The room darkened quickly and soon, the only light came from the moon outside and the glowing candle on the counter beside his bed. The plate of beef, rice and vegetables remained untouched beside it, as did the glass of water. The only thing he'd had that evening was the cup of vulneraries that Moira had prepared for him. He told himself that the liquid would work, even though they hadn't the previous day. Despite lying helpless in a bed, hardly able to stand or walk, he told himself that the vulneraries would kick in and solve his problems. Despite not wanting to sleep, he told himself that he had nothing to worry about, because he would soon be cured.

He told himself these things again and again with an increasing frequency.

He stared at the wooden floor, illuminated by the moon's light. He yawned, and that's when his chest tightened again.

'One, two, three, four, five,' he breathed, 'back two, three, fo'-

He blinked and then… things were different. The illumination on the wooden floor changed. He squinted his eyes, and then he saw a long shadow that hadn't been there before. His eyes darted upward.

Just beyond the reach of the illumination stood a dark silhouette.

He jerked upward. Pain stifled him but at that moment it was the last thing on his mind. Blood surged through him. He grabbed the glass of water from the counter and cocked his arm back.

'Professor.'

He waited, breathing heavy. The silhouette stepped forward into the moon's illumination and that's when he saw her long, white hair and her purple eyes.

Edelgard put a finger to her mouth.

He blinked, wondering how she'd managed to get into the room and then he winced. In his moment of surprise, he'd been able to ignore the pain that'd erupted in his body from his sudden, jerked movement, but now it hit him like a crashing wave. Throbbing, prickling pain exploded across his body, jerking his breath from him. He slumped down in his bed and groaned. The room around him spun and he felt ready to vomit. At one moment, he saw Edelgard move towards him.

And then he only saw a blur.

The pain he felt that evening was some of the worst in his entire life. It felt like his whole body was on fire. He squirmed with his eyes mashed close and his teeth gritted for what felt like a long time. Slowly, agonisingly so, the heat in his body cooled. By the time he finally opened his eyes, he'd forgotten that Edelgard was in the room. She sat beside his bed on one of the wooden chairs, holding a damp cloth over his forehead. Her eyes were wide.

'Professor… are you okay?'

'F-For now.'

Edelgard brought the glass of water from the counter to his mouth. 'Drink.'

He did, and when it was empty, she put it back on the counter and removed the cloth from his forehead. 'What do you mean "for now?" What is wrong with you? Why are you in so much pain?'

'I don't know.'

'What do you mean you don't know? What did the nurse say?'

'Mystery illness. Healing magic hasn't worked. Been given more vulneraries tonight but they didn't work yesterday.'

'Mystery illness? Please, I know it's hard but help me to understand, explain it to me.'

His mind was frazzled and the idea of going through his issues again made his head hurt. He relayed a very basic summary of the problem. He explained that he started having "tingling" pain and dizziness after Remire which had grown worse each day, and that for whatever reason, healing magic wasn't working on it, nor on his injuries from Remire. He also explained how, after being healed by Moira on the Tuesday, that he'd wrongly assumed he was better, leading to what happened in the training ground. He told her these things, expecting her to react in the same way Seteth had done initially, with bewilderment and suspicion, that he was just making up excuses to justify his humiliation against Caspar, yet, she didn't look at him as if he were crazy.

'So that explains what happened in the training ground,' she said. 'After you knocked Caspar over, I could see that something was bothering you and it clearly distracted you.'

She fell silent and gazed at him. Her stare made him shuffle in his bed. He supposed she was making connections in her head.

'Tell me more about the pain and sensations,' she finally continued. 'How do they start and what do they feel like exactly?'

He blinked. She must have seen something in his expression because she spoke again. 'I think I might be able to help you, but you must tell me every detail, can you do that?'

How she could help him, he didn't know, but at that moment he realised he didn't have anything else to lose, because what else would he do, go to sleep?

'Can I get more water first?'

'Of course.'

She passed him the glass of water and he downed the rest of its contents. He gave the glass back to her and she spoke again.

'First, tell me more about what you call the "tingling" pain.'

He started off by explaining that the "tingling" pain had begun as pins and needles-like sensations. He explained that at first, he'd needed to exert himself in some way to bring them on, but that as the days passed, it took less and less effort, to the point where simply lifting his arms brought them on. He then explained how these sensations, over time, became increasingly painful, eventually to a debilitating extent.

'And the dizziness?' Edelgard asked.

'It comes on whenever the tingling pain does.'

'So when you moved up suddenly in your bed earlier, that brought on these sensations?'

'Yes.'

'You were given healing magic by Professor Manuela in the training ground, I witnessed that, but you also believe that you were healed by the nurse earlier that day, and in Remire?'

He nodded again and Edelgard's eyes widened ever so slightly.

'And tell me, white magic has been ineffective at curing your pain… but did it work in the past?'

'Yes.'

'Did you use it often?'

'No.'

She leaned forward. 'But you have been a mercenary your whole life. Unless I'm mistaken, you must have been involved in countless battles, picking up all kinds of injuries along the way. How is it that someone such as yourself would not need healing magic frequently?'

'Because'-

And that's when he realised he'd forgotten to share something important with Moira. Something, he wondered, that may have helped her to figure out what was causing his problem. 'Because I normally healed in my sleep, before this illness started, without healing magic.'

Edelgard leaned back in her chair slowly. Her eyes didn't leave his once. Her mouth opened ever so slightly. She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to, he could read the shock on her face. A knight marched through the corridor outside, their clanking footsteps echoing, yet the Adrestian heiress didn't seem to notice.

She was transfixed.

The knight's footsteps grew louder, yet she remained still, her mouth opening and closing ever so slightly. In her eyes he saw wonder and confusion, but he saw something else as well.

Fear.

The knight passed the infirmary's door and soon disappeared down the spiralling staircase further on. When the sound of the footsteps finally faded, she spoke again.

'You're poisoned.'

'Poisoned?'

'Poison is what's causing your pain and dizziness.'

'The nurse gave me antitoxin.'

'You have a different kind of poison, one that antitoxin cannot treat.'

'What is it?'

'Magic poisoning.'

He stared at her. He'd never heard of such a thing before, and yet here was one of the most powerful people in Fódlan, telling him that it was true. Edelgard spoke slowly. 'Healing in your sleep is an amazing ability, one that has almost certainly served you well on the battlefield. However, it has a weakness, if someone attempts to heal you with white magic whilst your body is recovering then it disrupts the process.'

'Disrupts it?'

'For whatever reason, healing magic doesn't work whilst you sleep, worse it becomes trapped in your body. If not removed, then it leads to the sensations that you're experiencing. But your body does not just heal itself when you sleep, it is also at play when you are unconscious. You mentioned that Jeralt had you attended to by a mage whilst you were out after the battle in Remire, correct?'

Byleth nodded. Jeralt had said that when he'd awoken after the battle. Moira had doubted the idea, but he knew his father wouldn't have lied to him.

'That's when your body's healing process was first affected, I believe, when you were healed whilst unconscious. That would explain how your condition gradually grew worse from then onwards. You were then healed by the nurse and Professor Manuela, which led to more magic being trapped in your body. It helped a bit at first, which is what you experienced on Tuesday, but soon it became poisoned as well, worsening your condition.'

Things began to click in Byleth's mind. It became clear to him how his illness had rapidly become worse after the training ground incident. Caspar may have aggravated some of his pain, but it'd been Moira and Maneula's healing magic that'd done the real damage. It all sounded ludicrous, he'd never heard of such an issue before and yet it all made sense. Moira and Seteth had said that he had a mystery illness, so what if this was it?'

'Is there a cure?'

Edelgard nodded. 'You need a Restore spell. As you know, Restore is a white magic spell that heals poison. It can be a tricky spell to execute, which is why antitoxin is normally preferred where possible, but in your case, it is only your only option as antitoxin isn't effective on magic poisoning.'

He nodded. If she was right, then he was going to be okay. That should have made him feel better, but it didn't.

'C-Can it cause strange dreams?'

Edelgard blinked. 'I don't believe so. What do you mean by strange dreams?'

He felt his throat tighten. Edelgard gazed at him and then spoke again.

'You mean nightmares, right?'

He stared at her and she shook her head.

'Apologies, that's not for me to know. I just hadn't expected such a question from the Ashen Demon himself, but then that itself is foolish, we all suffer in our own way at times. I'-

She looked away and for a moment he couldn't see her face. She took a deep breath in and then faced him again. 'I suffer from nightmares myself at times. They are terribly frustrating, but I suppose I don't need to tell someone like you that that is all they are, nightmares.'

He nodded, still tense.

'Anyway, you need a Restore spell administered on you soon as possible,' Edelgard continued, 'as your condition will only worsen otherwise, to a dangerous extent if left unchecked for too long. I suggest that you call for the nurse as soon as I leave and ask her to administer the spell on you. What I've shared with you isn't common knowledge, and so if you're asked why you want a Restore spell, I would recommend just insisting on it, if anything, because it hasn't been tried on you yet. Once it has been administered, don't use healing magic until the poison is gone. It doesn't normally take long, but you will know it is gone once you start healing in your sleep again. Assuming you receive a Restore spell soon, you will be ready to lead the Black Eagles into the mock battle next week, as hard as it is to believe now.'

He stared at her. If she sensed something in his expression this time she didn't show it.

'I apologise for what Caspar did to you, and for his and Hubert's rudeness over the past few days. They don't realise who they have in you because they never saw what I witnessed in Remire. It would be a disservice to them, the other Black Eagles and the rest of the students in this monastery if you weren't given a fair chance as our professor. Rest, and I shall let Seteth know that myself and the Black Eagles still want you as our teacher. Get well soon, Professor.'

She rose to her feet and turned, and that's when Byleth spoke.

'Wait.'

Edelgard turned again, her purple eyes once again gazing into his. Despite how he was feeling at that moment, there was one thing he had to know.

'H-How could you possibly know everything about my illness when not even the nurse does?'

This time Edelgard gave nothing away in her expression. She spoke, not as a student, but once again as the future ruler of the Adrestian Empire. 'As heiress to Adrestia, there are things I know about that others do not, that is all I can say.'

Stupid Bern! All Seteth did was ask you a question and you got scared!

'I-I-I know I'-

Worthless!

'He looked a-angry at m-me,' Bernadetta mewled, digging her fingernails into her palms. She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks as she lay in her bed.

Useless!

She trembled, her lips quivering. 'I-I'm n-not good enough. E-Edelgard will be angry a-and'-

Unmarriageable!

'I-I don't want to be here and be in the mock battle and figh'-

Her sentence trailed off into loud sobs. Once again, she cried herself to sleep.