Chapter 3

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[pr/n: Some adult language is present, readers – you were warned, proceed at your own will].

(Ronnie’s POV)

It has been over a month since I first came here. That’s when I realized that the current situation was definitely not a dream. Too much time had passed for it to be one. As I studied to be a successor together with Gale, I always wondered why I was studying something when I never even do it in my present life.

It was fortunate that I was the assistant artist in this manhwa. Although I was only in charge of the background, the successor class was not that difficult because I was able to memorize the worldview of this novel.

Perhaps it is because Gale was still young and that’s why he couldn’t sit still to study. Besides, it seemed that he had no intention of becoming a successor, seeing that he often skipped our classes.

Since I would be living as Ronnie Chaliganne, I decided to live this life the way I wanted to. Regardless of the reason why I came here. I don’t have any idea on when I would return, but as a reader who was already spoiled by the unreleased ending, I’m not in a rush to do so.

As long as I’m here, I will stay by Allen’s side and do my best to find his happiness.

For me to do that, I need to find ways to avoid attending the daily succession classes. In about five years, Allen would decide to live on his own and attend the Academy of Magic. It would be impossible for me as Ronnie, who has no magic talent, to go to that school.

If I couldn’t attend the Academy of Magic, then my second option is to become a student at the art school. It is located just on the other side of the school of magic. Unlike the Academy of Magic, the art school does not have any age limit for its admission, but it was still necessary to apply on time to coordinate with Allen’s admission.

So now, I needed to focus on all of my art subjects as well as the liberal arts rather than taking a successor class. In that respect, my art major might be quite helpful for me to excel in those classes.

Allen on the other hand, whom I’ve been watching for a whole month now, tried to show kindness on the outside. Otherwise, he was very vigilant to avoid me at all costs. I even thought that he was just hiding his true nature all this time. Being born as an illegitimate child means that he had seen a lot of dirty schemes ever since he was a kid. There’s no way that he would have a good personality that was not warped by it.

Nevertheless, it seemed that the reason why he was still hiding his true self, was because me as the current Ronnie was still helping to stabilize his position.

Based on the original content, the relationship between Allen and Ronnie would soon rapidly deteriorate. It will start from the moment he entered the Academy of Magic, around the same time the manhwa begins. With Allen’s declaration of separation, he no longer treats her as kindly and that made Ronnie become more irritable and mean-spirited.

But I didn’t want to be separated from Allen. It’s hard to tell whether this world would have an impact on the real manhwa or not. However, I also had the confidence that once it would be published, the original content would completely change.

To be honest, I really have no idea when I will go back to my original world. That’s why I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get to know my ultimate crush more closely. In order for me to stay at Allen’s side, I need to prove to him just how helpful I was to him. Especially for the remaining five years before he entered the Academy of Magic.

In order for me to do that, the successor class needs to be attended by my younger brother Gale and not me.

“Gale, wake up. You have to study.”

“Uhhhh. Why the hell did you wake me up? Older sister is supposed to be the next heir, not me.”

As I rolled up the curtains and forcibly took away Gale’s blanket, he looked at me with tears in his eyes.

What time is it now and you’re still sleeping? As expected, the lives of nobles are really the best.

“Can you not work hard on the things you don’t want to do?”

“It has always been my older sister who has been studying hard to become a successor. What’s the point of suddenly telling me to work hard after all this time? I really don’t want to be the heir. I hate being sociable.”

I lied and pretended to be sad as I looked at Gale who stubbornly refused me.

“Gale, I’ve always thought that you were a good little brother who really cares about his sister. Then I found out that you were an ungrateful person who doesn’t really care, even after everything I’ve done for you. As I said before, your older sister wants to be an artist.”

I sighed.

“But if you don’t take the succession class, I would have no choice but to give up my love for painting and spend the rest of my life feeling miserable. Would that be okay with you? If that is the case, then that’s really disappointing.”

Gale’s eyes trembled at my words. Then he immediately shouted that he understood and headed directly to the shower room to wash up. The mission was successful.

After a month of living as Ronnie, one of the characters that I have been quietly observing was Gale Shawn Chaliganne. I’ve discovered that he’s definitely a (*)sis-con.

(TN: (*)Excessive love for one’s sister(s), often past the point of ordinary brother-sister/sister-sister relations. Often used as a tease/insult for a person who’s overly protective of his/her sister, and is shortened as sis con or sis-con.)

That may perhaps be the reason why he always played a childish prank on Allen when they’re both attending the Academy of Magic. Tricks that didn’t even qualify as a villain’s doing. Was it due to his jealousy thinking Allen was monopolizing his older sister’s attention?

His biggest weakness was disappointing his older sister. I knew it better than anyone else, so it was simple to handle Gale.

“Is Allen awake?”

“It’s been a while since he got up in the morning and then went out.”

I saw that Allen’s room was empty and asked the maid where he was, but she only said that she didn’t know. Allen is currently living with us, the Chaliganne family. This was not purely because of Ronnie’s request, but rather it was the Empire’s betrothal culture.

Here, the nobles of the Rhone Empire had to learn the manners of a woman’s family by staying in their house for a certain period of time, until the time before their engagement.

After marriage, it was customary for the woman to enter her husband’s residence.

It was normal for couples to be engaged a year before they become adults. But Allen on the other hand, had been engaged from an early age and he had been staying at the Chaliganne’s mansion.

From Allen’s point of view, it was better to stay at the Chaliganne’s mansion than to stay at the Romant’s residence. Even after a year had already passed, he still didn’t return back to Romant’s residence.

This system of understanding each other’s families was a good opportunity for Allen to break free from the terrible Romant family. Usually the engagement period would be at least for one year.

After that, it would be enough for them to decide on whether to break up the engagement or get married. Though in Allen’s and Ronnie’s situation, the engagement itself was very unusual.

Although the engagement was portrayed like that of a century-old romance, they would still go through the process of breaking up within five years.

“Then, should I go and find Allen?”

I’m already aware that Allen always goes out every morning. Even after he attended the Academy of Magic, he continued to practice his swordsmanship every morning. Since he had a natural talent for mana management, he kept it hidden from the Romant family.

It was because he knew for a fact that if it was revealed, all those pranks that he received from the students in the Academy would only get worse. Since they loathed illegitimate children.

It was fortunate for Allen that he became Ronnie’s fiance. He was able to practice swordsmanship to his heart’s content, while avoiding the eyes of his family. Thanks to that, he became quite proficient in handling his own magical powers over the past five years.

I tied up my black hair high in a ponytail and chose to wear a very simple dress. I took the artifact that Leo gave me for self-defense with me as well.

Just in case of any possible danger. I took advantage of the maid’s busy schedule, so that I can leave the mansion in secret and ride off on horseback.

When I first transmigrated into this manhwa, I was so thrilled that I would be able to see my ultimate crush Allen in a real life form. However, after a month, I realized that it was all in vain.

I couldn’t even look at Allen’s face properly for nearly a month now. I can maybe catch a glimpse at dinner time. Maybe it’s because the mansion itself is too big? 

Or rather…Allen did a good job at avoiding me at all costs. But today, I will definitely find him and get to know him better.

From what I remember from reading the story, he would always go to the training hall to practice. While I was on my way to find Allen, I decided to visit the village first for some business and amusement. In fact, life in the mansion was quite boring. There’s not much to do and most things can be solved inside the mansion.

The city center outside the castle was bustling with people, even in the morning and was full of vitality. After getting off the horse, I tied the horse to a nearby station. Then, I strolled around the city center, looking for fruits and foods that I have never seen before.

The fruits in this world were so big and delicious. Their scent was also very sweet and stimulated the appetite of whoever eats it. I was drawn to the sweet scent and bought three strawberries the size of an apple. As I ate one of them, I continued exploring the city.

Even though this world is from a manhwa, it held no difference from the people that I know in real life. Where everyone lives and moves according to their own individuality.

Just as I was thinking about giving the remaining strawberries to Allen and Gale, someone bumped into me. In the sudden collision, I dropped the strawberry bag that I was currently holding.

“Ah… my strawberry.”

I hardened my face as I watched the strawberries smashed at the stranger’s feet.

That’s Allen’s strawberry.

“Where do you think you’re looking at?”

The man was wearing a uniform embroidered with gold ornaments on a white background. Looking at the pattern engraved on his left chest, he looked like he was a student at the Academy of Magic.

Since the academy was an elite school, only a small number of students could enter it. The success after graduation was guaranteed.

So sometimes students of the academy tended to put on airs as if they were something. Simply because they attended the academy. The person I just bumped into seemed to belong to that category. He was expressing his irritation at bumping into what he  thought was a seemingly insignificant girl.

“Didn’t you just change your direction first without looking?”

I said in a cold voice to the guy who just trampled on my strawberries. I hated the way he talked informally to me.

Even when I was still Sohee, I was very sensitive towards people who used informal speech to me. I was always ignored due to my young-looking face. Most importantly, my Allen’s precious strawberry got dirty because of this jerk.

I specifically saved it since it looked so pretty and delicious.

“Did I just hear you say ‘you’? Kid, I think you haven’t figured out the situation yet. I can get rid of someone like you even without magic.”

The man formed a magic ball with his bare hands as if he was showing off, and then dissolved it right away. Judging by the look on his face, he seemed to think that I would be afraid of him.

Tsk. This guy surely had a bad personality. Apparently, he seemed to think that I was a girl from a low-ranking family since I was wandering around alone without any of my escorts.

What made it even worse, is that it is simply unreasonable to change the attitude according to how high or low the family was ranked. I just couldn’t believe that such a person would be studying at the Academy of Magic.

Looking at his behavior, he seemed to be an aristocrat.

“What’s the name of your family?”

“Why? Are you going to visit me if I mentioned to you who my family is? Looking at your attire, you don’t look like an aristocrat. Punishment for students of the Academy of Magic is only possible if it’s within the perimeter of the school.”

“I see…but I still can’t believe that it’s a school where its students would threaten children and exhibit this type of behavior. I can now see the level of standing for that school.”

“Wait, what?! How dare you..!”

The man tried to raise his hand towards me, as if he would try to hit me. Wow, now you’re going to resort to violence? Thinking that he was going to go through with it, I tried to see where he would strike me first.

You bastard! You look younger than me and I don’t give a damn if you’re angry, because I’m not scared of you!

“That’s enough! If you try to threaten her more than that, there would be a lot of damage to your family.”

At that moment, someone interrupted us. I looked back and I saw a silver-haired guy. It was my Allen. Seeing that he was wearing simple clothes while carrying his sword, it seemed that he was on his way back from training.

When I saw the face that I was looking for, I already forgot about the jerk that I was about to reprimand and just stared at Allen without a care.

Allen is trying to help me right? Right? 

I can’t believe that my most favorite person is trying to help me. I couldn’t help but grin ecstatically.

“If she’s an aristocrat who was wandering around without an escort knight, then you look like someone who was abandoned by your family. What the hell are you talking about?”

The man looked at me again with a disgusted look, as he scanned over my appearance and acted so obnoxious with Allen. He might have thought that Allen and I came from an ordinary family.

I was tempted to shout both our family names, but I just kept my mouth shut since it was not my nature to use my family’s name to threaten other people. And isn’t it natural for the person who made the mistake to apologize first?

Allen looked at me as if asking me ‘Why are you here’ and then coldly said to the man.

“You know what, that’s a question for me as well. I was wondering why the Princess of Chaliganne family came out of their residence on her own, wearing an ordinary dress and without an escort knight.”

“Chhaa… Chaliganne?!”

When the man heard that I was Ronnie Chaliganne, he was immediately terrified and quickly changed his attitude. He got down on one knee and apologized over and over again. He had a spirit of chivalry that didn’t suit him, then frantically ran away.

What the hell is wrong with that guy? I knew that everything would have been resolved by just saying my name, but now I felt it was unacceptable to receive such a simple apology from that jerk.

It is only right for the person who committed the mistake to apologize. That means if it wasn’t for my family name, that guy would never have apologized to me.

Allen sighed as he looked at me. His look was very incomprehensible.

“Why did you make the situation complicated…you could have solved the issue by simply just telling him your family name? It seems that you’ve been acting quite strange lately.”

“It’s only right for the wrong person to apologize regardless of the other party’s family background.”

“But you almost got hit! It’s not just your problem, it’s a big problem that could cause great damage to the person’s family.”

Seeing Allen continuing to blame me, I spoke in a timid voice.

“Although… that person had….”

“What?”

“Ugh…that man had trampled on Allen’s strawberry!”

I feel so embarrassed even thinking about it, let alone saying it out loud. But it was true! I felt so sad when the gift that I was going to give to my dear Allen was ruined by that jerk guy.

I knew that it was just something that I could buy again, but it was the first thing that I bought after I had transmigrated. Because of that, my temper was triggered for no reason. As if I was having a fever.

Allen looked a little surprised, and then smiled pretentiously as if he already knew. Then oh so naturally, he picked up the dirty strawberries and took a bite.

Huh? Wait, why is he eating it?!

“Oh, wait! What are you doing now?”

“Um… Didn’t you mean for me to pick it up and eat it?”

‘Oh, Allen. Did you still think of me like that?’

He still doubted me even though I had shown him how much I had changed, from the original Ronnie. But the good thing is that I still have five more years for me to show him that I’m not gonna treat him like before.

It seems like it would take me a while before I get the opportunity to know the real Allen. I quickly took the strawberries from him, and threw them in the trash. Then I went to buy a new one, and gave it to him.

“Handsome guys should only eat pretty things. In the future, if you listen to my words again and pick up something strange to eat, I will definitely spank you!”

I was about to move forward and started to walk, but then I realized that he might take my words seriously and turned around. What if he thinks that I’m going to hit him if he listens to me again?

I saw Allen who looked at me blankly and opened his mouth as if he couldn’t believe it.

“You’re going to hit me?”

“Uh…yes, just like what I’ve said before. I wouldn’t be bothering you anymore. You can do whatever you want Allen, and I’ll support you all the way.”

“Although we were the same age….”

Allen muttered something with a baffled look, his eyes shocked as if he couldn’t believe what he just heard. But I couldn’t focus on his words since I was in the middle of dreaming on how to make my Allen happy.

‘I’ll make you the male lead of this manhwa, not a sub-male lead.’

TO BE CONTINUED….