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The first person to realize was Edelgard.
“I was wondering if I could have the evening off.”
Edelgard nearly choked on her tea. “Ex-excuse me?”
Hubert frowned. “If I’m needed here, then I can cancel my plans-”
“No!” Edelgard stumbled to school her features. “No, of course not! I just- You want tonight off?”
“...Yes. If you will allow it, of course.”
“Why wouldn’t I? Flames know that you need a break more than anyone else here.” She paused. “Well, perhaps Ferdinand may need one more.”
Hubert’s lips twitched. “Then you’ll be happy to know that he will be taking a break as well.”
Edelgard’s eyebrows rose at this. “He will?”
“Yes. He invited me to go to the opera with him. Apparently, one of his favorite shows is being run again and he invited me to go see it with him.”
Edelgard stared at Hubert for a long moment, to the point where Hubert thought he had said something wrong, before a large grin settled on her face. “Your request is granted, Hubert. Take as much time off tonight as you need.”
Hubert bowed. “Thank you, Lady Edelgard. Is there anything you would like me to do until then?”
“No. Just finish up whatever task you were previously working on.” Hubert nodded and made his way towards the door, but stopped and looked back when Edelgard called out to him. “Oh, and Hubert?”
“Yes, my lady?”
“I’d better be hearing some good news soon.”
Hubert’s brows scrunched in confusion. “Excuse me?”
Edelgard only raised an eyebrow.
He understood a moment later. Face turning red, Hubert turned on his heel and made his exit. Edelgard tried to hold in her laughter until he left earshot.
(She didn’t succeed.)
The second person to realize was Dorothea.
“Could you give this to Ferdinand for me?”
Dorothea’s eyes widened at the sheer size of the envelope being handed to her. “I- Should I be worried for Ferdie’s safety?”
Hubert rolled his eyes. “Hardly. These are some reports that Ferdinand needs to see. He told me earlier that the two of you were planning on having lunch together, so I thought you could hand them over to him.”
Hubert wasn’t wrong about that. Dorothea was indeed planning on having lunch with Ferdinand. In fact, she was heading over there right now. But still…
“Wouldn’t it have just been better to give these reports to Ferdie one at a time? You’re going to overwhelm the poor man. He’s overworked as it is.”
“I’m sure Ferdinand can handle it. He’s quite good at his job.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But I know for a fact that Edelgard wants him to start getting more sleep and this definitely won’t help her in achieving that.”
That caused Hubert to pause.
“How about this,” Dorothea continued. “We’ll look through the reports, decide which ones are most important, and then hand those off to Ferdie.”
Hubert stiffened slightly. “That… I assure you, that isn’t necessary.”
“Considering the size of that envelope, I think it is.”
“Dorothea, although I appreciate your concern, I promise you, these reports will not cause any more hassle for Ferdinand.”
Dorothea huffed. “Hubert, stop being so stubborn.” She reached for the envelope, but Hubert quickly moved it out of her grasp, holding it tight against his side.
The songstress’s eyebrow rose at this. “Hubert?”
“Yes?”
“Is there any chance that there’s something in there other than reports?”
Hubert remained silent.
“And I’m guessing whatever’s in there has nothing to do with any of your ‘shadow’ business, either?”
Once again, Hubert was quiet.
A large grin spread across Dorothea’s face. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? I’ll gladly hand these off to Ferdie.”
Not looking her in the eye, Hubert placed the envelope in her hand before stalking off, most likely back towards his office. Dorothea did nothing to hide her laughter.
(Much to her delight, Dorothea got another chance at teasing when she entered Hubert’s office later that afternoon, a large stack of envelopes in her hands all addressed to him from Ferdinand. The face Hubert made was one that Dorothea wouldn’t forget for a long, long time.)
The third and fourth people to realize were Linhardt and Caspar.
“Why Hubert, odd to find you here at this hour.”
Hubert looked up at the sound of Linhardt’s voice. Linhardt was looking at him with a passive expression on his face, head tilted slightly. Caspar stood slightly behind him; a large stack of books held in his hands.
“Heya, Hubert!”
Hubert nodded to the both of them. “Linhardt, Caspar. Can’t say I’m surprised to see you here.”
Linhardt shrugged. “Understandable. It seems the library has added some new books of interest to their collection while I was gone, so I wanted to go through them.”
“Indeed. I believe some of them were sent over by Petra with you in mind.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Linhardt’s lips. “That was kind of her.”
“Maybe we should travel to Brigid next to thank her properly,” Caspar piped up.
Linhardt’s smile grew a bit as he turned towards Caspar. “Yes, that would be a good idea. It’s been a while since we visited last.”
“Ha-ha! Yes! It’s been too long since I had a spar with Petra!”
“Caspar, please don’t murder the queen,” Linhardt sighed. “I’d rather not be chased out of another country.”
“Hey, that was one time! And besides, Petra can take care of herself.”
Linhardt tilted his head in agreement before turning back to Hubert. “Anyway, why are you here at this hour? I would have thought you’d still be working.”
“For once I finished up early, so I decided to do some light reading.”
“Really? What is your book of choice?”
Hubert moved the cover face down before Linhardt could catch a glimpse of the title. “Just a history of the Empire’s past rulers. Nothing too interesting for you, I’d assume.”
Based on how quickly Hubert hid the cover, Linhardt doubted that. “Really?”
“Yes. It’s important that we learn from our past so we can build a stronger future. We can’t learn from the past if we don’t know about it.”
Linhardt hummed. “I suppose that’s true.”
“Really? That’s what you got from this book? Seems more like a book about horses to me.”
Hubert snapped his attention over to Caspar. The man had moved behind Hubert during their discussion and was currently bending at the waist to read the spine of the book Hubert was holding. Hubert quickly hid the book underneath the table.
“I assure you; you are misreading things,” Hubert gritted out.
Caspar straightened back up and frowned. “Hey, I know I’m not the smartest person, but I do know how to read, and I know that spine said something about horses.”
Linhardt raised an eyebrow. “Interesting choice. I wasn’t aware that was a topic of interest for you. You don’t seem that keen on becoming a Dark Knight either.”
“No, that is not something I plan to do.”
Linhardt blinked, connecting the dots in a matter of seconds. “Ah. I see.”
Caspar blinked, the dots in his mind staying stubbornly unconnected. “Huh? See what?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
“What? Why won’t you tell me now?”
Linhardt turned and raised a hand, briefly waving goodbye to a glaring Hubert. “Have a good night, Hubert. I hope that information is useful.”
“Come on, Lin! Tell me. Tell me!” Caspar followed after Linhardt, his pace nearly causing him to drop the books he was holding several times.
Out of the corner of Linhardt’s eye, right before leaving the library, the healer saw Hubert pick his book back up again and continue reading, a determined look on his face. The sight caused Linhardt to smile.
“Lin! Come on!”
(Linhardt did tell Caspar later, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the letter he got from Hubert the next day, not so politely asking him to tell Caspar to stop bugging him. Linhardt did no such thing.)
Bernadetta was the fifth to find out.
“Huh? Wh-where do I get my paper?”
Hubert nodded. “Yes. Is there a vendor that sells paper specifically? I’m looking for different styles.”
“Different styles?”
“Yes. I would think I would have to go to a specific vendor if I wanted to get different types of paper. I haven’t personally had to buy any, so my knowledge in this area is a bit lacking.”
Bernadetta allowed her jaw to drop slightly before moving it back into place with a soft click. “I th-think I know a place. But, um, if you d-don’t mind me asking, well, why exactly do you need other paper?”
Hubert paused for a moment before continuing. “Is it wrong to want to be prepared in case the need for some arises?”
“N-no! Of course not! But, you see, I don’t see why the need for any would ever come up. Papers with different designs are usually just for aesthetic purposes. Considering your, um, job, I don’t think you’d ever need any.”
“Perhaps I want to add some flare to my reports now. Is that so hard to believe?” Hubert held up a hand when he saw the wide-eyed disbelief on Bernedetta’s face. “On second thought, don’t answer that.”
It went quiet between them again.
“So…?”
Hubert didn’t respond.
Bernedetta’s heart skipped a beat. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to pry! You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I shouldn’t have even asked in the first place! I promise, I wasn’t trying to be rude! I was just-”
“Bernadetta.”
The girl squeaked.
“I promise, you’re not offending me in any way. I just…” Hubert sighed, seeming to struggle to pick out his words. “I just have some letters that I would like to improve the look of. That is all.”
Bernie’s forehead scrunched up. “Improve the- Oh. Oh. ” She looked up at Hubert and grinned, a small giggle escaping from between her teeth. “Well why didn’t you just say so?”
Hubert turned his face away, but Bernadetta could see the slight flush on Hubert’s cheeks. That only made her smile grow.
“If you could send the list of vendors to my office, that would be appreciated.”
“Of course. I’ll get right on that!”
With a curt nod (still not facing her direction), Hubert left the room. Once Bernadetta was sure he was gone, she let her laughter fill the air.
(Later that week, while she was running errands, one of Bernadetta’s paper sellers thanked her for the business she brought in. Apparently, a man had come and bought quite a few of his designs, not able to settle on one. Bernie left the market that day with a large smile on her face.)
Petra was the sixth to find out.
The queen of Brigid didn’t often get letters from Hubert, but when she did, they were always a happy surprise. The notes were, for the most part, rather formal, however, Petra didn’t mind. She was just happy to hear from her friend again.
The end of Hubert’s latest letter caught her a bit off guard, though.
Also, if possible, could you send over some books on traditional Brigid customs, current states of affairs, and anything else of the sort? With yours and Ferdinand’s meeting coming up, I’m sure he’d like to read up on Brigid before traveling there himself.
This was the first time Hubert had ever asked for anything in one of his letters. Petra re-read the short paragraph a couple of times just to make sure she wasn’t misreading it. She wasn’t.
She couldn’t help but laugh good naturedly at Hubert’s question. It was the first time he had asked for something like this, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.
(She sent over a whole chest worth of books. A couple months later, when Ferdinand arrived for their meeting, he thanked her over and over again with a large smile on his face, his eyes gleaming. Every time, Petra gave him a knowing smile back.)
The last people to realize were the staff.
Alina paused in her cleaning when she heard a confused sound come from her coworker, Oliver. Turning around she saw him staring dumbfounded into a drawer.
“Oliver,” she scolded. “You shouldn’t be going through Lord Vestra’s things.”
Oliver held up his hands and scowled. “My shirt got stuck on the knob and accidentally pulled the drawer open. You know I wouldn’t purposely dig through his stuff.” Alina did know this. Oliver was a hard worker who got the job done and wasn’t nosy. Just the type of person Lord Vestra would want around.
Alina sighed. “I know. But still, would you stop gawking and get back to work. I highly doubt there’s anything that interesting in there.” That was a lie and they both knew it. Anything, from paper to poison, could be in that drawer.
“I mean, it isn’t, but-”
“Then get back to work-”
“I thought Lord Vestra hated tea.”
Alina scowled and crossed her arms. “He does. I’m not sure what that has to do with you getting back to work.”
“Well, if he hates the stuff, why does he have a drawer full of it?”
“…Excuse me?” Alina was forced to admit that her curiosity was piqued. Moving to Oliver’s side, she looked into the drawer and found that what he said was true. The drawer was filled to the brim with tea, most of it Southern Fruit Blend, but she saw a couple other flavors mixed in there. Alina was surprised the drawer was even able to close.
“That’s a lot of tea for someone who doesn’t like it,” Oliver commented.
Alina stared at the tea for a minute. Then for another. Then another.
“Um, Alina?” Oliver waved a hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention. “Are you alright? I know that it’s strange for Lord Vestra to have this, but it’s still just tea. Unless…you don’t think it’s poison, do you?”
“Tea…” Alina muttered. “Just tea?”
“Uh, yes…?”
Suddenly, a grin stretched across Alina’s face and she started cackling. “Tea! Ha-ha! This is great!”
Oliver flinched at her reaction. “I hardly see how this is such a great thing.”
“Oh, trust me, it is. If all goes well, we may have one less bedroom to clean.”
“I…don’t understand.”
Alina patted the poor man on the arm. “Trust me, you will.”
(Alina left a quick note inside the drawer for Lord Vestra to find, and since she didn’t find it thrown out anywhere and she wasn’t fired, she assumed her words of encouragement were appreciated.)
Hubert was rather proud of the fact that he didn’t scare easily. It was a necessary skill for someone in his position. Fear meant hesitation, it meant fleeing, it meant making rash decisions, and that was just something he couldn’t afford. One wrong move, and the path he made for his Lady could crumble right before his feet. Hubert couldn’t afford to be scared.
Unfortunately, he had to admit that right now, in this moment, he was absolutely terrified .
Ferdinand sat across from him, currently talking about one of the newest steeds he had acquired. Hubert didn’t have the chance to talk much, but that was fine. He enjoyed hearing about the things Ferdinand was passionate about.
At least, he usually was. Right now, he was just trying to make sure that his internal panic wasn’t visible.
He told himself that this was the day. Today he was going to tell Ferdinand everything. All his feelings were going to be laid bare, and from then on, they were in Ferdinand’s hands, his to do with as he pleased.
He really didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to risk losing everything they already had. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d almost backed out. However, whenever he was about to, Edelgard’s words rang in his mind.
“Hubert, if you do nothing, Ferdinand will be gone before you know it. Please, don’t let a chance at happiness slip away because of fear.”
Perhaps things would go terribly wrong after this, but if confessing meant a chance at keeping Ferdinand’s smile in his life forever, then so be it.
“Ferdinand,” Hubert interrupted, wincing slightly at his lack of etiquette.
The man blinked. “Yes?”
“I… There’s something I need to tell you.”
Ferdinand shifted in his seat, worry flashing in his eyes. “This sounds serious. Is something wrong?”
“No. Not really. I just…” Hubert took a deep breath and stood up. He moved over to Ferdinand’s side of the table and grabbed his hands. Ferdinand’s eyes widened at the action, his face heating up.
“Hubert?”
“Ferdinand, to be completely honest with you, I am terrified right now.” Hubert let out a nervous chuckle. “You have become so, so important to me these past few years and I am so afraid that saying this will cause me to lose you. However, if…if there is even the slightest chance, I want to take it. I want to be happy. I want to be happy with you. I want…I want to be with you. I…” Hubert swallowed hard, hoping his shaking hands weren’t too obvious. “Ferdinand, what I’m trying to say is, I lo-”
Warm lips on his stopped him dead in his tracks.
Hubert could barely process what was happening at first, but when he did, his world narrowed down to Ferdinand and Ferdinand alone. Ferdinand’s lips, Ferdinand’s hands grasping his, Ferdinand’s hair gently brushing his face, Ferdinand’s everything .
His daydreams were nothing compared to the real thing.
Surging forward, Hubert kissed him back, his eagerness pulling a laugh from Ferdinand. He doesn’t know how long they spent kissing, only that it ended way too soon.
“I know,” Ferdinand whispered when they finally pulled back for air.
Hubert was confused for only a moment before understanding dawned. He smiled wide and went in for another kiss.
(Later that night, when they were walking back to their rooms, Ferdinand gasped. “I nearly forgot!”
Hubert turned towards him, squeezing his hand in reassurance. “What?”
With a bright, beautiful smile, Ferdinand leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. “I love you too.”)