The coachman urged the youth to enter the inn so they could eat something. Leonard enjoyed his breakfast while the girl ate slowly, looking down at her plate and saying nothing more than what was strictly necessary.
The words that Marianne heard from Leonard's mouth left her stunned. His heart felt a jolt like never before. "Leonard was always condescending to me; He encouraged me, praised my way of being, and so on. But the words they say to me now are different. They come to me in a way I didn't expect," she thought as she continued to tear the bread roll she was eating.
"Are you going to eat or make crumbs to feed the pigeons?" Leonard asked, his expression funny but kind.
"No, no... I'm going to eat."
"I see," he replied, looking at his plate. "I want you to try this cheese. It's just like the one in your house! Open the mouth."
"Uh, well," she said, opening her mouth without arguing.
"It is exquisite, isn't it?" Leonard commented, looking at Marianne calmly.
Marianne glanced at her companion briefly as he continued to eat. Evidently, the boy had not eaten from a table in a long time. His gestures were somewhat "wild" for the canons of the nobility or the same Academy of Officers that Marianne attended for a year. Instead, Leonard ate quickly and untimely; He tried the three dishes served simultaneously: the cheese and sausage, the bread rolls, and the fruit. "It must be a consequence of the book, I suppose.", Marianne considered, continuing to look at him.
Another thing that left the girl absorbed was the crumbs that were accumulating in Leonard's beard. Some were already reaching his cheek, over the edge of his beard. Without hesitating or even thinking, Marianne reached out and rubbed her cheekbones, brushing away the bread crumbs.
"Do I see myself eating so childish?" Leonard asked, staring at the girl.
"No, no!" she replied, embarrassed as she realized what she had done. "I just saw that you were getting covered in breadcrumbs, and I wanted to... get them out."
The expression she displayed left Leonard gawking. Her face is to the side, and her hands covering from the nose down. That shy but loving expression drove him crazy.
Suddenly, Leonard returned Marianne's gesture and briefly caressed her right cheek with a gesture of slight nervousness.
"Now we're even," he said laughingly. "You also had a tiny, tiny spot on your cheek."
"Liar... If you wanted that, you didn't have to find an excuse," Marianne murmured, lowering her eyes with a slight smile.
After that exchange, there was a moment of silence until they both finished eating.
After a while, the coachman approached the boys to tell them they should resume their journey to Derdriu. Upon leaving the inn, the youth realized a few Alliance guards were guarding them. They got into the car, settled in, and continued the trip. This carriage
differed from the previous one, which seemed more appropriate to carry provisions or
animals. The current carriage had seats and windows, unusually luxurious for Leonard's taste but relatively conventional for Marianne.
Once they started walking, the young man asked his friend to change sides of the carriage to see in the direction of the sea. She laughed and granted Leonard's request.
"It's strange... You look so mature, but inside, you're still the boy I knew five years ago."
"It's just that I hadn't seen the sea for too long," Leonard replied, excited as he couldn't be. "Look, there you can see the port! Don't you think it's huge?"
"I also love the sea... Not so much the port," she commented, more focused on looking at Leonard than the landscape. "I don't know how to walk in such big places and with so many people."
"I'll show you how in due course," Leonard said, staring out the window.
After noon, the carriage was in the city's center, close to one of the Reagan family's houses. Once at the place's entrance, the coachman got out to open the door.
"You may come down, my little lovebirds." said the coachman pompously.
"Thank you very much," Marianne said shyly but cordially.
"Thanks, friend," Leonard commented, shaking hands with the man.
"Listen," said the coachman, taking the young man's shoulder to tell him something confidently. "You who look like a commoner, like me, should be careful. A noble girl, even if she expresses her feelings to you, is a woman committed to long before you imagineonce-in-a-lifetimece in a lifetime opportunity if she were to accept you."
"On that, we agree, my friend. It seems that the voice of experience speaks," said the boy, returning the gesture on the shoulder. "See you."
Leonard caught up with Marianne, who was already a little ahead of her, as she walked up the sidewalk toward the entrance of Claude's family's luxurious estate.
"It seems the coachman wanted to tell you something."
"It's nothing important," Leonard commented, pretending not to understand. "He told me to improve my manners. He saw me eat at the inn and said that even pigs are less uncivilized."
"I think you invented that... Heh," commented Marianne, with that smiling look that captivated her partner.
One of the Alliance soldiers called the doorman of that house. After an exchange of words and proper identification, the youth were able to enter. Leonard couldn't believe his eyes: that mansion was finely decorated, be it with paintings, statues, commemorative weapons, or furniture covered with the softest velvet. The table was undoubtedly made of the best Fódlan wood. At the same time, the chandeliers, the marble steps, and the finishes could not be compared to anything this young man had seen.
Once they were in the main room, a servant approached them, indicating they would go to a room next to the living room. Once they arrived, Leonard noticed that said room was empty.
"I don't like this," he said, concerned.
"Why Leonard?" Marianne asked morosely.
"Look at the ground," Leonard said, pointing down. "You can see the dust mark around the space that furniture must have occupied until recently."
Just as he finished that sentence, someone entered the room, surprising the two young people. Marianne fearfully recognized the person who had entered.
"Holst... it's you," she said, a little scared.
"It's you, Marianne!" he exclaimed, booming voice filling the entire room and echoing in the girl's ears. "Good to see you; Hilda has told me a lot about you these days."
"How nice."
"That's right," Holst said, looking over to where Leonardo stood. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my dear, I must ask you to leave. I must talk to this guy."
Marianne looked at Holst in dismay, then back at her partner. Leonard, more serious than ever, nodded toward the door. He didn't want to risk his mate. After the young woman left the room, Holst continued:
"I have nothing against you, friend. Claude asked me to take care of you. I couldn't let a fellow of your ilk get his hands on Miss von Edmund."
"Dude, I don't know if..."
Leonard didn't have a chance to finish that sentence. Suddenly Holst lunged at him. Despite being a mass, he went to where he was at an impressive speed. The young man dodged his rival as well as he could for a minute. Once that moment had passed, the big man said:
"Hey, we're not playing chase. Let's have a real fight."
"I have no reason to fight you, friend."
"We don't need a reason to fight," Holst replied, stretching his arms a bit as he flexed his neck." Instead, you must give me a reason to stop putting you in the dust."
The next attack was more intense. It was impossible to keep dodging.
Being in a one-on-one confrontation, Leonard
wanted to avoid summoning any weapons, especially if he was in a place where more people could see him. He inadvertently got distracted in his thoughts long enough for Holst to attack him. He punched at his liver, which he could evade with his forearms. The impact received was terrible. Leonard shot out, hitting one of the walls.
The rumble of that impact greatly worried Marianne, who was desperate, on the other side of the door.
Leonard fell to the ground, then scrambled to his feet. While that blow would have seemed devastating, now that he was rested and fed, the damage he had taken was less than when he had fought the Blood Knight.
"You are a beast; there's no doubt about that," the boy said, praising his rival. If you want me to use what I believe, you won't get it.
"That remains to be seen, cub," Holst replied, fist-bumping.
Immediately afterward, Holst resumed his attack between punches and kicks, which were progressively easier for Leonard to dodge. At some point, the rhythm of the fight was taking a particular advantage for the boy: he began to launch kick after kick, trying to damage his rival, but keeping his distance, due to the difference in size between the two. If Leonard measured something like 1.75, Holst had to be over 1.90 meters.
The agility and trajectory of said kicks were necessary. Throwing a lift into the air was the worst choice, as the opponent would grab his leg and slam him into the ground. Kicking from a pirouette or some turn supporting his hands on the basis was better, as long as those blows were fast enough. That was Leonard's choice. The rhythm of those blows, their sequence, and their precision increased. He seemed trained to fight that way; instead, it seemed like the kind of fight that came most naturally to him.
"Sounds like you knew how to fight big guys like me," Holst commented, pausing momentarily.
"It's one of the few things I've learned from my father," Leonard replied, wiping sweat from his face.
"Well, The first phase has already finished," said that rival, unsheathing his sword. "Now it's time to show what you're made of."
Leonard didn't have time to answer as Holst's lunge went for the kill. The cut he made could have gone through Leonard's torso from the bottom up. The young man's reflexes helped him escape the attack. However, that attack would be the first of many. Leonard considered that he could not prolong the situation any longer. Eventually, he should summon some weapon. He leaped far enough away from Holst to make such an invocation, projecting the codex onto his left forearm and drawing a lightsaber from that open book.
"Incredible! So that's how this magic works," Holst said, fascinated. "From what little I know of these things, that would be Blutgang, right?"
"That's right," Leonard replied, taking the gun in his right hand.
Without further ado, the boy was now attacking the big man. Leonard's movements sharpened. His attacks were graceful, as if, more than an attack, it was a dance. Holst repelled and dodged attacks accurately, but even so, he showed some difficulty. For this reason, he was forced to increase the pace and strength of his attacks to force Leonard to back down.
That purpose was complex; the only thing left for him was to land a couple of blows hard enough to knock Leonard back. Although he could do it a few times, the young man quickly picked up the pace.
At a time when both forces were equal, the pace of the fight increased to the point that each had already synchronized with the other's movements. In one last thrust of both, each of their swords came close to the other's neck: the duel had resulted in a draw.
Holst, with a smirk, turned away to sheath his sword. He looked back at Leonard as he gave a satisfied laugh.
"Ha ha ha!" he laughed vigorously, making the room rumble. "You are a worthy rival. Claude, you can come here now!"
The young man was stunned. It did not occur to him that this was possibly a test. Almost instantly, he saw how a kind of groove was beginning to be noticed in one of the walls of that room. That furrow gradually became the door of a passage, and Claude came out, applauding both warriors.
"It has been a truly worthy duel!" he clapped. "It's hard to see Holst sweating like that in battle. You are a remarkable warrior."
"Uh...should I say thank you?" Leonard asked, confused.
"No, do what you want," Claude said, slapping his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Your way of fighting reminds me of someone."
"I think I can imagine who it is," replied the young man putting on a slightly bored face.
"Ah, it seems that Marianne told you something about him. In any case, you should know that this guy won't be a competition for you if that's what I think," Claude commented with a wry smile.
"Whatever," Leonard replied, sighing. "Where is Marianne after all this?"
"Ah, about that... Hilda!" Claude yelled, bringing his hands up to his face. "Now you can enter!"
Almost immediately, Marianne and another girl entered the room. The woman who accompanied her was gorgeous: her hair and eyes were pink, just like that big guy. Unlike Holst, of course, this girl had a harmonious face, a slightly upturned nose, and somewhat pink lips, clearly due to lipstick. Her graceful and slim figure matched perfectly with the dress she was wearing.
That girl approached the warriors while holding Marianne by the arm, who felt somewhat uncomfortable due to the invasion that this represented in her interpersonal space.
"So you're that boy named Leonard Claude told me about," Hilda said, flirtatiously approaching the young man. "You're not bad, but you must drop that hermit look; it doesn't look good on a boy your age."
"My pleasure, Hilda," Leonard replied nervously.
"It's easy, Leonard," she said, moving closer to Holst. "Did my brother treat you well?"
"Uh...great. He is an excellent warrior," he replied while rubbing his head.
"Well," Hilda replied, taking her brother's arm. "Let me tell you that very few people can say that they have been measured as equals to my brother."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Leonard said after sighing. "That means I passed the test or whatever this was, right?"
"Yeah, you passed," Claude said, laughing. "To tell the truth, all this theater is due to my excessive curiosity. It is a fact that that book you own has overwhelming potential. We must help you since this thing cannot fall into the hands of the empire or those mysterious subjects we fought before."
"You mean Those Who Slither in the Dark," Leonard commented, panting with exhaustion.
"Exactly, dear," Claude replied, winking at Leonard with his right eye, then turning to Marianne. "I am glad that Leonard has accompanied you in your misadventures during these days."
"Thank you all, really," Marianne said, curtsying.
"You don't have to thank my friend!" Hilda exclaimed, taking Marianne in both hands.
Claude began to wander a bit while alternating gestures such as passing a hand over his chin, rubbing his neck, or resting both hands on his neck. Suddenly he approached the group and said:
"We'll stay here a few days to prepare." The heir began, addressing the entire group while maintaining a more severe attitude than usual. "After that, we will start going to Caílte to leave Marianne in her home. In the meantime, you will have to explain to me, Leonard, how we could hide you and that book without risking what little stability we already have because of the war."
"I agree, your highness," Leonard said respectfully,
"Please don't call me that," Claude replied after laughing loudly. "Sarcasm is not necessary, besides."
"Excuse my friend, Claude," Marianne said, curtsying slightly. "Leonard is not usually a person to follow protocols."
"Marianne!" the young man exclaimed, pretending to be surprised, as he turned to his companion and winked at her. "You must defend me."
"Oh, we'd better leave it here," Hilda said, looking at Marianne in surprise. "I think it would be good for you guys to take a bath and rest since you are not in the best condition."
That's a good idea... friend," Marianne commented with relief and appreciation. "I think it will be the best. I feel unpresentable in front of you."
"My dear, it's not the first time we've been in this state," replied the girl with beautiful hair and pink eyes. "We could say that the professor was an excellent leader and strategist, but all that passion during the battles was at the cost of the cleanliness and order of his students."
"Ha! That's an understatement." Claude added, clutching his stomach.
The atmosphere that formed at that moment surprised Leonard. Everyone, including Marianne, laughed and displayed an air of melding joy and nostalgia. "That guy, the professor, would have been a great leader, able to rally and excite the members of the Golden Deer class," the boy thought as he watched the group.
After that short moment, Claude turned to his guests.
"Well, as Hilda said, I think you'd better go to your rooms," he said, gesturing out of their room and calling to a couple of servants. "These comrades will be in charge of taking them to their respective rooms, giving them something to eat, and leaving everything ready to bathe and put on a change of clothes."
After that explanation, he approached Leonard to touch his beard.
"And you, friend, you must shave. You can't go on like this, you know why," concluded the future heir to the ruler of the Alliance, winking at the boy with his right eye.
"Uhm... Right, Claude."
After that conversation, both young people were taken to their respective rooms. After they finished eating, the servants left everything for both of them so they could bathe: bathtub, towels, soap, and perfumes. In the same way, they were given clothes more suitable than the rags that Leonard wore and the soldier's uniform that Marianne wore. To conclude, Leonard received everything he needed to shave well.
Marianne felt an enormous relief once everything was ready: she felt disgusting and stinking. She couldn't be calm thinking about the inconvenience that could have caused everyone in that state. She was beginning to take off her clothes when she felt a knock on the door and, immediately afterward, someone entered her bedroom: it was Hilda.
"Dear, I've come to help you wash and fix that hair," she said, carrying some of her accessories, ready to help her friend. "I think you need to 'prepare' better, too."
"Okay... Hilda," Marianne answered, a little nervous due to the feeling of exposure she was experiencing.
Once she got into the bathtub, she felt the hot water cause a slight burning sensation on her skin, which disappeared shortly. Hilda brushed her friend's skin delicately, carefully leaving even every pore of her skin clean. While at it, she stepped back to examine the young woman's torso closely.
"Hey, and I thought that in these days of hardships, you would be rickety," Hilda said with a slightly surprised expression. "I am surprised to see that, on the contrary, you are more developed here and there," she concluded, with a slight smile towards the young woman.
"Don't say that, please," Marianne replied, embarrassed.
"Hey! I didn't mean to tell you to upset you. Quite the contrary. I say it from the friendship we have. I would say that you are almost as voluptuous as me," —she added, smiling.
"I don't know how to take what you told me," Marianne replied, still with her face covered by her hands.
"Calm down, friend," Hilda said more seriously. "There is nothing wrong with acknowledging and loving your body."
"It's true... Although it sounds weird when you say it," Marianne replied, somewhat more relaxed.
Once the girl finished bathing, drying, and dressing, it was time to comb and tidy up that tangled hair and something damaged by those days of misadventures.
"I'll make this beautiful hair like new, my dear," Hilda said, rolling her sleeves again.
During that time, the girl combed, brushed, massaged, and applied oil to Marianne's hair with the most excellent care. Meanwhile, she gave her some practical advice to keep her hair in the best possible condition, advice that the girl with beautiful light blue hair tried to record as best as possible in her memory while contemplating herself in the mirror.
"I'm curious about something, Marianne," Hilda introduced her next question, meeting her friend's gaze from the reflection in the mirror. "Everything indicates that you already knew Leonard. Could you tell me where or since when you know each other?" the girl asked, applying more oil to her friend's hair.
"Uhm, how to put it..." Marianne replied, collecting her thoughts. "Leonard was my adoptive father's servant before I moved in with him. We met after a few weeks... We started talking because of his insistence since my adoptive father warned me about talking to people because of my curse. Despite this, Leonard couldn't care less."
"I see, that's clear to me," Hilda replied after a slight laugh. "It is evident that this boy is stubborn as he is."
"Yes... It's true," replied Marianne, with a slight smile, which made everything clear to Hilda due to its authenticity. "He was quite insistent so that we could get to know each other: he tried to talk to the animals, he gave me flowers and plants that he found when he explored the forest; And what surprised me the most is that she tried to pray to the Goddess with me, even though I knew little about her or didn't even know how to pray to her," the young woman concluded, playing with her fingers, somewhat nervous.
"It's obvious that this man likes you," Hilda, her friend, with a suggestive face. "what you tell me, that boy has been loving you for a long time, Marianne, "Has he already confessed to you?"
"No, not at all!" she answered, with an intense voice that she was not used to due to her nervousness.
"Not even a small or veiled statement?" Hilda asked, more curious than before.
"Well, he said he was in love with me last night while I was lying in bed," the pale blue-haired girl replied, looking at Hilda from the mirror's reflection. "He assumed I was asleep, but I had already woken up, only that I was still lying down. I didn't open my eyes because I felt he was watching me and didn't know how to react."
"Wow!" Hilda exclaimed, surprised. "So that guy loves you like hell."
"You think?" Marianne asked, her voice faltering with embarrassment and insecurity.
"Of course, friend!" The girl replied with an intense smile due to the radiance those beautiful pink eyes had taken on. "I have to tell you, maybe you didn't know it, but at the Academy, the boys talked about you, some even with a romantic interest."
"I didn't imagine that, Hilda," Marianne replied, still embarrassed.
"That's right," said her friend, encouraged. "Sylvain wailed through the halls, commenting that you had rejected him."
"I never would have imagined that men would approach me for that kind of interest," the girl lamented.
"It's just that you have little confidence in yourself, but that can be acquired," Hilda replied with a flirtatious smile. "What was more apparent was your incipient interest in the professor.
"Did you notice?" Marianne asked, covering her face with both hands again.
"Ha ha ha! You weren't the only one, dear," Hilda replied enthusiastically. "Unfortunately, it has disappeared, but I know it will return; I feel it."
"Do you think so, Hilda?"
"Absolutely! her friend stated confidently. Of course, you stay with Leonard and me with the professor. You can't be that ambitious."
"What? Well, I think you're right," Marianne said, then laughed subtly.
"From that reaction, I can tell that you do like that boy," Hilda concluded, smiling.
Meanwhile, Leonard was taking a bath. He rubbed his entire body excessively, leaving his skin red and burning. It was all to get rid of a layer of grime that had stuck to him for a long time, longer than he remembered.
The boy had escaped from the place where he lived approximately two or three months ago, walking through different territories of Fódlan, trying to go unnoticed and not be noticed by the Church, especially the Church of the East, which was the one from which the territory in which lived until recently.
He tried to seek support from the Central Church during the Great Tree moon, as he recalls, but unfortunately, Garreg Mach had been attacked by the Adrestian army just then. That's when the persecution by the Western Church and the empire began, sending the Death Knight for that purpose.
These thoughts occupied Leonard's mind while he continued to bathe. Suddenly, an intrusive thought appeared: «What was Marianne doing? » he asked himself. He imagined that he was still taking a bath, or perhaps, he was putting on his pajamas to sleep.
Suddenly, the young man began to think about "other things," especially how the girl would look when she dried herself and dressed. It is to be expected that, in Leonard's mind, these scenes took place in great detail. Inevitably, a "physiological" reaction followed such thoughts, so Leonard was forced to get out of the bathtub as soon as possible and stop thinking about such provocative ideas.
Stepping out of the tub, he dried himself and put on the pants they had left for him. Now he had to shave. The more he shaved, the more he was surprised at how much his beard had grown. It was months of complete impossibility to care for yourself; even as a servant, he cleaned himself better. In the monastery where he was staying, he had very few opportunities to clean himself as he was doing now. Once he finished shaving, he went to sleep, exhausted from that battle with Holst.