I do not know how I ended up here but I regret every decision that led up to this moment. Having tea with other noble ladies is not what I consider fun. Isabella seems to be at home. She smiles and laughs but never speaks for too long. 

I just sit quietly. 

“Lady Casttica, it has been some time since I last saw you.” Lady Setteti mentions. She is from one of the Allen noble families. Her red eyes betray the coldness of her attitude towards me. “What have you been doing?” 

“I joined the army.” I reply. I feel embarrassed to be in the spotlight. I know they are all silently judging me for my red hair and green eyes. They all look down upon the fact I joined the army. It isn’t lady like of me. 

“That would explain a lot.” 

“It is honorable to serve Arria, we should be thankful towards Lady Casttica for risking her life.” Isabella says before taking a sip of her tea. The other nobles just politely nod before ignoring me again. 

I look over to see a member of the royal guard walking towards us. I do not remember seeing him before. “My ladies, it is a pleasure to see you. I am Matteo De Ante.” The ladies begin to fawn over him but I do not understand. 

I guess he is handsome but when one compares him to Luca he is lacking. 

“I will be partaking in the tournament next month, will you fair ladies give me your blessing?” He smiles. He seems familiar to me. Almost as if I have met him before. 

“Matteo, do you not have to see the emperor?” 

“It seems to have slipped my mind. Forgive me, I have somewhere to be.” He bows before walking away. The ladies all begin to gossip about him which is fine by me. Isabella also seems to grow quiet. I can tell that her mind is working overtime but I do not know what it is about. 

“Oh my! Look at the time, we best be leaving.” One of the lower ranked ladies says. Isabella sends them off while I remain seated. 

“Do you think Michael killed off Antonio?” I frown upon being asked this question. I do not doubt that Michael wishes to kill him but I see little reason to inform her of his actions. She should just sit there like a pretty doll for all I care. 

“Why should it matter?” 

“I feel bad for him. What kind of family does he have? I cannot think of one person within his family who he is close to.” She seems saddened by this information. I can’t say I understand. What is the use of family? They only use you for their own benefit. 

“It is what is normal for him. He doesn’t need your pity.” Why would he want pity for something he can’t control? It is merely a fact of his life. 

“You are right.” She replies before leaving the room. Of course I am right. Because I don’t want anybody’s pity as well. I am tired. After yesterday’s incident before lunch and then today? Too much is happening in my life. 

I place a finger at my lips. 

He was a surprisingly good kisser. 

“I should go back to rest.” I can also think of where I have seen Matteo before. I can’t seem to shake this bad feeling. Something feels wrong. I walk the halls lost in thought. Memories come and go in an attempt to understand my feelings. 

He has to be noble. There is no doubt about it. He has too large of a presence to be somebody from the royal guard. But if that is the case why is he in the royal guard? Only Michael would be able to get him in. 

If he knows Michael why can’t I remember him? 

No, go off of other clues. Where does it sound like he is from? He accent sounds like it is from Belnuo but I can hear the small traces of an Anten accent. Which means he is from there. Who would be from there that I know? 

He is most likely a third or fourth son of an Ante branch family. This answer only causes me to begin to have a headache. None of this makes any sense to me. Actually... 

But that is silly. It couldn’t possibly be true. However, the resemblance is uncanny... 

FUCK! 

A/N: Matteo is back! You guys miss him? We are slowly making our way to the good stuff. I wrote a winter chapter about the siege of Cerva and with that chapter written it is only a matter of time before we start getting into the meat of the war. Most of it so far has been boring sieges, really boring sieges. I think I have figured out what the choices for the next story will be, two of which are completely new but set in this world. I am super excited to work on either of these, both will be set in the past. The other one is an old one I have in the back that I am planning on revising and improving. I see this story ending somewhere between 40,000 words and 50,000 words (My end, you guys get a few more words per chapter).