The gentle sound of the broom brushing against the wooden floors. The sight of the snow falling in the windows. The empty classroom and setting sun. The distant sound of students talking. The hum of the nearby magic heater. Everything combined together gives off a soothing and relaxing feeling. That is, until the door swings open.

  Penelope stands in the doorway with an annoyed look. “And what are you doing here?”

  With a brush of the broom, I put on a confused expression. “Whatever could you mean, Penelope? I’m obviously keeping the classroom clean.”

  She walks into the classroom and sits on one of the chairs. “Well, that is obvious. What isn’t obvious is why you’re cleaning a random classroom. This isn’t even our classroom. This is one of the lower-ranked classrooms.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I want to help out? Give back to the school for all it's done for me? From the bottom of my heart, can’t I just be helpful?” I ask, trying to make her guilty.

  Penelope rolls her eyes. “Charlatan, if you’re not getting either gold or entertainment out of this, I have to suspect that you’re a shapeshifter,” she says, not believing me in the slightest.

  Ignoring her, I continue to sweep the floor. “What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have to go to the Tea Club today?”

  She averts her gaze. “We didn’t have a gathering today. Actually, why aren’t you at the greenhouse?”

  At the mention of the greenhouse, my mind goes back to Hopper constantly freezing a cup and Helia moping about her sister. Fun times that I would love to get back to.

  “I already watered the plants for today. There was nothing else for me to do,” I say as I keep an ear out.

  “Huh? So, it seems we’re both free. Want to do something?” she asks with a bored tone.

  “I’d love to, but I have to clean this classroom. Go on ahead of me,” I say, rushing her a bit.

  “Why does it feel like you’re trying to get rid of me?” she asks, hitting the nail right on the head.

  “That’s outrageous. I would never try to do something like that,” I [Lie] while looking her straight in her green eyes.

  Staring me down, her eyes dart to the chalkboard. Damn it! How did she know to look there? Written clear as day on the chalkboard are the words “Cleaning Duty: Eidrel Ofkald and Yvena Calor”.

  Penelope's eyes go wide as she turns to me. “Did you come to spy on the couple we saw?”

  Putting the broom down, I toss my hands up in astonishment. “Do you really think that I would take time out of my busy day to find out which classroom they’re in and then ask around for when they would be on cleaning duty together? Who do you take me for? I would-”

  The sound of footsteps echoes through the hallway, interrupting my tirade. They’re coming!! Damn it! I was trying to get rid of Penelope before they got here, but now I don’t have a choice.

  Rushing towards Penelope, I grab her hand. “You were right. I am spying on them. Now, hurry and get in the supply closet before they get here.”

  Surprised Penelope doesn’t fight me as I pull her into the supply closet right as Eidrel and Yvena walk in. Peeking through the barely cracked door, I watch as an awkward energy crackles between the two of them.

  “We shouldn’t be doing this. This is an invasion of their privacy,” Penelope whispers as she faces away from the door.

  “Suit yourself, Penelope, but I think you’re going to want to see this,” I whisper as I watch them keep a careful distance from each other.

  Penelope hesitates, but ultimately refuses to look. “What’s going on?” she asks.

  With a devilish smile, I whisper, “Sorry, I’m bad with words. I just can’t describe it. Maybe you should look?”

  Penelope turns her nose up at the very idea. She’ll fold soon enough. In the meantime, let's see how it’s been going since the last time I saw them. If I remember correctly, they had fought because Eidrel was with Biance, his fiancée, the night he was supposed to meet Yvena. It has been a week, so maybe things have changed since then.

  In the awkward silence, I catch the two of them sharing glances with one another. Never at the same time, but the longing in their eyes speaks a thousand words if not more. Something has changed, but what?

  Finally, Yvena is the first to break the silence. “How has Bianca been?” she asks with a cold tone.

  Eidrel stumbles for a half second as he recovers from that ice-cold edge. “She’s been well. How have you been?” he says as he stacks the desks.

  “Good, in fact, I’ve been great. I’ve been so great that I even went to the Winter Festival.”

  Eidrel’s ears perk up at the mention of the Winter Festival. “That’s good to hear. Who did you go with?” he asks, trying to hide his real intentions.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Oh, just a friend. How about you? Did you take Bianca to the Winter Festival?” Yvena asks pointed questions.

  The desk in his hands slips for a moment before he catches it. “Yes. She wanted to go see the play about The First Chosen One. I’m surprised I didn’t see you and your ‘friend’,” he says, putting an emphasis on the word ‘friend’.

  “I imagine we went on different days. That or maybe you were lost in Bianca's eyes or something else of hers,” she says with an expertly hidden amount of venom.

  Damn, she’s good. I could learn a thing or two from her on wordplay. Looking over at Penelope, I can see her Half-Elf ears perk up as she strains to listen to the conversation from the corner of the closet.

  “You know it’s not like that. She’s my fiancée. I can’t just ignore her,” he says, not even convincing himself.

  “For a man who claims to be in love with me, you sure do have a way to show it,” she says, cleaning the chalkboard.

  “I would leave her if you asked me to. I would leave this all behind to be with you, but-”

  “There it is. There’s always a ‘but’ with you. You keep saying you ‘would’ do these things, but I’ve yet to see you actually ‘do’ anything. This is why I want you to stay away from me,” she says with every word physically hurting him, “but at the same time, I don’t. I… I don’t know how I feel, and I understand that our situation is complicated. Unless… Unless you leave with me now. We’ll run away. It’ll make everything simple. We’ll be happy.” She grabs his hand, waiting for an answer.

  Eidrel hesitates before pulling away. “Yvena, I… I don’t know what to say.”

  “You already did,” Yvena says as she storms out of the classroom in tears.

  Eidrel sits there in silence with his head in his hands.

  “Penelope, you just missed the greatest fumble I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some people do some stupid shit,” I whisper to her.

  “Not that I’m listening, but he’s obviously trying to stay loyal to his fiancée. Nobles don’t always get the luxury of marrying for love. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for your family,” she whispers.

  “That sounds like a shitty deal if I’ve ever heard one.”

  As Penelope goes to retort, another person enters the classroom. A beautiful human woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She has fair skin and a sweet aura that makes me immediately sick.

  “Poor, poor Yvena. She pours her heart out to you, and you can’t even give her a truthful answer,” the woman says.

  Eidrel's head pops up in a mix of anger and shock. “Bianca, what are you doing here?”

  Having lost to her curiosity, Penelope just about shoves me out of the way as she peeks through the door. I knew she would fold eventually.

  “I came to see if you were idiotic enough to run away with her. I’m happy to see that I underestimated you. After all, we both know what would happen if you did,” Bianca says with a sweet tone.

  Penelope looks at me with wide eyes that I return. This has gotten very interesting. What have you been up to, Eidrel?

  “I don’t need you to threaten me, Bianca. I’m keeping up my end of the bargain. So, keep up your end, and we won’t have a problem,” he says, barely hiding a boiling anger.

  Bianca taps Eidrel's nose. “I’m a woman of my word, but I find it important to remind you lest your love cloud your judgment. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that love has led you to make an idiotic decision. Isn’t that right, little Eidrel?” she says in a playful way.

  “What does she mean by that?” Penelope whispers.

  “Penelope, I’m listening to the exact same conversation as you. Why do you think I would know?” I whisper back.

  “You’ve been spying on these guys, haven’t you?” she asks.

  “Oh, before it was all ‘Invasion of their privacy’, but now you’re all ears,” I tease.

  “That was before the fiancée got involved. Just tell what you know,” Penelope basically demands.

  “Fine. Bianca Whit, the fiancée, is supposedly a sweet and caring person, but obviously, that’s not true. I knew her personality was a crock of shit. Also, Bianca and Eidrel are supposedly madly in love with each other and are often seen acting all lovely dovey, which is obviously some sort of cover for whatever deal they have going on. Beyond that, I have no idea what the deal is.” I explain in hushed whispers.

  “Whit? That’s odd. I don’t recognize that name.”

  “Ok, cool,” I say back.

  “No, you don’t understand. I know the name of every noble and influential house in the Empire, and Whit is not one of them,” she explains.

  “And? Why does that matter?” I ask.

  “It matters because Eidrel is the heir of Duke Ofkald. Duke Ofkald wouldn’t approve of a marriage with some no-name. Hells, he would sooner okay a marriage with Yvena than someone like Bianca. This situation stinks from head to toe,” Penelope says.

  “What do you think it means?” I whisper to her.

  “It means that whatever this ‘deal’ is, it’s shady. Shady to the point I’m starting to wonder what illegal things they’ve been up to. Wait, they’re talking,” Penelope whispers.

  Bianca traces her finger along Eidrel's chin. “Meet me tomorrow night at the usual place. We have work to do. Don’t be late this time,” she says, leaving the room.

  Not long after, Eidrel also leaves the room with an angry smile. Carefully, Penelope and I leave the supply closet.

  “Interesting. They seem to be meeting tonight. I wonder what that’s all about? Well, I guess we will never know,” I say.

  “Where are you going?” Penelope asks.

  “Nowhere, Penelope,” I say as I start to leave.

  “You’re going to spy on them, aren’t you?” she asks.

  With a devilish smile, I answer, “Why, do you want to join?”

  Penelope blinks hard as she struggles between her curiosity and what she should do. “I guess I have to join you. After all, someone has to keep an eye on you,” she says, hiding her real intentions.

  “Sure, Penelope, sure. Whatever lets you sleep at night. See you tonight,” I say as we pass some giggling classmates.