At the Stables, Marianne was feeding Dorte"There, there Dorte," said Marianne as she pats Dorte and gave a carrot to the horse as she smiles a bit, Dorte the horse is one of the Marianne many strange friends as she often afraid of talking to other people. But a group of students appeared from the Golden Dear house who all have a frown on their faces as they stared at Marianne

"Hey, isn't that freaky girl?" Student one asked as he points at Marianne 

"Yea, it is her...I heard that she one of those cursed beasts, my father told me that she would transform into a beast and murder innocent people at night," Student two replied giving a dirty look at Marianne who was too busy attending Dorte 

Student three smirks "In that case, how about we have some...' fun' after all she must that beast that murdered my, little brother," said Student three as she points at Marianne 

"Wait a min, what if one of the teachers spotted us or worse...one of her friends comes to aid her?" Student one started to grow worried but the other two students just pat on his shoulder 

"Don't worry, she doesn't have any friends and the teachers don't seem to care about her at all," 

"Yea, I stole some training weapons earlier. Let use them to make sure that the girl learns her lesson." They grab a training sword as the three students started to march towards Marianne

Marianne didn't notice them until she spotted their shadows behind her in which she quickly turn around 

"Huh?" Marianne quickly notices the training weapons that they have  "Wh...what are you doing?" Marianne asked as they move closer 

"We are about to teaching you a lesson that you will never forget," said Student one as he slams his training sword into Marianne's right upper chest before another slam her on her left lower chest and another nearly landed onto her head but instead it hits one of her elbows. 

"Gah! Why are you doing this!" cried out Marianne as the three Students didn't respond as they continue beating Marianne making fall to the ground as she begs them to stop...they did but instead one of them grabbed her near the neck and started to choke her. Marianne stopped struggling as if she has already given up until she spotted someone out of the corner of her eye, a girl with pink hair "H...Hilda! H..help!" cried out Marianne as she running out of breath within her lungs

Hilda quickly turns toward the cry of help as she enters the stables "Marianne! Is something wrong?" Hilda soon came to a stop as she spotted Marianne getting choked by one of the students, the other two turned around to face Hilda  "Marianne! What are you doing to Marianne!" Hilda shouted as she attempted to aid Marianne only to be blocked by the two other students 

"You shouldn't even bother helping her, She a monster and needed to be taught a lesson," said Student three as he raises his training sword at Hilda 

"This is wrong on so many levels!" Shoves student three back as makes another attempt to aid Marianne but once again was blocked "Get out of way! You are murdering her!" cried out Hilda as she is held back by the two other students 

"Then leave us alone!" Student one shoved Hilda back  "I thought you were 'too lazy' to help anyone, why do you what to help her?" Student One asked 

"It doesn't matter, you are murdering her!" Hilda grabs a Pitchfork as she quickly swings the blunt end of the fork at Student Three before pointing the sharp end at Student One 

Hilda isn't exactly an expert on lances as she is more suited to Axes but even so, she can still adapt to a different weapon type that easy to use like the pitchfork which any normal person can pick up and make good use of it

"Dam it, you will pay for this!" shouted Student One as he charged forward toward the right direction while Student Three snapped out of it and also charged forward but this time in a different direction...to the left this time 

Hilda quickly notices what going on as she quickly dodges one of the strikes but it forced her out of the stables, however, she managed to land a blunt blow on Student one in the head but it didn't do much as he continues his attacks. She fails to realize that Student three is about to strike her from behind, lucky for her it was quickly stopped by another person which turns out to be Sylvain who grabbed her by the forearm. Sylvain's face was frowning as he tightens his grip on her

"Well, well well, you two ganging up onto a single lady? That just rude," said Sylvain as he quickly disarms Student three by twisting her arm before grabbing the training weapon out of her hands and then knocked her out by hitting her in the head with the training weapon pommel which caused bleeding on her head but it shouldn't be harmful...right?

"Here, let me handle that pitchfork," said Sylvain as grabs the pitchfork out of Hilda's hand and placed the training weapon in exchange. 

Student One was visually shaking as he tries to steady his weapon"Th...this wasn't supposed to be the plan...she told us that she was alone!" shouted Student One as if he lost his mind as he backing off a bit towards the stable door

"Sylvain there...." She arrived to only see Sylvain wielding a Pitchfork "What is going on here?" Ingrid asked who has a confused look on her face as she stares at Sylvain and Hilda

"Hey, Ingrid can give us a hand?" Sylvain asked as he nods toward Student One 

Ingrid looks at  student three who is knocked out as she moves next to Sylvain and pats him on the back as she sighs "I think I got a general idea what happened here," said Ingrid 

"Da...d...dam, you!" shouted Student one as he charges towards Ingrid as if he lost his mind "Out of my way!" 

Ingrid just sighs as she not only dodged it but quickly disarmed him by tripping him and pinning him into the ground meanwhile Sylvain enters the Stable and did a kick against student two and pinned him onto the wall with the help of the pitchfork "Do you yield?" Sylvain asked 

Student two nods as he drops his weapon onto the ground in which Hilda sighs of relief 

"Thank you...I thought I was a goner," said Hilda as she smiles a bit 

"No problem but," Looks at Marianne "Is she alright?" Sylvain asked as he points as Marianne who has a worried look on her face

"Oh no! Um, hey Sylvain can you help me out with Marianne by carrying her to the infirmary?" Hilda asked

"Of course my Lady, it would be rude if I didn't accept to help a lady out," Sylvain makes a wick at Hilda 

Ingrid just rolled her eyes  "You never really change do you, Sylvain," said Ingrid 

Hilda attempt to reach out of Marianne "Ah...please...no more," cried Marianne as she still struggling for breath 

"Marianne..." Hilda hugged Marianne and started to pat her on the back "Your safe now, we are taking you to the infirmary," said Hilda as water started to fill her eyes

"Weren't those students from your house Hilda?" Sylvain asked as places his hand onto Hilda's shoulder 

"...yes I didn't expect them to attack our dear Marianne," Hilda's eyes were starting to fill water as she picks up Marianne but is struggling due to the weight 

"Well, we talk about this later right now she needs to go to the infirmary." Sylvain helps out Hilda by carrying Marianne on one shoulder while Hilda took another shoulder, Ingrid just nods towards the infirmary as the two of them carried Marianne out of the stables where they got noticed by Seteth. He quickly noticed how beaten up Marianne alongside a straggling mark on Marianne's neck

"What the? Who did this?" Seteth asked in a firey voice as he examines Marianne's neck 

"It those three students from the Golden Deer House, Ingrid pinned one of them down, one is knocked out and the last one surrender," said Sylvain 

Seteth just frowns at the comment"Very well, head to the infirmary and tell Manuela about what happened. I handle rest,"  Seteth quickly ran to the stables

"Good...it looks it my time to strike...she too busy with pinning one of my friends...I can do this." student two muttered as he slowly makes his way towards Ingrid and was about to strike her from behind until he was quickly grabbed on the forearmed and disarmed by Seteth who has angry look on his face

Ingrid turned around "Huh? Oh Seteth...thank you for the save," said Ingrid 

"No problem," Seteth just sighs "I can't believe those students did a terrible thing to a young woman," said Seteth 

"I agree and for once Sylvain actually did something helpful instead of just mindless flirting" Ingrid smiled a bit 

"Well, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, now let find a suitable punishment for these troublemakers," 

-------------

Edelgard was inside of her dorm room staring at the dagger

"You've got to cut a path to the future you wish for, no matter what..." She examines the dagger from the tip and the hilt then she thrust it forward "I will cut my path Dimitri, father...no matter the cost, I will succeed and if anyone dares to stands in my way, their life is forfeited for good," said Edelgard 

A knock came onto the door 

Edelgard put the dagger away under one of the drawers "Who is it!" Edelgard turns her head around to face at her dorm door

"You know who I am," Edelgard eyes when wide as she quickly opens the door as in front of her is Tomas the librarian 

"Well...this is the last thing I expected from you, Tomas," Edelgard frowned as she let Tomas in and closed the door "Status report on the progress of Aymr?" 

Tomas started to laugh "No, Princess...it, not that, your weapon is still being forged to perfection," Tomas reveals a letter and hands to Edelgard 

"A letter? From my uncle I suppose? Edelgard face remained calm but her eyes do not match her face

"Yes...something happened to your father Edelgard," said Tomas as he started to laughs a bit 

Edelgard quickly tore open the letter and started to read it content "Y...you...what have you done!" shouted Edelgard as slams the letter down

"Don't worry...he hasn't lost too much blood, remember Edelgard, you are just a tool for our ultimate goal and I think you know what will happen if you disobey us," Tomas smirks at her while Edelgard tighten her fist 

"I already know," Edelgard face turned in angry and hatred as she let it loose "Just remember not to blame me for your failures!" shouted Edelgard

"Of course, just keep your end of the deal otherwise your uncle might...need some more blood from your father," said Tomas as he makes his exit out of Edelgard dorm room

Edelgard slammed her hand onto the letter, took the letter and tore to little pieces as she watches it go into the trash bin as she started to breathe heavily 

"...Father...hang on...I will be coming home soon," said Edelgard as she took the dagger once more, walked out of her dorm and headed towards the garden. During her walk, she was blinded by the evening sun as she walks back to the shadows but she looked down for a moment then step back onto the sunlight towards the garden 

(I feel bad what happened to Marianne ): it wasn't kind for me to do it.)