marianne could probably benefit from realizing that being a succubus is not an inherently damning trait, but she might need to hear that from someone like her. The words of an outsider can only offer so much. Claude and Hilda… they can use logic all they want, but sometimes that isn't what someone needs to hear, or maybe they just need to hear it from someone else.
"I can't tell you who it is." Claude says slowly. "But… Teach, what do you know about dangerous species?"
"That's too broad. Specify."
"Sentient species that are widely feared for being dangerous, or just perceived as dangerous."
"Still too broad."
Claude is trying to avoid saying "succubi" here, but Byleth is not making it easy.
"Predators of humanoids." Claude offers.
Byleth blinks. "Vampires?"
"And others."
"Right." Byleth says. "Does the problem involve feeding?"
Good, Byleth does get it. "I think so."
Byleth tilts his head. "Do they go out at night?"
Odd question. It's an important question, but not what he expected Teach to say. "Yes."
"Right. That's all I need to know."
"Just that?" Claude is honestly surprised.
He nods. "I know someone who can help. She'll find your person on her own."
Really? That's quite a promise. "She must be quite the individual."
"Yes."
"And you're sure she'll be okay with this?"
"Yes." Byleth nods. "She's done similar things before."
Well, okay. Hopefully it was a good choice to tell Byleth about this. "Who is she? What is she?"
"Her name is Acrim. A succubus. Assassin and spy by trade. She's been with my father's group for a decade." He recounts. "She's trusted."
Right… okay… Claude is still unsure about this, but he's committed at this point. This is probably the most impulsive decision he's made in a while, but Claude will readily admit he just isn't equipped to help Marianne. If the Professor has an idea, and the idea doesn't sound too bad, then it's probably better than whatever Claude could do. Besides, he's still successfully kept Marianne's anonymity from him. The only new person who's going to know is also a succubus herself.
Hopefully that will go well.
Right, okay, cool. I think this works. It's always a risk to introduce an OC into a story, even as a side-character, so bringing Acrim into this is a gamble on my part even if her role is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. The problem is that there really isn't anyone suited to help Marianne otherwise. The only other people with similar problems to Marianne are… well… okay, I guess I can't really say without revealing too much. Point is, Acrim isn't being included arbitrarily. She has a function. I mean, I guess I could have made up a different character, but why do that when I already have a perfectly serviceable character who can do the job?
