There was no fear or panic as I felt that there was nothing to stop my fall. I simply slowed my perception of the world around me down to a snail’s pace.

  I watched the three of them, their mocking expressions turning first to bafflement, then to shock and horror.

  Twisting my body as I fell and bracing for the stairs, I deliberately let my head hit the railing to my right before making contact with the steps.

  Making sure it didn’t hurt too much and, more importantly, that I wouldn’t get a concussion, I intentionally let the railing cut the left side of my forehead, a trick from an old show about a burned spy in my past life, making it look worse than it actually was.

  Rolling down the stairs with blood spilling from the cut on my forehead, I left a really noticeable trail of blood as I fell, where most of the students, who were all nobles and had never seen combat, would stiffen at the mere sight of this much blood.

  However, I wasn’t just doing that because I wanted to make this an even bigger scene that nobody can forget.

  Angling my body as I fell, I hit the corner of the stairs with my left elbow, making it bend at an unnatural angle. Thankfully, I didn’t really feel it since I couldn’t really feel anything in my left arm.

  In addition, my backpack, which I had intentionally overstuffed with extra papers and school supplies today, flew open, spilling everywhere.

  Finally landing at the bottom of the staircase, I skidded across the floor before coming to a stop; the crash of my fall and backpack was loud enough to draw someone’s attention.

  With my eyes still open, I pretended to be unconscious. I lay there motionlessly, internally smirking at the inevitable chaos that was about to unfold.

  This is going to be interesting, watching them try to get out of this, which would require a miracle to do so, as I saw their faces turn pale at the bloody sight as the blood from my forehead began to pool on the floor.

  Edwen’s Perspective

  Edwen walked away from Blake, heading toward his practical magic class, which was only available for second-year students and higher who could use magic.

  Reaching the end of the hallway, he was about to make a turn toward a different flight of stairs than Blake was using, one that led to the massive underground gymnasium, where Eric and Aria were practicing their magic.

  He was excited to go, since Aria would be there, but also because of the promise of training with Blake.

  Wondering what kind of training method Blake would use, one thing is certain: it will be difficult, maybe even hellish if he thought about it.

  Still feeling a sharp pain on the back of his head, which was vaguely shaped like a bootprint, it reminded him of how much he needed to grow to be recognized by his uncle because Blake’s swordsmanship and mana control surpassed Isaac and Serell by another league entirely at his age, which was a year or two younger than them.

  With that in mind, he wanted to prepare to get the most out of his practical magic classes with the instructors before facing Blake’s training.

  Seeing how much Isaac and Serell had improved with Blake's help, he wonders if it was just enough for his uncle to recognize his strength.

  Considering all that, just about to head down, he heard a loud crash, followed by what seemed to be paper flying through the air and pens hitting the ground.

  Edwen quickly turned his head toward the noise to see what had happened, and what he saw left him frozen for a brief instant.

  He saw Blake on the ground, bleeding from his head, motionless, with what seemed to be his backpack at a distance away that had spilled most of everything inside of it.

  Someone screamed in horror, which got Edwen out of his frozen state, and seeing Blake like that, he rushed to his side.

  With his experience traveling around the kingdom and the neighboring kingdom, Edwen quickly examines Blake, then takes out an expensive health potion and splashes half of it on Blake's wound on his head as he glances at a group of three girls at the top of the staircase, looking down at him and Blake with terror in their faces.

  Raising his voice, a level below a shout, he glared at them and sternly ordered them, with no room for lies or half-truths.

  “What is the meaning of this?”

  Surprised and unable to withstand Edwen’s withering and cold glare, their legs began trembling since he was royalty, the third prince of the kingdom, someone who vastly outranked them in the pecking order.

  Stuttering between her words, Mirelle tried to explain herself.

  “Prince—Edwen, we— we— didn’t push her.”

  “Then who did?”

  Cutting her off, Mirelle’s legs gave out from the weight of that question and Edwen’s piercing glare, as all three of them suddenly realized something.

  Sharing the same thought, with Rita’s inexplicable action, would anyone believe them?

  As they all realized that, with all their ways of escape completely cut off, everyone in the nearby vicinity, hearing the commotion outside the classrooms, and we didn't, then the voice of Prince Edwen, raised in a way no one had ever heard before. Edwen, who had long cultivated a persona of benevolence and generosity in the minds of students and faculty in the academy, had never raised his voice like this; it was inconceivable to them that he would.

  Poking their heads out of the classroom, one quickly became many, in which even the teachers saw the gruesome scene.

  Edwen, looking at the closest teacher, with Blake in his arms, commanded.

  “Watch them, don’t let them leave, and deal with them accordingly.”

  In a tone brimming with authority, befitting royalty, the teacher immediately bowed and said, “Yes, Your Highness,” quickly apprehending Elara, Mirelle, and Verena.

  Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he hurried to the nurse’s office with Rita in his arms, telling the students to step aside as they whispered among themselves about the relationship between Rita and Edwen, given the prince’s reaction.

  As they watch, Edwen runs to the nurse's office, on the same stairway Elara, Mirelle, and Verena were on, a flight above them. A boy in the royal academy uniform looks down from above at the girls as a teacher glares and leads them toward the faculty room.

  Rita’s Perspective

  Carried in Edwen’s arms, I played dead, not moving my body a single bit, satisfied that I got to wipe the smirks from those girls' faces.

  Maybe I could have ended things more peacefully or more amicably, but… they did steal all my stuff in my backpacks and made me have to redo everything that they had thrown away.

  Do I feel bad? A bit, but not really.

  Man… I really can be ruthless. I… haven't done something like it in a while, playing high society where you basically plan the downfalls of others. I really hate it since I much prefer beating the hell out of them, but that won’t do since my status a month ago was at the very bottom of the pecking order in the academy.

  They, in all likelihood, are going to get expelled and be disowned by their families, out into the streets, since they would be blamed for pushing me down the stairs, nearly killing me, especially with Edwen being here with the rumors that are going to spread.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Nobody had stepped in to stop them from bullying me, other than that guy, Patrick, for some odd reason that I can’t figure out. Now, nobody would step in and defend them since I made sure it was the case, given their so-called track record.

  At least it would stop Seraphine, who I think is the one behind them, from sending more people after me for a good while.

  Seraphine Blackmont is the daughter of the Blackmont family, who has the rank of Duke. We used to be friends, in the noblemen's definition, since it was expected of us to be so, given that her family is the leader of the old nobility faction and is the most influential, with my family following suit in second. Though her family has way more influence than mine, say, around 40 percent of the power in the old nobility faction, with my family only holding a decent 20 percent.

  Remaining motionless in Edwen’s arms, I slowly and carefully closed my eyes because I was reaching my limit after keeping them open for so long, which was the hardest part of this plan.

  Eventually, we made our way to the nurse's office, where I heard and felt Edwen throwing the door open to get in, given his urgency.

  Telling the nurse, who was surprised to see us, and even more so with the blood covering Edwen’s uniform that was coming from me, Edwen had to raise his voice once again to get her out of her stunned shock.

  “Get Dr. Eldrin immediately; get him from the gymnasium. I’ll give first aid; just get him here as fast as possible.”

  The nurse on duty lacked magical abilities and was temporarily covering for Mr. Eldrin, the head healer for the first- and second-year students. He was in the gymnasium, standing by during the students’ practical magic classes in case of injuries, since using magic could be dangerous. This is especially true when a large group of novice mages practices together. Who knows what might happen, given how untrained they were?

  Hearing her say, “Yes, your majesty,” she ran off to get Dr. Eldrin as Edwen placed me down at an empty bed.

  Hearing the door close as the nurse ran out, Edwen quickly made his way to the medicine cabinet and searched through it, which was my moment to get up.

  Acting like I suddenly regained consciousness, I shot right up from the bed and placed my right hand on my forehead, where the cut to my forehead was, letting out a small, pained groan.

  Then, pretending I was still dazed, I feigned getting out of bed, nearly falling off in the process like I didn’t know what was happening, but Edwen reacted quickly and caught me before I could, like I thought he would.

  In a flat, emotionless tone, basically the way I normally spoke, which made it easy to fake things, I asked Edwen, “What are you doing here? Where am I?”

  “You fell down the stairs; those girls pushed you, didn’t they?”

  “Oh, right… yeah… that was a surprise; they completely caught me off guard. I didn’t think they would be bold, no, dumb enough to do that.”

  “Really, Blake?” having a troubled look as he said that. “Why didn’t you come to us for any help if things got that bad? I heard the rumors, you know.”

  “I thought that I had it under control, but I guess I had misjudged them. Man… even the children of nobility are this ruthless."

  Knowing what I meant somewhat, I wasn’t referring to those three, but the one who, quote-unquote, ordered them, seeing those three as disposable pawns to get rid of a nuisance.

  Sighing at that, Edwen then asked if I was okay, specifically if I had a concussion, focusing on my eyes really closely to see if there were any unnatural dilations, and my left arm, which was bending unusually.

  “I don’t feel like I have a headache or am dizzy right now, and you know I can’t feel anything in my left arm, right?”

  I said that, and Edwen scratched the back of his head, as he had forgotten about it, though I should check it, just in case something was broken, since I couldn’t feel any pain, and it was bending unnaturally. What I found was that I just had a broken elbow, which I told him.

  “If you're wondering, I only fractured my elbow a bit; it’s not a real problem.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  Getting off the bed and taking a few steps just to make sure I was really okay, I let out a purposeful groan, which Edwen definitely noticed and grew concerned about.

  “What's wrong? Are you really fine?”

  I rubbed my temple with my right hand to make it look like something was troubling me, since I was normally expressionless and the only other expression I could make was a smile with some variations.

  “Yeah, but how am I going to explain this to Rita and Alice?”

  “Oh, that? You really had me worried there.”

  “Right, sorry…” pausing in my sentence, like I just realized something, “Hey, Edwen… could you do me a favor?”

  “Yeah, what is it?”

  Sensing that it might be troublesome, he reluctantly said that.

  “Umm… can you stop the doctor from examining me, since, you know, I’m a guy?”

  Saying the last part quietly, so only he and I could hear, to show how troublesome my supposedly troublesome situation was, it took a moment for him to respond.

  “Do you have anything in mind?”

  “I don’t know; we'd better figure something out before the nurse comes back.”

  I placed a finger on my chin in a thinking pose, and I looked at the blood that had stained his uniform, staring at it for a good second or two.

  “Say, while I was knocked out, how did you carry me here?”

  Already knowing the answer, I waited for his response, which he awkwardly answered, since he thought that I was a guy.

  “Ugh… in my arms… bridal…”

  “Huh…” looking even more awkward, like he was about to cringe in embarrassment from carrying another dude in a bridal carry, Edwen quickly tried to reassure himself by saying.

  “I had no choice in the matter; it would be weird not to and would jeopardize my mother’s plans.”

  Saying his piece, I waited a few seconds to say, “I'm sorry, but could you act like I, as Rita, am still your woman, and you’re really protective of her because you still love Rita? It shouldn’t be a problem since… ugh, polygamy is allowed and often encouraged among the aristocrats and members of the main royal line, right?”

  Giving me a troubled look, I sense he nearly gagged at the thought since he would have to act like he was in love with me, when, in his eyes, I was a dude dressed and disguised as a girl.

  From the way he reacted, it was clear he was kind of reluctant to go along with my suggestion, which meant I would have to push him a little bit more to make him agree.

  “I’m sure Aria wouldn’t mind since she will understand, and maybe Rita would approve of it to make up for the fact that I kind of screwed up here.”

  Hearing both of my reasons, which were his main concerns, it took him a moment or two to mull it over hard, but he begrudgingly gave in and agreed.

  “Damn, okay, I'll give it my best, but you're going to have to make it all up even more over the break when you are going to train me.”

  "Yeah, sure, I’ll make sure I don’t hold back too much. No, better yet, how about after school, on the day I get back to school in a few days, while I pretend to recover? Does that seem good to you?”

  Internally sighing in relief that he said that, my plan was complete and had gone off nearly flawlessly.

  With people starting to think Edwen still had feelings for me, on top of getting sympathy from people after I was pushed down the stairs, I would finally be left alone, because what kind of person would continue bullying someone after they nearly died from the previous bullies? Plus, the fact that the third prince of the kingdom still has a close relationship with me after all that had happened, after discovering that I’m magicless, gives anyone thinking of messing with me every reason to back the heck off.

  "That’s great. Then, could you lie back on the bed and pretend to still be unconscious? They should be coming back shortly, right about now."

  Nodding and saying, "Sure, I was just about to do that," Edwen stopped me and spoke, as if he had forgotten something.

  “Wait, sorry, let me wipe some of the blood, splash some more potions on your injuries, and wrap it with some bandages first.”

  Doing that first, I then lie on the bed, pretending to be unconscious for a few minutes till the doctor arrives.

  The door flew open, and the nurse rushed in, with Dr. Eldrin right behind her.

  “Good evening, Prince Edwen. I came as soon as I heard what happened. Please, if you may, please step aside as I examine her.”

  Hearing that, Edwen took a slight breath to prepare himself. He responded, “There’s no need; I already did. She doesn’t have a concussion, but her left elbow seems to be fractured, so just use your healing magic on her.”

  Surprised by Edwen saying that, “Prince Edwen, I show no disrespect to you and your ability to diagnose Lady Rita; however, please let me examine her myself.”

  Right after he said that, Edwen immediately said, “No,” in a tone that was filled with anger, one that wasn’t really directed at Dr. Eldrin or anyone in the room but about what happened to me, which I found to be really convincing and was really impressed by. Like, if he were an actor, he would be a star with that level of talent.

  “But Prince Edwen, I must insist on checking Lady Rita’s condition myself.”

  “Do I need to repeat myself? No, I won’t let anyone lay a hand on her.”

  Saying it in a royal, authoritarian tone that left no room for argument, Edwen slightly glared at Dr. Eldrin, who also inadvertently directed a bit of it at the nurse, causing her to let out a small gasp, probably in response to the pressure Edwen was radiating.

  It took a moment for Dr. Eldrin to respond, and he said, “…Very well, Prince Edwen. I—I will respect your wishes.”

  The tension in the air caused by Edwen's refusal to let anyone touch me eased up a bit, but it was still heavy for them as Edwen moved away slightly to let Dr. Eldrin use his healing magic.

  Eyeing him warily, keeping a close watch though it was all an act, I sensed Dr. Eldrin hesitate slightly before placing the palm of his hand above me, not directly touching me.

  “Oh, mother goddess, allow your humble servant to heal this poor soul.”

  Saying that short chant, I felt and sensed mana falling down onto me with a warm feeling to it. It felt very similar to Sarah, but different, in a way I couldn’t really put my finger on because the best way I could describe it was that his magic had a different personality than Sarah's, I think.

  Then, feeling the spell stop, Edwen let out a sigh of relief and said to Dr. Eldrin, a bit apologetically.

  “Thank you, Dr. Eldrin. Please leave us; I desire to be alone with Rita.”

  “As—as you wish, your highness.”