Joseph had Julia sitting in the main hall of the castle as he applied some antiseptic and badges to her cuts. He had been mostly quiet since Cassandra yelled at him. He was clearly upset, and Julia didn't want to see him that way. So she decided to talk to him.

"Thank you for standing up for me." She said.

Joseph looked up and gave her a smile.

"Hey, no problem. Like I said, it wasn't your fault. But even if it was, Cassandra had no right to speak to you that way. Nobody is perfect."

Julia felt her heart warm with his comment.

"That is sweet of you, but it's more than that. Lady Cassandra has always had a bit of a temper, and no one has been brave enough to stand up to her, except for Countess Dimitrescu of course. You're the first one other than her to do so."

"That doesn't surprise me too much. From what I saw, Cassandra can look pretty intimidating when she's mad. But I don't let people like that scare me, at least not anymore."

Julia was amazed. She had already heard about how Joseph fought the bear. Was this man afraid of anything?

"What gave you the courage to confront those people?" She asked.

Joseph paused for a moment before responding.

"Honestly, it was about finding confidence in myself. Knowing I had the right to speak my mind if I felt I was being treated unfairly. If you don't do that, people will just continue to walk all over you. Here's my suggestion. You said Alcina can discipline Cassandra right? If that happens again, go see her immediately. I know meeting with your boss about something can make you nervous. But trust me, as long as you're honest and express your concerns, I think she'll understand."

Julia had a look of wonder in her eyes, but also had a hint of doubt as well. Joseph noticed it and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, remember. Self confidence. Without it, things won't get better."

The maid smiled at this.

"You're right. Countess Dimitrescu can be firm, but she's not unreasonable. I'll give it a try."

"That's what I want to hear." Joseph replied before finishing with the bandages.

"Alright. You're good to go."

"Thank you so much Mr. Brody. Your words meant a lot to me."

"Please, call me Joseph, and please tell your coworkers that too. I would prefer not to say that a hundred more times by the end of the day."

Julia laughed.

"Of course. Take care."

She bowed before heading back to the kitchen. As she did, Joseph saw that Cassandra had wheeled herself into the main hall and had her head down with a look of guilt and shame. Julia looked uneasy passing her, but the brunette didn't say a word. Joseph slowly approached before stopping a few feet away from her.

"You need something?" He asked.

Cassandra was silent for a moment before she built up the courage to look up at him.

"I…I'm sorry Joseph. I've always had a problem with my anger, but that doesn't excuse what I did. You saved my life, even though you yourself were hurt, and I thank you by being a complete asshole to you. I acted so ungrateful." She said with a sad tone. She once again lowered her head.

Joseph could tell she meant what she said so he knelt down and brought her chin up to look at her.

"It's okay Cassandra. I know exactly what you mean. I used to have a temper problem myself a little while back."

This surprised the brunette.

"Wait, really?"

"Absolutely. It's one of the big reasons I was with master Hisashi. My anger got me into a…bad spot to say the least. So I know what it's like to have your anger get the better of you."

His face said that what he was hinting at was a painful memory, so Cassandra didn't push it.

"I…I didn't know you had that problem too."

"Of course not. How could you have known?" Joseph assured her before continuing.

"Listen to me, Cassandra. Anger is a very dangerous emotion, and it's so easy for it to overwhelm you. You have to learn to control it rather than having it control you. If you don't, it could hurt everyone around you. Even the people you love the most."

Cassandra's eyes widened at his words. His tone told her he was being dead serious, and that he spoke from experience. She nodded, understanding his advice before speaking.

"Those lessons on self control you mentioned before, can you possibly teach them to me?"

"Let me answer your question with another. What happened in the dining room, have you always been that way towards the staff?"

Cassandra was confused why he was asking that now, but she decided to be honest.

"Not always, but it's happened quite a number of times. Sometimes it's more than yelling. I've thrown things a few times. Sometimes…it's directed even at my sisters. Staff is one thing, but I should never treat my own siblings that way. I just can't."

Joseph shook his head.

"No Cassandra. You should be thinking that way with the staff too. They're just people like you and I, and they work their butts off every day to perform well. Nobody's perfect however, and mistakes are bound to happen. How do you think they feel when you yell at them like that whenever that happens?"

The brunette again lowered her head and sulked in her wheelchair.

"If you're teaching me to feel terrible about myself, mission accomplished."

"I'm teaching you to understand empathy." Joseph said. "It's important to always think about how others are feeling. When you do, your whole perspective of the situation changes. Suddenly instead of being angry, you might want to help them instead."

Cassandra's head suddenly shot up.

"Just like how you helped me." She stated.

"Exactly!" He proclaimed with a smile. "That's exactly what happened! See? You're already learning!"

The Brunette couldn't help but blush a little at Joseph's comment, but it did make her happy that she was at least understanding what he was saying to her.

"Well then, please teach me more sensei. This grasshopper is eager to learn your wisdom." She said. It was half sarcastic and half genuine.

Joseph laughed out loud at that comment.

"Oh, but of course my apprentice. With all seriousness though, we should probably get you back to bed first. I'd rather not have your mother worry more than she already has."

Now it was Cassandra's turn to laugh.

"Oh you should have seen her when Daniela tried doing high diving at the lake last summer. I thought she was going to have a stroke."

Joseph raised an eyebrow.

"Now that's a story you have to tell me at some point."

"Oh I will. Don't worry." The brunette said with a sly grin. That grin quickly faded though.

"So…are we good?"

Joseph smiled and nodded.

"Of course. There's no point in dwelling on what happened. The best we can do is learn from it and move forward. Now about that bet you challenged me too…"

Cassandra's sly smile quickly returned.

"Oh? You want to go through with that?"

"Of course! Mainly because I know I'm going to win."

Cassandra faked an offended gasp.

"Oh, it's on buddy! 2,000 lei goes to the winner!"

They both laughed as Joseph wheeled Cassandra back to her room.

...

It didn't take long for Joseph to wheel Cassandra back to her room and get her settled in bed again. He had to be really careful though as the brunette was still quite sensitive. She clearly didn't like the idea of being in bed or a wheelchair all the time, but she didn't complain. She was alive after all and that's all that mattered. Seeing the look on her face, Joseph decided to lighten the mood.

"I must say, you have a really nice room Cassandra."

The brunette smirked.

"Actually it's my mother's room, but I'm sure she'll appreciate that compliment. She might even repay you if you know what I mean."

"Wait, what?!" Joseph asked wide eyed.

"Hahaha! Relax I'm just kidding, but the look on your face was hilarious!"

He let out a sigh.

"You just love to mess with people don't you?"

Cassandra's smile faded as looked away with what looked like a look of guilt on her face.

"Yeah….but…"

"But you're not proud of it." Joseph finished for her. "I hear you. Sometimes when you pull a joke, you get carried away and end up causing more harm than good."

That wasn't exactly what Cassandra was thinking of, but this was also too so she responded to it.

"Yeah. One time on April Fools Day I put a banana peel down on the floor and mother slipped on it. It was meant to be funny, but then she crashed into one of her prized vases and broke it. Oh man, I was grounded for a long time after that."

"You're lucky it was just a vase that broke. Your mother could have really hurt herself." Joseph said.

"I know. It was stupid and I shouldn't have done it, but at the time it sounded funny so I just went for it."

Joseph sighed and put his hand on her uninjured shoulder.

"To be honest Cassandra, it sounds like you have a habit of saying or doing things without thinking, and that's not good. A lot of times it might seem good to say or do something in the moment, but it usually ends up backfiring on you."

"Like when I yelled at you…" The brunette said looking away, again looking guilty.

"Exactly, but hey." Joseph said while moving her head back to him. "I already told you that's behind us, so there's no point in dwelling on it."

This made Cassandra smile a little.

"Right. Don't dwell on it. Learn from it. That's what you said right?"

"Yep, and failure is the greatest teacher of all. So take what you learn and use it to be better." Joseph said.

"I don't know. You seem like a pretty good teacher." Cassandra remarked, causing Joseph to laugh.

"Oh you should have seen Master Hisashi. He would put me to shame with his wisdom."

The brunette's smile didn't falter though.

"I don't think you should be selling yourself short. You're better than you think you are."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Just sitting here now talking to me, you're making me feel better and putting things in perspective. You're firm but fair with your criticism, and it helps me realize what I did wrong and what I can do to fix it. The fact you saved my life probably makes me more willing to listen to it."

Joseph got a confused look from this.

"You don't listen to feedback from your family?" He asked.

Cassandra sighed.

"It's not that I don't want to listen. It's that we all have our own unique problems and that doesn't make them the best people to turn to. The only one that really has a strong head is Bela, but she always becomes the annoying, overbearing big sister if I ever bring up my problems to her."

This caused Joseph to chuckle.

"I know what you mean. I have a big sister named Mandy who's just like that. As long as I remember, she always wanted to be the adult, even though she herself was a kid at heart."

"Oh my god, yes! Bela is exactly like that! It's so annoying right?"

They both laughed together for a minute, but after they stopped, Cassandra wanted to ask something.

"I don't mean to probe, but why do you say you don't have a home if you have a sister?"

Joseph's face became somber as he looked away.

"Let's just say she's not a part of my life anymore. None of my family is."

It was obvious it hurt him to think about this. Cassandra put her hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's ok. I'll tell you the whole story at some point. Just not now. Right now, I want to focus on you getting better. That bear did quite a number on you."

The brunette grumbled.

"I can't believe that furball got the drop on me."

Joseph chuckled.

"You'd be surprised how stealthy bears are."

Cassandra grumbled again before suddenly remembering something.

"Hey I want…no let me start over…is it ok if I saw your katana?"

Joseph gave a big smile at that.

"You remembered to think before saying that, and for that, you will be rewarded. I'll be right back."

He quickly got up and left the room, and a couple minutes later he returned with his sword in hand. As he handed it to the brunette he warned her.

"Don't unsheathe it. It's very sharp and you can easily hurt yourself."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I saw what it did to that bear." Cassandra responded. It almost made her shudder how easily the sword beheaded it.

She quickly forgot about it though and began to admire how amazing Joseph's katana was. Based on the size of the sheath it was in, the blade was about thirty inches long, and the sheath itself had some beautiful art of a wolf on it. The handle was wrapped in a black leather with red patterns running along the side, and at the end there was a pendant hanging off of it that had Godzilla on it.

This doesn't even look like a weapon. It looks like a piece of art. Cassandra thought as she looked at it in wonder.

"Oh, can I have it back for a second? There's one other thing I want you to see."

As Cassandra handed him back the katana, Joseph took a step back before slightly unsheathing it, revealing its base, and as he did, the brunette noticed there was writing on it, but she didn't understand what it said.

"What does that say?" She asked.

"It says 'Aratana Hajimari' which means 'New Beginning'. Master Hisashi gave me this sword when I graduated from the dojo. He said it was a symbol of my accomplishments and the start of my new life. I've always kept it close to me."

Cassandra chucked.

"Thank god for that too. Otherwise, I'd be toast by now."

They both laughed at the brunette's joke before she looked at Joseph with a gentle smile.

"You're pretty awesome, you know that?"

Joseph looked surprised and also touched by those words.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You seem to always know what to say to make people happy. Plus, you can kick ass so that's a huge bonus."

Joseph laughed again.

"Oh yeah. It makes those pesky muggers think twice, that's for sure."

Cassandra giggled.

"And you're funny too."

She then took a deep breath before continuing.

"Listen, I meant what I said about wanting you to teach me empathy and all that. I can't explain why, but something about you just makes me want to do it. Maybe it's because you had similar problems to me and managed to overcome them. So it makes me want to do it too."

Joseph smirked and sat down on the side of the bed next to her.

"You're saying you're inspired by me? I'm flattered."

Cassandra blushed.

"I…uhh…yeah. I guess that's the way to say it."

Joseph laughed.

"It's ok. Honestly, I really appreciate you saying that. It means I'm doing something right. Tell you what. You need to rest now, but later we'll sit down and discuss empathy more. Does that sound good?"

The brunette gave a warm smile and nodded.

"Deal."

Unknown to them, Alcina was peeking through the crack of the door, watching Cassandra and Joseph. She had heard their conversation, and she was using her handkerchief to dry tears from her eyes. It brought joy to her heart to see someone make her daughter this happy. And listening to them triggered something in her. Like Cassandra, Alcina was finding motivation to change as well.

I can't let him know about the things we've done. Not yet at least. I will tell him when the time is right. She thought to herself. Regardless, things are going to change around here. Joseph has already done so much for my family. It's only right that I follow his example.