A week later…

The grand hall was bustling with noise as it was filled to the brim with soldiers. Faust, as always, was eating at least twice as much as everybody else. When the others were already finished, he was still eating and forced bite after bite down his throat.

“Where do you even put that much food?” Leona asked laughingly.

“His brain doesn’t seem to get too much of the energy…” Aquila mumbled into his cup before Faust slapped him on the back of his head making him nearly spill his drink. Leona, Cassius, and Schenk laughed heartily, and Aquila grumbled at first, though a smirk had crept onto his face after a while.

He had warmed up to these comrades of his over the last 2 weeks. He wasn’t as cold and detached around them anymore. Sometimes he acted the part to get a point across or to make a joke, but he was very much at ease with his new friends. He felt comfortable in his new role as a bodyguard and trainee.

‘I’m thankful for the training we’re receiving. I've already made great progress…’ thinks with a smirk and empties his cup.

“Just let me eat in peace.” Faust fake-grumbled with a grin and finished his meal.

Leona patted his back.

“You need it.” She looked at his arms which were slowly growing some muscle. He didn’t look malnourished anymore. The training and his extreme diet did wonders for his health and strength.

“I do. But to look like Aquila I will still have to eat a lot more.” Faust commented drily and looked at Aquila who flexed his bulging biceps and made a stupid facial expression. Cassius, who sat next to him laughed and posed the same. Yet for him, there was more fat than muscle that showed.

Faust then smirked.

“But I must not miss the point where my eating goes out of hand. Right, Cassius?”

Cassius pouted, ever the diplomat.

“What do you want to imply? This fat of mine is a tactical reserve for energy in the case of an emergency!” He made it sound like he was a professor lecturing his student while slapping his belly with his two hands.

Cassius had quite a bit of fat, but underneath it was raw power. They all knew that. That’s why they could joke about it openly. Cassius wasn’t ashamed of it. It was a sign that he had a good background and that they could afford the food.

The boy then continued in his lecturing tone:

“If you had spent some more of your time in the studying room to learn reading and writing instead of Flora’s room, then you might have already become Salutio’s next big poet.”

Aquila tried to hide his smile behind his cup again.

‘Motherfucker. He sure knows his way with words.’ Faust smirked inwardly. He liked Cassius, but it was just impossible to insult him without finding oneself drowning in the backlash of an insulted socialite.

The only one who didn’t laugh was Leona.

‘Flora… Flora… always Flora. What does she have that I don’t?’ Of course, she knew the answer and she looked down at her flat chest with a sigh. Little did she know Faust didn’t care about that particular trait at all.

Flora and himself had just met at the right time in the right place. They were each other’s ticket out of the misery they had suffered. The empathy they could show towards one another was far greater than anyone else’s since they were both victims.

Faust saw Leona look down at her body and sighed.

‘If only she knew how little I cared about that.’

‘It's not even that I don’t like her… I do. But… I love Flora. I can’t even let romantic thoughts of another woman enter my mind… even if I sometimes can’t help it. But I guess that’s normal.’

Stolen story; please report.

He summoned a picture of Flora into his mind and it made him smile.

That was until Aquila drily commented:

“If you spend so much time with her then why don’t you give her a good tumble for once?”

Faust sighed inwardly. It just didn’t feel right. For Leona the situation was different. For her, the comment had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Without a word, she stood up and left the room hurriedly.

‘A good tumble,’ she scoffed.

‘I can’t listen to this… but why? Why do I feel this way?’

A small tear trickled down her face. It glistered like morning dew on her pale face. She didn’t know what to think or feel. She had never reacted to anything this way. Why did this peasant boy’s relationship bother her so much? She inwardly knew the answer, but she would rather die than admit it at this time.

Back in the great hall, Cassius looked at his friend with eyes wide open. Faust glared at him.

“Thanks a lot, you prude. This makes things so much easier for me.” Faust sneered and left to go after her. Aquila had dropped his cup when he realized what had just happened.

“I… could it be that Schenk’s daughter has it in for him?” he asked Cassius and gulped.

“Ah no shit Aquila,” Cassius commented drily and rubbed his temples.

“Your utter lack of empathy and your ridiculous blindness in the face of the obvious makes me question your intelligence.” Cassius sighed.

‘I just hope Faust knows what he’s doing or we will end up with a huge fucking problem.’ He knew exactly the weight of the issue that showed itself on the horizon.

“And Aquila… just in case, let me tell you… not a single word about this to anyone. Unless you want to hurt both of them and lose your position as a bodyguard.” He added before the black-haired youth could say anything.

Aquila puts both of his hands up in his defense.

“Alright alright alright. Not a word from me. I’m just a bit slow understanding social issues, but I most certainly don’t have any bad intentions.”

“A bit slow…” Cassius mumbled as he took a long sip from his cup. He shook his head with a smile. Facing the honest reaction from his friend he couldn’t really be angry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the wall

‘Ah, shit. Why did Aquila have to run his mouth? Now she’s standing there looking into the distance…’ Faust lamented as he saw Leona a good 50 meters from him, standing on the wall. He was confused as much as he was worried.

‘Why is she so bothered with Flora? Was it… no. It can’t be.’ He shook his head when he thought about why she had left.

‘But what if she’s jealous of her after all? I wouldn’t understand why though, but it would explain her behavior… Ah hell, if only I had more experience with women… it's not like I can just look into her head.’ He felt a headache coming, but he approached her slowly.

When he came closer, she turned away from him.

“What do you want?” he could hear a sad, confused voice from Leona.

“I…” he couldn’t bring himself to say something. He heard the pain in her voice.

“What? If you don’t want to talk to me, why are you here? Why don’t you go to your Flora?” she turned around and looked him right in the eyes as she practically spat out those words.

Her eyes were glistering, and he could see that she had cried. This was the first time he had ever seen Leona act this vulnerable. It overwhelmed him.

He still wrung his brain dry in the hopes of getting a useful word or two out of it, but the more he thought the more his mind emptied.

‘Why can’t I find the right thing to say?’

He could think of a few things to ask.

‘Do you like me? Are you jealous,’ and more.

He knew that asking these questions would’ve been incredibly stupid and hurtful. He wasn’t Aquila. His social skills weren’t excellent like Cassius’, but he wasn’t a sociopath.

That however didn’t change the fact that he didn’t know how to feel. He even felt a faint attraction to Leona, but it felt so much weaker than the flurry of emotions that hit him when he thought of Flora.

“Leona… please. I don’t want to see you sad.” He took a step forward.

His honest reaction and genuine concern melted something inside of her. But this only amplified the pain she felt when she thought of Flora.

He could see that his words had touched her and he was unable to continue in the face of the care and pain in her eyes. She struggled with herself. She really had to. She knew she couldn’t be with him, but her mind simply rejected her sense of reason.

Both of them stood before one another and looked into their eyes. Both could feel their honest emotions towards one another, yet both also knew that it was impossible to speak them out loud.

Eventually, Leona couldn’t bear to look at him anymore.

‘Why can’t you just hate me?’ she wished and then immediately scolded herself. Her mind was so full of emotion that she was unable to think straight.

“I need some time alone.” She sobbed and hushed past Faust so fast he could barely react. When she ran off, he looked after her with a complicated expression.

‘I don’t want to hurt you…’ he thought and with a sigh looked into the distance. He looked at a flock of birds flying through the air and listened to the wind. He focused his mind on the moment.

He couldn’t help but question his feelings towards Flora. Were they genuine? He discarded the thought as fast as it appeared. His mind was still a mess. The many worries he had weighed on him. He instinctively thought about seeking refuge with Flora.

He sighed and slowly made his way up to her room, not to “Give her a good tumble” but to forget about the harsh reality outside of their room in her arms.