“But really, where will your daughter go if not the Royal Academy? I heard she was definitely bright enough to attend, and even the Principal himself was wondering if he had done something to offend your family.” Countess Chadon adds worry lines on her face. Her maiden name Flatteron truly suits her.

“It’s nothing of the sort.” My mother pats me on the back, signaling that I should leave. I half curtsey and say something to excuse myself.

Eventually I find myself at the food stand. There stands a girl delicately gorging herself on the cake. She doesn’t seem to even notice me before I pick up a plate of cake myself. Seeing who I am, she quickly curtseys and nearly drops her plate. I extend my hand to balance the plate. “Please, don’t stand on ceremony. We are still young and I prefer finding friends instead of subjects.”

“Then, excuse me, Lady Allandis.” She straightens herself and stands with a blush clear on her face. “This humble one is Grace Florian.”

“Oh my, Lady Grace. You wouldn’t happen to be Viscount Florian’s daughter, would you?” Grace Florian, born the same year as me, is the only one who ever stood up for me in the novel, but with her shy personality, she wasn’t able to do anything and ended up blaming herself for my banishment.

“Precisely. My father is the Viscount Florian.” She puffs herself up.

“My, he talks about you all the time. Whenever he’s on break, he prattles about you and your brother, Sir Thomas.”

Her face turns a shade redder and she reaches for a glass of water. “Please, call me Grace.”

“Then please call me Nova.”

“Thank you.” She peeks at me from behind her glass. “Actually, I have always wanted to meet you. My father talks about you all the time when he’s home, saying that you are such a perfect and lovely child. Whenever I asked him to take me with him, he claimed that you were too busy.”

“I’ve wanted to meet you too, but the Viscount claimed that he was afraid that if I liked you too much, my parents would steal you from him.”

She laughs. “That is indeed like him! My father is really too overprotective.”

“Are you planning on attending the Royal Academy in a few years?”

“I am. I already passed the test, but my father insisted on delaying a few years.” So it turns out I’m not the only genius. “He said that it’s not too good to stand out too much.”

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At this point, a few other girls walk by. “What a joke. Everyone knows Grace Florian is an airheaded pig who only knows how to eat and follow her brother around.” They all laugh. “Lady Nova should really not associate with such pigs.”

The girl who talked is the spitting image of the girl who followed the protagonist. She’s a blonde girl with straight hair that curls at the bottom. Her facial features are sharp and her green eyes seem to penetrate through everything. She stands on one foot and holds a closed fan up toward her face.

“Lady Lacey, I take it.” I smile at her.

“Oh my, you know me?”

“You are just as the rumors say.”

“I am flattered-”

“By that, I mean you are indeed a cold-hearted insignificant one who bullies others out of her own inferiority complex.”

“Who would feel inferior to a mere Viscount’s daughter? My father is the Earl Loviticus. I am the leader of our generation’s social circle, and if I wished, I could-”

“You could what?” I pick up a fork and stab into my cake. “Harm my reputation? Isolate me from the rest of your so-called friends? Who would want to be friends with someone who looks up to you, of all people? Merely an Earl’s daughter, yet you talk so big.” Indeed, she was the main source of the rumors that brought me down in the novel, but this time I’m not going to be in the same situation. After all, I won’t even be in the same year as them. I eat the cake and savor the taste.

She stares furiously at me, her smile very much wiped off of her face. “I’m warning you, Lady Nova, if you continue as you are, you will not have a happy ending.”

“I do not believe you are of a high enough status to call me by name, Lady Loviticus. You really bring down the status of your household.”

Lacey’s ears turn pink and I can almost see the steam coming off of her head. “Remember this, Lady Allandis, no one will side with a person who insults people on their first meeting.”

I reproduce my mother’s fake laugh. “No one will side with a person who threatens people on their first meeting.”

Lacey spins on her heel and stomps off, almost perfectly imitating the Marchioness from earlier.

“Are you sure that’s ok?” Grace says, her voice very small. “She does have a lot of power and everyone has admired her.”

“It’s ok. See, look. Now we create our own friend group.” I gesture inconspicuously toward the next group of girls to walk our way.

“Greetings, Lady Allandis. This humble one and her friends would like to get to know you better. It is quite unusual to see anyone stand up to Lady Loviticus.” Geniva Petranovich—a follower of the protagonist who stands at odds with Lacey, but who happens to be upright. In the novel, I was too lazy to bother with anything, so she thought badly of me and didn’t bother to help. If Grace enters this circle, she should lead a happy school life.

“Please, join us, Lady Petranovich.” I nod toward her and continue eating my cake.

“Oh my, I am flattered that you know my name.”

“Of course. My father holds yours in high regard.”

“Please, call me Geniva.”

“Then if you would, call me Nova.”