Edelgard stood at the front of the class, to the side of Manuela's desk and looking down at the papers. The professor was late again—unlike the first time during the beginning of the month, however, one could hear Professor Hanneman teaching his class when the Black Eagles' conversations quieted. It wasn't the first time and likely wouldn't be the last, but considering recent events the Black Eagles were understandably concerned.

Knowing she didn't have the proper words to assure anyone at this point, she went ahead and took a spot to better look at the papers. Attendance came first, with the additional names of the Blue Lions that were in the class with them written beneath the rest. There was some measure of worry among the class when Manuela still hadn't returned when she finished.

"Dorothea, could you check Professor Manuela's room?" Edelgard asked, glancing at the person in question. "It's strange that she hasn't come yet, and if work was keeping her Professor Hanneman would've let us know."

"I checked this morning and she wasn't there," Dorothea replied, frowning slightly.

"Look again, please, in case she just hadn't been there earlier," Edelgard maintained. "If you still can't find her, let Professor Hanneman know. I could try to review some things, but I won't be able to teach anything on my own."

Dorothea nodded and stood, leaving after a moment. Edelgard tried to follow the notes further, but it only explained up a review of their first topic of the day; Manuela never planned to be any later than an hour, it seemed, despite it getting closer to two now. To keep the others' minds off of it, she opted to try to entertain some conversation.

When Dorothea returned a few minutes later, Hanneman came to the entrance of the classroom as well and frowned.

"She really isn't here, then?" Hanneman asked. Even if he wasn't looking for an answer, Edelgard still shook her head as a reply. "What is she— You know what, I'll look for her myself. Stay here; Manuela will be here to teach you shortly."

He left while still muttering about the other professor. Dorothea sat back down, and Edelgard tried to bring back a form of conversation. Once everyone was talking again, Hubert stood up and came next to her.

"It's possible something happened to Professor Manuela," Hubert pointed out quietly.

Edelgard glanced at him. "She wouldn't have any uses to them on her own."

"Perhaps she saw or heard something, and was dealt with accordingly."

"Everyone may be a bit distracted, but I don't think so many people would have overlooked a place near the monastery for this long unless there's more here than we're aware of."

"I'm only giving ideas, Lady Edelgard. If she doesn't return with Professor Hanneman, it may be best to send out another group."

She nodded, and he stepped away again. While she waited for Hanneman to come back, with or without Manuela, she glanced at what was supposed to be done that day—there was a piece of paper with notes about things to mention or skip over, and Edelgard knew that very little of that would be discussed by now.

Dimitri stopped by after another ten or twenty minutes to chat with the Blue Lions, all three classes now lost as to what they should do. Edelgard and Dimitri both agreed to send two students from each house to ask after where Manuela could be, considering the time it was taking Hanneman to locate her.

Three hours into the school day, with most of the students now waiting outside of the classrooms despite their house leaders' wishes, and both professors were still gone. At this point, Edelgard took to standing near the door of the Black Eagles classroom so she could watch the others; Hubert remained further in the classroom, but Dimitri and Claude stood close enough to entertain some conversation.

As soon as one student saw Hanneman, the rest were all alerted and a few immediately tried to get back to their desks. However, Hanneman didn't seem to notice, going directly to the house leaders.

"I've found Manuela, albeit unconscious," Hanneman explained quickly. "Gather your best fighters—we might have found where Flayn went."

They all nodded, called for whoever seemed helpful based on the situation, and followed Hanneman to where the knights' rooms were. They entered one that looked relatively neat, save for a pool of blood near the center and an opening that led underground. Hanneman briefly explained that Manuela had already been moved to the infirmary.

Edelgard had heard that there were many things beneath the monastery, some being living spaces for those less fortunate than those above them and some being completely unexplored. Seeing one now made her wish anyone would have the time to completely search all of them, even if such a task would be impossible; that kind of knowledge would be invaluable.

Still, they couldn't waste much time. The group went through the passage quietly, coming into an opening. The first two people there were two girls—Flayn and someone else, who Edelgard could faintly recognize but couldn't put a name to. Hanneman immediately looked towards the students.

"Someone take them back up," he ordered.

Before anyone could move to help the girls, however, there was the familiar sound of mages appearing all around the area. The students were prepared to fight within that moment, with one or two still trying to get the unconscious girls away from danger. A battle followed shortly after.

The people they fought were Thales's—not all of them were mages, but they all looked deprived of sunlight. As such, Edelgard held no regrets nor protests to cutting any of them down. She knew that man had larger numbers than he told her when they finalized her agreement.

They cleared the area out, two students remaining near the unconscious girls to keep them save while the rest fought the others. After a while of battling, a group—Edelgard, Claude, and three others—made it to the final room. The Death Knight was behind the door, ready to fight.

Edelgard took a step inside, with those close by preparing to face the stranger. After a moment, however, the Death Knight sighed.

"This grows dull," he decided. "I will go."

He left, leaving the two mages to confusion before one called off an official retreat. Claude examined the area before turning back away again, with most of the small group following after him. Edelgard only remained for a moment, knowing that he might have fought if she wasn't there, and only regrouped with the others after ensuring no mages were hiding in the area.

(A/N: For the purposes of this fanfiction, Edelgard did not know Monica personally before all this happened, and she didn't know Monica specifically was kept by those who slither in the dark. Exact reasoning and explanation happen in the next chapter; I just wanted to clarify since Houses and Hopes don't say/imply the same thing.)