The term "children of the Emperor" isn't an official designation.

By unofficial, I mean it's not a name that people like me, Lucas, or Jaden have ever personally claimed. There's no secret society emblem or anything cool like that, nor are there any fancy code names or settings tied to it.

In legal terms, we're simply the Emperor's sons and daughters, just like Alice. Legally, we’re no different from Alice. We are, after all, literally adopted by the Emperor.

But even though the law says that, in terms of status and in people's minds, things are different.

The beings that the Emperor has gathered are all monsters in their own right. Occasionally, they disappear from public view, only to return after some mysterious event—something or someone has disappeared, or people have died or gone missing somewhere in the Empire.

Sometimes, these deaths or disappearances appear as accidents, but other times, they look like gruesome crime scenes, almost as if they were warnings. The Empire would launch investigations, but they never seemed to find any conclusive evidence, and the cases would eventually be closed.

So, if you're not a fool, you'd quickly realize that these monsters gathered by the Emperor were likely behind these incidents. Alice, who was often confined to the capital due to her noble position, was an exception. The rest of us—the "unblooded" ones—were the Emperor’s finest chess pieces, executing his most important commands swiftly and without fail.

Of course, most commoners don't know about this. Lower nobles might have heard rumors, but most would dismiss them as coincidences. Only the high-ranking nobles with the means to gather circumstantial evidence feared us.

And that was exactly the Emperor's intent.

He wanted to say, "If you value your life, you’d better kneel."

That message would eventually spread throughout the entire Empire.

Well, in any case...

Most of the attention I receive is due to me being a "princess."

The whispers I hear around me... they're probably because I'm not the "real" princess.

"Sylvia."

"Yes."

Alice, who had been walking slightly ahead of me, stopped and turned to face me.

"Don’t walk behind me. Walk beside me."

"...Understood."

At Alice’s command, I slowly moved forward to walk beside her.

Of course, I didn’t get too close. After all, even in a same-gender relationship, walking hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm like in a manga isn’t really realistic. Well, this world is somewhat similar to those settings, though.

Now that I think about it, there wasn’t much physical contact between characters in the game either. Aside from a few kisses with female characters in romance lines and the occasional hug of greeting, there wasn’t much contact between the main characters.

...I’m not sure if that’s because the developers were trying to be accurate to real human behavior, or if they just didn’t bother due to graphical and motion limitations. Either way, it’s something to think about.

"You’re the one who told me to be confident. If you’re a princess, act like it and carry yourself as I do."

"But, Your Highness—"

"And it's 'Alice' here. We’re equals, aren’t we? Don’t you know that there’s no hierarchy among students?"

That’s rich, coming from someone who proudly held her head high in front of the headmaster.

Maybe Alice misunderstood my silence, as she quickly avoided my gaze and resumed walking.

Well, I decided to follow her orders for now.

I’m not exactly sure how the Academy determines its class assignments. It’s probably not entirely random, judging by how certain necessary people end up in the same class.

The thirty nobles, including Alice and me, were divided into two groups of fifteen, placed in different classes. But just as I wasn’t separated from Alice, Leo Grace and Claire were also in the same class. It seems they took into account the fact that the two are considered siblings.

There were also other cases where the eldest son of a duke’s family ended up in the same class as the eldest son of a baron’s family, or an engaged couple was placed in the same class. Those with connections were all placed together, ensuring that their relationships remained intact. Whether the fact that it split perfectly into groups of fifteen was a coincidence, or whether it was planned that way, I can’t say.

Incidentally, I had already made sure to familiarize myself with all the students in the noble classes.

One of the strengths of Azernor Chronicles is that even the side characters are given some degree of a backstory. While these backstories don’t usually impact the main story, they’re often side quests or dialogues that don’t affect the plot.

However, those side quests often extend throughout the game, and even those few lines of dialogue can change from chapter to chapter. Sometimes, those characters even appear in sequels, with dialogue that ties back to the previous game.

Despite the game's poor graphics and motion quality, the world felt alive because it gave the impression that every character had their own story.

The problem was, to get a platinum medal, you had to complete every single challenge in the game—including writing out character cards for every named NPC.

And to write out those character cards, you had to see every piece of dialogue at least once.

In other words, you had to find and talk to every hidden NPC in some corner of the map, complete every side quest. People called it the "NPC marathon."

I even wrote a guide for it. Damn those developers.

Thankfully, the sequels improved the convenience of the system, marking the characters you had already talked to so you didn’t have to track them down again. But you still had to talk to them.

...Anyway, those NPCs fell into categories: characters with unique models and dialogue, characters with unique names but no special models, and generic characters labeled as things like "girl in sailor uniform" or "male commoner in suit."

All the NPCs in the noble class had unique models.

While it’s impossible to match a polygonal model to a real person one-to-one, "purple bun hairstyle" or "green twin-tails" aren’t exactly common. Based on that, I had already figured out most of the backstories of the students in the noble class.

...Actually, I had made notes on it the moment I had a moment of stability. Since I wrote it all down in Korean, no one here would be able to read it.

Before entering the Academy, I took the time to review everything I had written down.

"Wait! Wait a moment!"

As Alice and I were about to start our first day at the Academy together, a hurried voice called out from behind us.

Normally, after some time, students would get used to the routine and arrive at school at their own pace, but in this country, very few students had attended something like a formal school before. Most nobles were homeschooled by private tutors before entering the Academy, and commoner children... well, they usually went to work in factories, unless they were bourgeoisie.

That’s why, on the first day, the hallways were packed with students. I didn't think it was my imagination that only the area around Alice and me was oddly quiet, though. Thanks to that, other areas were even more crowded, and a circle of students seemed to form around us like a barrier.

But someone was forcing their way through that barrier toward us.

"Claire!"

No, it was two people—a girl and a boy.

The girl was Claire, and the boy was Leo. Oh, both heavyweights. What a surprise...!

Actually, no surprise at all. I had expected this. Claire’s intense gaze during the entrance ceremony was no joke.

And while they were heavyweights from the perspective of someone who had played the game, in terms of the current setting, I was an even bigger heavyweight than the two of them combined. Whether others acknowledged it or not, I was still a princess.

"Ah!"

"…"

I blinked twice as I watched Claire stumble through the crowd and almost trip when she got close enough to see my face.

What is this, a scene straight out of a shoujo manga?

Even from a distance, I could sense that Claire had a much purer image. Unlike the Claire from the game, who wore heavy makeup and had a sharper demeanor, the Claire standing before me had almost no makeup on her face.

And, of course, she was beautiful—enough to rival Alice.

"Ah…"

Although she staggered for a moment, Claire didn’t completely lose her balance. After a brief wobble, she quickly righted herself.

"Y-Your Highness."

She then bowed slightly, placing her hand in front of her uniform skirt, as a noblewoman in a dress would do when greeting a princess.

Alice, who had just recently said that there was no hierarchy between students—

"Over here. You should bow to this side as well."

—pointed at me without hesitation.

"…What?"

"You should bow to this side as well. She’s also a princess."

Alice’s tone was slightly stiff, as if correcting Claire, who looked slightly confused.

I had to resist the urge to snap my head toward Alice. Managing to maintain my expression with superhuman self-control, I felt a cold sweat break out on my back.

Wait, hadn’t she just said there’s no hierarchy among students...?

Of course, Alice didn’t know about my relationship with Claire.

And from Alice’s point of view, Claire probably looked like someone who was desperately trying to curry favor with royalty.

Considering that I knew all the noble students in our class, Alice probably did too. In the original story, there were scenes where Alice could naturally guess the protagonist’s name without seeing or hearing it directly.

Claire was part of the Grace baron family.

Though the Grace family held considerable power for a barony—thanks to their direct appointment by the Emperor—they were still a baronial family, not a ducal one.

If you think of the Academy as a grand ballroom, where nobles observe strict etiquette when initiating conversation, Claire had already made a significant blunder.

She wasn’t the head of the Grace family, yet she had spoken before any ducal or count families had addressed us, and she had only bowed to one of the two "equal" princesses standing side by side.

"Claire…!"

Leo Grace, who had arrived belatedly, froze upon seeing the scene unfold before him.

Hmm.

In the original story, Leo was known for his kindness. Despite being a male character, he always ranked at the top of popularity polls. That was partly because many women played the game, and Leo’s righteous yet relatable character resonated with players.

I liked him a lot too.

But…

Given his kind, ordinary nature, it’s no wonder he’s frozen in shock at the situation.

"…"

A heavy silence settled over the surroundings.

Alice, Claire, Leo, and even I stood in silence.

And so did everyone else surrounding us.

No one uttered a word.

Seriously, what is anyone supposed to do in this awkward atmosphere?