Chapter Twenty-Four
Sometimes, what one needs is a good friend to cheer him up. Sometimes, one needs a good book. I was hanging around the Vestri courtyard with my hands on a book, my eyes closing themselves due to the heat. The lessons at the magic Academy began in Spring, and finished with the end of Summer. Rather than have the coldest months as a focus for studying, we had the warmest ones.
Whoever thought of this must have been the kind of noble that enjoyed watching others suffer beneath the heat. On the other side, I was quite content with my positioning in the courtyard, under the shadow of the tower.
Two open letters rested in my lap. The first was from Cattleya, and the second was from my mother. I had written to them both as was proper form, and in turn received answers by the end of the next day. Mother wasn't pleased I wasn't the first in class like Eleonore had been, but she was glad I hadn't broken any rules, or forgotten about the importance of etiquette. Cattleya was instead sad I couldn't come back home every Void Day. I had written a letter to Louise, and the way she answered told me she had begun with the calligraphy lessons already -there wasn't a single blotch of ink on the paper even if I tried my hardest to find it.
I'd write back to Cattleya by the end of the day, but for mother I'd wait the end of the month -if there was no reason to write, then writing frivolous stuff was a big no-no in her opinion. Louise was a bit of a grey area. She was the future Void Mage, but right in that moment, she was just a young noble lady with a penchant for getting things done her way and huffing and puffing until it was done.
She was, plainly put, the spoiled youngest child of the family. The day she took up a wand and stuff began to explode would be the day she learned a bitter lesson in humility, but until then, she felt there was nothing wrong with her life, and indeed there wasn't. She was still terrified of Karin, though who could blame her?
Anthoine was drinking tea while entertaining Henriette, and André was out horse riding once more. I was currently busy reading a page concerning the union of different elements and their practical aspects. There was quite the amount of variety to a mage's spellcasting potential. A Water mage could easily paralyze an opponent's body with water elements alone, but a combination of air and fire could do the same thing, by causing a heatstroke that forced the muscles to twitch rapidly and shake, making the target lose his mobility.
A single element could be used with quite the effect, but when two came into play, one could either enhance the effects of the previous spell, or create new combinations of it, which once mixed with new chants, birth new spells of sorts.
Magic was quite fascinating, heresy of learning prohibited spells aside.
"Look Josephine, Valliere is alone right now-it is my chance?" I shuddered and then steeled myself. Fine, come on, come closer.
"I don't know Camille-he is reading, do you think it is wise to disturb him?" her friend replied in a barely audible whisper, but my ears picked it up all the same. I flipped a page, and sighed.
"Love, like tilling fields, can only release the greatest of bounties when you pour hard work into it," Camille Du Tremelle said with a determined voice, and I blinked in surprise at that. It was...pretty much a nice thing to say. I approved of it. I closed my book, and stood up. My eyes locked with those of the two girls sitting at the nearby table staring at me like deer caught by a car's headlight, and I smiled as I began to walk towards them.
"He heard you," Josephine whispered, "I think he heard you."
Camille's breathing grew sparse, her face a nice red color as I placed a hand on the free seat in front of them. "Is this seat free?" I asked kindly, a smile on my face. Camille choked on her spit but quickly nodded. "I think it's better if we talk to one another like this, rather than the one-sided conversation of before," I said. "Don't you agree?"
"D-Duke, no-your grace-no, Vallier-e," Camille stammered out, her eyes wide and her breathing growing quicker by the second.
"It's Henry, my fair lady Camille," I said with a smile. "Remember the headmaster's words. We should talk to one another with our first names, to foster friendship."
Camille actually salivated. It was like staring at Jabba the Hutt seconds before he began to lick Leia, and it was not a nice spectacle, but I had a strong stomach, and could withstand such sights. I turned my eyes to Josephine for a brief moment, "I couldn't help but overhear-is there something you wished to ask of me?"
"My birthday," Camille said suddenly, capturing my attention once more, "It will be soon-my mother felt it would be nice if my classmates could attend it. The headmaster was gracious enough to grant permission of using the Void tower for it, but as soon as it is, I find myself without a knight-" she looked hopeful in my direction.
"I understand," I said with a nod, "Unfortunately, as much as it pains me to ruin your hopes, I am already engaged and thus cannot attend as your knight," I smiled gently. "I would rather be upfront about this, rather than break your heart later."
"I understand," Camille said with her hands clenching her robes, her eyes downcast, "I suppose it is sensible-my impudence be damned-who is it? For someone like the future Duke of the la Valliere, it has to be someone worthy of him so...the princess?"
I shook my head. "Loathe as I am to admit it, I do not know myself. My mother, the Heavy Wind-she made the decision and decided to keep it from me until I finished with the academy. It could be anyone, but I dare not ask her," I chuckled, "If you are amenable to it, I can attend as your friend, Miss Camille," I added. "It is a meager thing, but if you would rather I were not there to begin with, I will understand."
"No, it is-you really are a gentle man, but-" Camille shook her head, "I fear I'll make a fool of myself if I stay here a moment longer-" and with that said, she stood up and rushed away, her hands covering her face as Josephine followed after her.
I simply sighed, and opened my book once more.
"Oi, Henry!" Anthoine hissed from behind me, "Did you just make the Du Tremelle girl cry?"
"It was that, or make her suffer far more in the long run," I pointed out. "Sometimes, we need to gather our courage and face unpleasant things head on before they become impossibly unpleasant things. That is what it means to be responsible for one's own fate-to be an adult, a proper noble," I grimaced. "But indeed, I made a young girl cry and that is quite unacceptable. If needed, I'll apologize to her later."
"Well," Anthoine said, "my older brothers would say that it's unforgivable to give up on a lady's love, and that you should surround yourself with all the love you can find-" he furrowed his brows, "But their wives don't really agree with that."
"Why would they?" Henriette said, "I don't think it's nice to play with someone's feelings like that."
"But then, people might get hurt," Antoine replied. "If you can choose between hurting ten women, or hurting none-then the choice is obvious, isn't it?"
"That's only if they don't find out," Henriette rebutted, "if they do, you'll be hurting them a lot because they trusted in you, and you betrayed their trust." She huffed, shaking her head. "Are all the Gramonts like that?"
"No, of course not," Anthoine said hastily, "only my elder brothers-Guiche seems fine for the moment-" he looked at me, and I looked back at him.
"Anthoine is surprisingly honest," I said gently. "I have yet to see him string along two ladies at the same time. Perhaps if caught young, he might become someone suitable?" I hummed and returned to my book, flipping a page.
The next moment, a scribbled Thank you appeared in glittering golden letters on the corner of my book, and as I tapped it away with my wand, I simply chuckled and resumed reading.
I am the wing man my friends need, not the one they deserve.
On the matter of arranged marriages-I had no idea if Karin had set something up or not. As things were currently, it made sense for nobility to try to push for a marriage with Germania to solidify an alliance, but with my birth a quite rowdy faction had popped up demanding the princess to be betrothed to me.
I hadn't been involved -mostly because I had no intention of getting involved in it- but I had ears, and I was pretty sure everything would rear its ugly head by the time the princess turned twelve. Until then, she was a playmate of Louise, and Wales regularly came to visit due to the instability of his home country, which made it a poor place to grow up a child of royalty.
I simply waited, and cherished my time beneath a warm sun and a book in my hands.
Soon, it would all be over.
