Seeing the look on his face, I wondered whether he had understood my meaning. I saw none of the fervor from our future meeting in his light-brown eyes, nor his intense desire to obtain status for Lady Adolphine’s sake. It amazed me how much one could change over the span of a single year.
“Forgive me, Lady Hannelore, but I must ask again—what happened between you and Wilfried? He stubbornly refuses to tell me, and—”
“Nothing that would be of any value to Drewanchel.”
As our afternoon classes came to an end, I prayed that Lady Rozemyne would conclude her business posthaste.
The next time I saw Lord Wilfried, his behavior remained the same: his expression changed the moment our eyes met, and he went out of his way to avoid greeting me. He was being so painfully overt that we faced even more curious onlookers than the day before. I would need to chastise him for his impertinence.
It was unacceptable to treat a top-ranking archduke candidate with such blatant disrespect. Overlooking his frosty demeanor would cause others to assume that my duchy had done something to gravely insult his.
If the other archduke candidates in our class took word of the unusual atmosphere between Lord Wilfried and me back to their dormitories, their peers and supervisors would start looking into the cause. From there, it would only be a matter of time—no matter how much I tried to hide it, those of the Dunkelfelger Dormitory would inevitably find out that something had prompted Lord Wilfried to treat me with contempt.
And when the news reaches Cordula...
Many from Dunkelfelger still took issue with my decision to defend Ehrenfest after our bride-stealing ditter match. They would gleefully transform what was currently a problem between two students into an interduchy incident, causing trouble for more than just Lord Wilfried. Ehrenfest as a whole would be drawn into the fray, and all my time spent declaring their innocence would ultimately have been for nothing.
At the same time, criticizing Lord Wilfried for his attitude seemed rather shameless, considering I was to blame for proposing to him in the first place. I was unsure how I would even secure an opportunity to speak with him; he was going to such great lengths to avoid me that even greeting him was currently beyond me.
What are my options?
An ordonnanz was out of the question—it would announce my message to everyone in earshot—and any written correspondence would need to go through his scholars and attendants. So unfortunate was the situation that my best choice seemed to be to summon him with my authority as an archduke candidate of a greater duchy and force him to use a sound-blocker so I could chastise him in private.
The problem was that using my authority in such a manner would be ruinous to our relationship. Lord Wilfried would never forgive me for it, but I could think of no way to point out the issue while respecting his desire to pretend that I had never proposed in the first place.
“Lady Hannelore, Lord Wilfried—could you stay behind for a moment?” Professor Eglantine asked as class came to an end. “I must inquire about the Dedication Ritual this weekend.”
I gazed up at her in surprise, and our eyes met. She was watching me as one might a hapless infant. If asking about the Dedication Ritual were truly her intention, then she would not have found it necessary to ask me to stay behind. This was merely an excuse to give Lord Wilfried and me a chance to settle that which had come between us. I appreciated her concern, and there was nary a doubt in my mind about what I needed to say, but having to scold somebody I cared about put me in miserable spirits.
He will surely think even less of me.
Did the other students believe Professor Eglantine’s excuse? They kept glancing in our direction but slowly took their leave nonetheless.
“What do you want to know?” Lord Wilfried asked, openly frustrated that the three of us were alone again. Even now, he was staying a fair distance away from me, refusing to even look my way to emphasize how little he wished to speak with me. It was hurtful, to say the least.
“Oh my...” Professor Eglantine said, widening her eyes for emphasis. “Do you really not understand why I asked you here?”
Lord Wilfried averted his gaze, his lips pursed. “You wish to speak about yesterday’s incident, not the Dedication Ritual. I understand that much.”
This time, Professor Eglantine showed genuine surprise. “Although yesterday’s incident is relevant, it is your reckless behavior that requires me to speak with you. Do you truly not grasp what is happening?”
Lord Wilfried managed only a stunned “What...?” in response. He was entirely unaware of the danger his attitude presented.
Professor Eglantine gave a troubled smile, then looked at me. “Do you understand, Lady Hannelore?”
I nodded, sensing what must have been an intense glare from Lord Wilfried. Given the recency of the incident, I could not help but lower my voice as I anxiously ventured, “You wish to give me the opportunity to admonish Lord Wilfried...?”
“Indeed,” she said—then turned to face him. “By all rights, this duty should fall to your retainers, not your professor, but the source of your strife occurred in this classroom and must be kept here. As those in your service know too little of the situation to take you to task, Lord Wilfried, I find that my hands are tied.”
She took a moment to exhale, then gazed at him with kind eyes. “Lady Hannelore’s proposal yesterday was extremely shortsighted. It was a shocking display seldom seen outside of Dunkelfelger. If you are uncertain about how to interact with her, I completely understand.”
Lord Wilfried nodded, and the stern look on his face began to fade. He seemed relieved to have found a voice of sympathy—and somewhat bashful that it had come from someone he so deeply admired.
“However,” Professor Eglantine continued, “I cannot ignore you snubbing a top-ranking duchy in my classroom. Obeying the duchy rankings, separating one’s public and private lives, and remaining in control of one’s emotions are fundamental rules that any noble must follow.”
It should have been my duty to admonish Lord Wilfried, but Professor Eglantine was doing it for me. She must have been acting out of consideration for Ehrenfest and the guilt that had eaten away at me ever since my confession. Had the burden of chastising him rested with me, I would only have inspired even greater resistance, and even the tiniest error in my speech might have devolved into an interduchy concern.
“Yesterday’s events were personal, without a doubt,” Professor Eglantine said. “I was prepared to stop Lady Hannelore if she used the authority of a greater duchy to bludgeon you into submission, but her actions took me entirely by surprise. I certainly did not expect her to propose so abruptly—and in my classroom, no less—but she gave you the freedom to refuse her. And when you resolved to pretend that she never confessed to you in the first place, she was fully sympathetic, was she not?”
As well as sympathizing with Lord Wilfried, Professor Eglantine was insisting that not all of my choices deserved to be criticized. My actions had backfired in so many ways that her mediation skills positively dazzled me.