The boy’s first thought when he realizes they were about to be interrupted is “Thank the Gods.”

The boy’s next thought when he realized who the person is? Oh shit…

When the boy tells Rolfe the identity of their soon-to-be-arriving guest, the corners of the entity’s mouth twist into a small weak smile. “This will be interesting…” the diligent student mutters under her breath.

A few moments later, a knock is heard from the front door. A certain somber maid with pigtails enters through it after being invited by Rolfe who didn’t bother altering her voice to disguise herself as a male or changing out of her clothes (a short skirt and a blouse) which would have revealed to a normal person that Rolfe Primero isn’t the person they thought she was.

The boy is secretly grateful that the entity isn’t wearing something like the tube top and hot pants from yesterday morning. The outcome of a hypothetical meeting if Synnove met Rolfe while wearing such clothing, interesting will not be the word the boy would have used.

The entity who is sitting on a sofa chair in the living room invites the pigtails maid to take a sit on a similar chair opposite of her. The boy who is making tea in the kitchen thought that Synnove would have declined Rolfe’s offer, but the third year student complies with her senior’s request. It doesn’t look like Synnove is visiting in the capacity as the boy’s maid… at least not for the moment.

The boy walks out of the kitchen while carrying a tray with two cups of tea and sets them on the small coffee table that separates the entity and the pigtails maid. He then decides to make himself scarce by excusing himself and taking a seat at the dining table in the nearby dining room.

The boy chooses this place because far enough for it to be considered not intruding to their conversation (or whatever the hell you can call what’s about to happen), but close enough for the boy to step in and intervene if the situation gets out of hand.

The boy looks at the delicious breakfast spread on the table in front of him. His stomach growls and his mouth begins to salivate a little. The boy sighs dejectedly while face palming himself with his left hand.

Can’t I for once start the day normally with a peaceful breakfast before the metaphorical shit hits the allegorical storm? the boy pleads to the gods as he contemplates the events that happened the past few days. Just yesterday morning he was forced to rescue from his friends Marven Jaste and Athorius Devs from Ouroboros, and the morning before that he got peed on.

Fuck it. Whatever. All days can’t be everyday like these, the boy steels his resolve. He takes out the brown notebook he has in his left pocket and using a pen he found earlier, begins writing furiously.

I’m sorry Master Haithur, but I’m taking it out on you, the boy silently (and insincerely) apologizes to the current Master of Ouroboros. The contents of the notebook he is writing would be a contributing factor to the male teacher’s downfall today. Truth be told, he didn’t need to write them at all. What he knows about Master Haithur is enough to destroy the male teacher. But the boy feels compel to go through the bothersome task of faking a dead student’s handwriting as the icing on the cake to celebrate Master Haithur’s fall from grace.

Actually, I’m not sorry at all. Shit rolls downhill, asshole… the boy grimaced as he remembers how Master Haithur (actually, it was Headmaster Haithur at that time) had screwed him over years and years ago in the boy’s previous life.

Just as the boy is about to finish writing the first page, Rolfe finally says something to their guest.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“Please allow me to be in your house so I could serve Master.” Synnove answers while going straight to the point, no hesitation or fear.

“And why would I allow something as bothersome as that to happen?” the entity asks while taking the cup the boy had laid previously in front of her and blowing its hot content to cool it down.

“The same reason why I haven’t told everyone that you’re a girl.” the pigtails maid replies while gazing at the opponent sitting in front of her.

“And what’s stopping me from putting this cup down, reaching over the table and snapping that pretty little neck?” the entity asks while blasting off a wave of killing intent. Not as intense as the one she had shown two days ago in the courtyard outside the north hall, but still fierce enough to make any grown man who is subjected to it to pass out.

The boy who is writing while waiting in the dining room nearly snaps in half the pen he is holding.

“Still the same reason why I haven’t run off to my father to ask for help.” the pigtails maid answers while maintaining her steadfast gaze.

“…”

“Because that’s not the way you or I would want to win this.”

Rolfe who is about to drink from the cup she is holding in front of her face pauses for brief moment. The boy could have sworn the entity had let out a small smile but he can’t be sure. While still watching Synnove, Rolfe raises her voice and directs a question to the boy who is sitting in the next room.

“So what do you think, darling? Is she interesting? Should I give her what she wants?”

“Hey hey. You leave me out of this.” is what the boy wanted to say but he decides to stifle that comment. After considering for a moment, the boy chooses and says his next words carefully.

“Your house. Your rules. Your call.”

“Yes, but there's just something about her. Something around the eyes, I don't know, reminds me of... me. No. I'm sure of it, I’m interested in her.”

The boy who is deeply alarmed whenever the entity displays an interest in something tries to warn the pigtails maid away.

“Don’t mind her, Synnove. Rolfe can get a bit irritated if someone interrupts her while she’s in the middle of having her meal. Maybe you should try coming back later and asking again?”

Rolfe who is blowing and sipping on the cup in front of her suddenly says something quietly in the Shahjahadian language.

“If the ship couldn’t drift during a flood, what hope is there if it’s during a drought?”

The boy cocks his head to the side. He is familiar with the language, having spent 3 years studying it during his previous life. The Whiteford Academy requires all its students to learn the language during their first, second and third year. But what Rolfe has said just now is an ancient saying, and a bit obscure.

The boy understands the general meaning of the phrase (if something can’ be done during a peaceful time, what makes you think it will work during a harsher time), but the Shahjahadian language has layers upon layers of nuances and the meaning could change depending on the circumstances.

Shahjahadian warriors would often say this phrase before fighting one on one with their foes. It’s something akin to ‘better men than you have tried and failed’. Before the boy could decide which meaning was Rolfe’s intention, he hears someone else uttering another Shajahadian phrase.

“The lightning may strike repeatedly. The thunders may shatter the sky. The thunderbolts may split the earth. The rain is still in the air…”

The boy looks at Synnove who has uttered those foreign words fluently. Nothing is confirmed nor set in stone, the boy ponders the meaning behind those words. No one knows anything unless they try.

The entity who is still sipping and blowing the hot drink in front of her raises one of her brows bemusedly.

“I mistook your lightning as diamonds. They’re actually dusts by the side of the road.” smiles the entity.

“Even dusts by the side of the road can transform into coral reefs in the middle of the ocean.” replies the pigtails maid.

“If your fishing rod is the length of your thumb and your index finger, how could you dare fathom the depth of the ocean?” warns the entity calmly.

“If I fear the rising tides, I would never have built my house by the sea.” proclaims the pigtails maid without raising a heartbeat.

“If so, then the fist has met the open palm. Shall we proceed?” Rolfe who is still speaking in the Shahjahadian language extends an invitation as she puts the cup she’s been holding down.

“Even if the elephant has four legs, it can still trip over them.” Synnove who is also speaking the same language proclaims confidently as well.

This is getting out of hand, the boy thinks. He decides to step in before it’s too late.

“Come on girls. We don't want any trouble in here. Not in any language.”

Rolfe turns her head to him and smiles. “Evidently Miss Ciro’s an educated lady. Now I’m really interested in her.”

Before the boy could say anything, the entity turns her attention back to her guest.

“Although I admire your guts and would really like to see them, your method of asking me for a favor leaves much to be desired.”

“Is that so? Then please pray tell what the correct way is so I can appeal to your enormity, O Rolfe the Stupendous?”

“Get on all fours and bow your head to the floor.”

“…”

The boy is truly shocked. Of all the things the entity could have asked of Synnove, she demanded something the pigtails maid privately swore to herself that she would never do. Even under threats of death. And especially to someone like Rolfe.

The boy suppresses his urge to say something. He can’t come to Synnove’s defense now. If the pigtails maid wishes to succeed today, she has to depend on her own luck and skills.

Synnove’s face is calm, not expected of someone with her position of power and family background. A lesser person would have admitted defeat and slinked back to the shadows or raged by throwing the hot tea in front of her to Rolfe’s face. But to the boy’s complete and utter surprise, the pigtails maid breaks out into a smile.

“Is that all? For a second there I thought you wanted me to take my clothes off and do a lap around the academy.” says Synnove with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. Looks like she is really regretting missing out on the opportunity of fulfilling such an order.

The pigtails maid stands up and straightens her dress. She walks to an open space near the entity and gets on her knees. Before Synnove could complete the act of touching her head on the floor, Rolfe suddenly stands up and approaches the pigtails maid slowly.

Synnove pauses for a brief moment, but continues carrying out Rolfe’s order. The boy would have bet anything that the entity wanted to stand in front of her foe and put her foot on the pigtails maid’s head. But just as Synnove’s forehead is about to touch the floor, the unexpected happens.

The pigtails maid’s upper body is lifted off the floor, both her shoulders are grasped by the entity.

“Stand.” Rolfe says to Synnove in a voice that doesn’t carry the weight of a command, but a request.

“Okay…”

“Would you like to have your own room here?”

The pigtails maid’s face breaks out into her biggest smile ever. She originally wanted permission to spend the day at Rolfe’s manor in order to serve her master, but the entity has offered her more than she has bargained for. Rolfe has allowed her a room if she wishes to stay over for the night (not all the nights mind you, just some of the nights). Synnove must also be discreet if she chooses to spend the night and she cannot let anyone know.

It’s generally frowned upon in the Grandiel Continent for people of different sexes to live together in the same house if they’re unmarried. And since Synnove is a member of royalty, the boy isn’t sure how many rules they’re breaking, both written and unwritten.

The boy is also unsure which would kill him first, Synnove’s parents, Synnove’s secret admirers, or the attacks from Master Wes’ and Headmaster Joss’ combined assault if they found out Synnove will be spending the night with two males (okay technically Rolfe is girl but the boy is sure the distinction would be lost on the person who wants to run the boy through his sword).

The pigtails maid grasps the entity’s hands and begins kissing them. She also pecks both sides of Rolfe’s cheeks a few times.

“Thank you, Rolfe.” says the pigtails maid repeatedly, her face full of joy.

“Yeah yeah. Now get over to your master and give him the good news. Quick, before I change my mind.”

“Okay.”

Synnove turns immediately and half-walks/half-runs to her master’s side in the adjoining room. The boy manages to recover his shock and closes his mouth (which was open the whole time since Rolfe had offered Synnove a place to stay) to greet the pigtails maid with a smile.

“Master, have you heard the news?”

“I’ve heard.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“That makes the two of us.”

“We’re going to have so much fun together.”

“The fun part is debatable.”

“My own room…”

“I guess you have a place to put your stuff.”

“Ah, that’s right.” exclaims Synnove as if suddenly remembering something important.

“Hmmm?” the boy feigns ignorance even though he is the one who steered the conversation to that topic.

“My toys…”

“What about them?”

“I left them in the abandoned classroom last night.”

“Then I guess you better collect them and put them back in the secret hiding place you have in your old room. Or if you want, you can store them here in your new room.”

“But I…” Synnove’s words are left hanging. She is hesitant of leaving her master’s side so soon.

“Synnove, never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Besides, there’s no telling who might accidently stumble upon your toys and confiscate them for their indecencies…”

“No…” wails the pigtails maid. “I guess I better get going then.”

“I’ll be here, waiting for your return. And if you could do me a small favor? Could you discreetly return the food basket and the linen of cloth I borrowed without permission from the north hall?”

“Of course.” says the pigtails maid full of enthusiasm, happy to receive and carry out orders from her master.

“I would advise you to refrain from eating the sandwiches inside, they will cause you a stomachache if you eat them now. But the cakes I’ve made are still okay.

“I will be sure to enjoy them.”

“And Synnove. I don’t have to remind you to be discreet while you’re moving about. Especially when carrying such questionable items.”

“What we do, we do from the shadows.”

“Don’t say such cool lines with an excited face!”

“Tee hee.”

“Anyway, off you go now.”

“I’ll see you in just a bit, Master.”

The pigtails maid turns and regrettably leaves her master’s side. Before she exits through the front door, Synnove walks over to Rolfe who has sat back in her sofa chair and clasps the entity’s hands.

“Thank you Rolfe for giving me this opportunity. I promise you, you won’t live to regret it.”

“I’m sure I won’t.” says the entity.

Rolfe watches Synnove’s back as she skips to the front door and closes it behind her.

“You know, I do believe that girl is still planning to kill me.” says the entity as she finishes the cup of tea in her hand. “Not that it matters…” she continues to mutter as she puts the empty cup back onto the coffee table in front of her.

The boy closes the brown notebook and gets up from the chair. He hasn’t finish writing yet but there are more pressing matters at hand. Now that the boy had managed to get Synnove out of the house for a brief moment of time, he approaches Rolfe from the side to ask the question that has been burning up his insides for a while now.

“What. the. hell.?”

“Hmmm?” the entity raises an eyebrow, completely oblivious to the boy’s agitated state.

“Why did you invite her to stay with us even if you know she has plans of trying to kill you? Is it because you find her interesting? I alone wasn’t enough? Now you have to add her to your list as someone to pass the time?”

“Why don’t you sit down before you fall down.” says the entity coldly which makes the boy sits immediately in the empty sofa chair opposite of Rolfe, nearly yelping out a “Yes ma’am!” while in the process.

Even though Rolfe didn’t bother using mana manipulation to turn her vocal chords so she could sound like a male, the boy is reminded of the terrible experience when the boy had to summon up all his courage to meet the entity for the first time and challenge her to a duel.

Rolfe picks up a second cup of tea on the coffee table and studies it. The boy had made it for Synnove but the pigtails maid hadn’t bothered to drink from it. The boy patiently sits in silence as he waits for Rolfe to arrange her thoughts. Some time passes by before the entity begins speaking again.

“You’re mistaken if you think I’m planning to turn her into one of my toys. I’m not interested in her, not in that way anyway. What I’m more interested in is answering the nagging, incessant question of why I hate that girl. I wasn’t certain of it before when I met her the first time but now I’m sure of it.”

“…”

“I absolutely, positively hate that girl. And that girl hates me as well. Although her intense dislike of me could be explained because you rejected her for me, my loathing of her can’t be so easily explained.”

“…”

“That girl is really REALLY fortunate by the way. It’s either through luck or divine intervention that we haven’t truly met until today. If I had run into her a year ago, I would have snapped her neck. Not because I could, but because I’d have this sudden unexplainable urge to do so.”

“…”

“It’s the eyes really. They never change even though you go through so many lifetimes. I think I may have crossed paths with her before. Maybe I’ve fought with her once across several reincarnations. Or maybe I fought her several times during one reincarnation. I can’t remember which one she was, there were so many of them.”

“Before you ask, I’ve checked. Synnove doesn’t seem to carry any markers of being a reincarnated person.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes… no… maybe… I don’t know. I’m not so sure of anything anymore.”

“Will you tell me after you have finally found out?”

“…Yes.”

“You’ve paused quite a bit there. Is it because you fear what I might do to her?”

“No. It’s because I fear what the knowledge might do to you.”

*cracks “…”

The cup in Rolfe’s shatters, spilling it’s content all over the floor. The entity had grasped on it a little too tightly. The boy also notices her hand has begun bleeding. Either her mana shield wasn’t raise up in time to prevent her injury, or the entity chose to injure herself on purpose and had intentionally decided to turn her mana shield off.

Rolfe studies the blood dripping from the wound in her palm as it falls onto the floor, mixing with the tea. The boy knows the entity could have used her mana to heal her injury. Why she hasn’t chose to do so is beyond him.

“When you’ve live as long as I have, you’ll forget, or you’ll learn to forget, what love is really about. Same goes for hate. Why waste your energy on something that doesn’t last forever? Only fighting is different. Pure unadulterated fighting. It transcends both love and hate because it can encompass both feelings at the same time.”

“…”

“I’ve forgotten about love for a long LONG time. But then I met you. And when I met with Synnove again today, I’m suddenly reminded what hate really is, even if I can’t remember a valid reason for it. You’ve asked me before why I offered her a room to occasionally stay with us. The reason is because I needed to keep my eyes on her in order to remember. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s something. But I need to know.”

“…”

“Now that she’s out of my sight, it’s taken everything I have to stop me from launching myself out of this chair and going after her and splitting her open, trying to find out what makes her sick, trying to find out what makes her tick. The only reason why that hasn’t happened yet is because I’ve grown too fond of you to see you sad and hurt over her.”

“…”

Rolfe suddenly stands up, making the boy flinch a little in his seat. The action isn’t lost on the entity. She starts speaking again calmly to reassure the boy.

“Relax. I’m not going to kill her, not right now anyway. She has the courage to walk into my house, look me in the eyes, and announced her intent of fighting me, all for her beloved master. Bravery is a trait that I still have some high regards for.”

The boy secretly heaves a huge sigh of relief.

“However…”

The boy immediately tenses up as Rolfe slowly walks towards the boy, going around the small coffee table that separates between him and the entity, blood still dripping from her side caused by the wound in her hand.

The boy uses his powers to find out when’s the best time he could escape from the entity. He discovers his chance has passed and gone. He should have fled from the academy three days ago, before Rolfe became aware of his existence.

Before the boy could lament his fate, the entity continues speaking.

“…I still want to hurt her, really REALLY bad. Not because she dares declare war on me, but because I could.”

The entity mounts the boy who is still sitting in the sofa chair. She forcefully takes off his clothes and begins writing a few symbols on the boy’s chest using the blood on her hand. Before the boy has the chance to ask her what she is doing, Rolfe channels her mana, activating the symbols she has drawn across the boy’s upper torso.

The boy suddenly feels his whole body is on fire. Just as the boy is about to scream loudly and trash about in agony, the pain disappears as quickly as it had come. The only thing left is the numerous burning, searing sensations left on his ribs.

“What did you do?” the boy pants out in alarmed, he’s still finding it hard to breathe.

“Leveling the playing field for Synnove and me. Now no outsiders can interrupt the battle we’re having between us.”

Before the boy could ask her what she meant by that, Rolfe kisses him passionately and deeply before proceeding to take off her own blouse.

“What are you doing?”

“Do you even need to ask? I’m drawing first blood in this duel Synnove and I are having.”

“Please stop. She’ll know what we were up to while she’s gone."

“Good. I want her to find out.” says Rolfe while smiling a smile that reminds the boy how close he was at turning the entity into an enemy (99.999% to be exact).

The boy suddenly has the inexplicable urge to say out loud an old Shahjahadian saying he had learned years and years ago in his previous life.

“In a fight between elephants, the mouse deer will die in the middle."

The entity’s smile got even wider and after hearing that.