The Tulip of Pierre
I used to be an ordinary college student, living a perfectly normal life.
If I had to name anything unusual about me, I suppose it would be the fact that I was a man.
And why is that unusual, you ask?
Well. Because when I opened my eyes—
"WAAAAAAH!!"
I had become the eldest daughter of a marquisate.
As it turned out, I even had a fair bit of talent, and with the Marquis Pierre family backing me, I became an elite among elites. I rode that momentum all the way to nineteen.
By the time I turned nineteen, my nickname was the Tulip of Pierre.
Strikingly beautiful pink hair and red eyes, flawless etiquette, exceptional magical aptitude, a more merciful disposition than anyone, a humble heart, and the de facto bride-to-be of the future Crown Prince... All of these were things people said about me.
Though the fiancée part I could do without...
No, seriously—I'd never even met the man, and suddenly I'm his bride-to-be?
Ha Unbelievable.
So yes, there's a certain gap between the rumor and the reality, but the fact that I'm magnificent remains undeniable.
Anyway, the rule was that everyone must enter an academy at nineteen.
The empire had plenty of academies, but the one elites attended was the imperial Arcana Academy of the Akemes Empire.
And since I was an elite, Arcana Academy it was.
They say commoners could get in too—admitted purely on merit, though only a handful ever made it.
But that's none of my business!
I was bored. Time to look for a new toy among the commoners, maybe.
What kind of toy would be fun?
Girls had never interested me. Perhaps because no woman outshone me, my attention drifted toward the men instead...
I spent the night before the entrance ceremony entertaining thoughts like these, and soon the big day arrived.
Since I was valedictorian, I was told to take the oath on behalf of all the new students.
So I stood at the very front, scanning my surroundings as I waited for my turn.
The scanning took a while, and the time came and went...
"Would the valedictorian please come forward and take the oath on behalf of the incoming class?"
They called my name.
As if I'd been waiting for exactly this, I walked out in perfect order.
Standing on the platform, I recited the Academy Oath I'd spent the past few days preparing.
"I swear. I, Elise Pierre, newly enrolled student, regard it as an infinite honor to enter the Imperial Arcana Academy of the Great Akemes Empire, and hereby pledge to uphold the following... (abridged)... I solemnly swear to offer my unwavering loyalty to the Empire."
Then the headmaster took the stage, and the tedious portion of the ceremony began.
It felt like time itself had frozen.
***
With the ceremony behind me, I was enjoying a commemorative tea party with my little entourage at a café near the academy.
"Lady Pierre, you were absolutely stunning up there!"
"I know! How can our Lady Pierre be so beautiful and so graceful all at once..."
"I only wish I could become someone as wonderful as you, Lady Pierre!"
Listening to my followers' flattery, I felt my shoulders rising clear past the sky.
Sip.
I wet my lips with tea, then raised a hand to cover my mouth as I spoke.
"Thank you. Hearing you say that truly warms my heart."
Respond to flattery with modesty, and their loyalty only deepens. Honestly, how easy can this get?
After whiling away the time like that, I spoke up when the hour grew late.
"Shall we start heading back? It's nearly time for dormitory assignments."
"Then we'll see you tomorrow!"
We exchanged farewells, dissolved the tea party, and parted ways.
A satisfying tea party, all in all.
Afterward, I made my way to my assigned dormitory.
"I suppose this will do?"
It was small compared to my room at the Marquis Pierre estate, but perfectly livable as far as I could tell. Not a speck of dust anywhere—well maintained, too.
I unpacked my things, glanced over tomorrow's schedule as the evening wore on, and finally went to bed.
***
My first day at the academy.
I got ready at a leisurely pace.
"No servants around. What a nuisance."
I muttered to myself as I dried my hair. Fortunately, I didn't need makeup or any of that nonsense.
I was simply born gorgeous. Mwahahaha.
Once I'd finished getting ready, I set off to find my classroom.
"Class A... Class A... here it is."
The very moment I was about to step inside, I collided with a brown-haired boy on his way out.
"Ugh—" "Kyaa!"
Who the hell suddenly comes bursting out the door like that?
"You little sh—"
I barely swallowed the rest.
The brown-haired boy bowed his head.
"I'm terribly sorry."
Hold it... hold it... hurting nobles gets a bit inconvenient.
Just then, one of my followers snapped at him.
"Commoner! Do you have any idea what could have happened if our Lady Pierre had been hurt?!"
"I'm sorry."
A commoner? This one calls itself a commoner? You're dead.
So you bump into me and don't even fall to your knees?
Kneel, grovel, and beg forgiveness—that's how you'd walk away with your limbs intact... How dare you, hm?
"Let's be going, Lady Harte."
For now, I led my followers away from the scene.
***
Seated in the classroom, I turned to Charles Harte.
"Lady Harte, what was that commoner's name?"
She looked mildly surprised at the question, but answered readily enough.
"I believe he's called 'Jin'?"
"Mm... thank you, Lady Harte."
After thanking Lady Harte for so graciously providing me the commoner's name, I made my way over to Jin as he returned to the classroom and spoke to him.
"Hey, commoner!"
"Hm?"
Did he just talk back to me???
He spoke casually. To me.
A commoner, no less.
This cannot stand.
You're getting buried.
I swept my gaze around—no one was looking at us.
"KYAAA!!"
Everyone turned at the sound of my voice.
"How shameless of you...!"
"I'm sorry, what?"
Jin looked bewildered.
Now I just need to cry a little, right?
"Sniff... sob..."
The moment I let a few tears slip, my followers came running.
"Lady Pierre! Are you all right?"
"Did that man do something to you?!"
The male followers hauled Jin as far away from me as they could.
Success.
Should've watched where you were going, buddy.
***
Every item on the day's academy schedule was done.
I packed my bag and was walking back alone.
Ah.
...That was fun.
That face of his—flustered, despairing...
He'll come crawling soon, won't he?
Any moment now...
I ran straight into Jin.
Not a soul around us.
Jin asked me, "Why did you do that to me?"
I answered like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"I was bored?"
He dropped to his knees and said, "Then I'll beg you like this..."
"Hmm... nah, don't feel like it...? ...Oh! Lick my shoe and I'll consider it!"
And then the lunatic actually pressed his tongue to my shoe.
"Whoa... he's actually doing it...? Disgusting, you're disgusting.... But... I changed my mind. Yeah—no. Pfft... heh..."
It was getting hard to hold in the laughter.
This was too much fun.
Jin's expression twisted.
Ahh... so exhilarating... ♡
Time to make my offer, I suppose?
"Oh! You know, if you become a loyal servant who obeys my every word, you'll have grounds for my followers to leave you alone..... Want the job?"
"I'll do it."
An instant answer.
I said it sweetly.
"Good choice."
Humiliating, isn't it? You must be cursing your own fate!
Despair a little more...
"Then wait in front of my dormitory tomorrow. You'll be carrying my bag."
"Understood."
So THIS is why kids played the school bully in my past life!
If I'd known it was this much fun, I would've done it back then too!
I tossed my bag over to Jin.
"Carry it and keep up."
***
Three years passed like that, and now it was D-1 until graduation from the academy.
And suddenly, my past-life memories came flooding open.
Until now, all I'd retained was the basic knowledge of my previous life.
But among those memories, one resurfaced with particular clarity.
It was the plot of a certain erotica.
The empire's Crown Prince disguised himself as a commoner and attended the academy, where he was humiliated by the most wretched, irredeemable delinquent bitch imaginable—a girl who tormented him and worked off her frustrations behind the scenes—until one day he took his revenge.
And that bitch's name was a little strange.
Elise Pierre?
Wait. Me?
No way. There's no way...
And the man's name was...
Caïsys von Akemes...?
The name of His Highness the First Prince of our great Akemes Empire.
Is this a parallel world?
I would never have laid a finger on His Highness the Crown Prince.
Because that would be the kind of thing where you're lucky if you alone go down in flames...
I looked at Jin.
Something about him suddenly felt off.
No sense in those eyes of his at all... Ugh, whatever, he's pissing me off. Time to step on him.
I drove my heel down hard.
"Ugh..."
And with that, more memories trickled back.
I remembered the words that parallel-world me had spoken when the Crown Prince finally had her in his grasp.
That word was 'Jin...'
As in—the erotica had named her calling him Jin.
I began cataloguing every wrong I'd committed against him.
Shoe-licking errand girl, public humiliation, bag-carrier, human chair, gofer, beatings, sexual harassment, spit... and now, as of just this moment, heel-stomping.
But that's a parallel world. It's not this one.
Right? Right.
I mean, just look at the evidence—this commoner hasn't even dared to rebel, has he?
It's absolutely not true.
And yet the anxiety kept creeping over me anyway.
Because the truth was, I might already know how this ends.
It's just that if I don't force myself to deny reality, I'll fall into despair...
Come to think of it, not once in three years had I ever seen the light in Jin's eyes break.
I'd simply chalked it up to a toy's last flailing resistance...
But thinking it over now—could he have been dreaming of revenge all along? The thought took root.
As the idea kept circling back, I shook it off.
Be realistic. There's nothing plausible about it at all.
Who on earth enrolls at an academy hiding their true identity?
My thoughts began to spiral.
The proud, untouchable Tulip of Pierre—Elise Pierre—trembled in the grip of her unease.
***
Jin—no, Caïsys—was thinking.
How exactly shall I train that bitch...?
Whoever was chosen as the next Emperor of the Akemes Empire was required to conceal his identity and graduate from the academy without incident as a commoner.
This had been the law since the Second Emperor, and it was a tradition upheld for 700 years.
And somewhere along the way, a marquis's daughter who didn't know her place had walked right into my trap.
Still, she was beautiful, and even His Majesty the Emperor thought well of her... so I'll make her my wife—and torment her for the rest of her days...
Caïsys murmured under his breath.
"Ha... I fucking love her..... Is this what they call love?"