_____
A hand touched her shoulder—
G6's eyes snapped open. Threat.
—and the world became very sharp, very fast.
Before the dream-morphine could clear from her system, her body moved. Her fingers locked around the closest weapon—a hair stick that now felt lethally pointed—and pressed its tip against a soft throat.
Tina's pulse fluttered against the metal.
G6's hand had moved before her brain woke up.
A beat of silence.
*Tina blinked*, "My lady…?"
G6's face drained of color faster than a gutted nobleman.
Oh.
Oh no.
A noblewoman doesn't do this.
Noblewoman definitely doesn't sleep with improvised shivs.
With the grace of a convicted felon caught mid-heist, she lowered the weapon. "I'm, uh. Having a bad dream." a bad dream where I assassinate a servant. Totally normal.
Tina cleared her throat, adjusting her glasses with the composure of someone who'd definitely be adding "hazard pay" to her next salary request. "It is near noon, my lady." Also, you're insane.
G6 sat rigidly on the bed, mentally replaying the last five seconds like a tragic comedy.
*Tina sighed* "I'll fetch your tea." Extra sugar. For the nerves. And possibly my funeral expenses.
As the door clicked shut, G6 stared at the hair stick. The hair stick stared back, radiating "You're a disgrace to assassins everywhere."
Second day in Fantasyland, and she'd already:
✓Modified hair decor into lethal weaponry.
✓Nearly turned the maid into a pincushion.
Reise's reputation was even more fucked than it was before. All thanks to G6.
___ ___
Tina set the tea tray down with practiced grace, her eyes flickering to G6—now, Lady Reise–who was currently slumped in her chair like a disgraced stable hand. The posture alone would've sent the old Reise into a screaming fit about "noble decorum."
G6 poked at her teacup like it might explode. "Why is it pink?"
"Rosehip, my lady," Tina said smoothly. "Your favorite."
"Tastes like a garden's funeral," G6 muttered, then downed it in one gulplike a shot of cheap whiskey. Tina's eyelid twitched.
A beat of silence. Then—
"What's with the abused petals in the tub?" G6 gestured to the bathroom, where a heap of crushed rose petals floated in the water like a crime scene.
Tina's smile strained. "That's what you always request, my lady. For your… complexion"
Inner Tina: She's clearly overwhelmed by the life in the palace. That's all. Not insane.
G6 stared at the petals, then at her—Reise's delicate hands.
"Right. Well. I'm done with that, this is the last time."
"What do you mean, my lady?"
"I'm just telling you to stop doing this messy bath. Next time bring me a bucket or a hose." G6 in irate tone.
Tina's soul left her body for a solid three seconds. A… bucket? Like a peasant? A hose? What exactly is happening with this once well-groomed child? Has the Prince's neglect finally… broken something fundamental?
"Now, my la-" G6 covers Tina's mouth with her two fingers. "Stop calling me for over and over MY LADY, MY LADY. Call me in my name." Her face was a thundercloud of pure, unadulterated annoyance.
Tina slowly peeled G6's fingers away, her expression a masterpiece of pained professionalism. "My lady," she began, her voice dangerously calm, "with all due respect, that is… not how this works. The palace has eyes and ears. One whisper of such… familiarity… and they will say the House of Worthon has lost all dignity and discipline. They will say you have gone truly mad."
She took a steadying breath, adjusting her glasses. The lenses flashed, obscuring her eyes. "And while I am… adapting… to your new… vigor… I will not be the reason your house is shamed." Her tone left no room for argument. It was the voice of a woman who had spent years managing a dramatic noblewoman and was not about to fail now.
G6 opened her mouth to retort, but Tina was already in motion.
"Now," Tina declared, her voice shifting to its efficient, clipped tone as she strode toward the massive wardrobe. "We are already behind schedule. The Queen's prepared tea party will start in 2 hours, and you are not even dressed… nor bathe. We must present an image of impeccable grace and power, especially after your… seclusion." She flung the wardrobe doors open with a dramatic flourish, revealing a riot of silks, ruffles, and dresses that look more like a cake than a cloth.
G6 stared at the pastel explosion, her assassin's heart seizing with genuine terror. One of them had what looked like an entire family of songbirds stitched onto the sleeve. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
___ ___
G6 standing in front of the wardrobe with her arms crossed while humming (probably her thinking how to burn those colorful rags.)
"I will wear that." She said with confidence pointing at the dress she preferred.
Tina greeted her teeth in the absorbance of her master. "That is a night dress, lady Reise." she said with her eyes telling G6 to pull herself together or she'd go wild.
Ehh? So what I'm wearing every night is this beautiful? It could be worn on a blind date. Tch.
"Forget it. You are hopeless"
Tina grabbed the pink gown and G6's face was full of disgust. "Not a chance in hell I'd we-" Tina grabbed her and forcefully removed her clothes (don't worry she's not fully naked.)
G6 holds Tina's hands with a tight grip. Telling her to stop or she'll break her hand.
"Please, my…— lady Reise."
G6 's grip softened. Tina is just trying to do her job as her personal aid.
G6's realizes that. So, she just stood there like a doll—
–at least that's what I thought.
"Shi—loosen it, I can't breathe!" she gasped while Tina was tying the corset.
"Please don't move so you can breathe."
"That's not how it works!"
"My word, exactly. "
I swear. Just one chance. I'd burn all of this.
____ ____
"Now, look at—" Tina stopped talking when she saw G6—Lady Reise's face of discomfort.
*Tina sighed* "Just bear it for a while, Lady Reise. As it will be paid later for Prince Dio's presence." Tina said, trying to cheer her lady on.
Well, it didn't. G6 even made it very obvious she is not happy.
I want to run away. Like. Right now. Make me disappear. Please whoever is listening in my head.
"Ah… Lady Reise, let's do your hair. Should we make a messy bun?" Tina was about to lift G6 hair when she moved back.
We all know why. The tattoo.
Tattoo does not exist in the book. "Let's keep my hair down. I'm chilly." her excuse.
Tina just nodded and made her sit in the powder table to brush her hair.
I read this part, this was around chapter 2 of the book. I will be—Reise will be meeting Eliza for the first time and the other two high-ranking nobles.
If I was right, it was Earl and Keith… Their names, I forgot the details tho because I don't give a sh-. Anyway, these two tease Reise because Prince Dio paid more attention to Eliza at the tea party.
They are not enemies, they just love drama to bet.
If I remember right, three-high-ranked houses children are coming to live in the palace after they graduate to work in their family designated department. Reise—say, me, have two older brothers that have also been working and living here for 5 years.
The other two that I will be meeting later are also here for the same reason, just me is different. I am here not as I am, but as a woman of an uncultured dog.
"You are set to go, Lady Reise." Tina said, after she braided my hair like a waterfall.
G6 just sighed. Not nervous or afraid. But thinking how she would act.
She had no recollection of Reise's memories except for what she had read from the book.
So yeah, this is indeed a battlefield.
G6, for the first time since she became Reise, was about to go out in her room.
Just after she stepped out of the door. A loud bang was heard. A servant bumped into G6.
G6 didn't even stagger. The servant, a girl barely into her teens, bounced off her and landed hard on the floor, a basket of fruits scattering around her.
A horrified silence swallowed the hallway. The servants froze, their eyes wide with the familiar fear of an incoming storm. They knew the script: screaming, insults, perhaps even a slap.
G6 looked down at the girl, who was trembling, awaiting her fate.
"Are you hurt?" G6 asked, her voice flat and practical. She didn't offer a simpering smile or a gentle tone, just direct assessment of the situation. When the girl could only stare, G6 extended her hand—a blunt, efficient gesture.
"Get up. The floor is dirty."
The servant, though hesitant, reached for G6 hand that helped her to stand up.
"I would help you pick those fruits, but I don't really care." G6 said without changing her tone and walked away.
The servant girl remained standing, not in fear, but in utter, bewildered shock. The Wicked Rose had… helped her? And then stated she didn't care? It made no sense.
Down the hall, a pair of scullery maids who had flinched in anticipation of a tantrum exchanged a look of pure, unadulterated confusion. The rumor mill would be spinning before lunch.
Tina watched it all, and for the first time that day, a genuine, quick smile touched her lips before she schooled her features back into professional neutrality.
Inner Tina: This change… It might not be entirely bad.
_____
Oh… This place is huge; that's a palace for you.
G6 is walking outside the hall on her way to the garden for the tea party that the Queen's had arranged.
The Queen will not be present, but she was the one tasked to care for the Three Pillars well-being in the palace.
"How long do I need to walk, Tina? Not that I'm complaining, but these heels started to get on my nerves. " G6 complained while pulling her gown up.
"Lady Reise, please don't pull a gown like that. That is not how a woman should behave."
Tch. I think Tina's gonna die in a heart attack if she sees how I dressed back in my world. *giggled*
Tina just gives G6's back a hopeless gaze while she's giggling in her thoughts.
"Lady Reise, we are here." G6 turned around to Tina and followed her eyes, staring at the Gazebo not that far.
Shit. Am I nervous? My heart's beating so fast.
G6 sighed heavily, as if releasing all the tension.
In the big gazebo, there they were–the sons of two pillars of Einston. Earl son of the 2nd pillar, De Lune—ruler of land, Earth Magic. Keith son of the 3rd pillar, Nocturne—ruler of the sea, Water Magic.
And also, the rag that became a noble's handkerchief—Eliza Hanson, owned the long-lost magic of Einston, Benedictio means 'blessing of prosperity'.
And the man, in his stunning black suit—Prince Dio Einston, 2nd prince—Duke-to-be, the royalty's domain—fire magic. He's also the fiancee of the rulers of sky's goddess—Reise Worthon, domain Wind magic. The strongest, and First pillar of Einston's—House of Worthon's.
___ ___
The gazebo fell silent as she—Lady Reise "G6" arrived.
The beauty that cannot be named–stood at the garden's edge. Pink silk gown glinting like a fresh wound against the greenery. Every step was too measured, her grey eyes sharp us unsheathed steel. This wasn't the Reise they knew.
Prince Dio's smile stiffened. Since when did his fiancee walk like a soldier?
G6 ascent halted abruptly on the first step of the gazebo, as she'd hit an invisible wall.
Eliza looked down, her expression a masterclass in condescending curiosity. She'd heard all the rumors, of course—the locking herself away, the yelling, and the bitter taste of her words.
Meanwhile…
Under the combined weight of four pairs of eyes, G6 dropped her gaze to the pavement. Biting her nails, probably because of chaos in her thoughts.
Three.Fucking.Men
Shit, which one's the prince?
Her fingers twitched for a gun that wasn't there.
In the novel, Dio had been described as "stunning in black with fire in his eyes."
THE'RE FUCKING WEARING ALL BLACK! Is this a popular color in men? Who do they think they are? Should I call them MEN IN BLACK?! Plus, the last time I checked nobles don't spontaneously combust.
Yeah, G6's in rage in her mind. (Please help our girl, lol)
The three men above exchanged silent, bewildered glances. What was she doing?
Ah! We have a crest pin in our clothes, Tina said this was always in the clothes of the big three including the royalty. Now let see who ha– HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO KNOW WHICH IS WHICH IF I DON'T KNOW EACH FAMILY CREST LOOKS LIKE?!
Relax, think… Uhmm.. Hmm. I'll look at who looks more arrogant, then I'll gamble he was the Prince! AHA! Smart me huh?
G6 looked up and scanned them. Bingo, the one at the right besides that woman.
A full minute of unbearable silence hung in the air.
Then, it was over. She dropped her hand, lifted her chin, and continued up the steps as if the bizarre pause had never occurred.
Then G6 smiled. It didn't reach her eyes.
"Sorry for the wait, I'm trying to recall my priority." She arrogantly said. That made the other two guys snicker.
Prince Dio remained unbothered when G6 arrived—then the two guys, Earl and Keith immediately darted to Eliza's side planted beside Prince Dio.
*Earl and Keith whispering*
Keith (leaning forward): "Ten gold coins say she flips the table in three…"
Earl (sipping tea): "Two. She's been pent up all week."
G6 took one look at the seating chart and walked straight to the empty chair that is on the opposite side of Dio and sat. (Besides Earl's)
Cue record scratch.
Dio's teacup froze mid-sip. The water droplet Keith was juggling plopped into his lap. Even Eliza looked disappointed, as if she was expecting to be insulted or yelled at.
What the hell are they staring at? Don't drag me into drama. I'd rather murder them if only I could.
G6's is the right version of "Love is uncertain, today she may be crazy in love, tomorrow acts like you didn't exist."
Oh, desserts. Come to think of it, Tina didn't feed me breakfast. Is she trying to starve me?
"You, hand that cupcake in front of you." G6 demanded to Keith, as if she was only there to eat.
G6… Honey, your fiancee is there.
Keith, the one with the water droplet now soaking his expensive trousers, blinked. He looked at the cupcake, then at G6, then at Dio, whose expression had shifted from cold indifference to pure, adulterated confusion.
"Reise, darling" Keith began, recovering first and leaning forward with a familiar, mocking glint in his eye. He picked up the cupcake and dangled it tauntingly. "Is that how you greeted someone you just met after 3 years? Did you forget your place along with your manners? Or are you just saving your energy for your real purpose here? You know, swooning and fainting and such. Important work of the strongest pillar."
He and Earl exchange a smirk. This was their usual routine every time they gathered. Poke the beast. Watch the glorious entertaining explosion.
Oh, he's starting it now? Even though I am not Reise, I can feel my hands searching for the trigger.
G6's eyes, sharp as a honed blade locked onto his. She didn't blink. "My purpose right now is that cupcake," she said, her voice flat and devoid of any reaction to his jab. It was a statement of fact. "The magic word is 'NOW.'"
A beat of stunned silence. The taunt had hit a wall and splattered, ineffective.
Then a snort. It came from Earl, who quickly disguised it as a cough into his fist, his shoulders shaking. The script was wrong.
Keith's grin widened. This was new. He leaned forward, placing the cupcake on the table directly in front of G6's. "By all means. Wouldn't want to interfere with your… vital duties."
G6 grabbed the cupcake, and—ignoring the delicate porcelain plate and tiny fork–took a huge, unladylike bite. A smudge of pink frosting ended up on her cheeks.
Earl grabbed a tissue in an attempt to wipe G6's cheeks when she deliberately slapped his hand away. "I'd appreciate it if you keep your hands with you. Not all bothersome and beautiful things could be touched." G6 warning, with her usual tone. A serious one, like warning you to not cross the line.
Dio. Keith. Eliza. And Earl is again eaten by the silence.
Those were not Reise words. Those are spoken in a plain tone with a deep meaning behind it.
Keith broke the brief silence—he's trying to pissed Reise "G6" off for round two. "By the way, Reise, it seems like you didn't notice that there's a LADY, sitting next to your FIANCEE. She is Miss Eliza, the one with the rare magic." he said while presenting him with his hands, looking like a bored child craving entertainment.
G6's finally, look at the two. Prince Dio was staring at her with his empty eyes, maybe waiting for her to throw a fit. And Eliza, smiling awkwardly—afraid she may taste the Wicked Rose that they're saying.
"Yo. My name is Reise" she said with her hands wiping the frosting in her cheeks.
Eliza flinched, waiting for the verbal lashing, the cold assessment, the declaration of war. It never came. The Wicked Rose just… acknowledged her existence. Simply. Fairly.
"Y-yo…?" Eliza whispered, utterly bewildered by the strange, informal greeting.
Prince Dio's teacup, which had been frozen midway to his lips, lowered slowly. His eyes, usually pools of bored ice, were now sharp with an emotion he couldn't name. Annoyance? Curiosity? This wasn't indifference. It was something else entirely. It was as if the person he'd known for a long time had been replaced by a dangerously calm imposter.
Keith, seeing his first taunt fall spectacularly, leaned forward again, a shark scenting new blood. "My, my, Reise. Aren't you going to ask what a commoner is doing at our little gathering? Or perhaps ask why she's sitting quite so close to your beloved?" He
gestured flamboyantly between Dio and Eliza. "I'd have thought you'd be… jealous."
Inner Tina, from her post by the stair: Oh, by the skies, he said the J-word. Brace for impact. She subtly loosened her collar.
All eyes swung to G6. This was it. The moment the old Reise would have shattered a teacup or burst into theatrical tears.
G6 finished her bite of cupcake. She picked up a linen napkin—not to dab delicately, but to wipe her fingers with efficiency, through the motion of someone cleaning a weapon. She looked at Keith, then at Eliza, then at Dio, her grey eyes calculating.
"Jealous?" she repeated, her voice cool and even. "Of what, exactly?"
Keith blinked. "Of… her proximity to your fiancee?"
G6's gaze flicked to Dio, a quick, analytical sweep that assessed threat level and concluded 'minimal'. She looked back at Keith as if he were a slow child. "If a title and a pretty face were all it took to steal him, he'd have been stolen a hundred times over. He's a prince. It's practically his job description to be surrounded by options."
She took a slow, deliberate sip of tea from her cup—the correct cup, held with an unconscious, innate grace that was at odds with her blunt words. "My interest isn't policing his seating arrangements. It's a waste of energy. If he wants to be stolen…" She shrugged one shoulder, a minute, elegant movement. "...let him be. It would simply prove his poor taste and save me a significant amount of future annoyance."
The silence that followed was atomic.
Earl dropped his biscuit. It shattered on his plate like the sound of Prince Dio's worldview cracking.
Keith's mouth was hanging open. His betting ledger was forgotten.
Eliza looked like she'd been told the sky was green.
And Dio… Dio was staring at G6 as if he was seeing her for the very first time. The sheer, unadulterated logic of it. The cold, brutal pragmatism. It was the most fascinating thing anyone had ever said to him. It wasn't the desperate love of Reise or the simpering admiration of others. It was a challenge. An assessment. She had just called him, the future Duke, an annoyance and a man of poortaste in one breath, and made it sound utterly reasonable.
His lips parted. No sound came out.
Nailed it. Established dominance. Didn't break character. Also, this tea tastes like grass.
Tina, who had been mentally drafting her letter of resignation, slowly closed her mouth. A tiny, treacherous thought whispered in her mind: ...She has a point.
Keith, recovering first because chaos was his lifeblood, found his voice. It was a whisper of pure awe. "Earl. My entire purse. She just… she just called the King's 2nd son a future annoyance to his face."
Earl, the scientist, was scribbling on a spare napkin. "The subject demonstrates a radical shift in value assessment. Prioritize personal efficiency over emotional investment. Hypothesis: Possession by a hyper-logical entity."
G6 ignored them, her eyes landing on the teapot. It was a beautiful, delicate porcelain thing. Bothered by something weird for her eyes. She picked it up not by the handle but by the body, testing its weight and balance with a critical eye.
Inner Tina: No. No, no, no. Don't you dare—
"This is a terrible design," G6 announced to the entire gazebo (totally forgetting she just insulted someone), holding the pot aloft. "The center of gravity is all wrong. One clumsy servant and this entire thing tips onto someone's lap. Probably mine." She looked at Tina. "Tell them to get a new one. Something lower, with a wider base. Function over form. And to save the servant from losing their head."
She placed it back down with a soft clink that sounded like gavel in the quiet garden.
Prince Dio finally found his voice. It was slightly hoarse. "Reise… what has gotten into you?"
G6 met his gaze directly for the first time. Her eyes were not full of love or hatred. They were…empty. Calm. Like the stillness before a sniper's shot.
"Clarity," she said simply. And reached for the scone.
The gazebo remained frozen, a painting of aristocratic shock with a pink-clad enigma at its center. Prince Dio found he could not look away. The silence she left in her wake was not empty; it was thick and heavy with unspoken challenges. For the first time in a decade, he was the one watching Reise Wrothon's graceful existence, waiting for a glance that never came.
He watched her instead. He watched the unnerving steadiness of her hands as she selected a final pastry. He watched the way she assessed the food, the very air itself with a calculative coldness he'd only ever seen in the palace most hardened knights. The Reise he knew was a beautiful, volatile fire. This… this was polished obsidian. Impenetrable. Sharp. In his thoughts: What could have changed in 3 years they didn't meet?
G6 did not grant him a look. She simply finished her scone, wiped her finger with surgical precision on a linen napkin, and rose from her seat.
"The tea was subpar. It was boring for my mouth," she stated, her voice cutting the silence like a blade. It wasn't an insult; it was a final verdict. "Tina. We're leaving."
And without another word, the Wicked Rose turned her back on the Prince.
A stunned male servant, frozen mid-pour by her exit, flinched. The teapot—the very one G6 had deemed a "terrible design"—slipped from his grasp and shattered on the gazebo floor.
The sound was like a gunshot, breaking the spell.
In the chaos of the scrambling servant and the scattered porcelain, G6 didn't even startle. She merely paused, glanced at the mess, and then back at Dio with a look that neither blame nor pity, but simple, cold validation.
I told you so.
Prince Dio remained seated, staring at the empty space she had occupied. The echoing silence, the scent of spilled tea, and the first spark of a truly obsessive fascination were the only things she left behind.
And from the hedges, a scullery maid who had witnessed it all—the dismissal, the shattered teapot, the prince's stunned fixation—turned and fled. The news would spread through the palace veins before the last china shard was swept away: The Wicked Rose did not scream. She did not cry. She predicted the future and then left the Prince in her dust.