That night was not the only night Dimitri and Felix shared the displeasure of overhearing her with Sylvain. A week passed with both silently hoping the other would be the one to address the issue with her. And in that time both Felix and Dimitri found themselves being hyperaware of any contact she would have with the other sex.
She was popular with the men of the Officers Academy, there was no denying that. Dimitri had always been well aware of the watchful eyes that tracked the sway of her hips as she walked around campus. And it wasn't uncommon for her to have an audience during her training sessions. All of that would have been fine- after all, she wasn't responsible for the way others perceived her. But it was clear that she was not oblivious to the attention she received; and in many cases she even reciprocated.
At breakfast, Felix saw her waiting in the queue for food with Claude. In the middle of their conversation, she had brought her face to his mere centimetres apart to swipe an eyelash from his cheek with her finger. And when the leader of the Golden Deer gently blew the offending lash from her index finger with a flirtatious look in his eye, she didn't even flinch.
Dimitri saw her training in the afternoon with Balthus. He was teaching her the proper way to throw a punch which Dimitri was sure she already knew how. But she let Balthus wrap his arms around her anyways as he showed her how to extend her arm. She didn't shy away as his muscular body pressed up against hers from behind.
Before supper, she took tea with Ferdinand in the garden. He was having her try a variety of different teas, sipping from the same cups as her. She listened patiently with a smile to his ramblings of teatime etiquette; she didn't withdraw her hand when he took it in his to give her an impassioned speech about nobility.
In the dining hall, she sat next to Yuri. He offered her a bite of his dessert right from his fork which she accepted without hesitation. And when he wiped cream from the corner of her mouth with his thumb and licked it off with a suggestive wink, her only response was to laugh.
And, of course, there were her evening rendezvous with Sylvain. Neither of them ever heard her come or go, but they always knew when she was in his room. Dimitri had the worst of it, sharing a wall with Sylvain. And for each night he heard them together, his heart broke a little more. On the other hand, Felix's rage from the first night grew exponentially for every additional time he had to hear Sylvain with her. And at the end of the week, both men had reached a breaking point.
"Eve?" Dimitri knocked tentatively on her door the morning of their free day.
"Come in." She responded immediately to the prince's surprise. Ever since his proclamation of love she had been increasingly distant with him.
He opened the door to see her curled up in her favourite spot—sitting on the windowsill that she had set up with cushions, reading. She had a steaming cup of tea in one hand, another book lent to her by Ashe in the other.
"Good morning." Dimitri bowed at the waist in greeting despite the fact that Eve didn't look up from her book.
"Morning." She replied flatly.
"You're awake rather early considering how late you were up last night." Dimitri said as casually as he could. He had rehearsed this in his own quarters before approaching Eve. He was still too embarrassed to outright say he knew what she had been doing but wanted to hint at that fact.
"I didn't sleep." Her reply, however, was not one he had expected. And she seemingly glossed over his mention of knowing she had been awake late the night before.
"Any particular reason why?" Dimitri asked, determined to continue with his line of questioning.
"I don't sleep much." Eve was giving him nothing but a wall. It was as if she had closed back up to him the way she had been when they first met.
"Eve, I know what you were doing last night." Dimitri sighed, anxiously balling his fists at his sides.
"Mhm." She muttered, turning the page of her book that she still hadn't put down. "And what was that?"
"You-!" Dimitri brought a gloved hand up to his face in an attempt to hide his blush.
Eve ignored his exclamation and instead took a sip of her tea, blowing a soft breath over the surface of the steaming liquid. And though her eyes were still fixed on the text in front of her, she had long since stopped reading. Anticipation bubbled in her throat as the prince struggled to find his words. Perhaps finally she had succeeded.
"I meant what I said when we spoke about Felix kissing you." Dimitri said after a moment of thought, doing his best to skirt around getting into any actual specifics of Eve's activities.
"Remind me?" Eve quirked an eyebrow up.
"That it would not be too much of me to ask you to hold up your promise to be a good wife." Dimitri answered. "Back then, it was the kiss you shared with Felix that was my concern. But now, well… I fail to see how your actions correlate to you holding up your promises."
"And what actions would those be?" Eve asked, finally turning to face Dimitri with a piercing gaze. And in that moment, he realised what she was trying to do. She knew he was embarrassed by the topic at hand, and she was trying to get him to drop the subject. Either that, or she wanted him to lose his composure in a way that would ensure he'd never win any argument against her.
"Why are you so determined to hurt me, Eve?" Dimitri asked softly. "If I have offended you in any way please let me know so I may right my wrong."
"You want to know what you did wrong?" Eve asked. This was it, this was the final push to get Dimitri to forget about loving her. If she did this just right, he would leave this room with all feelings of love dashed.
"Please." Dimitri stepped forward.
"You came into my life." Eve sneered, though on the inside it absolutely killed her to see the flash of pain that crossed through Dimitri's eyes. "Things were fine with us pretending to be friends or what have you. But did you really think that your proclamation of love would go over well? Everywhere you go, death and destruction follow you. I'm not trying to be one more corpse that you use as a stepping stool to move up in life."
Dimitri was rooted to the spot, frozen by Eve's words. But just as she was beginning to think her plan had worked, Dimitri's eyes softened and he took yet another step closer to her. She watched as he reached out to remove her cup of tea and her book from her hands, placing them off to the side. Still, he said nothing as he climbed onto the windowsill to sit facing her with eyes that seemed to look right through her.
"You think I would have remained Felix's friend all this time and not learned how to discern when people say cruel things they do not mean?" Dimitri asked as he reached out to take Eve's hand in his.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do consider you a fool." Eve snatched her hand back with a frown.
"Eve, whether you like it or not you have shown me true glimpses of your heart." Dimitri ignored her jab and reached out to cup her cheek with his gloved hand. "And that person you showed me in those moments is who I fell in love with."
Eve didn't reply but simply watched the prince with careful eyes as he caressed her cheek and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. He regarded her with a complicated look, one that was almost more frightening to Eve than if it had just been love in his eyes. It was as if Dimitri was truly looking at her, recognising her faults and holding her accountable for the questionable things she had done while all the while still cherishing the parts of her that weren't deeply tarnished.
"I do not care for the Eve that was madly in love with her fiancée." Dimitri said softly. "I do not care about the Eve that does not know how to ride a horse and lived sheltered by the church. The Eve that I told you I have fallen in love with is the one that you have allowed me to see despite your best efforts."
"And who would that be?" Eve asked. "What have I told you that makes you think you know who I am?"
"I am not in love with your words because I know you lie." Dimitri sighed. "I know that I know precious little about you. But what I fell in love with is your eyes when you talk about your brother, the fierce loyalty you have to House Fraldarius. I fell in love with the way you sing to flowers when you think no one is listening, the way you make tea when you don't know what to do with your hands."
"Dimitri, stop." Eve pleaded. "Stop this madness. I am not whoever you think I am."
"I realise now you were trying to push me away, trying to break my heart." Dimitri smiled bitterly. "That is why you said all of that, why you have been meeting with Sylvain."
"If you realise that, why do you still look at me like that?" Eve asked genuinely, confusion in her eyes and her voice. "You know so many terrible things I have done, yet why do you still look at me with those eyes?"
"I am sorry that my feelings for you have caused you such distress." Dimitri's eyes flitted between Eve's and she could no longer read the look in them. Something had shifted, but what she could not discern. "Unfortunately, I cannot simply rid myself of my feelings as if extinguishing a candle."
At this, Dimitri got up from the windowsill to stand before Eve. He looked down at her before gently bringing a hand to the back of her head and pulling her forward slowly. The movement took Eve by surprise and her first instinct was to cover her mouth with her hand, thinking back to the two times Felix had forcibly kissed her. But instead Dimitri bowed his head to bring his forehead to hers, his eyes closed as he breathed slowly. It was as if he were both savouring the moment and holding himself back from it at the very same time.
"I will never touch you without your consent." Dimitri breathed, eyes still closed as he rested his head against hers. "I cannot cease to feel for you, but I will not force you to endure it either. If I am ever to bring a hand to you again it will be because you asked it of me, this I promise."
It took Felix several days more to reach his breaking point than it did for Dimitri. In fact, it had taken Felix seeing some kind of improvement in the relationship between Eve and the boar prince to make him boil over. It wasn't as if her nights with Sylvain had ceased, so Felix couldn't understand why they seemed more amicable with each other.
But rather than take his issues to Eve, Felix decided to give Sylvain a piece of his mind. He had warned the idiot the price to pay for laying even a single finger on Eve, and Sylvain had ignored it. Felix refused to believe that Eve would have gone to Sylvain of her own accord, choosing instead to believe that he had somehow seduced or extorted her.
"Sylvain!" Felix shouted as he burst into the Gautier's room one afternoon, nearly kicking the door from its hinges.
"If my door's broken, you're fixing it." Sylvain looked up from the book he was reading to see Felix standing in the doorway, the anger apparent in his eyes. "Also, try to be quiet."
At that, Sylvain motioned down and Felix finally took in the scene before him. Sylvain was sat upright in his bed, his uniform jacket tossed carelessly on the floor and his shirt unbuttoned. Beside him, wedged between him and the wall, was the sleeping form of Eve. She was tucked under Sylvain's free arm, her head resting on his toned, bare stomach with one of her arms wrapped loosely around his hips.
"Mm, Sylvain." She stirred in her sleep, pulling herself closer to him. "Too loud."
"Sorry, kitten." Sylvain brushed her hair back from her face, running his fingers through her hair to massage her scalp gently. "Felix apparently doesn't know how to knock."
"Tell him I'm sleeping." She muttered, eyes still closed.
"What the hell is this?" Felix growled as he balled his fists at his sides. He was still having a hard time processing what he was seeing.
"You heard the lady," Sylvain said, "she's sleeping. Can you bother us later?"
Felix couldn't stop himself when his fist flew to punch Sylvain in the jaw. Control be damned, Felix couldn't stand it anymore.
"I said if you laid a finger on her, I'd kill you." Felix hissed, grabbing Sylvain's collar and dragging him out of his bed. "Did you think I was joking?"
Felix didn't give Sylvain time to reply before he shoved him across the room. Sylvain stumbled to regain his balance but instead ended up crashing into his desk. By now, the ruckus had woken Eve from her nap, and she was on her feet and shielding Sylvain from Felix's oncoming blow in seconds.
"That's quite a right hook you've got there, Felix." Sylvain half laughed, dabbing at the blood where Felix's punch had split his lip.
"Sylvain are you okay?" Eve asked though she kept her eyes on Felix as she stood between them.
"Been better." He said as he finally straightened, resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he continued. "But I'm alright, yeah."
"Felix, what was that?" Eve threw up her hands in exasperation at the Fraldarius heir, bewilderment in her eyes.
"Are you really going to defend him?" Felix shot back. "After what he's done to you?"
"What he's done to me?" Eve laughed. "What are you, my father?"
"If only you knew the things she's done to me." Sylvain added with a laugh of his own and placed a hand on Eve's hip. "Kitten, the way you move would make the Goddess herself blush."
Felix wasn't sure if he was going to scream or vomit, but either way he felt like he could rip Sylvain to shreds right then and there. He reached out to grab Eve's wrist, snatching her away from Sylvain's grasp. And as she was pulled forward, shock in her eyes, the collar of her shirt shifted to reveal a purple mark at the base of her neck.
"Tell me he didn't do this." Felix's voice was dripping with malice as he pulled back her collar to point at the offending mark.
"And what if he did, Felix?" Eve asked, a surprising softness in her voice.
"Then I'll kill him right here and now." Felix replied without hesitation, eyes looking directly into Eve's.
"Well, then I'm glad it wasn't Sylvain." Eve said with a small frown. "I'd hate to have been the reason he died."
"Don't lie to me." Felix hissed.
"I'm not." She shook her head.
"Well, it didn't just appear out of nowhere, did it?" Felix's brow furrowed.
"I'm not saying that." Eve sighed. "I'm just saying it wasn't Sylvain."
"I was gonna say," Sylvain cut in, craning his neck to look at Eve's, "I don't remember leaving a mark there."
"Oh, then I guess it's just there by magic, hm?" Felix asked sarcastically, finally releasing Eve's collar to turn and grimace at Sylvain. "Don't act innocent like I don't know what you two have been doing."
"Who's acting innocent?" Eve asked and folded her arms.
"Then tell me who gave you that mark." Felix pointed an accusatory finger towards Eve's throat.
"Yuri." She answered simply, unashamed.
"Do you just throw yourself at any man who you lay eyes on?" Felix scoffed to hide his wounded feelings. Had he misread their interactions? He had thought that there was something meaningful happening between the two of them, but could she be doing the same with every other male student at the Academy? He thought back to how she had said he never should have kissed her, and yet here she was giving her body to not just Sylvain but Yuri as well.
"Just Sylvain and Yuri." She answered before adding after a pause, "Oh, and I suppose Balthus too."
Felix opened his mouth to reply yet found himself unable to produce any words. What could he say? What was he feeling? He was hurt, he could tell that much. But he felt so many other things at the same time. Most of all he just didn't understand Eve. What was her reasoning for all this? Why did she tell him he couldn't kiss her? At first he had somewhat understood, but it made no sense that she would refuse his kisses while giving Sylvain, Yuri, and Balthus so much more.
"Why?" When he finally managed to speak, it was only one word that came out of Felix's mouth.
"Why what?" Eve frowned. This rage, this hurt, had been exactly what she wanted from Felix. She had wanted him to abandon all feelings for her, and it was working. But then why did it hurt so much if this is what she had wanted? Seeing the look in his eyes, she wanted to take him into her arms, tell him she didn't mean any of it and that she was sorry. And somehow that thought was even more terrifying to her because it meant that sooner or later she was going to have to confront herself about what she felt for Felix.
"Forget it." Felix shook his head, uncharacteristically backing down.
And with that he turned and left Sylvain's room, leaving the two of them to stand in shocked silence. There was nothing to say, nothing that could be said. Everything had gone according to plan, but only now did Eve realise that wasn't what she really wanted.
(A/N: Dimitri said we respect women in this house. Sorry for the gap in updates! I was visiting my parents so I wasn't writing. But hopefully the slightly longer chapter makes up for it taking longer)