Bridgette had put up a valiant effort to upstage Anya for the Prince faction. But she failed, leaving them to field less talented students against Anya. Perhaps she had come to take her frustration out on Hildebrand and Dolph again, with a heart full of rage and anger.

“You’re all being harsh on Dolph,” Bridgette said. She turned to Hildebrand. “I hope you didn’t make him your knight just to lord over him.”

Hildebrand shot the girl a glare. “No,” she said, “of course not!”

“What do you want?” Dolph asked, his face calming back into its usual scowl.

Bridgette fidgeted with her fingers, holding them gingerly, then letting them go one by one. Her eyes fixed on Dolph for small, fleeting moments. A hundred of them. Her eyes didn’t know where to rest, other than on Dolph. She brushed her hair back behind her ear, only for the locks to fall back into her face, bringing more strands with them. Her heart was certainly full, just not with rage or anger.

Hildebrand had heard it said women became more beautiful when they fell in love. That Altamea shined the light of the heavens upon them and revealed their true beauty that the mortal world failed to show. Hildebrand had never understood the expression, since she only knew how it felt to be the unsightly, one-eyed ghoul or the most perfect beauty in the world—The Saintess. There was no in-between.

That was why she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Or if that was even what was happening, but Bridgette looked different. Maybe it was the light that shined through the clouds to cover her. No, that wasn’t it. She had changed her hair. She tied her ponytail lower, looser. And she had released her bangs, letting them frame her face and obscure the huge, bushy eyebrows her hand self-consciously hovered around. Was she just trying to hide her massive eyebrows?

“I…” Bridgette trailed off, as did her eyes. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

Dolph tilted his head from side to side. “Alright,” he said.

“That’s a relief,” Bridgette said.

“Did you need something?” Dolph asked flatly. Hildebrand couldn’t tell if he was being earnest or if he was provoking her with rhetoric. His beady blue eyes didn’t move a bit. He didn’t even blink. He just focused on Bridgette, like a spotlight on a performer who had forgotten her lines.

Her mouth opened slightly but closed after a pause. Then opened again. And closed again.

“If not, you can go—”

Hildebrand nudged Dolph with her elbow. Hugo did the same with a smirk.

“What?” Dolph cluelessly asked.

Hildebrand clicked her tongue at him.

“What?” Dolph asked again.

“She’s obviously trying to apologize!” Greg said.

Bridgette opened her mouth again, but didn’t speak. Instead, she nodded.

“Apologize?” Dolph asked. “For?”

“For striking you,” she said. “I truly didn’t mean to strike you so hard. I’m so—”

“Oh,” Dolph said, gesturing for her to stop. “It’s ok.”

“It’s okay?”

“Yeah,” Dolph said. “It’s fine.”

Bridgette let out a quiet yet chest deflating sigh, like all the pressure in her body had left her. Like the forgiveness had moved her. Her eyes glimmered with wetness.

“This time,” Dolph added.

“Huh?”

Hildebrand waved away Bridgette’s confusion. “He’s joking!” she said.

Bridgette let out a few stilted laughs. “Oh,” she murmured. She discreetly rubbed an eye with her palm while pretending to brush her hair back. “Are you fully healed?” she asked.

Dolph’s beady eyes rolled around in circles, calculating an answer. “Apparently,” he said. “Magic.”

A timid smile crept onto Bridgette’s face.

She was softer than expected underneath that harsh and plain exterior.

Most students wouldn’t even bat an eye at harming someone, especially the nobles. There were plenty who wouldn’t even mind killing. Some cruel and mad degenerates even reveled in death. But Bridgette wasn’t among them. It was hard to believe this girl was in a cult seeking to end the world. But she was naïve, perfectly ready to be taken advantage of by someone with scrupulous morals.

“He almost died, you know,” Hildebrand interjected. “It was awful! They thought he might have brain damage!”

“What!” Dolph shouted. He shouted at the top of his lungs. It was frighteningly loud. He held his head and felt it all over. “Oh, God…”

Bridgette opened her mouth, but just stammered. “Is that bad?” she finally asked.

“That would be bad,” Hugo added.

“Bad?” Dolph asked, his voice panicked.

“No no no,” Hildebrand yammered. “That was before the priest healed you,” she said. “We were just worried you might have brain damage.” She touched Dolph’s arm, a gesture that caught Bridgette’s attention. “…But you’re fine.” Bridgette’s watchful gaze spotted it.

Hildebrand didn’t think her little white lie would cause such a commotion. She just wanted to make Bridgette feel bad. Or worse, as it were.

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Dolph growled through his teeth. “Don’t scare me like that!” he said in a pitched voice. “God dammit!”

Hildebrand winced at his exasperated anger, and his strange, probably blasphemous, figure of speech. He was a bit of a pansy. She had never met a man, or even a boy, so worried about a knock to the head. There were more than a few paladins and knights with lazy eyes, from conks to the head, who had no problems soldiering on. Of course, she had healed them all, and their eyes, too.

“Is everything really alright?” Bridgette asked, her voice now lower, slower, and guarded.

“Yes,” Hildebrand said.

“Jeez. I guess!” Dolph grumbled, his scowl turning into a pout.

Bridgette didn’t seem very convinced. Which was still good. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” she asked.

The commotion had been worth it. With any luck, the girl would feel beholden to Dolph, and by extension, Hildebrand. Hildebrand fully expected Dolph to say nothing, or to dismiss it until later. He seemed the type to not want any trouble. But a debt deferred accrued infinite interest, at least with self-righteous fools like Bridgette.

Dolph held up his hand. His index finger and thumb form a ring. It confused everyone else, but Hildebrand had seen it once before. It wasn’t a common gesture, but she knew it.

“OK,” she said, translating for Dolph. “He says it’s okay,” Hildebrand said, nodding to the confused Bridgette.

She nodded back.

“No,” Dolph said. “Money.”

“Oh,” Bridgette murmured. “Yes, sure, of course!” She patted her slacks and checked her pockets. “I can pay you later, if you’re fine with that.”

“He’s joking,” Hildebrand said, smiling perfectly.

“I’m not—”

“He’s joking,” Hildebrand said again, nudging Dolph with her elbow. She leaned towards Dolph, and he leaned down towards Hildebrand in plain view of Bridgette, who watched intently. “I’ll pay you later. Just let it be,” Hildebrand whispered, covering her mouth and Dolph’s ear. It was a secret conversation for Bridgette to see.

He peeked up at Bridgette with his beady eyes, and then nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I was just kidding.”

“I didn’t know you had such a sense of humor,” Bridgette said. The nervous, chipper energy in her voice had faded. It was almost seemed tired.

“I don’t,” Dolph said.

But the energy returned. Bridgette tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. First, her lips parted into a wide smile. Then she laughed gingerly into her loosely closed hand. Her pinky finger raised ever so slightly.

The plain and slovenly image Hildebrand had of Bridgette dispelled. Disregarding the girl’s minor change in hairstyle, she wasn’t as plain or as rough as Hildebrand had first perceived. The girl before her might even be called cute. Maybe Bridgette really was in love, or maybe Hildebrand simply hadn’t seen the girl in the right light. She was half-blind, after all.

She wasn’t so homely after all.

“Hilde,” Bridgette called, her voice hardening mid-name. “I’d like an apology, too.”

“Yes, please do,” Hildebrand said.

“Excuse me?” Bridgette asked.

“You wanted to apologize to me?”

“No,” Bridgette said. “I want an apology from you.”

“Hmm?” Hildebrand murmured through pressed, smiling lips and teeth clamped tight. “May I ask what for?” she asked in a falsely sweet voice.

Bridgette’s eyebrows furrowed, and she touched them through her bangs. “For insulting me…”

Oh, Hildebrand thought. She was one of those girls. The kind who was soft on men, but hard on other women.

She wasn’t so cute after all.

“Bridgette, please,” Hugo said. “You’re spoiling the mood.”

“I don’t think I am,” she said. “Wouldn’t an apology be in the spirit?”

Hugo groaned. “I suppose,” he said.

Hildebrand tilted her head, still smiling. “Are you going to apologize for trying to beat me?”

“No,” Bridgette said. “I was only planning on giving you a few hits. I think that was appropriate, given your insults.”

“I didn’t insult you,” Hildebrand said. “Some men fancy homely women!”

“Homely?” She pondered the word before moving on. “Not that,” Bridgette said. She brushed her bangs aside to reveal her thick, caterpillar eyebrows. “My eyebrows aren’t massive and gross!”

“I only said they’re huge!” Hildebrand said.

Bridgette pointed, rudely. “So, you admit it!”

Hildebrand sighed. “What’s the matter with you?” She turned to Dolph. “Do something.”

“Do what?” he asked. “Can’t you just apologize?” he said. “Her eyebrows aren’t that huge. Maybe a little big. They look fine.”

Bridgette giggled quietly, averting her eyes from Dolph.

“Hilde,” Hugo said. “You should just apologize,” he said, nodding.

Hildebrand groaned. They were right. Probably. As much as she hated to admit it. No one would appreciate having their flaws pointed out.

And she was the Saintess… She was an adult! One who was turning over a new leaf! If she just apologized, she could even befriend Bridgette and avoid the incident of the corrupted Bridgette altogether. She just had to jump atop the moral high horse, summon her saintliness, and deliver an apology to the dumb brat below her. She had to be the bigger person.

Bridgette stepped forward, walking closer to Hildebrand with arms folded.

The only problem was, Hildebrand was staring up at Bridgette. When did she get so damn tall?

“No,” Hildebrand whispered, a tinge of whine in her voice. “I don’t want to… I didn’t even insult you.”

She felt like a child again. She was closer in age to the girl from the slums than the Saintess.

“Speak up,” Bridgette said. She glanced at Dolph. “Please,” Bridgette said. “I couldn’t hear you clearly.”

The girl from the slums had spoken too quietly to be heard. So, Hildebrand put on a smile. The Saintess’s smile.

“I refuse,” she said, as clearly as the open sky. “I won’t apologize for something I didn’t do. I didn’t insult you, Bridgette,” she said. “I merely stated the truth about your eyebrows.”

Hildebrand had done it. She had brought forth the Saintess’s composure and eloquence and grace to say exactly what she needed to say to handle the situation perfectly. Of course, it only dawned on Hildebrand that she was much the same as an adult as she was in her youth after she uttered those words. She smiled a little wider after realizing what she had said.

She added, “Your eyebrows, which resemble caterpillars.”

Bridgette’s immense eyebrows furrowed, almost touching. “Fine!” Bridgette said, regaining her composure. “Then this isn’t over. I challenge you to a duel!”

Hildebrand laughed gently. “I’m afraid we’re not allowed to duel yet,” she said.

“You can!” Roy shouted from across the field. “I got the green light!”

“Green light?” everyone murmured.

“It means he got permission,” Dolph explained.

There were understanding murmurs except from Hildebrand. She growled instead. And grit her teeth. Her perfect smile was cracking. She hated that damnable bastard! And his strange expressions, too. “Ugh,” Hildebrand groaned quietly.

“Is it a train term?” Hugo asked Dolph.

“Something like that,” Dolph said.

“You’re surprisingly well read,” Hugo said.

“Yeah,” Greg agreed, complimenting Dolph for once. “It is a surprise.”

“I know a lot of useless things,” Dolph said.

There was a brief silence.

“And I’m, uh, not bad at cooking either,” Dolph added. “I can grill fish.”

“How charming,” Bridgette said.

He stared at her.

“T-that was a compliment,” she said. “I mean that sincerely.”

“Thanks,” he said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Can you just drop it?” he asked.

“Drop it?” Bridgette asked.

“Let it go,” he clarified. Dolph gestured to Hildebrand. “She’s probably sorry. She’s just being stubborn.”

Hildebrand had half a mind to tell everyone, “I’m not sorry!” but she held her tongue.

“Yes,” Hugo concurred. “She is stubborn. But she’s a good person.”

Hildebrand frowned. If only Hugo knew how foolish those words were.

She groaned meekly and inhaled, trying to gather the breath with which to apologize. Even if it was wrong to apologize, and even if she didn’t mean it, really, it would dispel the tension.

“And, to be frank,” Hugo continued, “you cornered her, Bridgette.”

Bridgette seemed unconvinced, but her eyebrows had turned taciturn. It was surely a good sign.

“I know,” Dolph said, bringing his fist down onto his palm. “Please forgive her?” Dolph asked.

Dolph’s words sounded like condescending sarcasm to Hildebrand. And whatever Bridgette thought, she glowered at the ground in front of her.

And then Erika arrived.