The next morning, Blythe woke up to an aching body. Just sitting up in bed worked her sore muscles into unbelievable pain.

  “I’m so weak,” she moaned, slouching forward.

  Even though her original body in her original world had been weak by normal standards, it still wasn’t anywhere near as pathetic as this.

  When Suzy came in with her morning tea, the rose tea she’d requested the night before, she forcibly swung her legs over the side of her bed to sit more properly. As she reached out for the teacup, her arm muscles twitched in protest.

  She’d spent most of yesterday doing her homework after the family brunch. One of the assignments was a worksheet for History IV, the syllabus of which seemed to focus on the major historical events taking place in the other kingdoms. She managed to complete it since the answers to those questions could be found in her textbook, but it took her some time to find the relevant sections.

  She’d have to brush up on her basic knowledge of this world by referencing the previous years’ textbooks. Maybe she could check out a book from the school library. Now that she thought about it, there was probably a library here too, and she wouldn’t have to return it under a time limit. She’d go check it out after her workout.

  After her morning hygiene routine, she tied up her hair and got ready for another jog. Suzy quietly followed Blythe to the training ground, a bottle of water in her hands.

  Reuben was already there, running laps around the perimeter like it was nothing. He merely waved upon seeing her, dispensing with useless exclamations of how shocked or impressed he was with her drive. Although she generally enjoyed interacting with him, Blythe was relieved he didn’t disrupt his training to speak with her. She wanted to focus on her own thing today.

  This time, she barely finished a lap around the field, pushing herself to keep trudging forward until she cleared it. Doing push-ups on the grass was unappealing, so it was time to head to the training hall for her resistance training exercises. Reuben was sparring with some guy in the middle of the field, so she didn’t bother saying bye.

  “Are … are you feeling alright, my lady?” Suzy asked, obviously concerned by her lack of energy.

  “Never been better,” she muttered, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

  The urge to stop walking and lie down on the ground instead grew stronger as each second passed.

  The training hall was empty save for a couple of young men in the corner with the standing punching bags. When they saw her enter, they jumped.

  “Good morning, Lady Blythe!” they chorused loudly, their voices trembling despite the enthusiastic volume.

  Awkwardly, she waved at them. “Good morning.“

  The action seemed to floor them, because they proceeded to freeze in place for the next several seconds.

  Hmm, I guess the original Blythe probably wouldn’t greet them back?

  She turned away and got to work.

  Today, she managed to do two sets of five reps for her push-ups. The second set nearly killed her, but she was determined to complete it no matter what. At the end, she collapsed to the floor and just breathed while staring into space.

  Her stats hadn’t changed yet. She tried to remind herself that this was only day three of her physical training journey. These things took time.

  After she managed to peel herself off the ground, she worked on her lunges and then attempted a squat. She was so exhausted by this point that she fell on her behind. Alarmed, Suzy ran forward to see if there was anything she could do to help.

  Giving up on that for now, Blythe returned to her room and took a good, long shower.

  “I’m so hungry,” she groaned, stepping out of the bathroom.

  She jumped at the sound of Suzy’s voice; she’d forgotten Suzy was waiting outside for her. “Would you like to have your breakfast in the dining hall, or would you prefer to have it in your room, my lady?”

  The thought of breakfast in bed was really tempting, but Blythe knew herself well enough to predict herself falling asleep if she gave in to the temptation.

  “I’ll eat in the dining hall.”

  While she ate generous amounts of scrambled eggs and sausages and warm scones with clotted cream and jam, she decided on her plans for the rest of the day.

  “I want to talk to my father,” she announced to Suzy upon getting up from the dining table.

  From what she’d gleaned yesterday at the family brunch, her father was supposed to be off from work on Saturdays and Sundays. He planned to catch up on his painting hobby in the art studio today. Blythe figured he wouldn’t mind her visiting—he seemed to adore his children.

  She hadn’t asked about breaking off her engagement to Magnus yesterday for fear of being overheard by the servants. It was safer to get him alone first.

  They left by carriage to the main estate. Once they arrived at the palace foyer, Suzy asked a few of the servants bustling around for information on Alasdair’s whereabouts. Blythe looked around, trying not to look too impressed with the literal palace she was standing in. A fancy, honey-gold balustrade comprising of metal spindles shaped into intricate designs guided the two stairways leading up to the space overlooking the foyer and to the second floor.

  Suzy returned to her, saying, “His Grace should be in the art studio, my lady.”

  “Thanks.”

  A small, almost meek, smile crossed Suzy’s face, and she bowed her head. “You’re most welcome, my lady. I am simply doing my job.”

  Every time something like this happened, Blythe couldn’t help but feel bad for the people who were around the original Blythe. Some basic politeness had been enough to gain her three points with Suzy, which was an indication of how starved of kindness she was. Blythe wasn’t even one of those bleeding-heart heroines commonly found in romance novels.

  Since Suzy was already accustomed to walking at Blythe’s side by this point, she didn’t need any prompting to fall into step next to her this time. Thanks to that, Blythe made it to the art studio on the third floor without a hitch.

  Upon noticing Blythe, the brown-haired guard outside the white double doors bowed to her.

  "Good morning, Lady Blythe! His Grace is inside."

  "Morning. I'd like to speak with him. Can I go in?"

  "O-oh, certainly! Just a moment, please."

  He turned around and announced Blythe's presence through the doors.

  "Let her in, Felix!" Alasdair's distant voice called out.

  Felix pushed the doors open, revealing a huge art studio, all tall ceiling and French windows, behind them. Blythe went in by herself after asking Suzy to wait outside for her. The doors closed behind her.

  Her father looked up from the easel he was sitting at and beamed at her.

  "Morning, Blythe! What brings you here? You've never been interested in my art studio before."

  Several easels lay about in the studio, holding onto canvases of scenic paintings and portraits. A couple of them looked like they were of the verdant areas in the estate grounds, specifically those with a duck pond. The landscape features had a slightly clumsy charm to them.

  If these were all made by him, he was a good artist. Blythe wouldn't call the paintings breathtaking or incredible, but it was clear they had hours of effort and skill behind them.

  "Morning, Dad," she said, crossing the room to stand in front of him. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

  He raised his eyebrows. "Is it something you couldn't say at brunch yesterday?"

  He was sharp. She nodded, suddenly realizing she was wearing a sheepish smile.

  Putting down his paintbrush on the wooden side table next to his easel, he fully turned his body to face Blythe.

  "Alright. Let's hear it."

  "Dad ... Would it be possible to break off my engagement with Magnus?"

  Alasdair gaped like a goldfish at her, his eyes equally wide. If not for the fact that this signaled bad news for an attempt ending her engagement, his reaction would've been comical.

  The ensuing silence lasted so long that Blythe began to count the seconds. She got to twenty when her father finally spoke again.

  "Blythe, what happened?" he asked worriedly, with all the air of a doting father whose precious daughter had been wronged by her betrothed. "What did Prince Magnus do? Ordinarily, you wouldn't even think of the possibility of ending your engagement with him."

  Not this again!

  She spent the next several minutes convincing Alasdair that Magnus hadn't treated her badly in any way. It was extremely hard to pull off.

  Gradually, his obstinate certainty that this had to be Magnus’ fault shifted to confusion as her insistence on Magnus’ innocence seemed to get into his head. Blythe stuck to citing her youthful folly as the reason for pestering Alasdair into securing this engagement for her, even apologizing profusely for putting him in this position by asking this years later.

  "I see." He had taken to pacing back and forth while pondering Blythe's explanations. “So you’ve simply fallen out of love with him, which is why you want to break it off?”

  She nodded again. “Yes …”

  He huffed in exasperation. “That’s too frivolous, Blythe! You know that he was supposed to have a pool of marriage candidates to decide from, but we skipped over that process in favor of directly establishing you as his fiancée because you were so adamant about marrying him. How am I supposed to look King Abel in the eye and tell him you’ve changed your mind?”

  She winced. “That sounds so bad when you put it that way …”

  “That’s because it’s terrible, honey,” Alasdair said solemnly, putting his hands on her shoulders. “If Prince Magnus hasn’t wronged you in any way, why don’t you stay engaged to him? Who knows—you might fall for him again after you get married! You’ve always said you like that he’s the crown prince, right?”

  His tone in that last sentence carried a hint of cajoling. Blythe could recognize this for the lost cause that it was and backed down. She didn’t really want to push him into talking to King Abel under these circumstances. It did sound like it would offend the royal family.

  The original Blythe had already nagged him into getting this favor done for her. Making him turn around to undo it was unfair and would look bad on their part. She wished Alasdair hadn’t listened to the original Blythe in the first place.

  Maybe she could get Magnus to suggest it to King Abel with her blessing. According to Waiting for Fireflies, he had attempted a couple of times to ask his father to annul their engagement but had always been turned down because, aside from thinking it a capricious decision, King Abel was under the impression Blythe was madly in love with Magnus.

  With that thought in mind, Blythe thanked Alasdair for his time and left the studio.

  She decided to explore the estate grounds under the guise of taking a walk.

  Suzy walked beside her, unwittingly leading her out of the palace and into the beautifully landscaped garden in front. The animal topiaries, cats and rabbits, stood out among the many colorful flowerbeds surrounding them, contributing to a cheerful and vibrant atmosphere in the entire area.

  Blythe sat down on the wooden bench in front of the large duck pond she’d seen in one of Alasdair’s paintings. The ducks swam around idly on the surface, letting out the occasional quack. A few swans glided on the water on the other side. She leaned over and peered into the water—there were fish inside.

  “Yo, Blythe! What are you doing here?”

  She didn’t have to turn around to know it was Reuben’s distinctive voice, bright and booming.

  He plopped himself down onto the vacant spot beside her on the bench, dropping the stack of papers held together by a binder clip in his hands onto his lap.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I was on my way to look for Dad,” he said, airily waving at the papers. “Saw you on my way there. What are you doing at my favorite spot?”

  “Your favorite spot?” She shot him a suspicious glance.

  He stared back at her, his eyebrows drawing together in bemusement. “Uh, yeah. Everyone knows this is my favorite spot.”

  Blythe studied her hand, wondering if she could get away with smacking her forehead with it. It had been a reflexive response, but it gave away her lack of knowledge.

  She tried switching the subject. “I wanted some fresh air.”

  He snorted. “So much for finding the ducks annoying. Hey, Val!”

  Bringing two fingers to his mouth, Reuben whistled. Blythe watched in amazement as one of the ducks veered around in the water and swam in their direction. Once the brown duck hopped out of the water, it waddled straight to Reuben’s foot.

  “Aww, did you miss me?” He bent down and petted Val’s head. “Sorry, I was too busy this week to visit you.”

  Val lowered its head as if to request for more headpats. Reuben indulged it, cooing over it with sweet words and praise.

  Blythe attempted to pull up Val’s information. Maybe it was Reuben’s beast?

  Hmm. Since she didn’t have the same type of profile as Gavin, Titus’ tanuki beast, Val was likely some random duck Reuben tamed.

  Taking out a small paper packet from his inner jacket pocket, he opened it and scattered some of its contents onto the ground. It looked like an assortment of seeds. Val immediately began pecking it up.

  “Do you just keep that on you?”

  “Yeah. I’m surprised you’re not freaking out that Val’s so near.”

  “She’s cute,” Blythe said, not bothering to hide the envy in her voice.

  She didn’t dare to reach out to Val—she was raised not to pet unfamiliar animals unless the owners said it was okay. It wasn’t worth getting bitten for the sake of touching the animal.

  “Wow. Never thought I’d hear you say that.” He offered her the packet. “Here, want to feed the ducks?”

  “Can I throw some in the pond?”

  “Go for it.”

  She beamed, standing up with the packet of seeds. “Thanks, Reuben.”

  That got her a flash of green light.

  They spent the next few minutes relaxing by the pond, Reuben interacting with Val and Blythe feeding the other waterfowl.

  Thanks to the food, she swiftly became popular among the ducks and swans.