I Didn’t Reincarnate, I Enrolled

I didn’t do the whole possession thing.

I entered with my own two feet.

This academy, more famous as the ‘Noble Ladies’ Academy,’ doesn’t deal with creatures that have something dangling between their legs.

But since my face was sculpted to be a literal nation-toppling beauty, I look pretty even if I smear red paint all over it.

Even if I attached a beard, I’d just look like a woman crossdressing as a man.

I had confidence in the absurdity that even if I had a groin, I’d be seen as a woman wearing a prosthetic.

My weaknesses were ‘shooting while standing’ and ‘taking off my top.’

As for shooting while standing, I practiced ‘shooting while sitting’ as part of my squats and training.

The stripping was the problem, but…

There is an unwritten rule among noble ladies that they do not show their skin to others, except for their head, face, elbows, and below the knees.

During the pre-orientation before the entrance ceremony, I learned about the traditions and manners that strictly uphold the dignity of the nobility.

In other words, in this school that observes tradition and etiquette, there is no reason to expose oneself, nor is there any situation where it would happen against one’s will.

However….

“Hey, she’s really pretty.”

“Don’t you think she put something in there? Let’s see.”

“……!”

“Ah?”

On the first day of school, the pads I had stuffed into my chest tumbled out in a heap.

********************************************

A letter arrived from the Noble Ladies’ Academy, ‘Sky Castle.’

It’s the second letter I’ve received.

[To the Respected Count Arian Vila de Aosta, we sincerely welcome your enrollment into Sky Castle.]

I tore it up and crushed it.

The first letter I received was an apology filled with excuses, disguised as a condolence letter from the Dean regarding the deaths of my twin younger siblings who had gone to Sky Castle Academy.

They claimed the cause of death was suicide, but those kids weren’t some tragic figures from a folk tale.

I had my doubts the moment I heard they died on the same day at the same time.

I received the bodies, and the fingers of both children—the ones wearing the ‘Ring of Protection’ artifacts I gave them in case they were bullied or harmed—had been severed.

The day after I saw that, my mother hanged herself.

Even if it meant violating taboos and dogmas, I sought out a black mage.

Using a secret art to read the last sight those two saw from their pupils before their breath stopped, I reenacted the scene.

It was a clear murder.

I staged a dynamic protest near the magic circle leading up to Sky Castle Academy, demanding the punishment of the perpetrators and a formal investigation.

Sky Castle responded with a crackdown that slaughtered my family’s knights and soldiers.

Ultimately, the choice was whether to go into an all-out war with the Sky Castle Academy authorities—an international neutral organization—or…

“Ha.”

There was another way reflected in the mirror, which made me let out a hollow laugh.

No matter how you look at it, this was a character where the artist drew a girl and stubbornly insisted it was a man.

Even when I shaved my head into a mohawk, attached a beard, and painted my face like a Red Devil, it was a nonsensical appearance that people refused to see as a man (I actually tried it).

I’ve lived like this for twenty years.

I had a complex about not having a ‘masculine scent,’ but it was much better than having a face that only smelled of testosterone like in my past life.

And thanks to that, one more option remained.

All-out war VS Enrolling after crossdressing.

Sky Castle is, quite literally, a mysterious educational city floating in the sky.

Entry is only possible through a magic circle, and it was essentially a medieval bomber capable of magical bombardment from the air.

Even though my family’s knighthood was considered one of the strongest forces in the world at this point, they were helplessly defeated.

An all-out war was out of the question, but the best way to take down a castle is from the within.

I decided to enroll in Sky Castle as a female student to uncover the truth and slaughter the perpetrators and key figures of the school administration.

Before that…

I had to persuade my father first.

“I am sorry for making such an unreasonable request while you are unwell.”

“Must you really go? You might die in vain.”

Even my father, who was a strong knight and should have been in his prime as a middle-aged man, fell ill.

He eventually handed over his title and retired in his forties.

Nevertheless, while I was tearing down Sky Castle, there was no other trustworthy blood relative to leave the territory to besides my father.

“You’re the one who used to send your fifteen-year-old son to the battlefield. Why are you worrying about me entering a school?”

Originally, my father was more consumed by revenge than I was.

But after several knights who had served our family for years died in the high-altitude bombardment from Sky Castle, he took the stance of discouraging both all-out war and infiltration operations.

He didn’t say it out loud, but he seemed to fear losing his son as well.

“It’s not worry. Are you, perhaps…”

“Yes?”

“Are you still carrying that burden?”

“What burden?”

“Didn’t you say you have a family left behind from your previous life? That you are looking for a way to go back there? That you don’t want to get attached? So even if you die, I should just think you went back there and not care.”

I only said that back when he sent me to the battlefield, because my mother and siblings were having a tearful farewell ceremony as if they’d never see me again.

I said it bluntly so they could detach their feelings easily if I died in battle.

I said it half-heartedly, but this man heard it, and though he didn’t mention it to my face, he must have been agonizing over it inside.

I had consistently pushed the fact that I was a reincarnator.

Otherwise, there would be no way to explain how a young kid like me grew our territory to this extent through institutional reform and the introduction of technology.

“I thought you didn’t believe me, so why so suddenly?”

However, after I realized why my parents ultimately refused to believe that I had a past life and a separate family, I didn’t talk about it much more.

It was just that I had the experience from my past life, and I hated acting like a child while watching adults do frustrating things.

Against my will, it was something I used to say when I was sleep-talking or bed-wetting, but I brought it up again at the deployment ceremony now that I’m older.

That was because it was my first real war, and I was scared I might die.

And isn’t it strange not to feel resentful toward a father who sends a fifteen-year-old to a battlefield?

“If you are truly such a being, it’s fine. Do not burn your life away on things like revenge.”

It was hard to argue when he was using my own words to stop me.

“That part is true, but I’ve decided to treat it as a dream now.”

“Can you truly call that a dream? What you have done is, no matter how you look at it…”

“It’s already been years since I stopped saying such things, hasn’t it? It was all a lie. A past life? There was no such thing.”

Cunningly enough, it was only after losing my family here that I realized.

They had raised the bar enough for me to cross over, but I was the one small-mindedly drawing a line, telling them not to cross it.

However, I didn’t want to say that to a father and son who are blunt with each other and prone to bickering, so I let it scab over.

I’m not used to this man’s worried tone, either.

My father was originally a man of honor who would die for a cause or ambition, sending his fifteen-year-old only son to the battlefield saying it was a glory to die there.

He’s just been acting a bit strange lately because of his medicine.

“Sky Castle Academy is a place with strong individuals that even you cannot guarantee against, isn’t it? And you aren’t going there to study.”

I’m going there to gather information or commit assassinations; I won’t be safe if I’m caught.

The Dean of Sky Castle Noble Ladies’ Academy is a mage of marvelous skill who literally floated a city into the sky and maintains it.

The high-altitude bombardment from a floating city, against which those on the ground had no answer, was terrifying.

“Think of the family’s affairs first. What will happen to our house if even you are gone?”

He’s probably telling me to get married—more accurately, to produce an heir to carry on the family name.

If it weren’t for the war, it’s true that I’d be at the age to graduate from a noble academy around last year and marry my fiancée.

“Well, if I hadn’t cleared out all the maids, there might have been an illegitimate child by now.”

I was raised under strict, solemn, and serious care, so what is he talking about?

My father seemed appalled, and his voice rose.

“Is that something you should be saying?”

Is it a parental trait to have more energy than usual when nagging?

I got scolded, but I actually feel better because it seems like he’s regained his strength for the first time in a while.

“Father, if you hadn’t sent me to the battlefield saying ‘A man grows on the front lines,’ I would have married my fiancée and set up a household.”

“Quiet. That was not a wrong decision.”

I was engaged once, but it was broken off.

The other family sided with the Empire during the war, so they weren’t in a position to maintain an engagement with our family, who was at war with the Empire.

“If you had accepted the Emperor’s offer when he said he’d give his daughter a Duchy to marry you off if you withdrew our family’s troops, you would have become a Grand Duke of the Empire and married a Princess.”

Cough, cough, wheeze, hack.

This man is suddenly squeezing out a dry cough.

If I had actually done that last bit, it would have been the betrayal of the century.

The Emperor probably only proposed that as a negotiation tactic to delay our advance anyway.

“Wait, I don’t think you actually had a lung disease, Father?”

“Fine, let’s leave it at that. His Majesty tried to push for a royal marriage to commend your contributions, but you were the one who rejected it, weren’t you?”

“When there is an investigation in the family, one must postpone celebrations.”

“You’re talking about that strange tradition from your old life again. I suppose you could have been distracted. Fine, since you say you’ll return the Count’s title to me, I shall proceed with it.”

I used to be unable to immerse myself in this world, thinking it was just a world inside some creative work.

First of all, does green hair even make sense? Are you seaweed?

Furthermore, I had a few peculiar powers that the people of this world could never use, and there were several cultural elements that reminded me of my past life.

However, since experiencing the war, I stopped disparaging this world.

From the fact that every dead person has their own story, I decided it didn’t matter even if it was a world created by someone’s intervention.

I judged it impossible for there to be a story writer who could create stories for millions of characters in a game or a creative world.

A world where lives exist that do not flow according to a fixed destiny is no different from reality, even if it were inside a game.

What if an AI writer stepped in? I don’t know about that.

“Yes, Father. The Princess is a whopping ten years old.”

“……What? How old?”

“Ten years old.”

“Are they asking us to raise her for them?”

“If that really happens, I’ll send her on a martial arts pilgrimage first.”

“A ten-year-old?”

My father seemed dumbfounded as well.

I don’t know if our Great King really wanted to make me his son-in-law and a solid supporter but threw out that card because he didn’t have any others.

Or if he threw out some nonsense I couldn’t accept just to keep our family in check, building up a ‘spite’ stat and a justification by saying, ‘How dare you defy a royal command?’

In either case, it wasn’t something to say to a household that had just suffered a string of funerals.

“Father, I also believe it is my duty to marry and maintain the family.”

“The royal family is out, but if possible, carry on the lineage first. You’ve lived a fierce life with wars and suppressing rebellions, haven’t you?”

“My life, my time, and my new life are important to me too. And yes, it’s a sophistry for the living to risk their lives for the dead on something they might not even achieve. It’s a foolish thing to do.”

“Indeed. Will doing that bring those kids or your mother back to life?”

“But I’m going because I can’t stand the fact that I acted like that.”

They must have raised me as their son, but I had been living like, ‘You guys aren’t my real parents.’

There were many contrived aspects to this world, so I thought of it as a world within a creative work, but it wasn’t a world where even the people were fakes.

Of course, the second life I gained and the youth and honor I could enjoy after returning from the battlefield are precious.

But I want to at least do as much as I can for the family here, whom I thoughtlessly treated like NPCs.

“No. That talk about a past life was just the thoughtless nonsense of someone that age.”

My father is trying to grant me absolution, but that won’t do.

“Father. If I cannot fulfill the duties I must, I cannot be proud of myself. And if I am not proud of myself, I will have no conviction in any decision I make.”

I’m incredibly pissed off. I’ll pay them back in kind.

This could be settled with that one sentence, but since that doesn’t work on my father, I spouted some nonsense that sounded like it came out of a self-help book.

The justification that as a parent, he cannot take the risk of losing me too, is far too powerful.

“Can a person living a life without conviction in themselves truly live out their will? Especially in a position that holds the fate of tens, hundreds of thousands?”

“If you have chosen us, wouldn’t gaining a new family also be a good choice?”

“I also wish to hear the sound of a baby’s cry in our empty household. But how can one who hasn’t done their best for their current family bring in a new one and show them a smile?”

“…….”

“So please, give me some conviction and support for what I want to do. You are the only one left who can cheer me on when I reveal such a plan.”

At those words, my father remained silent for a few minutes while I stood there without a word.

Finally, he nodded.

“Fine. Kill them all and bring me their heads. I shall pickle them in salt and chew their flesh myself.”

The light in my father’s eyes and the voice with which he said those words returned to how they used to be.