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“Lady Edelgard, how long are you going to postpone this?” Hubert blocked the way out of Edelgard’s dorm room; his face scowling at the small future empress in front of him. “Don’t tell me you forgot your mission while staying at the academy.”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten. Don’t you dare presume that I have.” Edelgard’s arms crossed in defiance, and tapped her foot while looking past Hubert. Hubert has been urging her the last week to start her and Hubert's plans. But Edelgard always had some kind of excuse; either she had to meet with the professor for tutoring or she needed to finish her homework. Or whatever excuse she seemingly came up with at the spot.
“Then why the waiting? All our forces are in place, and your ascension to empress is imminent.”
“Well...” She looked down at her feet struggling to tell the real reason why: “Today the professor has invited me to have tea, and I can’t miss a chance to gather favor with her. I have a sense that she can decide the tide of war to come.” Edelgard nodded to herself, as if she finally came up with an acceptable excuse that Hubert would accept.
Hubert brought his hand to his face, “You’re not enacting your plan because of a simple tea party?”
“It’s very important, I assure you. Now, I'm running a bit late to said tea party, so move out of the way.” Edelgard stepped closer to Hubert urging him with her eyes.
“Fine, lady Edelgard.” Hubert stepped out of the way of the door and gave an exaggerated curtsy. “However, this isn’t over.”
Edelgard stepped past him without a word and walked quickly through the hall to make it to her pressing tea party.
“I knew I should’ve gotten rid of that professor,” Hubert thought to himself watching Edelgard trot down past him.”
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“Sorry for being late professor.” Edelgard said, being slightly out of breath.
“It’s no problem Edelgard.” Byelth smiled at Edelgard warmly and motioned to her to sit down across from her. Edelgard's face grew to be a slight pink, seeing her professor so happy at her presence. She sat down while watching Byleth make tea. It was almost every other day that Byleth invited her to tea parties. A far cry to when they first met. A cold mercenary who mechanically taught her classes, and didn’t talk to her students anymore than was necessary. Sometimes at the tea parties Byleth would help Edelgard with classwork and give her extra tutoring; other times they had idle chatter and had snacks. Somehow here Edelgard felt free. Free from the responsibility that she held, and the responsibility that she would hold in the future. She tightened her fist under the table and wondered why she was so weak. “I don’t want to destroy this.” She thought to herself quietly, suffering in her chair.
Byleth finally finished the tea and placed a cup and saucer in front of Edelgard. Byleth delicately poured tea into the cream colored cup, and sat down with her cup. “Sorry it’s not Bergamont I ran out.” Byleth said while sipping her tea. She put her cup down, and looked over and saw Edelgard’s downcast face. “Wait what’s wrong Edelgard?” Byleth bolted to her feet and rushed over to the other woman, “w-was the tea bad? Not enough snacks? Are you disappointed that I don’t have Bergamot? I’m sorry I’ll go find some from the market!”
Byelth prepared to run off as quickly as she could before Edelgard grabbed her hand: “Wait my teacher!” Edelgard kept looking down: “please don’t leave me here alone.”
Byleth stood there while she looked at her student. She’s never seen Edelgard in this state before, so it came to her as a bit of a shock. Byleth put her hand over Edelgard’s and softly said, “I’m not going anywhere.” Byleth smiled at her favorite student and gave her a reassuring squeeze. The two let go of each other, both a little displeased about letting go before Byleth went back to her own seat. As Byleth sat down she suggested Edelgard to have a sip of tea before it gets cold.
Edelgard nodded and took a small sip of the tea, letting its warmth flow through her body. Tea has always relaxed her but enjoying it with her teacher made its effects even stronger.
"So what's troubling you?" Byleth stared at her student with her face tensed up. Byleth worried about all her students, but she worried about Adrestian princess a bit more than the others. She would rush to her side in combat protecting her from harm as if she was Edelgard's very own bodyguard. If Edelgard was having trouble in class Byleth would give her extra help or even sacrifice some of her free time to spar and tutor her. Edelgard was secretly happy about the special attention from her professor because she lacked that someone she could turn to for advice and help. However she also wondered how far the professor's loyalty would go. Would Byleth always view Edelgard as her prized student and would that end if Edelgard left the academy? It was something she’d always worried about.
"My teacher, this is a strange question, but…" Edelgard knew she shouldn't be talking to this with Byleth but the words continued to flow out like a leak of water through a dam. "If the whole world was against me would you stay by my side and help me?" Byleth looked down at her tea cup, as her eyebrows furrowed. It seemed like Byleth was in deep thought. Edelgard closed her eyes cursing what she just said.
"Of course I would." Byleth responded at last. "However if I thought you were on the wrong path. I would do everything in my power to help set you back on track." Edelgard nodded at her teacher's words, wanting to rejoice that there was a chance that Byleth would fight alongside her. Edelgard wouldn't be that naive however; it was then that she made a promise to herself to show Byleth everything she was fighting for and believed in. Edelgard was very frightened about opening up like this to someone else, but it was the only chance she had to not lose her professor.
"I see… thanks my teacher." Edelgard tried to play off her deep ruminating by taking another sip of her tea. Noticing how sweet and calming the tea started to taste.
"Was that all you had to ask me Edelgard? I don't think I've seemed to have helped that much."
"No no you've done plenty. Just I have some things to think about." Edelgard was not prepared to let Byleth know quite yet about her and her goals; she didn't think now would be a good time for that. There were too many walls up in Edelgard's heart that needed to be chipped away slowly, and her professor was doing a fairly good job doing that.
"I see. Well when you're ready I'll be here for you. I am your teacher after all." Byleth crossed her arms over and nodded to herself in pride.
'Of course my teacher; I promise." Edelgard smiled at Byleth, happy to have someone she could confide in. "Now tell me about your day professor." Edelgard and Byleth talked about each other's day, and various other chatter as the day wore on.
"Oh wow it's already this late?" Byleth said, noticing the increasingly orange sky. "I guess we should end this soon."
"That sounds good. I need to start on a stack of homework a certain teacher has given me." Edelgard said grinning at her teacher.
"I only give that much to you students because I know you can handle it." Byleth retorted back. The two giggled at each other and prepared to go their separate ways.
"Hey Edelgard, same time in two days?" Byleth asked while she gathered up their cups.
Edelgard had to stop herself from instinctively saying yes, and actually consider it. "I'm sorry professor I don't think I can." Edelgard made up her mind and gathered all her resolve to deny her teacher.
"Oh, that's okay. I feel like I've been taking a little too much of your time like this." Byleth slightly pouted in a way that Edelgard found adorable. “Maybe I should just give you less homework…”
“There’s no need for that professor. Even though that does sound quite nice.” The two girls giggled with each other and headed their separate ways. As Edelgard walked down the hall she steeled her mind with the events to come. Confident in her own path, and confident that she would have the professor join her in it.