A blue-haired young man burst through the doors of the young mistress’ room clearly in a panic, holding a large bundle in his arms, “I-It’s Miss Aurelie! Sh-She’s fainted out in the snow!” I removed my hand from the hilt of my sword and quickly rushed over, stretching out my arms and having the young mistress deposited into my grasp.

“Wh-where did you find her, sir?” Why didn’t he send her to the infirmary? Hultha, she was freezing! I looked down at the faintly breathing Marchioness in my arms, her thick eyelashes decorated with tiny flecks of snow. If the situation wasn’t potentially dire I would have even called it picturesque.

“She was near the base of the building! I-I found her on my way back from my classes, I thought it would be better if I brought her here since it was nearer, w-we need to warm her up, right? That’s what people do when someone has hypothermia, right?” The young viscount seemed to be trembling, this was likely the first time he ever saw someone in this state.

“Right, sir.” Another person burst through the door just as I turned around, a familiar voice bursting out from behind me, “I saw you carrying Big sis inside, is she alright?!” They both ignored my existence as I brought her into her quarters, it wasn’t proper for me to be the one to undress her, and so I rung the trademark bell the young mistress used to call for us.

Helene soon arrived and seemed to go weak in the knees at the sight, “A new change of clothes and tuck her in.” When I returned outside another individual had joined in the fuss, another member of the student council, which isn’t all that surprising, really, since all of them lived in the same building along with the young mistress.

“Apologies.” I bowed, “For the sake of my young mistress’ health I’d like to request for your personal help.” There was a hush that befell them before the familiar brunette spoke, “You have my blessing.”

“I need your personages help moving her bed to the fireplace. It’s much too heavy for me to carry on my own. And for miss Lorraine to call the school physician.” The chubby girl nodded her head before leaving. The two males walked forward following after me, after Helene had left her room, signifying that she was done dressing the young miss. I hooked my fingers under the bed’s frame, “One, two, three, heave!”

We all simultaneously lifted up the four poster, the tips of the bed posts grazing against the ceiling as we carried her bed, with her in it, to the fireplace that was started a few hours ago. Her fainting explained why she was late, normally she would have returned much earlier.

By the time the young duchess returned with the school’s doctor - much faster than I anticipated, but the young lady used wind magic, which likely explained their quicker arrival- another member of the student council had arrived. She seemed to be the only person who had a modicum of concern for her, as the three boys seemed to only be here to do what was right, and complained about the additional paperwork to do if the young miss was out of commission. Knowing her personality though, I’m not surprised at the lack of connections.

----

Duchess Lorraine, young master Duane’s fiancee, was wringing out her handkerchief as the other members of the student council continued to discuss the matter. Helene seemed to inch ever closer to me the more time spent in this room waiting for the doctor to come out and give us his diagnosis. It was hard trying not to sigh at her behavior, she was clearly acting like she needed some comfort during these trying times, but I knew she was just as unattached to the young mistress as I was, likely even more so.

I stepped away and looked out the window, knowing the number of eyes on school grounds and how quick word seemed to spread, I’m a little surprised that Prince Lyons hasn’t come storming over, at least, to put on the facade of a caring fiance. Or Duke Callum, he always seemed to appear during times of strain to gloat at her misfortune.

"Yeah, but, is she okay? We did everything we needed to under the orders of her retainer, but will she be okay?" The blue-haired viscount continued to anxiously speak.

"Who knows how long she's been in the snow… Depending on how long she had been left lying there before anyone saw her, then well-" Young earl Markus was cut off by the raven-haired Marquiss, Julian.

"I think it's best if we wait for the doctor's response on the young mistress' situation instead of wildly throwing around conjectures, he has yet to speak." Julian didn’t look up from his nails as he spoke.

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There was a silence as they waited for the doctor to speak.

He cleared his throat after a few moments of silence, "she doesn't have a pulse."

There was a shocked hush before panicked conversation among them.

"Y-you mean she's dead?! She was still breathing when I found her!"

"W-we did everything, we brought her to the fireplace, we got her warm and they said she would wake up!" The ginger earl who was the third arrival pointed his finger at me and Helene, as if this was our fault.

"Oh-no, no, no that can't be! Big sis wouldn't succumb that easily, she- she wouldn't die just like that…"

"Where is the vice president? During such a trying time when his superior is dying he's nowhere to be found." Again, he didn’t look up from his nails.

"Callum would normally have rushed over for this, since there's a chance he'll get that promotion he always wanted, sad he wasn’t here to receive this good news, eh?" The newest arrival tried to lighten the mood, tiredly laughing in the hopes of getting other to join in, no one did and Duchess Lorraine even glared at him. He adjusted his glasses in response.

There was a knock on the door before it flung open, revealing a silver-haired duke I was, unfortunately, familiar with.

“Callum!” Lorraine exclaimed before rushing over to him, “Aurelie is dead!” She choked back a sob.

----

I looked down at my cousin, unsure how to respond to this news, though inside, I felt a mixture of eagerness and disappointment. I wanted that position through my own abilities, not through luck, but she was finally out of the way. Still doubting the news, I spotted many familiar faces, “Is she perchance faking? She is the type to do that for atten-”

I felt a burning heat in one of my cheeks, Lorraine glared up at me, holding the wrist of the hand that slapped me, tears in the corner of her eyes.

“Big Sis is not that kind of person!”

“To you she isn’t but even her fiance think she’s a-”

“That’s because Lyons is an ass and thinks he’s too good for her!” She gripped her skirt, yelling at me.

The spectacled member of our council walked over to her, whispering a few words of comfort before she walked over to me and shoved me. I could have dodged, but I let her be, she was my younger cousin, it was okay for her to be rash and emotional since she was a woman. I don't know where her faith in the marchioness came from.

She had capability, I'll admit, or else she wouldn't have become the student council president instead of me, but she wasn't qualified enough to potentially be the mother of our country, a duchess? Possibly, but not capable enough to become married to the second prince. I still have no clue why the crown is so favorable towards that bat, or why they bothered engaging his daughter to Lyons, or why my own father seemed to dislike any words against him, but I still thought he was too transparent with his lack of loyalty.

There was a clatter beyond the door and everyone turned to look at it, if she was dead there shouldn't have been a single sound coming from there. Her maid walked towards the door on uncertain steps, knocking on it, "Young mistress?"

We waited with baited breath only to be greeted with complete utter silence, "M-maybe she turned into a zombie?" Julian suggested.

"Unlikely. The school was built on top of an array that prevented any undead from being created." I refuted his suggestion.

"Or any summons from happening outside of the summoning hall either." Markus added.

"Then maybe she isn't dead?" Lorraine blotted away her tears.

"I told you she was faking." I walked over to the door, before repeating myself, "She's faking."

I swung open the door, only to be greeted with a sight I shouldn't have seen. Fuck, I really shouldn't have seen that.

There was a hush from everyone who saw her in that room, I felt heat rise to my cheeks. This was my fault, I really shouldn't have seen this. Or let anyone else see this for that matter.

Someone gulped, I couldn't tell who, I doubt it was me, but I couldn't be sure. But I'll be damned if it was me, I hate her, there's no way I'd look at her in that way. Even if she looked absolutely- No. Don't think about her that way Callum, once you start there's no going back.

You already have a fiancee. I closed my eyes as her retainer spoke, trying to erase the wrong thoughts in my mind before following everyone else outside, I spotted one of our other council members throw her one last glance and we made eye-contact before he turned his sights forward. I don't know why, but I shot him a glare, honestly, it wasn't my business if he decided to be lecherous.

I walked down the stairs to my own dorm room, as the vice president my room was directly below hers, and lacked some of the amenities hers had; a kitchenette, a balcony , and a storage room. I passed by Montague in a daze and continued to my room, not bothering to change clothes before I went to bed, plopping face first into my bed.

After rolling over onto my back I kicked off my shoes, and started to think, why was she wearing such a thin nightgown on a night like this? I mean, it's pretty modest by most standards, but it was winter, that's not what winter nightgowns look-like, right? Even my pajamas would change to a thicker and warmer fabric during the winter. Speaking of pajamas, I glanced at my wardrobe before rubbing my temples, I really needed to change out of my uniform, but too much happened today, that interaction with the holy maiden being introduced, and the most recent events had left me drained.

Was this perhaps? Did she? Maybe she did. Knowing her it was likely, she may have planned for the prince to be the one to open the door, too bad he was held up by business with the holy maiden. Me being the one open her door was likely the last thing she wanted, what with how rocky and formal our relationship was. There were too many hints to it being planned, frankly, the drapes were pulled open, letting us see her silhouette, but also letting out warmth through the glass that was left uncovered.

My mind started drifting to how different everything would have been if I was engaged to Aurelie instead of Orianna the longer I laid in bed and ruminated, somehow I drifted off to sleep.