Erec stared at the horrible arrangement in front of him. Several forks, two spoons, and two glasses, one filled with water and another wine; all of them were traps. Each one meant to land him trouble when he inevitably made a mistake and used the wrong fork.
Once, the instructor yelled at him for taking a sip of water from a different place on the rim.
His eyes danced to the dour little man, a Knight from the Azure Tower. It wasn’t an Order in the Academy he was too familiar with, but this man had become a bane to his existence. The portly instructor took full advantage of his lax responsibilities and let himself go. Right now, his bald little head bobbed up and down as he listened to Colin disinterestedly small talk with a girl next to him.
The Duke’s son sneered at the girl, and the teacher began to frown. It was a terrible thing, how perceptive the man was, not that this situation warranted a keen eye—Colin wore displeasure with ease.
Out of every class he had, Courtly Mannerisms was the worst. And that included Basic Prayer and Theology, which he couldn’t even participate in. Over the last four months, he’d poked and prodded his Faith Virtue, and prayers didn’t work anymore. Whatever he’d done, it was gone now.
The instructor here had been unbearable since coming back with his new title.
The only one who got it worse than him was…
“Wrong! Quiet yourself this moment; too far, Sir Colin!” the man shouted, his jowls quivering as his cheeks reddened.
Colin turned the sneer he wore from his small talk partner to the instructor, his eyes going dark as he fixated on the man. “Wrong? Quiet yourself, you pissant. This wench dared to make a slight against my betrothed. The only one allowed to insult that deeply flawed woman is me.”
“There are backhanded remarks and polite deflections; then there’s what you said! Look at her; she’s nearly in tears. You cannot threaten to destroy another house because they said something a little mean. Act with appropriate decorum befitting someone your rank,” the man’s voice rose, as he didn’t even try to fight his anger. “And then to go ahead and begin picking apart her appearance right in front of her face—if you must do so, do so privately.”
The ultimate irony in a class about composure run by someone who flew off the handle every other day never ceased to amaze. Erec set his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand, taking it in.
“As if the fourth son of a decrepit Earl knows how to behave in true high nobility. Besides, I heard your parentage is questionable at best. To hear you tell me to act with decorum is trite. This woman dared to slight a daughter of a duchess; she deserves what she’s gotten, and I still have more words for her.” Colin turned from the teacher and fixated on his partner. “As I was saying, you troglodyte, keep Alexandra’s name from your mouth. If I hear you so much as discuss her again, I’ll target your father’s business connections and dismantle them one by one.”
Two months after returning from the hunt, Colin received the news from his father.
Their emotionally stunted friend was now betrothed to the firstborn daughter of House Doctus. The last Erec saw of her, she’d joined the Silver Flames at the start of the year; now, she'd marry Colin immediately after graduation.
Being nosy, Garin dug up all the info about her he could. She’d earned a reputation as someone who didn’t mince words and was a bit of a hothead. Every time Colin went to meet with her, he returned to a dark mood.
Things weren’t going too well between them, a deep contrast to Olivia and Garin's obnoxious love life spilling into their living space.
With it all swirling together, Erec was getting sick of all of it and wanted to go a long trek outside the walls by himself. The expedition couldn’t come soon enough.
Fuming, the instructor’s eyes flashed over to Erec. His second target.
“Sir Erec is that your elbow on the table!?” He cried out, stomping the distance between them. “How many times must I drill into that dense skull of yours that your elbow is not acceptable there? But then, how could I expect such delicacy from a brute? Bah, a Count. What a disgrace to this Kingdom.”
“Sorry, I’m trying to learn. It’s a habit.” Erec said carefully, better to diffuse the situation. He slipped his elbow off the table and sat up in correct posture.
“I feel bad for whatever woman ends up tied to you. With such boorish behavior, the poor girl will be living in hell. Then again, there’s a good reason you’re known as a brute—drenching yourself in blood on the battlefield. Certainly not the gallant Knight that should be leaving our esteemed Academy.”
Erec sighed. There it was. The root of all of his problems. Even if he were to use the right fork, keep the perfect posture, and make perfect small talk, it wouldn’t have mattered. Whatever he did outside of a feast or ballroom, that would be the issue.
He suspected it was pushback from those with titles who weren’t fond of someone earning a higher title, let alone so young. They thought he was a puppet to the king, so they’d begun to work to diminish his status as a ‘hero’ by stirring the rumor mill. Or so Garin confided to him.
It was all so fucking annoying.
“I don’t have time for this,” Erec said, standing up. His insides flickered with fire, and just this time, he found he didn’t want to suppress it. He let it light to find the courage he wanted.
Months of dealing with this jackass and never having a chance to meet his insane standards. It was a waste.
“You will sit down this instant; we still have another hour of lessons left, and I expect you to work on dancing since you always bungle it like a—“
“No.” Erec shook his head, “Yeah, I’ve had it. I’m done with this.”
“I’ll fail you.” The instructor threatened.
“I don’t think I care?” Erec replied, looking over at Colin. His friend had held up on insulting his small talk partner to listen. “Yeah, I’ve had enough; I’ll see if I can get a course to replace this.”
“That is not how the Academy works. You were assigned to this class since we noticed an obvious flaw in your skill set. You cannot go through the high courts acting like a thug and expect things to go your way. You will not receive special treatment because of your new title and fluke of an accomplishment.” If the man’s face was red before, it was as bright as a tomato now.
Erec laughed at him.“I’m not looking for special treatment, even if I’ve accomplished more as an initiate than you have in your entire Knighthood. I’m done listening to you because there’s nothing to learn here. Maybe it’d be different if there was a better teacher—but you’re an actual joke.”
Better to cut his losses and prepare for things that actually mattered, like the expedition. Once they got out of the walls neither the Goddess nor courtly manners would have any relevance.
That couldn’t come soon enough.
“You know, he has a point,” Colin said and stood up as well, moving next to Erec’s side. “This course is a farce, and I think I’ll lodge a complaint with my father.”
The instructor looked baffled.
“You two can’t leave.”
“Watch us,” and Erec turned and left, hearing the muttering of his classmates come to life behind him. Whatever. Let them talk. All nobles did was endlessly gossip.
They paced their way quickly through the hall, back toward their dorm. He needed some time to cool off and be by himself. Once he did he could figure out how to explain it to Boldwick—the man had thrown away all illusion of distance between him and his students after the hunt for the White Stag and the loss of his former student. So the inevitable complaint lodged by the instructor would end up being the Master Knight’s problem.
On the one hand, Erec felt terrible for bringing more trouble to him as he struggled to plan out and get together the logistics between their long expedition. But on the other hand, the Courtly Mannerisms teacher was an absolute joke.
He could lead his people his way. The rest of the nobility and their little rules and games were the problem.
They twisted everything into a way to chase status and test one another, and Erec had no patience for those games.
“Why, rust bucket. It is excellent to see you acting your new rank finally.” Colin said smoothly from his side as they walked down the halls of the main campus building. It was, as always, a sight to behold. Were the Knights to defend this place against a hoard of monsters, Erec was sure they could last a year. Everything was made with thick brick walls—steel fortifications designed to weather an attack and present a solid image of strength. Aside from perhaps the palace, this was likely one of the most defended places in the Kingdom.
But, to Erec, it was more beautiful. The uncontrolled growth around his Order was an infinite degree more alluring than the manicured experience of the palace grounds.
“It’s not about rank,” Erec told the Duke’s son and hoped to the Goddess it never would be about that. A small part of his brain was concerned over how much Colin thought this was a good idea, but he’d already decided. “When someone disrespects you enough that you can’t feasibly learn whatever they’re trying to teach, it’s a straight waste of time.”
“True, when others approach you on your terms, there are no more petty social obligations you have to follow. It's about forcing them to meet you on your ground. But you’re wrong when you state it not being about rank. Should he have treated an actual titled Count like that? I think not. It makes the disrespect more reprehensible, so you were right in lashing out and leaving. However, your problem is you don’t know how to show proper deference to those above you. I suggest you focus your efforts there.”
“Colin—“ Erec paused and stopped trying. No, he wasn’t going to cut through and try to explain why his reasoning didn’t sync up with whatever little ideas Colin got in his head. That was an exercise in futility. His friend had come some way from being such an obnoxious brat, but there was a long way to go.
A girl stormed up to them in her academy uniform, her hair a fiery red and her eyes livid. “Colin. Nitidius. You absolute prick—where do you get off—“
“Alexandra, a displeasure; I told you I didn’t wish to see your face until graduation, yet here you are.”
Erec stared at the girl. This was his first time seeing Colin’s betrothed in person since joining the Academy—and she looked as far away from happy as she could be.