Chapter 6 - Ethan

Act 3. Everything Starts From Imperfection

"Ethan, the third son of the Constance family, and the crown prince were born in the same year. They were childhood friends, and now he was the prince’s personal knight at the Academy. According to the novel, Ethan joins the prince’s Royal Knights after graduation. However, their current relationship wasn't good.

"I'm assuming it'll last a bit longer this time," said Evan.

"But why? Ethan was the one who was late for the training session, not his highness. How could I send this to his highness? I was going to send it to him on his birthday…" replied Ella, disappointedly.

Every day, the prince and Ethan had a training session.

A week ago, however, Ethan was late to training because he was running an errand for a professor. Whenever he was late, the prince usually waited for him without any complaints.

Because of that, he assumed that the prince would do the same this time around. By the time he arrived, the prince wasn’t there.

As a result, Ethan declared that he wouldn’t see the prince ever again. These kinds of fights usually lasted a few days at most.

A week had passed, but this fight, however, was still ongoing.

"Anyways, I’ll still send it over to Ethan. I hope they’ll make up with this as an excuse."

"What if Ethan doesn’t give it to him?" asked Ella, worryingly.

"Ethan? Of course, he will. He won’t dare to anger you."

"I see. Then, I’ll leave it to you." Ella still had doubts, but she had to agree obediently at Evan’s suggestions. In fact, there was no other option than the one he suggested anyway.

All children belonging to noble families in the Duffspe Empire were required to enter the Academy once they reached a certain age. Individuals like the prince couldn't inherit the right of succession unless they attended the Academy. As such, all children from noble families joined the Academy, and trouble was bound to happen. To solve such problems, the Academy created rules; One of the rules was on mail delivery.

Students are only allowed to receive mail from direct family members or an authorized guardian. Ella attempted to send a gift to the prince, but according to the rules, she couldn’t. She had no choice but to rely on Ethan, who was currently not speaking to the prince. Ella was frustrated with her brother to the point she almost swore when she read this part from the book.

This time, however, she was currently inside Luciella’s body and felt Luciella's anger.

She felt Ethan was acting out of hand because the prince was always too kind to him.

What does Ethan want from him this time? thought Ella as she angrily began writing letters to Ethan in the privacy of her room.

Without much thought, she wrote a long letter. Ella knew about the letter's original contents from reading the novel. Because of her prior knowledge, her pen seemed to move almost on its own as it magically transcribed the letter.

After completing the letter, she read it.

She couldn't believe what she saw.

So… I wrote all this?

The letter bore beautiful handwriting, resembling a piece of artwork suitable for hanging on a wall as a decoration. Ella couldn't believe it. She had never been proud of her handwriting before.

This world sure is strange.

Considering she was inside a novel, there were many unexplainable things in this world. Ella could naturally act like a 16-year-old noble, and she didn’t have any issues speaking so casually to the much older Maylin.

Ranhee never spoke casually to anyone, even if they were younger than her. There were times when her body moved by itself without her will, and it surprised her every time. Fortunately, whenever that happened, it helped her to behave more like Luciella. She would have tried to be more formal around Maylin, but that could have aroused some suspicion.

Ella also didn’t know any lady-like manners, which could have caused problems.

Not only that, Viscount Jersone would have been furious to know his student forgot everything he taught her.

It might have come to a point where rumors would spread that the lady of the Constance family had gone mad.

Having her body move automatically at times instead of Ranhee being in full control was better for Ella. The eerie feeling, however, frustrated her at times. Although it was her body, sometimes she felt like she was watching from the outside as she spoke and moved. Ella was glad that she had a will of her own, like when she offered the magician to join her family. It was also her own will to wrap her hands around Maylin’s arm.

If she said ‘hey,’ the word that came out of her mouth was ‘hello.’ When she walked, her body moved slowly and gently like a noble lady. These actions were all a part of her. She couldn’t even remember how she used to walk anymore.

Moreover, there were times when Luciella’s memories appeared in her mind whenever she needed them. It had only been half a day since Ranhee became Luciella. She already knew a lot of details about Luciella’s life. As time went by, she felt confused about her identity. She wasn’t sure if she was Ranhee or Luciella anymore, and she was bound to feel more confused later.

Can I protect my identity as Ranhee while living in Luciella’s body?

That thought made Ella afraid.

“My lady?”

Maylin’s call woke her up from her thoughts. Worried, Maylin stood next to Ella, ready to drag her back to bed if she wasn't feeling well.

Ella smiled back at her to reassure her, “What is it?”

“Countess Weshill has arrived.”

Countess Weshill was Ella’s etiquette teacher. The lessons resembled more of a tea time. During those lessons, they talked about the palace and noble society. Last year, Luciella didn't need to learn anymore etiquette, so the countess began sharing rumors and advice with her. Luciella enjoyed these lessons the most. Ranhee, on the other hand, felt like she was going to go crazy. She felt uncomfortable seeing herself speak eagerly on these topics. It almost seemed like a competition with the countess.

How am I going to survive in this world? I should let my body do the talking whenever it’s women’s talk.

Ella felt like she was in a state where her body was separate from her mind. It was better to stay that way. She wasn’t sure if she could survive in this world.

***

After tea time with the countess, Ella was sent to her next class with Baron Bleu, who taught her about politics. After attending two more lessons, Ella was finally done for the day. These lessons occurred every day. Unlike ordinary girls, she wasn’t allowed to enjoy shopping or tea time. Instead, she could only spend her time preparing to become the next empress. The duchess seemed worried about her daughter’s life.

"Ella, I’m worried that you’ll stress yourself out. I think you have too many classes. How about you take fewer classes?”

“It’s quite alright, mother. Instead of fewer classes, I want more of them. I want to know everything,” replied Ella.

“No way! You’ll pass out from the stress! I won’t allow that!”

The duchess had asked multiple times after Ranhee came into this world. She thought that Ella’s schedule was too full, and she wanted to lessen Ella’s burden. Unfortunately, Ella refused her offer and instead felt her schedule was very doable.

Every day she had eight hours of sleep and had enough meals to eat. Her meals were just enough for her to lose weight. Ranhee, on the other hand, usually had four hours of sleep, and hunger always followed her even when she was working in the food industry. Ella was satisfied with her life. She loved her studies as she found them to be interesting and fun.

In addition, Ranhee always had to focus on three to four things simultaneously, unlike Ella, who just had to concentrate on one thing at a time.

On an average day, Ella took five classes, which was more than the average noble girl.

Despite the busyness, Ranhee enjoyed it.

She loved how she wasn’t taught flower arranging like most girls. What she liked most was that she was taught politics, mathematics, and social sciences, which were usually only taught to men.

Although there were times when Ranhee felt the information she was taught was outdated, there were other times when she found it useful. It was interesting to compare information from what she was taught to what she already knew.

As a result, she didn’t heed the duchess’s plea to reduce her classes.

Not only that, but Luciella also had a special reason for ignoring the duchess’s plea, and Ranhee also agreed with it.