"Really? Was that why you decided to lead the Black Eagles?" Edelgard asks, bringing a knee up to rest her head against. It's odd they've never really talked about this, but at the time Edelgard was simply just...oddly happy that the strange yet striking mercenary had taken over as head of the Black Eagles. And then she became certain their paths would diverge, and then even when they didn't Byleth was gone for so long, and then the push against Myrddin, and then, and then, and then...so little time to themselves that perhaps in hindsight, it wasn't so strange that this topic had never been broached. Not when Edelgard was in the mood to begin looking towards the future, rather than the past.
"I always wondered what ultimately made you decide to align with our House. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised it was because of me." She looks down into her drink, blushing slightly. "But it's true, you did fascinate me. From the moment we first fought side-by-side against Kostas and you stepped out of Captain Jeralt's shadow. I'd never met anyone like you before, and I was curious to know more. The beginnings of my infatuation, I suppose."
"I remember speaking to Dorothea and some of the others in the dining hall. It was just after one of our many extra-curricular assignments, when Ingrid received that marriage proposal, do you remember? We were talking about it afterwards and I remember Dorothea being quite relieved the lout of a suitor would be out of Ingrid's life, but she was concerned at your lack of reaction. I told her quite simply that wasn't true, that you were in fact, immensely relieved and glad Ingrid was out of it. Everyone stared at me as though I'd grown a second head. And I had to keep going, explaining a particular look in your eyes that I'd come to recognize, the way your body language shifted after we drove off his sellswords at Ailell when he tried to capture Ingrid, the cadence in your voice. All of them were clear indicators that you were in fact pleased at how everything had turned out. Fortunately I don't think Petra entirely understood, Caspar certainly didn't, Lysithea was too involved in her dessert and Linhardt was asleep as I recall, but Dorothea just gave me this look and shook her head at me when I reacted in confusion that nobody else saw it." Edelgard shifts, assuming a not bad facsimile of Dorothea's familiar seating position, miming resting her arm on an invisible table. "'Oh Edie, you really are hopeless, aren't you?'" She mimes Dorothea's light and lilting tones with obvious exasperation. "I felt...so embarrassed afterwards for reasons I couldn't quite articulate. At first. The more I thought about it...the more obvious the answer became."
She shakes her head. Dorothea was absolutely right about her. "And now I'm Emperor of Fódlan. I really do hope I know what I'm doing." She chuckles.
no subject
"I always wondered what ultimately made you decide to align with our House. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised it was because of me." She looks down into her drink, blushing slightly. "But it's true, you did fascinate me. From the moment we first fought side-by-side against Kostas and you stepped out of Captain Jeralt's shadow. I'd never met anyone like you before, and I was curious to know more. The beginnings of my infatuation, I suppose."
"I remember speaking to Dorothea and some of the others in the dining hall. It was just after one of our many extra-curricular assignments, when Ingrid received that marriage proposal, do you remember? We were talking about it afterwards and I remember Dorothea being quite relieved the lout of a suitor would be out of Ingrid's life, but she was concerned at your lack of reaction. I told her quite simply that wasn't true, that you were in fact, immensely relieved and glad Ingrid was out of it. Everyone stared at me as though I'd grown a second head. And I had to keep going, explaining a particular look in your eyes that I'd come to recognize, the way your body language shifted after we drove off his sellswords at Ailell when he tried to capture Ingrid, the cadence in your voice. All of them were clear indicators that you were in fact pleased at how everything had turned out. Fortunately I don't think Petra entirely understood, Caspar certainly didn't, Lysithea was too involved in her dessert and Linhardt was asleep as I recall, but Dorothea just gave me this look and shook her head at me when I reacted in confusion that nobody else saw it." Edelgard shifts, assuming a not bad facsimile of Dorothea's familiar seating position, miming resting her arm on an invisible table. "'Oh Edie, you really are hopeless, aren't you?'" She mimes Dorothea's light and lilting tones with obvious exasperation. "I felt...so embarrassed afterwards for reasons I couldn't quite articulate. At first. The more I thought about it...the more obvious the answer became."
She shakes her head. Dorothea was absolutely right about her. "And now I'm Emperor of Fódlan. I really do hope I know what I'm doing." She chuckles.