Changes

Not long after Seraphine had left, I had the unfortunate luck of running into Lily.

"Lord Draivelle! I am terribly sorry about yesterday!" she said, bowing deeply.

"Apology accepted. I know you tried."

Everybody knows.

"Still...I gave you my word and I failed to keep it. I'll make it up to you! I swear!"

I sighed. Seraphine didn't seem to mind getting second place this time, so I didn't care about Lily's screw up anymore. I just wanted her to leave me alone.

"There's no need for that. Now if you excuse me..." I said, trying to get away.

"Wait! There's one more thing. I... I wanted to congratulate you." she said.

Huh?

"On what, exactly?" I asked.

"Your score in the assessment of course. You got the highest score out of the male students. That's amazing!"

With my attention on Seraphine, I didn't even bother to check my own result. How did I end up in first place?

"Really? I had thought Alaric would have beaten me." I spoke.

"Didn't you check the board? Alaric's score is just below yours. You won the duel after all, so it's only natural you'd be rated higher." Lily explained.

This seemed strange. I was under the impression that I can't change core game events. Could it be that I can change events under the right conditions or is Alaric's top spot just not important enough?

"Right. I must have missed that. Thank you." I said. Lily seemed satisfied with my answer, but she didn't leave.

"You're kind of amazing, you know? Besting the second prince himself... you must have trained hard to get where you are." she said, fidgeting a little.

Wait is she... I have no intention of getting entangled with her, I have to nip this in the bud.

"I suppose." I said dryly. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some matters to attend to."

"Ah, yes. Of course. I'll leave you to it then." Lily said. She bowed again and went back to the entrance hall. I watched her go, then went to check the board for myself. It was just as Lily had said. I had secured the top spot, followed by Alaric.

I'll need to understand what parts of the story I can and cannot change.

The assessment was a major turning point in the game, naturally academy life changed after that.

I now frequently talked with Seraphine. Unfortunately, because of the rumor she accidentally started by using the same spell as me, she is also trying her hardest to avoid appearing like we're too close. Our conversations tend to be rather formal in public, and she avoided private conversation just in case someone might see us alone together.

She can be such a tsundere.

Lily meanwhile became quite famous after the assessment. Her sudden rise from unknown commoner to top scoring student earned her quite the reputation, and many students who previously ignored her now sought her friendship, as if her talent would rub off on them.

That much was no surprise. The same happened in the game. What was different, however, was Lily herself. Rather than trying to navigate her newfound social life, she instead tried to spend every free moment with me.

According to her, she was just looking for a chance to make up to me for breaking her word. She would offer to carry my books, or open doors for me, and would constantly check if there was anything she could do for me. It was particularly awkward since I already had Rieva in her disguise as my handmaiden attending to these sorts of tasks for me.

Her persistence is staggering. It's like she has a side quest to make me like her. But I can't accept her help, or her friendship. She's still the prophesied Saintess. The girl who is destined to kill me.

A month passed like that. Seraphine slowly warmed up to me and I started to tolerate Lily's presence. Eventually it was time for the next major event in the game. The 'field trip'. The students would team and tackle a minor dungeon together.

Obviously, Lily would team up with one of her suitors. The choice would be up to the player, but regardless of who she chose, he would protect her, and she would fall for him. In otome game terms, this is where the player picks a 'route'.

To me, the most problematic outcome would be if she picked Alaric. Although Seraphine and Lily still fight in the other routes, apparently enough to warrant the execution, they fight the most in his route.

I was unsure how to avoid this. The easiest way would be to team up with either of them, but I'd rather not give Lily reason to become even more attached to me, and being alone with Alaric would be far too risky with the bloodlust the demon lord felt for him.

Then an idea came to me. If Lily joins with any of the potential love interests, it will set her on that route. And each of those routes ends poorly for Seraphine. So... if she teams up with neither of them, she might not end up on a route at all. So I needed her to team up with someone she won't romance.

I am sorry, but this is for your own good. Please team up with Lily.

On the morning of the field trip, we all gathered at the academy gates, ready to leave. The headmaster said some words, then the students were allowed to choose their partner.

Almost immediately, Lily was approached by her potential suitors. Both Alaric and Kaelan asked her to join them right away. Lily seemed flustered by the sudden attention, which wasn't surprising. With her latched onto me, she didn't spend nearly as much time getting to know them as she was supposed to.

She looked towards me, apparently hoping I would ask her to join me instead. She smiled when I approached them, but it quickly changed to an expression of confusion when I spoke.

"If I may make a suggestion. I believe it'd be for the best for Miss Everlight to team up with Lady Mireidyne."

"Huh!?"