"You don't understand. She took everything from me! My title, my honor...even the man I love. That woman is the bane of my existence. Ever since she showed up...everything has gone to shit. I don't need her apologies. I want her gone."
-Viola Adelais on Rosanna Castus; Route 3
***
Leo's decision to join Cyrilla Academy was stupid, but not entirely uncalled for.
See, as he said before, he had little use for earthy possessions and presumptuous titles. Climbing the social rank, he believed, was a waste of time for those who already knew their purpose in life. And when Leo wasn't enjoying his lady's presence, he spent a great portion of his time defending her from slackers and busybodies, who couldn't accept that there can be a perfect existence such as Viola Adelais.
Take the other examinees, for instance. His lady had only stepped off the carriage, and already people are gawking at her, whispering and murmuring amongst themselves like sheep. Leo had advised his lady not to mind them, to keep her head held high and ignore the vermin, but as usual, Viola's rather...incisive nature tends to attract the wrong kind of crowd.
"Excuse me?" The young lady said. At first, Leo thought he had been speaking out loud until he realized that the young lady was standing in front of three girls.
Leo sighed. "My lady, we're going to be late—"
"Shush," came Viola's snappy command. She took another step towards the one in the middle — the leader of the gang, Leo presumed — before she jabbed the edges of the fan towards the lady's chest. "This one seemed to have something to say to me. I heard you mention my name. Out with it, then!"
The other girls exchanged panicked glances, terrified out of their wits. Viola Adelais was well-known within aristocratic circles — famed for her sharp-tongue and blunt way of addressing people. These ladies must be purposely courting danger at this point.
"H-how bold of you to assume you're the talk of the town, Miss." One of the ladies nervously laughed. "Imagine just hearing your name and immediately thinking everything's about you—"
From the corner of his eyes, Leo noticed the young lady's fists clench. Knowing her, Leo can already tell what was going to happen.
"My lady, we should go." He rushed forward, taking her by the wrists. He's seen this scene play out a thousand times before: the girls would provoke Viola, she would retaliate, and one of the proctors would end up catching her red-handed. Then it would be the start of her long, painful years of being branded as a 'violent student' with a penchant for bullying, even though all she did was stad up for herself.
This time, Leo swore to protect her. Making all her enemies disappear was not enough - if he wanted to avoid the mistakes of the past, then he had to be thorough about it, even it means biting his tongue and doing everything he could not attack in his lady's stead. He needed to keep his lady away from trouble however much he can, make sure her name stays clean, and most of all, not give any more ammunition for his lady's enemies to fire.
My lady is always misunderstood, he lamented. But that was okay because she only needed Leo to fully understand her.
"Leo, wait—"
She didn't need that stupid, useless prince. His crown was all for show anyway, made to hide the spineless coward that lay underneath.
"Let's stop for a moment—"
His lady didn't need to deal with pests anymore. She had Leo—
"I said, STOP!"
It was only then that Leo came to his senses, watching his lady's face. Her cheeks were flushed from so much running, and there was that scowl again — except Leo already knew that was just how she is.
"You're hurting me," she complained, gesturing at Leo's vice-like grip. He let go immediately, feeling as though his hands burned. The grip had been so tight that he almost bruised his lady's porcelain skin.
"My deepest apologies, my lady!" He cried, prostrating on the ground. There was no excuse for this blunder. "Please punish this lowly servant!"
He had been so focused on getting Viola out of range from those girls that he completely forgot himself. His lady never gave any permission to leave, nor did he even ask for her consent when he touched her. Shamed burned at the back of his throat, working its way up his cheeks. This was unbecoming! Worthy of a thousand deaths!
But Viola, being the saint she was, only sighed at Leo. "Stand up. Don't be so dramatic."
"But my lady!" Leo protested. His knees remained firmly planted on the ground. "I hurt you! I dragged you here without your consent—"
"You escorted me away by the wrist." Viola corrected. "Is that any way of a gentleman?"
Leo stared dumbly as his mistress offered him her hand, looking just as bright and graceful as she did when they first met. Leo stared at her, trembling, because no matter how many times his lady had reached out to Leo and given him an inch, he would always, ALWAYS go for a mile.
He took her hand and put it against his lips, the way he would to a fragile, beautiful flower.
"I'm very sorry, my lady." He whispered. "Allow me to escort you properly to your room this time."
And because they were already late, Viola could only laugh at her servant's antics, giggling as he intertwined his fingers with hers in an intimate manner that no master and servant should be allowed.
***
"Out of the way!" Leo yelled. "My lady is going to be late!"
He didn't mean to shove the girl down. Anyone with eyes could see that the girl was loitering in a public walkway, standing in the middle of the way like some goddamned statue waiting for the birds to flock over her. It was only natural that people shoved her down...accidentally.
But as it turned out, this was no ordinary girl.
"What the fuck?" A high-pitched voice cussed, letting out a string of curses so crisp Leo would have mistaken the owner for a sailor. But it was only the girl — a rather timid-looking girl with the face of an angel — who was now glaring at Leo like she was about to make his life a living hell.
White hair.
Blue eyes.
There's only one household in the empire with such features. Tragic heirs, the rumors in the capital have told, made to inherit a sullied name and a sullied future.
A white rose stained with mud.
"Hey, you!" She began to get up, in the most unorthodox fashion that made his lady flinch. She tried to put one foot over the other and ended up tripping over the hems of her dresses, thus falling back again.
Beside her, Viola bit her lip to hold herself back from laughing.
The girl seemed to notice this, causing her to jab a finger at Leo. "Where are your parents? Who let you run around—"
But while his mistress was amused by this, Leo was chilled down to the bone, thinking that this may as well be the start of a decades-long grudge.
Leo didn't let her finish her sentence. She urged his lady to continue to run and prayed to all the gods (if they existed) that they never run into this girl ever again.
***
"Do you know her?" His lady asked when they reached her own examinations room.
He smiled.
"Whatever do you mean, my lady?"
For the first time in forever, his lady's face began to show a bit of worry. She pouted. "That girl back there. I saw you look at her. Did you know her?"
"Not at all," he said easily, opening the door for her. He kept the smile on his face as he watched his lady get settled in.
"Are you sure? But I saw you—"
"Good luck on your exams, my lady."
***
Speak of the devil, Leo met her again at the examination room.
The girl named Rosanna Castus occupied the sole remaining seat a few rows ahead of Leo, her white hair standing out like a halo amid a sea of rather normal-looking people. She would glance back at Leo from time to time, risking herself being caught by the proctor. It seemed that she already held a grudge from being shoved down earlier, and an even bigger grudge for being made a scapegoat.
Leo scoffed. Good. At least the anger was directed at him, not at his mistress.
The remaining hours were trying not to panic as finished examinees left the room one by one. As an orphan, Leo had to admit that his education wasn't the best, but his experience had to count for something, shouldn't it?
Wrong.
The longer he stared at the papers, the more it seemed impossible for his answer. He also realized that the reason other examinees finished first was that they gave up on the exams early, preferring to turn in blank papers instead of wasting their time trying to recall lessons they never studied.
Soon, only two people remained in the once fully-occupied room. Rosanna Castus, as expected, seemed to know exactly what she was doing — she furiously scribbled her answers within the last thirty minutes. It was unfair.
Leo looked at his own papers: messy and barely answered, even though he had done his best to review lessons along with Viola. His mistress must be having a difficult time on her own, as he knew for a fact that their tutor's curriculum never covered advanced arithmetic and economic theories.
Leo didn't know where exactly it began, but at some point, he found teardrops streaming down his face, almost staining his exam papers. This was odd. He had never cried in his fifteen years of life — and the 20 more lifetimes before that.
He had been hanged, jailed, stabbed, and rejected by the love of his life.
Who cries over a piece of paper?
"Hey. Are you crying?" A voice asked. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"Hey," the voice said again. "It's just an exam. You shouldn't—"
Leo clenched his fists. It wasn't just an exam. Maybe it was for Rosanna Castus, but for his mistress, this would lead to a decades-long rivalry that repeated itself over and over across many lifetimes. All because someone else scored higher.
The bane of her existence, his mistress called her.
"Do you need help? Maybe I can—"
I want her gone.
"SHUT UP!" Leo yelled in an outburst, the pressure finally catching up to him. He looked up to see the other person in the room, expecting to see that same, doe-eyed expression that haunted him for years.
Instead, Rosanna Castus was simply shocked. Her mouth was agape, and there was a bit of ink smudged on her chin — a trace of clumsiness that the previous Rosannas would have never allowed. No, this Rosanna had some sort of idiocy in her: one that made her glance at her paper, then at Leo, as if he was part of the examinations.
Leo hung his head low. This was too unbecoming — he should probably head back home and apologize to his lady for how he failed spectacularly.
All these preparations, he thought. And I forgot the most important thing! If only he had reviewed his lessons instead of watching his lady (a worthy pastime, he would say), then maybe he had something to answer!
A glimpse of feet suddenly entered his line of vision. Rosanna Castus stood in front of him, arms crossed, like fate itself handing down another terrible execution.
Then she took his paper and replaced it with her own.
"This isn't for free." She said. "Someday, you'll have to pay me back for this."
Leo stared at the paper on his desk, now filled with answers written in messy Calixian. The portion for the name was still blank.
He didn't understand.
"I-what—"
But Rosanna had gone back to her seat before he even finished, just in time for the proctor to walk in. She didn't spare Leo another glance after that.