“Well,” Mira said, turning back to Magnus and trying not to grit her teeth, “I learned that fish contains nutrients good for us. I’d like to try foods that I didn’t use to like.”

  It was the same persuasive logic her mother had used on her when she was in elementary school—not that it worked most of the time because an eight-year-old Mira was only interested in what was tasty and not healthy. It was an easy way to explain away her supposed strange behavior.

  “As I mentioned earlier this morning, I want to mature as a person,” she said. “Trying things that are good for me seems like a good start.”

  Magnus looked down at her with surprise written all over his face.

  Green light.

  With a small smile, he said, “You’re right. I’m glad to hear you’re able to think of it this way.”

  Mira exhaled a silent sigh of relief. The line moved forward. They waited in silence, neither of them striking up any kind of conversation, until they were at the ordering counter.

  She ordered a fish stew and picked whichever sides she saw first on the menu. She was about to turn away and head for the table once she got her food, but then she noticed Magnus burning a hole into the side of her head with his eyes.

  Right, Blythe would probably wait for him.

  Mira forced herself to stand at the side and wait for Magnus to collect his order before they walked to the table together. Jessica was already there with Sophie, waiting for them.

  After they sat down, everyone began eating.

  “Are you still going to the greenhouse after classes today?” Jessica asked Sophie, using the salt grinder on the table to season her cut-up medium steak.

  Mira tried not to look too hard for fear of drooling.

  “Yes,” Sophie said, stirring her spoon around in what looked like a thick, creamy tomato soup. “I’ll have to work on it every day until the plant is grown.”

  Jessica sighed, switching the salt grinder for the black pepper one. “You are so hardworking.”

  Mira had no idea what they were talking about.

  With a determined look in her eyes, Sophie said, “I want to prove that I can be a professional botanist too.”

  “That’s an admirable goal,” Magnus said, and Sophie became flustered, stammering words of denial.

  Absentmindedly, Mira thought to herself that it was a nice goal. The game had made it clear that in this world, women could pursue a career in a professional field if they desired.

  She was dipping a piece of her dinner roll into her fish stew when she finally realized Sophie was gazing at her. Her eyes flitted back to her food and then back to Sophie again.

  She was still staring, as if waiting for some kind of reaction from Mira.

  Mira stared back, too afraid to put the piece of stew-soaked dinner roll into her mouth until she knew what Sophie wanted.

  The stalemate lasted a total of three seconds before Sophie broke and said, “Do you think that could happen one day, Blythe?”

  Mira opened her mouth, but no words came to mind. Hastily, she rewound the conversation in her head to find the context.

  Did she just want reassurance?

  “Of course I do,” she said, smiling at Sophie. It was evident that whatever she was doing in the greenhouse was related to her ultimate aim of becoming a professional botanist. “You’ll be amazing.”

  Green light.

  That was a huge increase.

  Mira felt as thrilled as Sophie appeared.

  “Hearing that from you truly makes me think that I can achieve my goal! Thank you for your encouraging words.”

  Unexpectedly, another notification window popped up.

  She didn’t even have to say anything to Jessica directly.

  Blythe’s friends were such sycophants, but at least that made it easy for her to increase their favorability points.

  Suddenly, Jessica scoffed and flipped her lilac hair over her shoulder. Mira looked at her quizzically. She followed Jessica's cold stare over her shoulder to Daisy, who was walking to the table in front of theirs with a tray in her hands. Daisy sat down with her back to them.

  "Unbelievable," Jessica muttered before putting a piece of steak into her mouth.

  Sophie nodded. "I can't believe she's choosing to sit so near us."

  They both turned to Mira for her reaction, but Mira didn't exchange meaningful glances with them like they'd probably expected. Now that she thought about it, she recalled this scene at the beginning of the game. It established Blythe's contempt for her and her acts of bullying as a running theme throughout the story.

  Daisy began her fourth year at Novalbus Royal Academy stressed out from her missing mother and mentally deteriorating father. The game made it clear she’d been busy thinking about the strange letters she’d found hidden away in the attic when trouble arrived in the form of Blythe and her two lackeys.

  Mira knew for a fact Daisy had absent-mindedly chosen a seat at that table, not even noticing Magnus and Blythe sitting right behind her. But in the game, Blythe and her friends had been so offended by it that Blythe went and dumped her food onto Daisy to ‘teach her her place’.

  “She can sit where she likes,” Mira said blandly. “The tables here are for students to sit at.”

  Jessica and Sophie just stared as she kept eating, evidently rendered speechless by her response.

  Green light flashed, and Magnus’ relationship window popped up.

  His smile was approving.

  It was her first time seeing his favorability towards her increase by five points at a go. Peace and relief wove through Mira’s heart. Everything was going to be just fine. She just needed to lie low and leave Daisy alone, just like in all those web novels she’d read. Then Magnus would stop feeling frustrated towards her, and there would be no chance of her acting out all those bullying scenes she’d played through in the game.

  Unlike the original Blythe, she wouldn’t lose control of her mental faculties and attempt to poison Daisy or have her assassinated, leading to her eventual exile or execution.

  All would be fine.

  Cold sweat started to form on her forehead at the thought of all this long-term planning. She’d been planning to figure out this weird situation once the school day was over and she managed to get some time to herself.

  The thought that this could possibly be her new reality and new life hadn’t sunk in yet.

  She sat there staring at her small side of cauliflower rice, hardly registering anything that was going on around her until the cauliflower rice seemed to grow smaller and smaller in portion.

  What?

  Mira finally snapped out of her thoughts to hear her friends’ concerned voices.

  “Blythe?”

  “Where are you going?”

  She pulled her gaze from her food to the people sitting at her table. With a jolt, she realized they were all still seated while she was rising to her feet. Magnus’ facial expression was as equally worried as Jessica’s and Sophie’s.

  The hungry maw of panic only widened exponentially, threatening to swallow her whole, when she tried to sit down and her body wouldn’t cooperate.

  What she’d taken for granted all her life, being able to move her body parts in whichever direction she wanted, was gone. She tried to reach out to grab the edge of the table to anchor herself, but her arms hung limply by her side and wouldn’t respond to her attempts at controlling them.

  “I can’t,” she whispered in horror, feeling her legs push the chair back and stand properly without any of her input. “I can’t move myself.”

  It was the most surreal sensation she’d ever experienced.

  If her body was moving according to her will, she would be sitting on the floor right now. But by some strange force, she felt her arms move forward to take her tray of food off the table. She tried to put it back, but her attempt was as good as not trying.

  “What do you mean?” There were creases in between Jessica’s eyebrows from how closely they were knitted together. “But you’re … moving?”

  “I’m not … I’m not moving by myself.” Even as the words came out of her mouth, Mira knew instantly that nobody would understand or believe her. “I’m trying to sit down right now.”

  They just stared at her in with worry for her sanity on their faces.

  Magnus stood up and went to her.

  “Where are you going with your food?” he asked, glancing down at her tray. “Are you done with your meal?”

  “But you barely ate,” Sophie said cautiously.

  “I’m not going anywhere—” Involuntarily, her face smoothed out the frown of confusion she was making. “Jessica. Sophie.”

  Both her friends straightened up at her sudden commanding tone.

  Her mouth was saying stuff that she hadn’t tried to say.

  She spoke again, words she hadn't even been thinking coming out of her mouth, “It’s interesting she chose to sit at that exact table. I think Willoughby needs to learn her place, don't you?"

  Completely helpless, she watched the wariness in Magnus's eyes transform into frustration in real time.

  "Absolutely," Jessica said, getting up from the table as well. "We should help her with that."

  Smirking, Sophie followed Jessica's cue. "It's so kind of you to give her the guidance she needs, Blythe."

  "What happened to what we talked about this morning?" Magnus demanded, stalking after Mira when her body stepped around him and continued walking.

  “I meant it,” she protested, unable to stop herself from moving. “I still do!”

  She frowned in bewilderment again—or at least she tried to. Her facial muscles wouldn’t obey her, and they stayed in a placid state.

  Instead, her legs sauntered over to the table Daisy was sitting at.

  Oh no.

  Her blood ran cold as she tried—unsuccessfully—once again to turn around and leave.

  “No, no, no,” she chanted, casting her gaze around wildly between Jessica and Sophie, who were walking behind her like she was the queen bee. “I can’t stop myself! Someone—can someone help me?!”

  Maybe if they could grab her and keep her from moving, Daisy could get out of the dining hall in time.

  Her friends appeared baffled.

  “Excuse me?” Jessica said.

  “What do you mean?” Sophie asked, her eyebrows drawing together.

  A cold horror seeped into Mira’s bones as she realized nobody would understand her, much less come to her help. She was simply trapped in this body, forced to watch the unfolding scene through Blythe’s eyes as the bully and villainess.

  She’d read this scene countless times and knew what was coming, which made it worse that she’d promised Magnus earlier she wanted to leave Daisy alone.

  She stood beside Daisy’s chair, causing the latter to look up from her large bowl of chicken casserole. Her gaze was mildly confused.

  In the game, Daisy had been too distracted contemplating the strange contents of the letters she’d found in her mother’s box of mementos to realize what Blythe was up to.

  Mira could feel Jessica’s and Sophie’s presence behind her, probably with their arms crossed like they were in the game.

  “Blythe …” came Magnus’ warning voice from several feet away, but Mira couldn’t see if he was coming closer because she couldn’t turn her head.

  “Every time I look at you, I’m reminded,” her mouth said, “of how much our school uniform doesn’t suit you. But don’t fret, Willoughby—I know exactly what would help with that.”

  Sophie let out a cruel giggle. “You are so thoughtful, Blythe.”

  Daisy’s eyebrows drew together. “I-I don’t …”

  In a flash, Mira’s hand overturned her tray of food in the direction of Daisy’s clothes.

  “No!” she yelled as she watched the food fly off her tray just as described in the game.

  Heads turned at her loud cry.

  Fish stew and the other sides she’d gotten, including her cauliflower rice and half-eaten dinner roll, tumbled down and splattered all over Daisy’s uniform.

  Daisy looked down at herself. Mira knew she was tearing up, blaming herself for being so absent-minded that she hadn’t paid attention to Blythe’s intentions. In the game, she’d run out of the dining hall crying after the bullying scene.

  A few gasps arose from a few of the surrounding tables, but the rest of the busy dining hall remained abuzz with chatter, unaware of what was happening here. Mira’s hand set the now-empty tray down on the table. She still couldn’t move the rest of her body, but at least her mouth could talk.

  “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—”

  Red notification light flashed across her sight.

  Her blood froze.