One thing became clear to me: I had decided to stick with this persona for as long as possible.

Sure, part of me wanted to blend into the main cast as just another character, but I realized it was too late to hide my true nature—my deep-rooted otaku tendencies.

Although in this world, people probably wouldn’t even understand the concept of being an "otaku" in the way they would on 21st-century Earth.

Then again, this world had its own famous characters, just not in the way we’d think of them in our games or shows. In this world, mascots were becoming popular, much like early 20th-century Earth.

One such mascot character was Digger the Dog, a cartoon dog that loved to dig holes. It was featured in a series of newspaper comic strips, and from what I understood, it had already gained a lot of popularity.

In the real world, back in the early 1900s, characters like The Yellow Kid were making waves. The Yellow Kid was so influential it became the origin of the term “yellow journalism.” And that comic had debuted in the 1890s. The developers of this game even mentioned in interviews that they based the popularity of Digger on the likes of The Yellow Kid to give this world some cultural depth.

In this game world, Digger was quite the hit, and there was even talk of it becoming an animated short soon, thanks to the emerging film industry. The technology for short, silent animations was just beginning to blossom, though everything was still in black and white.

I wondered if it might be fun to have my character like Digger—or at least subtly show an interest in it.

"..."

Not a bad idea.

After all, I had always liked cartoons. I wasn’t a hardcore Disney fan, but I had seen most of the famous ones. Maybe I could even collect a few Digger plush toys once they started making them.

But not now. It would be something I’d slowly incorporate into my persona, perhaps a year or two from now.

Why wait? Because it would be unbearably embarrassing to admit openly right now. I could barely handle the secondhand embarrassment from rewinding time, let alone deal with something like this in real-time. Even though I’d lived in a girl’s body for ten years now, I still had thirty years of memories from my past life as a man.

"What are you thinking about so deeply?"

I was startled out of my thoughts by Alice’s voice.

When I glanced up at her, she was staring at me, her eyes curious.

"You’re looking at a book, but your eyes aren’t moving at all."

Ah, that made sense. I hadn’t been focused on reading, and I wasn’t particularly interested in it either.

"I was thinking about the duels from this morning."

"The duels? Oh."

Alice seemed to draw her own conclusions from my words.

"Are you analyzing everyone’s movements?" she asked.

I hadn’t been, but that explanation fit better with the character I was trying to portray.

"Yes, that’s right."

I nodded in agreement.

Attending the academy had proven much more challenging than staying in the imperial capital. The hardest part wasn’t the coursework; it was maintaining my character. And it had only been the first day of classes.

As soon as the lessons ended, Alice headed straight for the library, determined to study and review everything she had learned. She had this idea in her head that "a student’s primary duty is to study," and she acted on it with full force. Naturally, I followed her to the library and pretended to read a book.

...I wasn’t planning to take studying too seriously. After all, I’d have to do everything over again if I rewound time during tests. Instead, I figured I’d cram when exam season rolled around. For everyone else, it would be last-minute cramming, but for me, it would feel like plenty of time.

"So, what did you think?"

Alice put down her pen, clearly eager to hear my evaluation.

Though I hadn’t paid much attention to Alice’s fight, I knew she wasn’t asking about herself.

"Most of them were average."

I gave an honest response.

Even among the main characters in the game, there were several whose background stories didn’t involve much combat. While the academy served as both a general school and a military academy, not every student was destined to become an officer.

So, from my perspective—or even from the viewpoint of an average person with no combat experience—many of the students seemed awkward and unrefined in their movements.

"But a few stood out," Alice agreed, nodding thoughtfully.

Alice had won her duel against Charlotte, though she considered it a close victory. From what little I had seen of Charlotte’s swordsmanship, I agreed with Alice’s assessment. Charlotte hadn’t used any sword aura, but her refined sword skills were impressive nonetheless.

As for Claire Grace, I had firsthand experience of her abilities, so I didn’t need to dwell on her.

Leo Grace, Claire’s brother, had held his own against Jennifer. Of course, the fact that Jennifer hadn’t used her firearms gave Leo a better chance of survival. His movements were comparable to Claire’s, which made sense—he was the protagonist, after all.

And then there was Mia Crowfield.

Mia, the daughter of the Count Crowfield I had killed, was also in Class A.

Like me, Mia had dark hair, but her long bangs almost completely covered her eyes, giving her an ominous, gloomy aura.

It was understandable. Her father had been brutally murdered, and the largest part of his remains they found was a finger. The rest were just bone fragments and scraps of flesh. They’d identified the remains by the scraps of clothing stuck to them.

Mia hadn’t seen the remains herself, but she had surely heard the story. She must have also heard the rumor that the emperor had ordered the assassination. That was how it had played out in the original story, anyway.

Mia Crowfield’s staff was a dummy—it couldn’t be used in real combat. While she could cast minor spells, they weren’t strong enough to kill.

However, her staff had a magical power gauge, like a thermometer, that indicated the power of the spell she was attempting to cast.

When Mia tried to cast a spell, the gauge shattered.

Naturally, Jennifer declared Mia the winner of her duel, looking quite pleased with herself.

...In the original game, Mia had used a spell that conjured a massive icicle to impale her opponent.

Mia hadn’t once looked in my direction, but if she ever found out that I had killed her father, I wondered how she would react. Right now, she barely spoke to me because I was a princess. But if she knew I was the one responsible for her father’s death, she would likely try to kill me. In the original story, that’s what she did when she found out about Claire’s actions.

The thought was a little unsettling. In the game, wounds didn’t matter—it was all just effects with no real consequence. In real life, if I got hit with that ice spear, I’d end up with a massive hole in my body. In the game, you could get slashed by a sword or shot with a gun, and all that happened was your HP bar went down. No one questioned it—it was just game logic.

People who obsessed over realism in games were often considered weird. Like the ones who pointed out how unrealistic it was to survive after getting shot in an FPS.

I doubted I could become friends with Mia.

Not that it would matter much. Mia’s storyline would proceed regardless, with or without me. I didn’t need to intervene—Leo would be there to handle it.

"Well, at least not everyone is completely useless. There’s still a lot to learn here," Alice said, smiling in satisfaction as she picked up her pen again.

I knew that her smile wasn’t just about the lessons. It was because she had made new friends—Charlotte, for instance.

I hoped that smile would never fade.

And I’d make sure it didn’t.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Leo, Claire’s so-called "older brother," even though Claire considered him her younger brother, asked her.

The two of them were sitting together at an outdoor café. It was mid-April, and the warm sunlight was proof that winter had finally passed. Claire thought it would be foolish to waste such good weather.

The buildings near the academy all had modern boilers, and though the chimneys still spewed smoke, it wasn’t black—just white steam.

While many people in the empire still proudly saw black smoke as a symbol of industrial progress, Claire wasn’t one of them. After coming to the academy, she had realized how different the world could be. She couldn’t understand what people saw in that dirty, black smoke. If they liked it so much, they could try cleaning out a chimney themselves.

Then again, the world didn’t seem different just because of the clear blue skies.

"That’s a secret."

But Claire couldn’t tell Leo the real reason she was smiling.

Leo was family, after all. They had known each other for much longer than Claire had known Sylvia. But despite that, Claire felt a stronger bond with Sylvia.

Perhaps it was because Sylvia had been the first person to ever make Claire feel truly protected. Even as a child, Sylvia had been more mature than any of the adults around her.

Children who are separated from their parents don’t forget them. Even years later, when they’re reunited, they cry tears of joy at the reunion.

Though Sylvia wasn’t old enough to be considered a parent figure, seeing her now, Claire couldn’t shake the feeling that they were the same age.

Claire had wanted to invite Sylvia out to a café this morning, to sit and talk about everything that had happened over the years.

But Sylvia clearly had her own burdens to bear.

A nameless orphan who had almost died in the slums was now living as a princess of the empire.

"..."

Once upon a time, Sylvia had been the kind of person who smiled easily.

She wasn’t someone who laughed out loud, but she had always smiled softly at the other children, sharing food with them and telling stories. Those memories, faint though they were, had become Claire’s first real "treasure."

But now, Sylvia spoke stiffly to her peers, keeping secrets and hiding her true feelings.

What had happened to her in the imperial palace?

It wasn’t something that could be dismissed as just another bad memory.

"...No, never mind. I won’t ask. I feel like knowing more would only get me into trouble."

Leo had tried to ask Claire what she was thinking, but seeing her sudden shift in mood, he changed his mind.

Even if he had asked, she wouldn’t have told him. After all, Sylvia had asked her to keep her identity a secret.

That was fine.

They would see each other again soon enough.

After ten long years of anticipation and disappointment, Claire felt that there would be plenty of chances to make Sylvia smile again.

"You’re smiling again."

Claire ignored Leo’s muttered complaint and took another sip of her milk tea, sweetened with plenty of sugar and milk.

TL NOTE: Please don't skimp on the stars for the translation - it inspires me and gives me the strength to write more. Thank you~!

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