Ana had just stepped off a carriage on a common district street, dressed very differently than her range's usual attire, pumped with a thick layer of make-up—something she never ventured away from—and wearing a dress that made her feel somewhat unrecognizable.

"What am I doing?" screamed Ana internally.

She was not in any street of the common district; she was in a street nearby one of the most well-known brothels on the continent, La Rose Blanche.

The Rose Blanche headquarters was a massive structure in the middle of a vast courtyard, surrounded by a massive wall in front of which Ana stood.

Why was she here? One might be asking.

There are numerous possible factors that led her here, but all of these factors could be traced back to one single person: Ana herself.

The truth is that Ana is a stubborn individual. Ana made up her mind to find out the truth herself the moment Arte told her he wouldn't be able to reveal anything to her, whether he knew or not, which eventually led her here in the Common District a week later.

"The best way to collect information is to seek it from its very source." Ana has been living by this motto.

"It’s here that this incident involving Mael happened, so there are bound to be witnesses around here. So I came here to investigate the thing myself, but standing here, I realize... this was such a stupid idea!"

Investigating this case was very different from the other investigations Ana has conducted in the past. In most cases, her investigation has involved her seeking an audience with someone, usually a noble, then coming over to ask a question.

Here, the initial plan was for her to pretend to be a customer, paying for two female escorts and asking them questions regarding what happened. It looked good on paper. In practice, the whole plan felt lackluster before it could even start.

"How did I think this would work?" She lamented again.

Feeling the passerby’s gaze on her and seeing that she, by standing in front of the establishment, attracted unwanted attention, Ana decided to make a tour to behind the large Rose Blanche headquarters' courtyard, where she would have some respite to think about all of this thoroughly, not wanting to immediately head back home.

These streets were not a place for a lady like herself to be around. Well, she did hear that there are female nobles that come to La Rose Blanche seeking some wild and exotic experiences, but still... Ana was not the kind to be interested in those kinds of activities; she was intrigued but not interested.

As she was about to turn the corner at the back of the establishment, she saw something that made her question her own eyes for a few seconds.

She saw a girl standing alone on the other side of the wall, but...

It was only a split second, but she swears she saw a second person, along with that girl, vanish in an almost instantaneous flash just before her arrival.

That brief glimpse suggested to Ana that what she just saw had to be the infamous teleportation magic, but it was a well-known fact that there was not a single teleportation magic user left across the continent.

The arrival of the Barbosse brothers piqued Ana's interest in teleportation magic, so she knew, after a little investigation here and there, that all of them, or to be more specific, the only two teleportation magic users alive and known across the continent, died a mysterious death.

Ana was attempting to separate reality from what she knew could be her debording imagination when the girl's vicious stare upon noticing her presence brought her back to the present and ongoing reality.

In reaction to the girl’s vicious glare, noticeable even with the distance separating them, Ana chose to remain on her corner of the wall, with just a back door leading to the Rose Blanche courtyard and a long space between them.

Yet even being on her corner of the wall, Ana could still feel the girl stare at her, but she did her best to pretend not to notice it.

"So what do I do now?" she wondered.

Though she knew that turning around was the sanest option in this current situation, heading back home empty-handed was not a prospect Ana was particularly looking forward to.

So she stood there weighing the pros and cons of staying and pursuing her quest for answers, despite the fact that she was well aware that the cons outweighed the pros: everything she had been up to seemed like a bad idea,

But to think that Ana would choose the voice of reason over discovering the truth that her curiosity was seeking would be to underestimate the girl known as Ana.

Focused on her internal battle between reason and dereason, Ana, for a brief moment, completely forgot about the other girl's presence. It wasn't until she threw a curious glance toward her that Ana noticed that the girl was still fixly staring at her, but that wasn't all; for the next instant, she literally approached Ana.

"Screw this, I’m going home." Ana, in a fit, decided.

She was taking her leave when she suddenly bumped into someone coming from the other corner of the wall, whom she failed to notice.

"Sorry," Ana apologized, and so did the person she bumped into.

"I'm sorry," also apologized the person, who turned out to be a girl her age, if not somewhat younger.

Both girls were slightly perplexed and embarrassed, but Ana, noticing that the other girl was now just behind her, decided she didn't want to waste any more time. But before she could leave, the girl—not the one she had bumped into, but the other one—called out to her.

"Hey, you… wait… Hey, where are you going?" Ana pretended to be deaf to her words, but the hand reaching onto her wrist forced the person to acknowledge the other girl’s call.

Ana returned her gaze and saw the girl's face, which was already fierce from a distance.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She had short, dark, tousled hair that barely brushed her shoulders—a mass of dark curls that seemed to defy any attempts at taming them. Her face was dotted with freckles, a sprinkle of golden specks across her nose and cheeks that gave her an impish appearance, which ironically went strangely well with her dark, almost deviously evil eyes that seemed to look at everything with challenging intent. She was tall and looked no older than seventeen, two traits that she shared with Ana. Though she might not be what most would call a beauty, by Ana's standards, she fits within the category of exotic beauty.

Despite her youth, there was a sense of determination and strength in her demeanor that was undeniable. Overall, she exuded an air of confidence and independence that was rare in someone so young.

"Could you please let go of me?" Ana asked.

"Earlier, what did you see?"

"I don’t know what you're talking about, but would you "please" have the amiability to let go of my arm, I have other matters to attend to." Ana once again requested

"You didn’t answer my question."

Up to this point, the tension rose to a new height between the two when a small voice between them said, "Um... Are you two here for the enrollment too?"

"Hein?" Both the girls exclaimed at the girl between them whose presence was so easily forgotten.

***

Warning: a new Ana is coming. Ana (MC) comes from Analise; it’s a nickname, while here Ana is just straight up this following character’s name.

***

"... which leads those who dwell on the case to believe that, just as it was once the case with the Empire born from theocracy and theocracy born from the kingdom, a stage will be reached where a new form of ruling system will be born at the rate the Church barrier is expanding each century," a young woman lectured on a black board. "This lecture is somewhat outdated with the current events of two years ago, but still—that is-to-be-reached-in-the-near-future stage is what most refer to as the –"

"What is it, Miss Ana?" Mael asked, noticing the young woman's abrupt stop.

"What is it? What the hell with this girl?" She pointed at the girl sitting on the same sofa as Mael.

"What? I, too, am interested in Miss Ana's teaching." The girl responded back.

"This is not even one of your courses, much less one of your years, right?"

"Yes, but I’m still interested in learning."

"Mael, please at least say something," an exasperated Ana sighed.

"Is there really a problem?" A voice commented. "If Miss Reina isn’t bothering anyone, then I don’t think there should be a problem with her being here."

Just like Mael, Ana, and Reina, Ferdinandt was wearing the black outfit of the Academia, suggesting that not only was he a student but he was also a member of the Ascending Nobility.

"Thank you, Lord Ferdinand," the girl said.

"Anytime, sweety." The young man answered along with a wink that the girl swiftly ignored.

"Mael?" Ana asked, looking for support for Mael.

The girl had long, flowing blonde hair that cascaded down her back like a golden waterfall. Her eyes were a piercing shade of blue, almost electric in their intensity. They seemed to radiate a bright, inner light that shone out from within her. Her skin was smooth and flawless, with a hint of a natural rosy flush to her cheeks. She had an air of innocence about her, with a sweet, friendly smile that seemed to always be on her lips.

Mael looked at the said person and saw a girl with long golden cascading hair looking up to him, and as pointed out by Ana, she looked and, clearly, was too young for these courses, as Mael knew that she was still in her first years in academia, while the courses Ana was giving Mael, as he, during his detention, had missed a lot of them, were for students like them in their third years.

He agreed that this course, which Ana was giving Mael, was of no use to that girl, but he also agreed with Ferdinandt on the fact that she wasn’t bothering

"Miss Ana, I don’t think-"

"Don't tell me you're a smithen as well, Mael."

"Smithen?"

"Yes, smithen." Ana confirmed, then confronted Reina, "First, Miss Adrianna, Ferdinand, and now Mael."

"Oh, come on, Ana." Ferdinandt voiced.

"I want to hear nothing from you."

"Don’t tell me you’re jealous of Miss Reina."

"Me jealous? You might be a prince, but watch your words." She warned.

"Eh, look at this reaction; if it isn’t jealousy, I don’t know what else it could be."

"It’s not jealousy; I mean, isn’t all of this a little bit too sketchy? She integrated our faction board a little too rapidly."

"She didn’t integrate the board; she’s just a guest of the board."

"That’s the problem. She’s a guest and we’re letting her everywhere."

It has been a week or so since Mael was released. Unlike Ramia and everyone else, he didn't get to spend much time with that girl, but after only a few days with her, she quickly understood how she came to win most people's hearts, except Miss Ana's.

Mael, who has been silent so far, glanced at the girl sitting next to him, who was the subject of the discussion, and yet she looked completely unphased by what the two were disputing about.

He could understand Ana's concerns; one must say that she rather came out of nowhere, especially for someone like Mael, who spent the past three months in detention.

The local they were in was reserved for the core members of the Ascending Nobility's faction members, who were to be noted, mostly princes and princesses, as was the case for everyone, except Mael, who was only a step below them in ranking. But even then, each of them was evenly matched when it came to their respective contributions to the faction's foundation. Yet this girl, on the other hand, was just there at Mael’s return, and if it weren’t for Ramia having explained her peculiar situation to him, he was certain that he would’ve felt the same way Ana did.

Wanting to diffuse the ongoing argument, Mael said, "Come on, you two, I think that—" only to be interrupted by the sound of someone entering the room.

"Ramia!" No one else but the girl, Reina, jumped to her side when she realized who it was. "I was wondering when you'd return," the girl said, already clinging to Ramia's arm.

"What again?"

"Look, I told you this girl is a parasite," Ana continued, pointing at Ramia. "She even got Ramia."

"Silence you two; we're hearing your voice from across the corridor." another voice said.

Following Ramia, a second girl entered the room.

"And you stop clinging to Ramia like this, it’s insightful."

The girl, Adrianna, was the last member of the core members of the Ascending Nobility Faction; in Mael's absence, it was she who took over his position as second-in-charge.

"Yeah, let go of me; you’re annoying."

"But… I don’t wanna…" Reina tantrumed, getting even clingier than ever.

"Girl, just let go of me." Ramia complained as she dragged herself to the sofa she was seated on.

Adrianna grabbed Reina's shoulder and said, "You, you go with me; if you thought you'd stay with me while having it easy, you got it wrong, young lady." Adrianna dragged Reina away.

"Ramia…." She begged as she was dragged away.

"You two too, follow me." She shouted at Ramia.

"Yes, Maam."

Only with them gone and the door closing behind them did Ramia heave out a loud sigh,

"I’m beat."

"Keep up the good work."

"... By the way, Mael, Adrianna, and I stumbled upon your cousin earlier."

"Which one?"

"The younger one, Uriel. He asked me to tell you that there is something he would like to discuss in private with you, if you have time."

"I see. Understood. I’ll see him as soon as I can."