"Hello… my name is Dixy Brown, and you are?"
Emilia accepted her friendly handshake.
"My name is Emilia White, but you can call me Emily."
At first, the girl didn't seem to mind, but then her full name registered in her mind.
"Ohh… E-Emily, don't tell me you're the famous White Deer corporation's youngest daughter?!"
Emilia pretended to blush. "Aw, you'll make me shy if you say it like that… have you heard of me before?"
Dixy stared at her closely, and a slight dissatisfaction was obvious in her eyes, though it didn't seem to be aimed at her.
"Don't worry about it, Emily. I just heard about the White Deer's precious princess from some idiots here and there. Your family is quite famous, after all."
Dixy did misremember her name being Danielle or something of that vein, but thankfully she was smart enough to realize that a 'White' family's girl who could attend the Imperial Academy's 'class S' could probably only be 'her'.
Emilia patted her chest, as if relieved. "Oh, alright, that makes me a little relieved. I thought you heard something bad and misunderstood me. I would be sad if the first person I met in school ended up hating me."
Dixy felt a little guilty for not being able to control her tongue in time. Thankfully, she didn't end up exposing the nasty rumors to the girl.
"You've never been to a school before?"
Emilia shook her head. "No, I had private tutors come to my home all the time. You've been to a school before?"
Dixy rolled her eyes, thinking in her heart that her family really overdid it with sheltering and isolating the poor girl.
"Everyone's been to school before, Emily. Very few people go for homeschooling, like if there's some personal reason, or if they need specialized education. Ohhh… Emily… don't tell me you're super smart?!"
Emilia tilted her head, as if curious. "I don't know. Do you think I look smart?"
Her childlike innocence in that moment almost made Dixy's heart skip a beat. The short haired girl was suddenly glad for being as straight as a steel pipe, or she might have just got a huge crush on her new friend.
Thinking carefully, she had to admit that it was pretty dumb of her to think Emilia would need special tutoring because she was a genius or something. More than likely, it was just the opposite.
"Hm, you 'look' smart, but let's face it, compared to the geniuses in this school, both of us are probably equally dumb."
The two of them stared in silence at each other before bursting into giggles at the same time.
Emilia would never pretend to be a genius at this time. Forget about being a genius, just pretending to be an average person was difficult with the level of her knowledge of this world.
Just take for example that iron horse thing, or those cars. Emilia knew she had to work hard to quickly catch up with the common education in this world. It was all Cynthia's fault for not teaching her all of this beforehand, since she clearly knew.
Her system cried indignantly in her mind. "I-It's not! And I'll teach you later...?"
Ignoring Cynthia, she continued her line of thought. Where was she? Oh yes, it was better to pretend to be an airhead ditzy girl. After all, they had their own charm.
Most importantly, it was very difficult to guard against someone you believed to be dumb and innocent.
Dixy already felt like she had made a close friend. She was already firmly stuck on the same three-seater bench, despite her lifelong reluctance to ever be a first bencher.
She justified it in her mind as this is also the closest seat to the exit, her total time spent in the classroom will be reduced.
After almost half an hour of exchanging small talk, the short black haired girl sighed as she patted Emilia's head.
"I have to say, Emily, it's a good thing your family hid you so well."
Emilia blinked innocently, feeling a bit strange from her touch. But she didn't let the discomfort show on her face, because with this persona, it was better to get used to such things for a while.
"Why do you say that?"
Dixy rolled her eyes. "Because you're so cute, without someone like me to protect you, wouldn't those nasty bitches in our circle smear dirt all over your pretty face out of jealousy?"
Emilia smiled, as if not scared at all. "Ohh, they sound scary. But doesn't that mean you'll protect me?"
The short haired girl squeezed her cheeks. "Of course, can I leave a ditz like you alone?"
Emilia huffed haughtily, making Dixy stare at her in apparent amusement.
Hmph, although she'll pretend like this for a while, she didn't plan to stay like this forever! Once she has caught up with the things that she needs to know, she'll start working on showing her real capabilities.
Of course, for that change to not look strange at that time, some foundation still had to be established.
"I'll have you know, I'm probably way smarter than you! I just need to learn some things."
Dixy laughed uncontrollably, smacking her on the back so hard that she was almost sent reeling forward.
'Your cultivation method is such bullshit Cynthia! This normal girl is stronger than me?!'
Her system cried indignantly in her mind. "I-It's not! It's not my fault! You haven't even started! At least pass the first stage before blaming me, okay?! Why do you always bully me? Wuuuu..."
Thankfully, Dixy didn't smack her again. Probably she also felt slightly regretful after realizing just how hard her hit had landed.
"Ahem… ehehe, anyway, even if Emily is book smart, you don't know the nasty tricks of those bitches. They would smear even someone they've never met with super nasty rumors! And do strange things you'd never even be able to imagine!"
Emilia felt slightly annoyed. What nasty bitches can she not handle? Even if she just started, she's a villainess with a system, okay? Those who underestimate her will only taste dirt faster!
"Dixy has a really dirty mouth herself! I get the feeling you keep bullying me!"
The short haired girl sneered. "Hmph, my mouth may be dirty but my mind is clean. I may tease you but I'll take care of you. Just leave the things that need street smarts to me! Since my first friend in highschool turned out to be a pampered princess like you, I guess I'll just have to bear with it and protect you myself."
It was Emilia's turn to laugh, she tried to smack Dixy just as hard as she done to her earlier. But the other girl didn't budge at all, and it was her own palm that felt a little sore.
She pretended that nothing had happened, and continued laughing. "Ahahaha… well, then this princess will thank her knight with a kiss when she's saved from danger!"
Dixy seemed to just notice that something had happened, although Emilia was certain that she was pretending just to annoy her. "Wow, did a little kitten just paw my back? I swear I felt a paw pad press me gently?!"
Looking at Emilia's increasingly gloomy face, she eventually couldn't contain her giggles anymore and consoled her halfheartedly. "Alright, alright, don't sulk. If you're such a soft persimmon, it's hard to resist bullying you, ya know! It's a good thing I'm the one you met first or some boy would really end up taking advantage of you by now!"
Emilia didn't look like she cared about it at all. "Ehhh, is that really a problem?"
Dixy shook her head. "Not with me here now, no. Oh, that reminds me, do you know the heir to the 'Black Tiger' corporation?"
Emilia gave her a strange look, as if not understanding why she would mention such a thing out of nowhere. "Amos? Hm.. yeah, I guess. He often came to our house to pester me, very strange boy."
That pretty much confirmed Dixy's suspicions, and she vowed to herself that at least in her own circle, she must bring the truth to light. Also, Emilia needed to be warned, too.
"I guessed as much. Anyway, you better stay away from him."
Emilia smiled mischievously. "Why… is my knight jealous?"
Dixy wondered, is this girl trying to bend steel pipes? Well, unfortunately, it was impossible to do so with her soft hands!
"You wish! But I'm serious. At least be careful around him, okay? I can't tell you why, but he's bad news."
Emilia pretended to be obedient. "Okay~ Since my dearest friend said so, I'll be careful."
The short haired girl rolled her eyes. "Psshh, I'm your only friend right now, aren't I?"
"Aww… You make me sound so pitiful, Dixy. Won't my knight help her princess make more friends?"
Dixy laughed, already having some plans of her own. Ahh, why does it feel like she suddenly had a daughter while just starting high school herself?!
Another dreadful throught crossed Dixy's mind. 'Don't tell me... Is this knight and princess thing going to be permanent? How do I get her to stop?'
"Ahem, Emilia... you're really stuck to that whole princess and knight thing now, huh? But I guess… somehow you really do feel like a princess?"
Of course she did. She was a real genuine princess in her last life, after all. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Dixy gave her bob cut hair a flick, pretending to be scornful. "Princess can be an insult, you know, like someone who can't take care of themselves, or is full of themselves?"
Emilia looked like she didn't understand what was wrong. "Both of them are true to an extent for me, right?"
"Don't just admit it!"
Dixy sighed, wondering if she'd made a mistake getting attached to this strange girl. Oh well, she was pretty stuck now.
It was like picking up a poor abandoned kitten. Once you have it in your hands, it's already too late to think about the troubles taking it home might cause.
After that, a few more students came into the classroom occasionally, and most of them seemed to get along well with each other.
Obviously, the major goal of these heirs in coming to this school was not to get humiliated by the geniuses, but to make allies of similar financial caliber, and scout out potential employees in their early stages.
Emilia's attitude towards the students who approached her was generally warm, but not overly friendly. Now that she already had a stable friendship with a reliable girl, it would actually be counter productive to try and get close to others immediately after that.
If anything, it would make Dixy feel that their friendship wasn't anything special to Emilia at all. And she can always recruit more knights later.
Cynthia's whining voice echoed through her mind once again. "Y-You told her to call you Emily but you didn't say that to me!"
Emilia let out a sigh of exasperation, wondering just how strange Cynthia's thought circuit was to get stuck on the strangest of things.
'I said that because I wanted to let her know I am friendly to her, you can just call me whatever you want, right? Although I definitely prefer Emilia over anything else, you can even call me honey if it bothers you so much!'
"Shameless! Who will call someone spicy like you 'honey'! More like pepper! No, you bitter melon! Dandelion leaf!"
