Ella sat by the bed, waiting, bored out of her mind.
Sitting and sitting, she started getting drowsy again, so she simply fetched a stool, slumped forward onto the edge of the bed, and fell asleep like that.
When Elos woke, still fuddled, she groped around beside her, meaning to throw off the blanket, and the first thing her hand found was a mass of fluffy hair.
"?!"
Elos sat bolt upright in a cold sweat.
She saw the girl draped over the edge of the bed, breathing evenly. Ella's brow was faintly furrowed, as though she were having a nightmare. Her hands were folded under her head, and the fabric at her right shoulder was the dark brown of dried blood—the mark Elos herself had left the night before.
Something possessed her, because what Elos felt was a wash of satisfaction, and only after that did she start wondering why Ella was in here at all.
"Mm..."
Contrary to expectation, Elos wasn't angry.
Asleep, Ella was rather well behaved. If she could be made to look tearful too, that would be better still.
Elos hesitated a while, then reached out and lightly touched the top of the girl's head.
The hair was soft and fluffy. It felt good.
"Nn? Haaawn."
She had been sleeping lightly, and at the movement above her Ella drifted awake.
Sitting up, she found herself face to face with Elos on the bed.
"Cough, cough..."
Her throat was uncomfortable. She coughed twice, and remembered why she had come: to try flattering Elos.
Probably won't do a thing, she thought.
"Oh, you're awake. Are you thirsty? I'll pour you some water."
"Has the fever cooked your brain?"
"..."
Ella froze. Her shoulders twitched.
"It hasn't. I just wanted to try, you know, currying favor?"
Ella simply came out with it. She could hardly treat the other one as an idiot; sooner or later Elos would work out what she was after anyway.
Ella's head was down, hands on her knees.
"Let's call a truce! How about it?"
"Heh. I'm the one holding all the power here. Why on earth would I call a truce?"
At the words, Ella went still.
True enough. If bullying her was enjoyable, and there was no pressure from outside, what reason did she have to let her off?
Tch. Detestable. What a detestable personality.
"Getting along properly. Being friends... wouldn't that be nice too?"
"Friends?!"
Elos's eyes went wide.
Setting aside where Ella had gotten such a bizarre idea, weren't the two of them supposed to be an engaged couple, wife and wife?
"Hff. I have no desire to be your friend. And don't go thinking about truces, or about currying favor, either. Because I intend to keep amusing myself with you."
Elos had no friends. She didn't need any, she thought.
"...Tch."
Ella closed her eyes. She had known it wouldn't work, so why had she come here and asked for trouble?
Bracing a hand against her forehead, Ella stood.
She was just about to leave when Elos suddenly caught her hand.
"What? I thought you didn't want a truce."
"I haven't dealt with you barging into my room yet."
The golden-haired girl sat there in loose sleepwear, languid and alluring, and the nasty smile on her face and the cunning at the back of her eyes made a person's blood run cold.
"You—!"
Ella tugged at her hand. It didn't come free.
Something ached in her chest again, and Ella lowered her head.
"So what do you want?"
She was genuinely tired.
"How about this. You kneel down and crawl in a circle or two in front of me, and I'll forgive you for coming into my room. How does that sound?"
Elos said it as though it were nothing.
Visibly, Ella's fist closed again.
"No."
She turned and left.
***
Ella left. In the end there really was nothing to say between her and Elos.
Elos hadn't forced her to stay, so perhaps it was fine?
But Ella found that nobody brought her medicine. Nothing for the cold, nothing for the wounds, not one thing.
The bite on her shoulder itched relentlessly and her head grew dizzier, and lying on her bed Ella kept falling asleep and kept waking again.
She felt a great deal of time had passed. It hadn't. She judged its length by whether she was hungry.
Stubbornly refusing to go and beg Elos again, refusing to kneel and crawl the way that vile creature wanted, Ella just endured it and tried to sleep the illness off.
She was dragged bodily out of her blankets by Elos toward evening.
"..."
Her vision was going. Ella couldn't keep her feet and braced herself with effort against a low table by the bed.
Most of her clothes were soaked through with sweat, and she looked blearily at Elos in front of her.
Was this one here to torment her again?
"Stop sleeping. Don't be a layabout. I'm going to practice magic. You're carrying my staves."
Elos glanced at her. The girl's condition had reached a certain point; she looked ready to fall over at any moment, swaying where she stood.
"You... hff... at least let me rest properly for one day..."
Ella's voice had gone soft.
"Why should I? I still haven't dealt with this morning."
Elos narrowed her eyes.
"If you don't want dinner, you don't have to come."
It looked as though Elos were offering a choice. She wasn't. Ella didn't want to go hungry, so Ella did as she was told.
"You... are really awful."
"Thank you for the compliment. Everyone says so."
Elos turned and walked slowly toward the door.
All Ella could do was sway along behind her, and thank God she had eaten those two extra loaves in the morning, or she thought her state would have been worse still.
She couldn't help thinking how slowly time was passing. When would the academy's summer holiday end? When would this blonde bastard finally disappear from in front of her?
Drifting, her body rocking, Ella kept walking into the castle walls.
Thank God there were no armor stands in the corridors, or Ella would most likely have brained herself on the weaponry.
By the time she had struggled her way to the outer bailey's storehouse, Ella's head was heavy and her feet were light.
"This staff was my seventh birthday present, this one was the ninth, this one the eleventh. Oh, and this was the prize for placing first in the magic examination, and this one was a gift from His Majesty the Emperor especially. And this one, and this one, and that one. Ella, take all of these. I'll rotate through them."
Elos was offhand about it, pointing here and there, picking a dozen or more out of a whole wall of staves.
Magic practice did not in fact require this many. She only wanted to make it hard for Ella.
While Elos was choosing, Ella caught hold of one of her wrists.
"Mm?"
Her left arm sank a little, and something wet and cold touched her wrist. Elos turned her head.
Ella could barely keep her eyes open. Her knees were slightly bent, and both hands gripped Elos's left hand hard.
"Milady... let me rest a while, please. I'm begging you. And I still have wounds on my arms, I really can't carry this much."
Ella made herself patient, pleading in a low voice.
Her cheeks were an odd shade of red. She had a fever.
"Later. Later, once I'm better, I'll do anything you want, take it as me begging, all right?"
Ella wasn't stupid enough to know nothing about her own body. If she went and hauled a full dozen staves in this state, something was going to happen.
There was open entreaty in her voice now.
"Dearest, finest, gentlest milady, just... cough, cough, cough, cough... spare me a little consideration, would you?"
The words were earnest, and had flattery in them. The praise was thoroughly false, but for Ella it was already everything she had.
"No. Why should I spare you any consideration? Because you hit me once?"
Looking at the girl's fragile state, Elos wavered for a moment.
Of course, she made up her mind soon enough.
This time she would surely manage to bully her into crying.