MFAWW 01

Chapter 01

This was my first time in the capital. At eighteen years old, I had never once set foot outside the territory located in the northern part of the empire. In short, I was a frog in a well.

If the butler hadn’t brought me the recruitment notice for the Imperial Knights, I would probably still be gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains and practicing swordsmanship in the territory. So there was no way anyone in this capital, which I was visiting for the first time in my life, would know me. That’s how it should have been.

“……Excuse me, could I ask for directions?”

“Yes, what can I…… Huh?!”

Ah, here we go again.

The man who had turned his head with a smile flinched in shock the moment he saw me. That made ten times now? I was quite flustered at first, but humans are creatures of adaptation. Since this happened every time I spoke to someone, I was starting to grow a little numb to it.

“If you don’t mind, could you tell me where the registration office for the Imperial Knights selection exam is…….”

Dear, upstanding citizens of the empire, I am not a dangerous beast.

I pulled the corners of my mouth up as high as they would go, trying to look harmless. It was meant to make me seem like a simple, innocent person from a rural territory who had just arrived in the capital. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.

At my smile, the man turned pale as a sheet, as if he had encountered a wild beast in the mountains. Then, scrambling away, he shouted something strange.

“B-Bright Young Lady has returned……!”

“Ah! Wait……!”

Who is that person? I wanted to grab the man who had just given me my first clue, but I was too late.

I watched his back rapidly receding and let out a sigh.

“Bright Young Lady?”

Who is that? Let me think… Bright… that sounds like a family name I’ve heard somewhere before. I stood alone in the middle of the street, racking my brain, but nothing came to mind.

Ah, never mind. How could I, a country bumpkin viscount’s daughter who hasn’t even had her debutante ball, possibly know the nobles of the capital?

My head was starting to hurt from thinking, so I gave up.

“Sigh.”

I rubbed my face and looked around again, searching for someone else to ask for directions. Just then, I spotted a woman carrying a basket walking toward me.

“Excuse me……”

“Yes? ……Gasp?!”

The woman, who had answered nonchalantly, widened her eyes at the sight of me. She was so startled she nearly dropped the basket she was holding.

“Hello.”

Please don’t run away, please don’t run away.

I smiled gently at the trembling woman. But this attempt was a failure too.

“Kyaaaah!”

The woman screamed as if she had just seen a dangerous criminal and fled.

“What’s going on? What’s all the commotion?”

“Bright Young Lady?”

“That person is……. Gasp!”

“A g-ghost?”

At the woman’s scream, people began to gather. They all stared at my face and were shocked, one after another.

“Excuse me, I think there’s been some misunderstanding……”

“Impossible!”

What’s impossible……? At this point, I was starting to get annoyed.

Whether I was upset or not, the people were busy whispering among themselves—was she a ghost, was a spirit playing tricks? Then someone shouted:

“Call the guard!”

What? The guard? This is bad. I need to get out of here for now.

I decided to slip into an alley to avoid the guards. I wanted to avoid causing a scene. This place seemed like a dead end anyway, so I figured I’d just go somewhere else and ask…….

“Gasp! A g-ghost!”

Missed again.

“Um…… I’d like to ask you something.”

“Hurk! The Marquess Bright’s daughter……?!”

So who is this person, already.

“There she is! Over there, the Bright Young Lady!”

No, I told you, I’m not that person!

*‘Young Miss, do you know?’*

The butler had once told me. He said there are people in this world who look alike even without sharing blood.

*‘The world calls such people doppelgangers, those who walk around as doubles.’*

What did I say back then? I think I said I’d like to meet someone like that if they existed. I still feel the same way. But if my doppelganger is a criminal, I’ll have to pass.

Why do I bring that up? Because I am currently mistaken for someone else and locked up in the Imperial Guard’s holding cell. Someone reported me as that so-called Bright Young Lady, and the guards arrested me.

*‘There she is! The Bright Young Lady!’*

*‘That’s her!’*

*‘Ah, seriously! I told you I’m not the Bright Young Lady!’*

No one believed me. For a moment, I thought about drawing my sword, but I held back, thinking I’d end up looking like a real criminal. I also figured the guards would be more reasonable than the civilians. That was a complete delusion.

*‘We’ve contacted your family, so please remain calm until someone arrives, Lady Bright.’*

*‘No, I told you I’m not her! My surname is Subrina! Iris Subrina! I even showed you my ID!’*

*‘Hoo, my lady. I advise you to remain quiet before you’re charged with forgery.’*

The guards reacted exactly the same as everyone else I’d met on the street. Even showing them my ID card, clearly bearing the name ‘Iris Subrina,’ was useless. They treated me like a piece of garbage and threw me into the holding cell.

Had they all been poked in the eye?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand this situation. But there was nothing I could do while locked up. I had no choice but to wait quietly for someone from the Bright family to arrive, as the guard said. Surely, when they saw me, they’d realize I wasn’t their lady.

“Hoo…….”

Where did it all go wrong? I leaned against the musty wall of the holding cell and thought about the Bright Young Lady who had landed me in this mess. I had come to the capital with the grand dream of becoming a knight, yet things were going strangely awry.

“The Marquess Bright’s daughter……”

Who is she, anyway? Everyone I’d met in the capital called me ‘Bright Young Lady.’ Not a single exception—they all mistook me for her. We must look quite alike.

And the fact that everyone, regardless of status, seemed to know her face suggested she was quite a public figure. Probably for negative reasons.

“Hmm.”

This wouldn’t cause problems with my becoming a knight, would it?

I frowned, recalling the negative reactions people had shown. I was worried this incident might lead to some disadvantage.

Ah, come on, that’s unlikely……

Hmm, the more I thought about it, the more anxious I became, so I decided to stop.

As I shook my head lightly to dismiss the rising worry, a commotion stirred outside the holding cell. It seemed someone from the Bright family had arrived.

Good, now I can clear up the misunderstanding and get out of here.

I stood up as I heard footsteps approaching.

“Young la……!”

Huh? I widened my eyes at the person who appeared beyond the bars of the holding cell.

The middle-aged man who entered, looking pale, had hair and eyes the same shade as mine—sky blue and green. Seeing his face, I finally understood, just a little, why people had reacted the way they did.

“What is the meaning of this! Who are you holding here? How dare you……!”

The man was furious at the sight of me trapped in the holding cell. As he raged, the guard who had been rude to me the entire time bowed and scraped.

“To put my daughter in such a moldy den……! What if she collapses! Are you out of your minds wanting to die?!”

“M-My apologies, Your Excellency.”

“Open it, now! Hurry!”

Oh, so he’s the Bright Young Lady’s father. I had expected a butler or a servant, but her father showing up was a surprise.

I quietly observed the man as he yelled at the guard.

Wait, why is he so beautiful? After spending my days looking at bandits and burly men, seeing a pale, pearl-like face with full red lips felt like a breath of fresh air.

Are all men in the capital like this? Come to think of it, compared to the people in my territory, the people in the capital—men, women, young, and old—all seemed quite refined and pretty.

“Young lady!”

The man entered the holding cell as soon as the guard opened the door. His looks became even more striking up close. He must have been at least forty to be the father of a young lady my age, but his smooth, wrinkle-free skin was truly admirable.

“Where on earth have you been all this……”

“Wait a moment!”

Pretty is pretty, but business is business.

I showed him my palm as a signal to stop and called out. I didn’t want to crush the hopes of a father who had rushed over at the news of finding his daughter, but I was not her, so I had to correct the misunderstanding.

“Young lady?”

The man, who had been approaching as if to embrace me at any moment, hesitated. He blinked in confusion.

“I’m sorry, but you are not my father.”

“What?”

At my words, the man’s blue eyes shook violently. Then, in a desperate voice, he whimpered.

“What are you talking about? Are you still angry?”

How strange. His actions were exactly those of a doting father, but how could he not recognize his own child? I truly couldn’t understand it.

“I am not the Bright Young Lady you are looking for.”

“Huh?”

When I denied it again, the man blinked, looking utterly dumbfounded.

He’s kind of cute. No, that’s not the point. Anyway, I needed to clear this up quickly.

“I……”

“Ah! Are you pretending to have amnesia again, like last time?”

The man let out a small gasp, cutting me off, and smiled as if he understood. He spoke in a gentle, coaxing voice, like someone shaking a carrot at a rabbit.

“Young lady, Daddy was wrong. Okay?”

“No, it’s not that……”

“Still, your acting has improved a lot since last time.”

“Excuse me, please calm down and listen to what I……”

“You didn’t send a single letter for months……. I was so worried something bad had happened to you…… *hic*.”

No, why are you crying! *I’m* the one who wants to cry!

I was speechless, watching the man suddenly burst into tears. He took my silence as a sign that I was listening and stepped a little closer.