I was taken aback by Jewel's outburst to the point where I almost missed the color draining from Catherine's face. When I received the information from the messenger that Lord and Lady Clairmont were coming, the first thing I did was ask Catherine if she had ever met the Clairmonts. She said that she had heard about the twins and that they were praised as being prodigy scholars, but she had had no interaction with them, especially since they were a few years older than her. They moved in different circles.

Apparently, someone screwed up, and now I have to defuse this situation.

I kept my face passive as if Jewel's outburst was trivial. I paused my eating and spoke in a mild but firm tone. "Lady Clairmont, your behavior is unbefitting of a noble. If you have a quarrel with one of my guests, please refrain from discussing it publicly."

"But-"

This time, I gave her a stern look. "Enough. I am the Lord of North Cove. Your petty squabbles with other nobles do not concern me. What does concern me is the behavior of guests in my home. I will not have my great hall become a place of gossip and bickering. Do not embarrass yourself by continuing this behavior."

At that point, Arnold stood. "Forgive my sister, Lord Bicman. She meant no disrespect. Allow me to escort her to her room."

I nodded, and the two departed. After they had left, I stood and looked at the three young women. Two looked very confused, and the other looked as if she had seen a ghost. "Lady Katrina, might I have a word with you?" I said as I stood from the table and walked to my office.

A few seconds after I entered the study, Catherine also walked in. "So, apparently, you do know Lady Clairmont?"

"No, well, maybe, but if she is who I think she is, then maybe she doesn't know who I am."

"That makes no sense. Why is she upset at you if she has no idea who you are?"

She sighed. "When I was fourteen, I was taken to a ball at the capital. A man who was about twenty started to pay a lot of attention to me. He was very charming and began to flirt with me. I was enamored with him and didn't notice the young woman standing behind him.

"Finally, she shouted at him that he should not flirt with other young women in the presence of his fiancée. He turned to her and said that she should get used to other women paying attention to him. She ran away, and although I was flattered at the time, thinking he was complimenting me, I realized what was actually happening later, after discussing it with my mother."

"That makes sense since Arnold did not seem to have any reaction to you. Excellent. So, she may or may not know your real identity, but she does know you are a boyfriend stealer."

"But, I-"

"Just trying to lighten the mood, dear cousin," I said with a wink, "I think I will need to figure out if she knows who you are. If she does, we will have to go with plan C."

"Plan C?"

"Yes, plan C. Kill them both and hide the bodies."

The color drained from her face. "You are joking, right?

I just smiled.

"Amos!" She shouted, stomping her foot.

After a half-hour of discussing with Catherine how to handle the situation, I had her leave and requested that the Clairmonts come to my study.

When they came in, I put on a stoic face. I was trying to pull off a Count Vaspar look. "So, Lady Clairmont, could you please explain to me your atrocious behavior?"

She did not flinch at my accusation. "That woman embarrassed me in front of my fiancé," she said, trying to hold in her anger.

"When was this?"

"Two years ago?"

"Please relay the circumstances to me."

She told me the story, and of course, it was different from how Catherine explained it. I expected this. We filter information based on our beliefs, so when two opposing sides see themselves as victims, they will both distort the situation to best defend their point of view.

"So, you are telling me that a young girl came up to you and your fiancé and immediately started trying to get him to pay attention to her."

"Yes," she said firmly.

"And does this happen often?"

"Women are always trying to get their claws into him."

"And how does your fiancé respond to these advances?" I asked.

"He is a very kind person. He tolerates them and tries to be very polite," she said defensively.

"And have you discussed how this makes you feel with him?"

"Yes, and he said that, unfortunately, it is something that we will have to deal with due to who he is."

"I see. So your very handsome and charming fiancé is constantly being pestered by young women who want to steal him away from you, and the individual I hired as an etiquette teacher for Lady Emily is one of them."

"Yes."

"Has she ever repeated this with him?"

"No."

"Have other women?"

"Yes, many are repeatedly doing this."

All right, let's see if I can diffuse this situation.

"Lady Clairmont, first, I want to say I am sorry for what you are going through. I am sure it must be frustrating to deal with other young women vying for the attention of your future husband. That being the case, I think you are misdirecting your anger at Lady Katrina. She was very young at the time and new to the social scene. Since she has not been trying to seek his attention since that ball, I assume that she has learned better behavior since then. I think if you were to ask it of her, she would apologize. You are a very logical individual, and if you think about it, you will see that you are projecting your feelings about the other young women who are chasing after your fiancé onto her. We are sometimes blinded by love and do not always think rationally."

Did I believe all this? No. Her fiancé was probably enjoying the attention of other women and just placating her by telling her he was just being polite. Jewel was desperate to believe him because let's face it, she was a plain and socially awkward intellectual. Nothing wrong with that, but if her husband-to-be is prom king material, his eyes may be constantly wandering.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I think you should talk it out with her and let her apologize," I said.

She did not look happy about my view on the matter, but she finally agreed.

"By the way, where is your fiancé?"

"He was sent to the front line. He will return from Hitub a war hero," she said proudly.

I really hoped things worked out for her, but I had a feeling her heart would be broken by this fiancé of hers.

"Excuse me, my lord," Arnold said. "There is one more matter I would like to discuss with you concerning the Lady who claims to be Lady Katrina. Are you aware she is actually Catherine Monticole, the daughter of a traitor to the crown? She has a bounty on her head."

I sighed inwardly. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Lady Clairmont probably knew the names of every woman who offended her. Most likely, that was the first thing they discussed when they got back to their room. Time for plan B. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to resort to plan C.

"Of course, I do. She is my cousin, after all."

The fact that I willingly admitted it caused both individuals to be rendered speechless. This allowed me to continue my narrative.

"Since I am on good terms with the king, I sent a missive to him concerning her. I requested that he reduce her sentence to remove her title and exile her to North Cove. I have not heard a word back, but I imagine we will receive something by spring. Since she was not involved, the king will more than likely grant my request. This really isn't a huge matter for the crown since the perpetrators have already been beheaded."

I said this with such confidence that they had no way to rebut. I was really going to send a letter to the king asking this very thing. We would change some details of how she arrived here, but in the end, she had a good chance of being left alone.

Catherine and I had discussed it and felt that this would be the best course of action. She was already exposed, and unless I really did plan on killing the Clairmonts, this was what we would have to do. If he didn't give me what I wanted, then Catherine would probably escape my custody. It would make for a great story. One of my soldiers falling madly in love with the former noble and fleeing with her to some far off Dukedom. I am sure it would become an epic work of literature. Of course, I would probably receive some sort of punishment for letting her get away, but really, I think it would be minor. There is no way I would let them kill my cousin.

Finally, Arnold spoke, giving no outward sign of disappointment. "A shame. I was really hoping to split the reward with you."

"As my mother always said. Don't regret the loss of something you never had. Besides, we have much more important things to do than deal with this matter."

"What is that?" Jewel asked curiously.

"We are going to change the world by advancing mathematics," I said. "The question is, in exchange for becoming world-famous for my new ways of handling math, are you willing to put the issues we have discussed behind you?"

I wonder how long it took for modern math to develop. Looking at the primitive way they did math, I did not doubt that this was a huge leap forward. These people were much better at math than me, but with a more efficient way of solving problems, they could probably do so much more.

After considering my proposal for a while, they both turned and said, "If you will take us on as your students, we will put the matter of Catherine Manticole behind us."

"Excellent, but you will not be my students. You are my colleagues. I may have some ideas on how to make math more efficient, but I am not a mathematician. I am sure there are things you can teach me that I cannot do on my own. So, in appreciation for your willingness to put these things aside, let us focus on some of the practical applications of the decimal point."

I said this while standing up and walking to the back wall of the study. Some people had swords and shields hanging on their walls. I had the first meter stick ever created in this world. Once glass was perfected, I would put it into a case. I knew from my discussions that Arnold was more interested in the real-world use of math. Not that Jewel wasn't, but it came secondary to just doing math for math's sake. She would be more interested in figuring out how to do something than in the long-term applications of it. That is what she had Arnold for. I was hoping that with these two individuals' help, the metric system would spread.

Thus started our morning's discussion on the metric system and the reason it was important. It was much rarer for Arnold to get excited like his sister, but this sparked something in him. By the end of our discussion, he was starting to apply what he was learning to what he had already learned. He wrote out a paragraph and then solved the problem with satisfaction. After breaking it down, I realized what I was looking at. What he called the Bliltum Theorem was what Earth calls the Pythagorean Theorem.

I solved the problem my way, showing the steps, and promised I would go over algebraic notation with them during our next study session. I had other things to do, and I recommended they take some time to see the barony this afternoon.

******

"What happened?" Catherine said nervously.

She had been sitting in her bedroom all morning, worrying about how the conversation had worked out.

I explained what Jewel had said, and Catherine immediately became upset.

"That is not what happened!"

"I know that, but she is probably very insecure about her relationship with her fiancé. She is perhaps a little blinded concerning his faults. I think it would just be best if you said you were sorry."

"But it wasn't my fault," she said in frustration.

"Saying sorry doesn't have to be admitting fault. I imagine you are sorry for the way things happened and that it caused a rift between you two. Just say that. Leave it to her to interpret what you mean. The best way to diffuse any issues you have in a relationship is to say sorry. Even if you aren't wrong. If you are sorry for the damage to the relationship, then you say it."

"What about them knowing who I am?"

"They do know, but they promised to keep quiet about it. I told them I had sent a letter informing the King. Which now I will have to send. We can't keep this up forever, and who knows what they will let slip once they are back at the capital. I think by the time the letter reaches the king, everything will have calmed down. But don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you, Kate."

I suddenly found her arms around me, and she was sobbing into my chest. I let that go on for a while before I finally said, "Besides, this might work out really well. Maybe they will give me the reward for finding you."

She looked up at my smiling face and then glared at me. She slammed her fist against my chest. "How can you be so amazing and be a jerk at the same time?"

"It is what male cousins are for, Kate. It is how we show our love."

Soon she had a smile on her face and went back to hugging me. "Thank you, Amos."

I tried to change the subject. "How is your book coming?"

This seemed to excite her. She went over to her small desk and handed me a stack of papers. As I flipped through it I immediately noticed a problem. First, there was no real structure to it. I sighed inwardly. No one in this world had textbooks, of course, so there would be no formalized structure.

"This is amazing work, Kate, but let's make it even better. I want you to help me develop a standard method for Course Books," I was not going to call them textbooks like they did in America because the name was stupid. Of course, there was text in a book.

We would also use the same format for manuals. I spent the rest of the time up till lunch going over how to organize a book and also how to create an index and glossary.

"How do you come up with all these things, Amos? It really does make me think you are being given knowledge from the Endless One. Or are you the son of the God of wisdom, like the Karr say?"

I groaned. "Don't even start. I don't need that spreading. You just have to accept that your cousin is a genius."

That comment caused her to change the compliments into insults as she named all the gods I could not be descended from. The god of common sense, the god of how to treat a lady, and soon, we were both naming gods that I might have a relation to. Mine, positive; hers, less so.

Nibilum of the Rabiss Raiders

"How are the preparations going?" I asked my second anxiously. It was always like this before a raid. The excitement and anticipation almost drove me mad. This was amplified many times for this raid. We had been paid a large sum to go and do what we do anyway. This time, however, we should be getting our best haul yet.

"Things are going well, Captain. The others who are joining us have been preparing their ships. Seven of the ships are modified for a longer voyage. The other three should be ready by the end of the month."

"And the men?"

"Ready. Fortunately, the last part of the journey will be with the winds at our backs. By the time we are done with the raid, we will have more men to help with the rowing," he said with a grin.

On the return trip, there would be a lot more rowing involved. A great way to break in new slaves. Unless we ended up with a lot more women and children than men.

"This is good, if everything goes well, we will leave in a month."

My second gave a shudder. "Are you sure we want to do this. It will increase the risk."

I shook my head. "It is absolutely necessary. As I've told you, my employer has informed me that the Count of North Cove knows we're coming. The longer we wait, the more time it gives them to prepare. They will not expect us to launch an attack at the tail end of the stormy season. Also, if the king decides to send men, he will send them too late."

"I thought they reported that the king would not move to interfere?"

"That is what they said. But I do not trust that they know all the king's plans. There is a lot of money involved in this operation. We cannot afford to fail due to someone else's miscalculations."

"If we leave this early, will the employer's man be ready for us?"

"He is supposed to already have a man at a beach to the south watching for us occasionally. We will leave three ships there. If the man does not have someone waiting for us, we will send a runner to his estate. He can then lead those who land on the beach north to Bicman. We will capture any fleeing peasants after they cross the bridge. We may even get the count himself!"

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