Month of Wyvern Moon - Flower Vs Cake Part 2

Chapter 29

The evening air had a crisp bite to it as I stepped out of my dorm room and made my way out into the courtyard. My boots clicked over the stonework as I traveled purposefully towards the noble's dormitory. Avoiding the guard patrols, I made for the heavy oaken double doors engraved with a golden stag. The torch lights flickered in the wind as I snuck up to the Golden Deer's noble dormitory and opened the door.

I gingerly poked my head inside and checked to make sure that the coast was clear before slipping inside. The dim lighting in the foyer flickered as the heavy doors shut heavily behind me. My eyes took a second to adjust to the dim light, peering down an empty corridor and then up at the loft overlooking the grand staircase. Taking a second to get my bearings, I recalled some general class gossip that only commoners' dorm rooms were on the ground level. With that in mind I opted to ascend the curling grand staircase, well on my way to seeking a very specific person.

My boots made no noise on the muted gold carpet as I reached the landing. The landing split to the left and to the right leaving me perplexed until I read the signs overhead. I chose the right wing, leading me down the Eastern Alliance dorm rooms. Recalling Ordelia's fiefdom was in the south eastern part of the Leicester Alliance, I opted to start my search there.

No one else seemed to be moving around at this time of night. The more spacious dormitory hallways were dimly lit and devoid of life as I searched the elaborately etched nameplates for a very specific name. It only took my one try. Pleased my search was going to be a quick one, I knocked politely on the youngest academy mage's door.

My voice echoed down the empty stone corridors as I called out softly. "Lysithea? Are you in there? I have a question please."

I heard rustling and grumbling as something was slammed shut. A second later the candle under the doorway started to flicker as footsteps grudgingly progressed towards the door.

"Lilianna? What do you want at this hour?" The door creaked open to reveal the irate pink eyed mage in a long white nightgown. In one hand she carried a heavy leather-bound volume and a candle in the other.

I bowed stiffly to the prodigy mage, rather surprised that she was in her room at this hour. "Oh, I didn't expect you to be in. Ahem, I am sorry to have disturbed you, but I came to ask you a favor."

"Well?" The most lethal mage in the academy put her hands on her hips and glared up at me. "What do you want?"

I forced a smile onto my face as the irate teenager glared daggers up at me for interrupting her studying. "I was wondering if you would, by chance, have a cake recipe on hand?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she checked to make sure my hands were empty. "A cake recipe? Why would..." Her eyes grew wide as she realized what I was asking. "You want to bake a cake?!"

I reached up and rubbed the back of my head nervously. "Attempt, I think is the key word here, but yes. I need a gift for Cereza's birthday, and I thought since she gave me a cake for my birthday she might appreciate one in return."

"Why bother asking me? You could just go ask the head cook or something. I am busy." Lysithea rolled her eyes at my explanation and started to close the door.

My smile twitched as I put my hand out to stop the door from shutting in my face. "I was just thinking that you would be the ideal person to ask. You tend to eat a variety of cakes and other desserts, so I suspect you have a diverse knowledge of what is good and what to avoid."

She inched the door open a bit more as I smiled wider. "With such diverse knowledge and firsthand experience, I was hoping you might be willing to impart some of your wisdom. Perhaps you might share a recipe with a humble beginner cook so that she might share the glory of sweet cake with her friends?"

Lysithea seemed to think the idea over for a second. Her irritated pink eyes closed for a minute as she took a deep breath and nodded. "I have just the thing. Hang on a second while I copy it down for you."

A little while later, and a rather long explanation that I wasn't sure I would remember half of, I was sneaking my way into the dining hall, well on my way to the kitchen. As I inched open the kitchen doors, I noted that normally busy fires were burnt out to mere embers and there was no one in sight. The clock on the monastery tower chimed once. The ominously low ring tolled out into the night as I pulled my gloves off and offered a prayer to the goddess. A thorough inspection of the kitchen later revealed all the cooks had gone home for the night much to my good fortune. Satisfied I was all alone, I gleefully raided the storage closets before setting to work.

Several hours later I woke up covered head to toe in flour as I was being tossed unceremoniously out of the kitchens by the head chef. I couldn't quite comprehend the loud string out words being directed at me, as a wail of despair came from the supply closets. Several more of the breakfast crew remained shell shocked as I grabbed two of the nearby cakes on my way out.

The streaks of early morning dawn were just starting to peek across the horizon as I sailed out of the kitchen and into the dew laden grass of the adjacent garden. I hit the ground with a muffled thud and a streak of pain as the dewy tendrils smeared their way across my uniform. With a muffled groan, I realized I had managed to save my two best cakes and, even after a crash landing, they looked none the worse for wear.

Slowly I sat up blinking beadily as the door to the kitchen slammed shut behind me. With a yawn I looked down at my uniform and blinked a few more times at the green and white smears. A second later my jacket and gloves sailed out of the kitchen and landed on the grass in front of me as the wails of despair from inside the dining hall only grew worse.

I yawned again and got up, collecting my gloves and jacket as I watched the warm streaks of dawn chase the dark of night away. Another yawn interrupted my view as I realized that I probably needed to get a move on and head to the training courts before Navan came looking for me. My crusty outer layer of flour and jam cracked and flaked off in my wake as I wandered half asleep through the monastery. My feet followed the straightest path toward my dorm room, cakes in hand muttering.

"I knew I shouldn't have waited so long for that dough to rise…"


After successfully storing my hard work away on one of the shelves I threw on my training clothes and hopped over to my morning training session. I got a few strange looks as every time I hit the floor more flour dust was beaten out of me. A hot shower later and I was back to my normal green haired self, adept more tired than normal. A little after the first lecture I decided my morning classes were of less importance to me than my lack of sleep and I took up residency next to Linhardt who simply yawned and continued snoring.

I returned to my room during lunch, feeling a bit more well rested but still exceedingly tired from being up virtually all night. I unsuccessfully suppressed another yawn as I threw my homework onto my desk haphazardly and began rooting around my room for the cake box Cereza had given me the week prior. Locating it in a forgotten corner of my room I took the opportunity to box up the best-looking cake and opted to eat the other one for lunch rather than risk dealing with the chefs from this morning.

As I wrapped the box up I sucked softly on my now swollen fingers, a by-product of both my late night sewing exploits and the fact Leonie had managed to win our sparring match by grinding my fingers between her boot and the training yard. Once the small cake box was neatly packaged with a purple ribbon, I sat the small canister of tea on top of it so I would not forget it.

Sitting back to admire my work I eyed the other cake with a sidelong eye. The split candied cherries on top nestled in between what I thought was a hazelnut creme frosting, but it could have easily been the cinnamon and nutmeg one. Deciding that I needed the energy before flight practice I dug around in my travel kit and procured my trusty fork and spoon.

The spare cake quickly disappeared as I ate it for lunch in a last-ditch attempt to gain some energy before training beat the living death into me. I thought it wasn't half bad, turning into a sort of cinnamon, carrot, lemon, and cherry cake with a sweet chili pepper jam center. I licked my fork clean and tried to remember what flavor cake I had packed away for Cereza.

I wasn't sure what my friend would think of it, and as I dug a large hunk of carrot out of my cake I questioned if it had been the best option. I ate the frosting, jam covered hunk of carrot keenly aware that my extra cakes, the ones I had planned to share with my housemates, had never made it out of the kitchen last night when I was thrown out.

Mildly I wondered where they had gone as the lunch bell went off and I reported down to the stables to practice flight patterns. I was grabbing my axe as someone knocked on my door.

Starting to feel like eating an entire cake for lunch was a bad idea, I opened the door to find Lysithea standing there looking downright peeved. "Lilianna! I have been wondering where you disappeared to! Why did you not stop by this morning with cake?"

I adjusted the strap of my training axe and tilted my head in confusion. "Did the kitchen staff throw out all my hard work? I worked all night on those cakes, and they didn't even let you have them for breakfast?"

"I struggle to call those creations on display this morning, cakes. You will at least be delighted to know that you have been officially removed from kitchen duty. Permanently." The white-haired mage shook her head exasperatedly as her voice dripped with a malice I wasn't yet sure what I had done to earn.

I scrubbed my hands through my hair wistfully. "Oh? Really? I thought I was due to scrub more plates today."

Lysithea shook her head again, exasperated with me. The mage then shifted to fold her arms, blocking my exit with her short frame with an exceedingly large look of disapproval on her face. "The head cook came in and begged the professor Hanneman to never let you anywhere near the kitchen ever again. Just what did you do last night?! I thought you were baking CAKES!?"

Her irritation caused her dark purple magic to spark, and I took a step back into my room admitting that I had indeed snuck into the kitchen last night to bake cakes and nothing more.

The mage's hand went up to pinch the bridge of her nose and I kind of got a strange feeling I was looking at myself as she snorted. "I am aware you snuck into the kitchens last night to bake. Your 'cakes' were on display this morning at lunch as things to never eat."

I rubbed the back of my neck uneasily, getting more confused by the minute as to why Lysithea was upset with me.

She let out a stressed sigh and began to rub the bridge of her nose exasperatedly. "Of course, Raphael and Caspar had to try one. They are both in the sick bay with food poisoning now."

My confusion only grew as I learned I had laid two of my classmates out cold with my cooking. "Huh? Oh, I know, it was probably the fish oil. I think it was kind of old."

My confession caused the young mage to look up at me startled. "You...what? You put what kind of oil in the cakes?"

I nodded sagely as I recalled several of the combinations, I had tried last night. "I only put fish oil in one cake. I was skeptical after smelling it cook, so I tried bacon fat or chicken broth in the rest of them."

I tilted my head back and forth in thought trying to remember how many cakes I had pulled out of the over. "I think I made 8 or 9 cakes last night? I was waiting for the dough to rise on the tenth one when they threw me out."

"Why didn't you just follow the instructions I gave you?" Lysithea stomped her foot and glared up at me with hard chips of rose quartz glittering in her eyes.

Under her hard scrutiny I began to think that I was wrong to have tried baking so many different types of cakes. I sheepishly bit my lip trying to explain. "I wanted to experiment! There were so many combinations I wanted to try. Like that strawberry one you had last week, or that one with the cream fillings. I wanted to try things like that."

My short housemate shook her head in disbelief. "I suppose that's not uncommon for you, experimenting like that, but as a beginner you should have just stuck to the basics until you were more confident with them!"

She started to lecture me about following directions and how to best bake cakes using fresh and proper ingredients as I remembered that I had forgotten my gift. I turned around to grab the forgotten gift apologizing. "You are right, I shouldn't have tried anything fancy for my first time. I'll try to do better next time."

"There won't be a next time!" She huffed, unfolding her arms to gesture. "That's the problem Lilianna! You shut down the entire kitchen for the day and we are now forced to have a cookout on the docks!"

I chuckled lightly, remembering the wails of despair from the kitchen this morning. "That bad huh?"

"Could you at least look a bit more concerned?!" My housemate stood to the side to let me pass as I locked the door behind me.

I shook my head with a smirk of amusement at the fact tonight's dinner would be Flayn and Byleth's favorite meal: Fish.

"Na, I had cake for breakfast."


I stored the cake and tea away in Zu's supply closet until after flight practice ended. After I was finished bribing my temperamental wyvern with chicken and finished tending to him. I cleaned up and, after a quick check in with my now napping wyvern, I grabbed the cake and wandered off to fill the teatime hours with searching for Cereza.

I managed to locate the small shaman having tea with one of my housemates. I shook my head as the pair appeared to be chatting happily among the rose gardens, drinking from some of the finest china I had ever laid eyes on.

As I approached, I felt myself being torn between wanting to stay and crashing the tea party just to irritate Lorenz. The other half of me wanted to just drop the gift off and then go take a nap under one of the trees by the lakeside. I mulled over the thoughts, walking to another part of the garden before making up my mind and managed to catch Dimitri having tea with Professor Byleth. Within earshot of the prince and the professor I caught Hilda tossing grapes at Claude who was attempting to catch the flying projectiles with his mouth.

I stood there for a second taking in the somber serious atmosphere of the Blue Lion's tea party and compared it to wild antics of the Golden Deer behind him. I shook my head as I watched Claude pluck a runaway grape out of the air and tensed as the familiar voice drifted over the hedges next to me.

"Hey there cutie, why don't you come join me for some tea?"

Sylvain's invitation drifted over from the gazebo behind me, and I poked my head around a leafy rosebush and spotted the redhead calling out to Dorothea.

The songstress's frigid voice shot the knights' offer down from outside my line of sight. "No thank you. As you can see, I am rather busy right now."

Was this just everyone's idea of a noon teatime? To go on dates?

I sighed as I decided the nap by the pond was the best use of my time, turning around to head back to Lorenz and Cereza thinking I was also going to skip my afternoon classes at this rate.

"The art my family has on display in the castle is exquisite. We collect it from only the finest of artisans. In fact, even our cooks, the ones who made these snacks, are seasoned chefs at the pinnacle of their career. Naturally, they use only the finest of ingredients."

I coughed politely as I could to announce my approach and Lorenz droned on about all the luxuries wealth afforded him. "Ahem, pardon me. I am sorry to interrupt such a resoundingly successful teatime, but I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time Cereza?"

Dark purple eyes lifted towards me as I watched a smile break out on my friend's face. "I am not minding. Lorenz, an additional teacup might you have?"

Lorenz sniffed at my arrival. The noble's refined features clearly showed he was immensely irritated by my abrupt presence that I counted it as a win. "I am afraid, my lady, that I have neglected to bring any spares. I was under the impression that it would be just the two of us today."

I struggled to hide my smirk as I waved my hand to decline the invitation to join them. Instead, I presented Cereza with her gifts. "I will not intrude on your little party for long then."

I looked over at Cereza as she looked at the tea tin with interest. Her fingers traced the labeling, her brow furrowing slightly in concentration. I decided to let her work it out as I turned my attention back to Lorenz. "I just wanted to make sure I got Cereza her gifts before I wandered off for the day."

"Wandering today where?" Cereza inquired her brow furrowing a little further as she attempted to read the ingredients listing on the side.

I yawned, starting to daydream of a cool lake breeze as I lay in the sunny grass. "Hmm, I'm on hunting duty since I am now officially banned from setting foot in the kitchens."

Lorenz rolled his eyes and leaned over the table and Cereza tugged on the ribbon holding the box together. The sleek purple ribbon fell as she lifted the lid off the cake box and gasp. "Oh, I have the surprise!"

The shaman looked over the apple cake with interest. Tiny chunks of apple could be seen under the whipped honey glaze and the smell of cinnamon drifted out of the box. Cereza's wide eyes looked up at me as jubilant sparkles of joy danced in the amethyst depths. "You have been working hard on your cooking skills."

"It's burnt on the edges and why does it smell faintly of bread?" Lorenz looked down at the cake unimpressed. "It's hardly a fitting gift…"

My short friend came to my defense valiantly as she hurried and put her hand over my housemate's mouth with a stern glare. "I will much enjoying this later. Thank you."

I rubbed the back of my head and smiled, thoroughly enjoying Lorenz's discomfort as Cereza continued to limit his ability to nitpick my cooking. "I hope both you and Lorenz enjoy the tea and cake."

Lorenz's eyes narrowed and he struggled to say something however the damage was done. Cereza's eyes twinkled at my suggestion and hurried to set the cake on the table before excitedly popping the top open the tea canister. The force caused the imported tea leaves to scatter all over the pristine white table cloth a bit as she opened the tin. Instantly the apple-cinnamon aroma was overtaken by the spicy blend as the wind picked up the tea leaves and scattered them all around the area.

Cereza lifted the tin to her nose a second later and took a deep sniff. I couldn't tell if she liked it or not, but a heartbeat later I was struggling not to laugh as the shaman promptly stuffed the tea canister under Lorenz's nose next. Gleefully she looked at me with a nod of approval. "The smell is hot. Enjoy a cup with the sweetness I think."

I watched the rose knight's face pale as he took a deep breath. He seemed to be conflicted about saying something as he pushed Cereza's hand away from his face with a stiff pained expression. A sharp look from the birthday girl stopped the noble mid-sentence.

My housemate conceded his defeat for the moment with grace, simply opting to fold his long arms resolutely rather than say anything more with me here. I took the hint though and began to bow out. "I am glad you like your gifts, but I need to be off. A nice sunny spot near the lake is calling my name. Have a pleasant name day Cereza!"

"Wait! "Cereza called out. "Lili-on-a! I want to be knowing if you will be in the library later today?"

I paused and scratched my face sheepishly. "No, I am afraid I won't be there this evening. I have other things I need to focus on right now, with the battle of the Eagle and Lion almost upon us I need to focus up and prepare."

The shaman pouted a bit as I forced a smile, waving my goodbyes as I walked away. "I will hopefully see you tomorrow though!"

Cereza gave me a small wave back as Lorenz sniffed and leaned forward to re-engage his tablemate in conversation.


The next morning during a break between our classes Ferdinand asked to speak with me. I ignored the Black Eagle knight's request; I was far too preoccupied reviewing the new scroll I had managed to get my hands on after pestering Linhardt at the pond yesterday.

I was leaning back in my chair reading through our second break when Claude poked his head over top of me and stared down with a wry grin. "Yo Petal, you have some visitors."

I looked up from the scroll I was reading and stared up at my house leader vexed that he would bother me. Claude's side braid dangling inches from my nose as I scowled up at him.

The golden deer continued grinning as he nodded his head towards the doorway, my house leaders' golden bead swaying a hair's breadth in front of my nose.

I grumbled and went to put my chair back as Edelgard marched in flanked on either side by Hubert and Ferdinand. I focused on the approaching threat as the Black Eagle House leader's keen gaze locked onto both Claude and me.

Edelgard wasted no time addressing her equal. "Claude, I demand a word with you."

The rest of the Golden Deer class froze as our house leader stood up nonchalantly. I noted Claude's hands when straight into his pockets as he tried to play innocent. "Sure thing Princess, what can I help you with on this fine sunny morning?"

Hubert's icy glare locked onto me and I forgot to breathe for a second. My balance went at the same time as my chair slipped and I suddenly found myself acquainted with the floor with a clatter.

I immediately grabbed the back of my head as pain rocketed through me.

"I'm alright!" I called out with a hiss as the several of my housemates snickered around me.

Tension in the room increased as Edelgard's full crimson red cape fluttered dramatically out behind her. The Black Eagle pointed accusingly at the Golden Deer who grinned innocently as the princess scowled darkly. "You deliberately poisoned one of my healers."

Claude's eyes flashed as he changed tactics going immediately to damage control mode. "I'm not sure what you're trying to imply here princess, but I assure you that I did not intentionally poison anyone in your house."

Claude held his arms up as if to proclaim his innocence as Edelgard snorted. "Don't try to hide it. I caught you talking with the professor the other night about using poison to win the battle. Now I am down a healer. Isn't it logical to assume you're targeting my house?"

I twisted to look at the ongoing confrontation and tried to push myself off the floor. I promptly proceeded to bang my head on the table. My head pounding from the recent abuse, I swore softly as I got to my feet.

My house leaders face twitched faintly as I put a hand on the table to steady myself. "Come on now, it was just a jest. Besides when would I have had a chance to poison one of your healers? Seems to me like you should have been taking better care of them."

Claude left off with a cheeky smile as I decided to crawl up on top of the desk, still rubbing my head tenderly.

Edelgard's cape fluttered dangerously as her hand chopped dangerously down to her side. "You are simply using an excuse to avoid admitting your wrongdoing. I will have you answer for this."

I looked at my glove and then put my hand back on top of my head as my vision resumed it's normal stationary position. "Would this by any chance have to do with Cereza? Or would it be Linhardt?"

Edelgard's piercing gaze flickered to me for a second before turning back to Claude. "It doesn't matter. I am at a disadvantage either way and I am certain it has something to do with you Claude."

I ruffled my hair and took a quick breath before butting my nose in again. "I'm not sure why you're accusing Claude of anything. I highly doubt if he wanted to poison you, he would go after just one of your healers. If I was going to be so bold, your highness and those in leadership positions would be more at risk then your healers."

I sensed the malice I was drawing and narrowed my eyes before continuing. My words dripped with a candied sweetness as I continued my observation. "Which if that was the case wouldn't it be better to quarantine and watch for symptoms of poisoning then? Or perhaps instead of throwing around baseless accusations your time might be better spent searching for an antidote?"

Hubert's smooth voice, slick like oil, oozed into the conversation. "That is exactly why we came here to the source of the problem. Unless you have any additional information, I suggest you leave your nose out of our business."

"Aren't you guys blowing this out of proportion just a little bit? I mean you still have your other healer so it's not like you're out of options." My house leader attempted to cut the tension between the Black Eagles and me with a light and airy solution.

The Black Eagle's house leader's lethal glaze snapped back to the Golden Deer who grinned encouragingly back at her. "You have two healers on your team, I demand that one of them step down."

I snorted and jumped off the table in order to go stand at Claude's side. My house leader's eyes drifted over to me as I leaned casually on the edge of the desk, unphased by the Adrestian Princess's attitude.

Folding my arms I tilted my head casually to the side as Claude laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back casually. "It seems to me that all you're doing is throwing blame, looking for some kind of justification to give us a handicap. For all we know your healer might have gotten sick all on their own just to not participate."

Hubert's yellow eyes flashed at the accusation and he crossed his arms while looming behind his house leader lending to the feeling of an ominous presence. The mage's voice was ice cold as he continued staring down at us. "Cereza would not shy away from a battle in which her princess would be taking part in."

Hubert's cold-blooded statement held a ring of truth to it and I sighed heavily.

The mage had just given us an important piece of information. Claude shifted next to me as I closed my eyes in exasperation. "So, it's Cereza then? Interesting, I thought for sure it would have been Linhardt."

Claude followed up my statement with his own. "If its Cereza then, I think I have an answer for you, but by any chance have you even been to see her or spoke with Manuela about this?"

"Hmph. Of course, we have." Edelgard's quick response was enough for my cunning house leader to smell the lie.

The Golden Deer started grinning dangerously and chuckled. "Hehe, maybe you should check in with Cereza before randomly accusing people, princess. Just because I spoke about poisoning my opponents doesn't mean I actually would. Least not out in the open anyway, that was all just a tease just to get you riled up."

I opened my eyes to witness Edelgard pointing a threatening finger at Claude. "That is not funny. I will keep your jests in mind Claude Von Riegan."

"Feel free to keep an eye on me anytime princess." Claude winked the Black Eagle troop filled in line behind their house leader. Edelgard's red cape flared out behind her as she exited out of the classroom and out into the hallway.

I continued to listen as the footsteps of the Adrestian Empire's sole heir echoed down the hallway.

"Zeesh, what's her problem?" The Golden Deer next to me sighed and dropped his hands down as he leaned against the desk.

Claude cocked his head to the side questioningly and I sighed knowing he was going to start searching for information.

My hunch proved to be correct as the Golden Deer's jade eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Say you're pretty close with Cereza, right? Any idea what might be going on?"

I brought my hand back up to ruble my temple, feeling a decent size bump for my troubles. I had a suspicion and looked around the room to confirm it. The classroom was pretty quiet today. Hilda was leaning on Marianne's desk as the healer listened to the tank gush about a new piece of jewelry she had made for Raphael. The huge brawler in question was eating in the corner next to Leonie. They seemed to be talking about workout regimens and which foods were good for building muscle while Ignatz sat quietly next to Lysithea who was reading out of the large leather-bound volume I had caught her with last night.

I was beginning to realize why the class was so peaceful today. "Hmm, where's Lorenz? He isn't here today and normally he follows you around arguing about everything."

I rubbed my temple again feeling like I should see the connection "I wonder what happened to him..."

Suddenly I had a pretty good guess at what happened, and I felt a bubble of laughter start to pierce the relatively quiet atmosphere.

"What's so funny?" Claude leaned on me curiously as I struggled to contain my growing amusement.

"Ahhaha! Oh, oh no! I think I know what's going on!"

The Golden Deer's side pressed playfully up against mine as he leaned over grinning. "Alright I'll bite, what's the joke?"

My hand moved to cover my mouth as I gasp for air between chuckles. "Pfff...I ...made cakes the other night. And I... gave one to Cereza for her birthday yesterday. I may have...she might... have contracted food poisoning! Hahaha! "

My confession caused Claude to raise an eyebrow questioningly. "Food Poisoning? From a cake? What did you make? Oh deer!"

My house leader caught the joke, knowing Lorenz was also caught up in the situation. It was sweet justice because he had been exclaiming arrogantly that he was going to be treating Cereza to the finest tea Gloucester territory had to offer yesterday. Claude's confusion rapidly changed to amusement, then to laughter as he connected all the dots.

"Oh, I get it now! That's why the head cook stopped in and begged me to remove you from the rosters permanently. I was wondering why him and Seteth came to talk with me yesterday with such a strange request!"


Author Corner:

Hello again! It's good to see you all! Things have been kind of busy for me recently with the weather warming up and the snow melting, but I am working very hard to get you new chapters! In fact - I have been grinding out some new chapters here for Lilium that will show up...next chapter? It wasn't planned but when I started my first round of edits things kind of escalated and I was found in a bit of a pickle. So all the nice little bite sized chapters I had waiting to be edited? Ya toss those right out the window and I have been binge writing about 40 pages of adhoc content - but I think you guys will enjoy it. It covers that mystery adventure to the Red Canyon - and it took a couple of unexpected turns. So ya I have been very busy bee writing out some quick content for you all to read!

In fact I am half way through editing the next chapter I am am aiming for a Thursday or Friday release. *fingers crossed Sylvain plays nice with me and he behaves*

Anyway - On to the chapter review! Woo - what a fun chapter. Lili continues to have a series of unfortunate events - it seems her baking skills lack any for of instruction, much like her magic she seems to enjoy experimenting. One has to question her logic on adding fish oil, but Flayn would have probably enjoyed Lili's fish cakes. However in a interesting turn of events Cereza is enjoying tea with Lorenz for her birthday (after a long ride with Ferdinand might I add.) and Lili finds her out in the rose gardens.

Cereza isnt the only one Lili finds out in the garden though - Dimitri seems to be enjoying having tea with his professor while in the distance the Golden Deer's seem to be causing some chaos. Lili gifts Cereza her tea and cake and then wanders off to skip the rest of her classes and pester Lind. The next day class is really quiet but no one seems to pay that much attention to that fact, but when Edelgard marches in with Ferdy and Hubert things get a little tense. Claude and Lili cover for each other, still not quite sure what has gone on but it soon comes out after the princess leaves that it wasn't Claude who poisoned the Black Eagles - but Lili her self!

After everything is all said and done - there's no more scrubbing pots or lending a hand in the kitchen for our heroine - which might end up being a blessing in disguise.

So ya fun chapter - lots of little life events going on and that will continue for the next few chapters as we bring Zu back in for a temperamental flight off to the the Red Canyon - so make sure to follow so you don't miss my next chapter release and if your enjoying Lili's adventures please feel free to give me a favorite or drop an encouraging word in the comments! See ya very soon!