His name was Ferdinand von Aegir.

He was a noble, and proud of his status. He was smart, he was handsome, he was a gentleman and the very stuff of dreams for many young women, and even those who were older than him. He was gallant, chivalrous, and held himself with such an air of confidence that made it hard to resist turning one's eye in his direction. He was kind. He was loyal. And most of all…

He was hereby stripped of all that he knew.

The news came as a shock to him, but a disappointment to many others. Nobles who had once been his father's allies, who had raised him since he was a child, had such high hopes for him, now wanted him dead, or at the feet of the Emperor to be judged for his crimes of betrayal and treason. But did he regret it?

Not particularly.

He made it very clear that he disagreed with Edelgard's extreme views of the church. They fought almost every moment that they were in the same room together, and every night before bed, he would hang his head and sigh deeply, drinking in her words with a disbelief that made it impossible to be surprised by anything anymore.

What had surprised him, however, was the day he had been approached by the teacher of a rival house, to be recruited into her class. At first he had rejected, for he knew that to go against the crown would be foolish. But still she persisted, and his stubbornness in his refusal of her efforts began to show cracks. In the end, he had joined the Blue Lion house, who had made it clear that peace for all of Fodlan could not come by waging a bloody campaign against the church and those who supported it.

But the real reason he had joined? Well, it wasn't quite so simple as being fed up with Edelgard and her preaching mass genocide. No, it was something far deeper. More complex. Something he had yet to experience, but knew all too well he was the captive of the day he had watched as the woman was thrown off a cliff, with no word of her well-being for five long years.

Love.

Yes, he was in love with the professor of his house. It wasn't as disturbing a thought as others had made it seem. She was so calm during battle, but her body moved with such a ferocity that made watching her an addiction he could not say he cared to be cured of. Her voice, what was once a dull monotone, had barked orders with such… fire, such intensity that he swore he would burn alive with the force of her glare during practice drills.

And her eyes...her eyes! Such dull, lifeless blue eyes stared at him with a raging inferno within that he could liken it to the fires of hell that he would gladly burn in, if it meant her staring at him like that longer.

He was in love with a woman who had blossomed into such a vibrant flower of beauty, who could bring all the force of a hurricane across a battlefield all on her own. And yet, when she looked at her students, there was a tenderness there that made his heart skip a beat, and turn him from a confident man, to a babbling fool in mere seconds. He could never get whatever was on his mind out clearly when he had her attention. He never could voice his thoughts when her piercing eyes saw right through him.

And her voice...when it filled his ears with such sweet song, he could close his eyes and listen to her voice forever and know true peace.

Yes, he was in love with his professor. A woman he would follow to the ends of the earth and beyond. Should she order him to take on the armies of heaven and hell, he would do so. Should she ever ask him to stay by her side, be it as a lover or advisor, he would do so.

All for her, and her radiant smile.

And so, as he stabbed forth with his lance, empowered by such feelings, he knew that he would do all that he could to make her dream, a world without war and discrimination, a reality.

For Byleth. For Fodlan.

For Love.