Well. I got myself into a spot of trouble today, but unlike the many other times when this has happened, this one might have been truly worth it.

Nebailie has been having a rough week. He’s been quiet and a little sullen, even with me, and that annoying childhood habit of his, where he refuses to meet people’s eyes, popped back up.

And this was not ok with me. Don’t get me wrong. He should be able to express his feelings in whatever way he wants. That wasn’t the problem. I just wanted to cheer him up, if I could.

So, Kinlith has this lady friend who's been dropping by the classroom during lessons. It’s pretty obvious that he likes her. Like… likes, likes her. And I decided to take advantage of that today.

When she came by our classroom this afternoon, Nebailie was sprawled across his desktop, hiding his face in his arms, and as usual, the… noble lady—see here how ridiculously sarcastic I’m being—ignored the prince in her midst. Or one of them, I guess.

She certainly seemed charmed by me, not that I was surprised by that. Most women seem to enjoy my presence, although… that’s started to become tiresome. I know they don’t like me, merely my place in the kingdom.

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But this diary entry isn’t about me. It’s about cheering my brother up.

As our dear guest plied me for information on Kinlith, I was happy to tell her about all of his many… virtues, and after the first example of these, I caught Nebailie peering at me from over his arm before he ducked back into hiding again, which… yes! I knew that would work. As much as he might insist on being polite with our asshole tutor, I know my brother hates him.

Soon enough, I was able to drag Nebailie into the conversation.

How did it go?

“Hey ‘bailie, remember that time when Kinlith made you stand in front of the classroom for hours, even though no one was there and you’d only missed that one answer to his questions?”

Oo… if that didn’t get a response.

By the time I was finished with the lady, she had such a look of distaste scrawled across her face. Alouin but it was beautiful to see.

The best part? Kinlith showed up toward the tail end of our last story, and he made such a fuss, trying to explain himself. The lady wasn’t having any of it, trying to get around him without touching him, and because of how close we’d gotten to her, Nebailie and I were able to slip a spider down the back of her gown.

Hell, how she howled! It was so funny.

Look, I know what we did wasn’t right. And I know I’ll have to apologize to both Kinlith and the lady in the morning (if I can remember her name). Our father was perfectly within his rights to confine me to my room for the rest of the day.

But seeing Nebailie’s face glow like it did…

I’d do it all again. A thousand times more.