The morning... didn't go well. First of all, I was awakened by a terrible ringing, mistakenly called a general alarm clock, which made me jump up and almost fall off the bed. Secondly, the nightmarish experience turned out to be true!

"Are you sure you're okay, Anita?" said the neighbor, having already managed to pull herself together and look even better than I remembered her from yesterday. She was a beauty: thin, small, with almond-shaped green eyes and thick dark braids… A student of the Emerald faculty, as it turned out by the color of her robes.

And my body of Anita Lebedia also turned out to be from the same faculty, since a similar robe was found in the closet.

By the way, there are six faculties in the Academy of Light — according to the colors of magic: red Ruby, orange Carnelian, yellow Amber, green Emerald, blue Aquamarine, and indigo Sapphire. There was no faculty for violet magic: simply because people like me appeared very rarely. Therefore, until now I studied at the faculty of Sapphire, as the closest to me in color. My dean was very nice to me, and overlooked many of my shortcomings — that's what “through connections” means. However, this did not help to reveal my gift: I was still a useless mage of violet color.

Perhaps it is worth explaining what it means to reveal the gift. The bottom line is that violet magic doesn’t allow you to use the capabilities above the basic ones until the hidden gift manifests itself. It isn’t known what kind of gift it is. It can be anything from changing the color of magic (it's still harmless) to curses of the level of death magic. In the past, there was already a story about a prince with such a gift, which was revealed at the time of his wedding and destroyed everyone who was nearby, except himself. A terrible story that has become a fairy tale, which now frightens young children.

That's why my betrothal to Prince Dioniy never took place. Having a bride with an undisclosed gift is a dubious investment in the future.

By the way, I'm ugly Anita now! Does this mean that my magic has changed?

I concentrated and listened to the movement of mana in my body. In the next instant, bright green lines appeared on my skin.

Green magic! The magic of space!

For a moment, I was overcome with delight. All my life I have dreamed of a different color of magic, absolutely any. And so, my wish came true. Even in such a strange way.

A thought struck me for a second. And what if it was my mysterious gift of violet?..

Doubtful after all. Where did Anita herself go then? If I assume that there was an exchange of souls, then why was my body unconscious yesterday?

“Anita!” my beautiful neighbor pulled me out of my thoughts. "Are you sure you're all right? You haven't spoken to me since last night. Something happened? Have I offended you in some way?”

For a second I felt ashamed.

Maybe I should tell her the truth about who I am.

"You see, my name is..." — “Hanna von Leyman" hung on the tip of my tongue. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, and I couldn't say the most important thing. That I'm Hanna.

"I... I... yesterday I..."

It doesn't work! I can't say it! Why?

"Yesterday I felt that I had become stronger in magic,” my mouth said. Meanwhile, the real me couldn't say a word.

What's happening? Why can't I just tell the truth? What kind of nonsense am I talking about right now?

“Oh, Anita, congratulations!” the girl smiled. “You tried a lot for this!”

“Yes, thank you, but, the thing is that... that.... What am I....” (“I'm Hannah von Leyman, not Anita!”) “That I look like an ugly woman," my mouth betrayed.

“Oh, that's not true at all!” my neighbor started waving her hands. “You have a unique quality, Anita! Don't think poorly of yourself! You're talented in magic, unlike me! You know, I've always been envious of you... You have high potential, you know and can do so much... Your level must be about the same as that of the nobility, while I have almost no mana... Forgive me, I'm so bad!”

Tears appeared in the commoner's green eyes, and suddenly she started crying, burying her face in my sleeve. I was shocked. I expected anything but this. What am I supposed to do? I'm actually Duchess von Leyman, and nobody has ever cried to me in my life!

I stroked the crying neighbor on the head, and she suddenly burst into tears even more.

The door to the room opened, and yesterday's gaunt woman, the commandant, appeared on the threshold.

“Anita, Thalia, what's going on here?”

Oops, so I found out the name of my crybaby neighbor.

"It's all right, Bertha-sin, I just got emotional," Thalia smiled.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The short suffix "-sin" that she added to the name of the commandant clearly indicates that Thalia has a respectful attitude toward her.

In total, there were several such short suffixes to names:

“-sin", is a respectful suffix.

“-sima", a respectful suffix, stronger. The analog of “mistress/ master".

”-lu", a suffix used exclusively between close people or family, reflecting love and care. It can also be used in the address of the teacher to the student.

“-kai", is a suffix that appeals to a teacher or mentor.

In the upper strata of society, these suffixes were rarely used. They came to the Alvares Empire after the annexation of the Shu territories, and, surprisingly, became entrenched in the language. They were especially widespread among commoners, who, unlike aristocrats, did not have long names and corresponding titles. And, semantically, the handling of suffixes is quite simple and doesn’t require knowledge about the occupation or the title. Before the reforms of King Sigismund, addressing the aristocrat required mandatory indication itself, which was quite ... unpleasant. There are many titles. And using the wrong one could result in a duel or even the execution of a commoner.

Indeed, those were terrible times.

But back to the present.

"Girls, be careful," Bertha said. “Something strange is happening at the Academy. Hanna von Leyman was attacked last night, she is now in an artificial coma. So please always go together to prevent anything from happening”

"An attack? On Hanna herself?!” Thalia rounded her eyes. "She's a duchess! Who could have attacked her?”

Yes, yes, I am also very interested.

“No one knows yet. The rector has summoned imperial magicians to investigate, I think the culprit will be found soon. In the meantime… Until then, stay close and don't go anywhere alone!“ Bertha said the last sentence, looking straight at me. “By the way, Anita, did you see anything suspicious yesterday?”

I shook my head negatively.

***

There was a small incident in the dining room. I confidently headed to the huge table, covered with a variety of dishes, and was already thinking about taking my favorite blueberry cake, when suddenly I was stopped.

"Anita, wait! Where are you going?"

"Where am I going?" I looked at my neighbor questioningly. "I'm getting food."

"Anita, that food is for aristocrats," Thalia whispered, pointing me in the correct direction. "We go here.”

I had completely forgotten! Forgotten that now I belong to the lower stratum of society… I looked with envy at the neighboring table, where a wide variety of phenomena gathered. Unlike the aristocrats, the menu of the commoners was horribly limited. In the end, I took some salad and sat down with Thalia, who was already eating her portion with an appetite. I looked at the meager salad again and sighed.

"You look pale,” Thalia said. "Are you feeling good?"

Bravo to the girl. I remember my new face. Noticing pallor on the red layer of acne is another achievement.

“It's okay," I said.

“Thalia, hi!” A guy sat down with us. “How are you?”

“Hi, Zacharia," Thalia smiled. “Meet my best friend — Anita Lebedia. Anita, this is Zacharia Otto, my childhood friend. Remember when I told you about him?”

I didn't remember.

“Nice to meet you, Anita," Zacharia smiled.

"Likewise," I said, looking at the salad greens. Great! I'm sure my face is covered in pimples because of greasy food. I'm eating a salad.

On the other hand, my body is a commoner. What kind of greasy food can she have? In my mind, commoners plow fields and eat exclusively healthy food - potatoes, carrots... what else grows in the fields?

The salad was gone, but my bad mood wasn't. On top of that, I started feeling queasy. And it wasn't because commoners like my cover friend and another representative of the lower class were politely making small talk in front of me. I started feeling queasy from the realization that I was no longer myself.

This is really happening!

My hands are not my hands. These fat little hands can't be mine. I'm not Hanna, I'm this…

“And we are very happy to study at the Academy, aren't we, Anita?” Thalia said cheerfully, and the sound of her happy voice suddenly seemed disgusting to me. Nauseating. I got up and abruptly headed for the exit.

"Anita?" Thalia called out to me with concern, but I didn't turn back.

My entire being begged to be away from this reality.

Suddenly it got hot. And wet. A thick liquid was running down my face, and a girl in an elegant dress "from Karina von Solls" stood in front of me and held an inverted glass in her hands.

"Oh, I'm so clumsy," she sang. “However, it even... suits you?”

How... how dare she... pour compote on me, Duchess von Leyman?! Out of anger, I felt magic awakening inside me.

Magic based on anger is a strong weapon and a strong weakness. I was taught to control emotions, and if there is a lot of magic, to release anger in other ways.

I squinted, considering the offender. Beautiful. The dress is a light, soft caramel color. I wiped the compote from my face with my hand and carefully cleaned my palm on that luxurious fabric.

"There was a crease in your dress, there, now it's perfect," I said, tauntingly.

“How dare you?!” she screamed, and fiery-red sparks danced around her.

The shield appeared instantly, saving me from the flow of red energy. At least I was good at something. Because my violet magic was unstable, I had to train control incessantly, and as a result, I could cast all basic spells with a snap of my fingers. Fortunately, the body swap did not affect my memory.

Who knows what Anita’s base was like?

“What's going on here?” and here are the defenders. Rector August Deib and his entourage in the form of deputy — Eveline von Reis. As long as I remember, they always come together. At one time, particularly inquisitive adherents even tried to follow them to find evidence of a conspiracy theory and a carefully concealed office romance. In vain. If there were any connections between Deib and Eveline, they were clearly not romantic.

Eveline von Reis was a celebrity of the Academy of Light. She was not only the dean of the Emerald Faculty and the vice-rector but also the archmage of the Rainbow Circle. It seemed all the more strange that the post of rector of the Academy was held by August Deib — a commoner and not even an archmage. Moreover, in fact, she made all decisions concerning the rules of the Academy.

The adepts loved Deib, simply because he never got mad at anyone or raised his voice. And his classes on the theory of magic are a separate story. Almost half of the academy attended them. Among mages, he was called almost a genius: Deib was masterly at manipulating spells and even creating new ones. The title of archmage, alas, was not given to him, and, as I heard, this is because of his origin.

I liked Deib. A kind-hearted man with thick eyebrows and a mysterious smile. But now I caught the discerning look of brown eyes staring straight at me. I wonder what he could see in an ugly girl?

Eveline also looked at me, but, unlike Deib, she looked much more strictly. Many people disliked her for her rigid policy and the indisputability of her rules. Like now, for example.

"Heidi von Dein, Anita Lebedia — for using magic in the dining hall, you will be punished! To my office!”