“Wh- WHAT?! What are you doing here?!”

The expression of absolute shock and horror on Beet Barbie’s face as she greeted her new roommate was enough to brighten my morning considerably. As only three female recruits had passed the trials in total, we had all been bunked together in the same room; though our other roommate had yet to arrive.

Upon reporting to the barracks that morning, Knight Cassandra sent me straight to the medical office, where they ran a full medical exam on me. Standing naked in the office as some quack of a doctor speculated about my unusual height was thoroughly embarrassing, but at least my wounds were healing cleanly thanks to the stitches I had gotten. Even so, I was ordered to avoid training for the first two weeks to make sure the muscles healed properly. I eagerly accepted what I thought was a two week vacation and moved on to collect my uniform.

There was an administration area near the southern main gates that managed the affairs of all the soldiers, like wages, mail, requests for leave, uniforms - the list covered practically everything. Yet again I was poked and prodded over my height as the clerks tried to figure out if they had anything that would fit me - which of course, they didn’t, so my measurements were taken and I was told I would get my uniform in a few days time. At the time I was glad - the uniforms were nothing more than a plain grey wool tunic over a pair of black pants - but I would soon learn the value of nondescript clothing.  

In the meantime though, I was sent to the barracks in the northern corner of the base, where I was assigned my room and all the stresses of the day were washed away by my delightful toy- ahem, roommate, Marianne.

“Hi!” I responded to her exclamation with a happy smile. “How are you today?!”

“Terrible! Awful! Much worse with you here!” screeched the Beet, her face returning to that delightful shade of red. “Get out! Get out this instant! Or else I’ll call the guard on you!”

“Oh, well in that case, Reporting for Duty Ma’am!” I gave a smart salute. 

“Wh- what?” she sputtered, overwhelmed with confusion. I decided to help her out a bit. 

“Don’t worry Ma’am, I’m a newly assigned squire for the Duchy of Rhinestadt! I’ll save you from any dastardly ruffians!”

“L-lies! You didn’t even make it into the tournament! Guards? Guards!”

“How can I help you?”

“Not you- Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” 

For once I listened; the poor girl looked like she needed to catch her breath. As she sat there panting, I reached into my pocket and fished out the silver medallion, tossing it to her as I did so. 

“There you go. Proof. Looks like we’ll be bunkmates starting today!”

“N-no. That’s impossible. You must’ve stolen this, or, or-”

“Are you doubting the integrity of the Rhinestadt Duchy now?” I asked as I dropped my things onto the remaining unclaimed bed. Beet Barbie’s face went white at my words, as they sent her into a stammering fit. 

“N-no, not- not at all! It’s- It’s just simply not- not possible for you to have been chosen.”

I collapsed onto my bed, my laced boots dangling off the edge. Turning onto my side, I gave her a cheeky wink. “Why not? I defeated the mighty Edward Decathy in armed combat. How am I not qualified?”

Marianne snorted, an expression of disdain crossing her pretty face. “Dishonourable armed combat. You dare call yourself a knight of Rhinestadt with underhanded techniques like that? Honestly, I felt ashamed even watching that fight.”

I sat up on the bed, minorly irritated. “Hey, I won you the title of tournament champion! A little gratitude wouldn’t be amiss.”

“For what?!” snapped Marianne. I leaned back, surprised by her ferocity. “For starting a fight under false pretenses? For lying to everyone about the ‘potion’ Edward took? For dragging my name into this mess? He tested negative for drugs! Now everyone thinks I asked you to beat him up for me!”

“I-” For the first time in front of Marianne, I was at a loss for words.

“And now that you’ve somehow wormed your way into the Knights of Rhinestadt, they’ll all think I helped you! ...How did you get in anyways?”

“Lord Rhinestadt took me on… after I defeated Edward. He said I was good enough.”

Marianne snorted. “Well at least someone gained something out of this mess. Except now all of our fellow squires hate us both and think we’re lying, cheating frauds, even though only one of us is a lying, cheating fraud. I hope you’re happy.” 

“Gaahhh,” I tousled my hair in irritation, pulling out the nice ponytail the twins had made for me that morning. “Of course they would… look, I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for-”

“Spare me the apologies,” snorted Marianne, tossing her golden locks in a condescending manner. “It won’t do me any good anyway.”

I couldn’t really think of a comeback to that. Marianne had good reason to be angry with me, as did everyone else; I dreaded to think how Edward would react when he saw me. So instead, I turned my attention to unpacking my bag and hoping I could avoid Edward as much as possible. Unfortunately that notion was destroyed almost immediately, as the squires were ordered to assemble in the mess hall; an enormous place that could seat at least three hundred men at once. The squires, servants and foot soldiers of the Duchy intermingled and socialized over food here, while the knights had their own dining hall in the next building over as commanding officers. 

The other squires didn’t even bother to hide their whispering when Beet Barbie and I entered the room. My dear roommate quickly made herself scarce, distancing herself as far away from me as possible. I let her go - I still felt bad for dragging her into the mess I had created. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to help the whispering, though admittedly the fact that I was the only one without a uniform didn’t help either. Standing there in a cheap red dress amongst a sea of grey uniforms drove home just how much of an anomaly I was, to the point where even I was starting to doubt whether I really belonged here.  

Not that I was ever going to let anyone else know. I tried puffing up my chest and looking as cool and confident as possible as if everyone else were the strange ones, all to cover up my insecurity. I had no friends here; the gazes that were sent my way were those of a hyena, probing for any weakness they could find. And the biggest hyena of them all - ah yes, there he was, standing across the room from me as he tried to burn a hole through my skull with his eyes alone. 

I could still see the bruises on Edward’s neck from our duel, though he still seemed far better off than I; Any sudden movement caused the wounds on my back to burn with agony, and they itched furiously as they healed. I was starting to get used to the pain; enough that I could keep it hidden from the others. It was a relief - Edward’s glare made it pretty pretty clear there was no chance of forgiveness. This was a grudge I would have to deal with sooner or later, and I would rather he didn’t notice such an obvious weakness he could jump on.