Chapter 17: The uninvited guest
Translated by XianPiete
Madeline stared in disbelief as she stirred her soup. Recently their table had once again become crowded at lunch time, usually Olivier was the culprit attracting new ladies to the table weekly, but this time it was Alicia who brought over strange guests. Sir Charles de évreux as well as Lady Harcourt from Duke Harcourt's family and her butler who served his young miss tea and frosted snack cakes. Sir évreux smiled and said, "Lady d'Aumont, Lady Foix had spoken of your skill with the sword, but until I had a chance to see it for myself.. I have fought on the frontier the past year, in fights of life and death, but facing your sword in training was beyond that feeling."
Olivier laughed and said, "This class at the Academy is filled with monsters, Sir évreux, if you came here to be challenged, you picked the right place. Have you had the chance to meet Claude? If not for Guy, he would be considered the greatest swordsman in Pays De Abrutis."
Sir évreux looked startled, "I have heard that Lord Montfort is a genius, but is he at that level? Wasn't he badly beaten by the Prince of Wütendes Menschenreich?"
Olivier nodded and said, "What Claude said was that Guy would have won, if not for the gap in their physical abilities. Wolter von Plettenberg moved faster than humanly possible. His strike was not elegant, it was a simple lateral swing. The flat of the wooden blade broke across Guy's body. It was a brute force attack to hurt Guy."
"Did he not deserve to be hurt?" Lady Harcourt said as she sipped her tea. "You do know what kind of man, 'Guy the Molester' is don't you?" She looked at her butler who placed a single sugar cube into her tea and stirred it, "In the Montfort capital many women including a woman who worked for our own Harcourt Meat and Dairy there were attacked by that animal." She picked up the tea and had another sip putting the cup down and meeting Olivier's eyes.
Olivier gave one of his goofy smiles and said, "Indeed Guy has an infamous past, but the man he is today is nothing like the man he was, Lady Harcourt. People mature, men change as they grow from boys to men. The Guy de Montfort who we know has no resemblance to the Guy the Molester of yesteryear."
"Is that so? Then would you hire murderous bandits as your personal guard if they acted with honor during the year preceding your hiring them?" Lady Harcourt asked as she took a delicate bite of a snack cake. She gave her butler a nod and he dabbed a napkin at her lips before she continued, "I understand that you are friends with the man as he is now, and that is understandable since you were not a victim of his crimes, but for the women who were, it is as if he was allowed to ruin them for life and is now being rewarded with a princely life. Vile."
Olivier leaned back and shrugged and said, "I can understand your feelings, Lady Harcourt, but I would hire murderous bandits as my loyal guard if I felt that I could trust them with my life. Guy is a man I trust with my life. I dare say, everyone at the table aside from your man and Sir évreux would agree." He leaned forward and said, "Unlike a novel or fairy tale, real men are often much less noble and clean than you would imagine. I dare say Sir évreux who has been fighting in the frontier has killed more innocent men than the bandits in your scenario all for an imaginary line on a map and yet he is considered an honorable good knight who wears the King's medal."
Sir évreux nodded in agreement, a haunted look crossed his eyes for a moment as he thought of the atrocities committed by his troop at his own command in the name of the King. He spoke out and said, "No one can return to the past and change what they have done. You can only work to be better than people deserve today and forever more." He frowned and then said, "It sounds as if Lord Montfort is someone who is living just that way."
Madeline said in a tone lacking emotion, "Lord Molester saved my family and I."
Claude came walking in and said to Alicia, "It's your turn. Also, Madeline, Lord Molester asked me to give you a message. He said, 'It's Montfort.' and I quote." He pulled out a chair and sat down. Looking around the table he said, "Greetings, I am Lord Claude de Rouvroy, son of Count Rouvroy." He gave the newcomers a half bow.
Lady Harcourt smiled at Claude and said, "Lady Eloise Bette Harcourt, daughter of Duke Harcourt."
Sir évreux stood and gave a formal knight's salute and said, "Sir Charles de évreux, Baron of évreux."
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Guy stared straight and unflinching as time awkwardly went by before he finally said, "Why are you here and who the hell are you?"
"Ah, yes, Lady Foix was asked to come by Lord Rouvroy, but Lady Harcourt insisted that a lady should not be alone with a man she is not married to, so they sent me." Sir évreux explained, "I should introduce myself, I am Sir Charles de évreux, Baron of évreux."
Guy stared at him some more and then asked, "Was it Claude that put you up to this?"
Sir évreux nodded.
Guy sighed and laid back on the bed. He turned and looked at Sir évreux again and asked, "Did you at least bring some playing cards?"
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The Doctor snored loudly, His bushy eyebrows seemed to jiggle as he must have been dreaming and then he passed gas loudly waking himself out of his slumber, "Wh-wha-what?" He almost tipped over in his chair before returning his focus to the young man in front of him. He frowned at the young man and the asked, "Why are you here?"
Guy looked at him with a face full of confusion, "It's my room, Doctor."
The Doctor waved his hand like Guy was an imbecile, "No, why are you still lying in that bed. You are well again, go out and get hurt again or whatever it is that you young lords do that ends up disturbing my important research."
Guy was suddenly curious and asked, "Doctor, may I ask, what type of research are you doing?"
"Oho! A curious mind, good, good! Come, look out your window, see there, resting against that tree, that is the research I am working on." The Doctor smiled at Guy.
"The girl?" Guy asked.
"Indeed, did you know that here at the Academy I have determined that there are exactly four hundred, fifty three girls that exactly match my type!" The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows.
"What is your type Doctor?" Guy asked.
"Why, pretty of course." He nodded seriously.
Guy said, "Doctor, are you really qualified to treat patients?" He started poking his own ribs to make sure he was really healed.