Byleth didn't understand anything at all. This new student seemed to be a box of surprises, or worse, a "Pandora's box."She felt a slight chill despite somehow not understanding the details. It was expected to feel like this due to the gloomy face that her student showed again.
"Arundel?" Your father?" Was all Byleth could articulate.
"Correct, Professor," Ernest replied, his voice monotone. "I assume you must have heard of him."
"I mean... in name only," the teacher replied, confused. "At least I heard that he is Edelgard's uncle and the Chancellor of the Empire. That's what she told me herself. But I don't know much more since I have little time to establish a relationship with the Black Eagles. However, she approaches me quite often to talk to me."
"Because she loves you madly, Byleth," Ernest answered, his smile returning. "But we didn't come here to talk about who likes us. You should know more about it, and now I can only tell you part of it."
"Oh...okay." For the first time, Byleth looked embarrassed. "Go on."
"Volkhard was a rather 'restless' young man. He had an affair with a maid, a very beautiful one. She hid her pregnancy so well that it didn't become apparent until she was about to conceive. It was inevitable that she had to give birth in secret. And, I must say, my stepmother was an excellent midwife, apart from having a special network of contacts to hide the children. Rather, sell them at a good price."
"What... It's disturbing what you're telling me," The teacher commented.
"Well... and I've only just started. Arundel washed his hands of this whole affair to tell the truth. My mother crossed the continent to the Alliance to give birth. She disappeared. She ran away from everyone and left me lying there. I still don't know what Raquel saw in me when she adopted me as her stepson."
"Surely... you were an adorable baby." Byleth realized that she had spoken without thinking.
"I think it was the same thing she told me," Ernest laughed cheerfully when he heard his teacher. "Well... I grew up there until I was six years old. One day, a gentleman appeared. He was a subject with a dark and cold look. He gave me this dagger when he approached me and said, 'You must use it. It will be your best friend and your food source. You will be the best at using it because you carry the talent for it in your veins'."
"In your veins?" Byleth asked, looking at Ernest seriously. "Maybe he wasn't wrong after all. Perhaps he saw your talent."
"I don't know... I don't think it's talent. I think it was my blood."
"Your blood... what do you mean by that?"
"My father is Thales, and he is not a human," Ernest declared, resting his elbows on his legs and his chin on the backs of their clasped hands. "Thales is Agarthan, of that race that swore to destroy the children of the Goddess. He is the leader of a group that some like to call 'Those Who Slither in the Darkness,' which is nothing more than a kind of euphemism to define the shit they are."
" Agartha ..." Byleth repeated one of Ernest's words, looking at the ground. "But that is the race that is talked about in some books. Many say that Sothis exterminated them."
"Other sources say they hid underground," the boy replied. "And they did it, like the creeping beasts that they are. No offense to the animals that live underground, of course."
"He taught you to kill?"
"No... I learned by myself. No matter how much I denied his words, the bastard was right. These Agarthans have an innate talent for killing. Although Thales said he was surprised by my abilities."
"And... May I know whom you murdered?" Byleth asked, looking a bit pale by now.
"Well... I must say that when I 'turned on my switch,' many memories were blurred. Most of the people I killed were poor idiots running from debt collectors, merchants fighting among themselves, mercenaries from some enemy gangs, and small-time nobles. I remember them well, but..."
"But what?" Byleth questioned, eager to know more.
"There are some important characters that I had to kill, but I don't remember all of them... Do you know the conflict in the alliance between Brigid and Dagda?"
"Enough, in theory. We discussed it in class yesterday, so the data is fresh in my head."
"Well, I contributed to the triumph of the Empire. I rather gave the coup de grace."
Byleth did not speak. She thought for a bit. The woman remembered the conversation she and Ernest had the day before in class. The professor couldn't help but understand what the boy was suggesting.
"You committed... Regicide."
"Correct... I slit the throat and ripped off the King of Brigid's head. Many say his killer was Leopold von Bergliez, a war hero. That is the version agreed upon by the Empire itself. But the truth is, it was me. That enemy would cause many casualties and attrition to an Empire beginning to falter."
"Hard to believe, Ernest," Bylegh said, impulsively placing her hand on the boys. "All this must be a difficult experience to reconcile. Hopefully, you can forgive yourself."
Ernest was silent for a few moments. The sensation of having Byleth's hand resting on his paralyzed him. Also, on impulse, the boy caressed his teacher's hand briefly. After that moment, they both withdrew their hands with a certain expression of astonishment. Ernest averted his gaze, and Byleth looked down at her hand with the same flat expression as usual but with a slight blush on her cheeks.
"Ehm... It would be hard for me to forgive myself," Ernest replied after the strange scene. "It's hard for me to connect with any emotion from that moment's few and unconnected memories. Now that I tell you. However, I feel immense regret. I hope to receive the forgiveness of the people to whom it corresponds to do it... Although I do not think Petra would ever want to forgive me."
"You have to see that from his mouth, Ernest," Byleth replied, looking more calmly at her student. "But it will indeed cost. The important thing is that you regret what you did. You were surely also a victim of Thales's orders."
Ernest stood thinking, looking down at the floor. Then he looked back at Byleth. It seems like he wanted to talk more.
"This group of Agarthans I told you about is conspiring. They are pulling the strings of the Fódlan nobility and a few other actors. The war between the three nations is coming sooner than you think. The pieces are already on the board, and let me tell you, you are kind of a major nuisance to this game of chess. They're going to take you off the board."
"What are you trying to say, Ernest?" Byleth's voice was uneasy.
"What you heard. I don't think I have to say it, but Thales forced me to kill you a while ago, something like three years. But I flatly refused. I didn't want to be a murderer again then."
"I can't judge you... But it's good that we didn't face each other back then. That would have been a fight to the death."
"And we're both probably dead," Ernest said morosely. "From there, I became interested in knowing about you. It was surprising to learn that you had become a teacher here. Since I knew about it, I decided to ask to be transferred to Garreg Mach."
"I didn't know... That you cared for yourself that way... For me." Byleth's words sounded a bit disconnected.
"That's right." Ernest was a little embarrassed, realizing the emphasis in his words. "In general, Thales did not usually send me to kill mercenaries. Those were other jobs I got to survive. But that he commissioned me to kill you... It was special. Later, I learned that your father, Jeralt, had been part of the Knights of Seiros. Everything became clearer. You were born here, in this very place, and then you disappeared."
"It's true...." Byleth replied. "Tell me, Ernest, do you know things about my life that I may not know? Your words give me that impression."
Ernest caught a real expression on Byleth's face for the first time. It was a mixture of anxiety and sadness. He couldn't refuse anymore. The man loved her. He didn't want to make her sad like that for no reason. But he couldn't hide anything from her either. Ernest owed her loyalty, and now that his heart was already fluttering at the sight of that woman, all the more reason he should be frank with her.
"I don't know everything, Byleth," Ernest replied, scrambling to continue. "Jeralt fell in love with someone close to Rhea. Her name was Sitri. She conceived you but died during childbirth. Apparently, and from what I could find out, you would not survive birth, but she took the risk to give you your life at the cost of hers. Then, there is darkness in terms of information. Rhea was very interested in you and the reasons you survived. She wanted to hold you here no matter what. Finally, Jeralt faked your death, and you both disappeared for a long time. That even the facts you already know well."
"My mother.... Did he sacrifice himself for me?" Byleth was serious.
Ernest looked at Byleth for a few seconds. She stood up, still with her deadpan attitude. However, the boy could perceive a difference: she was clenching her fists, and her posture became hunched.
Byleth, meanwhile, did not understand the number of emotions that overwhelmed her. She had never felt that discharge of sensations in her. The woman didn't know what else to say or if she wanted to stay in the room. Suddenly, she felt a pressure on her body. It was Ernest hugging her on impulse.
"I don't know what else to do for you right now, Byleth," he said, stroking the teacher's hair. "I don't know if you'll accept this hug, and I hope it doesn't lead to our student-teacher relationship... But now you need to be vulnerable, woman."
Byleth clenched her fists as the student stepped forward, albeit with good intentions. The professor only thought of getting him away from her. But she can't. Rather, she didn't want to. Byleth let herself go and hugged him back while tears welled up in her eyes. She had never cried for as long as she could remember.
"Are.... These are tears, right?" Byleth asked, still confused by how overwhelmed she felt.
"They are, Byleth.... And you can keep releasing them as long as you want and need to," Ernest said, wiping away one of her tears with one of his hands.
Ernest thought about restraining her, but what he wanted most was to drag her to his bed. But the boy had to get those wishes out of his mind if he didn't like to send everything to hell. The man wiped her tears with his hands until Byleth moved away. The man saw how his teacher wiped out the last tears and tried to return to her serious attitude.
"Do you want us to leave this here for today, Byleth?" Ernest asked, with a look of concern and consideration.
"Yes... It's late... It's for the best," she replied, looking at the ground.
"Want.... Do you want me to walk you to your room?"
"No. It's not necessary," she said anxiously. "I don't want people to... Think things."
"Okay... I hope you're resting, really," he replied, still worried. "As you told me, count on me to express your concerns. I am not only your student; I am also your squire. And your squire can listen to you when needed, right?"
"You're...right," Byleth replied, opening the door. "The time will come for that. Good night."
"Good night."
Byleth went to her room at a brisk pace. She didn't want to hear Sothis rumbling in her head. Could not. Now the woman couldn't think. She could only feel that hug from Ernest. Byleth could only feel that boy who was two years younger than her but who was her student. She couldn't cross the line. Neither of them could. Before falling asleep, she only heard Sothis's last sentence: "You don't fool me, Byleth. And you won't be able to fool yourself for long either."
Ernest, meanwhile, sat on the edge of his bed thinking. Suddenly, he looked towards the window and spoke calmly.
"How are you, Claude?"
"Hello, dear friend," replied the Archduke's heir.
"You heard quite a bit of the conversation. You're quite curious."
"You can say I'm a fucking stalker if you want," Claude laughed. "I had suspicions, but getting here could end in calamity, mate. And that you need to remember some of your work."
Ernest looked at Claude curiously. Then, he realized that he had something stuck in his neck. It was some dart that Claude had thrown at him. It was probably poisoned.
"I like your speed," Ernest said quietly. "But you already suspected that I'm resistant to poison."
"I just wanted to make sure you weren't human, Ernest. Or rather, 'The Shadow.'"