Emp wished her a good afternoon and remained alone in his room. They had even left with Celtine and Harriett so there was no one to make him dinner. He ate an apple and a bit of salted meat before leaving for the next cla.s.s.

He wasn't really worried for the girls, they had Brenia and Nessa to protect them after all. The only real dangerous thing that could happen would be for Ninoslav to show up but in that case, his own presence wouldn't change a thing. The annoying truth was that Emp was far too weak still to go against someone like Ninoslav. He could only hope that Gytha was fine and that the mage wouldn't want to get revenge.

He was more worried instead about how Calla would fare alone with the girls. When he was there, she held on to him to give herself some courage but alone, he wasn't sure she would be fine.

Those silly worries kept floating around in his mind until he walked in Blackbull's cla.s.s. Emp sat down with the others and talked with them about nothing important until the teacher walked in with her cane. She noticed right away that half of the girls where missing.

She frowned but still took the time to welcome Emp back before she asked about them.

"Mr. Emp, welcome back to the school. Did you experience an enjoyable trip?"

"I did, thank you for asking."

She gave a sharp nod to acknowledge his answer and moved on to the missing people.

"Now, can someone tell me why half of the girls are missing?"

"They went in town with my wife to go shopping."

"Shopping?"

"Yes, Mable said it had to be done before I presented my wife to everyone else."

"I see... Well, it doesn't really matter, let's get on with the cla.s.s."

Like usual, the cla.s.s was pretty boring. It didn't help that since Celtine wasn't here, Emp had to take notes by himself. Today's cla.s.s was about laws, the proper way to accuse someone of a crime and how to behave when accused of one. Even thought it was dull, Emp kept paying attention because he knew it would all be useful things to know later on. His plan was to become the emperor of Steelwood after all, unlike a great general, he would have to know everything about how the other n.o.bles did things, even if he found it tedious. The fact that this was the hardest cla.s.s for him to understand didn't change but he was ready to put forth his maximum for it.

Even with all that, he was very happy when the cla.s.s finally ended, even better, the teacher didn't ask him to stay afterwards. She told him to come see her with Calla once she was presentable instead.

The others cheered in secret because it meant that they could now drag Emp with them, which they did right away before Blackbull changed her mind. They also abducted Zoran who complained about wanting to go back to study and Frits joined with them because since his own girlfriend was out, he had nothing better to do.

Almost every guy in cla.s.s followed, they only missed Oliver, George and Nicolas who got s.n.a.t.c.hed by Heida. The group had no serious plans so they ended up wandering aimlessly until they stranded themselves in the training yard.

They surrounded a tree just out of the field to make use of it's shade but they still had no real idea about what to do.

"So... C-c-c-can I just go th-then?"

"Come on Zoran, we never do anything together because we're always busy." Ivar complained as he took hold of his collar to stop him. "What sort of friends are we if we barely see each others in cla.s.s?"

"Yeah, the other groups have a great cohesion we can only a.s.sume that they will keep those relations going after the school and form some strong new alliances. Meanwhile, we can't even find some time to simply hang out." Norval pointed out. "Strong relations.h.i.+ps are important as well, we all know this."

Real friends.h.i.+p is a hard thing to achieve for a n.o.ble, harder for them since they had no idea about the names of a few people in the group, including Emp's. The problem was that even if they thought of each others as friends, sometimes, the hard reality of things would end up having them clash for a number of unexpected reason.

The sad truth was that they couldn't fully trust anyone of them in case that one day their interests ended up opposing each others. They might be best friends here but once outside, if their two houses ended in a dispute about the owners.h.i.+p of a piece of land, that friends.h.i.+p would not matter in the least. They would have the duty to protect the interest of their family and the people standing under them.

They needed to make friends to gain some allies on different steps of the social ladder but they couldn't truly open up either.

In theory, there were a few exceptions like n.o.bles of the same rank from two different kingdoms of the empire. For them, there would never be any logical reason to go against each other because of the distance but by the same logic, they couldn't expect much help from them.

Another good example, would be the Muraciers. They had nothing to fear of any other n.o.ble because they had a theoretically untouchable position. The Grandbois would never dare trust any other n.o.ble house with all the armies of the empire for fear they'd be tempted to overthrow them.

They'd end up overthrown by him anyway but that was irrelevant to the current situation.

For Emp, he should have been able to trust all of them since he was a Muracier but this wasn't exactly right. He had not really thought of this before but as his goal turned clearer and clearer in his head, he realized that what he'd end up doing might tear the empire apart.

If he didn't move carefully, all of them would have to pick a side between the Muraciers and the Grandbois. Even if he was good friend with them, they might still side with the emperor in the end.

"So what do we do?" Oran asked the others while Emp was lost in thoughts.

"Well, first of all, why not ask Emp about how it's like to be Married?" Odilon turned to Emp.

From Emp's point of view, everything was very similar to before if he excluded the long trip back and forth to Bêtéclair. Of course there were a lot of differences compared to before but nothing extreme. He spent all his time with her, woke up more easily in the morning, he gained someone else to share all his secrets with and the both of them gained an extra pair of arm to help through the days. Maybe it was a bit more different than he felt if he considered all those things carefully along with all the little things but he felt no impact from any of those. He just felt happier.

He tried his best to answer the question but every time he thought he gave a good answer, he was asked something else. In the end, it seemed that most of them were here to hear about this and maybe hear some indecent story. They were very insistent on that last point and their talk devolved quickly into everyone sharing some of their fantasies. All of them hanging out was just a pretext to talk about girls and things best kept for the darkness of the night it seemed.

Of course, Emp didn't tell them about anything that happened with Calla. He feared she might really just die of embarra.s.sment if he said anything, that and also, it was none of their business.

In the end, they didn't really do anything and just lazed in the yard. They still had some senseless fun talking about random things like betting on how many wives Zoran would have in the future. They also spent time asking the others if they had plans for when they'd leave the school. Most of them did have some sort of plan but few wanted to share them in details.

Ivar and Zoran didn't seem to have a choice and would end up in the army. Nereus didn't care much for Nose Island and was more interested in finding a way to captain his own s.h.i.+p. Norval wanted the opposite and only cared about the territory of his family, hoping to be as good as his father at taking care of it. Frits had no choice but to watch over the Thornwoods as his name implied. Odilon said he had some elaborate plan to become some sort of renowned hero but Emp believed he had no idea what he was doing just like Oran. Kenneth and Cyril both aimed to become knights, one for fame and one for his village. Emp refrained from saying anything precise either, he just stated that he was aiming for a high position.

"You've had a lot of those strategy cla.s.ses right? Can you tell us what's the best tactic?" Cyril asked Emp.

Ivar looked back with an exasperated face.

"The best tactic for what? What's the context?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, it doesn't." Emp told them, cutting off Ivar before he could voice his disagreement.

He was certain of his answer.

"There is no best tactic. If there was, everyone would use it so it wouldn't be a tactic anymore but a standard."

This satisfied Ivar who nodded in agreement but didn't satisfy the curiosity of everyone else.

"What about the one with the biggest payoff if you can pull it off successfully?" Odilon insisted.

"It's very risky but you could just load a catapult with a few dozens of talismans and throw everything at the enemy."

The group had various impressed reactions.

"Yikes, I wouldn't want to be the one facing that."

"That sounds really good, how is it risky?"

"Well, if the talisman aren't well made, they might break at launch and release their magic right above the catapult and it costs a whole lot to have all those talismans made. Also, wind mages."

The others looked blankly for an instant before they understood what he meant about the wind mages. In their heads, they pictured strong winds returning the talismans towards those throwing them out and s.h.i.+vered. Returning a big rock with wind magic was much harder than a bunch of tiny talismans.

"I guess we can't use that on the sea, can we?"

"Isn't that more of a maneuvre than a tactic? It's just one move."

"Yeah but you can end a battle with just this or breach a fortress in a single shot if it works."

"I was taught that the first time someone used that idea, the opposite army was routed instantly. The talismans completely wrecked their formations."

"But what do you do if they send the talismans back."

"It depends on if you have mages or not. If you have some and you really trust their wind magic, you hope that they'll send them back again, either that or hope that one of them can make some sort of wall to block the talismans. If you don't, you call for the s.h.i.+eld and watch your troops die."

The others made a disgusted face but sometimes, there was really nothing to do.

"There's a reason why no one does it. It's only worth it if you have an overwhelming amount of mages. Only a few kingdoms out there can pull it off safely. In Steelwood, unless we're going against mindless monsters, we're better off sticking with archers."

"Come on, no love for cavalry?" Kenneth intervened with a grin.

"Seriously, I do not even understand why we have a cavalry in the first place. We're always fighting in dense forests or treacherous hills. They're pointless." Oran stated. "Not to offend you Kenneth of course but really, I feel it's all about the infantry."

Emp was of a similar opinion. He was very surprised by the amount of people he knew that were into riding compared to the amount of people he knew who were good with a bow. Ivar was the only one who specialized in using bows that he knew of.

They continued to talk about tactics and specializations arguing about the superiority of each branch of the army in turn. After a while, the discussion circled back to Mable and how he was currently her lord protector. The guys tried to figure out what sort of rank she had for the nth time to guess if Emp gained prestige or lost some in being her lord protector.

It was Odilon who put an end to that question.

"It doesn't even matter in the end. He's going to get the girl herself in the end, he can't lose prestige from protecting his own wife."

"She's not his wife yet though. She might get kicked out of the line by his new wife." Ivar said.

"I don't think she would do that, also, what line?" Emp asked.

"It's just a figure of speech."

"It's accurate though, Emp is awfully popular with the girls right now." Cyril commented.

"It's not that he's popular with them, it's just that because of Mable, he's spending all his time with them."

"But proximity breeds attraction." Frits pointed out.

"You're saying nonsense."

"Maybe what he's saying isn't that far-fetched though."

"Most of them don't even have a real choice, it doesn't matter what they think. If it did, I'd have gotten closer to them as well."

"Even if you did, I don't think any of them would have fallen for you Odilon."

The guys all around them snorted in laughter.

"Haha, real funny."

"Who's free out of all of them anyway? Juniper, Josseline and Brenia. Do you think they'll choose one of the guys in this group?" Ivar asked as he pondered on the question himself.

"There's Heida too."

"But she's gonna pick Nicolas. She's treating him like s.h.i.+t but it's obvious that he's the only one she remotely cares for out of all of us."

"Juniper only sees gold, we're all invisible to her as well." Kenneth pointed out. "I know, every time I tried speaking with her, she tried to sell me something instead."

"Josseline and Brenia are both way too scary in their own ways." Nereus Said. "Even if they gave me an offering, I'm pretty sure I'd turn them down."

"I wouldn't, I'd even take them both, the more the better." Odilon said again.

"If we're more realistic, who are they more likely to choose?"

There was a long pointless debate after that to answer the question as everyone had an opinion on it. They concluded that Josseline was a wildcard no one could understand, that Juniper would choose no one here or the richest if a fortune was suddenly exposed and that Brenia, if she ever did such a thing, would likely go for either Kenneth, Ivar or Emp since she hung out with those three a lot.

Emp didn't have that big of an interest in that sort of talk but it was still out of the ordinary for him to spend all his afternoon with the guys so he put up with it. In the end, it was obvious that they wouldn't do anything else than just talk for the rest of the day. His time might have been better used to train instead but at the same time, he liked to spend some time with them.

They laughed a lot, talked about nonsense until sunset and all went their separate way after that.

When Emp walked into his room, the girls hadn't come back yet. He decided to review all the notes he had on Blackbull's cla.s.ses since the very first one while he waited for them to come back. He wondered if they were having fun.

*-*-*-*

Calla spent her whole morning with Harriett. She watched her work in an awkward silence. She didn't know what to do to pa.s.s the time and Harriett didn't want her to help.

It would probably have been less awkward if they spoke to each other but Calla had no idea of what to say. The only subject that came to her mind was to ask when Harriett would try to give her own offering to Emp. Calla wasn't Bold enough to ask it out loud though so she remained silent while Harriett prepared the clothes they wore for the trip for a good wash.

Thinking about clothes, she could have used that time to fix up one of her dresses she had ripped on a branch not too long ago. With the marriage and the trip, she hadn't found the time to do it yet. The problem was, all her things were currently stored in Emp's bag while they still didn't have wardrobes and cupboards to put her things in. She didn't think about asking him for it before he left and now she had nothing to do.

If she had been home, she could have picked up a few apples to prepare some apple b.u.t.ter or something. Here, she was isolated from all her things, she didn't have her garden, her clothes, her tools and she didn't have any ingredients on her to prepare food. She was bound to the chair she was sitting on with nothing to do but watch Harriett humming as she did the ch.o.r.es.

She felt bored. She did like to spend time doing nothing but she preferred doing nothing along with Emp for example, or watching some interesting scenery.

Thinking about scenery, Emp had a balcony, the view there might be more entertaining to watch. She picked up her chair and moved it in the bedroom to sit facing the outside. There, she had a good view on some young knights training in combat which didn't interest her at all and further away, on the other side of a low wall, the many towers of the city with the king's castle in the distance, half hidden behind said towers.

The castle wasn't that pretty. It was a stout stone building with narrow windows and an intimidating shape. A fortress was a more accurate way to describe it. She couldn't see from here but she guessed it was probably surrounded by high walls as thick as a road. She was in the capital city of Artefine, the castle was probably the strongest in the region too since it was the home of the king.

Calla lost her gaze over there and let her mind wander away at random. That huge thing over there was just the house of a man, a man ruling over an entire kingdom. She got chills thinking that her husband had the same sort of status as this man she thought was so far above her she'd never even have a glance at him from afar.

Maybe one day he'd be standing cleanly above the four kings. He had told her what he intended to do and she found it extremely scary. She had wanted to tell him to give up, he'd already be the great general for sure after all. What if he failed? They would both end up dead. However, she simply couldn't. He was doing it to fulfill a request from the G.o.ds. Even if it was the scariest thing, even if the G.o.ds asked to throw your own life away, mortals had to obey. The consequences of going against their wants could be way worse than simple death, even she knew this.

If Emp managed to make himself the emperor, would he still have the time to just sit down with her to relax? She usually pictured the n.o.bles doing absolutely nothing in her head because they didn't have any ch.o.r.es to do but deep down, she knew this wasn't really the case. She would feel very sad if Emp didn't have any time to spend with her at all, it would only get worse with other wives too.

Would she end up living in a huge palace, or a fortress like the one over there? She didn't feel like she belonged there, she didn't want to stay so far away from Dark-glint and her family either. Throne woods was two kingdoms away, she could hardly picture the distance in her head. How long would it take to travel back home just to see her family? What would she do all day in a place like that? It was barely just the first morning and she was already very bored. What did the other n.o.bles do in their free time if they didn't go outside to take care of vegetables, repair their own clothes or even cook for themselves?

Calla never had free time usually. Rather, she did, but there was always something to prepare for later, something she forgot to do before or something unexpected she needed to fix right away. She'd work all day, cook for fun and then go to bed. She was very curious about what they could possibly do in their free time.

She couldn't figure out what they were doing since she couldn't see any practical result that came out of it. Could they all be like Emp and just trained all the time while they were free? That would explain why many of them where so strong but she didn't think that girls like Mable and Aglaya where the sort to train so much. They didn't look all that powerful and weren't as muscular as the huntresses she knew.

Time flew by while she thought about all this until she heard Emp open the door and call that he was back. A smile crept up her face and she hurried back in the kitchen to see him. She really felt like making some soup now, surely there would be some interesting ingredients to cook with here in the city.

She was about to ask him about it as she stepped into the room but froze instead as she discovered the group of young women standing there.

It was quickly explained to her that the girls planned to bring her shopping this afternoon. She was then presented to three new girls just as stiffly and awkwardly as the previous day, Brenia Harmaton, Vanessa Hasting and Rica. From what she was told, Brenia was just a strong huntress instead of a n.o.ble, Rica was in a similar situation to her own and Vanessa was the daughter of a duke... A duke!

Calla felt like hiding behind Emp again but instead, she would have to follow them off into the streets of the city. To be honest, she wasn't looking forward to it at all.

Emp wanted to give her some money so she could buy some things while she was out there. She felt like a silver coin would be more than enough but he got a fistful of gold coins out of his bag instead! What sort of things where they planning to buy!?

"Don't bother giving her this small bit of money, she doesn't even have a decent bag or a pouch to carry it. Just let me pay for everything today and if you insist, you'll only have to pay me back later."

n.o.bles really are scary, a small bit she said. Still, it was true she didn't have a bag. Usually, she just carried a few copper coins at a time and only when there where merchants in the village and she needed something.

"Will you tell me again that it's not worth it because it's like paying ourselves?" Emp asked her.

"It will all depend on the outcome of this outing I guess." Aglaya said in an ominous tone.

"Let's go then! We'll stop to get some food first, there must be some restaurant nearby in the upper city!" Mable cried out cheerfully as the group of girls surrounded her and dragged her outside.

"As long as you're the one paying, I don't mind eating in some fancy place." Brenia boldly chuckled.

Rica gently took Calla's hand and pulled her along with a warm smile.

Emp waved at them as they left.

"Have fun out there!"

Just like that, Calla had been dragged out of the room and into the street without being able to object or resist.

Celtine too had been made to follow. Everyone seemed to appreciate her and wanted her to come but she slowed down the whole group because of her difficulty to walk. She had been supported on her way here by Harriett but Brenia proposed an alternative once they got outside.

"Emp carries you around usually, do you want me to do the same or do you want to walk on your own?"

Calla looked with curiosity at Celtine's hesitation. It would be easier on everyone if she accepted but she looked rather reticent. Was it because she thought it was strange and embarra.s.sing if it wasn't Emp? She seemed to be very used to be sat up there after all. From what Calla had seen yesterday and this morning, Celtine liked to be carried this way.

In the end, she agreed with a nod and she was helped on Brenia's shoulders. She didn't seem nearly as comfortable on her shoulders as she was on Emp's and it was obvious for everyone to see.

"I know you don't really like me but it will be way easier for everyone this way."

Celtine scrunched up her face and wrote a message she dangled in front of Brenia's face. Calla couldn't read so she was thankful when Mable asked about what she was saying.

"She says that she doesn't really dislike me, I just remind her of the girls who took her wings."

Calla had not expected that sort of answer and her eyes went wide. In contrast, Brenia didn't seem that surprised but the others were curious.

"Really, how so?"

Celtine wrote some more as the girls started walking down the road. Continuing the conversation on their way to find something to eat, Calla was thankful that she took the attention away from her for a while.

"She says I have the same sort of demeanor, the same feel as those huntresses. I speak similarly, I have the same hair color and the same shape."

"But the hair color shouldn't count, we all have blond hair."

"She knows but she can't help it, I remind her of them too much. She understand I had nothing to do with it but she's still afraid."

"Why are you so calm about this? Don't you feel a bit disturbed by this? You're not even a bit surprised."

"No, it's a talk we've had many times before this, I'm not surprised at all by that. I perfectly understand how she feels. When you live through something like she experienced, the fear don't just go away on its own. It sticks to you, invade your dreams and cloud your judgment. Actually, I'm very impressed by how she fights her trauma head on like this. I'd be proud if you counted me as a friend Celtine."

Celtine answered with a few taps of her feet while she wrote an actual answer. Brenia didn't read it aloud but it seemed to please her.

"You speak like you know a lot about how she feels. Are you perhaps... speaking from experience?" Vanessa asked hesitantly.

"I'm not talking about it." Brenia answered with a severe look. "Anyway, we're here for Calla, why am I the one under examination?"

Calla had sort of hoped they'd forget she was there while they talked about Celtine and Brenia but the attention was pushed back at her right away.

"Right, today, we're going out with her so that we all get to know each other better. That and I want her to look like one of us when Emp is going to present her to the cla.s.s."

Calla felt that things turned chaotic right after that point. They all had a lot to say to her and a lot more to ask so she got stuck in a very long discussion that felt like it would last forever. It didn't take long for her to overheat and after that, her whole day felt like a blurry mess. It was the same sort of feeling as when she had found herself in front of the wolves, even though she understood that there was no actual danger, she couldn't help but feel intimidated by the others. She sorely wished for Emp to be there too while the rest thought that his absence was a great opportunity to talk about anything they wanted.

At the start, Calla began by trying to figure out who the three new girls were. She knew their names but not who they were or why they were there.

Since she was holding her hand and seemed very friendly, Calla started with Rica. Using the life saving power of the bracelet, she managed to ask her what her relations.h.i.+p with Emp was.

Unexpectedly, she didn't really know Emp. She was born in a small town and had fallen in love with a n.o.ble there. She said she understood what Calla was going through right now and just wanted to help her through the hard beginning.

Calla couldn't help but ask if she was a student too.

"You... stay in the school too, yes? Are you a student as well? Was it your lover who paid for you?"

"That's right, it was Frits and his family that paid for me. His father was against our union and said that I at least needed to learn how to properly conduct myself so they sent me here."

"Wow, that's harsh." Commented Brenia.

"This is why you are only a fiance and not a wife." Aglaya guessed.

"Yes, but I'm not really upset, I still get to spend time with my Frits and I know that once I'm done with this school, I'll get to be his actual wife. I wouldn't want to embarra.s.s him anyway so it's a good thing. You understand that too right?"

Calla nodded to her question. She did understand exactly how she felt, she was scared all the time that she would say something wrong and shame Emp in some way.

"Don't worry, today, we're here to help you with that so you won't have to be to stressed when you meet the others." Mable cheered her on.

Calla was grateful for their help but was still very curious about everyone. She wondered if Rica's lover was someone important to the Muraciers in some way. She didn't know anything about how everything was organized, she could only vaguely picture what t.i.tle was more important than others.

"Who is Frits?" She asked innocently.

"My fiance! Frits Thornwatch, he's the son of a margrave."

"What's a margrave?" Calla felt really silly but she had no idea.

"They're essentially a count with the duty of protecting the borders of a kingdom." Aglaya explained helpfully. "They have the right to raise their own armies do defend the empire without asking for permission first. You could say that they are mid ranked n.o.bles if it helps. Artefine uses their four dukes instead to watch over the borders so it's natural that you don't know what a margrave is."

Rica nodded in agreement.

"That's right, usually, counts are under the dukes in term of political powers but the margraves like Frits' father work right under the Muraciers as army commanders so their voices still have a lot of weight, at least when it comes to security and wars."

That answer was very satisfying for Calla, not only did she learn what a margrave was, she also learned that Rica's lover would be under the direct orders of her husband. With this revelation along with her friendly att.i.tude, Calla labelled her as not a threat at all.

They soon after reached some restaurant where the staff made a fuss about not wanting to accept Celtine as a guest. Calla didn't understand what was wrong with the people working here and why they hated Celtine right away. She wanted to leave but Mable refused and added more money to the table until they let everyone sit down and eat.

The food they were served was much better than the att.i.tude of the girls working here. They used some ingredients Calla had never even heard of she was excited to look for them later in the market and get some for herself, she might be able to cook something special with those.

However, the plate they served Celtine wasn't nearly as appetizing as those that where served to the others, it was clearly made up of leftovers. Everyone frowned, Brenia made a frustrated pout and Mable turned purple as she tried to hold in her anger. It was a reaction similar to what she had expected from her previous observations.

Calla felt that the girls working here were despicable and even if the food was ten times better, she knew that neither her or the others around their table would ever eat here again.

She ended up sharing her own plate with Celtine because she didn't have enough appet.i.te for it all anyway and the others seemed to approve, they shared some of their own as well so that Celtine got a fair share.

Then, Mable decided to mock the staff by using Calla's cooking as a revenge for what they did to Celtine. Praising Calla's food right in front of the waitress and claiming that it was way better than what they were currently eating.

Calla felt that she was exaggerating but then, Aglaya said the same.

"It's true that Calla is extremely talented in cooking. From just the sample I had yesterday I can tell that with the same ingredients, she would surpa.s.s this establishment's cooking easily."

"Isn't that obvious? There's a reason why Emp keeps praising her food! I'm pretty sure she's the one making every meal they eat."

"It's true, mistress is the one cooking all the meals we eat since she wedded master and she is greatly talented at it." Harriett added with a serious face.

"Wait wait, are you doing it because Emp is too lazy to make food and he asked you to do it or are you doing it because you like it?" Asked Brenia with a frown.

Calla felt pressured and had a hard time getting out an answer.

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"I like it... cooking is my favorite."

"Then it's fine. If Emp bullies you just because you're his wife, tell me and I'll punch him for you alright?"

What sort of help is that!

"He's not!" She's squealed.

Brenia nodded with a smile and the others chuckled. This might be a good time to ask her who she was as well?

"What's your relations.h.i.+p with Emp?"

"Me? I'm no one, I'm just here to watch over you all while you're running around in town. In fact, I didn't even want to be here."

"Come on, we all know this isn't true. You were really curious about Calla and you accepted my invitation immediately. Also, aren't you at least a friend to him?" Mable teased her.

"What do you mean at least? I sort of respect his att.i.tude but that's it. Don't try to drag me into some nonsense."

Celtine scratched a few lines on her tablet and placed it on the table.

"You sort of respects him but Celtine here seems to think that Emp sort of respects you as well." Aglaya chuckled.

Brenia kept a stone face, reached out her hand and ripped off the paper from the tablet, crumpled it into a tiny ball and threw it across the whole dining room and into the fire roaring in the kitchen to the displeasure of the girls working there.

"Alright, you've all mocked me enough for now. I won't fall for your s.h.i.+tty tricks."

What was written on that paper must not have been to her licking but the others were all grinning. Lacking information about her, what was written on the paper and what Emp thought of her exactly, Calla wisely chose to remain silent for now.

The only thing Emp told her about his feelings for Brenia was that he really loved to spar with her. Calla believed there was more going on between them than either where willing to admit but here was not the time nor place to question them about it.