Giulio reacted badly to the loss of his friend, a situation that worsened with the case going unpunished. He turned more and more reclusive, avoiding contact with the other pupils and reacting aggressively when bothered, a thing that even brought him to pick a couple of fights. Likewise, his grades began to worsen as he grew demotivated. As a result, by the beginning of the spring, his stay in the military school had turned into a huge question mark.
This was nonetheless a time, for Giulio, of intellectual transformation. In fact, the general disliking caused by his upbringing towards Europe's democratic and egalitarian values was now radicalised. He began to perceive this system not only as wrong, but also inherently evil and hypocritical, as the humanitarian façade was often hiding a system just as cruel as Britannia's, but even more corrupt and rotten. Likewise, he began to look with disgust at the European society, which in spite of its claims of pacifistim and anti-militaristim, owed the of prosperity in which its members lived only to its military, which imposed Europe's will over the huge European colonial empire, from where resources flew to the old world. Not that Giulio objected colonialism, much on the contrary, he regarded it as part of human nature, but he could not bear the hypocrisy through which the Europeans pretended to ignore the reality in which they lived.
In the meantime, his anger towards the state of things in his school had not gone away and on the contrary, he began to nurture the desire for a revenge,.
His chance came then on a warm and sunny day of late-April, or early-Floréal, according to the Republican Calendar. Giulio had just finished his Strategic Thought class and was sitting under a tree in the courtyard of the academy, taking some time before going to eat. In fact, he was not hungry at all and was finding the reading on Count Raimondo Montecuccoli, to whom he was related, and the Battle of St. Gotthard rather interesting.
He continued reading, looking also at the following chapters, until realising that his break would not last long, that he was supposed to have equitation classes in the afternoon and that he would do better eat something.
Thus, he stood up and began to walk in the direction of the mess, passing however, close to Alfonso and his fellow bullies. He then noticed that they were beating up and humiliating a girl that he recalled being the anarchist fresher he had seen on the day of his arrival at the school.
"Coward scumbags..." He said with disdain, knowing he alone could not do anything about it.
"Hey, you!" Shouted one of the bullies. Giulio ignored.
"You there! High society girl!" Shouted again the guy, coming after him and taking him by the sleeve of his jacket. Giulio turned, without altering his expression of disdain.
"What did you say?" Asked the bully.
Realising that by this point, little could be done to defuse the situation, Giulio opted to just escalate it.
"I said." He started loudly. "That you and your friends are a bunch of coward scumbags and should burn in Hell."
A brave reply, which earned him a punch in his mouth.
"Miche', what's all of this anger?" Asked Alfonso to the guy who had just punched Giulio. "The Little Lord just wants to have fun with us, bring him here!"
Michele, the other bully, pushed Giulio against the wall, next to the girl who was kneeled down, half undressed and with her mouth bleeding. She still looked at him with surprise.
"Don't they make a nice couple together?" Asked a third bully.
"They do." Replied Alfonso, laughing, then taking Giulio by the collar of the shirt. "I think we should... Wait a moment." He released the young noble as soon as he noticed the silver chain of the pendant he had around his neck. "Look here!" He then resumed, taking it out, allowing his two minions to see it. "The Little Lord's got a sweetheart."
The others laughed.
"Put it back, you don't even know to who this belongs." Said Giulio, calmly.
Alfonso did not listen and instead opened it, seeing the photo of Euphemia. "What? The slut is a kid? Man, you're disgusting." Mocked the bully.
The other two came close to see it and Michele looked surprised. "Wait, I saw her on TV, she's a Princess of Britannia, isn't she?"
"For the last time, please, put it back." Suggested Giulio, keeping his tone.
All the three looked at him.
"Or what?" Asked Alfonso. "What will you do? Call your butler to beat us up?"
The others laughed. "What butler? He's not even a noble any longer. He got disinherited!" Mocked the other.
"You know what?" Said then Michele, forcibly removing the pendant from Giulio's neck. "We should sell this little jewel downtown, we would make some money out of this."
This, for the nobleman, was enough.
"You should have put it back." Said again Giulio, raising his voice, but keeping his tone polite.
Michele, who was looking at the pendant against the sunlight, turned back at him: "What?"
The answer came to him in the form of a strong punch, which hit him in the mandible, breaking it, followed by a kick in the stomach, after which Giulio threw him against the wall, making him fall down without air in his lungs. At this point, Alfonso attempted at punching him, but Giulio was faster in taking his knife and sticking it into the bully's hand, who screamed in pain, right before Giulio would attack him again and start beating him up.
The third bully, who had remained petrified, seeing now Alfonso on the ground being beaten without reaction, attempted at stepping in, but in this, the girl took the knife, which had fallen and pointed it at his private parts: "One step more and I change your gender right here." She threatened, leaving the guy paralysed.
Alfonso was now on the ground, senseless and Michele was unable and unwilling to move, seeing that Giulio was prey of an insane fury and continued punching his boss' face, by now already unrecognisable. There, a tragedy was only prevented by the intervention of the Commander of the school and few other pupils, who managed, in three, to stop the noble, who only calmed down when he was separated from the bully.
"What the Hell..." Muttered the commander, horrified. "Take those two to the nursery, and quickly." He commanded to the pupils, turning then to Giulio and to the girl: "You to instead, to my office immediately."
Once into the commander's office, the Commander of the School, Colonel Riccardo Magnani, a man in his sixties with a grey beard and few hair, began to reprimand the two, accusing them of having started the fight...
"Federica Nathan, you lack any sort of discipline and self-control, are an anarchist and this not being enough, you provoke the other students by going around half-naked. If it wasn't for your family, we would have kicked you out of here long ago."
"Sir, I was assaulted and they were going to rape..."
"It's not their fault if you present yourself like a whore!" Shouted back the Colonel, leaving the girl holding her tears.
"And you, Galahad-Canossa. A Britannian, a noble and still you think you can do as if you were still in Virginia."
"In Virginia, unlike here, we don't allow such apes like Alfonso and his gang to bring people to commit suicide." Interrupted Giulio, revealing his anger.
Those words, however, left the Colonel was infuriated: "Don't you dare replying to your superiors..."
"I do instead!" Shouted Giulio, standing up. "I do, especially when the Commander is an stupid old geezer, frustrated, with no military merits, who has turned a prestigious institution like the 'Nunziatella' into a ghetto!"
Colonel Magnani turned red, and even his glasses got fogged. "You... You will be expelled in a matter of days from this place. You're done! You shall never, ever again find a place in any of the Armed Forces and not even in the police, you'll see!"
Giulio stood up. "That may happen, indeed. But you can be sure that I won't go down alone."
With those words, he left, without even saluting the Colonel.
Giulio left the office, in the direction of his dormitory, where he intended to start packing his stuff, when he heard someone rushing after him and calling:
"Mr. Galahad, please wait a moment!"
To call him was Federica Nathan, the girl he had helped before. Nonetheless, he did not stop. He was just too upset for it.
"Please, Giulio, wait a moment!" She called again, this time stopping in front of him. Giulio took a long breath and looked at her, without hiding his irritation.
"I just wanted to thank you for what you did."
"You're welcome." Replied Giulio, pushing her aside and resuming walking.
"I am Federica Nathan, nice to meet you!" She insisted, offering her hand. He stopped, hesitated for a moment, but then shook it.
"Giulio Galahad-Canossa."
"Look, I understand that you must be angry for losing your position here and everything, but after all think about this: it's not even worth, look at the environment that you have here and then for what? To become a soldier."
"Federica." Replied Giulio, trying to calm down. "The legendary founder of my bloodline was a Knight of the Roundtable, my ancestors led their own feudal armies, served the King of France, then the Dukes of Ferrara and Modena, the Holy Roman Emperor, then an ancestor of mine was one of Napoleon's main rivals and we even study him here, then afterwards we served the Britannian Crown for nearly two centuries and now... Because of stupid ghetto-boy I will be the first in over ten centuries not to follow this tradition. Do you know how it feels?"
She remained silent for a few seconds, looking at him perplexed, but then replied: "I don't, but I guess it's not good."
"Precisely."
"But before you said that you wouldn't go down alone, so I assume you want to take a revenge."
"I want to make a scandal. I will go to the press and tell them everything I have seen here and make sure this becomes a bloody avalanche!"
"But you know this is unlikely to go far, don't you?" Replied him the girl. "A Britannian, a noble, who just moved here and complains about how the European do things. It will backfire. My father owns a newspaper, a pretty big one and he explained me how those things work."
Giulio resumed walking. "Do you have a better idea?"
"I do. Let's run away." Proposed Federica.
"Are you crazy?" He asked back, confused. "I want a revenge, not to run away."
"Not at all. You tell it to the press and they will limit the impact of it. But imagine we just leave a letter and disappear for days, maybe weeks. They will have to search for us and it will become a scandal, plus, my father will start going against the commander and then things will just fall apart. The coverage will be longer and it will be impossible for the Army to just ignore the matter."
Giulio smirked; the girl was smarter than he thought. Not bad for a fresher. "I like it, but we must act quickly."
"Oh, we will! Even tomorrow, if you are ready."
"At this point, I would ready even now."
"Amazing!" Concluded Federica. "Let's meet at dinner and make plans then!"
"Good idea. I will see you later." Replied Giulio.
The girl had just started walking away when he suddenly stopped her again:
"Federica, one last thing." She turned back. "Could you please give me back the pendant? I saw you taking it."
"So, you saw me." She replied with a smile, giving it back. "I was going to return it to you tonight."
"Thanks for taking it, anyway."
It did not took long for them to put their plan in action: on the following night, having packed a few belonging and worn civilian clothes, they left the Military School, leaving only a letter on their respective beds, explaining their reasons. They then headed to Salerno, where they sent more of those copies to newspapers, journalists, politicians and military leaders, before withdrawing cash from their respective bank accounts and disappearing...
...Giulio woke up and stretched himself. Federica was still sleeping, with her head rested on his shoulder and he felt the warmth of her beautiful, undressed, delicate body pressed against his. He got up gently, trying not to wake her up and after preparing himself went to the kitchen, to prepare the breakfast. While he put the coffee to boil, he headed to the veranda of the small cottage and looked at the landscape: the cliffs, the beach and the sea, with its green-emerald water made a view worth of an Romantic painting. This escape to Ponza was a good idea, he thought: it earned him not only his revenge, but also a girlfriend and this stay.
"'Morning." Said Federica, who had just woken up, hugging him.
"Good morning." Replied Giulio, kissing her lips.
"What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing, just watching the landscape. It's a beautiful place to hide."
Federica nodded. "It is. May I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"What is the silver pendant that you always keep? I noticed the crest and that guy at school said it belonged to a Britannian Princess..."
"He was right." Replied the nobleman. "It belonged to Princess Euphemia, the Duchess of Vancouver. She gave it to me before I left, as a memory."
"Oh... Were you friends?"
"We were." Replied Giulio, melancholic. "Me, her and Prince Clovis. We grew up together and we were like siblings. Saying farewell was... tough."
She took his hand. "I'm sorry about it."
"Thanks." Replied Giulio, returning to his steps. "I think the coffee is boiling."
After breakfast, the two went for their usual walk on the beach, then went to get a newspaper from a local fisherman they had befriended and spent some time on the beach, close to their house. They had been disappeared now for two weeks and the whole country had mobilised to search them. In the meantime, also thanks to Federica's father, the situation at the military academy had turned into a major scandal, which had led the Army to appoint an investigation commission, while Colonel Magnani was suspended from his post and replaced by Major Tommaseo, who immediately committed to put an end to all the malpractices and abuses tolerated by his predecessor.
"Will you return to school after they will have found us? I mean, if they allow us." Asked Giulio, as they began to walk home.
Federica shook her head. "It's not for me, sorry. I think I will just go to a normal school and continue my life as a civilian. Enough of uniforms."
"In this case, I will miss you." Replied Giulio.
"I will miss you too. But I will be in Rome, you can reach me whenever you want." She replied, with an encouraging tone. "What will you do instead, if they don't accept you back? I mean, you can't spend the rest of your life mourning that you haven't managed to enter the military."
"Diplomacy, maybe." Replied Giulio. "I think I would do well in it."
"I agree, I think you would make a great diplomat. I mean, you have the manners of one already."
As they walked back home, however, they had a nasty surprise: surrounding the house were three cars of the Polizia di Stato, the Italian police. Some of the agents had entered, while few others were outside and immediately saw them arriving.
"Should we run?" Asked Federica.
Giulio shook his head. "We're on an island and they have cars and probably helicopters. It's over." Saying so, he took her hand and kept walking towards the agents.
"Well." Sighed Federica. "I guess, it was nice while it lasted."