Awry Affairs

Change a hawk to a little white dove

More than a feeling, that's the power of love

~ Huey Lewis

Chapter 4

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. ~ Sacha Guitry

"Where are we going?" Marie Fou Lafan asked Greg Fou Seberg as the muscular count's son led her through the academy gardens.

He grinned at her. "It's a bit of a surprise! I want to show you the sincerity of my feelings."

Marie gave him a smile. Maybe it was a gift? No one had given her the servant that the protagonist received in the game yet, but the boys were quick with other tokens to show their affection. She was pretty sure that the little elf boy that cosseted the heroine through the late game was a sort of status signal, since all the boys you had raised flags with would present him together - so unless she'd done so badly that only Greg was on her side, he'd not be giving her Kyle on his own.

The little blonde grinned and skipped a little to keep up with Greg. "I've never doubted your feelings, Greg."

"Yeah." He gave her a little pose, flexing one arm and then giving her a thumb's up. "But I wanted to do something anyway. Got to think of the future, you know."

"The future?"

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, don't want that… eh. You'll understand in a moment. Trust me, will you?"

Marie put her hands together and fixed her best sweet and innocent look on her face. "Yes!"

From the look on Greg's face, she'd nailed it yet again. Score one for being cute. It was a shame Marie wasn't growing into the mature beauty she'd had in her last life, but there was at least some benefit to being tiny this time around.

The boy led Marie into one of the classroom buildings. Beneath all the fancy furnishings, it reminded Marie a lot of her old school in her last life. Those were good times, before everything went wrong. Greg led her one of the classrooms, pushing the door open confidently.

There was a rustle of conversation among the students in the room. It was between classes and little conversation groups had formed as the young nobles waited for the next teacher to arrive. Heads turned at the sight of Greg and Marie.

That's right, she thought gleefully. Look at me and envy me. You might be all smug about being tall and curvy, but I've got a hunk like this and four others besides. And by the end of the game I'll marry them all and be queen!

Then Marie saw one of the girls who hadn't looked up and a shiver went up her spine.

Sitting by the window, two-thirds of the way towards the back of the class - the classic protagonist's seat if this was an anime! - Scarlet Rafa Ades was gazing out of the window, clearly paying no attention to anyone around her.

The girl scared the pants off Marie. She was cray-cray, the way that she'd threatened Marie and Brad in the library - her and that nameless Mob! The boy who wouldn't have a face either in the game. Marie had looked into Scarlet but no one seemed to know much about her. She'd topped the mid-term exams, but she was also a bit of an air-head as far as Marie could tell. She wasn't the pushover that her twin sister was, Violette seemed to be on the brink of tears more often than not and she'd been driven off from Chris with ease.

Scarlet though… Marie tightened her grip on Greg unconsciously.

"Hey, Scarlet!" Greg boomed imperiously.

The silver-blonde girl blinked, then looked over in their direction. "Ah." She rose from her seat and dipped her head in polite acknowledgement. "Lord Seberg, Lady Lafan."

"Cut that formal crap out," the boy at Marie's side demanded. "This is one of the things I'm fed up with."

That only got them a quizzical look.

Greg snorted. "Yeah yeah, drop the whole ice maiden act." He raked one hand through his red hair. "I'm fed up with you being like this. Pretending you're some perfect lady, lording your grades over every one. No one likes you, Scarlet."

The other girl gave Greg a puzzled look. "Are you sure you're speaking to the correct girl?"

"Oh put a sock in it." He stabbed one finger towards Scarlet. "I'm sick of it so I'm dumping you. We're not engaged any more."

Scarlet's blue eyes blinked once. Twice. "Pardon?" she asked, evidently not believing what she was hearing.

Marie's heart raced. Was this a denunciation scene? Like this, out of nowhere? She wasn't ready for this! What was her script, damn the game for not giving her enough detail about how Greg broke up with his fiancee.

The other students all began whispering, and Marie heard remarks of 'I never liked her anyway' and 'someone finally said it'. Like sheep forming up around the new leader. But it showed that the tide had turned in Marie's favour, so she was glad of it - even if the idiots would be trying to get rid of her now.

Greg turned to Marie. "You see, Marie. Now I'm free of her, now we can be together. And when the time comes, when we're finished here at the academy, then we can be married. There's no one holding me back now."

So passionate, so predictable. Hahaha. Marie bit back the laugh and murmured a demure "Oh Greg," taking his hand and pressing it against her chest. If she only had a bit more to work with there!

"Ah," Scarlet said, cutting into the moment. "So… we're not engaged any more?"

"What, weren't you even paying attention?" Greg snapped.

"I see," the girl acknowledged pensively. She lifted her skirt slightly and curtseyed to the two of them.

Aha, yes. Grovel to me, Marie thought happily. Go away gracefully so I don't have to worry about you again. Run back to your family's lands in the country and hide your shame!

"May I ask for one final thing from you?" Scarlet requested politely. She pulled something out of a pocket in her jacket… gloves? They looked like something a biker would wear… fingerless leather, secured by a strap at the wrist. Marie winced at the rivets across the knuckles. Was Scarlet secretly part of some band of wild biker-girls and going to ride off into the sunset on an airbike?

"Yeah, what do you want?" Greg waved one hand dismissively at his former fiancee. "Don't expect me to kiss you."

"I would like a young man, about six feet tall and two hundred pounds, to act as my punchbag," Scarlet requested. "With red hair and a lot of muscles to soak up the punishment."

"...what?"

Marie had just had time to connect the dots - Greg was redheaded, six feet tall and weighed in at two hundred pounds - before the boy was smashed out of her grasp, sent crashing into the door behind him by one punch from Scarlet. The silver-blonde tsked. "I'm out of practice," she declared and then slammed another punch into the boy, still partially embedded in the door.

With a crash the door was torn from its hinges, flung with Greg across the corridor outside. It crashed down on top of the boy, who showed no sign of getting up.

Marie screamed.

Scarlet turned towards the rest of the room, a happy smile on her face. "Oh dear, he didn't last long. Is there anyone else? Someone who never liked me anyway." Her smile grew wider. "You don't need to form a queue."

She was between everyone else and the door, Marie realised.

"G-get her out of the way," one of the girls demanded of her servant. "We should… we should get Lord Seberg to the nurse's office!"

The demi-human obediently headed for the doorway - he was a towering muscle-man, even taller than Greg.

One moment he was trying to brush Scarlet aside, the next the duke's daughter had a hold of him by the ankle and was standing in the middle of the room spinning him casually around. When she let go, the hapless demihuman went flying - smashing through the glass window and out into the gardens.

"Well, who's next?" Scarlet giggled euphorically.

"She's gone crazy!" a girl whispered in horror.

Another turned to the boys in the room. "Make yourselves useful! Restrain her!"

"Are you nuts?"

"If you're not good for at least this much, no girl in the school will ever look at you!" the girl threatened them.

The boys looked at each other nervously. Stupid simps, Marie sneered. They were doomed either way - either blamed for not stopping Scarlet or for standing up to a girl. At least this world had its sensibilities straight, with women at the top and men crawling for their approval.

The sound of knuckles against the doorframe broke the stand-off.

That dumb mob who hung around with Scarlet was standing in the doorway. Marie hoped she punched him next. It might be enough of a distraction for her to climb out the broken window. She was pretty sure she wasn't the only one contemplating that, but if there was a rush, Marie might get trampled.

"Yo, Scarlet…" The dark-haired boy looked around the room. "Having fun?"

Marie hated him. Pretending to be cool and in control. How dare he be like that when her knees were knocking together with terror.

"I have a punching bag!" Scarlet declared happily. Then her face fell. "It didn't last long though."

"Oh really?" He shook his head sadly. "Well, do you want to cancel the studying today?"

"No, it's fine, Leon." Scarlet glanced around and her eyes fell on Marie. "I've just one more thing to clean up here."

AAAAAAH!

Marie tried to hide behind the other girls but the treacherous witches formed ranks and wouldn't let her get past. Rather you than us, their stares told her.

Leon sighed. "Scarlet, don't waste your time on her."

Greg's former fiancee looked back at him, as if she was doing no more than packing up her school supplies. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, you know how she's got Greg courting her. And Brad.. and their other friends too."

"I have noticed that."

"Well, sure, that's a crime… but isn't it also a punishment?"

Scarlet stood there in thought. "But I really really want to punch her," she said childishly.

Leon looked at her patiently. "Oh alright. But just once, to get it out of your system. You have Gerald Rafa Stuart to trash in the final exams, after all."

"Oh yes."

And then the insane - murderous - violent - villainess was lunging across the room towards her!

Marie cringed and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe it! All this work and she'd hit a bad end! It wasn't fair! This wasn't like this in the game!

Nothing happened.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and flinched back from the sight of the gloved fist barely an inch from her nose.

Scarlet gave her a disappointed look and then turned back to Leon. "You've taken all the fun out of this," she complained.

"You can kick Greg a bit on the way out," the boy suggested.

Marie fainted away in relief. She wasn't going to die!

Entering the dining hall, Leon was surprised to see Scarlet was sitting next to her sister at one of the tables. He'd barely ever seen the twins together so far in the term and Scarlet had never seemed inclined to discuss why.

He collected a meal from the serving area and headed for their table. "Would I be interrupting if I sat here, ladies?"

Scarlet looked up and was about to nod, but she stopped and looked over at Violette.

"No, not at all," the elder of the two twins assured him. She gestured towards one of the seats across for the two. "You're Scarlet's study partner, aren't you? Leon Fou Bartford?"

"That's me." He put his tray on the table before sitting. "And you're Violette? I was meaning to ask, is everyone in your family named for colours?"

"Father liked the idea." Scarlet toyed with her food. "Our little brother is named Vermilion."

Could have been worse, Leon thought. "I suppose having a theme ties the family together a little."

Violette looked away and Scarlet's face turned contemplatively. "Not really," his study partner concluded after what appeared to be serious thought.

"Do you always eat that heartily?" The other twin indicated Leon's plate, transparently changing the subject.

"I worked up an appetite flying down to my ship and back," he told her. "It was in fine shape of course, it's in good hands," he added before Luxion got huffy again. "But as the owner it would be irresponsible for me not to go to the port every now and then. The crew might feel unappreciated."

"I can see how neglecting them might lead to that," Violette said with a little edge in her voice. Then she gave herself a little shake. "My apologies, Lord Bartford. I shouldn't take my temper out on you."

"I'm sorry if I touched on a sore spot." He looked at the letter on the table between the two girls's trays. "I hope you're not dealing with bad news."

The twins exchanged looks that he couldn't quite interpret; only for the doors to the dining hall to open, admitting a small crowd - six or seven students. Conversations around the room stalled as eyes flicked to Julius Rafa Holfort and his clique, then took a new and more excited fervour.

As was now normal, the five boys were all clustered around Marie, doting upon her. The new addition was the servant trailing behind the girl - a demihuman boy who was almost as diminutive and pretty as his mistress.

Leon arched his back and looked at the boy for a moment. That's unexpected, he mused to himself. No Kyle, of course, but it didn't stop them from giving Marie a servant - it's just someone else. "My sisters will be pestering me to buy them a servant again," he sighed, to cover for his attention turning to the group.

"Do you have a large family," asked Violette curiously as Scarlet watched Marie and her group detour around the far side of the dining hall to reach the serving tables - and then take a table on the far side of the room as well.

"My parents have five children," he told her, skipping past the issue of Zola and her children. "I'm third - Jenna's a year ahead of us, Finley and Colin are younger. Nicks graduated last year."

"Nicks…" Violette seemed thoughtful. "Oh, he's engaged to Deirdre Fou Roseblade's elder sister, isn't he?"

"That's him." Leon grinned. "He complains a lot in his letters, but they haven't broken it off so I think it's going well - just taking some adjustments as they get to know each other."

Scarlet nodded. "Perhaps if I had made some adjustments, I would still be engaged to Greg."

"Maybe," he agreed. "On the other hand, if you compromised and he didn't, would you be happy with him?"

The girl glanced at her sister and then quiet satisfaction crossed her face. "Probably not."

"Most relationships seem to take effort from both parts," he said sagely, "Not that I'm an expert."

Violette reached out and picked up the letter from the table. "Perhaps you're right about that," she said thoughtfully, reading - or probably re-reading - it.

"I get the impression I'm treading on a painful subject here," Leon admitted. "Is this a subject you'd rather I drop?"

"Father wrote to Violette about Greg ending the engagement," Scarlet explained with an irritated expression on his face.

The duke wrote to Violette about Scarlet's fiance breaking the arrangement off? "Is he… too angry to write to you directly?"

Violette dropped the letter and took a deep breath. "My… our father is…" She broke off and looked at Scarlet. "I hardly know where to start. I think I would like to tell someone though."

"Our mother died almost a year ago," Scarlet said bluntly. "I don't remember her - father and I hadn't been near her since I was a baby."

Leon winced. He could imagine Zola and Barcus having been on terms that distant, if she'd not felt the need to keep trying to squeeze more money out of the barony for her lifestyle. But a duke would have more leverage against his wife… and be able to support her in essentially any conceivable level of luxury without noticing it.

Violette nodded. "When they parted company, I was left with mother - here in the capital. Scarlet was taken to Ades and grew up with father and his… paramour."

She looked sideways at her sister. "I have nothing against the woman that father now expects me to treat as my mother, except that I don't know her or what he means like that. She is nothing like my actual mother."

"She's the only mother I ever knew," Scarlet added. "I was… seven, maybe eight, before anyone told me she wasn't my birth mother." She paused and then added. "Or that I had a twin sister."

Leon blinked. "I'm sorry, are we in a romance novel here?" Another romance novel, perhaps? Besides the ones I'm already juggling.

Violette looked more pained than amused. "If so, then I hope there is a happy ending out there for at least one of us. Although usually, in those I have read, one sister becomes the villain to the other's hero."

Scarlet frowned. "Let's not do that. It sounds messy and uncomfortable."

"That," Violette half-laughed and half-sobbed. "Is my life in a nutshell."

Leon glanced around and saw that most of the attention in the room was on the prince's table or on the table occupied by Katarina Fou Claes' clique. He picked up his dessert, an apple pie, and quickly divided it in two before pushing it across the table towards the twins. "If you can share this, surely you can share some happiness as well."

"I don't think that this works like -" Violette's words were cut off as Scarlet stuffed a spoonful of the pie between her sister's lips. "Mmmf." She chewed and swallowed, "Scarlet…"

"Aaaaah…" Scarlet told her seriously, holding her mouth open.

"What are you doing?" Violette hissed.

Leon tried not to laugh. "I think she wants you to feed her."

Violette gave him a disbelieving look.

"She fed you."

The girl looked back at her twin, who still had her mouth open. "Alright," she sighed and spooned up some of her portion, extending it towards Scarlet. The younger twin leant forwards and closed her lips around the pie, drawing back and leaving the spoon licked clean. A blissful look spread across her face.

"It's not that delicious," Violette protested as Scarlet beamed happily at her, even pressing a hand to her cheek in delight.

"Ah, but it is seasoned by your sisterly love," Leon said sagely. "Look, here comes the airbike."

"What?" Violette looked back away from him and saw Scarlet had another spoon of pie held up. "Please stop this, I can feed myself."

"But I want to look after you," her sister insisted. "Say aah."

"According to father, I should be looking after you."

"Then you can feed her when it's your turn." Leon felt a sharp pain under the table as someone - from the angle, Violette - kicked him in the shin. "Ouch." He didn't stop grinning.

"This isn't funny!" Violette moved her head back from the spoon that Scarlet was moving slowly towards her.

"It's heartwarming! My sisters don't feed me pie," he pointed out, and indicated his study partner. "And could you disappoint that face?"

Apparently big pleading eyes were still fully effective and Violette relented, opening her mouth and accepting the mouthful of apple pie.

"May I?" Leon asked, indicating the letter as the two girls continued to exchange spoonfuls of pie. Scarlet pushed it over to him, which he took as permission.

There wasn't all that much pie when divided between a pair of teenage girls, but even so Leon had managed to read the letter by the time their plates were clean and he handed it back to Violette. "If you don't mind me asking, when did you learn about Scarlet, Violette?"

She lowered her eyes. "Lord Arclight informed me when our mother fell ill." She paused in calculation, looking much like her twin when she was thinking deeply. "I wasn't quite thirteen. That was when I found out I was engaged to his son."

Scarlet reached over and patted her sister sympathetically. "I could punch him for you?"

"Do you mean Chris, my father or his father?"

"Yes."

"Scarlet, that would be wrong!"

Violette's twin shrugged, apparently alright with that. "Would it make you happier?"

From the look in the girl's eyes, it might, but the elder sister said: "Please don't."

Scarlet looked regretful.

"You can't deal with everything by punching people in the face, Scarlet."

Leon took a deep breath. "Well, in my professional opinion as an expert in being an irritant, your father's complaining that you aren't being a good sister is both incorrect and hypocritical. Frankly, I can understand Scarlet's urge to punch him."

Scarlet beamed and looked to Violette for permission.

The older of the two buried her face in her hands, but they could both tell she was smiling. "Please don't. Well, maybe Chris - but only if he tries anything like what Greg did to you."

The dungeon beneath the academy had been explored by generations of students, but for reasons that scholars still disagreed with, it continued to spawn monsters and rewards of precious metals. Katarina had decided not to worry about it, and write it off as 'game-logic' but this apparently wouldn't be satisfactory for her homework so she'd finally memorised an explanation Keith had given her so she could copy it out.

She'd got a passing grade for it and now felt safe to forget all about it.

On a practical level though, it meant that she was now seeing it for herself. The students had been taken through the first level by teachers and then divided into groups of five to reach the end of the second level on their own.

"Watch out for traps," Gerald advised, immolating a giant ant as several of the monsters swarmed towards the five of them.

Katarina raised her own sword defensively, but Keith gestured sharply and a golem formed itself out of the wall and walked out to block the ants, crushing two more of them beneath its feet.

A moment later, Sophia and Mary added their own magical attacks to Gerald's and blasted the remaining ants away in a storm of fire, water and wind.

"Well done!" Katarina congratulated them.

She went to the wall and pried loose a nugget of metal, dropping it into the bag she was carrying. The metal resisted a bit, but she didn't need to use the pick that she'd strapped to her kit in expectation. She had taken it out and had it ready though! It felt almost like a hoe, much more natural in her hand than the sword that she'd sheathed.

"And you, Katarina." Gerald gave her a warm and approving smile, stepping closer to her.

"Don't disrupt our formation," Keith scolded him. "We're going through a narrow portion next, according to the map."

"Yes, so you should take the lead with your golem," the prince counseled. Katarina had been a bit confused that Gerald wasn't actually the king's son, but apparently his mother had been a princess. It might be that it was just something she'd got wrong from the game. Although if there was a crown prince, plus Gerald and his three brothers, why were he and Alan referred to as the third and fourth princes in the promotional material? Perhaps his brother Jeffrey didn't count now that he was a duke? "I'll take care of the middle with Katarina, so I can support you or help Mary and Sophia if something threatens the rearguard."

"No, no," Keith disagreed. "You should take the lead so that your flames illuminate everything in front of us, otherwise something might hide in the shadow cast by my golem. I'll walk next to my sister."

The two boys stared at each other in a battle of wills, before turning to Katarina. "Your brother is quite the worrywart," Gerald told her. "Please tell him that he and his golem should take the lead as the most powerful magic user amongst us."

Keith shook his head. "As your brother, I should stand with you Katarina."

"Oh honestly," Mary snapped. "Aren't you both being childish? Prince Gerald, you and Sophia take the rear so you can combine your magic for maximum effect supporting us from the rear ranks. Keith can take the lead with his golem to soak up any monster attacks, while I walk with Lady Katarina."

"Ah, no that doesn't make sense," Gerald disagreed.

Sophia winked at Katarina and gestured to the passageway ahead of them. She grinned back and the two girls snuck ahead while their friends bickered.

"Don't let's get too far ahead," Sophia warned in a whisper.

Katarina nodded. "We'll just peek into the next chamber."

They exchanged nods and slipped into the shadowy passage, Katarina clutching her pick defensively. If anything sprang at her, she'd raise an earth bump beneath it's feet and then smack it before it could get back up. Just like training!

"We're almost there," Sophia warned, indicating the tunnel opening up ahead.

Katarina nodded. "It's just like the dungeons beneath Castle Black, don't you think?"

The albino girl considered that and then shook her head. "No, I think it's more like in the Tales of the Heron Crown where the heroines had to escape from the Dread Pirates."

"Ohh, that's a good one." Something glittered ahead and Katarina stopped, "Wait, there's some metal here in the wall. Let's just get that and wait for the others to catch up."

"Okay, I'll keep watch." Sophia scanned their surroundings diligently.

Taking her pick in hand, the taller girl stepped up to the wall and raised her trusty pick. The nugget of metal looked like it was deeply buried, so she braced her feet and swung the pick down with heavy force against the rock around it.

There was a clunk as the nugget of metal sunk down an inch or so.

"What w-aaaaaaaaah!" Katarina exclaimed as the ground swung out from under her. She dropped downwards into the space opened up beneath her.

Above her the brief and rather dim light of the passageway vanished, and the sound of Sophia calling "Lady Katarina!" was similarly cut out.

Katarina clutched her pick against her so it didn't rattle around and stab into her as she slid down a chute. It reminded her of a waterslide from back in her last life, except for being steeper and the fact she was wearing leather armour rather than a swimsuit.

The chute leveled a little before it opened up and dropped Katarina onto a stony floor, reminding her why the armour was a good idea. But she didn't land on the pick, so there was that.

"Oh shoot," she grumbled, digging through her pockets for a torch. Nothing came to hand, but as her eyes adjusted she saw that there was enough luminescent moss down here that it wasn't entirely dark down here. "Shoot, chute. Gerald should have said to look out for chutes, not traps."

Dusting herself off, she looked around. This didn't look like any part of the dungeon she'd seen before - although it was hard to be sure since one rocky passage looked very much like another.

"Right," the fifteen year old declared to herself. "Time to take stock. I'm in the dungeon. I'm alone, with just what I have on me…" She patted her bag, then checked the gear strapped to her. Most of it was there, but the sword belt had snapped so she was missing that and her sword. "Well bother."

Oh well, she had her pick and - checking her pockets - she still had snakey. Katarina would have rather had her sword as well, but if she had to lose one then the sword was likely the one she could do best without.

"Okay, I have my supplies… but I don't know how to get out and all I have is my rations to eat." She patted that pocket. Then patted again as it seemed very flat. "Oh right, I ate those."

That seemed like a problem. Maybe there was something in the dungeon to eat? Nothing stood out, and what would grow down here in the dark? The ground was rock, not soil and… mushrooms, maybe? It was worth a try. Still, there weren't any here.

Katarina looked up, but the exit from the chute wasn't visible so it had probably closed. That left her two options - go left or right along this tunnel. Which was best?

There had been advice for if you were lost, hadn't there…? Perhaps she should have listened more during the preparation, but Olivia was in the room at the same time as Keith and Gerald, so she'd had to watch out for signs that one or both of them might be failing for the heroine. After racking her brain, she remembered something her father had told her - not her father-father, the other-father from her past life.

"If you're lost in the wilderness," she recited to herself, "Go downhill to find water, then follow the water downstream to find people!"

Well, that seemed simple enough, and a dungeon was basically wilderness - right?

Pulling a nugget of metal from her bag, she checked which way it rolled on the floor. Rightwards. Okey-dokey, she's going right. This wasn't so hard.

Katarina put the nugget away again and marched off to the right, studying the floor for any sign of mushrooms.

This was a shame, because there was enough light that if she'd been looking at eye level, she would have spotted the signs declaring that the tunnel was off limits and that no one was to go down it.