2 Chapter 2- Roseward Academy

Roseward Academy. As I thought, it looks so much like a castle.

I am currently standing outside the iron gates that lead to the large brick building of the honorable academy for noble children. This was also the setting where the events of Fight for Love and Acceptance took place. To think I would actually set foot in this place as a commoner. The only commoner that attended this school was Alexandra, the heroine. So why am I here? The novel never mentioned another commoner named Reiré Norman going to a school for nobility. This must be the result of my befriending Lady Rium and Lord Raphael.

“Wow! So this is Roseward Academy! I can’t believe I’m seeing it in real life!”

Huh? Turning to the side, I saw the protagonist herself, Alexandra Bailey. She really did grow into the girl on the novel’s cover. Her hair has grown longer and she’s definitely a beauty. She looks exactly like the drawing. I wonder, even if I interacted with her, would the story still progress as it did in the novel?

“Alexandra,” I called out.

“Huh?” She gave me a confused look.

“It’s good to see you again.” After our first encounter, she had been coming to my family’s bakery. We barely exchanged words other than “Thank you” and “Goodbye.”

“Do I… know you?”

Eh? Does she not remember? “I’m Reiré. You often come to my family’s bakery to buy pastries. Do you not remember?”

“Ah!” Her eyes lit up like she remembered something. “That’s right. I often bought bread and cakes from the Norman Bakery. Sorry, I forgot because it’s been a while.”

It was true. She suddenly stopped coming last year. I felt a bit sad that I couldn’t interact with the heroine of my favorite book anymore, but now that I’m attending Roseward Academy, I’ll be able to see all the important characters. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me.

“It’s alright if you don’t remember. We weren’t really that close. But since we are fellow commoners attending this academy, I hope we can get along.”

“Eh? Reiré you’re attending Roseward Academy?” she asked.

“Yes, I am.”

Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed and her face twisted in confusion. “That’s strange. I thought the heroine was the only commoner in this school…”

“Eh?” Did I hear her wrong? Did she say… heroine?

“Ah! Sorry. Just talking to myself. Let’s hurry in and see where our dormitory is. We have a busy day tomorrow after all.” Alexandra quickly ran ahead before I could say anything.

Well, I have more chances to speak to her. But she looked very shocked to hear that I’ll be at this school. Well, having commoners attend a noble school is shocking. I was only able to attend thanks to Lady Rium’s family. And for the heroine, she’s only able to attend because she’s related to the Straut household.

The Straut household is a Viscount family. The head of the family, Matthew Straut, had an affair with a maid. The maid quickly left the household after she found out she was pregnant. So Alexandra was the child of a love affair. When Alexandra was eight years old, Lord Straut had secretly been sending funds to the maid to help raise her. And when Alexandra came of age, she was to attend Roseward Academy. Alexandra doesn’t learn of this until next year.

“Reiré, what are you doing just standing there?”

I looked back to see Lady Rium. She has really changed from the young girl that she was to a mature woman. Her hair had gotten longer and her eyes were as green as emeralds. If I didn’t have someone else in mind, I might as well have fallen in love with her.

“Sorry, I’m still in shock that your parents would pay for my tuition to go to this academy.”

Yes. Ever since I learned that I would attend this academy, I have been working my hardest to study the way of a noblewoman with the help of Lady Rium.

“Please. My family is quite fond of the Normans, so it’s natural that we would help you out. My mother has taken the liking of coming to your bakery just to talk with your mother.”

“Yes. Her presence has given my mother a heart attack every time she shows up unannounced.”

Lady Rium giggled, “She does love to tease. Now let’s hurry in. I’ll show you to the girl’s dormitory.”

The dorms were right next to the main academic buildings, so it wasn’t hard to find. The dorms were split among the grades, so freshmen are in one building, then sophomores, juniors, and seniors. While the students are in different buildings, the buildings themselves were all in the same area and they all looked the same. The only difference was the color of the rose on the building. The freshmen dorms have a pink rose, sophomores have a yellow rose, juniors have a blue rose and seniors have a red rose.

Lady Rium guided me to the resident’s office and we got our room assignments. It looks like I’m rooming with Lady Rium, which is very helpful since I don’t know anyone here. Well, that’s a lie since I know the main characters, but other than that, I really don’t know anyone else.

Our room was on the second floor of the pink rose dorm. I was expecting some college dorm layout from my past life, but this room was huge. We each got a queen-size bed and a large desk. The walls were white and the floors were carpeted pink. We even have our own wardrobe.

My god, this school is so rich. There was no way I could afford this in my previous life. I’m so happy that I have connections like Lady Rium.

“We have an assembly at four today, so don't miss it,” said Lady Rium as she walked out the door.

“Where is Lady Rium going?” I asked.

“I’m going to see Lord Raphael,” she replied.

“Oh, then let me tag along.”

“Then shall we go? I’m sure Lord Raphael would be happy to see us.”

We both left the dorms and headed toward the boy’s dorms that are on the other side of the campus. Normally, girls are not allowed into the boy’s dorm and boys are not allowed into the girl’s dorm, but during move-in day, that rule is not in effect. Once tomorrow starts, we won’t have the privilege of just walking into the boy’s dorms anymore.

The boy’s dorm was set up exactly like the girl’s dorms. This must be the writer being lazy, well, I won’t judge. Since Lord Raphael was two years older, he must be a junior now. Lady Rium and I walked towards the blue rose dorm and asked around to see if Lord Raphael was there. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in the dorms.

“Lord Raphael should know we are coming to see him,” Lady Rium grumbled.

“The only place I can think of where he might be would be the library,” I said.

Lady Rium sighed, “Yes, that boy does love his books.”

“Do you know where the library is?” I asked.

“I believe so. We passed by it when we were heading to the boy’s dormitory.”

The two of us decided to head to the library. Along the way, we helped some students that had gotten lost trying to find the dorms. This reminds me of Alexandra. In the story, she also got lost trying to find the dorms. The one to help her was Prince Leonhardt. I really want to go see that scene, but I don’t want to ditch Lady Rium. There are many other chances to see a romantic scene, so it's fine if I miss the first encounters. Actually… Now that I think about it, didn’t she meet Lord Raphael first before all the other main characters? I should really start writing down all the important scenes of the story. I’ll do that tonight after dinner.

“I see the library,” lady Rium announced.

The large white building came to view and there we saw two figures as well. As I thought. It was Lord Raphael and Alexandra. Lord Raphael seems to be pointing somewhere and explaining. Alexandra then bowed and walked away. Lady Rium and I approached Lord Raphael as we watched Alexandra walk away.

“A friend?” Lady Rium asked.

“No. She was lost,” Lord Raphael answered.

“I met her at the academy’s entrance actually. Her name is Alexandra Bailey. She came to my bakery a few times as well,” I voiced.

“So she’s a freshman like us as well. We’ll be seeing her a lot then. Anyways, Lord Raphael, we kept our promise.”

Lord Raphael smiled. “Yes. Just seeing you two here makes me happy.”

“Have you not made any friends during your two years here?” I asked.

He frowned as a blush appeared on his face. I’ll take that as a no. He really is different from the Raphael in the novel.

“Should we get going? The assembly should be starting soon,” stated Lady Rium.

“Ah, we did spend a lot of time looking for Lord Raphael after all.”

“I am sorry. I got too into reading when I was waiting for you. I was gonna return to my dorm after some time.”

“It is alright, Lord Raphael. We’ll be seeing each other more during classes,” I voiced.

“Reiré is right. Let us go, Lord Raphael.”

The three of us headed to the main building where the auditorium was. Upon entering, I got many looks of disgust. I was kind of used to it because I can’t change how I looked. Honestly, a commoner with white hair and red eyes attending a noble academy. If it weren’t for Alexandra, I would have mistaken myself as the main protagonist.

Lord Raphael broke off from us and sat down with the other juniors. Lady Rium and I made our way toward the freshman section. As the assembly started, I heard soft whispers of people making fun of how I looked. I chose to ignore them and listen to the Dean of the academy. Once his speech was done, Prince Leonhardt took the stage. Prince Leonhardt should be in the same grade as Lord Raphael. I could also make out the other main characters that would play a big role for Alexandra.

My blood was boiling with excitement. Finally. I’ll finally get the entertainment I have been seeking for. This European-style society has been mentally draining for me. I need some drama and romance to recharge me. Sadly, I have been craving for some great anime and manga, but those don’t exist. I’ve tried to read some books, but they were so uninteresting. There were some romance stories that were promising, but the creativity in the world is quite low. My otaku self is dying here. It’s been nine years since I remembered my past life and I keep comparing it to my life now. Technology in my past life was much more advanced. I would have been better if this word had magic, but there was no magic in this story, so in other words, it's more like I traveled back in time than getting reincarnated in another world. I’m not complaining since I get a second chance at life, but can something at least happen? I’m so bored already.

“Reiré.”

“Huh?”

Hearing Lady Rium’s voice, I quickly snapped out of my thoughts to see everyone standing up. I looked at Lady Rium to see her signaling me to get my butt off the chair. I hastily stood up and blushed. I can’t believe I was so in thought that I didn’t even notice my surroundings. Nice one, Reiré, nice one.

The assembly ended with a bow and everyone left the auditorium. Lord Raphael met up with us once we were outside. We decided to go to the dining hall to get dinner together. The dining hall was so different from the high school cafeteria that I experienced in my last life. It was buffet style and we could get as much as we wanted. It was pretty amazing seeing all these luxurious foods that I could never eat as a commoner. I really need to thank Lady Rium’s family somehow.

Just as I turned around, someone tripped me. I was more worried about the food than myself, so I quickly lifted my arms and fell face-first onto the wooden floor.

“Reiré!” I heard both Lord Raphael and Lady Rium call my name.

I turned my head so I could meet their worried eyes and asked, “Is my food alright?!”

They both let out a sigh of relief and helped me up.

“Oh, did I hit something?”

Lady Rium glared at the person who tripped me. I didn’t recognize her, but she was dressed in an elegant dress. She has long brown hair and sharp brown eyes. Her face was twisted in a wicked grin. Since I didn’t recognize her, she must be some side character like me.

“How dare you trip my friend, apologize this instant!” Lady Rium demanded.

“Excuse you, I did no such thing. Why would I touch such an ugly existence anyways?”

Lady Rium looked so angry that she might actually explode. I should calm her down. “Lady Rium, it’s no big deal.”

“I’m surprised that they would let some commoner into this academy and such an ugly one at that.”

Ouch, that stung, but I expected this. Since these noble brats are so prejudiced against commoners that it was certain that I would get bullied. In fact, it would be strange if I weren’t getting bullied.

“You-!”

I quickly pulled Lady Rium back, so she didn't say anything. I can’t let Lady Rium fight my battles. She should have known this would happen if I were to attend this academy.

“I am deeply sorry for getting in your way. I was in the wrong.”

“Reiré! You-!”

“Sorry for cutting you off, Lady Rium, but I don’t want to start anything when I have just entered this academy. I understand that the snotty brat was being rude, but I don’t want to see you being upset for my sake.”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

Everyone was giving me a shocked look. “What’s wrong? Did I say something weird?”

“You! What did you just call me!”

“A snotty brat. Since you have yet to introduce yourself, I have no idea who you are. So I decided to call you a snotty brat.”

Her face turned bright red and everyone around snickered. “How dare you call me a snotty brat, you nobody!” She raised her hand to slap me, but Lady Rium pulled me back as Lord Raphael grabbed her hand.

“I won’t allow you to hurt my friend, Lady Laura,” Lord Raphael voiced.

“Tch!” Lady Laura ripped her hand from Lord Raphael and stomped away.

“Are you alright, Reiré?” Lord Raphael asked.

I smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. “I’m ay-okay.”

“Really now, people can be so rude,” Lady Rium huffed out.

“It's to be expected with my status and how I look.”

“Do not worry, Lord Raphael and I will protect you,” claimed Lady Rium.

“Ah, while I’m happy, please don’t.” Mainly because you’ll obstruct my encounter with a certain character I want to meet.

“You don’t want us to help you?” Lord Raphael asked.

“I don’t want to bother you two with this problem.”

“Reiré, it was us that wanted you to come to this academy. At least let us take care of you,” said Lady Rium.

“Thank you, but you’re already paying for my tuition. I can’t ask any more of you.”

“Reiré…”

“But… If I’m in any trouble that I can no longer handle, I’ll come to you.”

“Really?” Lady Rium said, still concerned.

“I promise! I’ll come to you or Lord Raphael when things get too out of hand.” I gave them both a bright smile to reassure them.

Lord Raphael sighed, “Alright. Please come to us when you need help. We are both here for you.”

“Of course! Now, let us eat! I’m starving!”

The three of us sat down and began eating. We forgot about the incident and discussed our choice of classes. It seems like I have some classes with Lady Rium and Lord Raphael, so we will see each other often. It’s too bad that Lady Rium and Lord Raphael don’t have any classes together. The three Rs are meant to stay together after all. I wish we all could have at least one class together. Oh well, it can’t be helped since Lord Raphael is two years ahead of Lady Rium and me.

Anyways, I can’t wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day when the story begins. I will not miss any entertainment. I can feel my otaku spirit burning.