Chapter 31: Teatime!

I bid him goodbye in the parking lot, not without thanking him again for the evening, and teleport myself back into my dorm room.
"Where were you?", Virginia questions me, as soon as I arrive. I look at the clock. It's close to 9 o clock, curfew starts at 10 pm. "On an apology-date with my husband-in-name-only.", I reply. "Apology date? What's that? You sure he is your husband in name only?", Virginia teases me. "He treated me unreasonable, when he thought that I would've been the one to disclose our secret. And if any of you gossips to anyone about that, I will make sure, that you will regret it. They already have enough to gossip about. And yes, in name only, I'm just a student in his eyes, maybe a diligent student, but nothing more. In terms of attractiveness, I'm probably comparable to a potato in his point of view.", I counter. Virginia giggles. "A potato? What's up with that comparison?" "We won't gossip, don't worry.", Ellen assures me.
But I still feel a bit unsure, Virginia loves to gossip after all, you know? Well, if news gets out, I know who to blame, I guess. Though that's not true, unlike a certain someone, I'm well aware, that there a different ways secrets can get out. "Oh yeah, how was your 'apology date'?", Virginia starts to interrogate.
"It was awesome, first I got some blue soup, which tastes like citrons and made me shiver from cold, and then…", I start to tell her about all the dishes that I ate.
"What's not what I meant…", Virginia interrupts me disappointed. "Tell us more about your husband!", she complains.
"This is just like the time, when you went on a date with Damien.", Ellen comments with a weak smile. She seems so distant lately… "In what way?", I ask her confused. "You just talk about food, while Virginia worries about the person. Only that she was fuming that time, because of Damien, while she is now simply curious, because of… your husband.", Ellen explains to me. She seems having difficulties with calling Hieronymus 'your husband'. According to my game knowledge, she doesn't know how to deal with the whole ordeal yet. Though she took part in our conversation, she is avoiding me most of the time and treats me more like… a stranger.
We continued talking for a bit, but the distance I felt from Ellen wouldn't lessen. At least Virginia starts to treat me normal again.
Ah, thinking about my roommates, I need to talk to them, before our exams! I don't want Virginia to accidently force me to confess my feelings for him. I should give them some more time to come to terms with the situation though, trying to have a deep conversation with Ellen now, would definitely result in failure.

The night I slept really well, but I forgot my dream as soon as I woke up. It's a pity, since it was a nice dream. But now I'm back to reality…. After our secret got leaked, I avoided Grabiner's classes, since I wasn't able to concentrate in them. The students were too afraid of him, to say anything since his announcement, however the weird glances would dramatically increase, as soon as I was anywhere close to him. And with close, I mean like in the same room, or in the halls about two to three classrooms away from each other. In addition to the glances, silence would insure, which leads to me becoming overly-conscious of every single action of mine.
And I hate it, if I become overly-selfconscious. It's so annoying.

Now it's finally Saturday and I have already finished my treasurer duties. Grabiner didn't come by today. I wonder if he can predict when he'll get mail, or something, since he only turned up, when there were letters for him. I decide to visit him later, since he allowed me to do so. The player brought tea and biscuits or something with her, when visiting him, and I also plan to do so. It's a nice gesture, besides with tea and biscuits, silence won't feel as awkward as it would without.
Since I've already been to the kitchen to fetch the soup for Hieronymus, when he was sick, I have no problems finding it.
However, that time, the soup was already prepared and ready to deliver. I look around the kitchen. No one in sight. The kitchen staff is so mysterious!
Maybe they're ghosts, or something? I consider simply preparing the tea myself, but I don't want to touch the kitchen ware without permission.
"Excuse me? Is someone here? I want to deliver some refreshments to Professor Grabiner's room…", I nervously ask. I'm crazy for trying this, right? There is no way the kitchen staff is actually invisible after all. I feel like an idiot.
"What kind of refreshments have you been thinking of, Miss?", a high-pitched voice suddenly asks me. What? Someone is really here? I look around, but I still can't see anyone. "Where are you? Are you invisible?", I ask perplexed. I hear some giggling. "No, but I'm hidden. We prefer not to be seen. So what kind of refreshments do you need?", the voice asks me again. "Some Earl Grey tea and some biscuits. But I can prepare that myself, I don't want to bother you.", I answer, unsure where to direct my gaze. "No, we will do that, it's our duty. Miss doesn't need to worry.", e answers me. "Oh, ok, thanks. Then shall I leave for now? Since you don't want to be seen? How long will it take? I don't want to disturb you, before you're finished…" More giggling. O-kay. This is starting to creep me out a bit.
"Miss is very thoughtful. 5 minutes will be enough." I thank em and leave the kitchen. I use the canteen clock, to determine when the 5 minutes are over, and head back in. On the counter close to the door lies a tray with the tea, two tea cups, and some biscuits. "Ah, thanks for your work.", I thank the kitchen staff again, take the tray and leave.

I walk towards my husband's rooms, ignoring the curious glances of the few students I encounter. I would teleport, but I would spill the tea. My teleportation landings are still a bit clumsy sometimes and I often stumble a bit. I place the tablet on the side table, like last time and knock on his door. "Refreshment delivery.", I answer the lion. This time I have to wait again, before Hieronymus opens the door. "Hi, I brought refreshments for you. May I come in?", I greet him. He steps to the side and motions me to come inside. After I step inside, he closes the door behind me. "Thank you. It's very kind of you." I smile at him. "Ah, you can place the tray on the coffee table. Wait a moment, I'll make room for it." He heads to the couch and takes away some books from the table in front. I carefully place down the tray and sit down on the couch with him. I then proceed to pour him some tea. "As your wife, it's only natural for me to offer you my kindness.", I tease him.
"So you are only doing this, because you feel forced to?", he asks me. His tone of voice also sounds teasing. "No, this is just an excuse to spend some time together.", I counter, while also pouring myself a cup. "Kindness and courage.", he replies with a chuckle, and I can't help but smile like an idiot. I use my cup to quickly hide it. Hmm, smells good. "You've certainly shown that, walking into the lion's den.", he adds a bit more seriously. I chuckle. "I'm not afraid of you."
He wouldn't harm me, after all. Even if we were to divorce. Unless I were to do something unforgivable of course, like attacking other students.
"Many would disagree.", he sarcastically remarks. I just smile at that. "So tell me, Elise. Why do you think I go out of my way to terrify students?", he asks me with a pensive look. "Out of protectiveness. You're trying to protect the students.", I answer. "That is my goal. Magic opens up a world of possibilities- but even the most beautiful can be deadly. It is very easy to make a mistake, particularly for those like yourself, wild seed, raised in ignorance. One slip, and you will flare up and blow out like a candle. But once put out, thy light, I cannot give it vital growth again. The council sets arcane rules, and I terrorize the sheep into following them. Those who fail are culled – not their lives, but their power. We have an excellent record for keeping students alive. And so, only the obedient shall pass.", he explains sternly.
"And so everyone is afraid of you. It's probably not an easy task to play the bad guy the whole time.", I comment. "Not everyone is afraid of me.", he hints. I smile. "No, I'm not afraid of you. Since I know, that you don't mean harm." "But you were meant to be, earlier this week. I believed you had make a joke of me, that you had lost all respect for authority and for the promise you had made. That you were… out of control. And there was nothing I could do to punish you. The only tool that I had left to control you was fear. And so I tried to frighten you to the best of my abilities.", he replies. "But you didn't manage to frighten me."
"And thus even this tool must be set aside.", he concludes. "What I had said weren't completely hollow threats. If you were to engage in behavior sufficient to cause expulsion under normal circumstances, we would have to investigate extreme measures to deal with the situation. As my wife, you cannot be properly expelled, but neither could you continue as a student in gross violation of the rules. But despite the suggestions I made earlier, speaking out of turn about a Professor is not cause for expulsion.", he continues his explanation. "I already understood that part of you, otherwise I might not have forgiven you so easily. But please tell me more about you. I'm curious.", I answer him, smiling again. "Excuse me?" "What are your interests?", I question him. "You wish to discuss my hobbies."
Chamber music, reading and drinking wine. But it's creepy, that I know that without him telling me, so I nod. "I do not have fun." "You do relax from time to time, don't you?", I counter. "I am fond of chamber music. I enjoy wine. … which you are far too young to have appreciated." There is this one Lambrusco I really liked. I never drank a lot of alcohol, as I already mentioned, but there were a few wine sorts I liked to drink. "Well, then it comes to classical music, I prefer big orchestras over chamber music. And about the wine… I can still try it in the future? Maybe I'll like it. Maybe I won't." I don't know what wine I will try with him, so it may or may not be to my taste. "Do you like sushi?", I counter-ask him. "Sushi? I haven't tried it. And I'm not interested in trying raw fish." I sigh. "Sushi doesn't need to be made with raw fish, you know? You can make it even without any fish at all… There are various kinds of vegetarian sushi, or sushi with chicken… Well, if you make sushi with fish yourself, you would use smoked salmon, instead of raw fish." "I see. …you really like food, don't you?", he remarks with a chuckle. Pardon me? "I really like good food. Quality over quantity. And I like trying out new things.", I explain to him. "And you like weird things.", he adds. Can't argue with that. "Well… weird means interesting, right? Normal is less entertaining.", I defend myself. "You have a point.", he admits with a light smile. Talking to him is so nice…
"So what are your other interests?", he asks me. Ah, why am I so happy over his question? "Reading, sport, music, the arts… I'm interested in a lot of things."
I stay silent for a moment. "Can you dance?" He raises an eyebrow at me. "I'm NOT going to the May Dance with you.", he immediately refuses. I chuckle.
"Of course, I already figured that. But I want to know, whether you could dance a waltz nonetheless." "I could. Ballroom dancing was part of my… education.", he replies hesitatingly. It wouldn't do for a noble, to be unable to dance, I guess. "Do you hate dancing?", I probe further. "No, unless it's in front of students or to modern music." I immediately imagine him dancing to techno… So funny! I chuckle. "I can't imagine you dancing to 'modern' music either.", I tease him.
"Oh? If you can't imagine it, then why are you chuckling?", he counters. "Ah, touché. You got me.", I confess. I hide my smile, behind another sip.
"I'd like to inform you, that I may not enjoy dancing to modern music, but I'm skilled at doing the robot nonetheless."
I choke on my tea and start coughing, while giggling madly. Who said, that Grabiner had no humor? His humor is awesome! And I personally like his dry way of joking, it adds to the surprise. I slowly compose myself again. Sigh, now I embarrassed myself in front of him. I set my cup down and look at him. He grins a bit, but just a little. Others would probably not notice. A moment later, his expression is back to his usual poker face. "And you? Can you dance?", he asks me.
I attended a basic dance course, like the majority of my classmates, in my last life. We learned the basic steps and some basic moves for disco fox, waltz, rumba and a few others. "I can dance a little. It should be enough for the May Dance. Especially since I'm not leading as a woman." I'd like to stay for some more time, but I don't want to impose too much on him. "Well then, I will take my leave now. It was pleasant talking to you, Hieronymus."
We bid goodbye, and I spend the rest of the day mostly in my room, studying a bit and drawing random stuff.
I don't want to go to the library, since I'm still bothered by the weird glances, though they lessened a bit already.