There were many things that Lysithea had expected to happen when she was instructed to meet the Professor in his room to have a private discussion. She expected to be scolded and interrogated over her reckless actions in the crypt. She expected to be punished accordingly and told that she wouldn't be participating in the class's next mission. There was a small part of her that had even expected him to just kick her out of the Golden Deer.

That was why it completely took her off guard when she entered the room to find that the Professor had set up a table piled high with cakes, candies, and pastries. Everything that Seteth had forbidden her from eating for the last week.

"I thought Seteth informed you-"

"Seteth doesn't need to know. This will be a secret between us," Byleth said as he gestured her toward an empty seat across from him.

Lysithea took her seat and stared at the treats in front of her.

"Are you not going to eat?" the Professor said as he she continued to sit there.

"I will," she replied before taking a plate, grabbing a cream puff, and then taking a bit out of the creamy treat. It was delicious. All the deserts there were clearly of high quality and prepared for her tastes, yet she couldn't understand why the Professor went out of the way to do this. If anything, it made her feel even worse to be rewarded after the near fatal error she had just made in their last mission.

"Professor, did I not make a mistake in our last mission? Why am I being treated like this?"

"Because you nearly died, and I want to make sure that you're treated well."

"I was hardly in any danger. You stopped the Death Knight long before he could even get to me."

The Professor flinched at her words.

"If anything," Lysithea continued, "I was the one that put you all in danger for charging in like that."

"Indeed, that was a mistake," Byleth replied. "Even if there was merit in stopping the Mage from escaping then you should've focus on distracting him rather than using up what magic you had left. If you had simply just held him there for another minute, I would've cut him down and you would still have spells ready for the encounter with the Death Knight."

Lysithea grimaced as the Professor recollected what had happened the previous day.

"So, why did you do that? It is not like you lose control of yourself like that, in battle at least."

The Professor deserved an explanation, even if it was hard for to put what happened to her into words.

"Professor… did I ever tell you how I got my two Crests?"

"You did not." He crossed his arms and waited for her to continue.

"Well I did mention how House Ordelia was, at one time, being controlled by people from the Empire."

"You have."

"During that time, strange people, mages, came and performed rituals on all the youth within my family. With the Empire monitoring our every move, my parents could do nothing but watch in horror as all of this unfolded. All the children died until the only one left was me."

The Professor was silent as she fingered a few strands of her hair. "My hair wasn't always this color. It was Lilac before, and I liked it, but I lost all the pigment in my hair one morning after all the experiments they'd been doing with my blood. It was a sign of their success that their experiments had finally succeeded. They did a test and confirmed that I now held two Crests."

"… That's why you hate your Crests," Byleth commented.

"I never wanted them. It was something forced onto me when I was helplessly young and yet people expect me to treat it like some sort of great honor."

Gloucester and Charon, neither of those lines were connected to the Ordelia blood. They were foreign, they didn't belong to her body, and now she was paying for their existence.

"I remember them all. Every one of the fourteen or so people that had experimented on me. With their black robes," Lysithea made tight fists with her hands across her lap, "and beak like masks that they wore. I've wanted to kill them for so long, every single one of them for what they did to all my siblings and what they did to me. With what little time I have left."

"Your fits that Lindhart informed me of… your Crests are killing you," the Professor realized.

"They are. After the experiments I was informed that my lifespan was greatly shortened. Currently I have ten more years at most, perhaps even less."

"That's terrible."

Lysithea nodded. "It's why I'm always in a rush. I can't afford to slow down, not if I wish to achieve everything, I need with the time that I have."

"And what do you want to do?"

"What I wish for now… is vengeance against the people that had participated in those experiments… and for my parents to have peace as they grow older. They've suffered too much already and yet I haven't much time to ensure it all comes to pass."

"Wouldn't your parents wish for you to spend the rest of your life in peace? To be happy no matter how short it might be? You don't have to destroy yourself hunting them all down."

"I though could Professor, but even now I can still see that man's mask taunting me from the table that they used to operate on me. I can still remember how they cut into me and all the other children of the Ordelian household. I was the eldest among all my siblings, cousins, and the servant's children. I was supposed to protect them. All of them."

Commoner, noble, servant, it didn't matter. If they were a child that lived in that house then they were subjected under the experiments and there was nothing the parents could ever do about it.

"There was nothing you could do. Not for something like that."

"There was actually something I could do. At least four of them died in a cell with me, I did what I could do to comfort them." She had made a list of the children that had died during the experiments in her head. It was something she had repeated to herself during some nights when she found that sleep eluded her. "Five on the operating tables, two thrown back to their parents' arms to die when they were deemed failures, and one threw themselves out a window. Or at least that was what we were told.

Lysithea continued methodically listing of the children that had died in the Ordelia household like she would a shopping list. The Professor didn't stop her though, he sat in his chair and willingly listened. "One who hung herself when no one was looking, two disappeared and we never found the bodies, and the final child before me begged for death. Wanted me to kill her, end her suffering. I could've done it, I learned quite a bit of Dark Magic watching those mages, but I was weak. I should've killed her; she spent the last days of life with nothing but pain. Maybe that was why it was so simple for me to kill my first man in the Red Canyon. An opportunity to test my strength to see how much stronger I've become since that day." She stared at her hands stained with blood as they were. "I'm hardly the weakling I once was, I just wish I had that strength back then. To kill all those mages and failing that to end it all for the children before they had to suffer."

"No…" the Professor replied. "You made the best choice you could at the time. Asking you of that would be too much for you, even now."

"What do you think I should do then Professor? I can hardly ignore those men after what they did."

"It is understandable you wish for their deaths… I admit I want to kill them myself at this point, but what will you do if you see another of those men on the battlefield?"

Lyssithea looked down at the floor. "I don't know how I'll react," she admitted. "I mean I'll try to stay under control but there's always the risk that I'll become a liability to all of you. It honestly might be better for you to leave me behind or have me transfer. If you do make me leave the Golden Deer, then I understand. It's fine I'm used to being alone after all."

She said that but she didn't know if she could handle the Professor agreeing with her. Not without breaking down at least. It would be what she deserved though for what she had done back in the Mausoleum.

The Professor stood up and walked up to her until he was only inches away.

Lysithea closed her eyes prepared to be berated or even struck at that moment. Instead she felt a hand gently pat her on the head. "You aren't alone. I refuse to let you be alone."

She opened her eyes. "Professor"

"I'll help you find them, and I will find a way to undo what has been done to you."

"Professor… I don't think it's remotely possible to remove my Crests… and I don't I would be much use to you and the others without them."

"Lysithea, I have seen you spend night after night past curfew in the library with your studies. I have seen train to your very limits on the sparring grounds with a sword. Your Crests don't make you put in the effort put in. We will find a way to remove your Crests and you will still be one the best students that I've ever had the honor of teaching."

Lysithea smiled at the Professor's words and his act of physical affection. "You've only ever had to teach our class," she half-heartedly argued.

"And every one of them is exceptional in their own way. To stand out among them is no small feat."

Lysithea leaned her head in toward his hand and closed her eyes. "Thank you, Professor."

Byleth watched as Lysithea left his room having had her fill on cakes, tea, and sweets. He had extracted a promise from her that she would no longer disobey orders or act so recklessly from now on. If another of those mages would show she would inform him and they would deal with it accordingly. Hopefully that would keep her safe.

That didn't mean she would go unpunished though. She would still have to apologize to her class for her actions and she would have to clean the Monastery stables for the next few weeks.

I would say that you're spoiling your little owl, but after recent revelations I can hardly blame you.

Little owl?

Her white hair, piercing gaze, and the way she's ready to claw your face off at a moment's notice.

That makes sense… In a way she reminds me of Edelgard.

Those two might as well be siblings… though they might be closer than we realize. Did the owl not say that her white hair was not originally so?

She did.

And does not Edelgard also share that same hair color?

Yes, but it could be her natural hair.

Who else has white hair though? It seems to be quite the rare color for one to have. At least while they're young.

Byleth crossed his arms and kept an impassive face as he thought. It was true that Edelgard's hair was peculiar considering recent revelations, but the leader of the Black Eagles was even more guarded than Lysithea was. The only people that she seemed to confide anything in was Hubert and very rarely Byleth himself. Asking her about it would just cause her to clam up if she wasn't ready for it.

Until she wishes to tell me, I shall wait and listen. Just as I do with the rest of my students.

Sothis manifested herself and gently floated herself onto the empty seat that Lysithea left behind. "If Edelgard does share Lysithea's condition neither of you will have the time to wait. You should get her to talk while you still can. It is clear that you care about her."

"I care for all of my students."

"Yes, even those outside of your class, but it seems that you have been spending more time with the Princess than others."

"She was… one of the first to open up to me. Even Claude still keeps everything hidden under his smile."

"You have to admit though. Your House leader has been spending more time communicating with his fellow classmates at your advice."

"He's a schemer, but even schemers need to have allies. The mind goes stale if it only processes information from one way of thinking."

Sothis began kicking her legs and reached for a cup only for her hand to phase through it. "So, you've taken it upon yourself to find a cure for the owl and possibly Edelgard's condition. How would you go about doing it?"

"Recruiting Lindhart was a good first step. And Hanneman will be more than willing to work with me should I continue providing him samples."

"I still feel uncomfortable about how much blood, flesh, and other bodily fluid you're willing to give him."

"I've been cut worse as a mercenary and it's good to get favors when I can. I'll think about what to do next after I've helped them along with the rest of my class graduate."

"You have to put in an effort to aid all of your students. But try not to run yourself ragged helping others. It wouldn't hurt for you to take care of yourself once in a while."

Byleth's mouth twitched. "You act like you care about me."

"We share the same body so of course I'd be worried about your health," Sothis scoffed. "Though like it or not I have grown rather fond of you."

"I'm fond of you too."

Sothis blushed. "Don't you dare let that go to your head. There is still much we have to do and I can't have you getting arrogant from my praise."

Byleth raised his teacup up in mock cheers. "Of course. We must all do our part."