"Perfect, there she is," Syvlain mutters under his breath.

The young lord rubs his hands together as he peers around the corner into the library of Garreg Mach Monastery and spots Hilda seated at a table struggling to stay awake while she glares down into a battle formation textbook.

Sylvain usually remains very confident in his talent of wooing women, however none of his usual tactics seemed to have any effect on the pink-haired princess of the Golden Deer House. Even after she joined the Blue Lions House, and after they grew to understand each other better, she was a nut he simply couldn't seem to crack. Ordinarily if someone disregarded Sylvain's advances it was easy for him to simply move on to the next one, but Hilda's infectious optimistic attitude and incomparable figure became too much for him to ignore. Against his better judgment, he decided to try something new to see if this was the secret to earning Ms. Goneril's oh so elusive affection.

"Hey there, Hilda. My delicate unwavering begonia." Sylvain approaches Hilda in the mostly empty library, holding a wrapped box at his waistline.

"Hm?" Hilda turns her head and rubs her eyes. "Ah, Sylvain! You came to read this text to me!"

"I certainly wouldn't know anyone else more qualified to help someone as lovely as you," Sylvain smirks. "Although," Syvlain tilts his head. "I was looking around for a while for you. Honestly the library was the last place I thought I'd find you, let alone actually doing school work."

"Trust me this wasn't my first choice," Hilda mutters, both her and Sylvain's societal masks falling to the wayside. "But it's either this or running drills all day. Just as long The Professor sees me being a productive little student, I can avoid all that nonsense a little bit longer."

"Well sounds like you could use a little pick-me-up," Flirt Sylvain makes a triumphant return.

"Oho, what did you have in mind," Hilda decides to play along. "I've been at this all morning, I could use a break."

"Well let's just say I have a present for you, just cause I think you're special."

"A gift from Sylvain?" Hilda feigns over astonishment. "My my! If it's from you it must be something extravagant, a diamond ring perhaps."

"C'mon now, Hilda. That kinda gift doesn't mean anything. You're a real shining star, so I want you to know what's really on my mind," Sylvain continues smirking while holding the box in place.

"Is that so? Well I definitely deserve it for shining so brightly," Hilda flutters her eyes and starts playing with her hair with one hand.

"You were one of the students that dealt with that situation in Abyss with Dimitri and Ashe right?" Sylvain asks.

Hilda nods.

"Well I went down there recently to fetch a book for The Professor," Sylvain explains. "And while I was down there I found one book that caught my attention, and it gave me this idea." Sylvain looks down at the present, "So here's a gift directly from the heart."

"Aww, well if you went to so much trouble how could I say no?" Hilda giggles.

"Well go ahead," Sylvain snickers. "Take off the top."

Hilda excitedly lifts the top of the box and looks inside.


"So…let me get this straight…" Seteth rubs his temple as he looks at the report sitting on his desk, taking a moment to look up at the heavily bandaged Sylvain seated across from him before looking back at the report. "You pretended you were giving Ms. Goneril a present, but instead it was an empty box with a hole in it."

"Yes, sir," Sylvain answers.

"And once she opens the box, you throw both hands in the air, holding the box with nothing but your…" Seteth looks closer at the report, "Ahem. Then you proceeded to shout, 'It's my *redacted* in a box.' Do I have that correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Where Hilda then proceeded to scream, grab the nearest axe, then start chasing you throughout the Monastery."

"Yes, sir."

"Where you suffered several lacerations, a sprained ankle, and several guards needed to intervene to separate you two. Later you explained how you heard about that ridiculous stunt from a book in Abyss where you proudly stated the instructions from the book which said, and I quote, '1, cut a hole in a box. 2, put your *redacted* in that box. 3, make her open the box.'"

Sylvain lets out a long sigh, "Yes, sir."

"And you do realize Hilda's older brother is a decorated war hero, and you may have just caused House Goneril to declare war on House Gautier."

"You know when you say it out loud, it may not have been one of my brightest ideas."

Seteth squeezes the bridge of his nose and sighs. "I don't have the words."

Sylvain throws his head back, "Well come on. I know when I'm beat. Let me hear it."

"You do understand just how deplorable what you did was, right? And that there are plenty of people not opposed to kicking you out of the Officer's Academy."

"That makes sense."

"Do you know what you've done is wrong? And can we count on you to never do something so asinine again?"

"Absolutely."

"Fine then," Seteth looks at the wall. "You're free to go."

Sylvain's attention shoots forward and he immediately furrows his brow, "C-Come again?"

"Go on. Get out here," Seteth starts writing on the report.

Sylvain looks around the room, desperately searching for a reason for why he was hearing what he was hearing. "W-Wait, that's it? No cleaning the stables barehanded? No jogging around the monastery barefoot? Just 'don't do it again' and walk?"

Seteth reluctantly raises his head to look Sylvain in the eyes. "Sylvain, you're a grown ma-" Seteth second guesses that statement, "You're old enough to know better, punishing you would solve nothing. Just know that if you ever try something like that again you will be banished from the monastery for li-" Seteth suddenly snorts mid sentence.

"Uh, you okay there, Seteth?" Sylvain's confusion grows by the word.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You sure? You're looking kinda red too."

"Just get out of here, Sylvain. I know you understand your conditions now, so begone."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Sylvain gets out of his seat and limps towards the exit from Seteth's office.

"Oh, and if you ever go near Flayn with that insolence-" Seteth shouts out.

"You'll impale on the wall with a trident, I know," Sylvain shouts back after leaving.

"Yes, very good," Seteth finishes writing on the report.

"Well, that was…weird," Sylvain mutters to himself as he walks back to his dorm. "Why would he just let me off like that? Heh, I guess Seteth was young once too." Sylvain snickers at the thought.

Meanwhile, Seteth stands in the corner of his office holding the report of Sylvain's incident over the trash receptacle. What followed was a strong 4.7 seconds of Seteth having a violent spit-filled laughing fit at the whole ordeal. Much to his luck there wasn't a single soul around to hear it.

"I can't believe he found a book of the old teachings. I really need to go down to Abyss to burn that book," Seteth says before ripping the report into pieces and throwing it in the receptacle.