The Fake Luna Unmasked
“I’ll have to escort you back when I return too.”
At my words, Luna’s face turned the color of dirt.
“P-Pardon? B-But I have class…”
“Class is more important than guiding me?”
“Cl-Class…”
“What?”
“N-No! Of course guiding you is more important!”
Luna nodded with a teary face.
I grinned in satisfaction and released her shoulder.
“Good girl. Then let’s go in.”
To keep her from bolting, I grabbed her wrist and opened the admin office door.
-ding-a-ling
A cheerful bell rang as we stepped inside.
The room was a whirlwind of staff buried under piles of paperwork, bustling about.
The clatter of typewriters, rustle of flipping pages, and snippets of phone conversations blended into a noisy cacophony.
I strode straight to the counter.
“Excuse me.”
The staffer reviewing documents looked up with obvious annoyance.
“What can I do for you? If you have business, please take a number and…”
Her words cut off mid-sentence.
Her gaze locked onto my face, then the restraint collar around my neck.
“Uh…?”
Her eyes shook like there was an earthquake.
With trembling hands, she adjusted her glasses and double-checked me.
“L-L-L-L-Lady Elise de Bellaph?”
“Yeah. That’s me.”
“Eek!”
The staffer shrieked and toppled backward off her chair.
Every eye in the admin office snapped to me at the noise.
Silence.
Like time had frozen, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared.
Terror, shock, bewilderment.
They sure don’t hold back their reactions.
I clicked my tongue and tapped the counter.
“Not working? What’s with lining up to gawk?”
“S-Sorry! We’ll handle it right away!”
The fallen staffer scrambled up and rushed to the counter.
“Wh-What brings you here?”
“My dorm room.”
I got straight to the point.
“A Wing, Room 301. The key didn’t work. What’s the deal?”
She swallowed hard at my question.
Her eyes darted everywhere, unsure where to look, before she mumbled in a tiny voice.
“W-Well… since you’ve been away for over a month… per academy rules, long absences result in dorm expulsion as standard procedure.”
“Expulsion?”
“Y-Yes! And… um… with the official notice of your suspension, we couldn’t leave the room empty.”
It wasn’t wrong. As a criminal who’d gone to prison and gotten suspended, the academy was probably being lenient by not expelling me outright.
“Hah. Rules, huh.”
It was ridiculous. They’d snatched my room while I was gone.
“Fine, rules aside. Why was someone else’s name on my nameplate?”
“Ah, yes… um…”
The staffer avoided my gaze and hemmed and hawed.
“Actually… your room had a scary reputation, so no one wanted it…”
“And?”
“Two people insisted strongly on taking it.”
“Who?”
“One was… Saintess Lilliana.”
“Ah.”
That name hit like a migraine.
Lilliana.
She wanted my room?
The reason was obvious.
She was obsessed with me for some reason. Probably wanted to guard my return spot or live among my traces.
Creepy either way, even if it was a stretch.
“Haa…”
I rubbed my temple and sighed.
“So? Why’d the other one get it?”
“The temple side strongly advised against it for the Saintess… so in the end, Lady Roseline de Orsini was assigned.”
“Hah.”
A hollow laugh escaped at that name.
Roseline de Orsini.
Not a huge role in the original story, but a marquess’s daughter with sky-high pride.
Snagging my room? Obvious motive.
‘I took Elise de Bellaph’s room.’
Probably got a superiority rush from it.
“Normally it takes time procedurally… but Lady Orsini donated—er, requested aggressively, so it went through quickly.”
Beating around the bush about the bribe.
“Hah, got it.”
Couldn’t exactly evict someone already living there. Stirring trouble now might turn suspension into full expulsion.
“So where’s my room? There’s gotta be empties left.”
“Well…”
She looked even more troubled, flipping through the ledger.
“A and B Wings for nobles are full.”
“What?”
“The room Lady Roseline vacated was taken by another special-admit noble, so no vacancies. The only open spot is…”
She unfolded a map.
Not the fancy noble dorms, but the shabby buildings behind them.
“Commoner Dorm, C Wing has one spot.”
“Commoner dorm?”
“Yes. And it’s a double room.”
Commoner dorm. Double room.
She cringed, glancing at me warily.
Expecting me to flip tables in rage, no doubt.
But.
“Fine. Give me that one.”
“Yes… I’ll find another right away, just wait—pardon?”
Her eyes went wide.
“I want that. C Wing.”
“R-Really okay? The facilities are outdated, roommate’s a commoner… not fit for a lady like you…”
“Don’t care. Just need a bed.”
I held out my hand.
“Key.”
“Y-Yes! Here’s the assignment sheet and key!”
Fearing I’d change my mind, she thrust the papers and worn key at me.
I took them and turned. Behind me, her relieved sigh and chair creak echoed.
“Let’s go.”
I patted the dazed orange-haired girl’s shoulder.
“Y-Yes?!”
“Guide me. To C Wing dorm.”
“B-But I really have class now…”
“Not done yet. Escort me to the room.”
I ignored her protests.
“Yes… this way…”
She trudged ahead with a pout.
///
On the way from the admin office to C Wing.
Definitely different vibe from noble A Wing.
Weeds instead of manicured gardens, walls weathered by time.
“Haa…”
Luna’s sigh drifted back.
“Hey, Luna.”
“…”
“Luna?”
“Ah! Y-Yes?”
She jumped at my call.
“How much farther?”
“Th-That red brick building there is C Wing—we’re almost there!”
Vines climbed the old three-story structure she pointed at.
That’s my new home, huh.
Then my eyes caught the thick magic tomes she carried.
Library loans, by the look—cards in the spines listed borrowers.
The flapping card in the breeze wasn’t Luna’s name.
[Aria Winter]
“Hmm.”
I narrowed my eyes at her back.
Something had felt off since earlier.
The stutter when saying her name, too.
“Hey.”
“Eek! Y-Yes!”
“You said your name’s Luna, right?”
“Y-Yes…”
She avoided my eyes.
Suspicious.
I fluttered the assignment sheet.
“Says my roommate’s name here.”
“Ah… I see…”
“Aria, apparently. Know her?”
‘Luna’s’ shoulders twitched visibly.
“I… don’t really know her…”
“Really? Same dorm, you might.”
“Th-The dorm’s huge! Haha…”
Awkward laugh. Cold sweat, averted gaze.
And the student roster tucked in the admin papers.
I checked it while walking.
Room 305: Aria (Commoner, Magic Dept. Year 1)
And the tiny ID photo beside it—dead ringer for the trembling girl ahead.
Hah.
Lying? Faking her name meant dodging me on purpose. How much did she hate the idea of rooming with me?
Infuriating, but kinda funny too.
I played dumb and kept walking.
“C Wing 305, right?”
“Y-Yes… third floor, end of the hall…”
“Pretty far.”
We climbed the creaky wooden stairs, groans echoing down the corridor.
“Here…”
[305]
She stopped at the deepest door in the hall, old wood.
“Thanks for the help.”
I pulled the key and slotted it in.
-click
This time, it opened fine.
Smaller than expected. Two single beds against the walls, two desks. Bare bones.
“L-Lady?”
Door open, she backed away sweating bullets.
“I escorted you to the room… I-I’ll be going! Library returns are due…”
Running now? We’d meet again tonight anyway.
I smirked and called after her bolting form.
“Oh, right. Aria.”
“Yes?”
She turned instinctively, off-guard.
Our eyes met.
Her steps halted like tripping on a rock.
One second, two.
I leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed, smirking.
“What Luna? Pretty name, Aria.”