"All ready now?"

She looked up at dad, nodding her head up and down.

Right now, there was nothing on this planet that could possibly ruin Erin’s mood.

According to mom and dad, the school she was going to was one of the best! And everyone there would be very nice and friendly.

Her tail unconsciously swung back and forth, creating a sound like a helicopter.

Tak tak tak

Despite the fact that Raymond had to wake up earlier then he usually did. The sight of it was enough to calm his heart and put a smile on his face.

As for Ellen, seeing Erin all dressed up for school like this now made her feel melancholy. The feeling of watching her own ’child’ grow up was such a bittersweet thing. Even if she wasn’t actually her child.

Luckily, Erin would still remain like this for a few more years.

"I’m going to school now!"

In order for Erin to go to school. Sienna had to set up quite a few things.

Every teacher had all been informed of Erin’s special circumstances, and the method on how to treat her. She also had a disguise ring created to hide her dragonic features. As well as a dedicated summon that would follow her around in stealth to make sure she didn’t do anything she shouldn’t have.

She also set up a teleport from inside the academy to the school which was also located in the capital.

So they weren’t concerned about Erin saying anything.

Stepping into the ring, Erin waved her hand at mom and dad all the way until she couldn’t see them anymore, and was instead standing in front of the gates of a massive intricate building.

In her shadow, a small wriggling bat with an entirely black body like ink peeked its head out for a second. Only to immediately jump back into the shadow.

This was a Shadeland Bat, a special bat which could turn into shadows and inhabit the shadows of objects. They also made for great pets since they were very intelligent.

Seeing the gates, Erin’s mouth formed an o in amazement.

It reminded her of mom’s house a lot.

The really big one, with the big garden and big mansion, and the really comfortable bed! She really liked sleeping with mom and dad together in that bed.

Behind her, several limousines and fancy cars appeared. As the passengers stepped out, seeing an unfamiliar person wearing the same uniform. Confusion arose on their faces. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It was already a few months into the semester, were they getting a new classmate?

One of them, a young girl with bright blue hair walked up to her. Tapping her on the shoulder.

"Are you a new student here?"

"Mmh! My name is Erin!"

"...my name is Charlotte."

Because Rosemere Academy wasn’t just any academy for young kids. It was the premier option for where Families would send their children. Making connections and learning the essentials of the political life from young.

For Charlotte, who had to constantly deal with said life for years. Despite not even being double digits in age. It was the equivalent of a flashbang grenade directly in her face.

"If you don’t mind me asking. What is your full name?"

Still, Charlotte wanted to test her. Rosemere Academy occasionally let in non-nobility, and this was just a subtle way of gauging her background.

Erin however, suddenly looked distraught.

Because she suddenly realized. Dad’s last name was Vance, and mom’s last name was Grace. But she didn’t have a last name!!

In fact, the topic had never even been brought up. Since none of the three had ever thought about this problem.

"V-Vance..?"

"I’ve never heard of a Vance family before. Is it new?" her questions stabbed directly into Erin’s answer. Making her hastily add on extra.

"...Vance Grace?"

If Erin’s smile was like a flashbang going off on her face, then the reveal of that last name was like a full on bomb explosion.

"G-Grace?!"

Despite the fact that Charlotte was from the Asteria Family, one of the top tier families. The Grace Family was still a family that held massive power, despite the fact that the amount of people that actually carried the name could be counted on one hand.

No wait, perhaps it was just a coincidence that her family had the same surname?

Charlotte narrowed her eyes, "What’s your mother’s name?"

"Ellen!"

So her mother was Ellen Grace? That matched up with what she knew about the Grace Family.

Completely disregarding the fact that it would be impossible for Ellen to have a child at Erin’s age. Charlotte immediately accepted it as the truth.

At this point, Charlotte made up her mind.

She had to get as close to her as possible!

"Let’s be friends. My name is Charlotte Asteria!"

"Okay!"

Just like that, the two of them became friends. Life was really easy when you were young.

By now, the two of them were beginning to cause quite the scene. Standing in front of the gates with Charlotte continuously letting out sounds of immense shock.

Given Charlotte’s high status, the amount of things that could shock her so much were quite low. Leading to a lot of curious onlookers.

Grabbing her hand, Charlotte quickly dragged her away. "Let’s go somewhere else. There’s a lot of prying eyes here."

"What does prying mean?"

"...it means they love to stick their noses into other people’s business."

"Wow! You’re really smart!"

Charlotte felt blood rush to her face at Erin’s compliment.

Compared to the often insincere and hollow compliments she received from her fellow peers and even from her own family. The honest, straightforward compliment from Erin felt much different.

A warm tingly feeling bubbled up inside of her.

It felt really nice.

***

"Class. Before I start today’s lesson. We have a new student who due to some circumstances has only recently enrolled into Rosemere Academy."

Being a teacher at Rosemere Academy was one of the hardest jobs in the capital. Despite the students actually being very well behaved for their age due to their upbringing. The constant undercurrents they had to navigate made even giving basic advice difficult.

Telling a child they needed to work harder, could be easily misunderstood as the teacher saying the student wasn’t talented enough, or that the student was very lazy.

When they really just meant that they needed to work harder was all.

Such a thing wouldn’t have been an issue for normal students. But for these young scions who were already learning the cruelty of the life of nobility. They had to analyze every single question and word spoken.

Seeing Erin’s cute appearance, a few of the boys in the classroom were instantly charmed by her.

Stuttering slightly, Erin "H-hello everyone. M-my name is Erin."

Compared to the other kids, who were constantly forced to maintain their noble manners and elegance from the peer pressure. Erin’s personality was like a breath of fresh air in a stale room. A ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

The teacher couldn’t help but wonder. How come the only non-human child was the one that acted the most human? He was aware of Erin’s real identity after all. Compared to these other kids, she was the only one that acted like an actual kid.

Instantly a small crowd gathered around here. Bombarding her with questions about herself.

"Your hair is really red!"

"Why are your teeth so sharp?"

"Why did you only enroll now?"

Faced with the barrage of questions, Erin shrunk into her seat slightly. Struggling to maintain composure in front of so many people.

Seeing this, Charlotte immediately shooed them all off.

"Can’t you see that you’re disturbing her?"

Admittedly, Charlotte was very curious on why Erin’s teeth were so sharp looking,and that fiery red hair really stood out a lot.

But she had already decided on Erin being her friend, and real friends didn’t ask clearly uncomfortable questions like that. Even if the curiosity ate away ate them from inside.

"Erin. You don’t need to answer questions like that if you don’t want to okay?"

"Mmh!"

Even the way she nodded and replied was cute.

"The people here are very nice!"

’That’s just because you’re new...’, Charlotte thought.

She had seen the things that her fellow classmates had done after all. They might have been children, but it didn’t excuse some of the things they did. Bullying was the just the most easily seen.

"You shouldn’t trust others so easily Erin. They might be trying to use you. Especially the boys, your last name holds a lot of power. You need to be more careful."

"Even you..?"

She let out a small cough, "Yes. Even me."

"But...I thought we were friends?"

Hearing Erin’s saddened tone, Charlotte immediately changed her mind.

"I was just testing you. You can trust me."

And just like that, Erin immediately forgot all about it. Putting it as water under the bridge.

After giving everyone enough time to settle down, the teacher lightly clapped his hands to gather their attention once again.

Just because there was a new student, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t teach.

"Please pull out your textbooks and open page 74. We’re continuing on the topic of basic multiplication."

Another problem.

Erin didn’t know multiplication.