Two days ago, his students had done all they could to avoid sitting with him in the dining hall, now, Ferdinand and Petra scrambled to seats at either side of him, and Edelgard quickly sat opposite him. Hubert (of course) sat beside her, Bernadetta sat on the other side of Edelgard and Linhardt and Dorothea sat on either side of both of them. Caspar was the only one to miss out (with Seteth, showing no mercy, insisting that he be barred from returning until the next day.)

The other houses sat together at their different tables, but that didn't stop them from coming over to congratulate their class. Raphael wouldn't have it when Byleth only picked up one plate of food and came over with a second one for him. Annette and Mercedes congratulated him on how "cool" he was, and Catherine and Alois both gave him pats on the shoulder. Lorenz gave him a bow. Ignatz, Ingrid, Sylvain and Ashe all came over as well, alongside Dimitri and Claude. On the Monday, everyone had avoided him like a bad smell but now they couldn't leave him alone. Manuela, however, was nowhere to be seen, but Leonie came over. Her face was red with embarrassment and guilt was written all over it, but she congratulated the students and then turned to Byleth.

'I apologise,' she said in a quiet voice. 'I was wrong. I'll talk to you tomorrow about it.'

'What is she apologising for?' Edelgard asked.

'I'm flabbergasted she didn't apologise for telling me to shut up,' Ferdinand said.

'I'm not,' Dorothea said.

'A fine effort from all of you,' Rhea said before the dinner began, 'and a fine victory it was for the Black Eagle House. May you all strive to improve over the coming months even more so that by the year's end, you will all be ready to uphold Fódlan's peace.'

She met Byleth's gaze.

'Before we eat, I ask all of you to stand and clap for the Black Eagle House, but also to our new professor, whom wouldn't have been here if not for your house leaders running into him in Remire.'

Chairs scraped and people rose to their feet, clapping, making Byleth's hairs stand on end.

'My, my, aren't you popular,' Sothis teased.

'Here is to our new professor,' Edelgard said shortly after. She raised her cup. The others followed suit bar Hubert.

'You must be teaching me how to use the technique you used on Dimitri!' Petra said.

'Indeed,' Ferdinand said, 'but I only wish you could have all seen my heroics against Dedue. Edelgard you would have been mightily imp'-

'You all did so well,' Dorothea said. 'I wish I could have contributed more.'

'You did more than you think,' Byleth said, and he meant it. He looked at her. Dorothea paused a moment, and then smiled.

'Everyone did their part,' Edelgard said. 'Albeit I am also disappointed in how quickly I was eliminated, but we were unfortunate with the ambush.'

Byleth hadn't had chance to have a proper conversation with Edelgard since the end of the battle, yet the expression on her face told him exactly how she felt. Her normally ice-cold face was warm, and she smiled brightly. She'd pushed hard for him to be their professor, and her faith in him had been unbroken, despite all the challenges that arose in the week between his first day and the mock battle. She'd placed her faith in him and it'd paid off. The satisfaction from that was written in the smile she gave him.

'I think Bernie deserves praise for being so brave,' Dorothea said, putting an arm around the girl. Bernadetta cringed. 'I'm just jealous that she managed to get a hug from the professor.'

Bernadetta's eyes widened and she shot up. Her face bloomed red.

'Gah! don't talk about that!'

Laughing erupted, and that's when Linhardt met Byleth's gaze.

'Professor, because we all did so well today is there any chance we could have tomorrow off to relax and'-

Leaving the dining hall to get fresh air took longer than Byleth had expected it to. He walked past Dudley, who did everything short of hugging him.

'You are just awesome!' he said. 'The way you took down Dimitri, Sylvain and Felix was amazing!'

'I could not have got my team to perform so well had it not been for your help with the fishing. I thank you.'

Dudley beamed and bowed three times. His "tour guide" told him he looked forward to fishing with him soon and then skipped away.

Outside, the sky darkened, and bright specs were scattered across the sky. The moon reflected off the pond further down. He exhaled, and that's when he heard a voice.

'Well done, Professor.'

Byleth looked around and saw Hubert standing by the door, his lively eyes were narrow. 'You won.'

'Thanks in part to you,' Byleth said. 'Without your sacrifice we wouldn't have won. Thank you.'

'Hmph,' Hubert muttered, as if disgusted by the compliment. 'I keep my promises, and that means that for now you are allowed to continue as our professor. However, I will be watching you and if I believe you are falling short of what Edelgard deserves in a professor then we will be having more words. Do you understand?'

Byleth nodded. 'Thank you again.'

Hubert stared at him and then slipped back inside the dining hall. Byleth slumped against the wall and looked out over the pond. Sothis appeared beside him and giggled.

'I think somewhere deep down he actually likes you as well.'

'Hmph,' Byleth replied. He yawned.

'No wonder you are exhausted. You have been through quite a bit recently.'

'Yeah.'

He fell silent for a long moment and then turned to her.

'Thank you for everything you've done for me.'

Sothis smiled. ''It is the least I can do for all the pain I put you through, but all of this is you, I merely pointed you in the right direction.'

Byleth nodded and looked away. He smiled, sensing that Sothis knew what he was thinking.

'How rude! No I still do not know who I am or why I am with you,' she said, trying and failing to sound angry. 'Perhaps time shall reveal those answers to us.'

Byleth nodded again, sighing.

'Something is troubling you,' Sothis continued.

'This path I've chosen, as a professor, the mock battle was just the beginning, it gets harder from here….'

'But you will manage,' Sothis replied. 'I will be there to help you, as will Jeralt and your students as well, they will work alongside you.'

Byleth nodded. 'I just… (he sighed) I hope everything works out.'

'Well just remember, it is not about whether you succeed or not, it is about…'-

She broke off, waiting for Byleth to finish the sentence. He looked at her, the girl he'd long believed to be his doom, but had instead been his saviour, and smiled.

'It is about sincerely trying my best.'