20 SEVENTEEN | PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Or, at least he tried to.

A golden shield construct stopped Ivan's fist dead in its path.

"Who are you? What's your last name? When were you born? Tell me everything!" Ivan yelled in her face, ignoring his bleeding knuckles. It took every last ounce of willpower left in Ilise to not break down crying. Or kick him in the privates. Ilise didn't know which, but either option wouldn't be welcome.

"Get off her, Ivan! I won't allow you to manhandle my sister like that. At least buy her dinner first!"

"Your sister?" Ivan practically spat the last word out. "Why don't you answer my questions, then?"

Bianca sighed in exasperation. "Her name is Ilise Rossweisse. Second in line to the Yggdrasil Corporation. I don't know her actual birthdate, but she wanted it to be set as the day I found her. The twenty-fourth of October, 2095. Three months ago. She was wandering around Jotunheim, completely amnesiac. Two of Yggdrasil's researchers found her near their base camp and took her in. Turned out she was a Kaiserin, and they sent her my way."

"October...the twenty-fourth. That was the day my father died. It was also the day my sister's corpse vanished. What was her last name before you adopted her?"

"Alexeyevna." Ilise said under her breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Alexeyevna. That's all I remember. I..." She wrung her hands. She had to try, didn't she? "Do you know a Dr Alexei Belitrov?"

"I- How could you possibly know that name?" Ivan sputtered. He looked like he was about to bash Ilise's head in with a ring binder.

"I-I don't know! It just appears to me every night, okay?"

"Ivan. I need you to calm down-"

"FORGET CALMING DOWN, BIANCA! THIS GIRL - YOUR SISTER - MARCHES IN WITH THE EXACT SAME NAME, FACE AND VOICE AS MY DEAD SISTER AND SHE KNOWS THE NAME OF MY DEAD FATHER? AND SHE APPEARED ON THE NIGHT HE DIED?" Ivan exploded at Bianca. "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON OVER HERE, BIANCA ROSSWEISSE, BUT I WANT ANSWERS FROM YOU AND YOUR BLASTED YGGDRASIL CORPORATION!"

Bianca's tone steeled. "Ivan Alexeyevich. First of all, you'll watch your tone when you're talking to me, pond scum. Second, Ilise may or may not be your dead sister brought back to life, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want you as a brother. Not with the way you're treating her. Third of all, you will address me as Lady Rossweisse, and you will do the same for Ilise. Now, you can choose to comply, or I'll cool you off by throwing you out the window and into that fountain downstairs. Got it?"

Her icy blue eyes sparked. With magic or sheer condescension, Ilise didn't know, but the effect was terrifying nonetheless. Lesser men would've quailed, wet their pants and begged for mercy. To his credit, Ivan stood his ground. After regaining his composure, he spoke again, his voice loud and clear.

"I apologise for my tone, Lady Rossweisse. But this cannot be a mere coincidence. It is an impossibility."

"Was your sister a Kaiserin?" Ilise asked, her voice soft. Her lips were quivering.

"Ah - well, that she wasn't."

"There you have it." Bianca said. "Maybe Ilise really is your sister. I don't know. But what I do know is that I will continue to see her as my sister, whether or not we're related by blood. Feel free to have a DNA test taken. I won't speak for Ilise, so she has to consent to this herself."

Ilise shook her head. She didn't want anyone to take her away from her current life. It went both ways. A burst of bubbly warmth spread in her chest at Bianca's words.

"Ilise, you should go and join your friends first. We'll talk about everything tonight. I'll deal with Ivan, yeah?" Bianca crouched down next to Ilise. "Parfaits are on me. We can go on a walk after dinner, but right now you ought to get some food in the tank and relax a bit."

As Ilise turned to leave, Ivan couldn't resist asking one last question.

"Wait! Ilise! What sort of magic can you use?"

"I'm the Kaiserin of Motion."

And with that, Ilise breezed through the door with much more grace than she'd expected.

--

She found Siegfried and Toby outside with their ears pressed up against the wall. None of them had expected Ilise to simply burst out like that. When she gave them her best Bianca stare, the two of them hurried to come up with some sort of excuse.

"We, uh, were looking for the nice maid lady. The, uh, secretary. Or something." Toby said, flustered.

"Y-yeah! To, uh, get a refill on the tea." Siegfried fiddled with the bandages wrapped around his arm, in an attempt to take Ilise's mind off the fact that they'd been eavesdropping. To his surprise, it worked. Ilise's frosty exterior melted immediately, and she rushed over to examine Siegfried's wounds. Behind her, Toby heaved a sigh of relief. He'd heard one of the Rossweisse sisters yell, and despite it not being directed at him, it was scary enough. He wasn't sure if he could handle it if he was the offender.

"Siegfried! You're okay!"

"Yeah," Siegfried said bashfully. "It was nothing the nurse couldn't fix. My whole body hurts, but I've cleared things up with Toby and we've got no hard feelings. The nurse told me to stay out of the next examination. I insisted on going, and she gave me these painkillers." He held out a bunch of pills in his hand.

"That's good to hear." Ilise looked around. "Where's Rei?"

"He's back at the nurse's office. Roza's out of commission, and he wants to be with her. He wanted me to ask you if you could, uh, put in a word with your sister. Since Roza obviously won't be taking part in the next exam and Rei doesn't want that to count against her score." Toby said.

"Of course. I'll tell Bianca later. She should be impressed with Roza. She was watching us, you know."

Toby and Siegfried gawked. "Bianca Rossweisse was...watching us?"

"No, you doofuses. She was watching the grass grow. 'Course she was watching us. And the rest of the teams as well."

"We should really stop hanging around you, Ilise. Gives us a lot of expectations to live up to." Siegfried joked.

"Yo, Shiggy. Don't make jokes like that. She's panicked enough, as it is. Who knew the president was such a creep?"

Ivan? A creep? It occurred to Ilise that the two of them had only heard parts of their conversation. To them, it must've sounded like Ivan was forcing himself onto her. Had it been anyone else, Ilise would've tried to clear up any misunderstandings, but she would gladly make an exception for Ivan. Even if it meant Toby and Siegfried could never look at their council's president the same anymore.

Ilise's phone beeped. There was a message from Bianca.

"ilise, if u and ur friends want to badmouth Ivan, u can do it somewhere else. He's already pissed. I don't want him exploding at the entire council. I'd advise you to gtfo before he marches out there with a sword or smth."

"We better go. Where did you say Rei was?"

--