Ciedrich did a double take when he next laid eyes on me. “Lady Beryl, you look simply marvelous.”

I was fairly certain of it now; he was downright smitten, and I couldn’t blame him.

“I know, right? I would do me. I mean…” I nervously coughed up a storm. “Ahem. Why thank you, Lord Ciedrich. You are so gracious!”

I thought I caught a glimpse of his pleasant smile twitching ever so slightly, but hopefully that was just my imagination.

Thanks to Helga’s surprisingly useful aid, I was now sporting a black satin glove on each arm, a small necklace, and a pair of high heeled shoes. While it had taken me some time to get used to stepping around in these high heels, the focus required to properly walk in them did keep me from taking overly long strides that would have made me trip on the edge of my dress’ skirt. Of course, the dignifying rise in my stature they granted me was the real prize.

When everything was in order, Ciedrich paid for my new attire with only a single coin—a platinum! I would get my hands on one of those before long. I almost felt foolish that I had earlier considered selling off my current outfit when a much larger bounty was nearly within reach. And this was the perfect gear to help me close that distance!

As we departed the store together, I sidled up to Ciedrich just a touch closer than I had before. “Where are we headed now, my lord?”

He was doing a good job maintaining his composure with my proximity. “You mentioned you had familiarity with magic in your previous world, no? I happen to have a library with quite an extensive collection.”

I could do without dusty old tomes. Magic, on the other hand… If he was a capable mage, this was just getting better and better!

I leaned toward him a little closer. “That sounds wonderful! You never told me you were a spellcaster. How much experience do you have with magic?”

He couldn’t resist the chance to show off. Ciedrich raised a hand in front of him, the tip of his finger glowing as he traced a symbol in the air. A moment later, a rose made out of shimmering light materialized in his hand.

I might have been remotely impressed had I not already experienced my own reincarnation. “A party trick? Surely you jest. Is that the best you can do?” I challenged.

With a short laugh and a flick of his wrist, the ethereal rose vanished. “It appears we have a tough critic in our midst. Very well then, would you like to see a more sophisticated spell?”

Ciedrich extended his hand to me as though he were offering me a dance. A moment of trepidation made me waver. Putting myself at the mercy of an unknown spell of his choosing was not a part of the plan.

“And what exactly did you have in mind, my lord?” I asked cautiously.

He ran his other hand through his jet-black hair. “Fortune favors the bold, Lady Beryl.”

Oh, now Prince Charming wanted to play ‘hard to get.’ Well, two can play that game!

I flipped my hair back and took a step away. “I am grateful for your assistance this day. You must be a very busy man; I wouldn’t want to take up any more of your valuable time.”

“Come now, my lady. The day is young! Are you able to sense your own mana? I might be able to teach you a thing or two.”

That’s more like it! After a brief moment of concentrating inward, it felt like there was some kind of a second circulatory system coursing through my body, though not in a physical way. To my embarrassment, at first I thought it might have been an unfamiliar aspect of womanhood, but he didn’t need to know that. I focused this strange energy in my body toward my hand, and a few seconds later I felt a tingling sensation as a tiny ball of light danced between my gloved fingers.

“Impressive,” Ciedrich noted. “Most people would have to train for years to reach that level.”

Is this what John had meant by ‘magical affinity?’ Now I just had to put this to use!

I stepped closer to him again. “When do we get started, Lord Ciedrich?”

He offered me his hand once more with a confident smile. Damn! So it had come back to this after all. Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained…

I gave him a look of disapproval. “Hmph! This had better live up to my expectations.”

Perhaps against my better judgment, I grabbed his hand and flinched when he firmly gripped me back. I watched him as he traced a larger, more intricate symbol in the air, then a harsh tugging sensation brusquely overcame my body. The next thing I knew, I felt my feet leave the ground and the street disappeared right before my eyes.

Why is it starting to feel like I’m the one caught on the hook?

***

My shock at abruptly experiencing Ciedrich’s teleportation magic was second only to witnessing the massive entry hall that we were now standing in.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” he said with a grandiose gesture.

This guy sure knew how to boast; there was nothing humble about the interior of this luxurious mansion! The cost of my outfit must have been barely even lunch money to him. There was a marble floor, marble ceiling, marble staircase, marble walls; the whole interior might as well have been carved out of a freaking marble quarry. Old paintings of his ancestors lined a hallway in the back and a large banner hung from the second story, emblazoned with the symbol of a shield under some kind of small blade.

My inspection of the von Brauer family crest was interrupted by the startling materialization of Helga right next to me. At the very least she was holding onto my tunic from earlier, now folded in her arms.

Ciedrich narrowed his eyes at the maid. “Helga, see to it that our guest’s belongings are taken care of. And do mind her personal space.”

Not even the faintest trace of emotion darkened her face as she merely offered a nod in reply and departed.

“M-My lord, it is rather quiet,” I offered in an effort to break the suddenly heavy atmosphere. “How many others live here?”

He stared wistfully at nothing in particular. “Only Helga and I call this place home.”

He lived here all by himself with a maid? Creepiness aside, this would make it all the easier to have him wrapped around my finger!

“Forgive me, I did not mean to pry. Now, you mentioned a library?” I asked as I played with my hair.

His pleasant smile returned as he gestured down the hallway. “Shall we?”

His ‘extensive collection’ turned out to be a colossal multi-storied room stacked with towering bookshelves. There was even a lavish carpet with reading chairs in front of an impressive fireplace. If I were a bookworm, I might have been overcome with ecstasy right then and there. However, given the look of all the dust on most of these books, he probably hadn’t touched even a fraction of the library’s contents, and Helga must not get around to cleaning here. No matter, I hadn’t come here to read with him. If his maid knew how to cast useful magic like him, he had to be willing to teach me!

“Lord Ciedrich, do tell me the name of that spell you cast to bring us here!”

He clicked his tongue as though he was privy to my intentions. “The Recall spell is fairly advanced. I would recommend a beginner such as yourself first train with simpler magic until you obtain solid control over your mana.”

I found myself tapping my foot in irritation with the way his coyness was really starting to get on my nerves. “Please. I’m starting to think that you’re just afraid a girl might have more talent than you!” I challenged while crossing my arms under my chest.

“Very well then,” he said with a chuckle. “If you insist, my lady.”

Ciedrich walked over to a distant shelf and returned with a scroll before motioning me to stand with him over the carpet by the fireplace. “Most conventional spellcasting consists of three components: you must properly channel your mana, trace the symbol of the spell, and mentally direct the outcome toward your desired result. Haphazardly attempting to cast a spell without full command of all three components working in unison can lead to disastrous results.”

He was obviously pleased with himself being able to show off like this. I took solace in the fact that my patience was about to pay off, stepping next to him one more time so I could get a good look at the scroll.

“The Recall spell comes in two parts,” Ciedrich continued. “The first symbol is used to establish a Recall point, and the second to actually return there.”

Sure enough, the scroll contained a couple of diagrams with brief labels under each. It was getting harder and harder to contain my excitement: a real spell, right in front of my eyes! The symbols both looked to be constructed with a series of squiggly lines and semicircles, one looking like an inverted copy of the other. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought the spell symbols were elaborate characters in a complex language, but that was probably a coincidence.

“May I, my lord?” I asked, gesturing for him to hand me the scroll.

“You will first need to commit to memory your position relative to your surroundings,” he said after handing it over.

I spent a few minutes running a finger along both symbols until I had them memorized, then I returned the scroll and began studying every detail in the room. I tried to memorize everything from the elaborate etchings along the mantle of the fireplace to the frayed edges of the carpet to the discolored backs of the books filling each dusty bookshelf.

Satisfied, I held that image in my head while I channeled mana into the first symbol I traced in the air. When I finished, a stronger mental image of the room appeared at the front of my mind like a screenshot from a video game. I felt another tingling sensation near my feet as a small circle of light appeared on the floor around me before fading away.

“A success!” Ciedrich remarked with an unexpectedly enthusiastic clap.

I fought back a grin that threatened to betray my emotions. This was almost going too well! Now for the moment of truth.

I took a few steps backward and focused on the other part of the spell. My first experience teleporting wasn’t exactly a comfortable one, and the reality of going into it again so soon made me particularly anxious like I was about to jump out of a plane to go skydiving. After a few calming breaths, I began to cast the spell.

Channel the mana, trace the symbol, direct the outcome, and… leap!

A wave of nausea hit me as my body suddenly lurched forward, landing on my stomach onto the carpet where I had been standing just moments before. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that that was not supposed to have happened.

I got up onto my knees, rubbing the aching spot on my torso where I had ‘fallen.’ As painful as that had been, fortunately my dress didn’t look torn. I thought Ciedrich would have already started laughing by now, but to my surprise he hadn’t even made a sound at my embarrassing performance.

“A commendable effort for your first try,” he said with that same pleasant smile. “Allow me.”

He reached down, offering a hand to help me stand up.

Oh Prince Charming, you’ve already fallen head over heels into Lady Beryl’s trap! My hard work paid off: today he’s bending over to help me up, and tomorrow I’ll have him bending over to satisfy my every desire! Sadly for him, his charms won't work on me no matter how hard he tries, but I’ll make it up to him when I rid this world of the Demon King. Or maybe I’ll conquer him first and claim this mansion for myself!

I took his hand again with a sly smile of my own. “Thank you, my lord. You are so kind!”

As I leaned forward and stood up, an icy chill ran down my spine as I watched Ciedrich stare down…

Down my dress.

That devious son of a…! To think I’d actually trusted that scoundrel! Had he no regard for the dignity of a woman? I felt like I needed to take ten showers in a row to clean myself off!

“What’s the matter? You aren’t going to give up now, are you?” Ciedrich asked with a smile that had grown far too wide.

Now he was practically begging me to keep trying until I had a wardrobe malfunction in this revealing dress! Was leading me on to this point all a part of his plan? Just how much had I underestimated him?!

I took a step back. “Y-You were right, perhaps I should start simpler!”

He took a step forward. “Practice makes perfect, Lady Beryl.”

“This is magic we’re talking about! I need some time to recover.”

“A tiny distance like that wouldn’t expend hardly any of your mana.”

“Oh, was it my mana you were checking out?”

For the first time since meeting him, Ciedrich was truly taken aback. His smile transformed into the beginning of an indignant frown. Shit, this could get ugly and ruin everything! There’s got to be a way to diffuse this situation!

Think, think!