After that brief respite by the pond, Blythe made for the library. It seemed like her residential palace didn’t have one, because Suzy guided her right back into the main estate when she said she wanted to visit the library.

  Suzy appeared to be getting used to Blythe’s ‘eccentricities’, because she merely paused for a second this time at the mention of the library. The original Blythe obviously didn’t go there often.

  A tall, bespectacled man dressed in the same clothes as the rest of the servants sat at a desk near the library entrance, sorting through the books on a wooden trolley next to him. There was a long sword resting on the desk.

  When she approached, he immediately rose to his feet and bowed.

  “Good day, Lady Blythe. Please let me know if there’s anything I can assist you with.”

  Then he pushed open the doors to the library for them, waiting for them to go through before closing the doors after them.

  Nobody else was in the library. It was stocked to the brim with bookshelves and sliding ladders, with clearly categorized aisles.

  Blythe wandered around the aisles for a few minutes, slightly overwhelmed by all the available titles. The selection wasn't as extensive as the school library's was, but she hadn't taken a good enough look at Novalbus' offerings to determine if there was much overlap. Unfortunately, the one notable thing was that there were no shelves categorized as fiction.

  She picked a couple of books on basic Beryllian history off the shelves and sat down at a table to read them. At her request, Suzy sat down at the same table.

  The idea of making Suzy stand there waiting to be called on for the next couple of hours while Blythe read through the books from the comfort of a chair made her uncomfortable.

  It wasn't as interesting as the beast taming guides were, because she didn't care much for historical events to begin with, but Blythe caught the gist of it.

  The neighboring kingdom, Beucia, a long-established ally to Beryllia, had a slightly bigger territory than Beryllia. Many citizens from Beucia and Beryllia lived together in the large border town separating the two kingdoms from each other, where trading between the kingdoms took place. That was probably why Jessica had said it was a common foreign language.

  She made an effort to remember the names of the past kings that played a significant role in history, but she'd never been great at memorizing dry content like that.

  After a mind-numbing couple of hours, Blythe returned the books to where she'd found them—even though Suzy gently reminded her she could simply leave them with the servant outside the library. She definitely needed to bring a notebook next time.

  She spent the rest of the day in her room, testing out the various colorful stationery in her desk drawer. She used the pens with glitter ink to write headers for her school notes. Then she sifted through the different kinds of craft paper, admiring the designs and patterns.

  It was exactly the kind of thing she loved—scrapbooking and making cards for her parents' birthdays. Her smile faltered at that thought.

  Attempting to push the sudden hollow feeling aside, she ignored the tightness in her throat.

  ???

  The next morning, Blythe did some push-ups and squats on her bedroom floor before taking a quick shower. She wanted to be as consistent as possible with her resistance training, and it would be easier to get the reps in early before the start of a busy school day.

  Her muscles were agonizingly sore, though. She wasn’t looking forward to walking all around school today.

  She walked slowly to the dining hall, disregarding Suzy’s concerned glances.

  Reuben was already there, his bowl of oatmeal heaped with lots of fruits and nuts.

  “You’re moving like an old lady,” he teased, watching Blythe sit down in the chair across the table from him.

  The servant who’d pulled the chair out for her bowed and offered to scoop out a bowl of oatmeal for her. She thanked him before pointing out the toppings she wanted on it.

  Once it was placed in front of her, drizzled with maple syrup and topped with the banana slices, blueberries, and chopped pecans she’d asked for, Blythe finally turned her attention to her brother.

  “I guess that makes you an even older man since you’re older than me.”

  “I said you’re moving like one. I didn’t say you were one!”

  Rolling her eyes, she ate a mouthful of the hot oatmeal.

  “I just exercised my muscles again this morning. This is proof that I worked hard, so I don’t care what you say.”

  Reuben’s look of admiration made her feel better about the pain she was in. Her arms were kind of hard to lift.

  They made some small talk over breakfast, but it fizzled out quickly when Reuben realized Blythe wasn’t in the mood to chat. He left shortly after he finished eating his food, leaving her to languidly spoon the oatmeal into her mouth.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  For a moment, she entertained the idea of asking Suzy or one of the other servants to spoon-feed her, but then she decided against it.

  That would be going too far. She was really growing to like having so many servants at her beck and call.

  ???

  Blythe’s first class today was History IV. She got there early enough to have her pick of the seats, so she ended up in her natural classroom habitat—the back row. Only a couple of classmates were here, and they had their noses buried in their books.

  She soon discovered Magnus was in this class too; he stepped in through the doorway and immediately locked eyes with her.

  He sat down at the desk on her right.

  “Good morning, Blythe,” he said, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  She smiled cautiously back at him, wishing he would sit literally anywhere else instead. “Good morning, Magnus.”

  Silence hung over them for the next few seconds as he stared at her like he was expecting her to say something. When they both continued to say nothing while looking at each other, Magnus cleared his throat and looked away.

  His short, golden hair that reached down to the top of the nape of his neck came in thin, light strands and looked soft to the touch. Envy bloomed in Blythe’s gut as she thought of her own thick, smooth hair. Even back then, back when she was Mira, her blonde hair was all wispy and frizzy.

  If only Magnus wasn’t so annoying to interact with.

  “I spoke with Daisy on Friday,” he said.

  “That’s … nice?”

  What did he want her to say? Why did he even throw out a random sentence like that?

  He gave her a weird stare.

  “It seems you really did apologize to her for what you did in the dining hall.”

  Her memory of telling him she’d apologized to Daisy in Botany on Friday flashed across her mind.

  “Oh … yeah, I did. I know you don’t believe me, but I don’t have anything against her now.” I just hope my body won’t act up again next time.

  “I admit, I had my doubts,” he said, his tone hesitant. “But … you were telling the truth about that, so I want to believe you on this.”

  She was absolutely going to pass out if the next bullying incident came up and she got compelled to do something terrible to Daisy again. She would be branded as a liar.

  Blythe could feel the cold sweat forming on her back.

  “I mean, don’t expect too much, you know? I also … want to believe myself on this.”

  It was honestly meant to be a way to cushion his disappointment so that if she was forced to carry out bullying acts just like in the game, she didn’t want to be accused of deceiving him or anything of the sort.

  However, Magnus’ face transformed from earnest to irritated.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Obviously, there was no good way to say it. It wouldn’t make sense to him without explaining the whole transmigration thing anyway, and it would only come off as an excuse to hate on Daisy with impunity. Who would believe she was being literally made to do something like that when the original Blythe had voluntarily done that for multiple years?

  “N-nothing.” It was no use trying to elaborate. She’d only sound more suspicious. “I just want to focus on my studies now, so I don’t plan on bothering Daisy anymore. That’s all!”

  He narrowed his eyes at her anyway. “I see.”

  When some more seconds passed and he continued gazing at her, she fidgeted and stuck her hands into her school bag that was sitting on her lap.

  “Is there anything else I can help you with?“

  His eyebrows scrunched together; he seemed at a loss for words.

  After a long pause, he said, “No.”

  To her amazement, she got a green light notification.

  Wow. What was that for?

  Still, she expected the favorability to drop again in the near future, so she wasn’t keeping count anymore.

  He seemed to detest her every action, after all. Who knew when the next time she inadvertently offended him would be?

  Students came streaming into the classroom, and Daisy was among one of them. Many of the boys greeted her as everyone walked to their seats. Magnus, too, smiled and waved politely when she happened to glance in their direction while choosing a seat for herself.

  Blythe smiled at her as well, noticing the way Daisy’s shoulders tensed instantly. With a careful smile, she bowed her head at Magnus, and then at Blythe, before turning around and sitting down at one of the desks in the middle row.

  She didn’t have to turn her head to know Magnus was scrutinizing her again.

  “Yes?” she asked. “Just so you know, I was smiling at her.”

  “I know.” There was confusion in his eyes.

  Another green flash.

  This was getting weird. She was going to take it as him approving of her friendliness toward Daisy.

  “Morning, Magnus. Morning, Blythe.”

  Someone dumped his school bag on top of the desk in front of Magnus’ desk. Blythe looked up, blinking rapidly upon realizing it was Cole.

  “Good morning, Cole,” Magnus responded, his attention finally shifting away from Blythe’s face.

  Blythe echoed his words, returning Cole’s lazy smile. She remembered he wasn’t a morning person. Owing to his bad habit of sleeping in, he sometimes made it to class late even though he stayed in the dorms. He and Magnus were good friends, having grown up playing together at the social gatherings thrown for the noble children in the imperial palace.

  “I almost couldn’t wake up today,” Cole said wistfully, dragging out the chair and sitting backwards in it so that he was facing Magnus. “Did you see that drizzle in the morning? It’s the perfect weather to sleep in.”

  Blythe knew what he meant—the sun was hiding in the clouds today. She really missed having a phone so she could check the weather forecast.

  “Yes,” Magnus said dryly. “My coachmen and horses had to ride in that drizzle.”

  She hid a smile. By the time Cole was awake enough to look out his room window, Magnus was already at school.

  “Are you really not going to stay in school for your entire seven years in Novalbus?” His voice began to take on a wheedling tone. “Come on, Blythe, you don’t have to eat breakfast with Magnus every single morning at your palace, do you? Think about it—doesn’t it take an hour and a half to get from home to school in the mornings? You could both just eat here.”

  An awkward expression came over Magnus’ face. She guessed that he hadn’t mentioned it to Cole yet.

  “Actually,” Blythe said solemnly, “I agree with you. That’s why I’ll be moving into the dorms next week.”