Wahoo!

SOLVEIG

“WAHOO!!!”

This was officially the best day ever! Without a doubt!

Why was Cain looking at her like that? Is this not an appropriate occasion to prance around the office?!

Whatever, spoilsport!

“I am so grateful for you even considering handing me this offer, O Great Duke," she said happily. "You can count on me to whip Cain up to shape! Thank you so much for not sending me to jail as well!! And also for giving me a job because I'd be flat-out broke otherwise, heh!”

Before Cain seemed to even process the words, Solveig strode straight up to him. She lunged forward and grabbed his jacket by the collar, pulling herself up onto her tiptoes and aggressively stretching her arms just to make up for the fact that she was simply too short.

“Ya hear that, constipated boy?! Someone sees my WORTH!” she cackled right into his face. “You got no choice but to listen to me now~!”

The Duke coughed. “Of course, of course. And you are aware of your obligations, of course?”

“Yep! To help Illustria’s academy become great again and boost your son’s reputation, while also being a secret bodyguard-slash-investigator on the side!”

“And…?”

“And…” Solveig swallowed hard, her grip on Cain’s collar slipping. “And I promise not to use any null magic.”

“Let us be entirely transparent, Solveig," the Duke said. "If a single grain of your null magic goes off within city limits, the questions and investigations that will ensue won’t just make my life a living hell—it will completely shatter my standing with the Crown. Furthermore, you cannot keep parading around as a divine being. It invites scrutiny neither of us can afford right now."

Solveig slouched. “I know… I know.”

“It is not all bad. How you present yourself to the public is your affair; the nobility can excuse a certain lack of decorum from a foreigner. As Solveig is your actual name, it can’t be helped, right? But in the classrooms, you are permitted to use common magic only.”

“Which I suck at…”

“I imagine your version of mediocre is higher than the average student attending Hrafen Academy.”

“But the second people make fun of me… my magic gets worse. And then… you know what happens.”

Cain thought back to yesterday in the forest and shivered.

“That’s the risk you simply have to suck up,” the Duke brushed off. “Almost certainly, you will be walking into a lion’s den of noble brats looking for their next victim. You being associated with my son? May as well be painting an archery target on your back. You will be spit at, made fun of, ridiculed…

“But how you plan to get around this is up to your discretion… and your responsibility. Unless your posturing as someone who has been through adversity was a lie all along.” The Duke looked pointedly at Cain. “I can’t possibly manage two crises at once.”

Solveig spared a glance at her future student. And Cain looked... well, utterly defeated.

She looked back and stared at the Duke for a beat.

“But what happens if I fail?” Solveig eventually asked.

“Well, the answer’s obvious. Illustria will be home to slavers. People like Penelope will no longer have many rights, if at all. And you? Well… I suppose either a life of imprisonment or a walk to the gallows is a sufficiently terrifying consequence. But both will guarantee that nobody will ever know the true you. The capable you. Isn’t that so much worse?”

Obscurity…

Obscurity…

Obscurity…

The word repeated and spiraled over and over and around in her little head so vigorously it made her spin.

"Okay," Solveig snapped resolutely. "I’lll do it. For realsies.”

“Then it’s settled.” The Duke nodded once. “Effective immediately, you are to be given a royal room and board, a generous allowance, and full discretion to tutor my son as you see fit.”

\\

CAIN

Cain looked down from his father's antics in front of him, his eyes going dark.

Classes are going to be such humiliation rituals…

“Son, please take her to the Town Square,” the Duke commanded smoothly. “She requires an academy-appropriate uniform,” the Duke added flatly. “Do not dawdle.”

Before Cain could even take a step back, Solveig lunged forward and grabbed his arm tightly, clinging to his sleeve like a stubborn burr—much to his immediate dismay.

“I’m in your care, Cain the Second!” Solveig said happily. “And first port of call: I’m hungry, Cain! Hungry as hells! Feed me! Feed me!”

Cain shivered. “Of course, bestie…”

“When’s this academy… sem-mes-tor starting again?” Solveig asked, turning back to the Duke.

His father smiled. “Well… tonight.”

\\

???

Across the grand courtyard of Hrafen Academy, in a lonely wing of the castle…

There were so, so many rooms in the boarding house... sitting empty, waiting for the taking.

Yet they chose Miriam's room, and Miriam's room alone.

“I am so sorry, Miss Miriam.”

“It’s…” she swallowed. “It’s fine, bless ya.”

“I… I can make tomato soup with extra cheese, if you’d like. Your favorite…”

“Thank you kindly… but I’ll be alright.”

“...Will you be able to attend your studies in your current capacity? I can’t imagine the journey it’d take to even get here.”

Miriam’s hands trembled slightly at her sides.

“I will…. I will figure somethin’ out,” she whispered quietly. “Don’t you fret none.”

The maid nodded as she got back to the task at hand.

Miriam watched silently as a line of palace servants moved her personal luggage chests out of the room.

Years of effort, years of doubt, years of courage…

She supposes… the bullies got their wish.

The commoner girl, the girl who was never supposed to be among the elite, didn’t belong here after all.

The maid walked out toward the hallway, utilizing a maid’s signature wheel magic to effortlessly roll a heavy wooden cupboard away. As the glowing rings spun beneath the furniture to glide it across the floorboards, she glanced back over her shoulder.

“I can imagine you won’t be attending the ceremony tonight…”

Miriam shook her head. “Nah.”

“Oh?”

“I’m staying. Well, not here. But you get the picture.”

Even if it meant Miriam would be the target of ridicule… she owed it to the people like her to make an appearance.

No matter how hard the nobility try, they shall never erase the commoners.

The person they are vacating this room for... her name's 'Solveig,' if she can believe it. The maids told her as much.

Miriam sighed.

Probably yet another insult she simply has to take the brunt of.