I was a fool. A complete and utter fool who has completely and utterly forgotten her place in this world. And I realized this only late at night in my bed while contemplating about the events that happened on the first day at Garreg Mach Monastery. Claude von Riegan. He was not just any random noble. No, he was the grandson of Duke Riegan and the next leader of the Leicester Alliance. For some reason, my brain only realized this 7 hours after meeting him.
In terms of social standing, he was on equal footing with Edelgard and Prince Dimitri from the Holy Kingdom of Faergus. It was inappropriate to casually joke around with someone like that as if they were your best friend or sibling. Why had he not reprimanded me? Maybe he was just too polite? Or maybe he was just testing me and later I would pay the price!
"I am such a fool! As soon as I leave my home, I forget everything my parents have ever taught me," I cried out into my pillow, cursing this day and praying to the goddess to erase it from history. If my parents knew, they would be disappointed beyond belief.
My thoughts kept haunting me and conjuring up new horror scenarios for about two more hours until I finally drifted into sleep. But even in my sleep, I could not find peace. I kept dreaming about my orientation group and Claude, all of them showing their disdain towards me and my horrendous behavior.
Next morning I felt rather horrible, lacking proper rest. Luckily, lectures would only start on the next day, so I was free to rest. The three house leaders were sent on a short training exercise on this day to help them learn about leadership. They were in charge of a lot of students plus they were future leaders of their respective countries, so any extra experience was valuable.
It meant that there was no chance of seeing Claude. While it was a bit sad from one point of view, from another it meant that there was time for him to forget my silly actions and time for me to think of a way to address him next time we meet.
As I was rather tired from a bad night's sleep, I decided to relax and just spend the day unpacking my belongings, cleaning the room and organizing everything. After that was done and my energy levels increased a little bit, I decided to go for a meal at the dining hall. I feared that I would just keep wandering around in circles in the Monastery just like yesterday. But since there was no pressure of a race and no students running around like headless chickens, I could look around calmly. In reality Garreg Mach was not as big a maze as I had initially thought. Go up from the dorm and you get to the training grounds, go down and you will find the greenhouse. There is a pond next to the greenhouse and dining hall right next to the pond. In the center there was the reception hall, entrance hall and market. If I could remember these locations, then I would probably find my way around the Monastery just fine.
It was supposed to be the first day of studies, however the archbishop Lady Rhea announced that the studies were postponed until the next day. Apparently, while the house leaders were camping, they were attacked by some bandits. Luckily nobody was hurt, but only because some mercenaries intervened. It was shocking to know that there were people out there who were ready to attack the next Emperor, King and Duke Sovereign all at the same time. The guilty person would essentially have three giant armies chasing after them.
And there's more. Apparently one of the mercenaries who saved the royal highnesses was none other than the famous Blade Breaker - Jeralt Eisner himself. I've heard many stories about him. He was one of the best Knights of Seiros and essentially a hero known throughout the Fodlan. As a child I listened to every of his stories and wished I could meet this amazing, selfless man. And I might get a chance to actually meet him, because he was returning to the Monastery to serve as a knight once more.
And the surprises do not end there. Apparently Jeralt's son Beleth and daughter Byleth will become teachers at the Officer's Academy. The whole Monastery was in an uproar that somebody barely older than students would become a teacher. Girls were giggling and gossiping at the thought of a young, handsome professor while boys were excited to about the new female teacher. But most agreed that Jeralt should have been appointed a teacher. How much did these two young people actually know about teaching, politics, history and other things that students were required to learn. I believed they probably had learned a lot about combat and battle tactics from Jeralt, but could they actually convey that knowledge to others. Only time would tell. Quite honestly, I was sceptical. But I did not know what was going on behind the scenes. Perhaps there was a really good reason for them to be appointed as teachers and it was not just Archbishops whim.
In any case, all these events meant that I would have another nice day to relax. I intended to go explore the Monastery, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jeralt and his children, but it seems like other students had the same idea. All of Garreg Mach was bustling with life, students and knights alike running around the place, unable to hide their excitement. It was even busier than during the orientation. I thought it was a bit too noisy and overcrowded, so I decided to go back to my room. Perhaps people would calm down with time.
But as I was about to enter my room, I heard an explosion coming from the room next to mine, followed by a rather acidic smell and a voice of a young man cursing. First I wondered whether I should ignore the matter altogether but my conscience got the better of me.
"Excuse me, is everything alright?" I carefully knocked on the door, afraid it might suddenly burst into flame or fly open in my face.
"Yes! It's fine! Just give me a moment" The resident of the room replied and I could hear things falling and crashing as he was probably scrambling to open the door. As the door opened, I saw none other than Claude himself, disheveled, confused and surrounded by smoke.
"Claude?! Are you alright?" I asked while trying to hold back the urge to cough.
"Amber! I'm fine, I'm fine! The only thing hurt is my pride. Didn't expect you to be the one to catch me at my hour of failure," he gave me a sheepish grin and tried to fix his messy hair. To no avail.
"What was that noise? Sounded like an explosion," I said and tried to peek inside his room. It was impossible to tell what was what with all the smoke in the room.
"Don't worry about it! My experiment just didn't go quite like I planned," Claude explained while coughing and trying to waft away the smoke.
"Do you need any help cleaning it up?" I also coughed and covered my nose with the sleeve of my uniform.
"Ehh… Let me open the window real quick!" Claude quickly ran back inside his room and slammed the window open. Smoke finally started to clear. "I suppose help would be nice! Thanks!"
It took a few minutes for smoke to clear enough for me to see the disaster in all its glory. Everything covered in black soot, a giant black mark in the middle of the room, broken vials and shards of glass covering the floor.
"Did you try to summon the devil?! How did this happen?" I exclaimed in shock. At that moment I could not fathom how this troublemaker could ever become the reigning sovereign of Leicester Alliance. He would just blow up the whole continent!
"Quite honestly I am a bit amazed myself! But you already promised to help out so there is no escape now!" Claude grinned and I just signed dramatically. So much for a free day.
"Well, let's begin then! Go and fetch a bucket of water and a mop! I'll start by sweeping the floor and dusty shelves… Oh! All the bed linen is dirty too! We'll have to wash that as well!"
"Wow! I was actually joking! I never expected that a noble's daughter would start cleaning up such a mess without batting an eye!"
Realization hit me like lightning from a clear sky. I was acting completely inappropriate for my status! Again! It's like in Claude's presence all my life's training to be a proper noble just flew out the window and then waved a mocking goodbye.
"I mean… we should probably call some servants…" I tried to feign ignorance and get myself out of this mess, but Claude clearly was not buying it. Unlike before his face was stern and it seemed like he was measuring my every movement.
"Why would a noble's daughter even suggest doing such menial tasks as cleaning? Have you not been raised to have proper etiquette and manner? And to walk so shamelessly into a man's room! What would your parents think of you?!" Claude's face was growing more stern and his voice more dramatic with every word. I was feeling like I was ready to dig a hole and just sit in it until the end of my days.
"I… I…" I could just open and close my mouth like a fish out of water. I did not know what to say or what to do to rectify the situation.
And then Claude started laughing.
"Hahaha! Man, you should see your face! It's as if your whole life was about to end! I can't believe you actually bought that!" Claude was holding his stomach, unable to hold his laughter. I on the other hand felt incredibly confused.
"What?" I uttered, shocked by my own naivete. How could I have fallen for such a trick! Everything that came out of this guy's mouth was nothing more than nonsense.
"I'm sorry! I really did not think you would take it so seriously!" Claude straightened himself out and wiped away a tear from all the laughing. I felt like the biggest fool in the world. I turned around and was ready to leave without another word, but Claude grabbed my shoulder before I could step outside his room.
"I'm really sorry, okay? I just wanted to tease you a little! I took the joke too far. I'm really not the sort of guy to care about etiquette and manners and such things, alright! Lorenz is doing that enough for all the nobles in the Monastery! You can just relax around me!" His smile was now gentle and it seemed to me like he was actually sorry for what he did. "Please don't leave! I don't know how I am going to clean this by myself!"
"Alright, but you must promise not to do such mean jokes anymore! Deal?"
"Deal!" Claude brought out his signature smile.
"Excellent! Now go get that bucket and mop!"
"Right away, my lady!"
After Claude got all the necessary supplies, we both rolled up our sleeves and started cleaning. It took us almost 4 hours to get everything in a somewhat decent state, but it was fun. Claude told me about his encounter with bandits and how he, Edelgard and Dimitri ran to some mercenaries for help. How he had fought alongside the mercenaries and about their strength and tactical prowess on the battlefield. He told me about Jeralt and his two children. How Beleth moved with strength that could level mountains and Byleth with precision and grace that could make a pegasus look clumsy. Apparently all three house leaders wanted to recruit both mercenaries to serve their respective countries, but in the end neither Beleth nor Byleth promised anything. Today Lady Rhea and some other professors would explain every house to the siblings so they could choose a house and class they wished to teach. Claude explained that he did everything to coax Byleth into choosing the Golden Deer as he believed she could teach them a lot of things. By the way he described her, I could not help but believe that she would indeed become a great teacher.
It was finally time to start studies. For real this time. I was rather excited so I went to class early and as expected only a few other students had arrived before me. Classroom was relatively small, I imagined it could not fit more than 30 students inside it. But since each house was further separated into classes, that was not a problem. The real question was - who would be my classmates and who would be our teacher? Maybe it could be one of the new professors.
Soon enough more and more students arrived. Petra arrived soon after me and we decided to sit next to each other. She still did not feel too comfortable in a foreign country so I offered to help her out with anything she didn't understand. Petra was probably the only person I actually liked from our orientation group. She was a nice, polite and down-to-earth kind of person. Others from the group had very… interesting personalities. I'm sure that my opinion of at least some of them might change but for now, I decided to be careful around them. Especially Ferdinand. Somehow I was sure that if I did not behave like a proper noble in front of him, he would not dismiss it with a joke like Claude did. I hoped that maybe he would not be in my class.
Unfortunately, he was. Ferdinand, Caspar, Linhardt, Bernadetta and Dorothea were all in my class. And there's more - Edelgard and her servant Hubert were also in my class. When I saw them come in, I swear the color drained from my face.
"Are you feeling good? Your face became pale with suddenness," Petra asked.
"I'm alright! Just nervous a little bit," I explained and thankfully Petra did not push the matter any further.
"Everyone, please, take your seat. We shall begin!" A male voice instantly calmed any ongoing chatter in the classroom that increased when Edelgard had arrived. In fact the voice was so stern that everybody instantly rushed to their seats. I looked toward our new teacher and was honestly shocked. He was a handsome young man, barely older than us, with blank expression and short, dark green hair. He was not wearing the uniform like other teachers, but instead was dressed more like a mercenary, as if ready for battle.
"My name is Beleth Eisner and from today on, I will be your teacher!"
"Please, tell me what have you studied before coming to the Academy?" Professor Beleth asked me, his eyes glued to me, expressionless while he held a pen, ready to write down everything I was about to say.
Professor Beleth definitely was not your everyday teacher. Instead of lecturing us on the history of Fodlan, the foundation of Garreg Mach or theoretical battle scenarios, he just grabbed the bull by its horns. He invited every student to have a one-on-one talk with him, just to get to know us better. When my turn finally arrived, my heart was racing like crazy and my hands were shaking. I definitely was not ready to be left alone with this handsome, yet emotionless ex-mercenary professor. His demeanor scared me, because it was impossible to tell what he was feeling or thinking. It was very uncomfortable for me, a person who wears her emotions on her sleeve, to be around someone like Beleth.
"Well… I studied the history of Fodlan, church's teachings, a little bit of politics…" Professor lifted his hand signaling me to stop. I flinched, afraid of saying anything wrong.
"What have you studied that could prove useful in battle?" He paraphrased the question and I calmed down a little bit. Beleth did not seem mad. I had no idea what kind of image was he forming of me.
"I learned a bit of swordsmanship, horse riding, both offensive and healing magic, bow shooting.." I said and the Professor just noted everything down without saying a word.
"In what did you excel at?"
"Um… I'm… not sure. I liked horseback riding," I answered truthfully but my voice was meek.
"All right. You may go," Professor just kept writing something and I decided to just leave without asking anything. He made me really nervous and I was happy to get away and calm myself down. Professor Beleth was like the exact opposite of Claude. While Claude was cheerful and outgoing and fun, Professor was quiet, emotionless and more like a puppet than a person. I was quite scared to imagine that I would have to learn from this teacher for a year. How would he react if I messed something up? Would he be mad? Would he just stare at me with those emotionless eyes? Would he reprimand me in front of everybody, pointing out my weaknesses? I had no clue. Quite honestly, the wall in my room had more personality than Beleth.