Chapter 14

Melissa, known as Mel, is from "The Duke's Daughter, Whose Fiancé, the Second Prince, Was Stolen by Her Stepsister and Was Exiled to a Territory, Becomes a Holy Maiden in the Empire."

Aubrey, known as Blair, is from "The Count's Daughter, Who Was Kicked Out of Her Home by Her Stepmother and Half-Sister, Is Loved by the Crown Prince in the Empire."

Caroline, known as Carrie, is from "The Marquess' Daughter, Who Lost Her Parents and Had Her Family Title Stolen by Her Uncle, Is Loved by the Second Prince in the Empire."

Noah, known as Blay, is from "The Hidden Child of a Margrave, Who Fled from the Struggle for Titles Among Half-Siblings, Is Surrounded by Beautiful Girls and Troubled in the Empire."

The trendy self-introduction style Blair came up with for these romance novels is mostly a bright red lie from the part "in the Empire," but Melissa thought the first half was an accurate description. The four of them didn't share more detailed backgrounds than their self-introductions, but this was enough for their school life together.

Melissa, who had been worried about making friends at school due to a past where she was easily disliked by Jacqueline, a friend she thought was close, had forgotten her worries as soon as Blair spoke to her.

A peaceful school life where there was no need to consider factional relationships like the imperial nobles or read between the lines in conversations. Since it was also Melissa's long-desired life in the capital, she and Blair, Carrie, and Noah would go out into the city on holidays and listen to various musical performances and songs from street performers.

Melissa, who planned to become a commoner, thought it was for the best that she was in the empire's school rather than her own country. However, for the other three, who had to return to the Wainwright Kingdom and live as nobles after graduating from the empire's noble school, it would be different, and Melissa was worried about their futures.

In a letter from Rose, who frequently corresponded with her, it was suggested to become friends with the children of the imperial nobility, show off her piano skills, and create a future. Melissa replied that she wanted to prioritize spending time with her dear friends. Rose was happy that Melissa had made friends.

There were also seniors and juniors from Wainwright, and they learned from the seniors about things they needed to be careful about as foreigners, and then taught the same to the juniors who came after them. Perhaps because everyone was someone who had been hurt and exiled from their country, they were kind and helped each other. In this way, Melissa's narrow circle of friends gradually expanded.

Still, at night, she felt a loneliness as if her heart was empty, and she would spend such lonely nights looking at the green ribbon.

Melissa had been writing letters to Nate, who was at the Johnston Dukedom, even before she entered the school. Considering the possibility that Amelia might read them, the letters were about trivial matters and expressed concern for Nate's health.

Then, after being in the noble school for a while, letters from Nate began to arrive!

The letters from Nate, which arrived in crumpled envelopes, were all about "Are you doing well?" "I'm doing well," "Don't worry," "I want to hear the piano," and "Do your best in the empire," with no responses to the questions in Melissa's letters. Sensing that her letters weren't reaching Nate, Melissa continued to write, thinking that if she sent enough, one might reach him, or at least let him know that letters were coming from her. She wrote letters to Nate that wouldn't be a problem if seen by anyone.

The letters from Nate were precious treasures to Melissa. Although they were just a series of short sentences and seemed indifferent, it made her happy to realize that he was writing and sending them for her despite being a poor writer. She kept them in a treasure box with the ribbon and reread them before bed.

One day, an ominous line, "Don't let Patrick hear the piano," appeared in a letter from Nate, which made her anxious, but she decided not to worry about it and would ask for the reason when she met Nate again. She wouldn't play the piano in front of her brother until she had his permission.

Time passed, and Melissa, now 15, became a third-year student at the noble school and was old enough to apply for the Telfort International Music Competition in the fall.

To apply for the competition at 15, Melissa needed a signature from her father or a member of the Wainwright royal family, but she couldn't let her father know she was becoming a pianist in the empire, so she decided to skip applying this year.

She would disappear before the final graduation exam, renounce her noble status, and change her nationality to the empire after the graduation ceremony. Then, as a commoner Mel, she would enter the empire's magic school and apply for the competition without worry in the fall of the following year when she was 16. She reviewed her future plans in her mind.

According to international law, nationality could only be viewed by the individual and the royal family, so the risk of her family finding out was low. She planned to appear as a different person at the magic school by removing her wig and pretending to be someone other than Melissa Johnston from the noble school.

At the end of the summer of her third year, on the first day of the new semester after the summer break, Melissa and her three friends gathered in the piano practice room that Melissa had been renting all year, as usual.

It was a routine for the four of them to spend their afternoons with Melissa playing the piano while the others studied.

"Are you all going to the empire's magic school?"

Carrie asked the others while Melissa took a break from playing. With the new semester and only half a year until graduation, she was probably concerned about everyone's futures. In response, Noah, who not only read the empire's newspapers but also had Wainwright newspapers delivered and read them daily, answered.

"The Wainwright Kingdom's magic school will temporarily leave the international treaty for magic schools for a few years starting next year to experiment with some educational policies. I think it will be officially announced this month that those with Wainwright nationality will not be able to enter other countries' magic schools from next year's admission onwards. We will only be able to enter the Wainwright magic school."

Melissa was surprised by this news she didn't know, but she remembered a letter from her father that arrived recently, instructing her to return to the Johnston Dukedom after graduating from the empire's noble school to enter the Wainwright magic school. It wasn't a letter from her father to his child but an order from the Duke of Johnston written by a steward. She had thought it was because Amelia had finished her magic manipulation training, but this was the reason.

"I didn't know. As always, Noah is diligent and knowledgeable. ... Well, in that case, I think I'll probably quit the noble school and become a commoner in the empire. I'll attend the empire's magic school as a commoner. I was forced to enter here by my uncle, but I've been thinking of escaping even if it means becoming a commoner."

If Carrie was going to live as a commoner in the empire, Melissa, who was also becoming a commoner, could attend the empire's magic school with her.

"The magic school is under the jurisdiction of the queen. I bet they're trying to lure the third prince to the Wainwright magic school."

"The third prince?"

Blair asked with interest at Carrie's unexpected statement, and Melissa and Noah waited for her to continue.

"There's a third prince born to a deceased concubine, and the king is hiding him from the queen. The third prince is my age and is likely to enter a noble school in another country, so I was forced to enter here by my uncle to look for him in the empire. ... It's better than being thrown away somewhere, so it's fine. I haven't found him yet, and I'm getting a lot of letters from my uncle to look for not just my age but also younger students, which is annoying. I haven't found him, so I'm not looking."

"Could it be that you're the one who's the most suspicious? You're the only male Wainwright of our age, and you might be pretending to be a commoner's child. How do you know it's not you?"

In response to Noah's question, Carrie answered confidently.

"His face! He's the son of the handsome king and the concubine he favored? I can't be convinced by just any face."

Noah, who was called "just any face," hung his head, and Blair burst out laughing.

"To be honest, the most suspicious was Mel. She's beautiful, always in the top ten of the class without studying, plays the piano like a pro, can use rare light magic, and wears a wig for some reason. I was suspicious at first, but the hair under the wig was just blonde, and it wasn't a gender-changing magical item, so I thought it wasn't her. It would be too much of a stretch to think the former fiancée candidate of the second prince was actually the third prince."

"Wait! You knew I was wearing a wig?"

Melissa was surprised by Carrie's casual mention of the wig.

"I thought there was some reason, so I didn't say anything, but I noticed about a week after we started school. How about you two?"

"I noticed after a month."

"I noticed at the opening ceremony!"

Melissa's shoulders drooped in disappointment at the responses from Carrie, Noah, and Blair.

"If you're all going to the Wainwright magic school, I'll be the only one leaving. I'm honestly worried about becoming a commoner, but I'll manage. I'll write when I settle down."

Carrie looked sad, but Melissa was also going to become a commoner and attend the empire's magic school.

Believing in the friendship they had built over the past two and a half years, Melissa decided to reveal her plan to become a pianist in the empire to the three of them.

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Half a year later, on a warm spring day, it was the opening ceremony of the Wainwright Kingdom's magic school, where Melissa was born.

In the hall where the opening ceremony was held, the new students and their families were seated, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Melissa, who had delayed leaving the empire until the last minute, came directly to the magic school without stopping at the Johnston Dukedom, so she wasn't with her family.

Sitting together without their parents, Melissa, Blair, Carrie, and Noah laughed, saying it felt like the opening ceremony of the noble school three years ago. Just like three years ago, Melissa's hair was tied with a green ribbon that held memories.

The seats were arranged in a stepped formation, with the higher nobles sitting closer to the stage, so the four of them, sitting at the back, could see the entire hall.

This year, the second prince, Christopher, was entering, so the special guest seats to the right of the stage were occupied by the king and queen, and the second-year first prince, Eldred. The second prince, Christopher, was likely sitting at the far right of the front row in front of the stage. To the left of the stage, special guest seats were occupied by distinguished guests from home and abroad. There seemed to be more distinguished guests this year due to the introduction of new educational methods.

"Is that black-haired guy Mel's Nate?"

Blair pointed to a black-haired young man sitting behind the Johnston Dukedom family, who were in the front row in the center of the stage.

It was the back of Nate, whom she hadn't seen in three and a half years.

Nate occasionally turned his head to look around, revealing that his long bangs still covered half his face. Although she couldn't see it, he probably had a silk rose, symbolizing a new student, on his chest. Seeing Nate's back, which had changed from that of a boy to a young man, made Melissa's heart race. She couldn't imagine touching his face and casting light magic at such close range.

"Yes, that's Nate. He's not mine, but that's him. The blonde lady in the front row is Amelia."

And next to Amelia, whose back was visible, the silver-haired gentleman on the right was likely her father, and the silver-haired lady on the left was her grandmother. Her brother, who was an upperclassman, didn't seem to be there.

Seeing the backs of her family, whom she hadn't seen in five years since leaving for Roton, she felt no emotion or sadness at being forgotten. Her goal wasn't them, and she decided to stop worrying about her family.

Soon, the lights on the stage came on, and the opening ceremony of the Wainwright magic school began. It started with the principal's speech, followed by talks from famous foreign mages and scholars, and then the representative of the new students was to give a speech.

The representative of the new students was Amelia Johnston.

The calculating Amelia, who was not incapable of studying, refused to give the position of new student representative to the second prince, Christopher, to undermine the royal family's prestige. Last month, Amelia and the first prince, Eldred, had become engaged.

Although she was a duke's daughter, Amelia originally came from a viscount's family and didn't have noble blood. She wouldn't miss an opportunity to declare her excellence to everyone.

Last autumn, it was announced that Eldred would be made crown prince the following summer. The king, who wanted to protect the third prince, whom he favored, from the queen, had to yield to the queen's demand to make Eldred the crown prince.

Immediately after Eldred was made the crown prince, Amelia became engaged to him. Her political skills, which allowed her to quickly secure an engagement with a prince, were frightening.

Amelia, sitting in the front row, stood up with perfect manners and walked gracefully to the stage.

Her long, slender limbs, the pale skin of her neck visible from the collar of her uniform, her shining blonde hair, and her rose-red eyes. Her well-proportioned features, perfectly symmetrical, captivated everyone as she slowly ascended from the dark seats to the bright stage.

Melissa, who had last seen Amelia at 11, was now 16 and had become an otherworldly beauty, like a doll crafted by a god.

Without hesitation, Amelia smiled like a blooming flower and began her speech with a clear, beautiful voice.

"Along with the warm arrival of spring, we... 'Your Majesty! I hereby present a statement regarding the murder committed by Amelia Johnston, the fiancée of the first prince, Eldred!'"

Nate, who had raised his long bangs and revealed a face identical to Amelia's, rushed onto the stage, interrupting Amelia's speech and declaring his statement to the king in the guest seats.

Everyone in the audience, stunned by the sudden appearance of two people with such otherworldly identical appearances and the unexpected event, was frozen, waiting for the king's response.

I apologize for the abrupt development and lack of explanation. I realize it was too sudden. In the next part, I will explain this sudden turn of events, so I hope you will look forward to the updates while guessing who the third prince might be.