“Was the medicine we gave her poisonous?”

‘…Medicine?’

Siara’s ears perked up. Standing in the hallway, she leaned toward the open window to listen.

“Lord Diego, do you think something’s wrong with her mind? That medicine was safe, right?”

“It’s just a sleeping drug. It’s harmless.”

“Really? But her personality seems different.”

It was clear these children had given her some strange medicine. Meanwhile, the real soul of this frail body had either vanished or gone elsewhere.

Siara crossed her arms, deep in thought.

‘What’s this? Looking at myself now, I seem quite short.’

Leaning against the wall, she noticed her legs and arms were short. Having lived in an immortal body her entire life, an ordinary human body felt strange.

‘I seem young…’

When the bell rang and the middle-aged man came out, she had to look up to see his face. For Siara, it had been a very long time since she’d had to look up at anyone. The pot-bellied middle-aged man appeared to be a teacher at the magic academy.

He glared at Siara with stern eyes.

“Falling asleep during class? You’ll get an F forever!”

“What…?”

‘F? What’s that…?’

Siara had been called a genius since childhood, so teachers had always treated her with caution. This was the first time a teacher had addressed her so rudely.

Since he hadn’t told her to go back inside, Siara continued standing in the hallway.

‘My legs hurt.’

Just as her legs were starting to go numb, a red-haired young man came out through the back door. Much taller than Siara, he stood in front of her and grinned.

“Annie Light. How are you feeling?”

“…Who are you?”

The boy brushed his red hair with one hand, looking bewildered.

“You don’t know me? Did that medicine really mess with your head?”

“What’s your name?”

“…They said there wouldn’t be side effects. I’m Diego Reed. The Crown Prince.”

Diego tilted his head, looking down at Siara. She didn’t seem particularly surprised by his royal title.

“Is that so?”

“…You’re pretending, right?”

“Why would I?”

Diego’s cheeks reddened as Siara stared intently at him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re standing in front of me, so I’m looking at you. Why?”

“No… you never used to look at me that way. You’d run away whenever our eyes met.”

“Did I?”

“Um…”

Before Diego could notice something was off, Siara pointed to the back door of the classroom.

“Can I go back in now? I was told to stand in the hallway.”

“…Yes, you can.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Ignoring the stare drilling into the back of her head, Siara entered the classroom. She returned to her seat and sat down at her desk. Other students whispered as they watched her sit with perfect posture.

“Annie Light seems different, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, she seems more confident.”

“Was she always like this…?”

Siara, now inhabiting the utterly ordinary body of Annie, sat through the class with perfect posture. Everyone who knew Annie stared at her strangely.

* * *

After classes ended, Siara returned to the dormitory and washed her face. Drying her face with a towel, she looked in the mirror to see a plainly ordinary girl. Only her brown eyes shone brightly in an otherwise unremarkable face.

She caught a student in the dormitory and used magic to extract information about “Annie Light.”

‘Annie Light.’

The illegitimate daughter of Duke Light.

Her mother had been a maid who left the castle after receiving money following Annie’s birth. No one knew if she was alive or dead now. Annie, who took after her unremarkable mother, had plain brown hair and brown eyes.

She was being bullied by Crown Prince Diego, who had singled her out, and some girls even envied that attention. After learning this much, Siara released the student. The student wouldn’t remember what she had said once the magic wore off.

Siara opened several letters addressed to her. They were from Duke Light.

It seemed the Duke was planning to marry off his illegitimate daughter to an older nobleman and pocket a substantial sum.

Siara knew well this wasn’t marriage but being sold off.

<I sent you to an expensive magic academy because you asked to attend school, but you must marry for the family’s benefit as soon as you turn 20. Do you understand?>

<Do you know that Count Morgan Howard is very wealthy? He’s been widowed and has married off all his children. He wants to remarry. He wants to see you—would you come home during summer vacation?>

<Baron Smith, who’s in his fifties, is also curious about you. Many people are waiting for you to come of age.>

Siara’s lips twitched in disbelief as she read the letters.

“…Is he insane?”

Offering marriage proposals from men in their 40s and 50s to a 15-year-old daughter. Even for an illegitimate child, this seemed excessive.

Siara looked in the mirror again. The ordinary girl with freckles seemed to have no advantages besides her youth. She could somewhat understand why Duke Light had officially recognized this illegitimate daughter, even paying money to do so.

‘…He needs a sacrifice for a political marriage, I suppose.’

Currently, the Light family had no male heirs. So the legitimate daughter would bring in a son-in-law to continue the family line.

“Hmm, what should I do about this?”

If she went home, she would inevitably be forced into unwanted marriage meetings. It would be best not to go home for vacation or any other reason. That meant she needed to stay put in this dormitory…

‘But what if Duke Light gets angry and stops me from attending school? No, it should be fine. He’s a Duke after all, he’ll honor his promise. The letter said immediately upon turning 20, so I should be safe for now.’

More importantly, attending a magic academy meant this ordinary girl’s body possessed magical power.

‘Let’s see. Magical power…’

When she extended her hand, five grape-sized orbs of magical energy danced in her palm.

“What? Is this all?”

Originally, she could summon magical energy powerful enough to break through castle walls, not mere grape-sized orbs.

She had worried her magical power might disappear after dimensional transfer, but this was almost worse than having none.

“Well… it’s not terrible.”

Though disappointed, she consoled herself that if she had entered a human without any magical power, she wouldn’t have been able to activate magic at all. So this was better than nothing, even if the magical power was tiny.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

“Annie! Annie Light!”

“…?”

Siara carefully opened the door. A chubby girl stood there eating a lollipop. Judging by her uniform, she was also a student at the school.

“Lord Diego is calling for you!”

“…Why?”

Diego was one of the children who had bullied Annie. Why would he call for her? Was he planning to bully her again?

“I don’t know. He just wants you to come to the garden.”

After the girl left, Siara quickly got ready and went outside. There was a garden in the center of the dormitory, and Diego sat on a garden bench with his legs spread wide, like a king.

‘Come to think of it, he said he was the Crown Prince.’

Siara decided to overlook his arrogance since he would soon become emperor. Ordinary people only suffered misfortune when entangled with royalty. Of course, she was no ordinary person.

Diego cleared his throat as soon as he saw Siara.

“Ahem!”

“…Why did you call me?”

With her hands in her pockets, Siara looked up at Diego. Seeing the small-statured Siara, Diego extended his arm.

“Could you massage my arm? It hurts.”

A boy who appeared to be Diego’s attendant stood beside him. Siara pointed at the attendant with her index finger.

“Can’t you ask your attendant? Is there any particular reason I should do it? I don’t even have much strength in my arms.”

Siara’s body was truly weak. Her arms and wrists were small and thin.

“Just do it. If you refuse, I’ll go directly to Duke Light and tell him. I’ll say his illegitimate daughter won’t listen to me.”

“Go ahead and tell him.”

“What?”

Siara sat down next to Diego and crossed her legs.

‘What a brat.’

Siara felt she needed to make things clear.

“If you say that, I’ll immediately quit school and return home.”

“…What?”

“Like you said, being an illegitimate child, what else can I do but marry some old nobleman?”