When Catherine went from the head of the king's guard to the future queen her life immediately changed. The shift wasn't as great as that of Byleth's but even she felt it jarring when she suddenly couldn't even walk across the hall in the palace without someone stopping to bow to her. She was taken back to her days as Cassandra, living with her parents and siblings in Faerghus. Catherine brushed those thoughts aside as she pushed open the door to Byleth's room, or rather their shared room.
"Hey Honey" Catherine said as she walked in. The room was entirely dark save the lights of the city outside bleeding into the room and a handful of candles at Byleth's desk. She reached over Byleth, still sitting and looking down, and grabbed one of the candles.
"How was your day dear?" Byleth asked, looking up from the letter he was reading.
"You know, still getting used to being known as the future queen and not the current captain" the knight answered as she started going around the room lighting candles. Catherine approached her fiance, she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulders.
"What have you got there?" she asked, now glancing over the letter her fiance was looking at.
Byleth sighed and turned to face her but as he opened his mouth to answer her she leaned forward and gave him a light kiss. Byleth blushed and he took a moment to regain his composure and answer her question. "Just an invitation from Lorenz".
"Oh," she said, pulling back "and what did the new head of house Gloucester invite you to?"
"A grand ball, to help ease any tensions between nobles from the former empire and kingdom." Byleth responded before handing her the letter.
Catherine glanced over the letter before handing it back. "Seems pretty formal, but I'm sure the tailor already has something for you to wear though."
"And what about you?" the King asked the future Queen.
She gestured around herself, "Same thing as your coronation. I might try switching out some of the white for black though. What do you think?"
"Don't you think it would send the wrong message if the future queen showed up to a ball meant to help smooth relations ready for a fight?"
"Oh I don't think it would be that bad, after all right now I'm still a knight and your personal protector" she replied with a slight chuckle.
Byleth and Catherine stared at each other for an awkward moment before she broke the silence with an annoyed groan. "Fine, you're right I guess I'll have to dress up and leave Thunderbrand here."
Byleth stood up and kissed his fiance on the cheek. "Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah" she said, allowing a smile to break through her facade of annoyance. "Wait, does this mean that I'll have to wear heels?"
Evidently the answer would be yes. For all of the outfits that had been made for her all of them had included heels of some kind. After trying on a dozen or so Catherine chose a relatively simple outfit. She chose it partially because it was the dress that constricted her movements the least and partially because the heels of the tall boots it came with were shorter than the stilettos of the others. The whole outfit was mostly black with purple highlights and embroidered with gold, while both Byleth and Catherine had found it extravagant their tailors had both said that nothing less would work for the King and his future Queen. Byleth's outfit was similarly styled to Catherine's, the tailors had gone out of their way to ensure that any selection Catherine had made would fit well with her fiance's.
All during the carriage ride to Lorenz's family estate Byleth found himself enamored by the beauty that sat across from him. During all of their time together this was the first time he had seen her in makeup, he didn't know how but it somehow made his perfect lady even more beautiful.
"You know, the last time I had to dress up like this was when I was graduating from Garreg Mach." she said, still fiddling with a glove that had also come with the dress.
"Really? You never went to a formal event with Rhea?" Byleth asked with a slight grin.
"I never said that," she replied, adjusting her necklace. "But whenever I went to them it was always as security, like at your coronation. This is the first time in over a decade for me to be invited as a guest."
"You still have more experience than me" Byleth said now with a full smile "you at least spent your younger years among nobility, the only preparation I have is Garreg Mach's ball and what lessons Ferdinand and Lorenz were able to teach me before my coronation."
The pair felt the carriage come to a stop and took a moment to look over themselves one last time.
"Don't worry we're the royal couple and right now we get to set the trends for everyone else to follow. You could trip up the stairs into the manor and you would see nobles across the land doing it just to copy you" Catherine said with a smile.
A second later the door to the carriage opened and Byleth took Catherine's hand and stepped outside. Lorenz's family estate was certainly impressive in terms of size and extravagance, looking at its front Byleth felt it could easily compare to the administrative palace in Derdriu. Looking around he saw a nearby vineyard backlit by the setting sun, undoubtedly the Glouceseter's personal wine supplier. He also saw various attendants around, ranging from house Glouceseter staff to the royal couple's personal guard (all of whom Catherine had hand picked).
As they walked to the entrance of the estate Byleth took notice that the path was lined with multicolored roses, red, blue, and yellow, all the same flower just different colors, Byleth was sure that Claude would have gotten a chuckle out of that. The process of getting to the door was somewhat slow going as Catherine somewhat struggled to walk in her heels and she found herself leaning on her husband rather frequently.
"Dammit" Catherine swore under her breath as she nearly tripped once again. " I never understood how Manuela could walk in these, much less fight!"
"You're doing fine" Byleth said, still being sure to support his fiance. "You told me you've worn heels before, you just have to remember how to walk in them again".
"That was over a decade ago and I hated it then too!" she replied "You are right though, the muscle memory has slowly been coming back though."
Eventually the pair were able to make their way to the entrance where they found a familiar face waiting for them.
"Ah, Professor, Catherine, it's so good to see both of you!" Lorenz called out as he stepped out from the entryway to greet them. He was wearing a no doubt expensive purple suit.
"Lorenz, how've you been?" Byleth replied enthusiastically.
"I've been doing quite well, please come inside" he said gesturing to the open doorway "most of the others are already inside."
As the pair entered into the main hall they were met by a butler and a maid both of whom greeted them by bowing.
"Your excellency, milady, we would be honored if we may take your coats" the butler said.
Byleth and Catherine both took off their coats and handed them to the butler and maid respectively. As the two servants left, Lorenz directed the royal couple to the ballroom.
"Lorenz, I'm sure it's good to see your former classmates again, did you have any special plans with any of them?" Catherine asked as they entered the ballroom.
"That reminds me," Lorenz said, stopping to look directly at the pair, "a small bit of advice from a friend and a person more accustomed to the life of nobility. You should use events like these as opportunities to get to know important figures you otherwise might not have."
Byleth looked around the ballroom and saw many faces he recognized and many more he did not. He was sure that many of them had attended his coronation but seeing them one time two months ago didn't give him much to remember.
"Of course, it's still good to spend time catching up with old friends but do try to save some time for new faces." Lorenz added on.
"My lord?" a butler said from behind Lorenz "You said you wished to be notified when Miss Pinelli arrived, she is arriving now."
"Thank you." Lorenz said, "I apologize but I need to step away for a while, but if you ever require anything please don't be afraid to ask me or any of my waitstaff. The banquet will start in an hour, please feel free to mingle."
"Don't worry," Catherine said sticking an arm around her fiance's "compared to some of the scrapes we've all been through together this is nothing."
With that Lorenz went back to the front and left them with the rest of the partygoers.
"So when do you think he'll make his big announcement?" Catherine quietly asked in Byleth's ear.
Byleth looked to her for a moment before he realized what she was referring to.
"I'd give him some time," Byleth whispered back "our noble friend will probably want to get situated before he comes forward about his love of a commoner."
Catherine gave a slight chuckle. "Come on let's go, I think I just saw Ashe over by the drinks table" she said, giving a slight tug on her fiance's arm.
The two spent the next hour in polite conversation catching up with old friends and meeting with new acquaintances. Catherine for the most part was the one choosing where to go and who to talk to. Byleth couldn't place her reasons for when she insisted on switching conversation but it also somewhat meant they moved around frequently.
After an hour passed food was brought out and the banquet started. The royal couple were seated at the head of the table with Lorenz, Ferdinand as well as several other important members of nobility he was less familiar with. The meal went without a hitch, Byleth being sure to make use of all of the table manners he had been taught. As the night was getting late many of the attendees were slowly leaving for their journeys back to their home territories.
"Either way I'm glad you two went public when you did" Ferdinand said with a grin "the number of times I heard a noble's plan to marry the king and I just had to sit there pretending I knew nothing was too much."
The couple gave a chuckle, "I'm glad us having to make our announcement had at least a few upsides" Catherine replied.
"Well, with that I'm afraid I must bid all of you adieu" Ferdinand said standing up from the table "the trip back to Aegir is long and I need to leave soon if I am to make it back on time."
"It was good catching up with you" Byleth said standing up and shaking his former student's hand "I hope we meet again soon."
"As do I, Professor" he said as he left.
They watched quietly as Ferdinand left before standing up themselves. "It is pretty late and we should get going too," Byleth said to Lorenz.
"Of course Professor, as always it was great seeing the both of you" Lorenz replied as he shook Byleth's hand.
"Excuse me," a voice came from behind "before you go I would like to have a word with the king and queen"
Byleth turned around and saw a face he had made sure to remember, even though he had seen it only once before.
"I am Castor Charon" he said, "lord of House Charon, we met before at-"
"The coronation" Byleth interrupted as he extended a hand in greeting.
"Ah, I'm glad to see you remember me," Castor said as he shook his king's hand.
"Father it's, um, good to see you" Catherine said with a strained smile.
"Cassandra, it's been far too long," he replied before putting a hand on her shoulder.
Instinctively her right hand slowly shifted to her side where normally Thunderbrand would be. Byleth saw her obvious tension in what should have been a happy reunion and felt puzzled by his Fiance's reactions.
"I just wanted to congratulate both of you on the engagement and to extend an invitation to visit Styx." Castor said to the couple.
Byleth tried to remember what he could about Styx but very little came up in his memory. From the context he could guess it was likely house Charon's seat of power and Catherine's childhood home.
"The rest of the family was hoping that they could catch up with Cassandra and meet the man who stole her heart." the Count said, gesturing to Byleth.
"I think a visit would be nice when we have time." Byleth replied.
"I…" Catherine said with a brief pause, "of course, I would love to see mother and the others again."
"Thank you, your majesty," Castor said with a small bow "our hospitality is always open to the both of you. I'll leave you both to the rest of your night."
Once Castor had left, both quietly collected their things and left the ball. Only once they had left Lorenz's estate and began their walk back to their carriage did Byleth feel the need to talk about what had happened.
"Your father seemed nice," Byleth said almost absentmindedly .
"Did none of that feel off to you?" Catherine replied "before I left I would have described him as a kind man but that was a decade ago and never like that."
"You did spend a decade apart, maybe that's why he was so eager to see you."
"That could be it but I doubt that with what happened to Prince Dimitri his disposition would improve."
Byleth stopped walking for a moment. Prince Dimitri's death at Gronder Field effectively signaled the end of resistance against the dukedom in Faerghus. Had the war gone on for much longer after that it would have been doubtful for Fraldarius and Gautier to avoid total collapse.
"Did your father support Prince Dimitri during the war?" Byleth asked his fiance.
"At the Battle of Gronder I saw the banners of house Charon on the prince's side." she solemnly answered "I likely crossed blades with men loyal to my family that day."
Catherine cursed quietly. The whole battle at Gronder had been an unnecessary tragedy spurred on by the prince's madness. The clash between Kingdom and Alliance forces had been an unnecessary loss of life that only benefited their enemies. She still found herself wondering if things could have turned out differently on that fateful day.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring up any regrets" Byleth reached out to comfort the woman he loved "we don't have to visit if you don't want to"
"No, throughout everything that's happened in my life I know that I don't regret fighting for you that day" she said, pulling Byleth closer "No matter the reason for my father's attitude it'll be good to return home."
"I look forward to seeing your home as well until then you can tell me all about it"
Catherine spent much of the remaining night telling her lover stories from her childhood and simply enjoying his company. For his part Byleth listened and did the same for the entire carriage ride back to Derdriu.
Author's Note:
Hey hey again! Sorry for the long time between uploads, college is currently kicking my ass but I'm still trying to find time to write for you guys. I hope that this latest chapter was at least a little bit worth the long wait. Also as a side note when I gave Catherine's father a first name I had no idea there was a different character in Fire Emblem that had that name and at this point I've just decided to keep it.