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“Let’s go on a date,” Edelgard asked Byleth.
“OK, but why?”
“Why not.”
He shrugged. “Good enough for me.”
So one day they shoved off all their work on Hubert and Ferdinand and went about in simple plain clothes to stroll the streets of Enbarr.
There they saw the happy faces of the people granted new value in their lives. The division that once enforced others above each other broken down.
On the street corner they took refuge in a bustling little treat shop. The entrepreneur was a farmer who was now able to escape the crushing burden he once toiled under.
At their table they took a stock of the menu and ordered everything. Feeding each other as they looked on at the whooping cheers of the owner at the patronage.
On the streets they took their baggage and gave it out to others. The smiles and thank yous worth more than the money spent.
At the park they watched children born to no system play with one another.
At the canals they traveled by gondola to see the improvements made by the new harbormaster who had been passed over for years because he wasn’t noble.
At the opera house they caught the end of Dorothea’s staging session of their story and declined to give any more details.
At the church nearby they made sure things remained pleasant. The religion persisted, even if the authority did not.
Back home, they indulged in their remaining treats on their bed. Gasping about little things the other missed. Not just today. But yesterday and the day before and so on through the years.
But the one thing neither missed was the affection one had for another. The look in the eyes, the swaying of hips. They way their words and features lit up in the others presence.
And Byleth’s own attempt to draw Edelgard that made her portrait of him look like an Ignatz masterpiece.
It still hung over their bed frame all the same.