Claude's words inspire a truly impressive argument between the three respective leaders.
On one hand, Byleth should feel flattered by the efforts being put into place to ensure she ends up "where she rightfully belongs", even if the three of them have very different ideas as to where and why that happens to be. After all, she'd watched the way two opposing parties fought over who was more deserving of Jeralt's Mercenaries and their skills on no small number of occasions. Usually whoever had the deepest pursestrings or the better cause that Jeralt believed in would win in the end, and Byleth keeps this in mind as she listens and weighs their individual arguments over what they aren't saying. None of them are going to win because she's a Professor and a Mercenary; she's neutral and with an eye toward the future as a whole.
But it's nice to know she's been deeply missed and is still in high demand by her former students.
On the other hand? The fact they believe they can settle this without her input is irritating and she understands Dorothea and Shamir's dislike of nobility a little better than she had before. She watches and listens a little longer before her goal becomes to find the perfect opening to interrupt. They carry on for quite some time before something Edelgad says seems to throw Dimitri a little too close to the edge. His hands clench into fists and the look on his face says he's about to go for her throat when Byleth loudly clears her throat and draws their attention back to her.
"It's good to see you again," Byleth tells them, a small smile on her lips. "All three of you."
Dimitri averts his gaze.
Edelgard does too.
Both of them have red on their cheeks and confirm they had forgotten she was present for the entire conversation. A little humiliation would do them good in the long run, Byleth thinks to herself.Maybe then they'll learnto keep themselves in check around whatever, or whoever, it is they're trying to recruit.
Claude looks pleased with himself and she sends him a particularly pointed look that says she knows exactly what he's been doing and she's not exactly happy with him. The look she gives him shifts his own expression from smug to a little sheepish. Not ashamed. But she'll take the victory on him where she can get it; he's difficult on a good day to corner, much less put into place.
Edelgard is the first one to break the short silence and changes the subject to something that doesn't involve getting a much-needed refresher regarding person autonomy and choice. "Where have you been?"
Not the question she'd anticipated or really wanted to talk about. Byleth's smile fades. "...asleep."
Three equally disbelieving looks are sent her way.
Edelgard's scowl is truly a thing to behold. "This is hardly a time for jokes, Professor."
"Reluctant as I am to agree with a murderous beast," Dimitri bites out. Edelgard flinches at the word, Claude raises an eyebrow and looks like he'd love nothing more than to comment on the irony of that, and Byleth gives the blond king a pointed look he pretends not to see. "it has a point."
"Sheesh you two, lighten up a little," Claude replies and laces his fingers together at the back of his head. Green eyes flick between the two hot-tempered nobles to make sure neither of them are about to make a go at him either. "Teach has a sense of humor, in case you've forgotten."
His attention turns to Byleth. She meets his gaze without hesitation and something shifts from curious to incredulous in the span of a minute. "...you're not joking. You really were sleeping, Teach?"
She would rather not talk about this. Explaining why she was missing wouldn't even begin to make sense without someone else to explain the finer details- Manuela would be her first choice, but she'd take anyone who'd trained under the former opera star and had even the slightest hint of medical knowledge other than basic first aid training. But, she's here and Manuela is not. She has to make the best of what she has, even if it isn't much, and hope the three of them can be satisfied with that.
"Something like that." Reluctant as she is, Byleth goes over what transpired during the invasion of Garreg Mach and how she woke up being dragged out of the river. The look Dimitri shoots Edelgard is positively murderous and she shifts her weight ever so slightly to prepare to defend the Adrestian Empress from harm should she need to.
Edelgard is the first to speak and she is positively furious. "I told them you were not to be harmed! She must have-"
All three of them look at her with varying degrees of disbelief and surprise. Claude, ever the one to seize an opening, cuts her off. "Okay, two questions; you told who not to go after Teach?, and for that matter, who is this 'She' you speak of?"
Dimitri jumps in next, scorn and mocking in his voice. "Why believe her? She certainly didn't mind having Sir Jeralt assassinated or orchestrating the Tragedy of Duscur, why would the Professor be any different?"
The mentioning of Jeralt's assassination hurt and Byleth schooled her expression carefully to avoid having it show on her face. Losing him was still fresh, even if it had been five entire years for the rest of them, and she'd lost Sothis only a month later in her desire to seek revenge. Edelgard's betrayal had been another blow, one she'd not even begun to analyze before the invasion had transpired and she'd lost her ability to even try speaking with her to see what in the world she was doing.
"I told you how many times, Dimitri, I had nothing to do with Duscur." Edelgard snaps at him. She's agitated and, unusually, on the verge of losing her composure. "I wasn't even aware of what transpired until long after it occurred."
"A likely story."
"Whether or not you want to believe it, it's the truth. I was-" She stopped herself from saying anything more. Looked away. "...it doesn't matter where I was. All you need to know is I wasn't involved and had no knowledge of what was being planned."
"Jeralt?" Her father's name is still painful to even say but she does so anyway. She needs to hear it from Edelgard herself, needs to see if the woman before her truly is an enemy or if she's another pawn caught in something bigger than she realizes. It's terrifying to hope for the latter and Byleth desperately hopes she isn't going to have to cut Edelgard down.
Edelgard's gaze returns to her and, difficult as it is for the other woman to do so, forces herself to look her in the eyes. "I didn't order Sir Jeralt's death and had I known, I would have done something to stop it."
Believe me. Her eyes begged. Please, believe me.
"You are working with those same such assassins, how stupid do you think the Professor is?" Dimitri's laugh is a hoarse, bitter thing. "You would have had him killed at a later time, just as you tried to murder us all at Garreg Mach."
"That is not true." Edelgard's eyes are back to Dimitri and her glare is as fierce as his. "You and Claude? Yes, I wanted you removed and still do; you're in my way,"
"Why not finish the task you failed at now, you-"
"No one is going to remove anyone." Byleth interrupts them before they can launch into another round of aggressive antagonizing that would lead to both of them being thrown across the room again. "The first one of you to attack will be injured in a way that will incapacitate you, do I make myself clear?"
"She admitted her guilt, how can you just stand there as though the deaths she's caused do not matter!" Dimitri snaps at her. "Can you not hear the voices of those who lost their lives? The innocents who wished to live and desire her to pay for what she's done to them? You would let their murderer live unpunished?"
"Hold up," Claude steps forward, closer to the center than he would prefer. "Edelgard, who is the 'She' you mentioned earlier? And, for that matter, why are you working with the people who assassinated Jeralt and tried to off Teach?"
The look on Edelgard's face says flat out she doesn't have to answer them and could refuse. She looks at Claude, really looks at him, and then to Byleth before looking away. "Why do you need to know something like that?"
"Because it doesn't make sense," Claude replies easily enough. Dimitri looks at him as though he's lost his mind and Edelgard stares in surprise. "I've been thinking about it for a while now, and while I know you're about as ambitious as I am and willing to go a little further than I usually want to in the name of some dream or another, there are too many holes in your story and logic for my liking."
She glares at him for that.
He continues as though he doesn't see it. "So, Miss Empress, if you'd be so kind as to indulge me a couple of answers?"
Dimitri mutters a series of dark insults under his breath before speaking himself. "Why not? Your death is sealed regardless, so you may as well plead your pathetic case to pass the time."
When Edelgard looks to Byleth for her reaction, the Professor just gives her a steady, inscrutable stare in return: it's up to the Empress as to whether or not she wants to cooperate or if she wants to continue as she has been.
Byleth hopes, privately and for all their sakes, that Edelgard will stop trying to go it alone the way she has been since their Academy days and let them in.