Thanks to the professor's timely arrival, Cole didn't have the opportunity to respond to Blythe's announcement despite looking astonished. She didn't especially feel like repeating her reasoning behind it for another person.

  The lesson went by smoothly, with Blythe doing her best to pay attention and take down notes wherever she could.

  Once it ended, she lifted her bag onto her shoulder, having already packed her things away, and got to her feet.

  "Well, I'll see you around," she said quickly to Cole and Magnus, nodding in their general direction.

  They looked up from their desks at her, wearing similarly startled expressions.

  "Wai—“

  She sidled off, not hanging back long enough to allow Cole to finish his sentence.

  Blythe made it as far as the hallway outside before heavy footsteps from behind rapidly drew near. With mounting dread, she dared a glance over her shoulder. Sure enough, a frowning Magnus met her eyes and moved forward to walk beside her.

  "Why are you in such a hurry? We have the next class together."

  Horrified, she nearly stumbled over her own feet. "How did you even remember that?"

  His frown deepened. "You're the one who was so eager over the fact that we had two consecutive classes together last Monday. It's hard to forget."

  She bit her tongue. Of course that had to be the case.

  "Right."

  Magnus led the way easily, not waiting for her to walk ahead of him as her other companions did. That was probably what Blythe liked most about him.

  "So why were you in such a rush? It's not like you."

  I just wanted to get away from you and Cole and thought rushing to class would be a good enough excuse.

  Cole had been about to ask for more details regarding her boarding, she was sure of it. Just the thought of entertaining his questions exhausted her.

  "I thought it'd be nice to get to class early," she said. "That way, I can take my time to settle in."

  "Hmm. Alright."

  Mercifully, he asked no further questions as they continued walking to their next class.

  Second period passed by uneventfully, with them parting ways for third period. Blythe felt a burden lift off her chest when she left her third period classroom for lunch, basking in her freedom from Magnus.

  As soon as she left the classroom block, Jessica's adorable blue quaker parrot flew to her and informed her that her best friends were in the cafeteria and would love to meet her at the entrance. She eagerly headed there.

  "Hey, Blythe!" Sophie chirped when she met up with them. "Where's His Highness? Are you by yourself?"

  "Oh, uh, we didn't have the same last class together," she said, smiling at them. "I guess I'm by myself?"

  Her response only seemed to confuse them, making them stare at her with questioning eyes.

  But she didn't know what other information she was expected to provide, so she gazed right back with her own puzzled expression. Eventually, when they seemed to realize she wasn't going to say anything else, they glanced at each other and seemed to silently agree to stop waiting.

  Instead, Jessica said, "Well, I suppose we should order our food now?"

  Blythe nodded. "Let's do that."

  They decided to go to the garden again, away from the bustling dining hall. Sophie was hoping for a gossip-worthy event, like the one they'd seen with Katherine and Cole the other day, again. They sat down near the back of the garden this time, next to some interesting flowers Blythe had never seen before. Its thick, dark-green leaves were shaped together in a claw, supported by long, sturdy stems that reached up to about three feet tall. It reminded her a little of the Venus flytrap plant. Sophie handed out their respective takeout boxes of pasta, checking the contents to ensure it was the right one.

  "I love these," Jessica commented when she caught Blythe looking at them for longer than a couple of seconds. "They catch all the bugs that come near."

  "They really are convenient to have around," Sophie agreed. "Celeste loves having these in our garden."

  "They're kind of cute," Blythe said, making her friends start.

  "It's rare hearing you say that about these type of plants," Sophie said, grinning a little.

  "Your garden doesn't have them, does it?" Jessica speared a few pieces of bolognese sauce-covered fusilli with her fork. "I don't recall seeing them during the times we visited for a tea party."

  Blythe had no idea, but she just went along with it. "I suppose not."

  "What are you talking about, Jess?" Sophie's tone was slightly admonishing. "We saw those growing along the edge of the garden, remember?"

  As she tried to calm down and convince herself this slip-up wasn't a huge issue, Blythe's stomach contorted itself into a pretzel.

  Jessica lightly tapped a hand to the side of her head. "Oh, yes! I recall that now. Sorry, I must have forgotten that."

  Blythe forced out a laugh, wondering if it sounded as fake to them as it did to herself. "Me too, I probably didn't notice them."

  Twisting open the metal cap of her glass bottle of apple juice, Sophie glanced up at her. "Wait, really? Even thought you curate your garden so carefully that you fought over it with your brother?"

  It took everything Blythe had in her not to smack her face with both hands. She was done. This couldn't be explained away with the desire to become a better person—it was straight up calling her memory into question.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Her smile felt stiff on her face. "I suppose I really just forgot about it."

  She was tired of explaining away every inconsistency, and this was only the first week of her new life and reality.

  As if sensing her darkening mood, Jessica abruptly switched the subject to her conversation with Clyde during first period. Seeing Sophie get swept up in her excitement, Blythe tried to suppress her relief from showing.

  "He totally likes you," she said, giggling and covering her mouth. "Why else would he lend you his class notes?"

  It was exactly the kind of delusional girl talk Blythe would hear between two classmates back in her original high school. She'd hardly ever talked about boys with Riley, however. Both of them had been too invisible to draw the attention of any boys, and they were in touch with reality enough to know not to bother with things like that.

  Mind still reeling from just now, she focused on eating her chicken alfredo penne.

  "Do you think he's over his crush on Leah, though?" Jessica asked with a sigh. "I saw them talking in the courtyard earlier this morning."

  "It might not mean anything," Sophie offered. "Maybe they were exchanging greetings."

  "Yeah," Blythe said, unsure of what she could add. "Don't overthink it."

  She'd never been good at talking about guys. The most experience she'd had with them was the 2D guys in otome games.

  "But they were chatting and smiling for at least five minutes. Why would he talk to her for so long if he didn't still like her?"

  Having no context for Clyde's relationship with Leah, Blythe merely gave Jessica a sympathetic smile.

  The sudden, loud flapping of wings saved her from having to come up with something to say. Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the noise.

  The same eagle that had flown into her bedroom to convey Magnus' message in his voice swooped down and landed on the armrest of the bench next to Sophie.

  "Blythe, where are you?" Magnus' voice demanded. "Why didn't you send me a VocAvis?"

  She froze, staring at the eagle that took off into the air after those words.

  For a moment, silence settled over them in a thick, impenetrable layer.

  Then Sophie let out a laugh, the sound unnaturally high-pitched. "It sounds like His Highness is worried about you."

  Blythe's cheeks burned hot, humiliated by Magnus' play at being a controlling boyfriend. It also exposed her as leaving her fiancé out of the loop for her lunch plans, which apparently wasn't the done thing if this call was any indication.

  "Yes, that's very sweet," Jessica chimed in just as awkwardly.

  Mustering every ounce of her willpower left in her body, Blythe smiled and got to her feet. "It looks like I've forgotten to tell him. Let me just send him a quick reply."

  With her VocAvis scroll in hand, she moved a good several feet away from them. She narrowed her eyes at the inanimate pink galah cockatoo.

  "Sorry, I ..." didn't know I was supposed to call you. "I forgot. I'm in the garden with Jessica and Sophie." A stroke of genius came to her. If she put it this way, he wouldn't want to join them, right? "We're almost done eating, so we were just going to relax here. VocAvis to Magnus Spencer."

  When she returned to her friends, Sophie asked, "Did you invite him to join us?"

  Best friends though they were, Blythe couldn't outright say she did not, in fact, want Magnus here.

  "I don't think," she said lightly, taking her spot on the bench again, "he'll be coming here. We're almost done eating after all."

  Jessica swallowed her mouthful of food. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but it seems as though you'd rather not have lunch with His Highness. Since last Thursday, you've been eating with only us."

  "We don't mind at all that you like having lunch with us instead, though!" Sophie hastily added. "We're so happy! But, um, did anything happen between you and His Highness? You can tell us anything."

  She might not have been born as the daughter of a duke, but Blythe had played enough video games and read enough stories to know that not everybody had her best interests at heart. Reuben was her brother and had no incentive to do her harm, but competition existed between schoolmates. Although they appeared to adore her at the moment, she didn't know for sure that her friends wouldn't throw her under the bus for a chance at moving up the social ladder.

  She couldn't tell them she wanted nothing to do with Magnus. The last thing she needed was to offend the king or something.

  "Thank you," Blythe said, smiling at them. "I know I can. But don't worry; nothing has happened. I just think I should be more independent instead of sticking to him all the time. I realized I haven't been giving him much space."

  No notification flashes. They were probably becoming accustomed to hearing Blythe's appreciative words.

  Jessica's and Sophie's skeptical expressions were not reassuring.

  "But we know how much you love him," Sophie said, lowering her voice to a whisper despite the absence of other people in the vicinity. "You never want to be without him."

  Jessica nodded vigorously. "It must be painful for you to try to be without him."

  "I'll be okay," she declared somberly. "I'm trying to be strong."

  As much as she cringed internally saying that, revealing that she didn't care would come across as more suspicious. They still looked unconvinced.

  The eagle came back. "Alright, then I won't join you for today."

  It actually surprised her that she didn't get any points deducted for basically snubbing him. The message was also shorter than expected. She wondered if it was because he knew she was with friends.

  The relief on her face must have shown, because Jessica squinted at her. Blythe half-expected to be questioned again, but Jessica said nothing.

  Sophie was the one who tried to get her to share her 'true feelings' again, but to no avail.

  After eating, they enjoyed their chilled beverages and basked in the gentle sun rays.

  "Oh, before I forget—" Sophie dug into her bag and fished out two identical potted plant plushies. "Here, Blythe, I brought the plushie you said you liked last week. Jess, I brought one for you too."

  Jessica squealed over her new toy, and Blythe thanked Sophie with a big smile while turning it over to check it out. The delightfully green-and-brown plushie was soft to the touch, and even softer to squeeze between her fingers. She could picture it on her study desk, a decoration to admire during studying breaks.

  "This is too adorable!" Jessica said, squishing it with one hand. "I'm putting this in my room!"

  "I'll put it in my room when I move in, too," Blythe promised, carefully tucking it away into her bag.

  Sophie practically glowed, and Blythe's vision was hit with another green light. Now she really had to remember to put it in her room.

  ???

  After her Economics IV class, Blythe had a free period.

  Jessica sent her another VocAvis to let her know she and Sophie were going to be in the library since they both had a free period as well. The message ended with her suggesting that Blythe could tell them if she had another place in mind.

  Frankly, the library was an ideal place for her to obtain more information and study. Blythe would've wanted to go there anyway.

  She found her friends on the first floor with their heads huddled together, standing next to a large wooden table.

  "Hey," Blythe said amiably once she was within a couple of feet of them. "What are you two doing?"

  She figured they were browsing a magazine or something of the sort, but they turned around, still in their huddle, and grinned conspiratorially at her.

  "Hi, Blythe," Sophie said, holding up an ink bottle between her thumb and index finger. "We were on our way to the second floor, but then we saw Willoughby and took a detour instead."

  Gripped in Jessica's hands was an open school bag, its contents of books and other stationery easily visible from where Blythe stood. Jessica and Sophie were carrying their own on their shoulders, so it wasn't theirs.

  "What do you mean?" She stepped closer in an attempt to understand Sophie's statement.

  "We were contemplating between one of her notebooks or all her things," Jessica confided. "What do you think?"

  Sophie pouted. "I think it'd do more damage to a single notebook, but Jess thinks it's better to make a small stain on everything. But since you're here, the final vote goes to you."

  Upon seeing Sophie unscrew the lid of the ink bottle, it finally hit Blythe what they were plotting to do.

  "Absolutely not!"