The first thing I noticed upon waking up was that I had fallen asleep in the hallway.
I remembered the wound left on my knuckles when Layda shattered the only tool I had to see the truth.
It was still early.
Dragging myself to my room, I opened the door and collapsed on the bed. My body felt heavy from the exhaustion of having slept no more than three hours and from listening to Lianza cry until sleep overtook her.
Opening the nightstand drawer, I found it: the brown leather first aid kit that every D'Tariel house bodyguard was required to carry in case of any emergency.
It contained linen strips. Calendula ointment. Distilled water. Suture thread. Silver scissors. A vial of coagulant potion that cost more than my monthly salary in my previous life.
Lianza had given it to me in the second month, a week after I had been sworn in by her father. 'If you're going to die for me, at least do it after healing your stupid wounds.' That was how she put it. With that tone that sounded like an insult, but I already knew how to decipher it.
Cleaning my knuckles with the distilled water, I gritted my teeth at the stinging. Three deep cuts on the right hand, two on the left. The watch had shattered in my hands and the metal fragments had torn my skin to the bone in some places.
Applying the ointment, I rolled the linen strips around my knuckles. Flexed my fingers. It hurt, but they responded.
The kit went back in the drawer. Getting dressed, I put on the Elcronne house uniform. A suit with dark gold embroidery on the lapels, collar, and sleeves.
Heading downstairs to the hallway, I found Lianza's door closed.
No noise on the other side anymore. Just silence.
As every day, I waited by the wall. My post. One step behind her door.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽ ☆ ☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
At seven sharp, the door opened.
Lianza stepped out in her class uniform. Hair pinned up. Glasses on. Empero contained, barely a faint glimmer around her.
However, I could notice the redness of her eyes. The evidence of a night spent crying.
She didn't look at me.
"Accompany me to the History classroom."
No name. No 'good morning.' Without the low tone she used when we were alone. It was the voice she used when she put on the mask of the Garnet Ice Queen.
"Yes, my lady."
We walked. She at the front and I one step behind, as always.
The hallway filled with nobles who stepped aside as she passed. Some looked at me with pity. Others with disdain. The Dog at Her Heels, now without a collar.
Arriving at the classroom, Lianza entered first. She took her usual seat: last row on the left, by the window.
I stayed standing by the door. It was the spot I took until class began.
Ardwyn hadn't arrived yet. Neither had Layda.
[Available Mission: The exchange student from Rahlarka Academy has suffered a tea spill on her blouse. Help her clean up before she reaches the classroom. 🫖]
I blinked. Was that it? A tea spill?
[Penalty for refusal: Lianza will suffer migraines during the entire etiquette class. She won't be able to concentrate. Wilda will lower her grade. Her average will drop. Do you know what that means for an engaged princess, Romeo? 😊]
Migraines. In House D'Tariel, a low grade was synonymous with failure, and failure with weakness. And weakness was reason enough for her father to pressure her even more.
Where is she? I asked the System.
[South hallway. By the windows. You have four minutes. ⏳]
Leaving the classroom, I walked fast. The south hallway was empty at this hour.
I found her by the windows: a girl with copper-red hair, tanned skin, and the Rahlarka uniform (navy blue with silver embroidery), staining her blouse with hot tea.
Her hands trembled.
A broken porcelain cup lay at her feet.
"Are you alright?"
She looked up. Pine-green eyes. Frightened.
Too young to be alone in an academy full of nobles willing to send her to the gallows if it benefited them.
"No, no. It's my first day and already..." her voice broke. "It slipped. It's embarrassing."
Pulling my handkerchief from my pocket, I offered it to her.
"It's not embarrassing," I corrected her with full courtesy. "It's a spill, a small accident. It happens."
She took the handkerchief. Pressed it against the stain. The tea had soaked the blouse below the bodice.
"Thank you. You're... are you from Mayorka?"
I didn't blame her. My house's uniform made it look like I wasn't.
"Yes. I'm Dariel Elcronne."
"Lady Anaïs. Uh... I'm from Rahlarka." She gave a small, clumsy curtsy. "Sorry about the mess."
"Your uniform gives you away."
[+5 Experience Points → Aura/Charisma.]
[See? That was easy. And now...]
[Mission: Invite Lady Anaïs to have tea with you this afternoon.]
[Penalty for refusal: Poor Lady Anaïs, so lonely and lost in a new academy, will faint from hunger in Empero class for not knowing where the dining hall is. Very sad. 🥺]
I looked at the girl. She was trembling.
It was understandable. It was her first day in a foreign country, in an academy on the other side of Earolden, knowing no one.
I realized what all of this meant.
This is all part of your plan, isn't it? I asked the Harem System.
[😊]
"Lady Anaïs."
"Yes?"
"Mayorka's dining hall is in the north wing, by the winter gardens. They serve cinnamon tea at four. If you need company, you can sit with me whenever you like."
Her pine-green eyes lit up.
"Really?" she said. "It wouldn't bother you?"
"Not at all."
[Mission completed! What a gentleman!]
[Note: You didn't say 'date.' You said 'company.' I'm watching you, Romeo. 😏]
Anaïs smiled. She pocketed my handkerchief without thinking. She said goodbye with another clumsy curtsy and walked toward the classroom.
Left in the hallway, I stood there with five more experience points and the sensation of having been manipulated without realizing it.
Returning to the classroom, I found Lianza hadn't moved from her seat. Ardwyn had arrived and was sitting next to her, whispering something in her ear. Layda was in the front row, her closed notebook on her desk.
Lianza didn't look at me when I entered. But her garnet Empero flickered. A flash, brief.
I sat in the seat Ardwyn had assigned me: front row, next to Layda.
Layda leaned toward me, her shy smile occupying her entire face.
"Hi, Dariel."
"Layda."
"Are you alright? You have bandaged hands."
Layda widened her smile.
So that was how things were going to be? Two can play at that game, Layda.
"I fell."
"How unfortunate."
Six rows back, Lianza touched her left lens. She lowered it. She put it back up.
Although she had done it instinctively, it was our signal. But we were no longer 'us.' There were no more signals.
Or so she believed.