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Annette came to the Academy for two very important things.
The first and biggest priority was to find her father and convince him to finally come home.
The second thing was to learn.
So it came as a bit of a surprise for Annette when she saw just how obsessed a lot of her classmates were with finding spouses.
Like she understood… kinda, she had witnessed more than a few arguments between her Uncle and cousin about how he “wasn’t taking his position seriously.” So she could understand some of her classmates feeling pressured to find someone to marry.
But at the same time there were some that felt like they were too eager to court someone and the ones who weren't seemed a little too eager to talk about everyone’s love life.
Gossip overheard in the classrooms or the dining hall tended to be some variation on “Oh the Heir to House Such and Such is courting Lady So-So” or “This noble’s daughter is eloping with the third son of House Whatshisname!”
It’s not like Annette thought she was better than all that. Goddess knows she and Mercie enjoyed a little gossip between friends back at the School of Sorcery. She just had other priorities. Thus she avoided Gareg Mach’s rumor mill.
But then Felix Fraldarius caught her singing and dancing in the Greenhouse and he refused to forget what he saw even after she tried to bribe him with… er… offer him whatever he wanted.
Now Annette couldn’t help but try to eavesdrop whenever she passed by the usual Monastery gossips. Listening to any hints that Felix may have told everyone about what happened, waiting for that terrible day when someone looks at her and goes “Hey there’s Annette, the Weird Food Girl!”
She’s trying to not let this get in the way of her studies or her convincing father but every time she saw that terrible villain in class she just wanted to… UGH…
Annette was sure that if Felix had some embarrassing secret, he'd change his tune pretty quick!
…That wasn't a bad idea actually…
It was time to fight fire with fire!
That was two weeks ago…
Annette couldn’t help but wonder how one guy could be so secretive and yet have no rumors.
Honestly she felt like she learned more about HUBERT than Felix.
If eavesdropping on the rumor mill didn’t work maybe she could ask his friends.
…Then again, Prince Dimitri and Ingrid would probably be a little suspicious of Annette’s motives and while Sylvain would probably gladly share details, he gets himself in a lot of trouble already without Felix ready to kill him… well without Felix ready to kill him for personal reasons.
Maybe this was a sign from the Goddess that Annette should just abandon this plan. After all she hasn’t heard anyone mention anything about her songs or making fun of her.
Maybe… Felix really didn’t tell anyone… maybe he really isn’t such a vill-
“Beads!? What in the world would Lord Fraldarius need beads for?”
Annette stopped in her tracks and immediately hid behind a nearby tree, listening intently to the conversation.
“I don’t know but I saw him buying them and he quickly hid the satchel like he didn’t want anyone to see it.”
“Hm… come to think of it, I have been seeing Lord Fraldarius visiting the market more often lately.”
“Maybe he’s just doing errands for Professor Byleth?”
“I don’t think so, cause I’ve also been seeing him picking up stray owl feathers from the ground.”
One of the girls gasped, “You don’t think he’s courting someone is he?”
Felix!? Courting!?
Aside from the fact that Annette wasn’t sure if he cared about anything other than swords, what poor girl would try to court a villain like him!?
“I will admit he is quite handsome, such a shame that he’s so abrasive otherwise.”
“Maybe it was arranged? I can’t imagine any noblewoman willingly putting up with his attitude.”
Annette bit her lip. Even though she thought practically the same thing, hearing it from someone else just made her feel this twinge in her chest.
“Then again, I suppose he’s better than some of the nobles like Gloucester.”
“Oh! Speaking of, you won’t believe what happened with him during the reason magic lecture!”
From there the gossiping girls changed their topic and Annette stopped listening.
Could he really be courting someone? Was he keeping it a secret? Could this…?
…No, no, no, even if this was true, wouldn't it be taking this too far if she tried to embarrass both him and the girl he was… was courting.
But… she was rather curious about what the other girls saw… and that unpleasant feeling in her chest came back… clearly she was just… too curious to let go.
As long as she didn’t tell anyone, it should be alright? Right?
…Right!
And with that thought, Annette ran straight to the market. Either to ask the merchants or even catching Felix in the act.
When she arrived, there was no sign of Felix so she pretended to busy herself with looking over the various stalls.
Unfortunately when it became obvious that Annette wasn’t going to actually buy anything, some of the merchants began to grow a little annoyed.
With one in particular becoming agitated.
"Look kid, I'm sure you're nice but I gotta run a business here. So are you going to buy something or stare cause there's a staring fee."
"WHAT!?" Annette shouted
Anna just gave a wicked grin and laughed.
"I'm joking! …For now. But seriously, buy something already."
Annette would be the first to admit that sometimes she has trouble telling when a person is joking or not… and she'd rather not risk whether or not Anna's threat was serious.
She glanced over Anna's table, eventually picking up a bundle of yarn.
"I suppose I could give this to Mercie."
As she handed the gold pieces to Anna, Annette looked over the marketplace. And much to her surprise, she spotted Felix.
It looked like he was buying… fish?
Was he planning to cook for his secret lady? Sure when he helped Professor Byleth with dinner last week, it didn't turn out bad but he certainly didn't look like he enjoyed it.
It didn't take long before Felix paid for the food and began to walk off. This was her chance!
She very carefully followed Felix's path, trying her best not to look suspicious and watching out for any barrels.
But to her surprise, he didn't go into the dining hall.
Huh? But… he needed to cook the fish didn’t he? Or maybe he was delivering them directly? Maybe the girl he's courting just really likes fish?
…Oh goddess, what if it was Flayn!?
Seteth would have Felix's head if he knew!
Annette continued to follow him, determined to find out whether or not her theory was true, when Felix disappeared into a quiet lonely alley.
As she got closer, she began to hear strange sounds. At first she thought it was squealing from whichever girl Felix had courted. But as she got closer, she realized the sound was actually…
Meow!
Annette's eyes widened at the sight before.
Felix Fraldarius kneeling down and offering the bought fish to a bunch of the stray Monastery cats.
"Here, I know you must've been hungry."
As the cats gathered around their feast, Annette looked around.
Owl feathers and various beads littered the ground and now it all made sense. These weren't for some noble Felix was courting, these were for the cats to play with.
One of the cats (a Gloucester breed it looked like) stopped eating and looked up at Felix with a needy sounding meow.
"You eat what I get you. This was cheap and fresh. I am not spending all my money because you're a picky eater."
If a cat could pout, Annette imagined it would look like the cat's expression. But despite that, it did go back to nibble on the fish Felix brought.
Another cat, (a Galatea Brown) stood up when it was done eating and started nuzzling Felix while chirping happily.
"Heh, should've named you after Ingrid, all it takes is a good meal to get on both your good sides."
He named them!?
Oh this was perfect! Oh she couldn't wait to tell Felix that she knew about his little secret kitty club.
But…
The longer Annette watched, the more she realized how relaxed Felix looked. He was smiling, like actually genuinely smiling…
He… he had a nice smile… it felt wrong to try to take that away from him.
Thus without a word, Annette turned out and promised herself to keep Felix's secret.
“Hey Felix!”
“Hm?”
It had been a couple days and Annette kept her promise. Though she still felt guilty that she did briefly think of telling everyone to embarrass him.
Not helped that the image of Felix having a real gentle smile on his face was stuck in her mind… a-and the cats! She also thought about the cats…
She intended to keep the promise she made but she also wanted to make up for her uncommitted crime.
"I got something for you, hold out your hand."
He just crossed his arms, "Is this another bribe attempt? I'm not trying to-"
"No, no it's just a regular gift. Now hold out your hand."
Felix sighed and held out his hand. Annette then put the bundle of yarn she bought from Anna in his palm.
"It's… yarn."
"Yup."
"And you're giving this to me because…?"
Annette gave a knowing smile, "Well you can give it to some friends if you don’t want it. I'm sure they'd love it."
Felix just stared at her in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
Annette giggled and winked before walking outside the classroom.
Felix continued to stare until Annette disappeared from sight.
He looked down at the yarn bundle in his hand…
He supposes the alley cats would enjoy it. Especially Zoltan.
And as he made his way to the usual spot, Felix thought to himself, 'I wonder if Annette has a song about cats?'