“The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.”
- Honore de Balzac, Unknown (2nd Era)
Erec tried to pull away and let the two have their discussion. It wasn’t his place to insert himself in someone else’s relationship, and the idea of even overhearing whatever this dramatic conversation would be already got his stomach twisting. He keenly recalled hearing Bedwyr and Gwen’s breakup, and this tone was already a level of weirdness that made him want to have nothing to do with it.
Besides, there was something fierce about this girl. From the way, she moved to her thick and wild red hair—not what he’d expect from the daughter of a Duchy. The last time he saw her, he could’ve sworn she’d been much more refined—much more typical of a higher court lady.
Now though, there was a raw edge that struck a particular chord of familiarity in himself.
“Don’t you dare move,” the girl’s angry eyes swept over him? “Is this one of your friends, Colin? Is he part of that group you refuse even to let me see? Which one is he? The insubordinate low-born or the try-hard people pleaser?” Her withering attention returned to Colin. “His words, not mine.”
What?
Erec stopped, not because he was afraid of disobeying her. She looked scrappy, but he doubted this girl would start a brawl in the middle of the Academy. Let alone did he fear losing. Nobody stood up to him in the Academy, aside from Soren or Bedwyr. And then, he hadn’t gone all out against the prince since after the stage.
But the descriptions she’d received… What the fuck Colin, what did you tell her about us?
Colin didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed, despite being exposed for badmouthing people he called his friends. “This is the insubordinate low-born. Trust me; you’d know if it was the try-hard; he’d already be buttering you up to defuse you, and perhaps that’d be better for me. I didn’t intend for you to meet any of them because my affairs are none of your business, woman. Mind your coursework; frankly, until we’re tied in marriage, I don’t believe I owe you even an ounce of my time. Let alone subjecting my friends to your prodding company. I decided it to be better to spare them from seeing your detestable face, lest they gag from dealing with such rancid company.”
“I was informed that this was going to be a challenge.” The girl swayed closer to Colin, her palm running down his face as she forced him to look at her. “…That makes it exciting.” With that, she withdrew her hand. Before Erec could even blink, that same hand whipped through space and slapped Colin’s face hard enough to leave a stinging red print.
Colin took a few steps back, shocked and rubbing at the rising welt. His eyes were wide, and he worked his jaw, unable to come up with anything to say for once.
“Do not disrespect me, Colin Nitidus. I am a Knight and belong to a family with just as much ranking as you. Unlike the rest of these people, you must admit it’s impossible to see me as beneath you. And even if that weren’t the case, you should show me proper reverence as your future spouse. I swear, if you didn’t have those charmingly defiant eyes, this whole thing would be doomed. You’re lucky.”
Her eyes shot over to Erec.
“Now, I propose we spend some time together and get to know one another. It is with great delight that I make your acquaintance, Sir Erec. And I’m very interested to know more about you,” She did a small curtsy—the same lady-like move that Olivia did with alarming frequency. But where Olivia performed hers with practiced grace, Alexandra did it in a way that appeared so flippant and uncaring that the perfected gesture came across with perfect authenticity.
“…Right, I think I’d rather head off to my room. I just yelled at an instructor, and I expect it to bite my ass in a while. I have to figure out how I will deal with that,” Erec said carefully. After witnessing Colin get cowed by this girl, he’d made up his mind.
Alexandra Doctus wasn’t someone he wanted to get involved with. Bad enough, he already dealt with two of the duchy-spawns, this third one he’d rather avoid; Colin would have to work through his marriage issues on his own.
Alexandra had other ideas.
“I’ve heard you’re strong. Spar me.”
Damn. His heart skipped a beat; the intensity of that challenge almost jumpstarted the fire in his gut. Her entire demeanor took on an intensity; she looked like a hungry beast ready to tear into another.
“You just said you wanted to get to know one another better? How does fighting accomplish that?” Erec asked though the words were a half-hearted attempt at deflection. Better to walk away. Colin rolled his eyes—and finished the gesture with a sneer towards her.
“She’s a muscle head like you. It'd be better if you put her in her place; she fancies herself as one of the strongest in our class. She hasn’t had the pleasure of watching you throw yourself away into a battle.” Colin said.
She seemed scrappy—not what one might traditionally think of as strong, but then again, with Virtues, appearances could be deceptive. Let alone if she had some sort of Talent complimenting her skill set. But, Erec had to admit, he wasn’t afraid of her. No one in their class scared him, he hadn’t been pushing himself lately with Fury after his last incident, but that was irrelevant. He hadn’t wasted his time; instead, he’d focused on developing better technique. It’d yielded a boost to his Agility by a tier and his Vigor by a tier as well.
But most of his time had been dedicated to training up his Psyche to combat the effects of Fury. Now he’d managed to claw his way up to Tier 7, all without abusing his body and mind with Fury, even if the progress was a lot slower.
Yet adapting to his newly gained Strength and taking a break from such an intensive strain had led to new insights.
But, if he were to go all out, only the Knight Protectors or stronger would give him a challenge. Erec hadn’t felt weak since being the captive of that damned outsider in Worth.
So, ultimately, Alexandra didn’t seem intimidating at all, so it felt so odd that he wanted to take her up on that fight. His head screamed no, but his heart wanted to so badly. Had it been too long since he’d had a good fight?
Were Garin here, he’d have insisted on hanging around to figure out what type of person Alexandra was. A proper courtly thing to do would be that approach, and do his best to help out Colin, maybe smooth some things over, definitely not fight his betrothed.
But the offer was beyond tempting. Fighting the same sparring partners for months was draining, and he hadn’t let loose even the tiniest bit. Without Fury, fighting had lost that spark; even though learning control was objectively good. Boldwick wouldn’t have approved of this.
Could he break his rules for this girl?
“I decline.”
“Tragic,” the girl spat on the ground, “Well, disappointing, but if that’s the way you want it, okay then.” She sighed and grabbed Colin by the arm. “I’m taking him, though.”
“Fine by me.”
“Wait!” Colin called out, eyes wide. “Erec—Listen, er, Alexandra. If he defeats you, would you agree to let me be for the rest of the year? No surprise visits, letters, or any of that nonsense.”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “…That doesn’t seem fair, but I want to fight him… Adding more stakes makes it fun too…”
“I never agreed to a fight,” Erec said, though his voice betrayed him, which Colin picked up on like a dehydrated man spotting a flask of water. This was dumb. Even if he wanted to, not giving in to Colin would be the best. Their… relationship didn’t seem healthy, and they needed to work things out since they were already stuck together. And were they gambling on the results of a spar? Not exactly very Knightly.
“A month.” Alexandra bargained and gave Erec a winning grin; “Please? I want to test you out. See what the Stag Slayer can do.”
“Two months.” Colin shot back.
“A month and a half.” Alexandra shook her head. “Shyness is ill-befitting you, Colin. Are you afraid that you’ll realize that I’m too good for you if you spend too much time with me?”
“I-It’s not that, you….” Colin mumbled off the rest of his sentence, but Erec could’ve sworn he'd heard something about being intimidated.
“I didn’t agree to a spar.” Erec contested again, feeling the resistance slip away.
“What? Too prim and proper to get dirty like a real Knight? I thought by your reputation you weren’t about that. Here we went and made a bet and everything; where’s the fun in you, Erec? Don’t be another dull and lifeless noble; live a little.” There was a wild look in her eye, the way her red hair flared with the wind. As if the entire girl were one blazing fire, ready to set things burning and watch it all crumble to ash. “Well?”
The beast inside of Erec roared. If it was being challenged, it had to return in like.
More importantly, Erec didn’t want to be like the rest of the nobility. He didn’t want to be dull and boring or concerned about appearances. Maybe it wasn’t proper to go and duel another Knight to test your strength like this—perhaps it wasn’t chivalrous to make bets over fights.
But it did seem like fun.
“Fuck it,” Erec glared at Colin. “You owe me.”