Hayden glides down the hall, with Clyde jogging behind him to keep up. As Hayden crosses the threshold to the bathroom, Clyde hesitates for a moment. Aithne steps out of the bathroom, noticing Clyde's hesitation.

"How are you feeling?" she asks softly, as she leans against the wall near the window.

Clyde nods, "Nervous."

Aithne chuckles. "It's understandable. You're about to undergo your baptism, the event that will determine your role in society based on the class you awaken."

Clyde nervously starts messing with his fingernails as Hayden steps out of the bathroom and hands him some robes. "Get changed into these," Hayden mumbles, with food stuffed in his cheeks. Clyde takes the robes, dusting off the food crumbs that flew from Hayden's mouth. He looks down at the fine, white linen fabric embroidered with gold.

"Hayden, go ahead and gather everyone here," Aithne orders.

"Yes ma'am," Hayden replies.

Aithne looks out the window and gently commands, "Change."

Feeling no sense of privacy and being so close to Aithne, Clyde quickly pulls off his shirt and pants and slips into the soft robes.

"I expect great things from you, Clyde. I have invested more into you than I have in any other person," Aithne says.

"Why so much into me?" Clyde asks, smoothing out the bottom of the robe to his feet.

Aithne purses her lips. "That is a good question. Do you want me to be honest?"

"Yes," Clyde replies.

Aithne sighs heavily and gazes at the courtyard through the glass pane. "You look like my late husband. Your face, stature, body - they are all the same, Clyde. That's originally why I purchased you," she says.

Clyde thinks back to the painting in the hall and the eerie feeling it gave him. "Yeah... I thought that might be the case," he says.

Aithne turns to Clyde. "Whether you did or didn't makes little difference. Now, things have changed," she says.

"What do you mean?" Clyde asks.

"I know you aren't him... Your smell, words, and kindness - they are all vastly different," Aithne says, her eyes fixed on Clyde intently. "Lord Raine was strong and unrelenting. If he were in your place, with the charges brought forth against him, he would have denied Perpetua's authority and killed Garson in a duel. Yet, I have no doubt that Garson would have never brought forth those charges in the first place if they were against Lord Raine."

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"He sounds like he was an interesting person," Clyde says.

Aithne smiles a little. "He was... I miss him terribly," she says.

"I'm sorry," Clyde says solemnly.

"He was someone that I loved dearly... more than anything. But, it seems my heart has made a shift recently... it wants you, Clyde," Aithne confesses, almost in a whisper.

Clyde could feel his face flush red hot. "Wha...?"

Aithne moves from the window to Clyde. "Shhh. I've tried to seduce you, yet you're too modest. I will make you mine someday, though..." She caresses Clyde's face and runs her thumb across his lips.

"Today won't be that day. But, one day, I will make you cherish me the same way I cherish you," Aithne says.

She slowly drops her hand from Clyde's cheek and walks through the threshold into the bath's interior chamber. "Come along, then," she calls back playfully.

Clyde follows behind Aithne to the bath, which has been converted into a baptismal font. Instead of the normal, medicinal waters the color of light jade filling the bath, the water waiting for Clyde has a ghostly blue glow to it.

Clyde's heart beats quickly as he steps into the bath, which is luckily warmer than his first visit.

Well, this is odd… he thinks to himself.

Even though the temperature of the water was warm, Clyde felt hot inside his body - almost as if the blood coursing through his veins was rising in temperature.

As Clyde wades further into the bath, Hayden enters the room with a bottle in his hands, followed by Airi and Meiri. The twins make their way into the bath as well and station themselves at Clyde's sides.

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Hayden hands the potion to Clyde from the side of the tub. "Drink this," he says.

Clyde pops the cork off the potion and drinks it with a few gulps. As he hands the flask back to Hayden, he feels the world slow and an overwhelming sense of vertigo hits him.

"Wha... What is happening?" Clyde asks, his vision blurring.

Meri and Airi then grab both of his arms.

"The mana inside your body is being stimulated," Hayden explains, though his voice sounds distant to Clyde. He looks to Meri, then Airi. "Submerge him."

The twins then slowly pull Clyde down beneath the water, allowing him to float up to the surface on his back. As his body stabilizes, his arms push up against Meri and Airi's breasts. As his world is spinning, Clyde closes his eyes to focus on the nice, buoyant feeling. This isn't so bad, actually, he thinks to himself.

After laying still for a while, he notices the unusual silence and a loss of sensation. He can't feel Airi or Meri holding him anymore. "Is something supposed to happen?" he asks.

"Hello?" Clyde calls out, waiting for a response.

With no reply, Clyde sits up, blinking away the water droplets falling from his hair. "What the..." he says, confused.