Never thought you'd make me perspire
Never thought I'd do you the same
Never thought I'd fill with desire
Never thought I'd feel so ashamed
Taking a deep breath while trying not to be seen by the guards and her retainers, Rozemyne tiredly activated the teleportation circle to return to the Royal Academy.
The day had barely begun and she already felt tired enough to crawl in bed and stay buried under the covers for days to come.
o
After fleeing her own office and Ferdinand's exposed... thing... she had unconsciously enhanced her legs and started running like a madman down the hall, only to stop at the second bend because she was out of breath and her heart was trying to leap out of her chest.
Angelica and Cornelius had reached her after a short while and, upon seeing her breathless state, the latter had started fretting about her health, asking her if she was injured, if she had been poisoned, why she had fled her office with so much momentum and so on.
Knowing that the real explanation would have made him go ballistic -not to mention she was too embarrassed to even say anything- after taking a long moment to breathe in enough air to speak, she had squeezed out a lame "I just realized how late it is..." that had the effect of making Cornelius launch on a tirade about her health -going so far as enumerating all the times she had collapsed while on his watch.
Angelica, in one of her amazing moments of brainless-ness, just stood with her back to the wall, guarding the -luckily empty- hall as Cornelius lectured her. Maybe in her own way she wanted to give them some rare 'family time'. More likely, she just didn't want to think about how to stop Cornelius.
Luckily -or so she had thought at the moment- an ordonnantz approached them, making her brother finally shut up. "Lady Rozemyne, this is Hartmut. Lord Ferdinand is still unconscious, we need you to close the door."
She wondered why closing a door was important enough to send her an ordonnantz. Since that time that Ferdinand had scolded her for opening the door of her own chambers, when she was still a commoner, she had always let her retainers do it for her, aside fro-
"Oh [crap]!" she nearly shouted. There were some doors she still opened by herself: her hidden room's door and the supply room's door. ...THE SUPPLY ROOM'S DOOR!
...And in her haste to help Ferdinand first and flee from him later, she had neglected closing it!
"I'm coming back right now!" She shouted at the ordonnantz and formed her highbeast, taking off just a moment before her attendant, Amelie, finally managed to catch up to them.
When the four of them -Angelica had carried the breathless Amelie under Cornelius' directive- reached the office, Rozemyne told the others to wait outside but Cornelius refused, saying there was no reason for him not to enter if Hartmut was in the office. That statement sent a shiver down Rozemyne's back, making her realize that her head scholar had surely seen Ferdinand's excited state.
'Nothing good is going to come out of it...' she had silently lamented in her mind before relenting and allowing everyone to get inside.
The sight that greeted her was not what she was expecting. Ferdinand was nowhere to be seen, and in his place there was a silent, eerily grinning, Hartmut.
Keeping her eyes on him like she would have done with a dangerous feybeast, Rozemyne moved past him in a wide circle. He looked like a bubble, ready to burst without prior notice into an interminable sermon about her supposed greatness.
Nobody dared say a word, in fear they would cause the unstable equilibrium to be lost. For Hartmut, of all people, to be holding it in, just how terrifying was that sermon going to be?
Warily keeping her eyes on the redhead, Rozemyne somehow managed to reach the supply room and shrink its door to its smallest size. But, when her duty was fulfilled and she started the trip back, the bubble finally burst.
"Lady Rozemyne!" he called, with enough enthusiasm to startle everyone in the room. "Such a glorious display! For Ewigeliebe to stand proud and tall with the fearless audacity of Angriff without even a touch from his Geduldh..." He brought his hands to his chest and squeezed his eyes, trembling. "...to think that a woman so young, still wearing her beautiful hair down, would be so favored by Beischmacht and Brennwarme... the blessings of the gods are always so abundant in you, milady!"
Rozemyne stared at the redhead, speechless. 'Is... is he really praising me because of Ferdinand's er- ere- ...thing?!'
Cornelius -in a less than amicable tone- demanded to know what had happened exactly, but her head scholar only went on to explain why Ferdinand's excited state should have been a reason to praise his lady.
When her brother pointed out that, marriage or not, she was still underage, Hartmut first praised the magnificence of a star knot held by the very god of marriage, then lamented having missed the glorious sight of his lady's receiving the blessing directly by a god, wishing she could have recorded it. That brought back memories of the gods' insinuations about dyeing and Rozemyne, panicking, told him to shut up, wishing with all herself that he would stop prying.
She wasn't really sure of what had happened afterward. Hartmut had started trembling, looking at her with almost watery eyes, until he whimpered and slumped over. A split-second later Cornelius was attacking him, and it was only thanks to Angelica, who reacted with lightning speed and stopped him with fesselitch, that nobody was hurt.
It had taken her a while to pacify her brother. She had to basically threaten to cut ties with him and send him back to Ehrenfest if he were to hurt Ferdinand or any one in her entourage for no reason. He had argued that there was more than enough reason, but nobody had wanted to explain to her what said reason was.
o
The moment the golden and black lights of teleportation started dancing around her, Rozemyne gave in to the urge to sigh and massage her temple, knowing that nobody could see her. It had lasted barely half a day, but her short homecoming had been nothing but crazy.
She briefly wondered if she should have kept quiet about the star knot. She had revealed it convinced that it would be her free pass for unsupervised time with Ferdinand and an all-you-can-eat gyu buffet, but Cornelius seemed to consider it a slight to her dignity, Hartmut only cared that he had been unable to attend, and as for Ferdinand... things had gotten so awkward with him that she didn't know if she would ever be able to spend time alone with him again.
"What a mess..." she muttered, rubbing her fingers on her eyes.
The moment she opened them, Rozemyne found herself face to face with a most unusual sight. Each and every one of her retainers was staring at her, exasperation clear on their faces. Even Lieseleta, for the first time since she had met her, looked angry.
She recoiled at the sight, fighting the urge to activate the transportation circle once again. She would have done it, if not for the knowledge that the bickering Hartmut and Cornelius would be on the other side.
"Milady..." The green-haired girl spoke slowly, her controlled voice doing nothing to hide the bulging vein on her forehead.
"Lieseleta... Everyone... Good day..." Rozemyne tried to disguise her surprise with a nervous laugh, but she wasn't good enough to fool someone who had been observing her for five years.
"Milady..." The older girl repeated, a bit more forcefully. "I see you have returned... Alone, just like you left."
Rozemyne stared at her attendant, processing the reason that made everyone so aggravated. She looked at the only one she had quickly seen upon her return to the dormitory -Laurentz. All her name-sworn must have felt the exact moment of her return to the human realm, but the knight was most likely the only one who reacted fast enough to greet her when she reached the dormitory. Lieseleta and Gretia, on the other hand, had arrived just in time to see the boy unload a time-stopping magic tool from Lessy, right before Rozemyne sprinted in the direction of the transfer room without waiting for neither her attendants nor her guards.
From a noble's perspective, Lieseleta's anger was justified. Normally, a proper noble girl -even more so an Aub- would have patiently waited for her attendants and guards to escort her everywhere, whereas she had moved alone from the gazebos to the dormitory, from the dormitory's entrance to the transfer room, and even went back and forth through the transfer circle without a guard.
However, nothing of what had happened to her in the past two weeks could have been considered even remotely 'normal'.
She exhaled. "I apologize for my behavior, Lieseleta, but it was an emergency."
"Even now, Milady? Surely Angelica or Lord Cornelius could have escorted you, even if they had to go back immediately."
Rozemyne massaged her temple. Yes, they could have escorted her... had she not ordered the former to keep an eye on the latter and stop him if he so much as thought about attacking someone for reasons he refused to tell her...
"There are... reasons. And as I had sent word beforehand, I knew there would be someone to wait for me here." She replied, then added, almost muttering, "I wasn't expecting to find everyone, though..."
She could tell that none of them were satisfied with her response, but they would have to live with it, her day had been vexing enough already.
"Anyway," Rozemyne started, making her way out of the transfer room, "now that the emergency is over, I promise I will let you escort me everywhere, but we have more important things to do now. First, I suppose you all want to know what happened while I was away." She paused briefly, seeing everyone silently nod. "Lieseleta, please arrange a meeting room for all those presents-" she paused, scanning her entourage, "set up the tea party room for fifth bell, and call over also Philine and Judith."
"As you wish."
"Next, I need to know-"
"Lady Rozemyne..."
The girl turned to look at Roderick, surprised -though not annoyed- that someone would interrupt the Aub.
"Forgive my impertinence, milady... is Lord Ferdinand all right?" He was asking mostly out of concern for his mistress. He respected Lord Ferdinand, of course, everyone in Lady Rozemyne's entourage did, but his lady would always be his top priority.
Rozemyne's surprised expression slowly turned into a smile. After all the mess that was her morning encounter with Ferdinand and the wall of disapproving faces she had found coming out of the transfer circle, telling her retainers that he was fine -more or less- had kind of slipped her mind, but it was nice to see that even those in her entourage cared for him.
"Yes, Roderick, thanks for your concern. He... is already inventing magic tools." she tried to joke, to emphasize -and maybe also convince herself- that he was fine.
It didn't work the way she hoped for.
She fell into a pensive state, once again trying to make head or tail of that strange contraption Ferdinand had created. In the mess that followed its ...unveiling, she had neither probed Justus for more information, nor asked him to -at least- send regular reports on Ferdinand's health, to confirm that there was no after-effect.
She felt a pang of guilt, and once again she blamed her older self for her complete lack of experience in romance. Maybe she could have been able to keep her cool if she had already been familiar with ...the male anatomy, but seeing and touching it for the first time in two lives, under the eyes of two other men... it was just too much.
She looked at her hands, and her treacherous mind found nothing better to do than remind her she had repeatedly touched her face with those fingers.
The same fingers that had touched Ferdinand's bare...
"...Milady?" Lieseleta's concerned voice brought Rozemyne back to the present. She could feel her cheeks on fire, and her eyelids were adorned with tears.
A long moment of silence stretched out as everyone worriedly looked at her and she felt like a deer in the headlights. Did they know what was going on through her mind? Could they feel her shame?
...A change of subject! She needed a change of subject. She cleared her throat.
"Do you have news about Lady Hannelore? Did she make it safely to her jureve? Did she wake up?" She asked with a shaking voice and, luckily for her, her retainers were tactful enough not to inquire further about the redness of her cheeks.
"Lady Hannelore spent one week in her jureve, and woke up without... any issue." Lieseleta paused as an ordonnantz suddenly came in, circling the hall a few times.
Everyone extended their hands, only Rozemyne was hesitating. When the little bird kept flying, refusing to land on the hands of her retainers, she asked Gretia to quickly cast washen on her hand, and then raised it to receive the ordonnantz.
"Lady Rozemyne, this is Eglantine. Was your task successful? If so, before you restart your exams and socializing, could we meet to exchange information? Today I'll be supervising the dedication whirl class at third bell. Please tell me whenever you have time." The little bird repeated three times before turning back into a feystone.
Rozemyne wondered where the customary three days had gone. That was basically like saying 'come right now'! But well, speaking with the head of the teachers may prove useful to finish her remaining classes as soon as possible. Not to mention, the sooner she got this meeting out of the way, the sooner she could concentrate on all the other things that needed her attention.
She tapped the ordonnantz. "This is Rozemyne. I'm on my way to the dedication whirl hall, I'll be there shortly." She sent away the white bird and turned back to her retainers, that once again were looking at her with questioning eyes. 'They must be surprised as well by the urgency in Eglantine's summons.' she thought.
"I had planned to have a full report on the state of the dormitory before doing anything else, but I suppose that can wait." She said, moving in the direction of the dormitory's exit. "Has there been any major disturbances in the dormitory while I was away?"
"Nothing major. A few students from the families that didn't completely welcome the change of power were a little critical about the situation, but Lady Letizia said they could discuss their ideas with Lord Hartmut, and they quickly retracted..." Roderick said, barely hiding a smirk.
"I see..." Rozemyne almost felt sorry for them, but she was not going to complain if there had not been any trouble. "Lieseleta, please send requests for tea parties to both Lady Charlotte and Lady Hannelore. I trust you to handle my schedule."
"Shouldn't it be better to wait until your meeting with Zent is over, Milady? She said she wanted to speak with you before you resumed socializing, and there's a chance you will meet them during the dedication whirl class, if you mean to attend..." The green haired girl answered.
"...You have a point. I will do as you suggest." Rozemyne said, taking out an ordonnantz stone. She tapped on it and started speaking before Lieseleta or anyone else could stop her.
"Professor Hirschur, this is Rozemyne. I would like to set up a date for my exam on brewing manablades. When would be a good time for you? Also, I need to return the magic tool I borrowed during my trip..." she purposefully trailed off, knowing that curiosity would get the best of the teacher, since there was no way she could know which magic tool she was talking about.
"Milady, that should have waited as well..." said Lieseleta as soon as the white bird had departed.
"Do not worry," Rozemyne replied with a confident smile, "I already know this meeting is going to happen today."
And indeed, to nobody's surprise, the answer arrived only moments later. "I'm free as soon as you are, even right now. Just name the time and, if I have previous obligations, I will cancel them."
"I thank you ever so much, professor. I will be there at third and a half bell." That would give her enough time to speak with Eglantine and also with Charlotte and Hannelore, should she find them attending the lesson. Now that the tool she needed was as good as secured, it was time to prepare for its contents.
"Gretia. Please have Ella prepare three days worth of meals for me and for a six-year old. Have her arrange the single dishes so they could be stored in a time stopping magic tool, the same as the one I brought back yesterday. Has that one been emptied and washened?"
"Yes, Milady and no, Milady. I will inform Ella and proceed with the cleaning." The gray-haired girl replied.
"Very good. Once you're done, prepare my brewing clothes. Roderick, prepare my brewing equipment, then contact Judith and Philine and inform them of this afternoon's meeting." She then instructed Lieseleta, Laurentz and the fighting shumils to depart.
When, shortly after, Rozemyne reached the dedication whirl practice hall and left her retainers outside as she usually would, only Eglantine and a few retainers were there. They exchanged the customary noble greetings, afterward Rozemyne and Eglantine moved to one of the adjoining small rooms used by the whirlers to put their costumes on.
"First of all, allow me to apologize for calling you as soon as I sensed you were back at the Royal Academy, and thank you for accepting my invitation so quickly." Zent started as an attendant poured tea for them both and then moved out of the room.
As Rozemyne watched Eglantine activate a sound blocking magic tool on the table and then take the customary sip of her tea, she absentmindedly thought that she must have sensed her through the ties of the name-swearing, since she had never been able to sense the other woman at all -meaning that the opposite had to be true as well.
The lack of any pressure coming from the other woman made Rozemyne realize something. That morning, in the supply room, or in her office for that matter...
...she had failed to feel Ferdinand.
Why? Ferdinand was the only one she had ever been able to feel -except, maybe for a day or two, Gervasio- how could she have missed him?
Could she have been just too distracted to take notice of the pressure?
It had to be it, right? No way her mana had grown even more during her travels that she would stop sensing him. She could sense his younger self, who surely had less mana than the current Ferdinand, so that shouldn't be the case...
Had she gotten too used to sensing him that she didn't realize she did anymore, similarly to what happens for smells? Was that even possible?
"Lady Rozemyne?"
Eglantine's voice dragged the young Aub out of her reverie. She raised the eyes she had lowered in thought, finding the other girl staring at her with an expression halfway between questioning and worried, and she felt the urge to hide whatever thought had been going on in her mind. "My apologies, I got distracted... You were saying?"
Eglantine studied her, wondering if she simply didn't think much of their current meeting, or if there were still things going on that required her attention. Maybe she had been too hasty in calling her as soon as she had sensed her. She decided that making it short was probably the best option.
"First of all, I've heard from Lady Hannelore the reason why you were sent back in time." She didn't elaborate any further. While she agreed with the girl that preventing the current history from being undone had its merits, she still thought it was unfair that the gods would only try to repair one thread out of the many that had been prematurely cut. But that was her personal issue, not a reason for Zent to complain about the gods' actions. "As you are back, is it safe to assume that all the issues, the cuts in Lord Ferdinand's thread, are fixed?"
"Yes," Rozemyne nodded solemnly, "all of them."
"And that all the events of the past twenty years are going to stay the same?"
"Exactly."
"That is a relief." Eglantine said, a hand on her chest. "While there are many things in that period of time that may have been done in a much better way, it would be troublesome if what we currently have were to suddenly disappear."
"I know. I asked Dregarnuhr to allow me to give Ferdinand a better life, but she didn't let me, saying it would change the woven cloth too much." Rozemyne replied with a small smile, thinking back to her journey.
Eglantine stared at the youngest Aub in history, momentarily unable to say anything. 'Is she for real?' The gods had specifically sent her back in time to repair Lord Ferdinand's thread, giving him a chance that had never been given to any other human before... and she was lamenting that the goddess didn't let her give him better living conditions?
She felt the need to argue, to tell her not to be so greedy, to remind her that countless people had met an untimely death, but she swallowed it. She knew that behind that unassuming smile of hers, behind the legend of the saint, there was a fierce goltze, ready to overturn the power balance of the whole nation for the man she loved.
...all the while denying that she had felt the dance of Blueanfah.
Terrifying. She was truly the woman who could stand side by side with the 'Lord of Evil'.
"I see..." she decided, with some effort, to ignore the comment and move to the next topic she wanted to discuss. "However, even if there's a precedent in the near past, something as extraordinary as a goddess descending into the human world is bound to cause ripples in the lives of those involved. Have your retainers told you about Lady Hannelore?"
The phrasing got Rozemyne on alert. Had something happened to her fellow book-lover? Lieseleta had said she had woken up from the jureve without issues... had something happened afterward? But she had to be safe, otherwise there would have been Lord Lestilaut banging at the door of Alexandria's dormitory to demand a revenge ditter...
"I have been told she woke up from the jureve, but then I got interrupted by your immediate summon and did not have the time to inquire any further. Did the power of the goddess hurt her in any way?" She asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.
"Immediate summon?" Eglantine repeated, staring at Rozemyne in confusion. At last, her exceedingly quick answer started to make sense. "Uhm... could it be that you said you were on your way because you interpreted my message as an immediate summon?"
It was Rozemyne's turn to be confused. "Yes... You said you would be busy at third bell, I thought you meant to say that we had to meet before..."
Eglantine forced herself not to shake her head. How could someone who constantly came first in class misunderstand basic things such as this? "While it's true I wanted to speak with you as soon as possible, I wouldn't do something so unreasonable as to call you without giving you any time whatsoever to prepare... I specified that I would supervise the class only to let you know I would be in a room full of people at that time, in case you didn't want to send an ordonnantz that others could hear. To be honest, I was quite surprised when you said you were already on your way, but thought you had other matters to attend afterward..." She omitted the fact she also had to hurry to arrive in time.
'So,' Rozemyne thought, 'Lieseleta and the others weren't surprised at Eglantine's hasty summon, they were surprised I was coming here immediately...'
The silence that was stretching uncomfortably was interrupted by Rozemyne's deliberate cough. "My apologies... The past couple of weeks have been so hectic that it didn't even occur to me you weren't expecting me immediately..." A total lie, but a credible one.
"I... see." Eglantine took a sip of her tea, letting silence stretch a while longer, before she resumed their talk. "In regard to Lady Hannelore... She seems to be fine, as much as an outsider can tell. There's no trace of the power of the goddess left, and she even resumed attending her classes. It was a real relief that everything went back to normal on its own, I was seriously worried she might have to..." the blonde searched for the bluette's eyes, then whispered the last part, "be dyed."
Memories of the embarrassing exchange that took place in Alexandria a few months prior assaulted Rozemyne, making her instantly blush. "With a potion! I was dyed with a potion!" she nearly screamed, even forgetting they were talking about Hannelore.
Once again, the blonde stared at her, surprised by her disproportionate reaction. It was something one would expect from a young maiden, but now that they had the blessings of the gods, Lord Ferdinand has surely... 'Oh, I see... She still has to overcome the embarrassment of her marriage night...'
Eglantine wondered for a moment whether to address the matter of the marriage immediately, but one quick look at the red cheeks of the newlywed in front of her was all she needed to decide otherwise.
"I know, I know..." Eglantine replied, covering her mouth with one hand and letting a deliberate and delicate laugh pass her lips, hoping it would make the other girl relax.
The sound made Rozemyne slump forward, losing the tense stance she had taken to support her version of the story. It took her some effort to refrain from pouting.
Eglantine got serious again. "However, in Lady Hannelore's case, even being dyed with a potion might have been a problem, and not just because she doesn't have an official fianceé... I'm sure you will have an opportunity to speak with her in detail, but to make a long story short, as she's now recognized as the second incarnation of the goddess, basically any male archduke candidate, together with Aub Corinthdaum, has asked for a bride-stealing ditter for the right to marry her, and Dunkelfelger decided to face them all in one single large-scale ditter. Lady Hannelore said that even death is not an uncommon occurrence in this kind of ditter." Despite her impeccable noble mask, aggravation could be clearly heard in her voice.
"One of the reasons why I asked to meet before you restarted socializing was to warn you that alliances and collaboration between duchies have been banned to contain the damage as much as possible. I doubt Lady Hannelore would try to bypass the ban and get you on her side, but I don't want to take chances. I'll be frank, Lady Rozemyne. I'm afraid the situation may get out of hand during the game, and someone may get seriously hurt."
Rozemyne studied her as she spoke. She was showing subtle signs of lack of sleep, just like right after taking over the country. However, while back then the source of her distress were all the shady things she had to face, right now she had that kind of aggravated expression that one would expect from a kindergarten teacher with too many difficult children.
"This is ditter we are talking about, if a pact has been made, you can rest assured that neither Lady Hannelore nor any other Dunkelfelger will try to bypass it. Considering that this is, fundamentally, my fault, how about I offer to heal all those who get injured?"
Eglantine looked at her as if she had suggested something revolutionary. She hadn't taken them into account, but with Lady Rozemyne's healing abilities, they may be able to fix anything short of death. "You would do that?"
"As I said, this is in part my fault..." Rozemyne stated matter-of-factly. "However, to avoid putting Lady Hannelore at a disadvantage, the healing will happen after the ditter. For those in immediate danger of life, I will heal them immediately, but they will be considered disqualified."
"That is perfect! We should have a meeting with all the participants to inform them of your offer, and also to decide about mana compensation. Is tomorrow at fifth bell fine with you?" Eglantine asked, suddenly more lively than just moments before.
Rozemyne nodded. "My schedule is still mostly empty right now. And as for mana compensation, Dunkelfelger will be exempt from it. I have inconvenienced them enough already."
"Seems reasonable to me. Then, it's settled. I will have my scholars send official invitations later, but for now, how about we unofficially announce your offer during the dedication whirl lesson?"
"I didn't actually plan to attend, but it's fine if it's just the beginning of the lesson." Besides, she also hoped she could at least greet Charlotte and Hannelore.
"Of course, it won't take long at all." Eglantine said as she started brewing tea. As that was also a signal of a topic change, neither of them broke the silence until the tea was done.
"About your exams, Lady Rozemyne," Zent restarted a short while after, as she poured the freshly made tea, "I had the teachers report about the ones you have already taken and the ones you still have to take..." She paused for the demonstrative sip, "I told them to try to accommodate you the best they can, but, given your usual record, I suppose you won't have problems finishing all your courses before the Interduchy Tournament, am I right?"
Rozemyne nodded. "Most of the ones I have left are practicals that I have already mastered with Ferdinand's guidance. As long as I can schedule them, I should pass them without problems." Professor Hirschur had been all too eager to set an appointment, but she hoped the others won't have her wait for too long.
"Good. Furthermore..." Eglantine paused, her eyes wandering as if she was searching for a good way to say what she needed to, "I've heard from Lady Hannelore about the... blessings that you and Lord Ferdinand got from the gods... I noticed that you didn't take the specific class for that." she lowered her voice, despite the sound-blocking magic tool still active on the table, "I don't want to doubt Lord Ferdinand's commitment in guiding you through this, but there are things you should learn for yourself, especially considering that you are underage..." she took a long sip of her tea, effectively covering her expression.
Rozemyne stared at her blankly, wondering what kind of class she might be referring to. She had already planned to take all the interesting ones and the ones that were not so interesting, but could turn out to be useful, and she was sure there was no class specifically about blessings. What had she missed? And what did it have to do with her being underage? All students were underage...
Seeing the other girl's confused expression, Eglantine insisted, "You can schedule the class anytime, with any professor you want." Considering the universal and personal nature of the subject, all teachers were qualified to give this class, so that girls could choose someone they would feel comfortable with.
Rozemyne tried to remember which class was held by all the teachers, but nothing came to mind. Concluding that the subject must have been something pretty trivial if any teacher could teach it, she decided she didn't have to worry about it. "Actually, I was planning to return to Alexandria as soon as possible, so I would rather not add one more class to the exams I already have to take. As you said, Ferdinand can teach me anything I need to know..." That is, if by the time she went back to Alexandria she would be able to stand next to him without feeling awkward...
Eglantine stared at her with wide eyes. "That is... quite the trust you're putting in him..." Women usually learned the... practical part with their husbands, it has been like that for her as well, but there were plenty of other things -teas to increase or decrease the chance of pregnancy, painkillers, lubricants, and everything else that was done before entering the bedchamber- that men were most likely not even aware of. Welcoming winter was a much easier task for them...
"I see no reason not to trust him. He already taught me so much, and in everything he does, he seeks perfection..." Rozemyne replied matter-of-factly. Her mind supplied memory after memory of Ferdinand teaching her something, starting from when she first entered the temple, but were soon replaced by the much more vivid memories of the last morning and night.
'No no no no no... not now... Concentrate, Rozemyne! You can't afford to suddenly die of embarrassment in the middle of a talk about classes...' She fought valiantly against the images resurfacing in her mind, but she couldn't do anything against the red staining her cheeks.
Witnessing her flusteredness, Eglantine once again confirmed her suspicions. Lord Ferdinand had indeed taught her about the sweet harshness of winter. And, by the fierceness of Lady Rozemyne's blush, he must have done all sorts of things to her, regardless of the fact it was only their first night.
They heard the third bell, muffled by the barrier of the sound-blocking tool.
Eglantine resolved herself. Students must be gathering in the hall for the dedication whirl class, so there was no time for her to carry out her duty as a teacher and go over the content of the gender-specific class, but she could at least try to convince her student of its importance.
"Lady Rozemyne, let us forget our roles for a moment, and have a talk between women."
Her mind occupied by her previous thoughts, Rozemyne looked at her and waited for her to speak, pretending her cheeks weren't aflame.
"I understand your desire to become one with your dark god, and given that your union has been blessed by none other than Sterrat, it would really be a meaningless cruelty to force you two to hold back..."
Rozemyne blinked, disoriented by the abrupt change of topic. Why was Eglantine suddenly talking about Sterrat and dark gods? And holding back on what?
~~'We don't need to hold back anymore...'~~
The lingering feeling of Ferdinand's deep voice speaking those words close to her ear hit her like a train moving at top speed. 'No way... No way Eglantine is talking about that.'
"...but you must at least make sure you won't get pregnant before your 'official' Star Knot." Eglantine said, fixing the other girl with a meaningful stare.
Rozemyne stared back, her eyes trembling, the bright red on her cheeks being replaced by a deep shade of burgundy. Why couldn't people stop making these assumptions about her and Ferdinand?
The blonde witnessed the change of color on the bluette's face, and took it as an implicit admission of what must have happened the night before. She moved closer, taking Rozemyne's hands in hers. "Lady Rozemyne, it's okay. Even if you didn't use any precautions, you still have time to drink the special tea to make sure you won't get pregnant. Try concentrating mana in your chalice. Do you feel anything strange?"
"I'm not pregnant!" Rozemyne shouted as she pulled her hands away, panting as if she had been fighting a dangerous feybeast.
Eglantine looked at her with concern. "I'm not judging you..." She spoke soothingly, hoping to calm Rozemyne. "Mine, too, is a love marriage... I can understand wanting to welcome your dark god... But you were dyed by Lord Ferdinand, even after just one time, it wouldn't be strange for you to have conceived. You-"
"I CANNOT be pregnant!" Rozemyne stood up and took a step back, to put distance between herself and the blonde. "Ferdinand and I didn't... THERE HAS BEEN NO WINTER!"
Eglantine stared at her, wondering if that could be really the case. But then, why would she get so embarrassed all of sudden?
The girls stared at each other, not knowing how to proceed, when a bell was heard from the other side of the door. "Zent Eglantine, is everything fine? We heard a scream..." One of the attendants called out from outside.
Before someone could decide to open the door to check on them, Eglantine quickly deactivated the sound-blocking tool. "Yes, everything is fine." she replied.
"Understood." Said the same attendant. "Whenever you are ready, the students have gathered for the lesson."
"We'll be there in a moment." She said, before turning to Rozemyne. It was probably a good moment to pretend the previous discussion never happened. "Should we... head out?"
"You go ahead," Rozemyne started, looking down at her feet. She had just realized she had stepped out of the range of the sound-blocking tool, right before screaming 'there has been no winter' for everybody to hear.
"I'll come in a moment..." she continued. 'As soon as I figure out how to make a hole in the pavement and forever disappear into it...'
Notes: Many thanks to Krymzim for beta-reading the chapter and helping me choose a title and a song.
I still blame TheChatteringMagpi for putting the idea of maso-Hartmut in my head
The quoted song is
"My sweet prince", Placebo, Without You I'm Nothing (1998)
Thanks for sticking with me. And remember that reviews are always appreciated.