Because school tends to consist of me having to sit through an entire school day’s worth of classes that do not teach me anything I do not already know, I usually just pretend to read a book throughout my classes. The days still feel like an eternity, but at least I can just daydream away, instead of having to listen to lectures. At the start, teachers liked to pester me about this, but fortunately they gave up on that when they realized I won’t have trouble with their classes even if I do ignore every word they say.

Today, however, school somehow felt even more tedious than usual. Going home is never really something I look forward to, so the end of a school day merely means I’ll be moving from one boring location to another. But this time, I actually have something to look forward to after getting home, since it’ll mean I can research that ViLS group. I wasn’t aware actively waiting for a school day to end would be this boring when compared to a normal school day. Let’s just hope it-

DING DONG

At last, the final bell! I swiftly pack my bag, get up and leave the classroom. The teacher gives me a somewhat weird look as I walk past him, most likely since I usually wait until there's no more traffic going through the classroom door before I leave. It’s always messy when everyone has to go through the same door at the same time, after all. He can ponder about my reasons on his own, though, since I have things to do today, and I would like to have as much time for that as possible.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Despite the size of the school building, it doesn't take me long to navigate through it and get to the school's front gate. Waiting right outside this gate is an impressive black luxury car, with tinted windows so as to not show what's in the car to anyone outside, and shining as if it was polished not even a few minutes ago. On the hood of the car is a small metal ornament shaped like the logo of my father’s company, which is just a nicely decorated letter ‘R’. As I approach the car, its driver steps out, walks around the vehicle, and opens the rear side door for me.

After I get in the car, the driver closes the door again, walks back around, and gets back in his seat. I have to admit, I don't know why someone would decide to work such a bothersome job. You'd think opening the door of a car would be something any normal person could do themselves, and yet here I am, letting even that be done for me. It is at moments like this that I understand why so many people see me as some untouchable noble. The people around me have to walk home or use public transport, and here I am getting picked up in a luxury car by my personal driver.

Well, it’s not like I wanted this. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be picked up by car in the first place. I would love to experience public transport someday, or even take the time to have a relaxing walk home. But no, that was never an option. My father said I will be picked up by car, and so that is what will happen. My father refusing me to travel to and from school on my own is not because he’s worried for my safety, either. He just doesn’t want me to make detours after school, and to make sure I don’t, he simply doesn’t give me the option to do so.

Having a personal vehicle to travel to and from school is a necessity to "show the common people that I stand above them", and since driving a car yourself is something done by "people of a lesser status", as my father so kindly puts it, we have drivers who do this for us. Three of them, to be exact. Though the amount of drivers we have doesn't really matter, since I asked to be driven to school by the same one every time. After all, the person currently driving is the only one I can have a normal conversation with. Though he’s the exception, rather than the rule. Most of the household servants tend to just ignore me, and relay whatever I said to them to my father.

"Say, Rutger," I decide to break the silence, "how is Frieda doing these days? She married recently, if I recall correctly?"

The driver, Rutger, glances at me in the rear-view mirror for a second, before moving his eyes back to the road. I can see a smile appear on his face as he replies. "Frieda is doing very well, young mistress. It's bittersweet to see her go her own way, but she is happier than she's ever been. I'm truly glad she found someone to spend her life with."

Truly, my father can learn some things from Rutger. It's always hard to believe it when I hear that one's parents are supposed to be there to love and support their child. However, when I look at Rutger and Frieda, I can believe it. It's always nice to see those two get along so well, to the point I tend to forget they're not even blood related. Can you believe it? This father and daughter with no blood relationship are more of a family than me and my father have ever been, and probably ever will be.

In all honesty, Rutger feels more like family than my own father. Sure, he can’t talk to me unless I talk to him first, but he listens to what I say and actually replies. I can even trust him to keep whatever I say to him between us. Unfortunately, the only times I ever have the opportunity to talk to Rutger is when he’s driving me to and from school, or when Frieda comes to visit every once in a while.

I would love to talk with Rutger some more right now, but alas, it seems like the conversation will have to end prematurely. As the car turns a corner, the house- ..no, I should correct that. As the car turns a corner, the mansion I live in comes into view. An enormous building built with classic European architecture, far bigger than any of the other buildings in the surrounding area, with a garden the size of which rivals some of the biggest public parks in the city. Surrounding the entirety of this massive garden is an equally as impressive wall. To others, this wall seems like a security measure, made so people can’t gain access to the Reichmann estate without going through the front gate. To me, though, it usually feels instead like something constructed to keep those already within the estate from leaving without permission.

We enter the estate through the front gate and follow the long driveway to the main building, before going around it and arriving at the garage. The garage is basically a separate building, attached to the main one only through a single hallway. The car comes to a stop, and Rutger once again leaves the car, goes around and opens the door for me. I get out of the car, and have to keep myself from immediately rushing off to do research. Instead, I watch as Rutger closes the car door behind me.

“Ruger,” I say to get his attention, “thank you for driving.”

Ruger gives me a slight bow in response. “It is my pleasure, young mistress.”

I leave the garage through the small hallway that connects the garage to the main building. There isn’t much in this hallway when it comes to decoration, but the walls are practically made entirely out of windows, so one can enjoy a view of the garden as they pass through. As I look out of these windows into the garden, I make eye contact with one of the gardeners currently working. The old man flinches slightly, quickly bowing to me before hurrying off. It's a bit demoralizing sometimes, to be treated like this even by people who’ve been working for the Reichmann household since long before I was even born.

As I leave the hallway and arrive in the central hall of the main building, I see something, or rather, someone who I would rather avoid interacting with if I had the chance. Unfortunately, ignoring them will not do me any good. Rather, I would probably be punished if I ignored them without greeting them. After all, passing through the central hall just as I’d arrived there was my father. If I fail to act respectfully to him of all people, I’m in for a long, long lecture. For him to coincidentally pass through here just as I enter, what terrible timing indeed.

I give him a slight bow as I greet him, since “you should always show an appropriate amount of respect for those with a higher standing than yourself”, according to the man himself. “Greetings, father.”

My father stops and turns to me, his expression unchanging. “Your piano teacher has notified me that he will not be able to make it for your lesson today. I trust you will spend the time this frees up wisely.” he says, before turning away and continuing on to his office.

I stand up straight again, watching my father as he disappears up the stairs. No greeting to return, I see. Then again, I don’t think he’s ever returned a greeting before. If he has done so before, then it was so long ago that I do not remember it. It seems father came from the direction of the meeting room just now, so he probably had a guest. Not a guest he was particularly fond of, it seems, seeing as he was in a bad enough mood to even forgo the interrogation that he’d usually greet me with. I wonder who it was, since father usually turns away guests he doesn’t like before they even take a single step onto the estate.

After waiting about a minute to make sure I won’t run into my father again - I would hate for him to have changed his mind on interrogating me - I start to head to my own room as well. Now that I think of it, if my piano lesson got cancelled, then that means I get more time to research ViLS. All I’ll have to do before I can do so is to finish my homework and read through today’s newspapers, which shouldn’t take too long. Homework I can normally breeze through without any problem, and for the news, I can just skim through the headlines to see if there’s anything important.

I walk past the door to my bedroom, and instead enter the door right after it. My personal office. Well, it’s called an office, but it’s mostly just the room I do my homework in. In the back of the room is a big desk, with on it a computer, a wide range of stationery, and anything else one could need to work effectively. Bookshelves take up most of the space against the wall, only parting to make room for a painted portrait of me that father once commissioned, and a safe I use for valuables. Not that there’s anything in that safe, though. Finally, there’s a small coffee table in the center of the room with a couch on either side, for when I receive guests. Well, since I never receive guests, those couches are basically just here as decoration.

Now then, I should quickly finish my daily tasks, so that I have as much time as possible to research ViLS. The more time I have for that research, the better, since I don’t know how long it will take. If there’s a lot of things to know about ViLS, it might take me the rest of the day. I don’t particularly mind spending the rest of the day on that research though. It’ll be a nice change of pace from how I usually spend my days.

Senpapi

After the prologue I said to not expect anything resembling an upload schedule. I have thought about that some more, and I have changed my mind.

I've decided that for now, I will try to upload a chapter a week. I feel this time frame should be enough for me to both have enough time to write, and also have the opportunity to write chapters ahead. I will upload this weekly chapter on saturdays.

This upload schedule might be subject to change in the future, but we'll see about that when the time comes.

Also, as I mentioned last week, I'm still a new writer. If you see any mistakes, or things I can improve on, please tell me. The more I learn, the more I'll grow as a writer.

For now though, once again, I hope you enjoyed reading.