Calla was very impressed by the size of the building. She guessed that such a huge stone construction could house everyone from the village and it would not be surprising.

This place was far from the prettiest she had seen on their way through the city but it was still impressive by its size, its height and the amount of things Emp had to say about it. It was the place he knew best of the whole city after all. The Carriage was stopped close to the entrance hall and everyone got out to stand by the gate.

The duke rode closer to them as the other Emp got down from his horse.

"We had a great trip but now we be here. Me lady, I be happy to welcome ye in this school of mine. I hope ye be havin a pleasant stay."

Calla nodded as an answer, not knowing the right way to end such a conversation.

"Thank you duke Jazay for going along with me." Emp said.

"It be my duty and fun too."

The duke answered with a jovial tone as he led his guys and the rest of the caravan towards the stables.

This only left a merged Emp, the two servants and Calla in front of the main door. From there, Emp would have no problem guiding Calla anywhere. He picked up Celtine and placed her on his shoulders like he usually did, grabbed Calla's hand and stepped into the school.

Calla held his hand against her, she would have cuddled against him but Celtine was now in the way. She thought it was somewhat cute because it looked like he was carrying a child on his shoulders but she didn't feel great about it. She felt that Celtine was in the way even though she knew Emp only carried her because of her handicap.

Celtine thought along those lines as well. She felt bad that a guy would carry her on his shoulder right in front of his wife. She wanted to get back down but if she did, it would take her a really long time to climb the stairs toward his room. She would have apologized to Calla but she had no way of talking to her.

Emp walked to the front desk with the three of them and Wren Esther welcomed them warmly.

"Welcome back! Did you have an enjoyable trip?"

"Yes, I had a lot of fun, thank you."

She looked towards the door somewhere behind him.

"Is the duke back as well?"

"He is, he's taking care of the horses."

"Good." She commented wit ha nod. "I'm sure your cla.s.smates will be happy to see you back. Some of them have been coming to ask me everyday if you were back yet."

"Really? It was Mable, wasn't it?"

He had told everyone it would take a few weeks but it would be just like Mable to send someone down here everyday to know if he was back yet.

"It was." Wren confirmed "She seemed very impatient to see you return."

"I'll go see her soon then. May I have the schedule of the next few days?"

"Yes, here they are." The receptionist fetched a few parchments from a bookshelves behind her and Harriett grabbed them for him.

"By the way, may I ask who this young lady is?"

Calla would not present herself because of her usual shyness so Emp did it for her.

"Her name is Calla, she is my wife since a bit more than a weeks ago."

"Oh! All my blessings and well wishes to you both then! Congratulation on your marriage."

"Thank you. She'll stay here for a few days."

"I understand, may you have a pleasant stay in the imperial school." She told Calla wit ha a deep bow of welcome. The woman was one of the rare few that knew of his true name after all, she couldn't show any disrespect.

His wife nodded and he led her away towards his own room.

That room had nothing impressive to it so It did not take him long to give her a tour. There was his main room with a few souvenirs from his short adventures, the girls room, the empty room he used for physical exercises when he didn't want to walk all the way outside and the bedroom he'd share with Calla for the time she'd be here.

There was a bit of dust that had acc.u.mulated everywhere while they were gone and Celtine wasted no time before she started dusting everything and shaking the curtains and the bed sheets.

Harriett would have helped but Emp sent her on a quest to go announce his return to Mable. He didn't know if she'd want to meet Calla today, tomorrow or even later but he needed to let her know they were ready anyway. Well, maybe Calla wasn't as ready as he was, she seemed more nervous than anything. The best way to put it would be to say that she'd never be ready so it was pointless to wait.

Harriett came back not too long after to inform him that Mable wished to come visit him later today with Aglaya and went away again to relay the positive answer from Emp. Only after all of this was done did she begin helping Celtine and started a small fire to heat water for the tea.

The two girls were really happy to be back home, or at least, in known territory. They did their best to make the place presentable as soon as humanly possible and even made the extra effort of preparing a bath for Emp and Calla. In Harriett's opinion, they should wash away the smell of the road before they met another n.o.ble lady.

Emp believed it was a good idea and let her do it even though filling up a tub from here was rather complicated. He saw her make many trips downstairs with buckets in order to fill the tub and he felt bad for not helping her. Calla felt the same and wanted to give up on the bath entirely but Harriett didn't want to give up and after a while, they had a wooden tub half filled with lukewarm water in the bedroom.

The tub was too small to let them both bathe at once but they gained some time by helping wash each other's back as they bathed in turn. It would have been even faster if Harriett and Celtine had helped but Emp had never let them do so before. He was perfectly able to wash his own back and the rest of him by himself after all. Calla was the same but more importantly, she would be too shy to let anyone see her naked. Even her own husband was at the very limit of what she could handle without freezing in place, and only because he had seen her body a few times already. On the other hand, she had fun helping him bathe even though she was almost as embarra.s.sed seeing him naked as she was of the reverse.

Once they had been cleaned of the road's dirt and the smell of horses, the girls brought them each a set of clean clothes, some of Emp's usual n.o.ble clothing and Calla's ordinary dress. Emp wondered if Calla would have liked to be presented to the others in a n.o.ble dress rather than her usual clothes but having some made for her would take a long time. It would be impossible to find her something today even if he rushed and tried his best.

Calla wanted to help the two girls with the dusting and felt like she should think about what they'd eat later but Emp pulled her close to him.

"Let Harriett work, she's very proud of it."

Instead, they sat side by side at the table, setting the chairs against each other, and took the teacups offered by Harriett. The tea was warm and appeasing, Calla enjoyed her time with him by resting her head on his shoulder and looking at the small fire in the fireplace.

The bath, even though it was swift and simple, lifted up their spirit, there weren't many things better than sitting down at home after a long trip, all cleaned and warmed.

"Don't forget to wash yourselves as well." Emp told the two faithful servants.

"If you wish so master."

"I do, you'll feel much better later when you go to sleep."

Harriett nodded in a mix of agreement and disappointment as she would be the one who would have to empty and then fill the bath again for herself and Celtine. There was no point in was.h.i.+ng yourself in dirty water after all.

They pa.s.sed time for a while, talking about what Calla thought of his place and simply sipping their tea in a comfortable silence in turns. She didn't have much to say about his room, her conclusions were rather similar to those of Mable. The colors, object and furniture were very like him now but as a whole, it all seemed disjointed for her. It was a bit as if he placed things here just so that it wouldn't be empty. Only the crystal containing Chijou's soul, the old suit of armor and the broken hammer didn't seem out of place for her.

Time flowed forward slowly as they didn't do much at all but both of them enjoyed those sort of calm moments. Either of them could spend hours like that doing nothing else than watching the fire burn out and feeling the other at their side.

Emp was conscious he had other things to do but he had traveled for weeks and rode on horseback for a long time. He felt he deserved to take a break. Calla too felt that she should probably start working on their next meal but she was enjoying the moment and didn't feel like getting back up at all. All that road and her encounter with Love had been very tiring for her too. Emp felt that maybe it was the reason why she wasn't so scared to meet with Mable today, she was just too tired to worry about this.

At some point in the evening, someone knocked on the door. Emp didn't need to have Harriett go take a look to know it was probably Mable. He told her to open the door and let them inside. Only then did Calla starts to worry for real and put down her tea to hold his arm firmly instead. She had enjoyed her peaceful time with him but now, she had to face this new hards.h.i.+p. Someone else might think that hards.h.i.+p was a strong word for simply meeting someone new but for her, it wasn't an exaggeration in the least.

As Emp had expected, Mable stepped inside with Aglaya in tow. She could have brought many more people with her but it seemed she didn't trust any of them as much as Aglaya for this, not even Nessa. For her, it was important to know everything and make up her mind before the others met Calla. In simple terms, Mable needed to know what was the tune she was singing before the music started. Out of everyone in school, Aglaya was the only one she trusted fully, she could only rely on her and her talent at understanding people's intentions to know for sure what was Calla really like.

Mable had a nervous air but looked determined to know the truth of it all. She had the face of someone about to charge into a battlefield. With her luxurious hair, her fanciful clothing fitting her perfectly and made of the best textiles there were along with her friend just as well dressed, Calla felt she had been defeated immediately.

She was just an ordinary girl, she didn't have perfumes bought with golden crowns, precious jewelry reflecting light like stars, clothes tailored by grand experts for them only or even simply that way of walking that gave them such a presence.

Both girls that made their way in the room where extremely pretty, princesses facing the simple her. Calla wasn't sure yet which one was Mable but she felt that either of them where far above her in beauty and grace.

She kept the words of Love in mind but she had a hard time keeping herself together. She felt as if her mere presence was like a stain in front of them, she dearly wanted to disappear. Worse, she was the object of their focus, the moment they saw her, their eyes latched onto her and would not let go. She felt so intimidated in fact that she ended up closing her own eyes.

"I am Calla Muracier." She kept repeating in her head. Emp had told her before, she had no reason to be afraid of anyone here and she probably had a higher standing now than any of the students. They weren't even as impressive as Love! She had met an actual G.o.ddess earlier in the day, why were those two so much more intimidating to her? Was it because they lacked that overwhelming feeling of love?

She had qualified Love as the scariest thing she had ever seen but the two girls in front of them felt more real somehow, they were right there in front of her, might not be friendly and could not read her mind which would force her to speak. She had to welcome them inside somehow didn't she? She forgot to ask Emp if she needed to do anything special.

Was she supposed to give them a bow? Or use specific words? Maybe she wasn't supposed to do anything since she was the new lady Muracier. Was she just supposed to look at them from above? She couldn't do that, it would be way too hard and embarra.s.sing! Plus, they didn't know her husband was a Muracier so they might think they were far above her and think she was arrogant instead.

Since they were Emps friends, maybe she was worrying about nothing at all and she was just supposed to greet them like a normal person would another. Except she usually never did that either.

While all those things rushed through Calla's head, Emp greeted his two friends like normal.

"Mable, Aglaya, come sit with us. I'm happy to see you two again."

Mable stepped towards a chair but Aglaya stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"We're happy to see you again too but should you not do the presentations first?"

Emp didn't get why it had to be done while they were still standing there but he made the presentations anyway.

"Mable, Aglaya, this is my wife Calla." He looked towards her as he presented her and saw that she had her eyes tightly closed and her face buried in his shoulder.

That could be problematic for presentations.

"Hi..." Mable said with a raised brow.

"A pleasure." Aglaya said.

How should he make Calla move? Mable and Aglaya might be disappointed if she didn't greet them at all. He tried to speak close to her ears.

"Calla, what are you getting scared for? Those two are really fun people and good friends of mine. I'm right here with you, nothing bad will happen. I asked them to give you chance and they came here to meet you. It would be a shame to do all this road in not even greet them, wouldn't it?"

He saw he twitch but it wasn't enough to really make her move.

The two standing girls were trying to figure out what were Calla's thoughts. Harriett told them her new mistress was really shy but this was exaggerated, wasn't it? Was it a comedy to wrap Emp and the girls around her fingers? Was she just mocking them maybe? Was it a taunt instead? Something like: look at how close I am to him already.

"Would it be easier if I told you what to say?" Emp asked her.

Is efforts were rewarded with a sort of weak nod.

"You'll have to look though, I promise they aren't as scary as my mother."

Emp felt like he was talking to a small child which was sort of funny. He thought her behavior was endearing but he had no way of knowing how the other two would take it. Hopefully, it would turn out well.

Calla opened her eyes again and looked towards the two visitors. The way they observed her with a mix of confusion and curiosity made nothing to rea.s.sure her but with the close proximity of Emp and his encouraging words, she kept her eyes on them.

Emp repositioned her and his arms in order to hug her and hold on to her hands to bring the bracelet closer to her face. Calla let him do as he wanted, both because she trusted him and because she understood what he was doing.

Mable gave an annoyed frown to this display of affection but kept her calm and remained silent.

"The tall elegant one is Aglaya Pierail. You can simply say it's a pleasure to meet her if you want."

Calla lifted her eyes up to hers and almost looked away again when she saw the serious in them. She seemed to have the same sort of eyes as Eda, the serious and responsible one in her group of friends. She was a hard person to face.

"Sorry, It is a pleasure to meet you."

Emp nodded in approval when he heard her voice clearly, and presented Mable after Aglaya gave a nod.

"Great, next, the pretty one with a lot of hair is Mable. You can greet her he same way."

Calla looked at the other girl properly. This one was harder to greet because she was the one Emp said loved him. She was a rival of sorts, or a sister if everything went the way Emp wanted it to go. With how shaky the girl seemed, maybe it was more of the first. She seemed furious at a glance but for Calla, she seemed ten times more sad. Her eyes kept going from Emp's arms wrapped around her to the cuff he gave her and back to her face.

Calla really didn't want to make a bad impression but simply greeting her didn't feel like enough. She needed to convey more than just that. That she was a n.o.ble didn't matter anymore, she was only a troubled person and Calla had the power to help, if only she could say some words.

For Emp, she needed to do her best now. She needed all the strength she could get. She took a short but deep breath and keeping the presence of Emp and the words of Love in the foreground of her mind, she spoke her thoughts to Mable. The words were slow and sometimes trembling and there were long pauses between each sentences but she kept talking and went through everything without hiding behind Emp.

"I... am glad you are here. Emp talked about you a lot since the other day, he was very eager to see you again. I am not sure how I should feel about you but I know you must be thinking the same thing. I wish to befriend you because I know Emp cares a lot about you. I am... bad with people and I never really talked to n.o.bles before. I'm sorry if I said something wrong. Would you please sit with us?"

Emp was very impressed by her long speech and rubbed her arm in praise.

To Mable, her words seemed heartfelt but she didn't trust herself for that kind of thing. She looked at Aglaya behind her for advice and she was pointed to one of the chairs in answer.

Once she had sat down at the table facing Emp and his wife, Harriett came from the side and gave a warm cup of tea to both Aglaya and her. Mable really didn't know what to do about her yet so she could only stare awkwardly from her seat.

From her point of view, Calla looked like a young mother, the sort of person the n.o.bles would hire to take care of their many kids while they did some other things. From her look alone, she was absolutely ordinary, there was nothing special about her. If she had been an extreme beauty, Mable would have understood easily why Emp loved her but she wasn't. Not to say that she was ugly, such a descriptor couldn't be applied to the girl in front of her but she wasn't eye catching like many of the students here.

The only two things easily noticeable on her were the ring and the bracelet she wore. Both were resplendent and kinda seemed out of place on her. The ring was obviously one like her own, the one Emp gave her. The bracelet had a lot of pale pink and purple and despite a rough craftsmans.h.i.+p had a lot of charm, it was undoubtedly the confirmation gift he had made for her.

If it wasn't her look than what was it? What did Emp see in her? She badly needed to understand. She needed to know more about her, determine what were her true intentions and find out if... if she had any right to be there.

To do that, she needed to make her talk. She didn't know what sort of question to ask her though. She had wanted to meet this woman for a long time but now that she was sat right in front of her, she didn't know what to say at all.

She had pictured herself getting in the room like an imperial interrogator in front of a defenseless but perfidious prisoner, throwing shocking questions with determination until the truth came out. But here she was now, staring in silence, unable to say anything, unable to remember any of her questions. All she could see was the shocking scene of that girl in the arms of the man she liked.

She changed her mind, she wanted to leave, she had lost already, this was obvious. This whole things was just a huge embarra.s.sment. She tried to get back up but Aglaya held her in place from under the table.

She scowled at the traitor who first gave her a disapproving look before clenching her fist as some sort of encouragement or signal.

There were no signal to be had here though! What could she possibly do now? This was way too late!

Aglaya rolled her eyes and sighed, turning back towards the new girl to initiate the conversation herself.

"I do not mean it as a criticism but since we are speaking in the common tongue, can I a.s.sume you do not speak the n.o.ble one?"

Calla nodded while Emp voiced her answer.

"You're right, she doesn't speak the n.o.ble tongue. She hardly speak at all in fact, it takes a huge toll on her to speak to her neighbors already so meeting new people like today is really hard on her."

"Really? So you are a bit like Rica then? If she can help it, she doesn't speak to anyone but Frits."

Aglaya kept addressing herself to Calla directly, either to stay polite or to pressure her, Mable didn't know.

Calla didn't really know who Rica was so she had to turn towards Emp.

"Similar yes. She's both meek and shy."

"But, I don't get it. If she's so shy that she can't talk to her neighbors, how did she manage to give you an offering so fast? We had only just heard of her existence and the next thing we knew, you were engaged."

A loophole in the story! Mable got a bit more vigorous from this. That was right, if the att.i.tude she showed them since earlier was the one she had with everyone, how did she get so close to Emp? This had to be some sort of act to charm him!

She was cheating somehow, Mable had to prove it!

"She was great that day, she managed to do it even though she was so nervous she had to be dragged by all her friends and her sisters."

"Really? But what gave you the courage to start this whole thing in the first place?" Aglaya looked towards Calla with curiosity, Mable did the same with a bit less friendliness.

Calla answered as best as she could. She talked about why she started liking Emp in the first place, how she felt braver and more safe around him and how she had tried to tell him about her feelings many times.

"I even made heart stew for him only and I personally fed it to him but he didn't get it."

"I know, Emp never gets any hints and we have to tell him straight! I can get so frustrated because of that!" Mable complained.

She was looking for something to catch Calla red handed but at least on that, she fully agreed and nodded decisively.

Emp wasn't bothered by it all and let them continue.

"How did it turn into an offering then if you couldn't even tell him about your feelings?" Aglaya pressed.

"My mother told me to do it. She knew how I felt and she was afraid that with someone like him, someone else in the village would get ahead of me if I didn't move fast enough. She knew that if I wasn't first, I would never work up the courage to say anything for the rest of my life. We felt giving him that offering was the only way to make him understand how I felt. Then, I used the new year to wish that he'd say yes and everyone helped me to do it."

"But weren't you scared about him being a n.o.ble?"

"She didn't know I was a n.o.ble." Intervened Emp. "I had not told anyone in the village who I was, they all believed I was the apprentice of the smith. She didn't know about the school here or Mable or anything I did in Bêtéclair."

"He didn't say anything about me?" Mable seemed rather upset about this, it was the same thing she had been upset about before the new year.

"No, not before the confirmation. I was scared she might pull back if she knew any of that."

"That's the reason you had for not saying anything?" Aglaya was shocked. "You're telling us she got engaged to a n.o.ble without knowing!?"

Both Emp and Calla nodded. Mable just stared with her mouth wide open.

"Emp! It's not fine to do that sort of thing! You can't hide half of your life to someone like that even though you are about to get married!"

"But that's what my mother told me to do." Both of them did in fact.

"Aren't you angry about all the things he hid from you?" Mable asked Calla.

The girl shook her head and expressed her own viewpoint.

"Why would I be angry? He was right, if I had known, I would have been too scared to give him an offering and both of us would have regretted it. When my parents learned who he really was, they were really happy for me as well. At first I was shocked and scared but now I know that Emp is just Emp, whatever his... our last name is. The Emp I knew wasn't a lie, he just kept the stressful parts away from me to keep me calm. He had good intentions and it didn't harm me in any way, I have no reason to be angry."

The two n.o.ble girls leaned back on their chairs. They took some time to take in what they had just learned and what Calla said.

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It made Mable feel a bit guilty about getting so angry. Emp had kept hidden way more things to Calla than he had to her and she wasn't disturbed at all. She felt they should both be angry but since Calla wasn't at all, maybe she had overreacted? It felt a bit awkward. She didn't really feel like she was wrong though, Emp didn't play fair this time and he should be scolded.

She turned towards Aglaya for some sort of answer. After the emotion pa.s.sed, Aglaya showed a half smile to her friend.

"I think I'm starting to understand what sort of person she is."

That wasn't the sentence Mable was expecting but it was the one she had been waiting for. She urged her friend to tell her what she thought about this girl, not caring that they were right in front of her to ask.

"What do you think? What is she?"

"Not dangerous, she doesn't seem to be the kind to plot in the dark either. I don't think she tricked him or stole him from you on purpose, she didn't seduce him for his position either since she didn't know. I need more time to be sure but for now, I believe Emp fell in love with her because she is the sort that needs to be protected all the time. Emp is a very protective guy after all, this is why he makes a great lord protector. That girl fell for the most interesting man she knew and he was happy to provide her what she needed which to me appears to be security and peace. Even now, she's using his strength to speak, without him she'd never be able to say anything to us."

Calla nodded at everything that was said, believing it was very accurate. Emp on the other hand thought that it wasn't fair to gather all his feelings for Calla into something so simple as wanting to protect her. He did of course but it was like describing a dog by simply saying it had dark brown fur. There are a lot of others things to say about it too like its race, its size the length of the fur, what it's tail looks like and so on.

Mable didn't know whether she should feel happy about this or sad. According to Aglaya's first impressions, the girl really was as simple, kind and shy as she appeared to be. This meant that she couldn't get rid of her, Emp would not be hers alone.

Now, either she had to accept Calla or move on to someone else. That was the truly hard question. She had hoped that she wouldn't need to ask herself that in the end.

"What do I do?" She asked Aglaya.

"I think you should learn to know her better so you can take the best decision for yourself but I guess you have to ask her first what she thinks about all this."

Mable turned to look at Calla again. Aglaya was right, anything that would happen from now on would depend on her. If she didn't want to see Mable ever again, as his wife, her opinion would be decisive. Likewise, if Mable couldn't get along with her, it was pointless to think about becoming her sister.

Who you took as sisters was just as important, if not more, than who you took as husband. Everything would be shared between them all and the bond between them had to be stronger than anything to work out well in case of trouble. From what Mable knew, n.o.ble ladies often gathered strong sisters on which they could rely upon if the worst came to pa.s.s. People They knew for most of their lives and trusted with everything including said lives. Sisterhood didn't make strong bonds, it was instead strong bonds that made real sisterhoods. Mable knew of some ladies that came out of nowhere and easily integrated in a group of sisters but she also knew of many more who didn't.

She was of the optimistic sort so she strongly believed that everything would go well for her in such a scenario but anything could still happen and she didn't know if this was really what she wanted.

If all that Calla said was true then she seemed like a pretty likeable person. She might be easy to get along with but, there were two things Mable worried about.

First, there was a huge gap between her and Calla in terms of social standing. If they became sisters, they'd become equals but if something happened to Emp, the girl would likely turn into a huge burden. Committing to a relations.h.i.+p with Emp meant that she also had to commit on supporting Calla. If they became fast friends, Mable would probably not mind it but her family might not agree to this. Now, not only did she need to convince her father that Emp was the right guy for her, she also needed to have him accept a simple girl raised in an orchard as equal to his daughter and inheritor of all that would go down to her after his death.

Then, secondly, even if she found Mable likeable, it didn't mean that the girl would think the same in reverse. Up to now, Mable had said almost nothing and kept throwing dark looks at her, this made for a really bad first impression. That girl had the legitimate right as a wife to refuse to accept her as a sister. If Calla didn't like her, she'd never be with Emp.

Mable was essentially at Calla's mercy. If the girl accepted to spend time with her so that they might get to know each other better, then Mable would have a choice on what to do. If she didn't, Mable would have to leave whether she wanted to stay or not.

The girl in front of her was still mostly a mystery to her and she couldn't read on her face what were her current thoughts. Not because she hid it all like the n.o.bles back home but simply because she seemed to struggle so much about her own thoughts that there was nothing to latch onto.

Mable decided to take everything in her own hands, she couldn't wait for her to come to a decision, she needed to make her take the decision that she wanted her to. She did something she almost never did. She got up from her seat and bowed towards Calla.

"I have been rude with you up to now. I apologize. Please give me a chance to show you who I am."

Calla was stunned for a second but managed to give a few words of ascent.

"I would love to know you better. Please, get along with me."

Emp was really happy about the outcome of this first encounter. He smiled broadly as the two girls reached out over the table to hold the hand of each other.

Calla found the contact nerve-raking as taking the hand of someone she just met was very different than holding the hand of her childhood friends. Still, she was willing to do it and learn about her, because of what Love told her, because she wanted to please Emp but also, because she was curious about having sisters herself. The idea of someone being like her blood sisters in the future staying with Emp and her was appealing. She was used to sisterhoods and hoped that she would be able to open up to them like she did with her blood sisters.

Mable thought it was relieving instead since there wasn't any hint of displeasure or resentment on her face. The girl seemed to want to give this a serious try and if she was really like she seemed, Emp was probably right and Mable would get along with her easily.