On the first day her family arrived home Liliana was sequestered in her room, an apologetic Astrid informing the Duke and Duchess that she had taken ill while they’d been gone. Liliana wasn’t actually ill, but she almost wished she was. A simple cold would be a much simpler thing to deal with than her current conundrum.
“My Lady, you’re still going too fast,” Astrid gently chided her as Liliana made another circuit around her room.
Liliana groaned and buried her face in her hands. They’d been doing this for hours. Liliana hadn’t expected a single week to begin ingraining habits in her that would create dangerous pitfalls for her to navigate in an already deadly environment. To top it off with the rapid increase in her stats she was noticeably different.
Faster with a base speed of 100 now, more graceful with her Dexterity at 70. Her skin practically glowed with health thanks to her 65 Vitality, high enough that if anyone knew about it her ruse of having a cold would never fly. Vitality over 50 ensured no normal illness wouldn’t affect someone, their immune system too magically enhanced for basic viruses and bacteria to compete with.
Even her enhanced Strength was a problem, while she was used to it it also meant she had a tendency to carry or grab things a normal Unawakened fourteen-year-old would never dare try.
Not to mention the issue she hadn’t even considered. If someone used [Identify] on her the entire ruse would be over. She couldn’t get out of an [Identify], oh sure if she’d bothered to level [Deception] she might be able to. But nooo, she’d focused on her combat skills which would do fuck all for her in the manor where words held more power than a blade.
“I’m so stupid,” Liliana whimpered as she sunk to the ground, her skirts flaring out around her.
“You’re not My Lady, you’re the smartest girl I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,” Astrid soothed, coming to her side to rub a hand against her back in soothing circles that loosened tense muscles. Liliana leaned over onto the woman, laying her head on her shoulder, and soaked in the warm scent of home, and an underlying smell of cookies.
“Auntie, did you bake?” Liliana asked, voice perking up minutely.
“Yes, they should be ready soon if you’d like for me to go and fetch them,” Astrid offered and Liliana sat up, nodding eagerly, sapphire eyes sparkling with hunger. Astrid chuckled softly and patted her head before standing and making her way out of the room.
Alone Liliana slumped, her posture relaxing in the solitude of her room. At least she didn’t have to relearn that. Good posture had been so ingrained into Liliana that she didn’t think she’d ever be able to forget. Even now it felt wrong to slump her shoulders and she found herself straightening.
“Fuck, what am I going to do?” Liliana asked the empty room, no response forthcoming from the air.
Her heart panged with a memory of a cheerful yip. Polaris would surely be dancing around her, if he were here, giving her a look that spoke of mischief guaranteed to bring a laugh to her lips. Even though the memory was tinged with the fresh goodbye a small smile bloomed on her face. The overbearing worry and panic that had been pressing onto her lifted a bit and her mind began to think a tad more logically.
“Realistically no one is likely to [Identify] me, why would they?” Liliana reasoned aloud to herself. The words calmed her more as they rang out in the empty room.
It was true, why would anyone [Identify] her? Little, weak, Unawakened Liliana. No one expected her to be anything more than that, and she had to play on that. People saw what they wanted to see, she just had to make sure she kept within those bounds.
“Alright so then I just have to make sure I can restrict my controllable stats. Speed is going to be hard but I just have to consciously be slower. Strength I can’t lift anything, which I shouldn’t be anyways since proper noble ladies do not lift things,“ Liliana calmed further as she spoke, her words gaining confidence as the plan formed. It was nothing more than what she and Astrid had been working towards for the past several hours but reiterating it helped soothe her nerves.
“Dexterity will mean consciously tripping or fumbling. I can’t help my natural grace but if I cover it up with fumbles people will remember that,” Liliana soldiered on with her plan, pausing as she considered her other stats.
Charisma she could do little for, not that she truly wanted to. It could help persuade others to perhaps treat her more favorably, and she selflessly wanted to have a slightly easier life in this house. Endurance wasn’t an issue, she typically wasn’t physically pushed to her limits in the manor regardless. Noble ladies shouldn’t sweat, after all, the horror!
Wisdom and Intelligence didn’t make her smarter or wiser, though being smart and wise did raise the stats early on. Or well learning and thinking critically raised the stats. Whether that made one wise or intelligent was a philosophical debate Liliana didn’t have the mental faculties at the moment to devote to.
“That leaves Vitality, but how can I make myself look less...healthy…” Liliana trailed off as her eyes latched onto the cosmetic products on her vanity, mostly untouched.
She had hardly needed them before she had leveled and after her Vitality had jumped she had never looked better. She had thought at first Charisma would affect her looks but had found out it was Vitality was that improved one’s appearance, simply by making one healthier. Her skin glowed, her eyes sparkled like cut gemstones. Even her hair practically shone, looking like a silky waterfall of midnight blue water.
However a bit of paler powder pressed to her skin, some yellow or purple powder under her eyes, even some powder into her hair could help disguise the effects of her improved Vitality.
Liliana grinned as she considered it, she’d seen makeup artists in her original world change themselves into fantastical creatures, even different people all with cleverly placed makeup. And she didn’t need to look like a different person, just a bit more...unhealthy. And if there was one thing Liliana knew and knew very well, it was what one looked like when they were weak and unwell.
“Illusion magic would be rather useful right now,” Liliana mused as she stood and moved to her vanity, sitting before it and beginning to examine the products she’d previously ignored. As she opened one jar she froze, an idea smacked into her with all the force of a galloping horse.
“Illusion magic is a subset of Light magic,” Liliana muttered before she dropped her head on the vanity, the drop no longer strong enough to even sting. It made her feel a little better though.
“I was so dead set on combat powers I forgot about the other branches,” Liliana murmured to herself, sighing loudly as she sat back up and looked at herself in the mirror.
She placed her chin in the palm of her hand as she considered the new possibility. She would need to learn Illusion magic in order to make them. Her [Mana Manipulation] was high enough that learning subset magic on her own in theory shouldn’t be impossible. Yet the only spells and skills she’d learned to make or modify were a result of her being able to properly imagine them. She could imagine what Illusions did, but not how they did it.
I’ll need to get my hands on an actual Illusion spell first to figure out how the magic works. Liliana answered her own question and she frowned at her reflection. It had felt like a truly genius idea at first, and it would be. If she had the slightest idea of how to make an illusion.
Liliana was drawn from her disappointment by the sound of her door opening and the enticing scent of freshly baked cookies.
“My Lady,” Astrid greeted as she set the food down on a small table in the room.
Liliana left the vanity to take one of the seats by the table remembering as she stood to drop her speed. Even if the scent of cookies was tantalizing and almost worth breaking her newly born vow to hide her abilities.
“That’s much better My Lady,” Astrid complimented as Liliana sat and grabbed a warm cookie in an eager hand. Liliana beamed as she bit into the heavenly treat, closing her eyes as the flavors hit her. These were just as good as the cookies her mother used to make, once upon a time.
Sorry, Mom, it’s true. Liliana mentally apologized as she finished off the first cookie.
“Astrid, do you know where one can acquire an Illusion spell?” Liliana asked as she grabbed her second cookie. Astrid paused, her eyes taking in Liliana for a moment before understanding sparked in her eyes.
“Not the town, the city has more shops. There’s a few that carry spell scrolls and the like, though Illusion is subset magic so it’s rarer and more expensive, “Astrid explained and Liliana frowned as she finished off her second treat. More expensive translated to ‘You can’t afford it’.
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“The Duchess uses Illusion magic, she has a grimoire for her spells,” Astrid further explained and Liliana blanched, almost dropping her third cookie.
She hadn’t known that her step-mother used Illusion magic, that information hadn’t been in the game. Even as her mind frantically thumbed through all of her memories she couldn’t find any hint of it. Even Liliana’s memories had nothing on that, the Duchess was so against using her skills at all. Or perhaps the better term for it was she was secretive.
“Why didn’t I know that?” Liliana asked Astrid and the woman leveled her with a look.
“You never asked,” she explained and Liliana winced, stuffing the cookie in her mouth to avoid answering.
Of course, she hadn’t asked, Liliana had hated and feared The Duchess in equal measure. Liliana had never dreamed of standing up to the woman and had never truly been taught how to play the game of intrigue nobles participated in. She was sequestered to the manor, barely even able to exist there. The past four years had been her just trying to avoid the attention of her family and survive.
Sometimes it was hard to reconcile the memories she had of the game, where Liliana ended up becoming a dark puppet master. Making the entire kingdom dance to her tune for years before she was eventually defeated. With the quiet and downtrodden girl, she’d come to know through the gifted memories she now shared with her.
“Many of the ladies who The Duchess spends her time with use Illusion magic. It’s seen as a noble magic, “Astrid further lectured Liliana who was listening with rapt attention as a fourth cookie disappeared down her throat.
“So you’re suggesting I steal a spell from The Duchess?” Liliana asked with a smirk and Astrid shot her a chiding look, though if it was because of the coarseness of her speech or the contents of it Liliana wasn’t sure.
“I would never think to suggest you participate in dastardly behavior of that caliber,” Astrid informed her and Liliana nodded. It was the speech she’d used then.
She’d gotten into a bad habit of speaking as she had on Earth with Silas and Astrid. Something that would get her switched by Miss Beckett no doubt. The thought of the Governess switching her now almost sent her into a laughing fit. She doubted the woman had ever devoted enough points into Strength to put so much as a scratch on her now. No, it was obvious the woman had put her points into Dexterity, Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence.
“I must have misheard you, I do apologize,” Liliana responded, though her tone and expression belied her words as she bowed her head lightly. Astrid’s lips twitched as she tried to hide her smile.
“If The Duchess was to...misplace a spell for a few days,” Liliana tried now her speech slower as she tried to keep to the more refined way of speaking, “where do you suppose that would be?” Liliana finished and Astrid’s eyes flashed approvingly.
“The Duchess does have spells she no longer needs as she has learned them, they would not be much missed if they were to be absent from their typical homes for a day or two,” Astrid explained and Liliana nodded.
“I’ve heard that she has been invited to a tea party held by Marchioness Ambrose in four days,” Astrid finally gave Liliana the information she wanted and the girl grinned.
“I suppose there would be little reason for her servants to be loitering in her rooms during that entire time as well,” Liliana theorized and Astrid nodded. The girl’s grin widened as she swiped her sixth cookie and bit into it greedily.
“Now My Lady, perhaps we should continue practicing?” Astrid turned the conversation and Liliana sighed. Nothing for it, even with Illusion magic she’d still need to learn to hide her stats.
“I suppose,” She answered in defeat, standing as slowly as she could to begin another round of practicing being slow and clumsy.
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“That was not...terrible,” Miss Beckett said as Liliana finished her dance. Internally she was crowing her victory, taunting the rude woman. Outwardly Liliana curtsied, lowering her head with a demure smile.
“Thank you, Miss Beckett, I have been practicing while you were away,” Liliana explained, keeping her tone soft and sweet.
She wouldn’t explain her practicing had been her dancing around monsters. Her class had raised her [Dancing] Skill considerably, it was the second-highest General Skill she had at level 34.
“Perhaps you won’t make a total fool of yourself if you find yourself invited to a ball,” Miss Beckett smiled, though there was no kindness behind it or her words. They stung with the hidden insult.
For who would invite Liliana Rosengarde to a ball? The unloved daughter of a Duke and a commoner? Currently, she offered no political, magical, or physical power as far as the nobility knew so they held no interest in her.
“I only seek to bring honor to the Rosengarde name, your praise fills me with happiness that I will avoid shaming my father,“ Liliana answered and Miss Beckett smirked but didn’t respond. Though her thoughts were clear as crystal on her face and Liliana had to clench her teeth to avoid lashing out verbally.
“I’ll move you up to more advanced dances tomorrow, we will also see if you truly did study any of the materials I left for you,” Miss Beckett waved Liliana off in a clear dismissal and the girl happily gave a last curtsy before she turned to leave.
Spending hours with the woman was a true test of her self-control, and every day she felt it getting a bit thinner. There were only so many hidden, and not so hidden, insults she could take.
Liliana left the room they used for her lessons with an almost silent sigh of relief. It was only mid-afternoon and she had a few hours before she and Astrid would need to meet Silas for her training.
Until then she had time to herself, she wanted to spend more time in the library and see if she could find a bestiary for the creatures in the area. Astrid followed a few steps behind her, she had been waiting outside the room as she knew when Liliana’s lessons ended.
“I’m telling you, father was told the guards in Ravencross are getting reports of a Tier 6 Cheshire in the area!” The familiar voice of her step-brother Alistair filled the hall and Liliana froze, looking around for somewhere to hide. For a moment she eyed a promising plant but before she could dive behind it a pair of boys her age turned a corner and stopped when they spotted her.
Liliana internally winced though she held all trace of it from her face. She gazed upon the two boys, one she was familiar with Alistair. The other she had yet to meet in this life, Emyr Bealstal. Instinctively she activated [Identify] on the newcomer.
Emyr Bealstal
Level: 50
Rank: 8
Class: Shadow Duelist
Why do the Heroes have to be so damned attractive? Sure everyone at a high level is gorgeous from Vitality growing but he’s not even that high of a level! This isn’t fair! Liliana mentally complained as she took in her newest adversary warily.
Emyr was beautiful, there was no other way to describe him. He had piercing dark silver eyes that seemed to peer directly into your soul, light blue hair, long and tied in a tail at the back of his neck. It complimented his bronzed skin, darkened from hours spent under the sun training. His training was made obvious in the way he filled out his clothing. His clothing was well made but simple for a noble and beside her step-brother, in his ostentatious clothing and overly accessorized style, Emyr almost faded into the background for all of his unfair beauty.
Liliana curtsied to the two young men as was expected, she did not miss the fact that neither boy bowed to her. Alistair was staring at her with maliciousness and Liliana mentally braced for the inevitable insults. Emyr was regarding her with cold silver eyes as if she was nothing.
“Hello dear brother, Lord Bealstal,” Liliana greeted as she straightened.
“Ah Liliana, seems you are feeling better from your illness. Truly you are such a weak, fragile thing. Must be the commoner blood, they do have a tendency to die so easily,” Alistair greeted, and Liliana bit down on her tongue to keep it still in her mouth.
“Thank you for your concern dear brother, I am feeling much improved from my illness the day prior. Perhaps I was so overcome from your return that my body simply couldn’t contain it,” Liliana answered, keeping her tone sweet.
Alistair looked at her for a moment, the disappointment that she had not reacted to his slight painted clearly on his face. She could see he did not parse the insult she’d snuck into her own words, though for a moment Liliana thought she saw something flash in Emyr’s eyes.
He’s smart, I’ll need to avoid him. Liliana mentally noted to herself. She didn’t have enough faith in her Deception skill to think she could trick someone who truly thought she was suspicious.
“Or perhaps you were playing in the mud while we were gone since it’s something you commoners enjoy so much and you caught some illness from that,” Alistair responded and Liliana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He truly was not good at subtle insults.
“I fear you may be mistaken dear Brother, I spent the week my beloved family was gone in my rooms. Completing the assignments Miss Beckett left for me and devoting myself to my Dancing and Embroidery practice,” Liliana answered easily, shyly averting her eyes as she added an earnest tone to her voice.
Her skin itched from this show of weakness. Every instinct Silas and her week of combat had beaten into her demanding she never take her eyes off of a threat.
The other bit of her instincts were screaming at her to fight. To take her naginata in hand and drive it into the pompous noble before her to finally shut him up.
“We have better things to do than to waste time here, Alistair. I don’t want to be late for training,” Emyr butted in, the clear disregard for Liliana in his tone stung, though in a way he was saving her from this horrid interaction.
The other boy hadn’t even bothered to greet her, an insult of major proportion in noble society. Refusing to greet someone, especially someone who was of higher rank than you, was the ultimate insult. He was refusing to even acknowledge that she was there. He was saying he truly saw her as less than a commoner, to Emyr Bealstal she was nothing.
“That is true, no point wasting our time with pointless things, “Alistair answered and he shot a cruel smirk at Liliana before the two passed her by.
Liliana stepped aside but somehow Alistair still managed to shoulder her. Liliana let herself stumble from the contact, falling into the wall with a fake whimper. Neither boy bothered to look back though she heard the sound of Alistair’s laughter trailing after the pair as they took another turn and left her sight.
“My Lady! Are you alright?” Astrid rushed to Liliana and the girl waved her off as she straightened out, brushing her dress.
“I’m alright, that wasn’t enough to hurt me,“ Liliana answered, a wide smile slowly bloomed on her face and Astrid looked at her warily.
“Astrid, do you suppose there’s information on Cheshire creatures in the library?” Liliana asked idly as she began to move once more, her mind racing with plans.
“I suppose there should be Lady Liliana,” Astrid answered slowly, suspicion clear in her tone.
“That’s good,” Liliana answered, her heart racing with excitement. Finally, something was truly going right for her.