Solomon stood in the doorway of Beatrice's dorm room and asked, "Are you sure you don't need anything else, Saintess?" His eyes scanned the plain room with dissatisfaction. A rugged wood table with a common dining chair sat against one wall with a bookshelf that held only a few books next to it. A bed with clean linens but only two pillows was in the corner so as not to be in the light that was let in from the window and was far enough away from the fireplace to not accidentally catch fire.
"I'm sure." Beatrice could easily see what Solomon was thinking, but her room didn't bother her in the slightest. To a noble, this room would be subpar, but to a commoner who grew up in an orphanage, this was already luxurious. "Thank you for seeing me back."
"Of course, Saintess." Solomon gave an exaggerated bow and added, "If you ever need any help, I am both your teacher and fellow faithful so my door is always open to you. May your soul remain forever kindled." After giving a goodbye, Solomon exited the room and closed the door behind him.
"…" Once he left, Beatrice's kind smile faded to one of indifference as she went to her desk to organize her things. She held no affection for Solomon despite what she knew she had to do, and would at times wish she was allowed to hate him. Why would Alm allow him to continue existing while falsely claiming the title of Elder? But those thoughts would need to wait as she had more pressing things to worry about. Olivia was the next empress of Arlexia and wouldn't sit idle after being insulted in front of everyone like tha- "She's not like that!" …Beatrice chastised the air while denying the truth. "If it were the past me, I would've believed that. But now I know better!" She stood up from her desk and looked out the window of her room as if looking at something. "Her Highness is different, she's not as…broken as she used to be. It's because of the Harbinger, right?" …A blue square appeared in front of Beatrice's face.
(With more time comes events new and old!)
(Strings of fate were pulled to weave a new tapestry out of familiar threads!)
(Not everything is as it was, but that's part of the challenge!)
(Navigate new dynamics and achieve your goal!)
"…" Beatrice read over the message and gave a tired sigh. "She's not a bad person," she justified to herself to try and feel bad for the antagonist of her story. "An antagonist doesn't mean she's evil, just that she's trying to stop the story from reaching your desired end." Beatrice was, technically, correct. "Yes… So please don't insult Her Highness like that. She's a kind person who is being forced to be on the wrong side of history…which I feel bad for." Beatrice remembered her brief interactions with Olivia in this life fondly. Olivia was always the one to approach first and never seemed to hold ill intentions with them often just chatting about school or daily life in the academy. They even had lunch together a few times, but that would probably not happen anymore. Beatrice once more gave a tired sigh as she resolved herself to see this through and save her homeland, no matter the cost. "…Zulm's will be done." My will be done.
***
Time passed once more and the chill of winter arrived with a biting cold and blankets of snow that covered the academy where groundskeepers desperately tried their best to keep clear so the students would have paths to walk on. A curtain of gray clouds blocked the sun while a light snow flurry danced through the air over the academy. Many students were bundled tightly in their winter coats as they meandered to and from their classes.
"Achoo!" Like Cassandra who tightened the pink and white striped scarf around her neck to hide how miserable her expression was and to protect against the frigid air. "The capital's always had mild winters, so why is our first school year's so harsh?" She rubbed her pink-gloved hands together to try and stave off the chill that was managing to seep through.
"Lord Sen's probably upset about something," Lucina mused while adjusting her own red scarf and kicking a ball of snow off the path. The snowball exploded into a puff of powdery snow that covered and stuck to her boot. As she tried to shake the snow off, a sharp breeze loosened her scarf and chilled her already red cheeks.
"Then he should take it out on the ones involved," Olivia said while stopping to properly tie Lucina's scarf around her so that it wouldn't fall off. Her eyes lingered on Lucina's red cheeks and she asked, "How're your hands?"
"They're fine," Lucina answered while enjoying having Olivia fuss over her.
Olivia, not believing her, muttered to herself, "Maybe we should find a way to make self-warming mittens."
"Yes! Please!" Cassandra immediately jumped into the moment at the thought of toasty mittens.
Lucina considered it for a moment before saying, "But it would burn through the material."
"Not necessarily," Olivia said as she finished adjusting Lucina's scarf. "According to Margaret, Itrecha discovered a way to cure a beast's hide to make it resistant to burning and they're starting to sell it. If we add a layer of that material then we might be able to find a way to make self-warming gloves."
"Well," Lucina was sad that Olivia finished but stayed on topic, "If you can get me some of that leather, then I'll see what I can do."
"I'll send her a letter telling her to start purchasing some." The past few months were tense between Olivia and Lucina, but Olivia ultimately decided to believe in Lucina despite the evidence gathered by the Silk Sparrows and her own experiences. As a variable in the original game, Lucina played a very minor part and only made a major appearance at the end of one route which led Olivia to believe Lucina wasn't a key player in the original Olivia's downfall. She didn't want to spend her time looking over her shoulder at what Lucina was doing when she wanted to focus her attention on the capture targets and how to maintain a good relationship with the Saintess. Perhaps the Olivia from the game gave up on her Lucina which sealed the enslavement ending? But, was that her only reason for not giving up on Lucina? "Either way, we should hurry to the dining hall since I'm also starting to feel the cold." Olivia knew better. While she wanted to avoid the enslavement ending, she also wanted to remain Lucina's friend. She enjoyed Lucina's company and her, while sometimes a bit extreme, sense of snarky humor. They had spent years together and it was hard for Olivia to imagine her life without Lucina. Perhaps, if Lucina had died during the war, she would have gone mad from guilt in her early years and fallen to become the heinous villainess from Finding Arlexia's Light? "Pfft!" She recalled the memory of Lucina's scrunched up face while making the doll of Olivia and couldn't help but laugh.
"What is it?" Lucina asked.
"Just remembering how cute you used to be," Olivia playfully answered.
"…" Lucina averted her face and was glad her cheeks were hidden behind her scarf. "I still am cute."
"Nonsense!" Cassandra jumped in front of Lucina, causing her to halt in her tracks. "Even if you used to be cute, you shouldn't use that to deny your growing femme fatal figure!"
"…Who's teaching you these words?" Lucina asked as she took a step back from Cassandra's intense stare.
"Back then!" Cassandra completely ignored Lucina's question and continued, "You used to be so small and adorable like I was! But while I still hold my slightly round cuteness from those days, you've begun to grow into a leaner, mature sexiness! Which is why," Cassandra took an aggressive step toward Lucina who took another step back, "You should join Olivia and I on our shopping trip next week!" Cassandra's true intentions were revealed.
"…Slightly round?" Lucina repeated with disbelief. Cassandra was a bit taller than Lucina and she still held the same round face she always had that gave her a cutesy aesthetic, but Lucina didn't believe the 'slightly' part when Cassandra had the largest chest out of all of them.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Give me just one day and I'll make you the talk of the academy," Cassandra was oddly adamant about this, and a fire burned in her eyes.
"…" Lucina looked to Olivia for help but Olivia was too busy trying and failing to hide her amused smile at their conversation beneath her yellow scarf while silently giggling to herself.
Sensing Lucina's hesitance, Cassandra threw out the bait she knew would work to convince Lucina and whispered into her ear, "Since it'll be all three of us, even Olivia will be dressing up. She would wear whatever you picked out for her. Maybe something matching?"
"…!" Lucina flinched as her mind imagined Olivia wearing a dress that she specifically picked out and the radiant smile she'd give her while wearing it to match her own. "…I suppose I could make time," Lucina mumbled while trying to ignore Cassandra's knowing gaze and cat-like smile.
"Then, it's decided!" Cassandra happily declared much to Lucina's chagrin. "Come Wednesday, we'll meet at Madam Herriot's boutique and-"
"Pardon me, Your Highness." Interrupting the conversation, Andrew Mystyr and a few wizard students approached Olivia with determined, yet uneasy expressions on their faces. "But, I need a word."
"Hmph!" Cassandra puffed out her chest and raised her nose at the wizards before chastising, "Making demands of Her Highness? I thought wizards were at least taught basic manners." Cassandra, like the rest of the nobility of Holst, was hostile with wizards as they were firmly faithful to the gods.
"Unfortunately," Andrew countered with a neutral tone that felt indifferent toward Cassandra's remark, "It was Her Highness who showed rudeness first, so I'm returning it in kind."
"My rudeness?" Olivia couldn't recall any recent event that had her insult the wizards, so she was genuinely confused as to what Andrew was talking about. "Have I done something to insult the tower?"
"Aside from your inventions?" Andrew dryly remarked. Wizards had created a monopoly over magic items, but every time Olivia came out with a new product it weakened their hold and inspired Magisters to take up the craft of enchanting items. The items would never be as good as what Lucina could make, but every new item cut into the tower's profits. "But I'm not here for that. This time I'm returning a favor for someone."
"A favor?" Olivia scoffed and cocked an eyebrow at Andrew's reason.
"I would ask that you stop having the Saintess bullied."
"!?!" Andrew's words stunned the three girls for different reasons: Cassandra felt annoyed that a wizard was using the Saintess as an excuse, Olivia was nervous that a capture target was close enough to the Saintess to start confronting her, and Lucina was amused since the original plan was that James would be with the Saintess and not Andrew. With both Lucina and Cassandra physically with her, Olivia felt more in control and argued back, "Since when have I bullied the Saintess?"
"You're denying it?" Andrew raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I am!" Olivia declared and matched Andrew's accusatory gaze. "I don't know what kind of nonsense you've heard, but I have never bullied the Saintess." She needed to speak clearly and concisely so that her words couldn't be misconstrued in some way to turn her into the villain. Seeing that Olivia was arguing with a group of wizards, students started to gather around and watch the show. "You said you were returning a favor, did the Saintess ask you to confront me?"
"No."
"…Then why are you here?" Olivia already figured out what the answer was but still wanted to make sure.
"She's too kind to ask which means I have to trouble myself by taking the initiative despite having better things to do. I'd rather not be here, either." Andrew Mystyr was the tsundere capture target of the game. "The Saintess' textbooks were thrown and buried in the snow by a group of your lackeys. They confessed when confronted that you asked them to do it, so it's pointless to argue," Andrew's tone was neutral but there was a clear hint of annoyance in his voice. Whether it was annoyance at having to do this or annoyance that Olivia would bully the Saintess was hard to say.
"I don't have 'lackeys'," Olivia argued. "And even if I did, I wouldn't send them to bully the Saintess since I'm quite fond of her for making it to the academy despite her upbringing."
"So, you're looking down on her for being a commoner?" Andrew changed the point to try and throw Olivia off.
"I'm looking up to her for having such a sharp and inquisitive mind," but Olivia didn't flinch. She wasn't caught off guard by a slew of constant surprises like what happened in front of the prayer hall which allowed her to think and act clearly.
"It doesn't matter." Once again, Andrew changed topics and ignored Olivia's words. "Call off your lackeys and leave the Saintess alone. I'd like to believe Her Highness is above such petty bullying."
Lucina had enough and interjected, "If anyone's bullying anyone it would be you, wizard." She raised her hand and pointed to her ear, "Unless you're actually just deaf and can't hear clearly?"
"…This doesn't concern you, Butcher," Andrew's voice shifted to one of disdain as he spat out Lucina's vulgar nickname. "Besides, it's the words of multiple people versus Her Highness' so I'm inclined to believe the many over the one."
"Exactly," Lucina agreed. "It's the words of some nobodies versus Her Highness Olivia's. Speaking of, where are these 'lackeys' who 'confessed' anyway? Shouldn't you have brought them so we can hear them say it?" Lucina cocked her head to the side and rubbed her chin in thought while asking, "How do we know you're not just making this up to make Her Highness look bad?" She said she would help James get with the Saintess which meant Andrew was still fair game to mess with.
"To protect them from Her Highness' retaliation, they will remain anonymous," Andrew threw out a justification off the top of his head.
"Anonymous?" Cassandra scoffed and swished a hand through her hair. "If they really were ordered to bully the Saintess by Her Highness then wouldn't Her Highness already know who they are?"
The surrounding students started whispering, "Lady Cassandra has a point."
"But, it is true that the Saintess' books were thrown into the snow; I saw it this morning."
"Who's to say that was because of Her Highness?"
"What if they were just blaming Her Highness to get out of trouble?"
"…" Andrew wasn't very good at playing the word games of high society and could only double down on his flawed reasons, "All I'm asking is that you promise not to bully the Saintess anymore."
"I never bullied her to begin with," but Olivia wouldn't let him. She folded her arms across her chest and stood her ground, "I will not apologize for something I never did. If anything, I'd like an apology from you for slandering me so brazenly."
"…That pride of yours is why this is happening," Andrew let his inner thoughts slip out as he gave an annoyed groan.
"…What?" Olivia fixated on his words and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Andrew also didn't want to be here doing this so he decided to let off some steam and explained, "If you could have just contained your ego, none of this would have to-!?!" A leather glove smacked against Andrew's face and, because of the metal rings in the palm, left a bruise on his cheek.
"Ah, looks like my hand slipped and used too much force," Lucina sarcastically apologized as she glared at Andrew. She was tired of his attitude toward Olivia and demanded, "Pick it up."
"…" Andrew, and everyone watching, was stunned by the slap and by what it meant if he picked up the glove. Lucina was challenging him to a duel. "I'll pretend you didn't do that, for your sake, Butcher." Andrew picked up the glove and offered it back to Lucina as a courtesy rather than a duel acceptance. "Stop involving yourself in-!?!" Lucina took the glove and threw it at his face again, this time bruising the other cheek.
"…" Lucina silently smiled at Andrew before repeating herself, "Pick it up, properly this time."
"Luci-!?" Olivia was about to stop Lucina but Cassandra outstretched a hand in front of Olivia to stop her. Cassandra's glare was unlike any Olivia had ever seen and held an anger that she didn't know Cassandra could express. Cassandra was also done dealing with Andrew's attitude, and Olivia couldn't help but feel a tinge of relief that her friends so openly had her back; especially Lucina.
"…Just because you think you're special," Andrew was doing his best to control his anger but it was bleeding through, "Don't think that means you can do whatever you want."
"I could say the same to you, little stripeless." Even though Andrew was a full head taller than Lucina, the insult still cut at Andrew's pride as the next archmage of the wizard's tower.
"As the next Archmage, I won't hold back against you," Andrew declared and picked up Lucina's glove before throwing it at her feet; an acceptance of the duel.
"Whatever you say, little stripeless," Lucina chuckled as she used her gravity magic to bring up the glove on the ground to her still-gloved hand so she wouldn't have to bend down in front of Andrew.
"Stripeless?" Olivia knew that 'little' was an insult, but she didn't know how 'stripeless' fit in.
"It's part of the tower's ranking system," Lucina explained while putting her glove back on. "A wizard's robe either signifies the magic they specialize in with blue for water, gray for wind, green for earth, and orange for fire, or it's white for entry-level initiates and yellow for the archmage. But, then there's the stripes."
Andrew, seeing a way to try and salvage his position in the conversation, tried to explain further, "A stripe signi-"
But Lucina ignored and spoke over him, "The amount of yellow stripes a wizard has on their robe's right sleeve signifies their mastery of their element with none being a novice and three being a master at their chosen element." She looked at Andrew's blank sleeve and added, "Which is why it's weird that the next archmage is stripeless. Are you sure you're not putting off your studies for useless endeavors?" Lucina called out Andrew's actions.
"…!" Olivia thought back to the game and remembered that Andrew's art in the normal routes showed him with two stripes on his sleeve while the reverse harem route started with no stripes and ended the final year with three. It was never properly explained in the game so Olivia always assumed it was an aesthetic choice to visually show how close he was to the player since he gained stripes as the player interacted and advanced his plotline.
"…If you wish to lose so badly, then I don't see an issue with proceeding with the duel immediately." Andrew couldn't stand Lucina insulting him and spoke loudly for all the gathered students to hear, "I'll get the magic instructor to oversee the duel. Meet us in the courtyard outside the dining hall after lunch."
"Don't be late," Lucina joked while mockingly waving her hand goodbye.
"…Damned Butcher," Andrew mumbled as he and his fellow wizards left to start preparing for the duel. Even if he and Lucina 'should' be working together, that didn't mean he would accept being looked down on so blatantly by some upstart. The Butcher of Toldrin? The Harbinger of Zulm? Some girl who had no formal training and relied on self-proclaimed gods for her powers wasn't suited to look down on him or hold such titles. He couldn't believe the wizards who returned from the frontlines and told stories about Lucina's abilities since they were absurd to even consider. The unfairness of it burned a fire in his heart. Wizards spent years mastering their crystals to harness magic while Magisters were just born with it without effort so long as they prayed hard enough? This was more than just defending his honor, but the honor of all wizards. If only such honor wasn't built on stolen power and hypocrisies.
"…Will you be alright?" Olivia asked once the wizards had left. She knew Lucina was powerful, but she also knew how powerful Andrew could get. Even if they were still at the beginning when he was stripeless, he was still the next archmage.
"There's nothing to worry about," Lucina reasoned while watching the wizards leave. "If he were an Aurister, I would possibly have trouble. But a wizard?" She laughed, "It's impossible for a wizard to beat me." Olivia was still giving her a look of worry, so Lucina smiled and added, "Just sit back and enjoy the show, I promise I'll make it quick while making sure to teach them just how large the gap between us is."