Byleth's role as a professor came as a shock to him, but with time he came into his own within the role. He had an excellent class of students, most of whom got on well with him, furthermore, the other faculty members were always present to offer advice if necessary. With the addition of Catherine and Shamir the professor had found himself with an abundance of support, which allowed him to tackle his own personal goals more adequately.

As he walked out of his quarters and felt the light breeze brush against his face, the newly reclassed lancer couldn't help but smile. He had grown a slight beard over the past month or so, that provoked emotions of joy and dismay simultaneously from other members of the academy. But he was not concerned with them for the moment, his personal challenge for such a warm and bright day was to try and coax the bow-knight Bernadetta out of her shell. He had frequently noticed her following other members of the academy in a routinely failed attempt to converse with them, only to end up locked behind her own quarter's doors once more. The professor had also heard of other student's talking behind the archer's back, and laughing at the fact she struggled on many occasions to actually go shopping outside of the city walls, and that was exactly what he intended to help her achieve today.

"It would be unwise of me to just knock on her door like most others do," Byleth said internally as he folded his arms thoughtfully, "From what I heard, that never garners much of a reception."

The professor spent much time analysing his students on the battlefield, mostly so he could have appropriate feedback for the next week's lessons, and something he frequently noticed was Bernadetta's lack of hesitation when in the midst of a stressful situation, "I would wager that she doesn't have the time to think about being nervous when in a warzone," he thought to himself, which of course was a fair point, in his eyes many people were not natural born fighters, and quickly lost themselves when presented with combat.

"Perhaps I can use that to my advantage, maybe conjure up a situation or scenario that prevents her from thinking about these things," the professor continued as he made his way towards Bernadetta's door, already formulating a plan in his head. He eventually approached the door and bent his head towards the door, listening for any sign of the purple haired archer. He didn't have to wait long, as within several seconds the sound of chirpy humming could be heard, quickly followed by gentle singing. Byleth, not one to hesitate, started taking short and rapid breaths, in an attempt to make it look like he had frantically dashed to the young girl's quarters.

"Bernadetta!" he said with an urgent tone as he knocked on her door, "Bernadetta are you there!?"

"...um professor?" a small voice replied after a brief pause, "I'm a little bu-"

"-Bernadetta we've got a problem," Byleth said, feigning distress as he cut the archer off, "Well, to be exact I have a problem, and it's pretty serious."

"..."

"..."

"Come on Bernie, take the bait..." Byleth muttered to himself as he crossed his fingers for luck.

The room's door opened slightly and Byleth could see one of his student's eyes through the gap, "Um...I don't think-" the archer started.

"Bernadetta shh!" Byleth said as he looked over his shoulder multiple times frantically, "The situation is truly grave, we cannot let anybody know, do you understand me!"

Byleth's plan was appearing to work as Bernadetta nodded in shock, the archer's reading of her professor was telling her that he was in dire need of assistance, and each time he spoke it was providing several second intervals where she didn't have time to think about being shy or nervous.

"Is there anyone behind me? Quickly Bernadetta!" Byleth said, as he tried to maintain an almost frightened visage for this performance.

Bernadetta opened her door wider and scouted the area before shaking her head.

"I'm scared Berndatta," Byleth said as he looked over his shoulder once more, "I've made a truly catastrophic error, and I need your help to remedy it."

"You need me…!?" the archer replied as she nervously grabbed the end of her sleeves, "Um...I don't know about that..."

"Damn it," Byleth cursed, he had overstepped, by directly saying he needed Bernie he had placed very upfront pressure upon her, "It's got to be you Bernadetta, I'm too nervous to ask anyone else, you're the only person I felt comfortable coming to." This was the only way Byleth thought he could perhaps re-engage his student, implying that it wasn't necessarily a task she was needed to complete, but maybe just advice.

"Um...what's the problem?" Bernadetta replied, seemingly lowering her guard slightly.

Byleth was relieved, but had to continue his submissive approach, "When I tell you, I am sure you will laugh at me," he said as he turned his back to Bernadetta, this time feigning embarrassment.

"No-no it's okay," the archer responded, "I won't laugh, I promise."

"Excellent," the professor thought, holding a grin to himself, but he had to play it safe, remaining with his back turned to Bernadetta, "Maybe this was a bad idea...I don't want to be ridiculed, if my students lost their respect for me I doubt my position at this academy would be secure."

"I may not be able to help," Bernadetta said with a touch of nerves in her voice, "But I can listen."

"Showtime," Byleth said, this time unable to hide his grin, but quickly changing it to a dejected expression as he turned back to face his student once more.

"It's Edelgard," he said bluntly, ensuring his reluctance stayed consistent throughout the act.

"Did something happen to her?" his student asked, clasping her hands in fear once more, "Is she okay?"

"No, no, she's fine," Byleth continued, holding his hand to his temple for dramatic effect, "But I may cause her great sadness tomorrow, as I forgot to get her a birthday gift."

"Oh professor, that isn't so serious," Bernadetta said with a small relieved smile, "I'm sure she will understand if you tell her you forgot, you're a very busy man."

"No Bernadetta, you don't understand," Byleth murmured in anguish, "I made the situation inherently worse a few moments ago, Edelgard jokingly spoke about her birthday being tomorrow, and mentioned her excitement about receiving a gift from me."

"Okay...so what did you say?" Bernadetta asked, starting to gain interest in the aforementioned event.

"Well I panicked, because I forgot it was tomorrow," Byleth explained using hand motions to highlight how stressed he appeared to be, "And the shock caused me to say something akin to:

'Oh yes worry not, I got you a very special present, something that you can't get inside the city'

Now do you see my problem?" he finished, as he regretfully slid down the side of Bernadetta's door frame.

"Ah..." the archer said as a frown came across her face, "Now even if you go and buy something, it has to be something sold outside of the city..."

"Exactly!" Byleth replied, "And if I leave on my own the gatekeeper will feel the need to inform people, and they will wonder why I suddenly disappeared!"

"Oh dear...this is not good," Bernadetta said with a sigh, "Maybe you could send her some flowers instead?"

"Those flowers are only two-hundred pieces of gold, that's the lazy man's option," Byleth said as he crossed his arms defiantly, "Besides, we would still be stuck with flowers available inside the city."

Bernadetta nodded and turned to look outside her door, before shrieking and pulling her professor into the room, and shutting its door quickly afterwards.

"Bernadetta! What on earth!?" Byleth cried as he rolled backwards into her bedside table, knocking the glass of water that sat upon it all over himself.

"I'm sorry!" the archer said with a hushed whisper, "But I saw Edelgard, and she saw me!"

"...what?" Byleth muttered in disbelief, as water slowly dripped down his face and onto his crotch.

"She was across the courtyard, she was facing me but I don't know if she-"

Suddenly the door knocked, and a familiar voice called out, "Hello?"

"Oh no-oh no, how did she move so fast? It's Edelgard!" Bernadetta murmured in fear as she stepped back from the door.

"Really? And I thought it was the Saint Seiros..." Byleth replied sarcastically, this wasn't part of the plan, now he had his head of house at the door, and he was stuck inside with both a student and a wet patch on his crotch.

"Bernadetta...are you in there?" Edelgard asked, knocking the door once more.

"Um...no I'm not here!" Bernadetta called in response, causing Byleth to hold his face in disbelief.

"Is that right…?" Edelgard said with a chuckle, "Because I could have sworn I saw you at the door talking to the professor, who has now conveniently disappeared."

"Oh nooo, she saw!" Bernadetta cried as Byleth got back to his feet, sensing a possible opportunity, he grabbed Bernadetta by her shoulders, "Listen Bernadetta, here's the plan, we'll tell Edelgard that we are going out of the city together because I want you to teach me how to hunt more effectively, and you invited me here to read some archery theory books."

"But I'm not that good at-" the archer began, before getting cut off by her teacher.

"If we don't do this, then she'll want to know why I'm here, then I'll be in the cooking pot Bernie! We've got to play it cool!" Byleth pleaded, eventually getting through to his student, who after several moments reluctantly opened the door, "Um...hi Edelgard."

"Hello Bernadetta, are you well?" Edelgard asked politely, as she raised her head to peer into her housemate's room, spotting the professor almost instantly.

"Oh hello Edelgard," the professor called from inside the room, he was casually sitting on Bernadetta's bed, resting a book on his legs to conveniently cover up the wet spot, while reading another that was sitting on top of it.

Bernadetta had to try extremely hard not to freak out after seeing her professor sitting on her bed, but tried her best to 'play it cool'. "Um...the professor wanted some help with bows and hunting, so he asked me for help..." she said in a vague attempt to sound confident.

"Really?" Edelgard asked in disbelief, the uncharacteristic nature of Bernadetta's voice catching her slightly off guard, "Is that true professor?"

Byleth nodded calmly, "I thought that I should try to develop my ability in each type of weapon, and who else to learn about the bow than Bernadetta."

"Well I suppose that's true," Edelgard said with a sincere smile, "She is very talented with it, well, if that's the case then I shall leave you two to go on your little hunting trip."

Byleth released a relieved sigh as the leader of the Black Eagle house waved goodbye. Both he and his student had managed to avoid a potential disaster, but now it was time to get back on track with his original plan.

"Bernadetta, we have to go now," he said firmly, fully expecting a torrent of disagreement to flow from his student's mouth.

"I know..." the archer replied with hesitation, "Otherwise she'll want to know why we're still here and not hunting..."

Byleth was impressed, "Exactly, but we can use the time to go to a different city and purchase a birthday gift for Edelgard, we can kill two birds with one stone," he said, shooting his student a thumbs up.

"Umm...okay," she said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm in her voice.

"Don't worry Bernie," the professor said with a strong smile, prompting his student to smile back in return, "There's nothing to worry about if we have each other, we only have to worry about one little thing."

"What's that?" Bernadetta queried with worry as she grabbed the bag that her professor was handing to her.

Her professor responded with an equally worried expression, "That we get the wrong present for Edelgard!"