"…and that's when I realized that Katarina Claes was not, in fact, a seductress out to bed me and everyone around her," Maria said. "At which point there was a bit of a physical altercation, then we arrested the Student Council President for putting Lady Katarina in a coma. He has not been seen since, and it is very likely he's dead."
Dame Romani stared at her, wide-eyed. Rafael had long ago fallen off the sofa and was rolling around in hilarity on the floor while his maid Lasciel tried to keep him from asphyxiating on his own laughter.
"But from that day on, I resolved to protect Katarina Claes from those who would take advantage of her kind and trusting nature to satisfy their own base desires," Maria continued. "It's been difficult, as to her many of these people are her friends. And I believe they genuinely are her friends. They are merely at the point in their life where their loins do a substantial amount of their thinking. Dear Rafael, if you do yourself an injury laughing at me, I will not be healing you."
"S-sorry…" Rafael managed to chortle out. He wasn't so much laughing anymore as much as his stomach was just constantly heaving, and he occasionally coughed, but apparently he still found the situation too hilarious for words.
Maria sighed. "We shall have to officially ignore my fiancé at this point, as he will be clearly be useless for conversation."
Dame Romani still stared at her.
"Dame Romani? Are you well?" Maria inquired.
The other knight blinked and shook her head. "How are you still friends with my cousin?" she said incredulously.
Maria felt bloodtinge rising to her cheeks. "Well, she doesn't exactly know I thought these things," Maria said. "I was ashamed of how deeply I had misjudged her. In retrospect, I believe part of my protectiveness of her is borne from the desire to correct these slights upon her reputation, even if it was only in my own heart. It is selfish of me, to try and protect her to alleviate my guilt, but she is in need of protection."
Dame Romani nodded sharply. Her eyes took on a Titanite glint. "I suppose you have explained yourself. And thank you for entrusting this to me. I swear I won't say a word of this to anyone else. Especially not to my cousin. Though I think you might be grossly mistaken about several of your conclusions. Cousin Keith seems a good person and a loving brother. I think you owe him an apology for thinking he want to do such things with Cousin Katarina without her consent. True, he's been a little cold towards me, even though I don't understand why…"
"Like a man seeing you as a potential romantic rival because the woman he loves was gone for several months only to return with you in her company?" Maria said.
Dame Romani paused. Her brow furrowed. Her eyes widened. Her shoulders slumped.
"He thinks I'm some kind of romantic rival, doesn't he?" she said, sounding both sad and offended.
"In his defense, most people who encounter Lady Claes seemed to be charmed by her and are quickly infatuated, with only a few days of contact required for them to progress to obsession and lust," Maria said. "So it's a perfectly normal conclusion to reach. I would advise you to explain to him you only wish to protect Katarina from malign influences and potential dishonor. For all his urges, Lord Keith has managed to resist the temptation before him for many years. He might actually like you better if he thought you would be there to protect her from him should his resolve fail."
"Do you… really think so?" Dame Romani said, looking uncertain and baffled.
Maria nodded. "Oh, yes. The interrelationships between Lady Katarina's infatuated friends is decidedly non-standard. While they all acknowledge each other as romantic rivals, they also possess a great deal of respect and fondness for one another as persons, as long as Katarina is a non-factor in their interactions."
"Um…" Rafael said. Both knights looked at him as he finally got back to his feet, seemingly recovered from his debilitating laughter. "Dame Romani, what made you think Lady Katarina needed to be protected? Did something happen to Lady Katarina while she was in your Duchy?"
Maria's eyes snpped to Dame Romani, eyes intent.
Dame Romani sighed. "I suppose it's my turn to explain why I am here. You see, while she was visiting, the subject of her engagement came up during dinner…"
"Wait, really? He got engaged to Katarina by essentially calling her ugly?" Rafael said, a disbelieving look on his face.
"Her grace the duchess was not pleased," Maria said, having heard a variant of the tale from the lady in question.
"Still, how did that work?" Rafael said, still confused. "Has Katarina somehow managed to avoid looking in a mirror all her life or something?"
"Oh?" Maria said, raising an eyebrow at her fiancé.
"I'm in love, not blind or stupid," Rafael said. "She's not my type, but I can understand the appeal, if not the abject stupidity involved. How can calling her ugly actually work?"
"At this point, it's likely the disconnect from reality so confuses Katarina she doubts her own senses and conclusions," Maria said. "Or she just genuinely doesn't understand. Or she actually believes the prince about being disfigured. All are, unfortunately, likely probabilities with Lady Katarina."
Dame Romani grimaced, but seemed to think this was not actually an aspersion against her cousin. She took a deep breath. "Dame Campbell, I would like to ask for your help in protecting my cousin. The situation she's in is worse than I thought, but with your help, I'm sure we can do something about it!"
"Is that what Katarina wants?" Maria asked.
Dame Romani blinked. "Huh?"
"Is being removed from the situation what Katarina actually wants," Maria repeated.
"I… don't understand," Dame Romani said.
"Dame Romani, having dined with you and spoken with you, I am assured you have only Lady Katarina's best interests at heart," Maria said. "But I believe you are making a terrible mistake. In your desire to protect Lady Katarina, you are concluding you must assert your desire to better her situation. How is that any different from forcing her into an engagement where she becomes a royal princess, or pursuing a relationship with her to sate your own lusts?"
"Wha– It's not the same at all!" Dame Romani said, indignantly. "I don't want anything from Cousin Katarina! I just want to protect her."
"Again, a laudable sentiment," Maria said. "But protecting her does not mean having to remove her from the situation she's in."
"But how am I supposed to protect her if I don't deal with the danger to her?" Dame Romani said.
"The 'danger' to her are her friends, who she values greatly, for all their faults," Maria said. "And they value her, for all their lusts. Would you take away her friends to protect her? Would you separate her from all who would be a danger to her? Given her charm, that would be anyone she ere ever to potentially meet. How long before the only danger to her left… is you?"
"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Dame Romani snapped, voice rising in temper for the first time.
"Only you can and should decide that," Maria said. "I merely advise that the situation is more complicated than Katarina needing to be protected. I do not disagree that she needs protection. You must ask yourself, however: at what point does protection become captivity?"
"Does that mean you won't help me?" Dame Romani said stiffly.
"I am helping you," Maria said. "I find your intentions admirable, Dame Romani, and your complete and utter disregard for the fact you intend to defy the Third Prince simultaneously foolish and endearing in a Katarina-like sort of way. But you are currently completely ignorant of the forces arrayed against you. You were unaware of the factors regarding Lord Keith until I explained, and… have you even met the Third Prince yet?"
"No…" Dame Romani admitted.
"May I suggest you do so first, before you commit to any particular course of action?" Maria said. "Meet him. Meet these people who both love and threaten Lady Katarina. Though I have likely biased you against them, I invite you to speak to them yourself and form your own conclusions and insights. After all, I once thought Lady Katarina was a promiscuous seductress. Perhaps I might be equally mistaken. I do not think so… but then again, I wouldn't, would I?"
"I…" Dame Romani frowned thoughtfully. "Yes, you're right, Dame Campbell. I should meet the Third Prince first, shouldn't I? Now that you say it… maybe Cousin Katarina was wrong, and just being Cousin Katarina, and the Prince is actually a fine person."
"As someone who knows him, I'll say he's a twisty, sadistic, too-smart-for-his-own-good self-centered ass," Rafael said. "But he's pretty okay. A good friend to have. Even if he sometimes acts creepy."
"Don't bias her," Maria chided.
"Sorry, did I tell her the long story of suspected incest, seduction, and secretly being the power behind the princes?" Rafael said.
"They were logical conclusions at the time," Maria said defensively.
"Um, Dame Campbell?" Dame Romani said, and Maria turned back to their guest, embarrassed at realizing she'd been ignoring her. "How can I meet the Third Prince?"
"I suspect he will meet with you," Maria said. "At this point, his network of spies and informants have already learned all they could about you, and he's preparing a confrontation where he intimidates you into standing aside if you turn out to be a rival for Lady Katarina's affections."
"Now who's biasing her?" Rafael muttered.
"Simply be truthful and assert that you have nothing but fond, purely platonic feelings for Lady Katarina and you'll be fine," Maria said, ignoring him. "In truth, I believe being able to prove you have no romantic feelings for Lady Katarina will go a long way towards getting her friends to like and trust you."
"That's not biased at all…" Rafael said.
"Explaining this to Lord Keith will also go a long way towards him warming to you," Maria said. "And any stories about things Lady Katarina did while she was in your duchy will be sufficient gossip for them to allow you to initiate conversation…"
Rafael rolled his eyes and gestured for more snacks as Dame Romani listened intently at all the ways she could get closer to Katarina's friends…
Eventually, the hour grew late and Dame Romani had to return home. The two knights had moved on to a first name basis at some point, with Dame Matthew saying anyone who'd saved her cousin was allowed to call her by name, and Maria responding that anyone who wished to protect Katarina could do the same.
It was like they didn't even notice they had formed some kind of weird Katarina Claes Protection Covenant (completely separate from the Academy's 'Katarina Appreciation Society'). For a long time, Rafael had thought Maria was immune to Katarina's charms. But no, it turns out it just had a strange, non-romantic manifestation.
When Maria invited him to sleep with her that night, he agreed. He'd even worked out how to keep Sadako from doing anything to him in the night (or at least giving him some warning) by asking Lasciel to attend him in case he needed something. Usually when he slept with Maria it was a night off for his maid, but desperate times and measures and all that.
"Maria?" he said as his radish-clad fiancée lay next to him.
"Hmm?"
"What you said… about it being what Katarina wants…"
"Yes?"
"What was that about?"
There was a brief silence.
"I think I know… but can you tell me?"
For a moment, he could feel Maria burying her face on his bicep.
"She didn't choose to be born a duke's daughter. Apparently she didn't choose to be engaged to a prince. She didn't choose this life, and there are those trying to keep her from being able to choose her future," Maria said softly. "I… object. She should not have to live with the walls already built around her. Not when she can have open sky."
"Huh…" Rafael mused. "And the etiquette lessons?"
"It's still her choice…"
Rafael thought about it. He was still thinking about it as he drifted off to sleep.
And Maria dreamed. She dreamed of a cold wind around a stone castle, and mountains on the horizon, and a narrow pass on the other end of a bridge, and wondering what lay beyond. She dreamed of choosing to leave the walls for the open sky…
A/N: So, my Pat-reon is up now at P.A.T.R.E.O.N.C.O.M -/-SCM2814. If you want to support this fic, that would be great, but no pressure. But if you do, you'll also get advanced access to my new original fiction series about a wizard on the frontier, her dungeon, and the idiots around her...