Chương 91: Chapter 90 – Two-Timing

Just in case anyone has forgotten, I will briefly summarize the current situation. Rachel Hustler was once a shadow guard for Princess Claire Cassandra. When the Awakening Day arrived, Rachel was chosen by the Holy Mark and became a candidate for the position of Hero—those who would participate in the conquest to seal the Demon King. However, both the Royal Family and the Church determined that letting an nameless shadow guard hold the title of Hero Candidate was a waste.

Therefore, they deceived everyone by claiming that Princess Claire—who had never shown her face to the public—was the chosen one. Yet, after the candidates' first mission in Marbour, Claire died while posing as a nun. Admitting they had lied to the public was not an option, leaving the Royal Family with two choices: either arrange a fake death for the princess while forcing Rachel to "disappear," or continue their lie until the very end.

A few things happened, mainly through the intervention of Henry McCaley—the Vice-Captain of the Knights and heir to the prestigious McCaley family, now Rachel Hustler had entered Imperia Academy under the guise of Princess Claire Cassandra. To be precise, Rachel didn't officially enroll under the name Claire Cassandra; she enrolled under her real name.

However, in the eyes of others, this was just the Royal Family's way of upholding the long-standing tradition of not appearing in public while still allowing the princess to fulfill her duties as a Hero Candidate. So now a strange situation arose: everyone still called Rachel "Rachel," but in their minds, they defaulted to thinking Rachel was Claire. I checked Rachel's Reputation points, and they were currently still at just 16.

This amount of reputation probably came from those within the royal palace who knew the truth about this identity swap. As for the future, when she went out on missions under the name Rachel Hustler while hiding her "princess" status, how her reputation points would be affected remained to be seen. Everything up to this point could be considered relatively smooth, but after three days of enrollment, trouble found its way to her.

Rachel was placed in Class A, where there were many other Hero Candidates, including Rushia Matthew. Rushia was the second person from the Matthew family to become a Hero Candidate alongside Andrew Matthew. Based on the stat information I could see for both of them, Rushia's combat skills were even more outstanding than Andrew's. In my first isekai run, Andrew successfully became a Hero, while Rushia... had married Prince Bryce Cassandra right before the Investiture Ceremony took place.

Theoretically, marriage shouldn't affect someone's ability to fight against the Demon King. In reality, however, Reputation was one of the weightiest stats in ranking the candidates. When the public heard news of a candidate getting married right before the Investiture Ceremony, they would assume that candidate didn't take becoming a Hero seriously at all.

Besides, the people of Averula also believed in something similar to "raising a death flag"—that rushing a wedding might be a signal that the person believed they wouldn't survive to return. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Moreover, the person she married was the Crown Prince of Averula, the one who would inherit the throne in the future. Whether politically or image-wise, no one wanted to see a future queen rushing into dangerous places like a battlefield.

Returning to the present topic, Rushia Matthew had met privately with Rachel and stated that she knew Rachel was not the real princess. I voiced my guess to Rachel:"Could the two of them be friends? The Matthew house is an ancient lineage and has close ties with the Royal Family." Rachel shook her head:"Since I started working as Claire's shadow guard, they haven't met even once. If they did, it must have been when they were kids.

If that's the case, her still remembering Claire's facial features is quite impressive."

"Speaking of which, what's up with your blonde hair?"

"It's a wig, obviously. The eyebrows are more of a hassle; I have to constantly use a certain kind of liquid to bleach out the color." Saying that, she grabbed a strand of hair and tried to hand it to me.

"It's attached very securely. Want to try pulling it?" I felt that pulling a young lady's hair wasn't a very gentlemanly thing to do, so I raised both hands to decline.

"I know someone who is quite close to Rushia Matthew. Tomorrow I'll try to investigate this matter. Oh, and how is Sophia doing?" Rachel told me that because she didn't want the little girl to study in this school full of snobbish nobles, she had requested that Sophia attend a private class not run by the Church. Both sisters were required to stay in the school's dormitory.

"My room is a single, so Sophia can pose as the princess's maid and come over to play whenever I want!" Rachel looked quite pleased as she said this.

"Oh, that's great then... * yawn!" I couldn't help but let out a yawn. Due to the lingering effects of the Miasma poisoning, I had been sleeping a lot these past few days. If possible, I really wanted to skip the first class tomorrow after returning from Grasiva. Lealia was a Hero candidate, so she had the privilege of resting for a day after a mission ended, but assistants didn't get that luxury.

However, with this new trouble regarding the identity leak, I guessed I would need to attend class to gather a bit more information. Seeing my exhaustion, Rachel asked curiously:"Was the last mission that grueling?" I waved my hand dismissively:"It was alright. A few things came up, but everything turned out fine in the end."

"Yeah, I see you successfully scored yourself a cute girlfriend."

"Huh? What are you talking about? Where did a girlfriend come from?" Rachel pointed in a certain direction. Over there, I saw Lealia peeking out from behind a tree trunk. Only now did I remember that this spot also happened to be where Lealia and I had met when secretly talking about Henry killing someone. Thinking the two of them should get to know each other, I waved to call Lealia over, much to Rachel's surprise.

"Rachel, you probably already know this person, but I should still introduce her properly. This is Lealia; she has very useful healing skills. Lealia, this is Rachel." Lealia glanced at me with displeasure:"I just heard everyone gossiping, they said she's Princess Claire..."

"I am Rachel Hustler," Rachel interrupted. Lealia glanced back at me as if waiting for an explanation. I cleared my throat and said: "She is Rachel Hustler, not Claire Cassandra."

"But..."

"It's complicated, just know that much." Lealia looked even more displeased. She suddenly asked:"Is she also someone you chose, just like me?" While I was at a loss for how to explain, Rachel suddenly burst out laughing as well.

"Did you use the exact same method you used to entice me to charm this girl? Telling her that you would be her first friend?" Hey hey hey, don't talk in a way that's so easy to misunderstand! Being stared down by two girls as if I were some unfaithful, philandering man who used sweet talk to deceive others carried a massive amount of psychic damage.

I cleared my throat once more, trying to speak in an objective tone like someone reading a news broadcast:"Both of you are brilliant Hero candidates whom I highly evaluate and cherish. I hope that in the coming time, you will help each other grow. Thank you." Having said what needed to be said, I quickly stepped backward and headed straight to my dormitory room.