I stared at the foul-mouthed teddy bear in shock.
Wha-
Did it jus-
HUH?!
"I-IS...IS IT A DEMON?!" I screamed as I activated my destruction magic.
Before I could ultimately destroy the demon, both Lin and Min tackled me to the ground, each pinning one my arms above my head to stop me.
All of us ended up in a horribly awkward position.
"Don't!" they yelled at me to stop.
I widened my eyes in shock.
...Did they know that this bear could talk and move on its own?!
And they still held onto it?!
Were these twins possessed by the devil too?!
"Get the f--k off of her, you stupid d--ks. I won't die that easily," the teddy bear interrupted with a sigh as it laid down and rolled over on its stomach so it could rest its head on its arm.
"E-EXCUSE ME?!" I squeaked as I looked at the teddy bear in complete shock.
No.
This was not okay at all.
Nope.
Nah.
Never.
Nada.
GET THAT FREAKY DEMON AWAY FROM ME!
"His name is 'Sin' and he's our friend," Lin sighed with obvious confusion at the situation.
...Huh...?
It had a name???????
And...this bear...was safe to be around?!
It wasn't a devil?!
I didn't believe it.
I refused to believe that this bear wasn't evil.
"Excuse Sin's foul mouth..." Min also sighed as he gave a look to the teddy bear and let go of me.
"...We promise he is very kind," Lin muttered as he also let go of me.
"Speak for yourselves, dumb pieces of sh-t," the bear scoffed.
"W-Why does it keep cussing?!" I squeaked as I held my arms in a defensive position.
"Who cares. I talk the way I wanna talk...dumb f--k," the bear said casually.
I really wanted to get angry at the bear...or possibly obliterate it to death...
But it was a teddy bear.
It was wearing a pink ribbon and a monocle.
And even though it was totally destroyed-looking and was completely ragged, it was still a cute teddy bear...
...that happened to cuss a lot...
...and was also probably possessed by a demon.
But it was still cute(?)
"Hey, b-tch...You aren't thinking that I'm f--king cute or anything...right?!" the bear asked as he pointed at me with one of his limbs.
"Wha- Me?! Think you're cute?! Never!!" I yelled in defense.
"Now that's the biggest f--king lie I've ever heard through my two f--king toy ears," the bear rolled his button eyes with a groan.
H-How did it know I was lying?!
I was about to question this teddy bear...
...before it lost its balance and fell to the ground.
"O-Ouch..." the bear groaned when he faceplanted to the ground with a small plop.
I wasn't going to lie...
...but that was pretty funny.
"W-What sh-t is this f--king floor made out of?! W-Why the f--k is it so slippery?!" the bear yelled as it sat up.
The bear seemed overly upset for some reason and was most likely embarrassed from its fall.
It was then that a thought suddenly struck me.
"...tsundere..." I murmured in realization quietly.
"...HUH?! Say that again, b-tch. I dare you," the bear, Sin, threatened me with a glare.
"Hmm...Maybe you aren't a tsundere...But, you're just a teddy bear...what could you possibly do to stop me from calling you a tsundere?" I asked with a grin as I moved over to the bear and slightly poked Sin's button nose, causing him to topple over again.
"S-Stop! This is f--king harassment, b-tch! I'll f--king kill you! I swear on my f--king life! S-Stop!!!" the bear squeaked as it tried to use its plushy and clumsy limbs to defend itself from my consecutive soft pokes.
Heh.
I think I could get used to this.
"I'll stop poking you...if you stop cussing," I offered to Sin with a smile.
"What the f--k?! No!" Sin retorted.
"Then...take this..." I said as I began to tickle the teddy bear.
"N-NOO!!! WAHHH! S-STOP IT, B-TCH!!! STOP!!! WAHHHH! NOOOO!! THIS IS F--KING HARRASSMENT!! HAHAHA!!" Sin screamed in laughter as I tickled him.
"Will you stop cussing?" I asked the bear again with a grin.
"F--k no," Sin replied almost automatically.
"Hmm...? Can you say that again...?" I asked as I held my index finger threateningly to Sin.
"F-FINE, B-TCH! I-I'LL STOP!" the bear yelled.
"Excuse me...?" I smirked as I moved my index finger closer to the teddy bear's armpit.
"I-I mean...f-fine..." the bear cried in defeat as it plopped itself on the ground again.
"Heh. Good," I smiled as I celebrated childishly in victory.
I was about to pick up Sin myself, but the twins interrupted me.
"...She's...interesting, Lin," Min said as he stared at me.
"...Very...interesting...Min," Lin agreed.
Min walked over to Sin and picked him up with a small sigh.
"You shouldn't have tried to challenge another human, Sin," Min chuckled as he positioned Sin comfortably back in his arms.
"You always lose, Sin," Lin added.
"Haha...You think I've lost, boys...?" Sin asked with an evil smirk.
"Hmm?" Lin, Min, and I all questioned out loud.
"What makes you think I'll listen to a single f--king thing you f--king say, b-tch?! Suck my d--k," Sin sneered as he crossed his plushy arms underneath the pink ribbon tied around his neck.
"WHAT?!" I yelled.
"Sin played dirty, Lin," Min smiled.
"Yes, he did, Min," Lin agreed.
"Wait that's not fair!" I yelled.
"Life's not f--king fair. Get used to it, b-tch," Sin shot back.
"Ugh," I groaned.
"I'd recommend that start watching your d-mn back from now on, b-tch...No f--king idiot ever gets away after insulting me..." Sin chuckled evilly.
"...Sin made an empty threat again, Lin," Min sighed.
"He's not actually going to do anything, Min," Lin agreed.
"...Let's leave, boys. We can leave this poor b-tch here alone to think about how her life is sh-t," Sin clapped as the boys listened to what he said and left.
I stared blankly at the door where the twins left.
...What...just happened...?!
I was just talking to...a possessed teddy bear as if it was completely normal.
But it was definitely not normal.
Lin...Min...and...Sin?
The 'Trinity' siblings...
I had many questions running and rolling throughout my mind that I felt almost dizzy.
This was definitely different from the original otome game...right?!
Wait.
I forgot to ask the twins...how were they able to read my mind before...?
How did they know about Ace's amnesia...?
What about my plan of revenge against the Marquis and Marquess?
How did they find out???
I shivered unconsciously.
It was like they held the key to open up the box of my deepest darkest thoughts.
Did Sin, that teddy bear, have anything to do with it?
I was so confused...
As I was deep in thought, I finally remembered that I had another class coming up.
I was going to be late!
Almost immediately, I began to sprint out of the classroom to my next class, standard education.
Luckily, I had been training my body for years, so if I wanted to run...I could run.
I could probably run about as fast as Mach speed if I wanted to.
Obviously, I wasn't as fast as Ace since he was easily able to travel well over Mach 50 speed...but I was still very fast.
Wait.
...Where was my next class supposed to be again...?
Shoot...I was lost.
I ran around the entire building, searching every hall.
The hallways were mostly empty since everyone was already in their assigned class.
Then I saw the door labeled: "Standard Edu. - Mrs. Loli."
This was it!
I slammed open the classroom door and heard the school bell ring behind me.
...Apparently, I made it to class on time.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Florence, Grey, and Ace all sitting next to each other by the window on the right side of the room.
The rest of the class separated themselves from those three naturally, as if it were by instinct.
"Hot...So bright...My eyes...They are...burning...Someone, save me!" a noble girl squealed as she fainted in her seat after making eye contact with Florence.
"Gods...They must be gods...No mortal could ever look like them...!" another noble cried as she pulled out her own hair in her insanity.
"Oh...Please let them all be single! I love you!!!" a different noble girl fangirled.
All of the boys looked slightly uncomfortable or irritated at the insensitive comments of the noble girls in the class.
Eventually, one girl had the guts to plop herself right next to the boys and begin to flirt with all three of them...at the same time.
"You're all so handsome...I know what boys like you want...You want a girl like me, right? Someone of high status and beauty...someone who can satisfy you as I can," the girl whispered delusionally to them with a high pitched laugh.
Was this girl...stupid?
A part of me was ready to walk up to the girl and give her a good slap across her face to knock some common sense into her...before I realized the boys probably had everything under control.
"Oh...so you think you know my type in women...young miss?" Grey smiled with cold and dark eyes.
"Yes, of course...I'm the only girl that would be perfect for you. There aren't many girls of my caliber," she squealed as she twirled her hair seductively.
"Unfortunately, I am already engaged to someone who is well above 'your caliber.' I would appreciate it if you would stop this," Florence replied politely as his expression darkened.
"It's alright if you're engaged. Have an affair with me for a while...then I can help you ditch your fiance and leave her destroyed on the ground. We could leave her all alone...with tears in her eyes and begging for mercy," she giggled, clearly not understanding that she was being rejected.
At her words, Florence suddenly went quiet and his face darkened even further.
"Excuse me, young miss, but I believe your words have gotten out of hand...I believe it would be best for you to hold your tongue. Don't insult us," Grey chuckled darkly with some sort of poisonous air to his words.
"I think the three of us here...can all agree that we would rather drink poison from a glass of thorns...than to continue this conversation," Ace said without a single smile on his face.
Ace's expression sent shivers down my spine.
I had seen him make that face before.
It was his terrifyingly cold expression that could freeze even the warmest of hearts, which he made unconsciously whenever he was frustrated with something.
But, the noble lady was too ignorant to notice.
"All of you must be jesting! Well, having a good sense of humor is quite charming for you three as well. Now, which of you three would love the honor of proposing to me-" the noble girl was about to say before Florence used his hand to stroke the side of the girl's face.
"...I would..." Florence started to say as he used his gloved hands to trail through her murky green locks.
The girl began to slightly blush and giggle as Florence moved his face closer to the girl's face.
But instead of kissing her like she thought he would, he whispered something into the girl's ear instead.
The noble girl stopped giggling and paled as her eyes widened in fear.
It was if her entire world had been turned upside down.
Florence backed up a little and took off the glove on the hand that he used to stroke the side of the noble girl's face.
He burned his glove with his own fire magic.
"How...vile..." Florence said without a single expression on his face as he looked at his now ungloved hand.
"Y-You must...b-be j-joking. Y-You can't...!" the noble girl whimpered with a sickly pale face.
In response, Florence gave her an expression that I have never seen him make in his life.
The only thing I could think at the moment was that...Florence was furious.
Storm clouds began to form outside the window and booms of thunder could be heard from the sky above...which was proof of Florence's lightning magic going out of control from anger.
But what was even worse...was that even though Florence was obviously furious...he was still smiling at the girl.
"It was truly lovely to be able to meet you today, Lady...?" Florence said as he questioned for her name.
"G-Glessarif...M-My name is...Lady Glessarif," she stuttered with a sickly complexion that was void of the confidence she had before.
"Well...It was truly lovely to be able to meet you today, Lady Glessarif. Please, tell your parents that I wish them well and...I do hope that our next meeting will be...more fruitful," Florence smiled with the cruelest and darkest face I had ever seen him make.
"Y-Yes...of course..." Lady Glessarif murmured as she looked down away from the prince, completely unable to look him in the eye.
"Are you alright, Lady Glessarif? You seem quite pale and sick...Should I escort you to the infirmary?" Grey asked politely as he looked down at the girl as if she were like the rotting corpse of a sewage rat.
"N-NO! I b-believe I'll be f-fine on m-my own...G-Good day, sir," Lady Glesserif suddenly yelled as she sat up quickly and ran out of the classroom.
...What did I just see?
The rest of the class didn't seem to notice what was going on.
In fact, everyone paid more attention to the unnatural storm clouds that were continually building up outside of the classroom than the boys' conversation with the noble girl.
Actually...What did Florence even say to that girl that made her so scared...?
I walked up to where the boys were sitting.
None of them noticed me at all.
Grey held dead eyes as if he had just gone on a field trip to the deepest pits of the underworld and witnessed hundreds of disgusting rotting corpses.
Ace was simply silent. His expression was unreadable, even to me, who had been closest to him for over the past decade.
Florence still had a scary look on his face and was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't even realize I was standing behind him.
"Are all of you alright...?" I asked with worry as I looked at the three of them.
The three of them were acting so...strange and different...that it was almost hard to believe that they were the friendly boys I had known for all of this life.
"Who is it this tim-" Florence growled as he turned around to face me.
But the moment Florence's eyes landed on me, his irritated expression disappeared and the storm clouds outside of the window went away too.
His face changed into a smirk within a split second and he chuckled.
"Where were you this whole time, Lia? We were all waiting for you," Florence smiled as any traces of his prior fury disappeared completely.
Grey and Ace turned their heads to face me too when they heard Florence say my name.
"Milady, you're late...How many times must I tell you to be more responsible?" Grey sighed with a chuckle that implied he completely expected me to barely make it to class on time.
"...Are you alright, Cordelia...? You seem a little off right now..." Ace asked with worry as he looked at me.
Did I just imagine everything?
I swear they were acting weirdly cold before...
Nah.
I must've just imagined it.
There's no way these guys have a completely different personality when I'm not around.
"I think I'm fine, Ace. I just had a weird feeling that I don't know you guys as much as I think I do," I laughed at the preposterousness of my own statement as I took a seat by them.
"Pfft. Lia, you're the woman who knows me the most in the world...Unless...You want to take our relationship one step farther...To get to know me better," Florence also laughed as he winked at me.
I blushed and just whacked Florence as usual.
"Milady, I must agree with the crown prince...You're the only female in a long time that has ever known this much about me," Grey agreed with a sigh.
"I guess that's true. I don't know what I was thinking," I said with a chuckle.
"..." Ace slightly chuckled as he averted his eyes.
I looked to Ace with a small frown.
Why was he reacting like that?
"Out of everyone here, I am almost certain that I know you the most, Ace! I met you first after all," I said loudly as I looped my arm around Ace's shoulder.
"I...see..." Ace said as he sat uncomfortably with my arms around him.
Then, I heard the classroom door open.
Now that I think about it...Why wasn't our teacher here yet???
The school bell rang ages ago.
Speaking of which, Mr. Bloodsworth was also the last person to arrive in the classroom earlier today.
Did the teachers here have a habit of being late?
I thought this was a prestigious school...
When the classroom door opened, I expected our teacher to walk through...but instead, a little girl walked in instead.
Was she lost?
The little girl was carrying a stack of heavy books and a few pens but accidentally tripped when attempting to close the door, causing a few of her things to drop to the ground.
"O-Oopsie..." the little girl squeaked in a cute voice.
She seemed to be having extreme trouble picking up all of her things, so a few rude noble kids began to snicker behind her back.
"Ah...Err...I'm s-sorry, everyone!" the little girl said slowly with a small stutter.
"If you're sorry, then go away!" one noble boy yelled at the girl.
"I c-can't g-go away...t-though..." the girl stuttered awkwardly when she realized that this class wasn't the friendliest of environments.
"Huh?! Why?! Just go run back to your mommy..." another noble boy yelled at the girl as everyone in the class, except for me and the boys, began to join along in the teasing as well.
What was wrong with this school?!
All of the kids here were constantly ready to bully someone that it was ridiculous.
Was it because this world was based on an otome game that was designed to be a harsh environment for the heroine...?
Or...maybe all schools were like this.
"Little kids shouldn't be here! Go play with your dolls!" some other dude yelled.
"I-I d-don't play w-with d-dolls anymore..." she said as her body shook.
"So what?! If you don't play with dolls, go play dress-up or something! Get out of here!"
"B-But I c-can't...I-I am supposed t-to be h-here..."
"Do you think any of us will believe that? You're just lost. Scram."
"I...I..." she tried to say as her voice trailed off into a small whimper.
As I stared down at the little girl who was taking all of this verbal harassment from these supposedly "mature" kids...I noticed that her hands were shaking and she was on the verge of tears.
It reminded me of someone I knew before.
"I-I'm s-sorry..." the girl cried in embarrassment and the inability to defend herself.
She was...just like him.
Mattius.
The boy who always stuttered and had cried whenever the slightest thing went wrong.
The boy who was Deux's other half...
...and the one I promised to get revenge for.
The moment I compared Mattius to this little girl...
Ah...
I felt very protective of her.
"EVERYONE. SHUT UP NOW UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO FORCEFULLY JAM YOUR MOUTHS TOGETHER PERMANENTLY," I yelled loudly, which silenced the entire class.
Florence and Grey looked at me with an amused sigh.
I stood up sharply and stomped down to the little girl in front of the entire class.
"All of you. Every single last one of you. What gives you the right to hurt this little girl like this?!" I scolded the entire class.
Yes...
I was reenacting every single introvert's worst nightmare.
Almost everyone in the class responded to me with wide eyes in shock...
...except for a few students who looked like they enjoyed the fact that I was yelling at them...
It was creepy.
"You're calling this girl a little kid...BUT HAVE YOU ALL EVER DECIDED TO TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR BEFORE?! The only 'little kids' I see in this room are ALL OF YOU!!!" I screeched.
I was expecting more silence from the class, but I heard two people clapping at my words from the left corner of the room from where I was at.
Surprised, I turned my head to face the source of the noise...and then I immediately regretted it.
Sitting in the corner of the room, with completely punchable faces, were the twins and their teddy bear.
Lin...Min...and Sin...
Great.
Apparently, I shared my second class, standard education, with the twins too.
"You can do it, Miss Cow," Min nodded as he continued to clap.
"Wow...You're so cool, Miss Cow," Lin agreed as he also clapped without stopping.
And even though they were sitting pretty far from where I was at...I swear I saw Sin, the teddy bear, wink at me.
I shuddered and gave them a glare.
"U-Um...T-Thank you f-for s-sticking u-up for me...but...um...p-please stop..." the little girl behind me stuttered as she gave a small tug on my uniform.
I turned to the little girl whose face was completely red from embarrassment.
"O-Oh! I'm sorry there...I didn't mean to embarrass you," I awkwardly chuckled.
"I-It's fine...t-thank you...Miss...?" the girl questioned for my name.
"Oh...It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Cordelia de Boren Cyllia of the duke household," I introduced myself formally as a normal noble lady should.
I heard some gasps from the crowd when they learned my name.
"A-Ah! I'm...um...the teacher of this class...Mrs. Loli..." the girl chuckled softly.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet yo-" I was about to say before I stopped in shock.
The rest of the class paused in shock as well.
This cute loli was our teacher?!
And she was Mrs. Loli?!
She was married too?!
Excuse me?!?!
What pervert was her husband?!?!?!
"H-Hello, c-class...I'm Mrs. Loli...and I'll be y-your instructor w-who will be a-assigning you w-work and g-grading your a-assignments f-for this year..." the girl squeaked with a low bow to the class.
This is when the class realized they messed up.
Bad.
"Hahaha..." the class laughed awkwardly as they realized they just ganged up and bullied their teacher who had full control over their grades and workload.
"P-Please take a seat, M-Miss Cordelia as I take a-attendance..." Mrs. Loli murmured quietly to me.
I did as she asked and sat down in my classroom seat blankly.
"You did good, Lia," as Florence began to pet my head as if I were a puppy.
As payback, I bit Florence's hand like a wild dog so he would stop.
I turned my head to the other side of the class where the twins were.
Like always, the twins were staring deeply at me.
So, I hissed at them to stop.
The twins began to talk to each other about something that I couldn't hear and laugh about it.
I groaned and faceplanted my face into my desk.
I thought school would be fun...but it sucked.
A small part of me wished that a virus would cause a worldwide pandemic so Greenwood Academy could go on lockdown, allowing me to go home and enjoy the life of a couch potato.
But the odds of this happening were so slim that I gave up on the thought.
"A-Alright! It l-looks l-like all o-of you are h-here...s-so let's s-start our first l-lesson, o-okay?" Mrs. Loli asked the class in her signature stutter.
"What do you think we're going to learn first, milady?" Grey asked me as he stared down at our teacher as of she were some toy that he could mess with in the future.
"I don't know...We'll probably learn something easy that everyone knows..." I replied with a shrug.
To be honest, I didn't care about what we were going to learn.
There was an extremely high chance that I've learned everything from Sir Maddy, my original tutor, so I wasn't worried about the difficulty of the class.
"W-We're going to s-start learning some of S-Silverbell's h-history...M-More specifically, we-we're going to s-study about the f-first hero a-and the f-first great h-holy war.." Mrs. Loli announced.
Out of nowhere, Grey sneezed.
"Bless you, Grey," I giggled.
"Thank you, milady. Forgive me, but it seems that I have caught a cold...I must go to the infirmary..." Grey smiled at me as he immediately left the classroom before Mrs. Loli could continue her lecture on the first hero.
For some reason...it was almost like Grey was running away.
I wonder why.
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A/N: I feel like I ended this chapter on a weird spot, but oh well. This chapter was getting way too long for me to continue it.
Ever since COVID-19 shut down my school...I have had plenty of time to write a ton. It has actually been quite enjoyable to be able to casually write without extra class assignments from school~
But I've also been bored.
Very bored.
Part of me wants to go back to school so I don't sit down at home all day playing the same games over and over again.
But...oh well.
Anyways, please stay safe, everyone~
Thanks, again, to all my readers/voters/commenters!
Okie byeee!
Word Count: 4045