Alice's perspective

  Diligently listening to her teacher’s lecture, Alice was writing down notes on what were, to her at least, simple mathematical formulas and concepts, while the other students in the classroom were struggling to keep up.

  Even so, she couldn’t help but glance impatiently at the clock tower outside because there were only two more periods remaining before she could finally return home.

  However, her thoughts were abruptly cut short when the classroom door opened, and someone stepped inside, hurriedly.

  The girl who rushed in was someone Alice recognized. She belonged to one of the so-called factions in the Royal Academy, one that Alice herself was unwittingly a part of.

  As a member of one of the main families within the New Nobility faction, her involvement was always inevitable, whether she liked it or not.

  Alice turned to her and politely asked what the matter was, keeping up appearances, sifting through the preprepared excuses she had made in her mind to decline whatever she was about to request, and choosing the most convincing one for whatever was about to be asked of her.

  She thought to herself, again, with these games? They're just children who know nothing about what it was actually like to play politics with your life on the line. What does it even matter at the end of it all, after we all graduate? Which one of them would actually help when you desperately need it, and which ones won’t actually stab you in the back when you have nowhere else to go?

  Normally, they only invited her to after-school tea gatherings or social parties; however, this time, Alice grew a bit curious about what she was about to say because it was different from the previous times they had pulled this type of stunt to try to gain her favor.

  “Lady Alice, Lady Rita was pushed down the stairs by Lady Elara, Mirelle, and Verena.”

  “What?”

  Alice blinked once or twice, too stunned to fully register what she had just heard. Just as the girl was about to ask whether she was alright, Alice abruptly rose from her seat, startling both her and several nearby classmates, and quickly demanded an explanation.

  “Lady Sabine, please explain more.”

  She began explaining what had happened from her perspective, her classroom being nearby when it occurred, and she spoke just loud enough for everyone in the room to overhear, which Alice guessed was the second reason she had rushed over, especially after noticing two more students outside the classroom scowling at her for being the first to get here.

  “Where is she right now, Lady Sabine?”

  “In the infirmary with His Majesty, Prince Edwen.”

  “Prince Edwen?” Equally surprised by the mention of him and that he was involved with this, Alice swiftly masked her surprise and thanked Sabine for the information.

  “I thank you very much, Lady Sabine. If you would excuse me, I must leave immediately.”

  Walking past her, she quickened her pace toward the infirmary to see what was going on because there was no way Rita would have been caught off guard so easily. Plus, Prince Edwen was there, which meant she had to be extra careful because they’re not exactly on the best of terms since he thinks Alice was keeping Rita from them, making her barely an inch behind the line of an enemy rather than an ally.

  However, as she made her way there, Alice scowled, not really trying to hide it from whom she saw.

  “Ah, Alice, what a coincidence.”

  “What do you want, Claudis?”

  Saying that with much scorn and a cold edge of loathing to her brother, Alice guessed that this wasn’t an unintentional encounter since they were in the middle of class right about now, but the most obvious reason was the disgusting smirk he barely could contain.

  “How cold of you, Alice. You never treated me like this before. Did I do something to make you this way?”

  Alice was about to retort, irritated by his shameless question that hid an insult, when Claudis said.

  “Anyways, I came to tell you about Lady Rita. I am deeply perturbed that it took you this long to get news of her. You are her master after all; what kind of a master would let such a situation get that bad?”

  Alice stared at Claudis, with a sneer on her face, not really out of anger but more out of disgust, because after hearing all that, she figured he was just doing all this to get a rise out of her. However, to get to Rita as soon as possible, she intended to play along with her idiot of a brother.

  “If you want, let me take that lost old nobility dog off your hands if you can’t responsibly take care of her. After all, it seems that his highness, Prince Edwen, still harbors some feelings for her, and he’s absolutely furious right now.”

  Alice raised her eyebrow slightly in response to his words, which caused her brother to show an even more disgusting sneer on his face.

  However, it was a feint to make her brother believe that she was really startled to hear the information, but was trying to hide it because she already expected as much, and more importantly, she absolutely wanted to leave this conversation with her loathsome brother before she couldn’t hold herself back and killed him with the hidden dagger she was carrying under her skirt.

  So, using it as an excuse, she pretended to grit her teeth and walked past Claudis, telling him to step aside like he was worse than trash on the streets.

  Seeing that Claudis did not follow her or continue to talk to her, Alice only sighed when she was no longer in direct eye contact with him. Then, taking a moment to gather herself and prepare for Prince Edwen, she continued on.

  Ever since Queen Amalee implicitly threatened her to come with Clare to the royal palace, Alice couldn’t help but feel afraid of her information-gathering abilities, with some, let's just say, black history Alice had that she thought had been buried a long time ago.

  She thought to herself that, at least on the bright side, Prince Edwen also seems to be terrified of her, which is at least some common ground they have.

  Reaching the door to the infirmary, Alice heard voices inside, one of which she definitely recognized.

  Alice wondered to herself what Prince Edwen was doing, but decided to enter anyway.

  Stepping inside, the first to notice her was Prince Edwen, surprised by her appearance, but he grew a scowl when he saw her.

  However, without saying a word, Alice coolly took a couple of steps inside and spoke.

  “Prince Edwen, is Lady Rita alright?”

  Glaring at Alice, Edwen snarled and said, “You, why are you here?”

  The doctor and nurse flinched, caught in the crossfire of the two, as the tension suddenly filled the room.

  Using a haughty expression in response, Alice quickly realized Edwen was acting from his eyes, saying to play along for some reason.

  “Oh, your highness, Prince Edwen, she is under my care; of course, I would immediately be here once I heard what happened.”

  The air grew thick with tension, for the doctor and nurse at least, in which Alice and Edwen both turned to them at the same time and said.

  “I believe that it’s best that you two should leave. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

  “Yes, I concur; commoners should not meddle with nobles’ affairs. I believe you should go back to the gymnasium doctor, and you, too, go with him as well.”

  Nodding a little too eagerly, they hurriedly excused themselves and stepped outside. Once they were far enough away to avoid being overheard, Alice and Edwen carefully checked their surroundings for anyone who could be listening in on them. Finding no one nearby, Alice let out an exhausted sigh and said,

  “Blake, they're gone now. I demand you tell me everything.”

  Rita’s perspective

  I opened my eyes, hearing Alice say it was safe to stop pretending to be unconscious. I responded; it was my turn to act with Alice since Edwen was under the impression that I was Blake, not Rita.

  “I apologized for the situation I had caused Lady Alice. I have no excuses for my failures.”

  “I don’t care about that. Tell me how they managed to push you down the stairs like that.”

  “Yes, Lady Alice.”

  Telling her the gist of what happened, that the group of three caught me off guard and pushed me down the stairs, as I hadn’t expected them to escalate that far.

  Alice, of course, knowing me as well as she did, understood that it was next to impossible for me to be caught off guard so easily like that, especially by people like them, which I kind of sensed a bit of relief from her, but it quickly gave way to disapproval at the needless risk I had taken from her.

  “You really—”

  Stopping Alice from hurling an insult at me, which I sense Alice had to improvise on the spot to reinforce the idea of what kind of relationship Edwen thought we had, Edwen spoke up, with an icy tone, different from the one that looked and felt to be filled with emotion when he was acting for the nurse and doctor.

  “That is enough, Lady Alice. What we need to do now is to figure out what we are going to do next, because after this incident, I doubt our current situation can remain the same.”

  Pretending to be annoyed internally by narrowing her eyes, Edwen narrowed his eyes back.

  “Huff, then I suggest you storm out and leave for now. I have much to discuss with Blake.”

  Edwen, hiding his suspicion of Alice, sighed to pretend to calm himself from showing his emotions that he was acting, then took another breath to psyche himself up.

  Without a word, Edwen rose from his chair, nearly knocking it over, and stormed out of the nurse’s office, with a blank expression barely concealing the fury beneath, where even the most oblivious of people could tell.

  Seeing Edwen leave, shutting the door behind him, after a couple of moments or two, Alice let out a sigh of her own because I’d sensed she had genuinely felt afraid of Edwen when he acted that way.

  Then, looking at me, she gave me a real disapproving look.

  “Rita, is this what you mean by dealing with those three?”

  So… she figured it out… I guessed as much.

  Not looking her in the eyes, “Yeah… but I’m fine; I made sure it's that way.”

  “But does Clare approve of it?”

  I continued not to look her in the eye, telling her no, even though I was prepared for it.

  Alice let out another tired sigh, changing the subject.

  “Anyways, how are you really? Are you fine with sneaking out without anyone looking? I’ll get my carriage, and we’ll go back home. You’ll tell me everything about your plan on the way.”

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  “Yeah, I could do that. I don’t have a concussion or anything; I just got a cut on my forehead, and my broken left arm is already healed.”

  Alice grimaced at the last part, but I quickly reassured her, “It’s really fine. I can’t feel a thing in my left arm anyway, and this actually makes things easier for me. I can use it as an excuse not to hide my arm, since I plan to say the injury was severe enough to cause some nerve damage.”

  Normally, healing magic can restore the nerves in our bodies, but it doesn’t always fully repair them. In some cases, people lose the use of a limb even after recovering from a severe injury, and they have to relearn how to use it.

  In my case, I could say that I just got unlucky with how I fell, forcing me to wear an arm sling while I relearn how to use my left arm, which should last me a semester or two.

  “I’ll be waiting for you at the back of the building in my carriage. Do you want me to get your backpack and your schoolwork?”

  “There’s no need. I took out most of the important stuff, and it’s where I fell off the stairs. I want people to see the mess and blood.”

  “Oh, I see. Give me 10 minutes for me to get my carriage.”

  Saying that, she left the room, and I moved to the window and looked out because I was planning to jump out of the window since it was the easiest way to get to the back of the building without someone seeing me.

  Opening the window, I looked through it and down to figure out where to jump. Finding one route where I just need one arm to go down and out of view from the windows below me.

  Before I jumped, I changed my hair and eye color by using my magic with extremely fine control so my hair wouldn’t look like it was glowing, just in case someone saw me.

  Once that was done, I jumped, jumping off or grabbing onto the small ledges of the exterior wall. After a couple of seconds of doing all that, since I was on the third floor, I landed behind some bushes, rolling a couple of times to break my fall.

  Checking my surroundings, just to make sure nobody saw me as I got up, I looked around, and thankfully, nobody saw me.

  As quietly and discreetly as possible, I made my way to the back of the building, where Alice was waiting for me in the carriage.

  Alice, seeing me with my blue eyes and black hair, knew that it was me and opened the door for me. Entering inside, Alice then lightly tapped on the side panel behind her, and the carriage started moving.

  We didn’t say a word until we were a while away from the academy, when Alice asked.

  “Rita, would you mind filling me in on everything?”

  “Sure.”

  Proceeding to tell her what she already figured out on her own, and some extra details like how I slap myself and intentionally let myself get soaked, I then told her why I didn’t do it sooner, which was because it was to give some excuse to have an early break, though I would still have to come back the day before the break officially starts to tie up some loose ends and see what kind of reaction people would have, given that I quote-unquote nearly died and that Edwen had shown genuine worry for me.

  Alice, when she heard me say all that, looked at me enviously when I said I got an early start to my break, in which I contracted my facial muscles into a smile, a big one at that, to show her that I was really happy with the outcome. However, Alice looked visibly perturbed by it. Geez, I guess I’ll have to practice even more to get it right next time.

  Coughing a bit and then changing the subject of the conversation, Alice then asked me.

  “So Rita, have you got any plans for me? Since you’ve done something, I should say, drastic?”

  “Yeah, of course I have one for you.”

  I already figured that Alice would be dragged into this one way or another, and most of it is going to be bad for her. In all likelihood, there are going to be people who are going to blame Alice for letting it get that bad, or the fact that Edwen's opinion of her is going to be lower, and that we are going to need an excuse for me, as Blake, to justify it to me, as Rita, for what had happened.

  Thankfully, I had already prepared most of the cover stories for all of that. For everyone in the school, I have intentionally spread information that those three girls were bullying me under the command of someone much more powerful than Alice in the school, in a way that framed it as if there was nothing she could do to stop me. To further frame it that way, I just told Alice that our non-interaction, caused by the person behind the three, was to protect me from painting a bigger target on me, was lifted, and we will have to interact with each other much more than before, like we were old-time friends.

  As for Edwen, since he sees me as Blake pretending to be Rita, with me, as Rita, hiding somewhere else, I told Alice to tell Edwen that, after making some concession with me, as Rita, they would be acting more intimately and casually with me, like we were all secretly friends.

  “I see, but how about my interaction with Edwen if I were ever alone with him? Do I have to pretend to be his friend or pretend that we’re still at odds with each other?”

  “For the latter, I want you to show some annoyance or animosity toward him, like you didn’t want to be a part of this, but don’t show it too overtly. Also, don’t worry too much if Edwen tries to do something; Queen Amalee would put a stop to it.”

  Listening to everything I said, Alice nodded and thought for a bit about any important pieces of information she needed to ask for, but it seemed that nothing came to mind.

  Letting out a sigh, given that I dragged her into this, Alice looked at me enviously.

  “I’m really jealous, you know; three days off—I wish I could have an excuse like that.”

  “Well, if you want, I could help you with all your work.”

  “Really? Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m free for the next few days.”

  “But how about your family? I thought you were going to focus on them during your three days off away from school.”

  “There's no problem. Clare had been taking care of that side for a while. She has already gotten a ton of evidence and testimonials from the current and old staff against my father. All we need to do now is have the knight from the fourth knight order come and pick them up during the break.”

  Having an amazed look, Alice said. “Oh, really, she really is that capable,” with an even more envious look. “I wish I had someone like her.”

  “Huh? Don’t you have your knights for that?”

  Puffing out her cheek like what I said had annoyed her, “Yeah, but they're nowhere near as capable as Clare. How should I put it? They’re meatheads; I can trust them to plan out and coordinate missions, but anything else is a bit iffy. That’s why I have to do everything else mostly by myself.”

  “Oh, I see. Then I’ll ask Clare to help you when she is free.”

  Smiling a bit at my offer, she said, “Thanks,” and I responded by saying, “It’s the least I could do to pay you back, Alice.”

  We chatted a bit as we headed home, and once we were past the gates that separated Alice’s manor from the outside, I saw Clare and Arnald, with hoods covering their faces, looking like they were about to leave.

  When they saw us in the carriage, they looked at us with confusion and approached us as we exited the carriage.

  “My lady, are you okay?”

  “Lady Alice, what happened?”

  Both Clare and Arnald looked at me, specifically at the splats of blood around my school uniform and the bandage around my head.

  Seeing concern quickly showing on their faces, I quickly reassured her and relieved her worry that something bad might have happened by saying.

  “I’m fine, look.”

  Unwrapping the bandages around my head and showing her that there was no wound, but just some dried-up blood, I began to explain a short summary of what happened, of how I intentionally fell down a flight of stairs, making it look like those three did it, and once all that was explained, Clare looked at me with a blank expression and said it in an exasperated tone of voice.

  “My lady… that was far too reckless.”

  Scratching the back of my head, a bit awkward from Clare's reaction, which I’d already guessed would happen, I responded by saying, “I know, sorry for making you worry.”

  Not trying to make this any more uncomfortable than it needed to be, since she knows me well, since I tend to pull these reckless acts, which I don’t really find all too reckless, I try to move on with the conversation and ask.

  “So, Clare, where are you going with Sir Arnald?”

  I glanced at Arnald, who was looking at both of us, and looked back, wondering why, because normally Clare would go alone on her usual excursions to keep any unnecessary eyes off her. And by usual excursions, I meant gathering up evidence against my father, and also, let's just say, some mild harassment against my bastard of a father.

  “Sir Arnald is accompanying me at my own request for today. There is something I need that he can only do.”

  “Oh, I see. Good luck then, and be safe.”

  After seeing them off, Alice and I headed back inside. My hair was still a different color than it usually was, and I returned to my room to change out of my school uniform, slightly stained with my own blood, into something much more comfortable.

  I put on an ankle-length skirt, a loose-fitting blouse, and a light cardigan by myself, which was quite hard to do since Clare was the one who typically helped me change out of my clothes because I couldn’t use my other arm, my left arm, to help me.

  So, after making a spin in front of a mirror to make sure everything was right, I headed to Alice’s office, where she went right after coming back to do her work.

  I walked through the mansion, seeing some servants as I passed by, much more than I typically see, because I don’t usually see them since they only work when I’m away or during the time I spend in my room. It was a way to limit the number of variables so none of the servants would find out that I’m Rita, playing as Blake, who is impersonating Rita.

  But since I’m Rita right now, I have to act like what people perceive of me is, in which I just walked, giving the air of a nobleman, to Alice’s office.

  Going there, I knocked first before Alice called me in, and going in, I saw the usual: Alice and Sir Rollo grinding away through the paperwork.

  Shutting the door behind me, Sir Rollo greeted me first.

  “Lady Rita, I heard everything from Mistress Alice. How are you?”

  “I am all right, and there is no need to call me Rita right now; there is no one here but us, Sir Rollo.”

  “Ah, I see.” Then, in a slightly more casual tone, he asked, “Then what brings you here, Mr. Blake?”

  Answering Sir Rollo was Alice, saying, “He’s helping me with all the work.”

  Turning to Alice, surprise showed on his face, but he quickly regained his composure as a knight, and Alice then said, “You can go, Rollo. Why don't you try out that new prosthetic leg that just came in a couple of days ago?”

  “Really, Mistress Alice?”

  Forming a slight smile on her face, Alice said. “Yes, you’ve been cooped up in here for the last few months now.”

  Sir Rollo, seemingly really excited by Alice’s words, bowed deeply to Alice and immediately got up, excused himself, and walked out, using a pair of crutches with much excitement in his eyes.

  After seeing Sir Rollo off, I turned back to Alice to ask. “So Alice, what do I start on?”

  “Just look over everything on Rollo’s desk, then continue with everything that he was doing.”

  “Got it.”

  Going to Sir Rollo’s desk, I noticed Alice's smile growing bigger as she began humming to herself.

  So seeing that, I asked Alice what made her so happy, to which she responded,

  “Since you're here, maybe we can get all this done before the break ends, and just maybe I'll finally get to have some free time.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  “Yeah, and if we’re lucky, Alex and everyone else might arrive here around that time.”

  Seeing the loving gaze Alice was showing in her eyes and the… ahem… the lovey-dovey R18 stuff going through her, I awkwardly coughed and then tried to change the subject.

  “Umm, how about your brother? Won’t Claudis do something?”

  Coming back from her love-struck daydreaming, Alice coolly responded, with a smirk, as if everything was in the grasp of her hands.

  “Oh, that idiot wouldn’t do anything since I just crippled most of his supporters already. It won’t be long before he is finished, and maybe then, I could go on an adventure with everyone once I—"

  Suddenly cutting herself off from what she was saying, I asked what was wrong because it seemed like she said something she wasn’t supposed to.

  “Nothing, Rita; let’s just get back to work then.”

  “Right.”

  Not trying to press it since I guess it was a family secret thing, I looked through the stacks of paper, getting a general overview of everything, which was mostly paper, keeping track of expenses and supplies coming into the manor. I continued what Sir Rollo was doing, completing half of the stack of paperwork, signing off on what needed to be signed off on, and recording them appropriately in the ledgers.

  By the time it was dark, I was beginning to wonder where Clare and Arnald were because Clare isn’t normally this late coming back without telling me, until Clare came inside Alice’s office the moment I had that thought.

  “Greetings, Lady Rita and Lady Alice. I apologize for arriving much later than usual.”

  Clare had a smile as she said that. Did something good happen today?

  Noticing that, I asked that, but she responded by saying.

  “That’s a secret, my lady.”

  Trying to read her expression as she said that, Clare wouldn’t let me and hid it under a smile.

  Huh… Why isn’t she telling me?

  “My lady and Lady Alice, it seems that you have not eaten anything while I was away. Shall I bring you two dinners?”

  “Yes, that would be lovely, Ms. Clare.”

  Seeing Alice not really giving too much attention to our conversation, focusing on her work more than anything else, I answered Clare, saying yeah, and that I was partially feeling hungry right now.

  Bringing our food, we ate as we worked, which was honestly much better than the schoolwork I was given because of how much less brainpower it took, since a lot of it was somewhat repetitive.

  At around 10 pm, I heard Alice yawn, calling it a day, and she thanked me for helping her.

  Watching as Alice headed back to her room, I headed back to my own, in which Clare was there, waiting for me, already having a nice hot bath for me to get into.

  After she helped me out of my clothes, I eagerly slipped into the bath because I finally got to take as long as I wanted to enjoy it. Plus, since I didn’t have school the next day or any studying to keep me up, I could stay up late for once, just because I wanted to.

  I stayed there for over an hour or so, when the water started to get cold. Getting out of the bath, I dried myself slightly, put a towel over me, and called Clare in to help me fully dry myself and put on my pajamas.

  As Clare prepares me some tea and biscuits, and I let my hair dry, I stare out the window, gazing at that wonderful night sky, something I hadn’t been able to appreciate in a while.

  As I took a sip of the tea, which had a faint and sweet berry flavor balanced by a touch of tartness, I saw a shooting star streak across the sky.

  Huh… nice. I should make a wish, but what should I wish for? Maybe for things to go smoothly from now on, but I know that won’t happen at all from a gut feeling. How about some luck in finding some things in that dungeon, if they have anything, like some portable gaming consoles, so I could spend all night playing on them over the break?

  No, it’s a shame, but I shouldn't waste a wish on that, so how about meeting my sister, Norn, in this world if she is here?

  Yeah, that—I’m going to wish for that.