Azhure: Just one more and it’s done.
This is it, Celes thought, now fifteen years old and standing in front of the gates of the academy.
For the past eight years, she had been preparing for this moment. First, she had absorbed everything the tutors taught her, which was pretty easy considering her past life’s education compared to this world’s. The only subject that mattered to her was history, recent history from the point of divergence from the otome game. Thankfully, the butterfly effect wasn’t as big as she had thought.
There were noticeable differences like the Fichs empire still existing and the great sea splitting it from Kirash, as well as the reduction in talisman smuggling as a result of the greater water spirit’s display of power. The world was generally more peaceful actually now that the people in power realized the greater spirits had breaking points when pushed. This would likely affect some of the capture targets’ backstories, so Celes had to watch out for that, or rather expect them to be more stable than originally.
After meeting the prince for the first time that night, prince Lucis had regularly met with her since Celes’ family territory and estate were close enough to the capital that it made it possible for a few hours ride. Celes, for her part, made sure not to act like her otome counterpart did around him, which was as easy as acting as herself, given her previous life’s upbringing. Safe to say, she was sure at the very least, Lucis wouldn’t throw her out of the kingdom if he ended up falling for Maria and breaking the engagement anyway.
Speaking of Maria, Celes thought, looking around her surroundings and watching her carriage go back to the ducal territory.
By now, the heroine should probably arrive soon. People only found out she had contracted a light spirit a mere month before the academy started, so she really got fast-tracked into enrollment. News, of course, spread very slowly in this day and age, as a man on a horse was the fastest internet available. That was also compounded by the fact that Celes was fully occupied with preparing to go to the academy, so she wasn’t checking the recent news.
Her otome self didn’t even know that Maria contracted a spirit well until the first sparring match; she legitimately thought that prince Lucis was making excuses when he met Maria for the first time because of her contracted spirit. Celes tried to find any news about a sudden scholarship student with a contracted light spirit, but it looked like she would find out like the rest of the student body.
And so, she waited.
And waited.
And waited.
…She’s not here!
She’s not here! Celes panicked even further as she failed to spot Maria anywhere in the hall while her fiancée was giving the speech for the entrance ceremony, which she had tuned out completely, having heard enough of it in her past life. Where is she!?
In the otome game, Maria sat next to Lydia, starting the conversation about spirits and the greater spirits’ blessings. However, while she spotted the purple-haired girl several seats across, the students sitting next to her were not Maria. Looking around without making herself too suspicious, she still couldn’t find the heroine even in the furthest of seats.
Did they really die in the fire!? The thought crept into Celes’ mind. No, no, no! Without the heroine being born, who will lead the charge against Typhon? All the other blessed people were too occupied dealing with cursed spirits in their territories, and Lydia wasn’t cut out for that role either when she didn’t even have a contracted spirit herself. Even if that means I’m saved from the condemnation event, we’re all still going to die if we don’t stop Typhon!
“…and I hope we will have a great three years ahead. Thank you,” prince Lucis finished, to which the students then gave a round of applause, all while Celes was stressing out in her own mind.
“Ah, there you are, Celes.”
She’s really not here! Celes absolutely panicked, seeing her fiancée coming towards her. She was standing in the very place where Maria and Lucis first met, where the villainess would have come to ruin the chat. Of course, in this life, she planned to do no such thing. She will just insert herself into the conversation to get herself acquainted with the heroine, as being friends with her will go a long way toward avoiding her doom. However, there was no Maria in sight and so, Lucis went to her first. As much as she wanted to deny it, it could only mean one thing.
“What is wrong, Celes?” the prince asked in concern, seeing his betrothed looking like she was starting to hyperventilate. “Are you feeling unwell? I noticed you were not paying attention well during the orientation.”
Far from responding to his question, Celestine ce Celestium’s face once again contorted in horror as she clutched her head and screamed to the skies and spirits above. At this point, she didn’t care what the prince thought of it. If there was one thing she knew about him for years, it was that he had the patience of a saint if he had to put up with her otome game self.
“The heroine is missing!”
Could this day get any worse?
While far from the same day, the answer was a resounding yes.
BLAM
“Prince Van has been abducted!?” Lucis exclaimed, uncharacteristically slamming the desk, which startled the others for a bit.
A few months into the academy and very quickly the consequences of the missing heroine became apparent. In the otome game, Maria would have been invited to join the student council as juniors alongside Lucis and Lydia. However, as she was not here, Celes ended up getting the invitation. Otome Celestine not getting the position because of Maria became another reason she was hostile to the heroine.
“Indeed,” the student council president, Carlos, said with an inquisitive look, elbows resting on the desk and hands obscuring his mouth like Celes had seen in movies. “His room was a mess, and the window was shattered when the teacher came to check on him. How no one heard his room getting broken into is bizarre; the students in rooms next to his heard nothing out of the ordinary.”
Celes had met the Kirash prince once. Much like in the otome game, the boy was scared of his own shadow. She was sure she gave her best smile, but Van still looked frightened just from trying to say “Nice to meet you” to her. That somehow stung, given that she was not trying to be a villainess and managed to do that thus far.
“Could it be related to the recent rebellion going on?” Lydia suggested, her face full of concern.
She was, of course, referring to the rebellion that was happening in Kirash after almost a decade. Prince Van’s face was white as a sheet when the student council president first broke the news to him on top of the general dread he got from being called into the room in the first place. It would have been just another point of divergence Celes had to be wary of since there wasn’t supposed to be any of the sort happening during the otome game. But when the news also stated the rebel army wiping out the whole Kirash army sent to crush them, she too was concerned – king Van had always defeated every revolt coming after him.
“Now, why would the rebels kidnap Van, and how would they even be able to do it?” Carlos rebutted. “He is all the way here,” he continued, pointing his finger down on the desk to emphasize how ridiculous it would have been for a group of rebels to travel from Kirash all the way to this kingdom.
“And yet, that is the only reason that made sense,” Lydia countered, her expression looking unamused. “No one in the academy has any cause for his abduction, as far as I am aware.”
Then there was also Van junior’s kidnapping. Nowhere in the otome game was he ever abducted like that. None of the routes had any sort of kidnapping event, not on the capture targets nor the heroine herself. The fact that it happened here was worrisome. What else could be different and worse without the heroine to fix things?
“A valid point,” Carlos relented, but for a bit. “But regardless, it is still absurd to travel all the way here to get to prince Van. We should at least check the proximity just in case.”
“Right, I will call my father,” prince Lucis stood up and said. “A kidnapping in the heart of the Celestia kingdom will not be tolerated.”
“I will get my subordinate to find clues,” Lydia offered, also standing up. “The sooner we start looking, the more chances we get to find his whereabouts.”
“A-Ah, I will get mine to look around too,” Celes stammered by reflex, almost tripping herself while getting up from the chair.
Being a ducal family, Celes’ father has many noble houses under him. Celes met many of their daughters growing up, and in the academy, they were at her beck and call. In the otome game, these girls were the mooks sent after the heroine’s party during sparring matches and were also participants in their master’s bullying campaign. After the condemnation event, they were suspended from the academy for their active collaboration with the villainess – at least they were loyal enough not to scapegoat her to save themselves.
“Good,” Carlos nodded. “Then this meeting is adjourned.”
Closing the door behind her, Celes sat beside the bed with a blank expression, trying to comprehend what had happened after the meeting. A few weeks after prince Van was abducted, the kingdom of light received the latest news from the water territory.
“All of the greater spirits aided the rebels!?” Lydia muttered in disbelief and confusion, barely holding herself against the desk. “And they fought a cursed dragon!?”
“It is confusing. The news spread like wildfire with many conflicting accounts,” Carlos admitted. “But I can confirm that all of the greater spirits were aiding the rebels and fought a cursed dragon.”
“I believe we need more context, president,” Lucis spoke with an uneasy tone. “Because that is very unprecedented for something from the time of the fae to occur now.”
Somehow, the greater spirits caught wind of king Van harboring a cursed dragon in his palace and came together to defeat him two years early. Obviously, they won, or else it would have been graver news coming from the water territory. While Celes should be elated that the final boss had been beaten, she was still uneased by the timeline being out of whack. She expected some discrepancies from the otome game, but not to this extent!
“How did it happen before I even recovered my memories?” Celes clutched her head with soft frustration. “I haven’t done anything drastic and yet…”
“I believe we can explain that.”
Jolting from her bed, she immediately looked towards the window being opened in front of her. Before Celes could react, a teenage girl with long, red hair like fire in a brown robe vaulted into her room so gracefully as if she had been trained for it before. “Hm, this is the first time the parkour lessons were put to good use,” the mysterious girl muttered as she turned her face, and Celes was shocked to see her look like the heroine.
No, she still looks too different to be the heroine, Celes thought. Even her gut feeling was saying the girl in front of her wasn’t Maria.
“Greetings, my name is Alicia Bell,” the girl introduced herself. “And I am Maria’s cousin. Nice to meet you, miss incarnate.”
“And I’m Voice!” said what looked to be a little red fairy popping out of Alicia’s chest.
“And I’m Layla, I guess,” the heroine’s aunt’s contracted spirit, Layla, added as she revealed herself to Celes.
“…Wha- I, What? E-Eeeeeeeeeeeeh!?”
This day officially couldn’t get any worse.
Azhure: So, what do you all think of this part? Is it good? Are there any problems with it? Any reviews or feedback is appreciated as long as they’re not plain insults meant to blow off your stress.
Voice: Don’t do that to people! Not even on the internet!
Support My Work
SociaBuzz (for local and global donations): sociabuzz.com/azhureraven/tribe
