Sitting in front of the vanity dresser with the oval mirror, I struggled with tying the ribbon behind my hair. No matter what I did, it didn’t want to stay tightened and symmetrical today. Pulling the loops with my hands, one side would get longer than the other. Always the right side. I considered ripping it off as I wasn’t one to walk around with a lopsided ribbon.

  “Um, do you want me to help you?” Phila asked, fidgeting behind me.

  “… If you could.”

  Tuesdays and Thursdays were days filled with practical lessons. They could be compared to the physical education or arts and crafts classes from my previous life.

  As such, the boys and girls were split, merging the three different classes into two. On the boys side, more physical things were available, the most popular classes being fencing and magic research.

  The girl’s had classes in dance, needlework and music. General things a noblewoman needed to learn to mingle in high society. Do consider my disappointment when fencing wasn’t something I could choose.

  With our morning routine finished, Phila and I went to the cafeteria to get our breakfast. Eric and Lucas joined us and we got to talking about which practical classes we all chose.

  It wasn’t much of a surprise when Eric said that he joined the fencing class. The reason? It sounded fun of course. Still, with his physique and the athleticism he showed Karrie and I in the past, it didn’t sound like a bad choice. Who knows, maybe he could even win the annual fencing competition.

  Lucas on the other hand, tall as he was, didn’t look much like an active person sitting there with a slouch.

  “I’m going to try out the magic research class,” he said.

  You may think this class would be some fancy thing where countless lights and sound effects whirled around the room, but learning the introductory basics from Raviel, I could only describe it as boring. Imagine math where formulas, axioms and theories took center stage. But instead of numbers and symbols, magic research had only text.

  The fundamental building blocks of magic in this world were words, more importantly words the Goddess herself had deigned us in the form of holy scriptures. Piecing together different phrases and finding the inherent meaning in her words was the essence of magic research. This meant that even people without the ability to use magic, like Lucas here, would be able to contribute to new techniques and advancements by reading and writing.

  I didn’t care much for it for that reason, even if magic had sounded interesting in the beginning, reading ‘her’ words made me feel nauseated. Oh, and weirdly enough, there was no mention of this golden circle that followed me everywhere. My Goddess must have too much free time on her hands to give me such novelty.

  Pushing my inner thoughts aside, I joined the others in giving praise that he would pick such a hard class.

  When it felt like my turn to share I said, “I picked embroidery.” Mom would probably appreciate a handkerchief I personally made.

  “Oh, we’re going to be classmates again then!” Phila said with a bounce.

  And so the two of us bounced off to class together after breakfast. We weren’t late this time and entered the room where a small gathering of students stood around someone.

  She sat center stage in the middle of the most middle desk with quite the rigid posture. Her red twin tails shook back and forth as she answered the other female student’s inquiries. I did not expect her to be in this class.

  I listed behind Phila to avoid her gaze but Phila, bless her soul, immediately ratted me out.

  “Esther, why are you hiding behind me?” She could at least whisper…

  It was intense getting stabbed by so many stares. From the students that wanted to curry favor with a high-ranking noble, from her friends that prevented them to get too close, and lastly a pair of blood-red eyes sharper than the dagger in my drawer. She had definitely inherited my aunt’s fox-like appearance.

  “So you’re my cousin I’ve heard so much about.” Her voice cut through me like a porcelain vase. “Why don’t we sit together?”

  Practical classes were set up in a different layout than the more theory oriented class. Instead of rows with seats bending around a blackboard, this had a more open feel. The desks were plopped around the room in a slanted grid with six seats each. One more than required for our group.

  Somehow, Phila and I found ourselves sitting with Estelle and her two friends. A a viscount's daughter and a count’s daughter. I think they wanted to say something with that glare of theirs, but the words from the teacher beat them to it.

  “I see that this year’s class is full to the brim again.” The teacher said with a croaky voice. She was an older woman, perhaps the same age as my grandmother.

  “Today, we will start on a simple project. The goal for today is to make yourselves familiar with the needle and its techniques, meaning that the results won’t matter that much. Ugly or pretty, as long as you learned something, that is good enough.” She had a grandmotherly smile.

  After setting up the blank handkerchief in the wooden hoop, I pondered what to make. My mom liked either flowers or desserts so it didn’t take long to pick an idea. Estelle finally initiated a dialogue when I picked up the spool of cake-colored thread.

  Her smile was smug as the statues I disliked. “Why don’t you remove your gloves first? Must be hard to needle with them on.”

  “Thank you for your concern, but I don’t need to. My hands work fine even with them on.”

  “Is that so? It doesn’t seem like that to me.” She stared at my hands. “Juliette, what do you think?”

  She answered immediately, “I think that it looks hideous.”

  Estelle let out a short chuckle. “Oh dear, I didn’t mean for you to criticize her gloves. And what say you, Dahlia?” The girl with the name Dahlia only nodded. “You should take them off, it looks cumbersome. Unless you have something to hide that is?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Keeping the sigh from leaking out, I smiled at her instead. “I don’t know what you mean, Estelle? And for your information, the Saintess herself complimented these gloves and even asked for her own pair.”

  She smiled back. “Always the odd one that girl, I wouldn’t take her words for granted if I were you, Esther.”

  “I will take your words to mind, but I think I will rather listen to the opinions of the people I am familiar with.”

  She tapped her cheek, all daintily, and pointed her nose at Phila. “Would one of those people be that girl trembling over there? Even your close company is half-finished.” The two other girls didn’t even try to hide their giggles.

  My hoop touched the desk with a thud. “What do you want.”

  “Nothing much.” She looked me up and down. “Just wanted to see this new cousin of mine that came out of nowhere.” All her smiles were fake. “Now, can you two go sit somewhere else?”

  ***

  Looking down at my finished handkerchief of a crepe-cake, I felt proud of myself. It was quite hard to embroider each of the sixteen individual layers of crepe and cream. It even made me have to use my better hand to needle partway through as the other didn’t move the way I wanted it to. But as they say, hard work pays off in the end.

  “Esther…” Phila was holding hers in her trembling hands. A bluebell, I think. The stencil she used and the finished product looked nothing alike apart from the color. Still, her personality shone through with the way the lines bounced everywhere.

  “Esther!” She whispered loudly.

  “What is it, Phila.”

  “Shouldn’t we have, you know… Move?”

  I whispered back. “She only asked if we could. It wasn’t an order now was it?”

  Juliette intercepted our whispers with a huff. “Even if it wasn't, she asked you nicely enough for you to do so.” Her glare was sharp as a butter knife.

  Estelle was finished with her handkerchief too and held it with a real smile. A platinum-blonde rose with a red stem subtly in the color of her eyes. As a finishing touch, some of the loose threads that showed themselves were cut off by the pair of scissors in her hand. A really well-made pair if I may add. Looked to be custom-made as the pretty engravings on the blades caught my attention.

  Snip, snip. “It’s fine isn’t it? I didn’t even notice them with how quiet they were.”

  Juliette didn’t appear to agree and stood up from the table to point at me. “But Estelle, she’s a common—”

  Estelle slammed her scissors shut, cutting off her words. “Besides, the class is almost over is it not? They can sit elsewhere next time.” Juliette sat down again, deflated.

  My grandmother had given me a heads up regarding Estelle’s prickly nature. Experiencing it first hand however, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I mean, she didn’t even slap me across the face like in one those dramas.

  That said, I could do without her permanent and derisive smug smile. Not to mention her friend’s apparent hostility that made me question if I had killed someone they knew or something. Best to avoid her in the future, I thought.

  But no matter, water under the bridge as they say. Although a person not familiar with this treatment would most likely act like Phila in this situation. Turning to my side where she sat, she looked as if she had eaten a sour lemon, skin and all, with the way she pursed her lips and scrunched her eyebrows. Weird, I thought she said she was a fan of Estelle.

  When class was done, Estelle stepped in front of me with her gang, blocking off the exit. “When can I expect an invitation to your home?”

  The stares surrounding us made my skin itch a bit. “Unfortunately, due to circumstance we cannot entertain any guests for the unforeseeable future.”

  A golden circle appeared before her. “Is that so? I didn’t know. How unfortunate.” Then she left, clacking her confident heels in the hallway, taking with her the staring crowd of people. Her popularity was not to be envied.

  “She isn’t like how I imagined her to be at all… Is she really your cousin?” Phila said after making sure Estelle rounded the corner.

  “That’s why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? All book covers do look the same? It’s only when you open them that you know its contents.”

  “Right, I forgot.” This world’s standard on books had much to wish for.

  Finding ourselves finished for today, we ventured around the academy all the while Phila vented her frustrations to me. Mostly about the stuck-up people she met, such as Estelle and the other noble students.

  No Phila, I don't know why they act that way. Yes, Phila, the headmaster did say commoners and nobles were equal. My feet led us to the training grounds where the boys and Eric were still training.

  Exerting themselves in their uniform in this weather would mean suicide. Which was why all the boys wore loose clothes instead. Shirts that showed off their collarbone and loose pants tied tightly to their waists. Phila covered her eyes with her hands, but not really, when she spotted Eric wiping off his sweat with the shirt. Baring his six-piece abdomen for the world to see.

  “Gosh…”

  The boys were led by Armen, the history teacher. He looked like the commander back in the duchy with the way he poked and prodded at the boys that either held an epee-sword for the first time, or had their feet tangled in such a way that a light gust could blow them over.

  They sparred with each other in pairs. One side would thrust towards the abdomen and the other side would counter with a riposte, smacking the thin training sword out of the way and coming in with a stab of their own. So they continued again and again.

  We watched from the tribune, making sure to pick a spot where the overhang shaded us, and listened to the sharp metal clangs that rang satisfyingly in the air.

  “Is it supposed to be so intense?” Phila pointed to where Eric and his partner sparred.

  True to her observation, the two of them looked to be doing this exercise a bit more intensely than the others. Faster thrusts and clearer sounds, a handful of sweat drops flew off each time they did a riposte. His partner was none other than the blue-haired boy.

  “Siegfried, I really need a break soon.” Eric pointed the tip of his sword to the ground.

  “Are you mocking me? We’re just getting started!” Blue-hair didn’t even wait for him to get ready before he leapt for an attack.

  “Whoah there.” Using the lower part of his blade, Eric smacked away the tip of his opponent’s sword with ease. It didn’t look like this was his first time fencing at all with the way he naturally leveraged the weight and balance point of the blade.

  Eric went for a counter-attack. “These are just practice swords, but it can still hurt you know? Lets calm down a little?” The other boy struggled with his own riposte, barely managing to shove the other needle-sword away.

  “Don’t be such a coward!” Ah, he pointed the tip at Eric’s throat. Where nothing but skin would protect against it. Blunt or not, with enough force, even an unsharpened pencil would be able to penetrate cleanly through his flesh. Straight to his esophagus.

  “Watch out!” Phila yelled in the hopes that it would reach him fast enough.

  A resounding clang! Eric had managed to meet the blade from the outside before moving it a circular fashion towards the inside, all the while trapping the attacking sword. And with a flick of his wrist, the attacker lost control of his weapon as it flew gracefully through the air. It was a spectacular circle parry.

  Flipping his hair soaked with sweat away from his forehead, he said, “Jeez man, are you trying to kill me?”

  The pair of boys got a scolding from Armen and even had to stay back and do extra training. Due to not being the one in the wrong, Eric got a lighter punishment. A literal slap on the wrists. He rubbed them as we went to the cafeteria.

  “Eric, you were so cool!” Phila pumped both of her fists.

  He laughed. “Thank you. I didn’t know you two would be watching. I’m feeling a bit embarrassed now.”

  “Liar, I saw you glance at us the moment we arrived.” Eric held up his hands as if to say to me, ‘you got me.’

  Phila clenched her fist. “I can’t believe he would do something so dangerous, and someone like him is a noble?”

  Eric crossed his hands behind his head. “He isn’t a bad person, I think. It’s just the youthfulness talking.”

  “Aren’t you two the same age,” I said.

  “Are we? Doesn’t feel like it.”

  Our chatter turned to discussing the food-choices for today when someone stomped behind us.

  “Hey you!” The stomps said.

  Phila yelled at him. “Go away, you already lost!”

  And ignoring her, he grabbed something from the inner pocket of his uniform. Smack! A white glove plastered across Eric’s chest before falling pathetically to the floor.

  “My honor wont take this! I challenge you to a duel!"

  Eric narrowed his eyes and smiled as the crowd forming around us murmured quite loudly. I understood their excitement, a duel between two students were quite rare, and more so when it hadn’t even been a week into the new semester yet.