"━And I hope that all of you, proud alumni of Royal Capital Middle Academy, will always uphold the name of our greatest Howlan Empire from this point onward as you continue on your own chosen path. May our paths cross once again in the future. To all students, summer has arrived but don't forget to━"

(Sheesh! How long is this speech? Come on, get it done, old man.)

(*Yawn*~ So sleepy~ I wanna go home already.)

(Ugh, my butt's hurt. And I have to sit on the train for 2 hours after this!)

(I still have to pack my remaining things, I won't be able to leave today. *Sigh*)

(It's noon! Father must have arrived to pick me up! Hurry Principal! Hurry!)

(So boring~)

(End it already~)

Looks like no matter what world, principal speech tends to be boring. The student's complaints didn't stop and it all blended with the principal's voice, creating a deafening and truly chaotic noise. This was definitely noise pollution. But, of course, the only one who suffered because of it, was me. 

Two months have passed since my birthday party. I came back to school after a week of leave, and then today was the end of the school year, so we were currently having our annual farewell event. They called it an "event" but it was just a series of speeches by alumni representative, student representative, student council president, teacher representative, and finally the principal. The principal was a kind old man, but he's famous for his long deadly boring speech.

Anyway, my ability seemed to keep getting stronger since the awakening. The moment I reached the Royal Capital's gate, hundreds of voices flooded my mind. It was my first time hearing that many voices at once, it felt like my head was struck apart by lightning. The road to the Secondary School's dorm was pure torture, I almost lost consciousness several times. I never had motion sickness before, so seeing me throw up after I got off the carriage, Amy was in an absolute panic that she cried her eyes out while running to the infirmary, carrying me on her back. 

The dorm is located in a less crowded land in a corner of the Capital, so the flood of voices subsided a bit. But it was only a matter of time before hundreds of students came back to the dorm, and it would be hell again. 

What the heck?! Why do I have to suffer like this?! Please stop! I don't want this! Stop! STOP!!

I was desperate then. I knew it would never stop, but I couldn't help pleading. This ability had been stuck with me even before I could tell what is what, I've long given up on trying to get rid of it. So, who would have thought that it would really stop? 

The world fell silent all of a sudden. Because I was alone in the infirmary, the feeling of serenity which I've longed for, felt so great I teared up. But oddly enough, that euphoria didn't last long and was quickly replaced by apprehension. It was quiet, too quiet even, that a stupid thought like "all this time I'm the last human existing" crossed my mind and it frightened me. The voices then returned as abruptly as it had disappeared before. 

This incident made me realize that this ability can be controlled. After that, I experimented a lot, and now I could switch it on and off freely. So if truth be told, I didn't have to suffer at all. Then, why did I torture myself like this? Because I found that, aside from the on/off switch, the area it covered also seemed to be wider than before. And if I focused enough, I could somehow pinpoint a certain voice which I want to hear more clearly while concealing the other voices. But unlike the on/off switch, this was harder to master, so I must practice it daily. Well, I was bored too just like other students, so why not practice?

"━Have a good holiday, and see you next term."

When the principal finally finished his speech, all of the students, even the teachers, sighed in relief almost at the same time. 

Wow, they hate the principal's speech that much. 

After the long boring speech ended, everyone immediately wrapped up the annual farewell event, and many students hurried to get their luggage as their pickup had arrived at school. It's the long-awaited summer vacation, so everyone was excited to go home after staying at the dorm for six months. Every year, there would be an endless queue of carriages at the school gate. Most of them belonged to nobles since the commoners usually took the train to go home. I, who was always uncomfortable with such a crowded place, often stayed behind to wait for the situation to calm down.

I walked slowly and close to the corridor wall, trying not to bump into anyone rushing. I still had my ability on, but I adjusted it to its original condition before the awakening powered it up. If it's this much, I could handle it without feeling sick.

These past 2 months have been hectic. It was mainly because the news of my engagement with the Crown Prince had reached the school and became a hot topic. Students and a few teachers, nobles and commoners, came especially to meet me, saying they wanted to congratulate me. They acted all friendly and talked in a flattering manner, it's obvious they wanted to be on my good side. But I didn't know more than half of those people and didn't plan on knowing any of them either. 

It's not like I hate them, and their desire to gain an influential person's favor was also not wrong. It's just, hearing people's vicious thoughts and greed for so many years has made me numb. I wanted nothing to do with those kinds of people, but that's not possible. Whether I liked it or not, right now I am the Crown Prince's fiancee and the future Empress, so I must act like one and at least listen to their "good" will. Even so, I didn't think I would ever get used to this. Though they were still children of the same age as "me", some of the students actually came to me on their own volition, not by the order of their parents like most. The thoughts of these children, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I heard them.

Aside from becoming the most sought person in school, there was another change. Throughout my 13 years of life of being a freak, I've used to people's stares. From curious stares to indifferent gazes, from pitiful glances to disgusted glares; I've experienced it all. But since I came back to school, people, especially girls, have been staring at me with jealousy. Now, this was something different. People usually pitied my family for having me. So the number of people who felt jealous or envious towards me, I believed, was zero. That's why this was kind of an unfamiliar situation and it left me with mixed feelings. 

Well, it's understandable why they were jealous. After all, despite being like this, my family still loved me and the Royal Family at least still considered me decent enough. For that, I was really grateful, and there's a part of me who wanted to slap those who slandered me before and said to their faces, "Serve you right." But there's also a part of me who's worried about what those people might do. People who are blind by jealousy can be extremely reckless, and that's scary.

Moreover, most of the jealous glares came from girls who were part of Brother Ray's fan club. Yes. Fan Club. You heard it right. Brother had always been a gentleman, so his rise in popularity is deemed unstoppable as he had many admirers. But to be honest, I was shocked when I first found out about this fan club 2 months ago, because they didn't exist in the game. Has the plot changed somewhere? But then again, just because this world was based on the game, didn't mean it would follow the plot to a T. This is a real world after all.

Although I still cringed when I heard those fangirls proclaimed themselves as loyal members of the Crown Prince's "Garden of Maidens", it relieved me as their existence proved that the plot was possible to change.

I wonder if Brother Ray knows about them. Nah, I'm sure he does but chose to leave them alone. Even I would do the same if I were him. They are creepy... 

(Oh, there she is! Thank goodness.)

Wait, now that I think about it, some of those girls look familiar… 

(Wait for me!)

Oh, right! They were part of the mob who bullied Elena in the game!

(Lady Eira!)

"Yes?"

"Eek!?"

As soon as I turned around to answer, the girl who's been calling me startled, and a short scream escaped her mouth. 

Oh crap. I accidentally answered her thoughts. Now she was staring at me with confused eyes. Quick, I must say something...

"Oh, tha-that, I guess Lady Eira heard my steps? I'm sorry if I surprised you."

"No-Yes. I'm sorry too…" Whoa, this is awkward. Thank you, Clara, and I'm the one who's sorry.

This girl was Clarabelle, my roommate. She was a commoner. Her father was a merchant who's mainly dealing with fabrics from foreign countries, and his business has been successful for the last three years. Thanks to that, Clara had been able to stay in the nobles dorms instead of the commoner dorms. 

Well, there's actually no difference between the two since the school treated all students equally. We are all required to stay at the dormitory during our school terms, and share a room with a roommate. Each student would be paired with another student from the same grade, who was decided by the school. Of course, the male is separated from the female. But there's no discrimination between nobles and commoners, or so it should be. 

As expected, aristocratic people are still reluctant to stay with peasant people all day long every day. Even though basic education has been evenly distributed nowadays, people from high-rank families still deem people from a lower rank to be somewhat barbaric. Thus the nobles' parents pressured the school to make some adjustments so their children could be roommates with someone of the same rank, or even better, a higher rank family. This was the forerunner that led to the creation of the so-called nobles dorms and commoners dorms. The official name of these dorms were the east dorms and the west dorms, but people still used those nicknames often.

These occurrences also happened in the Royal Academy, since these schools' systems were closely similar. But it wasn't as bad as in the Secondary Schools. Now the Academy was more or less an international independent institute, so the nobles had limited ways to intervene. This was good to educate the students so they were able to stand on their own two feet. But the downside was, without parents who supervise them, the students tended to act as they pleased. Even though there were teachers who're watching them at school, the dorms were almost completely isolated. This is due to the management of the dorms which had been left to senior students as the dorms' head. Elena's bullying case was just one of many that had occurred.

Clara's situation when we started school was about the same as Elena's. The senior girls often blackmailed her to get high-quality fabrics for their new dresses. Her father's business still relied heavily on the purchases from the nobles, so Clara had to heed their demands. She was a good and hardworking girl who loved her father dearly that she would force herself to smile even though she wanted to cry so much. She's so pitiful that I ended up standing up to her and told off those senior girls without much thinking. 

After that accident, I was worried that my reputation would affect her, but we ended up being friends instead. She's the only one at school who would come to talk to me from time to time even before the engagement. And her being an honest child had helped a lot with our friendship. 

"It's okay. Lady Eira, are you leaving today?"

"Yes, that's the plan. My younger brother should have arrived at home by now."

"Oh, I see…" (What should I do now?)

Hm? She looked kind of restless. Speaking of which, she should have finished packing her stuff, I wonder why she was still at school. Won't she miss her train?

"What's the matter?"

"Huh?! N-no, it's nothing." (As expected, it's weird to suddenly say that I want to visit her house. More importantly, will some commoners like me even be allowed to pass the gate?)

It is kind of weird. But if you want to visit, I will gladly welcome you. Why so sudden though?

(Ugh… What should I do? Dad told me to deepen our friendship, but as I thought this is too sudden. Lady Eira might dislike it…)

You too, huh? Your father is indeed a merchant. I'm sure his aim is to be introduced to Father. Hmm, should I help them?

Actually, there's another reason why I couldn't leave her alone. It's because Clara also appeared in the game. She was just a non-player character who didn't have a name, but even before I remembered my past life, I felt this strange attachment toward her like I've known her for a long time. In the game, she was called 'Female Student' and her role was to give basic information about the settings and random clues about the capture targets. Even so, her character design was much more decent than Eira. She had a pair of big round brown eyes with beige wavy hair. Well, she's inferior if compared to Elena, but in my opinion, she's cute enough to be a sidekick of the heroine or even a rival character…

Oh, wait… that could be a good idea, no, it's a brilliant idea!

In a romance-simulation game, there are female characters who act as rival characters to the heroine. So if players want to win over a capture target, they have to defeat the rival character assigned to them. For example, Elena must defeat his fiancee, Eira, to win over Prince Ray. Coincidentally, the rival character for the younger brother was also Eira. But since I wanted Elena to end up with Ray, it's best if l set the younger brother up with someone else, and Clara fits the bill. If they're together, I believe, the honest Clara would be able to put some restraints on that cunning boy.

Alright, let's invite her to the mansion. "Clara, you seem to have some trouble. If it's alright with you, you can tell me. I would be happy to help."

"Lady Eira…" (Oh God, she is so kind! I wonder why everyone avoided her before. She's even kind to a commoner like me! If Lady Eira becomes the Empress, the Empire surely will be more prosperous!)

You're my friend, of course I'll treat you well. But I won't become the Empress, sorry.

As soon as I gave her half a chance, Clara's eyes shone immediately. She was fidgeting while she blushed. She looked like a maiden who wanted to confess her love to her crush, making it hard to suppress a wry smile. 

"I am honored that Lady Eira cares so much about me. Actually, it's not something serious, I just thought that I should repay the kindness you've given me until now, so━"

"My, my. There you are, Lady Bellux."

Clara began chattering, but a loud voice interrupted her. I focused on Clara so I didn't notice that we already arrived in front of the dorm. There, a group of girls dressed in expensive traveling outfits was standing. It seems their luggage had been loaded to their respective carriages, but here they are, not going home yet.

"We are waiting for you, Lady. We wish to bid you farewell and a good holiday."

The girl who was standing at the front, curtsied once I stopped before her and followed by the other girls behind her. Their gestures were polite and respectful, if only not for their cursing hearts. 

(Why does she have to be slow? I'm tired of waiting!)

(Her fat and heavy legs must be a hindrance. Poor her~.)

(If she didn't remember me even after all these, I won't care anymore. Seems like the Boar Princess isn't so smart like the Royal Family have said.)

(Ugh! This is humiliating! I won't ever bow down to an ugly pig like her if not for Father's order!)

(I still can't believe she was chosen. What's her secret? I bet it's all because of the Bellux. Heh, how lucky~.)

Since today is your last day, you prudes don't hold back at all, huh. 

These girls were the seniors who used to blackmail Clara before. After I confronted them, they didn't dare to approach Clara anymore, but their poisonous tongues still slandered me all the time, spreading foul yet cheap rumors. Now that I'm the future Empress, they often came frolicking at me as if they were innocent just like this. They kept spouting some pleasantries to me, completely ignoring Clara who shrunk her shoulders and hid behind my back. These hypocrites.

"Clara, you can go inside first, I'll be there in a minute."

I heard Clara's nervous thoughts as she was grabbing the hem of my uniform unconsciously, so I deliberately told her to wait in our room. But her expression as I turned to her, was that of panic and scared one.

"Oh my, what's this? I'm so sorry Miss Clarabelle, didn't see you're here too. But are you okay? Shouldn't you hurry to the station? You're going to miss your train, you know?"

"What?! Eer, w-well… I…"

Ah, so now you are targeting her? That's why Clara had that expression just now. Since they were ignoring her, she wanted to keep silent until they were gone, hoping that they wouldn't pay attention to her. But because of me, their already-irritated mood was provoked and now they aimed their malicious eyes towards her. Still, I doubt they would just go after they're done with me. Hell, no one knows when they will be done. Even though I purposely stayed longer at school to avoid the crowded traffic, I didn't have such leisure time to entertain these treacherous bunch.

"My apologies. I have promised Clara that I'm going to invite her to our mansion today, so we plan to leave together."

As soon as I said that, they all froze, Clara included. Minutes passed and the world's still quiet, but only I knew the raging storm inside.

(What the?! I didn't know that their relationship was this close!)

Well, we are roommates. Isn't it weirder if we aren't close? Oh, are you perhaps not close to your roommate?

(She invited her?! That commoner?! How can that be?!)

Because we're friends? Even if she's a commoner, I'd rather be with her than with you prudes.

(Together?! Does that mean this peasant will ride the Grand Duke's carriage?!)

Of course, she will. What's so strange about inviting a friend to ride in my carriage?

(What? Why? But Lady Eira never promises to invite me??)

Then, I am inviting you now Clara. 

The voices were so amazingly messed up that I didn't catch all of it. I waited but aside from their internal screaming, they didn't react at all. So let's end this squabble since we were running out of time.

"Then, please excuse us. We must leave immediately. Thank you for sending us off, ladies."

Giving them a quick business smile, I grabbed Clara's hand and dragged her past them. We went up to the second floor where our room was, while Clara's confused thoughts still rang out in my ears. Seems like I had to make her decide for herself, whether she's going to my house or not. 

"Clara, I'm sorry for suddenly inviting you to my house. If you don't want to, it's okay. You can visit anytime anyway."

"Eh?! I-is that true? I mean, is it okay for me to visit?"

"Of course. I'll welcome you wherever you want to visit."

I nodded at her questions like it was the most natural thing in the world, and her face immediately flushed again. Her glistening eyes fixed at me while she repeatedly asked, "Really?" After I assured her, she repeatedly thanked me next. Calm down, would you? Her excitement was too much, I backed off from her a little.

When we arrived in front of our room, Amy was already waiting for me. She collected most of my luggage while I carried a bag myself. As one of the Grand Duke family's maids, it's no wonder that she's quite strong. Clara's belongings were fewer than mine, so she only had one carpetbag and one handbag. 

"So, Miss Clara will come with us?"

"Ah, I'm so sorry. I can't visit the Grand Duke's mansion today. My mother said everyone must celebrate my younger brother's birthday together at home this year."

"You've been away for 6 months after all. Your family must be missing you."

"But I will definitely visit you, Lady Eira! I'm going to send a letter immediately! Please look forward to it!"

"Alright, I'll be waiting. Speaking of, you're not late for your train, aren't you?"

"I'm fine, mine is an afternoon ticket. Then, have a good holiday!"

"Have a good holiday."

Clara accompanied us to where our carriage was waiting and only left after we departed. Even then, she's still waving at us until she looked like a tiny dot on the horizon. She was very happy, I bet she would tell her father the moment they met. 

[***]

The journey back home felt short since it was a peaceful trip. But once we arrived at the mansion, my hands started to feel cold even though it's summer. As expected, meeting one of the capture targets, who has a high chance to kill you in the future, was nerve-wracking. Not that I planned to bully him like the in-game Eira, but…

"Eira! Welcome home!"

Like usual, Grandfather was the first to welcome me. He came over once the carriage stopped then opened the door for me, offering his hand to help me get off. 

"Welcome home, Eira."

"Father. I'm home."

On the contrary, this was one of the rare occasions where Father was at home when I came back. He's usually too busy with work, but today was a "special" day so I guessed he took a day off. 

As I greeted him, I noticed a young boy was hiding behind Father. He peeked at me but then quickly hid again when our eyes met. 

Who's this?

Father chuckled at the boy's shyness. Patting his head gently, Father urged the boy to introduce himself. The boy was surprised. Still reluctant to come out from behind Father, he clutched Father's trousers tightly.

So, who's this??

After Father coaxed him again, he finally came out. With one hand still clutching Father's trousers, the boy looked at me with upturned eyes and slightly blushed cheeks. A bit shuttering as he introduced himself to me.

"Go-good evening. My name is Theodore. Nice to meet you, Elder Sister."

Like I said, who's this??!!