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Yumiela stared at the envelope on the desk before her. It was sealed with crimson wax bearing the Dolkness family crest – a full moon over a field of swords driven into the ground. Her entire life, Yumiela had dreamed of receiving such a letter, dreamed that her parents would acknowledge her and praise her hard work. Ever since she could remember, she had been trying to make up for her accursed hair and thrice-damned magic, studying to the point of exhaustion to become a worthy heir. But now that it was in front of her, she was terrified.
Two weeks ago, she had suddenly been packed into a carriage and told that she would be studying at the royal academy in the capital. The capital where her parents lived. She had arrived earlier today to find that she was to live in a dorm room four times the size of her bedroom at the manor, that she would be guaranteed food at the cafeteria, and that she would have a personal maid who didn’t even blink at her black hair. This had been the best day of her life. When her new maid had handed her a letter from her parents, Yumiela’s heart had nearly stopped from joy. Surely all of this was a reward for her hard work?
But when she went to open the letter, she found herself shaking. Would her parents allow her to meet them? What would she say to them? What would they say to her? Would they praise her for her hard work? Would they finally allow her to stay by their side? Would they… would they smile at her? What did that look like again?
Then she caught sight of the dark magic bleeding off of her arm and froze in terror before scrambling to get her emotions under control. What if she messed up? What if they saw her magic and turned her away? She didn’t know what she would do.
Eventually, Yumiela steeled herself and broke the envelope’s seal. She hesitated a moment, but then quickly pulled out the letter, unfolding the parchment. She stared at the page in her hand without reading for a moment, trying to get her heart under control and stop the damned dark magic jumping off her skin. After a deep breath, the started reading.
Royal Academy Attendee,
As is required of any child of nobility, you are to study at the Royal Academy for the next four years. Because you carry the Dolkness name, you will conduct yourself with propriety and abstain from further reflecting poorly on the house. While attending the academy, you are to ingratiate yourself with a lord of appropriate standing, who will be named heir to the house at my discretion. Should you neglect these responsibilities, the privileges and funding I have granted you will be revoked. I remind you of the gratitude you owe to house Dolkness for our great benevolence towards you.
Count Dolkness
Yumiela screamed and crumpled the letter, slamming her fist against the table. The wood made a cracking sound at the impact, the dark magic radiating off her in droves empowering her strike. She didn’t care. She was struggling to breathe, her vision red. How could she have been so stupid? Of course they didn’t care about her! She somehow found herself in front of the room’s mirror, registering the ugly fucking demon she was staring back at her. A wave of burning hatred washed over her and before she knew it her fist was through the mirror, sending a spiderweb crack through it. A hundred fractured Yumielas glared hatefully out at her through tears.
She screamed again and collapsed to the floor, turning away from the thrice-damned mirror. Before she knew it, she was sobbing uncontrollably, her disgusting fucking magic pooling all around her. Yumiela squeezed her eyes shut and hugged herself tight as she cried, not daring to think about anything.
<><><>
Ed frowned as he peeked around the corner of the dorm building. A pair of cloaked guards were casually walking on a circuit that would have them stumbling across him in a minute. Behind him was a similar issue. Okay, so maybe poking around the administration offices before the semester started wasn’t his best idea. In his defense, though, he had managed to nab useful information about a couple pseudo-metropolitan nobles. Anti-king nobles living in the capital while being legally obliged to keep their books in their territory presented an issue even to Ed’s parents.
Ed sighed. It would be embarrassing to get caught wandering around the school at night, but that would be the worst of it. The information would be worth it. He was preparing to step out of cover, intending to look like he was on a casual stroll, when he heard a shout come from the direction of the administration offices. Oops. Had he left evidence of his presence?
Hurriedly, he looked around for a hiding spot. He couldn’t afford to be caught now – sure, the school would let him off with a slap on his wrist, but if the anti-king faction could prove he was snooping around about their children, it would be troublesome for his parents. Ed did not want his mother to yell at him again.
His eyes caught on an open window on the dorm’s second floor. Normally, even Ed would consider it too risky and uncouth a play to climb into a girl’s dorm room, but in this case he was sure he could talk his way out of any issues. This building was occupied strictly by low-class nobles and those who couldn’t afford the more luxurious options offered by the academy.
With a running start, he jumped up and pulled himself onto the stonework surrounding a first-floor window. Being level nine, he reflected, certainly had its benefits.
Repeating the previous maneuver, Ed hauled himself over the sill of the open window and slid onto the floor with a thunk. The room was dim, lit by a singular lantern resting on a table that looked like it had seen better days. Ed’s eyes were drawn to a shattered mirror set against the wall. What had happened here?
Before he could ponder that further, his eyes were drawn to motion across the room. He locked eyes with a girl staring at him with an unnaturally calm expression. Her eyes, like her hair, were pure black, and if that wasn’t enough to send a shudder down Ed’s spine, she held a pair of scissors easily at her side, casually threatening him were he to make a wrong move.
“Who are you?”
The girl’s voice was eerily calm, matching her expression. Ed gulped.
“A-ah, please excuse me. I’m Edwin Valschine.” Ed threw off the hood of his cloak. “I was about to get caught out after curfew on my walk, so I, er-” Ed gestured to the window weakly.
The girl continued blankly staring at him.
“Um, anyway, what happened here?” Ed asked, gesturing to the mirror. He was desperate to keep the conversation running, and it was the first thing that caught his attention. “Erm, actually, come to to think of it, I don’t know your name. Might I-”
“It must be nice.” The girl interrupted, still looking at him with a bland expression on her face.
“Er, sorry?”
“You crawl into a girl’s bedroom in the middle of the night looking like a thug, and then start asking questions like you have every right to be here in the first place. Your Highness.” The emphasis she put on the last two words was the most inflection she had spoken with tonight.
Ed smiled sheepishly. “I don’t make a habit of breaking and entering, I swear.” He shuffled nervously. “I do apologize for the intrusion, but I was kind of in a tough spot. They’re looking for me right now, but I will leave as soon as I can.”
“I see.” The girl stood unnervingly still for a few moments, then suddenly set the scissors she was holding back on the shelf.
Ed breathed out a quiet sigh of relief. “Thank yo-”
“For what? You told me what you’re doing. You didn’t ask.”
Ed frowned, opening his mouth to retort, but words failed him. She was right. “For not calling for the guards,” he fudged. “I still didn’t catch your name.”
The girl stared at him for a moment before saying anything. She was still standing completely still. “Yumiela Dolkness.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Miss Yumiela.”
Ed frowned. “But, as far as I was aware, Count Dolkness doesn’t have an heir.” He had thought they didn’t even have children.
To Ed’s surprise, Yumiela’s face momentarily contorted at the mentioning of Count Dolkness. By the time she spoke, her voice was perfectly flat. “He doesn’t.”
“I see. Because of your hair?”
Yumiela didn’t say anything, and instead gave the broken mirror a blank look. Ed abruptly noticed that her hand had cuts all over it.
“Sorry.” Ed said, suddenly uncomfortable.
Yumiela looked at him blankly, though for the first time, Ed got the impression that she was trying to keep her expression under control.
“It’s unfair.” She turned away and stared at the mirror again. She was silent for a long moment. Ed realized she was shaking.
“Are you-”
“Get out.”
Ed raised his hands defensively. “Like I said, I can’t-”
“Get out!” Yumiela screamed at him. “I fucking hate you! Just leave me alone!”
Ed had barely processed that he wasn’t imagining the black magic emanating from the girl in front of him before he jumped out the window in terror.
<><><>
Yumiela didn’t sleep. She hadn’t expected that she would be able to after the events of the day, even before her bedroom had been invaded. She surprised herself with what kept her awake, though. She had been exhausted after Prince Edwin had finally left her alone, but ever time she closed her eyes, she started imagining what her life would have been like if she had been born without black hair. If she had been born a princess. If she had parents who loved her.
It hurt, knowing that the only thing that had ever mattered in her life was how she was born. How someone like Prince Edwin had everything for no more reason than for which everything was taken from her. All night she vacillated between aching desire and bitter self-loathing, not even having the energy to try and distract herself.
When the sun came up, she left her room and wandered the campus, not wanting to meet her maid. The mirror would be painful to explain.
When the time came, she attended the level measuring ceremony. People avoided her where they could and whispered as she passed. Yumiela couldn’t help but wonder how it would be different if she didn’t look like a demon. Would the students just leave her alone? Would they talk to her as they did amongst themselves?
Yumiela breathed out sharply as she sat down at the edge of an aisle of chairs, wiping at her eyes. She needed to stop. Thinking like this was exhausting.
The ceremony started with a short speech from the principal, something infuriatingly ridiculous about how social status and birth would have nothing to do with their success as students. Shortly thereafter, he began calling students up in alphabetical order. One of the first students called earned applause from the entire class for achieving level ten. Was that impressive?
Yumiela watched as the student – William Ares was his name, apparently – walked down from the podium wearing a broad, carefree smile. She wondered if she would be able to have a similar attitude if she were level ten – or higher. The rage she had felt at the prince last night was, in large part, owed to how the prince flaunted his privilege and the lack of consequences for his actions. But another part of it was that he had demonstrated just how powerless Yumiela was. Powerless to defend herself, powerless to attain her parents’ recognition, powerless to…
Yumiela blinked. She was never going to be able to change her appearance or her magic. The only thing she had ever had the power to do in her life was to become stronger. She couldn’t control the disdain and fear people showed at her magic, but she learned to control herself. She learned to ignore their whispers and their stares. She studied to ensure that no one would ever think she was an ignorant child unworthy of her parents’ attention.
Even before Yumiela’s name was called and she walked to the podium between stares and whispers, she had already resolved herself. One day, soon, the level measuring orb would not show the solitary digit that allowed everyone here to continue looking down on her. Regardless of what they thought, she would be better, stronger. No one would be able to hurt her.
Yumiela was going to level up.