AUTHOR'S REINCARNATION IN A FANTASY SETTING

"This! This is…amazing! I can't even describe it in words, that's how much of a wonder this thing is! Truly! There would have been wars if there had been something like THIS back in my time! I am not even lying."

You might think Req was praising an all-powerful weapon, or something similar, but you are wrong. That was just the cotton candy in her hands.

I tried refusing to buy her that as I didn't want to leave any trace of me in the city, but she was persistent. Then I gave it a bit of thought and remembered if there was a trace to leave, I'd already done the good and left my marks when I bought clothes and healing potions from here before leaving for the town.

So I went and bought her the candy anyway. This, of course, wasn't an act of kindness—I was not so good to waste both time and money on a thing like that. I just wanted to make her depend on me, rely on me more.

After all, while it was true that I was her master and she had to follow my orders, the process would be smoother, easier, and more efficient if she followed them at her own will without me forcing her to do so. The chances of betrayal will also be low this way.

"Stop praising a piece of food like that, we are getting unwanted attention," I stated as I adjusted the hood on my face.

"But this is so amazing, I can't stop! The sweetness! The color! The texture! All of it is perfect! Just perfect!" she exclaimed, taking a bite of the cloudy sugar.

If this was her reaction after eating a dish in the slum area, then I could only imagine how she will behave after eating something from the inner districts or the food provided in the academy.

"I know. However, be quiet," I commanded with a bit of force behind my voice. She furrowed in disappointment, shrugged, then ate her cotton candy quietly as we walked toward the center of the academy.

I turned my eyes away. I have to prepare for the upcoming events; not much but a good performance requires preparation, a good setting, costumes, time, and the right audience too.

I had most of it, and now was the time for another performance.

***

[Present time]

Alone in a room, on a plain bed with no fancy decoration, was lying a girl with her face buried in the bedsheets. Anya. Her eyes were watery, and her vision wasn't clear, as she'd just woken up. But that doesn't change the fact that she barely got any sleep last night.

The circumstances being what they were, it wasn't strange that she was tired and dead from the inside. And what happened last night—with Leon trying to kiss her and her having to deny him straight—she was in the worst possible mood.

If not for Ellyn regularly taking care of her, she would've eventually died from starvation and the lack of activity and movement in her life. It's been days since she last left her room.

To describe her condition simply, she was like a car without a driver. She had no energy or motivation left to drive her, hence she was here, lying on the bed, thinking nothing.

It was then, when her mind was blank and her body tired, she heard a knock on her door. She heard the knock and ignored it. She heard it again and ignored it. She heard it a third time, this time even louder, but ignored it too. Slowly as she kept ignoring, the sound turned from knocking to smacking.

Her door banged violently, as if someone was throwing punches on it or their body against it. But none of this made her leave the bed and check who it was—her body and mind were too tired to even try.

Then she heard a voice along with the smacking. "Anya! Open the door! This is important! You have to come out!" It was Ellyn. She was screaming against the door. Her voice fell on Anya's ears, and it stung. She was in no mood to near anything.

"Listen, this is important! So if you're not to come out then I'll just break this door and drag you out!!" she shouted, next came another smack on the door so powerful that the hinges vibrated abruptly. … She was serious about breaking the door part.

Anya cursed her fate and sighed with a long breath, exhaling her tiredness into the air. Then she forced her body and sat straight on the bed, moving as slowly as a sloth. She still didn't want to go out and talk with Ellyn if the door got broken due to this, she'll end up with even more trouble.

With these thoughts in mind, she got to her feet and slid into her loose loafers. Her blonde hair which was messy right now hung down, strands of it covering her face. 𝐟𝚛𝚎𝐞𝙬𝗲𝒃𝗻𝒐𝘃e𝒍.c𝑜𝚖

During the time she took in walking up to the door, the smacking hadn't stopped once. Finally, as she put her hands on the doorknob, twisted it, and opened the door, in front of her stood the impatient figure of Ellyn.

The tension and restlessness were clear on her face, it was as clear as it could be. Her hands were folded, which quickly dropped to the side when she saw Anya.

"What happened?" Anya asked, in a low, dead, and interestless tone.

"Come with me, I'll explain later!!!" Ellyn grabbed her by her hand and forced her away from her room. Anya didn't have the energy nor the will to resist, hence she went along like a kid being pulled by her mother after playing in the park for too long.

As they passed through the hallway of the dorms both of them were met with awkward glances from the other students. It wasn't much of a surprise, honestly. Anya was not in the academy uniform and only had a loose cardigan over her nightdress and, of course, that revealed a lot of her skin. Arms, neck, legs, half of the back, and a part of her right shoulder, it was more than enough to gain the attention of the male students.

She could've changed if she wanted to. But Ellyn was in so much of a hurry that there was no time left for that. And well, she didn't care about it. Getting a glance or two from the boys were the least of her worries.

Crossing the hallway and going through various paths, they finally came out from the dorm building and went forward on the academy grounds. At this point, Ellyn slowed down a bit and did the favor to notice Anya's condition.

She stopped, removed her blazer, and put it over her. "This will do for now," she said, patting her on the back.

"Why did you drag me here?" Anya asked during the time she took the blazer and wore it appropriately.

_{𝑓r𝘦𝘦𝘄eb𝒏𝙤vel.c𝙤𝙢}

"You'll know once you see it. I won't tell you now because I can't bet my luck that you won't break down into tears and go back running into your room," Ellyn stated as they started walking again. "We don't have all day," she added, holding Anya's hand and increasing her pace.

Anya sighed and went along. As mentioned before, she was in no condition to resist. They marched onto the grounds and passed the main building along the way; this surprised Anya a bit because she thought that was where they were headed.

When they walked through the crowded areas, the awkward and suspicious glances made their return. This wasn't unexpected, either. Despite everything, Ellyn was still the heiress of the Rosenberg family and a figure everyone in the first year looked up to—she was like a rose. Beautiful and delicate for the boys, thorny and sharp and pointy for the girls.

And when this rose walked alongside—or rather pulled another student with her, they were bound to attract attention. Though she was already used to it and Anya simply didn't care. Thus, nothing major happened as the duo made their way and came to a halt in front of a building.

The crowd vanished around here. The number of students who visited this building was fairly low. It was the office building, after all.

Anya looked confused and turned to Ellyn for an explanation just to be dragged again, this time inside the building. Going through different rooms and paths, the duo emerged into a corridor. Ellyn's pace didn't waver as she pulled Anya into the corridor. At last, they both stopped before a room with a closed, wooden door to dark oak.

From what the engravings on it depicted, this was a waiting room. Ellyn released Anya from her grip, looked at her, and gestured to open the door. She looked perplexed, but then opened the door anyway.

She turned forward and stepped inside, her gaze was down at the floor but when she lifted her head all the emptiness left her body as she stood there, completely stunned, too shocked to even move a muscle.

Following her line of sight sat a boy on the wooden bench… Zero.