Two Days Asleep
Sunlight had already seeped deep into the room, and my eyes opened on their own.
I stared blankly at the ceiling for a while before slowly blinking.
Ah. Right.
I had washed up yesterday and fallen straight asleep.
When I pushed myself upright, a dull, dragging ache pulled at the inside of my abdomen.
“Nngh…”
I clutched my stomach without thinking, and only after the pain eased a little did I climb down from the bed.
Stepping out of the bedroom into the living room, I was struck all over again by the sheer size of the place.
A lavish chandelier hung from the high ceiling, and against one wall stood a full-length mirror taller than a person. The sofa, the bookshelves, even the small ornaments left carelessly about—every single piece looked expensive.
“It really is a duke’s house…”
Calling it a dormitory room felt wrong; it was bigger than most ordinary homes.
While I looked around out of simple curiosity, a calendar on the desk caught my eye. I checked the date without much thought—and my eyes went wide.
“…I slept for two whole days?”
Apparently, after receiving treatment, briefly getting up to wash, I had slept almost straight through for two days.
And starting today I was supposed to attend the Academy’s regular classes properly. This was no time to stand around sightseeing.
I hurried over and rang the small bell on the dining table.
Ding—
A moment later the door opened and a maid hurried inside.
“You called, my lady?”
“Help me get ready to go out.”
Honestly, I hadn’t wanted to call anyone. Showing the bruises covering my body was embarrassing, and I would have preferred to dress myself.
But there were two problems.
First, this body was far more accustomed to other people’s hands than I had expected. I had no idea how to put on the complicated noble-style clothes.
And second.
I looked down at my left hand, still fixed in a splint.
Getting into the Academy uniform alone in this state was impossible no matter how I looked at it.
In the end I had no choice but to quietly accept the maid’s help.
“Hngh…!”
While fastening the uniform, the maid accidentally brushed my abdomen. Sharp pain flared at once and my body flinched.
“I-I’m so sorry!”
The maid’s face went deathly pale in an instant. She fidgeted as if she might drop to her knees at any second, watching my every reaction.
The original Serena would probably have exploded even over a mistake this small.
I let out a quiet sigh. I had no intention of taking it out on anyone, and I wasn’t in the mood either.
“It’s fine. Keep going.”
“…Pardon?”
The maid’s eyes went round, as if she had just heard something impossible.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“N-nothing, my lady.”
Afraid I might change my mind, she hastily bowed her head and resumed straightening my clothes.
A short while later I finished preparing and left the dormitory. The sight that unfolded before me made me stop for a moment.
Massive stone buildings stretched endlessly, with well-kept gardens and wide plazas laid out between them. In the distance I could even see a tall magic tower.
“They said it was the Empire’s finest academy…”
The scale alone was on another level.
I stood there taking it in for a moment before starting to walk again. The wonder didn’t last long, though. I hadn’t even been walking a few minutes before my abdomen began to throb again.
“Ah…”
I frowned and stopped. Two full days of rest should have helped at least a little.
After making sure no one was around, I carefully lifted the front of my uniform jacket. A deep blue bruise still stood out clearly across my stomach.
“He really hit me hard…”
I was about to press the area lightly with my fingertips when I felt eyes on me from somewhere.
“…?”
I turned my head and met the gazes of several male students walking toward me from the opposite direction. Every one of them was staring this way with strangely stiff faces.
I blinked, wondering what was wrong with them. Only a few seconds later did I realize.
I was still holding my uniform up, bare midriff completely exposed.
“…!”
“Kyaa!”
A weird sound burst out of me before I could stop it. Heat rushed straight to my face.
“Ugh…!”
I yanked the hem down in a panic. The male students’ faces went pale all at once.
“Dude, are we screwed?”
“I swear I didn’t see anything.”
“Shit, we made eye contact.”
“If the duke’s house finds out, we’re finished, right?”
Their whispered voices carried all the way to me. I was massively annoyed, and above all mortified. But I couldn’t exactly get angry at them either. I was the one who had been standing in the middle of a public place with my stomach out.
Who was I supposed to blame?
I forced my burning face to calm down and let out a long sigh.
“Haa…”
The boys were still watching me with terrified expressions. Looking at them only made me feel more embarrassed.
“Just… get lost.”
The words came out a little harsher than I intended. Still, by Serena’s standards this probably counted as sending them off quite kindly.
The students glanced at one another, then fled the scene as if competing to leave first. I watched their retreating backs for a moment before walking on.
I had only shown a little of my stomach. Was it really something to make my face this hot and leave me this ashamed? The old me would have just written it off as a mistake and moved on.
I feel like I’m starting to take after this young lady more and more…
Maybe the change of body was slowly affecting my senses and habits too. Not a change I particularly welcomed.
When I lifted my head, the main building where classes were held came into view far ahead. The problem was—
“I have to walk all the way there?”
My abdomen was already throbbing and my legs were starting to give out. This was practically torture.
Then a thought suddenly struck me.
No. Serena was a mage. There was no need to walk; I could just use a movement spell or a flight spell, right?
It seemed like a pretty good idea. I was about to cast when I stopped. My gaze drifted naturally to the left hand fixed in its painful splint.
“….”
Ah.
I had forgotten for a moment.
“That bastard Terren.”
Just thinking about him made the anger flare up again. Next time I saw him I was going to smack him in the back of the head at least once. Whether I could actually manage it was another question.
I was still cursing him under my breath as I walked down the corridor when a familiar face appeared coming toward me from the opposite direction.
“….”
It was Terren.
I had been badmouthing him only moments ago, yet the second I saw his face my steps slowed. I had planned to avoid him as much as possible at the beginning. I hadn’t expected to run into him this soon.
I deliberately looked away and tried to walk past him as if nothing were wrong. No need to engage. Just keep going.
There happened to be a door that looked like a classroom, and I was reaching for the handle when Terren came up from behind and stretched his hand out in front of me.
“…!”
My body reacted first. I jerked backward to avoid his hand. My back slammed straight into the door.
Thud.
There was nowhere left to retreat. The moment Terren’s hand entered my field of vision, yesterday’s memories flashed through my mind—the fist driving into my abdomen, the hair yanked in a fist, the hand that had seized my left wrist.
My heart suddenly hammered.
What? What was this? After beating me that badly yesterday, was it still not enough? Was he about to do something else right here?
All sorts of thoughts raced through my head. Terren, however, only looked at me for a moment as if finding me strange, then opened his mouth.
“What are you doing standing there instead of going into the classroom?”
“….”
I blinked. Then I realized his gaze was directed at the door behind me.
Ah.
I was in the same class as him.
The first emotion that hit me was relief. The second I recognized that fact, my face hardened.
I had felt relieved? Just because Terren hadn’t been about to hit me?
My pride stung for no good reason. No. Why should I be afraid of a guy like him?
Trying to cover up the way I had just acted, I answered even more curtly.
“I was about to go in myself.”
I shot Terren a slight glare.
“Why are you rushing me for no reason?”
Without waiting for a reply I opened the door at once. The moment I stepped into the classroom, the murmuring voices cut off as if by magic.
“….”
Dozens of pairs of eyes turned toward me all at once. After a brief silence, small whispers began to rise here and there.
“She actually came.”
“Look at her hand. So the rumors were true.”
“I heard Terren completely wrecked her.”
“Shh, she’ll hear you.”
“If it were the old her, she would’ve hunted down whoever said that first…”
I heard every word. I looked around the classroom as if none of it mattered.
Had the atmosphere changed this much just because I had lost to Terren once? Of course it hadn’t been a simple loss—I had been beaten to a pulp in front of a huge crowd. Still, no one was openly blocking my path or picking a fight yet.
In moments like that, the fact that Serena’s family was a ducal house felt like a genuine relief. In an academy that was basically a miniature version of the real power structure, almost no one would dare openly provoke the daughter of a duke even if I had grown weaker.
I glanced down at my left hand fixed in the splint. At least for now, I couldn’t even use magic properly.
What would it have been like without the ducal house behind me? The thought of being dropped alone, powerless, into a place full of people who hated me made the irritation from a moment ago vanish in an instant. In its place an unnameable sense of helplessness settled in one corner of my chest.
I forced an indifferent expression onto my face and walked toward an empty seat.
It was still all right. For now, at least, the name Serena Ardel was still protecting me.