TMM 3

One day, Alicia heard bright laughter from a man and a woman outside her window.

Surely not, she thought, as she hurried to look out from her room.

There, strolling through the garden together, were Joshua and Mariabelle.

“Why…?”

Confusion seized her. Alicia rushed out of her room.

In her haste, she collided with someone and fell hard onto the floor.

“Ah—hot!”

At the same moment, scalding tea poured over her head.

“My, my. How disgraceful. Running through the corridors like that.”

When she looked up, Deborah stood before her.

Alicia could not understand why Deborah was on the third floor. She always complained that climbing the stairs was too strenuous and rarely came anywhere near this level.

“You are forbidden from going out today.”

“What? But Prince Joshua is here. Why?” Alicia exclaimed.

After all, Joshua was her fiancé.

“He didn’t come to see you. Today is Mariabelle’s debut.”

“Debut… what do you mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. It would be pitiful for His Highness to be saddled with someone as plain and gloomy as you. Mariabelle suits him far better.”

“I am His Highness’s fiancée.”

Though usually timid, Alicia spoke clearly this time.

The next instant, Deborah struck her across the face.

A sharp pain rang through her cheek, and tears spilled reflexively.

“Oh dear. With a face like that, you can hardly appear before His Highness.”

Clutching her swelling cheek, Alicia stood there in a daze.

It was the first time Deborah had ever laid hands on her.

From that day on, Alicia became too frightened to defy her stepmother.

Thereafter, tea gatherings were held at the Wellston estate without Alicia’s presence. By the time a year had passed, the few friends Alicia once had had all become Mariabelle’s friends instead.

They chose the bright, radiant Mariabelle, who was loved by her parents, over the quiet and withdrawn Alicia.

Even so, her queenly education at the palace continued, and the brief tea meetings with Joshua twice a month remained her sole source of comfort.

(It’s all right. I am still His Highness’s fiancée.)

Alicia repeated this to herself again and again, telling herself that one day she would leave that house behind.

Yet Joshua never grew particularly close to her. Their conversations remained limited to books he had read and matters of study.

By the time Alicia turned fourteen, she was to attend the Royal Academy of Magic. In this kingdom, nearly all who possessed magical ability studied there.

Without hesitation, Alicia chose dormitory life.

Deborah and Mariabelle objected, but Thomas was pleased.

Perhaps he no longer wished to see Alicia’s face, so closely resembling Jessica’s.

Strangely enough, Alicia felt relieved by that. By then, she expected nothing from her biological father, not even affection.

One evening, a family council was held in the salon without Alicia’s presence.

Returning late from her lessons, she inadvertently overheard their conversation.

“Why is Alicia the only one allowed to attend the academy? I can’t go at all.”

“It can’t be helped. You were raised among commoners. Your education is lacking. You’ll study under a private tutor for another year, and then I’ll send you as well,” Thomas replied, soothing Mariabelle.

“Isn’t there some special admission for holy magic users?”

“There used to be, but not anymore. Medicine and alchemy have advanced too far,” Thomas said regretfully.

“But Mariabelle is fourteen, and she’s your child. Alicia isn’t even your real daughter. How long do you intend to keep her as the heir?”

At Deborah’s words, Alicia felt her heart nearly stop.

(What… Mariabelle is Father’s real daughter? Not my stepsister, but my half-sister—and the same age as me?)

Shock and sorrow rooted Alicia to the spot.

“Even if we could buy her way through the entrance exam, Mariabelle’s current academic level wouldn’t allow her to graduate. That’s why we made her one year younger when we registered her as a noble.”

“Even so, Thomas, I oppose letting that girl live in the dormitory.”

“Father, if my sister enters the dorms, won’t His Highness stop coming to visit this house?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll hold tea gatherings here, and I’ll bring Mariabelle to the palace. I’ll make sure she meets Prince Joshua then.”

Still, Deborah and Mariabelle remained dissatisfied.

“No, Thomas. Do whatever you like, but stop Alicia from entering the dormitory.”

Their argument dragged on, but Alicia no longer had the strength to listen. She quietly returned to her room.

There was nothing in this house she could freely claim as her own.

A week later, at Thomas’s insistence, Alicia’s move into the academy dormitory was decided.