“Don’t worry,” I told Marie. “I don’t gamble.”
“What? You just said you’d take Olivia’s place.” Marie’s face scrunched in confusion.
“I don’t gamble. I love playing games I’m guaranteed to win, though.”
Luxion, who was still invisible, instantly caught on to what I was saying. Exasperated, he whispered to me, “What you are planning is even more dastardly than their cheating.”
I made a surreptitious gesture with my hand, telling Luxion to get on with it, and he floated unseen through the air to take his position. Meanwhile, I pushed through the crowd to the table where Dolly and Donna were. Kyle was nowhere to be seen. The girls’ servants had apparently dragged him off somewhere, although they were back now, glaring at me from behind their mistresses. The other students scowled at me, too, annoyed at my refusal to read the room and stay out of this.
I stopped beside Olivia and reached for the cards set in front of her. “Anyway,” I added, “it’s not very fair of you two to cheat like that.”
The two girls immediately averted their eyes, trying their best to hide how startled they were that I’d noticed.
“’Scuse me?” Donna said, her canine teeth poking past her lips. “We’re not accepting a stand-in. Like, I mean, what’re you even thinking, offering to help this commoner? Are you really an aristocrat?”
“All you want is the spotlight. Scram already,” Dolly added. “You guys are such a pain. You really think doing something like this will land you a bride? This is exactly why women don’t want you.”
Those words were like a dagger straight to the heart. Thankfully, it wasn’t too painful, since I was already safely engaged to Marie! Knowing that other women hated me would still leave me crying myself to sleep for a couple nights, but hey, it could be worse.
My gaze moved to Olivia, who was staring at her lap again.
“I couldn’t just stand by while something this horrible went on,” I told Dolly and Donna. “Are you really that scared to face me?”
It was practically unheard of for a male student to antagonize a female student the way I just had. The whole room erupted in murmurs again. The guys’ commentary was especially noisy.
“He really just said that to a girl?!”
“He’s being awfully arrogant.”
“He’s a hero. We’ve got a hero in our midst.”
Dolly and Donna flushed with anger. They probably didn’t have much experience with men challenging their authority the way I had. That would be true of virtually all the girls at the academy; they had really short tempers.
“You upstart. You’re a real pain—and you’ve let your success go to your head. You actually think we’d give you the time of day?” Dolly spat at me.
She was absolutely right that I was an upstart, but frankly, I thought I deserved to let success go to my head a little. Now that I was engaged, I was practically invincible. Okay, that was a lie. Women were still kind of scary! So what, though? I could overcome that with bravado. Plus, I had Luxion!
“Yeah? And who are the two cowards backing away from this upstart?” I sneered.
Donna ground her teeth. “Don’t throw your weight around with us just ’cause you got lucky as an adventurer one time. My daddy could swat you like a fly if I asked him.”
“That’s right,” said Dolly. “You’re from a poor backwoods barony. You think you could win against court nobility? If so, you’re as much deluded as you are a pain. Keep this up, and we’ll crush you.”
Military might wasn’t everything in aristocratic society. Court nobles didn’t have personal armies to the same extent as regional lords. Still, they had their own ways of taking down opponents. Such underhanded strategizing was the last thing I wanted to deal with.
As I hesitated, unsure how to respond to the girls’ threats, the click of high heels cut through the murmurs around us. The way the sound echoed through the air caught my attention somehow. When I turned my head, I saw the dazzling, beautiful Deirdre. Confident and graceful in equal measure, she strode right to the table.
“What an interesting conversation you seem to be having,” she said.
The moment Deirdre arrived, Dolly and Donna shrank back. They were so intimidated that they couldn’t even look her in the eye. In terms of the school’s female hierarchy, Deirdre was well above the pair, which they seemed keenly aware of. Deirdre was also a Roseblade, so her family wasn’t part of the Redgrave faction, and the girls couldn’t browbeat her with the family’s power and influence. In short, they couldn’t pick a fight with Deirdre as easily as they had with me.
“Miss Deirdre,” Dolly said haltingly, pasting a smile on her face. “What brings you to such a boring place?”
Deirdre pointedly ignored her and walked to my side, planting a hand on my shoulder and leaning her weight against me. “When I heard this cutie was up to something interesting, I came to have a look. But that’s neither here nor there. It would be most shameful for the both of you if you’re bringing up your family names while also cheating to guarantee your victory.”
“What did you say?” Dolly glared at her.
You know, this has been on my mind for a while now, but doesn’t it seem like this game’s developers took way too much inspiration from manga about delinquents for their characters? And for the academy in general?
“I heard the details on my way to the casino,” Deirdre explained. “As I understand it, a servant spoke out of turn to you two, so you’re taking it out on their mistress. But aren’t you taking this a step too far?” She looked at the other students; they quickly looked away. It was incredible how her admonishment silenced them all.
You’re amazing, Miss Deirdre!
Donna trembled but bravely retorted, “Would you please stay out of this? Like, it’s personal for us. And this guy friend of yours is the one who stuck his nose in uninvited.”
What—is she trying to say this is my fault? I mean, I guess I did jump in where I wasn’t welcome. But how does the protagonist feel about all this? That’s the real question.
I turned to her. “Miss Olivia, please name me your stand-in. Not only will I make sure you don’t have to leave the academy, I’ll see your debt nullified, too.” I’d given up on reasoning with Donna and Dolly.
Olivia’s whole body trembled. “Why…?” she whispered hoarsely. “Why would you save me? You won’t get anything out of it.”