9/28 Horsebow moon
"Finally, the monastery at sight" Linhardt said. "My bed is waiting for me"
"You have spent most of the journey sleeping on your horse" Caspar pointed out. "Although I must admit I´m feeling a bit tired too."
"That must be due to my birthday last night. Professor, thank you for the detail you had with me. Your present was cute too Edie. In fact I´m glad I could spend this time with everyone". She was wearing the bracelet that Byleth had bought for her and a red pendant that had the design of small roses in it.
"I´m glad to hear that" Byleth nodded to her.
"Me too" Edelgard smiled riding her Pegasus next to him.
"Did you like the mark I painted on your cheek?" asked Petra
"I really do. We look like sisters now" she smiled to her.
"We already are, in spirit"
"Oh, Petra, that was really beautiful" said a moved Dorothea. "I didn´t expect to make so many friends here at the monastery. I thought most of you would be snobs or something like that"
"Someone is" chuckled Hubert.
"You have no right to criticize me Hubert. I know that we have our differences, but I´m sincerely glad that you enjoyed your birthday"
"Oh Ferdie, that was unexpected from you, but I appreciate it"
"I just want to be at my room alone again for a while. I´m done with fighting for a while"
"I agree with Bernadetta on that matter. I think we have earned some holidays. Don´t you think so Professor?"
"No"
"As efficient with your words as ever" he sighed. "If I fall ill that will be your responsibility"
"You are always complaining Linhardt"
"I´m just pointing out facts, but you wouldn´t understand" he yawned.
Leaving them be, Byleth rode his Pegasus to the head of the column.
"Next month will be interesting. Even if our bonds had grown stronger I promise to give you a good fight Professor" Dimitri assured him.
"No matter what stands in our way the Black Eagles will be the ones to achieve victory"
"I agree with Edelgard, I can´t wait to fight all of you!" shouted Caspar.
"I thought we were already friends Caspar" laughed Sylvain.
"That´s why we will fight even harder"
"Even if it is a mock battle I can´t wait to cross blades with you Professor" grinned Felix
"My blade is ready for you" he assured him
"That´s what I wanted to hear" he laughed.
"I don´t mind if you give him a good beating, but please be easy with the rest of us. Do we have a deal?"
"No" he said lightly smiling.
"You will have to train harder if you want to have any possibility to resist him, Sylvain."
"Then why don´t you train with me Felix? If you are so strong I´m sure you can practice with me from time to time"
"Are you ill?" asked Ingrid "It´s been a while since I heard you talking about training"
"I can be serious about things like that from time to time. I´m not that lazy you know?"
Surrounded by their chattering Byleth couldn´t avoid smiling to himself.
They continued to approach the monastery. As they approached the knights, noticing them, started to open the gates.
"Greetings Professor, nothing to report!" greeted him one of the soldiers that was usually working as the gatekeeper. "Lady Rhea wanted me to tell you that she wanted to see you as soon as you returned"
"Thank you for telling me, I will go now" he then looked to his students. "All of you have done a great job. I´m proud of all of you. We will start training again from next month, but I don´t mind if you use the remaining days of this month to rest." He then looked to the Blue Lions students. "Even if Hanneman assumes the guiding of your class don´t ever hesitate to ask for my help, I will gladly lend a hand"
"There was no need to say something like that Professor. I was planning to ask for your help from now on" Annette smiled.
"Thank you Professor, even if our houses compete between each other next month, that doesn´t mean we can´t help each other after it ends"
"Of course Dimitri. I will be leaving to the audience room."
After dispatching his students he headed to the audience room, where the archbishop and Seteth were already waiting.
"How was your expedition to the north Professor? I hope that everything has worked on your favor"
"It went smoothly."
"I´m glad to hear that" Rhea smiled. "As you know next month we will celebrate the battle of the Eagle and the Lion. It is an important event for all of our students. A great reward is prepared for the team that achieves victory. Besides, no matter the result I am sure that most students will treasure that memory dearly."
"Since you will be guiding Flayn from now on I hope that you can bring your team to its fullest. I wouldn´t like Flayn to get hurt due to a lack of practice"
"Don´t worry I will make sure that everyone stays fit"
"I trust you" he said, with a light smile.
"As you know, Flayn was discovered next to a student of this very academy. Thanks to the Goddess she has recovered her health, but she unfortunately doesn´t remember anything about the identity or plans of her attackers."
"Her name is Monica. She was a student here last year, but she disappeared here under mysterious circumstances. We supposed she just had run away from the monastery, but the fact that she had been under captivity all this time makes me shiver"
"She will be joining your class. Since you will be tutoring her I have asked her to come here. Don´t be shy child, come over here"
A girl with red hair and red eyes shyly approached them from the entrance of the room.
"Nice to meet you Professor. My name is Monica von Ochs. I hope we can get along"
"Nice to meet you too. I´m Byleth, your new Professor"
"Since she had just left the infirmary she won´t be following you to the battle of the Eagle and the Lion. However, since she will be finishing her studies this year I hope you can treat her equally to the rest of your students from now on" continued Seteth.
"I may look like a frail flower, but I will show you that I can hold my own in the battlefield" she was smiling as she said that, but her eyes were cold.
"You should introduce her as soon as possible to the rest of the students."
"I will" he promised. "How is Manuela?"
"She is alive, but she sustained heavy injuries. She had reassumed her duty as a Professor, but she won´t be joining us in our trip to Gronder Field.
"In that case I shouldn´t lead my students. It wouldn´t be fair"
"Thank for worrying about me, but I want you to take part in the mock battle Byleth"
Manuela was approaching them accompanied by Hanneman.
"You took care of Hanneman´s students while I was at the infirmary. You have earned your right to take part in the fight"
"Since Manuela isn´t taking part I won´t be taking part either. However, don´t be overconfident. My students had been trained wisely and the fact that they have been with you for days means they will know how to counterattack your combat style"
"I´ll give my best shot"
"You looked really confident" smiled Manuela. "Do you remember our first battle Hanneman?"
"Of course Manuela, I underestimated you and got a good beating"
"This year may the same thing happen again if you are not careful enough Byleth"
"I don´t plan to lose"
"I already see the intensity of your commitment with the students. May the best win. I won´t disturb you anymore. I hope for the best" Rhea said dispatching them
Byleth was leaving the audience room accompanied by Monica when he came across with his father.
"It has been a while since we last met, my son. How was your little trip to the north?"
"It was a success, how about you?"
"Nothing too unusual. I would have liked to be there too. I see that you have a new student. My name is Jeralt. What´s your name?"
"Jeralt the blade breaker? My name is Monica"
"Everyone calls me like that. Blade breaker, ashen demon. It doesn´t matter how they refer to us, but what we do, right son?"
"I agree with you. Will you come to Gronder with me?"
"I would like to, but I have to ask Seteth for permission. I heard that you will be training her sister from now on. He may be more receptive from now on" he laughed. "I will be heading to my office. I need to do more…"
"Paperwork"
"Yeah. Seteth believes that future generations may be interested about what happened during our patrols, although usually nothing happens"
"That´s because they fear you"
"That´s good to hear" he laughed. "Anyway, I will leaving now. Take care"
"See you later father"
"Professor, since I will be your student from now on I would like to meet the leader of our class first"
"I don´t see any problem with that, do you want me to guide you?"
"Don´t worry, I already know that our leader is Edelgard."
"Understood. We will restart classes next month. If you don´t want to take the first lessons you can just watch"
"See you later"
…
A knock on her door made Edelgard open her eyes. She suspected who was waiting for her since Hubert had already left to send another message. When she opened the door a girl with red eyes and red hair was waiting for her.
"Edel! I´m finally able to meet you" she said, trying to hug her.
"Don´t dare to touch me and don´t use my name like this"
"Why are you so cold? I thought we were friends" she laughed, but her eyes were cold. "I think you have something for me"
She reluctantly gave her the box she had been keeping until them.
"Thank you Edelgard" she said as she opened the content of the box, picking a small blade with strange glyphs written on it.
"How is it possible to hide such a weapon in a small box like this?"
"This is nothing compared to other little tricks that we have. Thales is so nice. He knows what to give to a woman to make her happy" she said caressing the blade. It was so sharp that she cut herself, but she seemed more excited than anything to see her own blood dripping from the weapon. "I can´t wait to kill someone with this. I beg that the young Professor´s blood will be tasty" she said as she licked her own blood, a sadistic look on her face.
"Don´t dare to put your hands on him" she said, her ire increasing inside her.
"I won´t for now, if you do your part of the job. Your dear uncle is disappointed about your little progress. You should try doing better. The secrets of the monastery must be discovered if we want our plans to succeed, mainly the location of the goddesses' Holy Tomb."
"I will do what I have to, but I won´t jeopardize my own plans for the sake of your kind."
"That´s so cruel. I´m sure we will share a lot of time together from now on. If I´m left alone I may get bored and we don´t want the Professor or some other student to suffer an accident. They are so young and full of hope, my little heart wouldn´t handle the possibility they would die" she laughed. "Rest well Edelgard, let´s enjoy our time together for the best"
After she left, she had to wait for a few moments to calm down.
"What is he trying to do, bringing someone like her to this place?" It was evident that Monica had a sadistic personality and was mentally unstable. "If I don´t watch her, blood will be spilled. That blade wasn´t a normal weapon. They are up to something, but what?" She could only make conjectures about their plans, but she was sure they were planning to use it. "I need to be careful about it" she thought.
10/1 Wyvern moon
"Good morning everyone. Today we have new faces among us" Byleth announced.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Monica; I hope we can get along"
"I think that all of you already know me, but my name is Flayn. I can´t wait to be friends with all of you" she gently smiled.
"They will be training with us, but Monica won´t take part in our monthly task"
"Can I skip that too?"
"No Linhardt, unless you´ve got beaten up and you can´t move"
"You are joking right?" nervously laughed Dorothea.
"I´m not sure about that. I will go Professor, no need to threaten me" Linhardt sighed.
"Now we will start our class. I will be teaching you some new formations for the upcoming battle. After that we will train at the courtyard. I have to reserve the training room, but we will be practicing there too. Monica, Flayn, please take a sit"
Monica sat next to Edelgard, smiling to her. Edelgard smiled to her, but her eyes were alert. Hubert was grinning, looking at Monica with a menacing look. Flayn sat next to Ferdinand and Linhardt, the moment she sat next to him Linhardt appeared to be more awakened than usual.
After their theoretical class had ended they headed to the courtyard.
"You can sit watching if you want to rest" he said, looking at Monica.
"Don´t worry Professor, I can give a try with light exercises"
"What kind of weapon do you want to try?"
"Since I have to train my muscles again I think a dagger will do"
They started training in the courtyard in pairs, Flayn and Linhardt acting as healers of the group. Since Monica was alone, Byleth decided to train with her.
"Don´t be too harsh with me Professor" she smiled to him.
They exchanged a pair of blows.
"You are fast" he observed.
"That´s only because I have a light weapon. I won´t be doing too much in a battlefield."
After a few more blows she suddenly tripped, almost falling on him. He stopped her holding her by the wrist and taking the dagger she had.
"Be careful when you have something like this in your hands. You could have stabbed me by accident"
"My bad, I was just clumsy. You are fast Professor"
"My Teacher, if you don´t mind I can practice with Monica from now on. As you can see she needs more practice and with my armor there won´t be any issues" she said smiling to him, but the moment she looked to Monica her expression changed.
"Thank you Edel, I appreciate it"
The moment she heard that Edelgard´s face darkened, although it was only for a split of a second.
"It´s my duty to make sure you won´t harm anyone. We will be practicing from now on together. Is that ok with you, my Teacher?"
"Of course. Be careful" he said, noticing Edelgard vigilant stare on Monica.
10/7
As time passed Byleth noticed that no matter where she was, Edelgard was always accompanied by Monica. She was so busy she had asked him to temporarily interrupt their particular lessons. He didn´t want to put on her more pressure so he had agreed to that, but he was starting to worry about her wellbeing. She was starting to show signs of tiredness and from time to time she appeared to be absent minded in class as if she was focused on a different matter. He wanted to help her, but their time alone was nonexistent now.
As he was thinking about it he ended up arriving to the graveyard of the monastery. He was approaching the tomb of her mother when he saw someone in front of it. The man who was standing in front of her tomb appeared to be a middle aged man that was wearing dark clothes. His hair was long and brown and he was so focused looking the tomb, he didn´t notice him approaching.
"Who are you?"
The man looked at him surprised. The moment he saw him, his eyes grew wider.
"I cannot believe my eyes; you look so similar to her"
"What do you mean?"
"I apologize. I haven´t introduced myself properly. My name is Aelfric. I am a cardinal of the Church and I was just visiting the tomb of a dear friend of mine. Are you Jeralt´s son?"
"I am, how you knew?" he felt he had heard that name before when he talked with his father.
"You really look like her, like Sitri. Your mother was a dear friend of mine. The pain I felt when she passed away cannot be described by words, but I am glad to have met her son. If she was alive again perhaps…"
"Lord Aelfric, Lady Rhea is already waiting for you" interrupted him a soldier of the Church approaching them.
"It is a pity that I have to attend a meeting with the archbishop, but I have the feeling that our paths will meet once again. Could you please bring some flowers to her tomb for me? She used to like all kind of flowers. Send regards to your father too. Seeing you I feel that her sacrifice was not in vain" he smiled to him, although her smile was darkened by a shadow of sadness.
Byleth didn´t expect to find someone that knew about her mother. Not only his father, but also this Aelfric held her in high regard, yet Byleth knew almost nothing about her.
"You shouldn´t blame yourself. You were a newborn when she died" Sothis comforted him. "How about we bring some flowers to her? I´m sure she would like it"
"You are right" he thought. It had been a while since the last time he had entered the greenhouse and he didn´t mind putting some of the flowers on her tomb. "My father would like that too" he thought. He wanted to talk with his father, but he was told by Alois that he had been sent again with the Knights to resolve a dispute in the Leicester Alliance. With the lack of contact with Edelgard and his father he was starting to feel lonely.
"You have me, you know?"
"Thank you, Sothis, I really appreciate your company"
…
The last days had been a living hell for her. The constant presence of Monica was suffocating her, but she knew it was better than letting her free roaming around the monastery. Hubert had suggested killing her in an accident, but she knew that it was highly unlikely they would believe their explanations. She had finally got free of her for today when she told her she had to meet with Solon. She knew that nothing good was coming from the two of them, but she was partially relieved to be free of her presence for a short while.
"What a troublesome company" she sighed. She was standing next to the fishing pond, but she didn´t see any sight of teal hair. Her busy routine had forced her to reduce the time she spent with him to the bare minimum, but she knew it was a necessary evil if she wanted to keep Monica in check.
She was about to return to her room when she saw him heading to the greenhouse. After watching him entering the building she decided to follow him.
She saw him picking some lilies. Noticing her presence he looked at her.
"Edelgard, I didn´t expect to see you here"
"Am I disturbing you?"
"Not at all. You have been really busy these days. Is there something worrying you?"
She knew that she couldn´t tell him the truth, but that didn´t make it more bearable. "I´m sorry to have worried you. Taking care of Monica may have exhausted me a bit."
"Even if you are the leader of your class there is no need to exhaust yourself with something like that. Besides, since she won´t be taking part in this month assignment I don´t find it too problematic if you want to rest a bit from guiding her."
"I appreciate your idea, but which person could take care of her while we are focused on our task?"
Her Teacher remained silent for a moment looking to her, before he appeared to find an answer.
"Manuela and Hanneman are busy too with the preparations of the upcoming mock battle and I couldn´t ask for such a favor from Rhea and Seteth, but I think I know someone who could help me on this matter. I will tell him later, but in any case I want you to take a break from it. I don´t want you to underperform in the following battle"
"I promise you I won´t let you down, my Teacher. And I would be thankful if I can trust her to another person for a short while if that isn´t too problematic. Can I ask where are you going with these flowers?"
"I´m going to bring these flowers to the tomb of my mother"
The revelation surprised her.
"I didn´t know she had her final resting place here"
"She was working at the monastery when he met my father. They fell in love and they got me, although she died in the process"
It was strange, yet comforting to think that both of their parents met their significant other at the monastery.
"If you are ok with it I could accompany you to her tomb"
"Come with me then" he gently smiled to her.
They headed to the graveyard of the monastery. The tomb of her Teacher´s mother was a modest one with no ornaments on it. "She was young when she died" she thought, when she saw the date of her death.
"My father holds great memories from her, yet I only know her from his stories. Even though she died giving me birth, I don´t have a single memory from her. It makes me feel ungrateful to her."
She looked at him. His face was neutral, but she could sense a bit of sadness in his eyes.
"I´m sure she loved you dearly my Teacher and you don´t have to blame yourself for not remembering her. I would be surprised if you did"
"You aren´t the only one who had told me that" he smiled to her. "Thank you for accompanying me, Edelgard. I really appreciate it" he said rubbing her hair.
"You really like doing that, don´t you" she laughed. After all the stress she had to endure the last days she was grateful to be in the receiving end of someone´s affection. "Our following battle will take in the Gronder Field. It is part of the empire, but that doesn´t mean we will have it easier."
"I will make sure we win. That´s why I need you be at your best. It would be a pity if you exhausted yourself before that. I´m counting on you"
"I promise you I will give my best. And thank you. Even if it was a short while the fact that I was able to rest was thanks to you"
"If you ever need my help I will be there for you" her Professor said as he departed.
She looked at her back until she lost sight of him.
"He trusts me, yet I haven´t been able to reciprocate all this time." Her background had made her cautious about giving too much information about her and her plans to others, but she was certain he could trust him up to an extent. "Even if I cannot let him know everything about me I could at least let him know one of my inner secrets, my second Crest" she thought as she felt a familiar itching in her hand.