. Robert had eighteen years of schooling, from pre-K through college, but that was in America. Tiana received her education from tutors alongside the royal kids and a handful of other resident children, in what might be described as an ad hoc one-room schoolhouse inside the royal residence. Needless to say, her only image of ‘attending classes’ in an organized …

. Mother entered my room in full fairy regalia, with wings and raiment glowing faintly. This reminder that she is a powerful supernatural creature left me a bit afraid, because she is the only person on Huade that knows that I’m not the original Tiana. She spoke of eliminating me as a potential demonic threat when she first found out. …

. I was again mixing, mingling… no, I was just drifting through the crowd by myself. I have no skill at socializing. That’s when I came across a scene straight out of fiction, off to the side of the buffet tables. Four women, including Lady Josannah, had boxed Miss Mireia in against the wall. A brunette was standing with her …

. My dance with Ged was thankfully back in slow waltz mode. I was afraid they would go into a polka, and Uncle Owen had already pushed the limit on my high tempo dance skills. Ged is… look, you know that anime where the student council president is a tall, handsome, taciturn man with glasses? You know, half the school …

. It was a slow waltz, and I’m pretty sure we dance the same step as on Earth. Back with the right foot, sideways with the left, pull in the right, back with the left, sideways with the right, pull in the left. You’re continuously going backwards, so you have to let the guy steer you with his hands, signaling …

. Mother had been Royal Escort for years, but that’s a ceremonial position. Intimacy isn’t part of the package. Her private relationship with Owen was an open secret in the Palace, but regarded as a separate matter. But she has a very small waist, and she was beginning to show, and naturally, the proud papa wanted his new daughter to …

. Sweeping into my view, right in front of me, was an elegant girl who I guessed was likely also a third year. She had gorgeous blond hair in a half-updo piled up on one side of her head and lightly spiraling side bangs that were perilously close to classic ojou-sama drills. Rod cleared his throat, his eyes flicking over …

. When the ceremony ended, we filed out, two by two, just like we came in, but to my confusion, the line kept filing along, along an ornate corridor, then out into a long covered walk that looked vaguely like a line of Japanese toriis, except holding up a roof. Maybe it was the fact that all the columns and …

. Ged had already stood and made his way to the podium in order to give his little sister his hand so she could step down. Around me, I could hear a widespread ripple of feminine sighs. My eldest brother did indeed have a lot of fans, as Amelia had claimed. I noticed in that hesitant step from the podium …

. The ceremony began with the students filing into the event hall to stand in ranks on the floor. The third years filed in and took up positions in the back, followed by the the second years and then the entering class stood in front That might sound backwards, but they are just doing things the way they had been …