Thomas was sitting at the table of the inner world’s garden, absentmindedly keeping an eye on Larotte who was running around. His face was still blurry, without any expression visible, but his aura was as cold as ever.

  “Are you alright ?”

  Anne-Antoinette had cautiously approached him, with a luxurious pte of carpaccio that she probably made in the living room.

  “I have trouble understanding the situation too. But if we exist, it’s not too far-fetched to be transported in a game, right ?”

  She put the meal in front of Thomas, but he didn’t touch it. After all, the personalities weren’t real so they didn’t need to eat or sleep, and even if he put that meat in his mouth, he wouldn’t be able to taste anything from this imaginary food.

  “I guess you are right.”

  He kept his head turned towards Larotte, probably watching her, but it was impossible to tell.

  “I’m just worried. I’m guessing it’s a dating game and Mariane needs to end up with a guy to get out, but there is no way to tell. Is it really a game, after all ? Aren’t we simply in a different realm, like the king said ? If it’s the case, when the princes will fall in love with her and keep her here, will we all be stuck in this reality ?”

  Anne-Antoinette gently patted Thomas’ hand.

  “You worry too much. Maybe it’s not a dating game at all and nobody will fall for Mariane and keep her here. As soon as they can perform the spell, we will be back home.”

  “But will that really be better ? I would hope that magical demons are a bit more open to several people in one body. If it’s a dating game, it’s bad because we will be third wheeling a romance, and possibly angering seven powerful guys who don’t want their time with their girlfriend interrupted. If it’s not, the situation is still terrible because we will be back to that nightmare of a life. That’s why I’m worried.”

  The old woman nodded while picking up the meat with a fork she had materialized.

  “I see what you mean. It’s fine for us, since we don’t get out much anyway, but for you it will be quite the trouble.”

  Thomas sighed. If he could know what Mariane was doing, it would be better. But, with no time indication in this imaginary space, he had no idea if it was the same day, or if a month had passed. What did Mariane decide ? Was she getting close to the demons ? What were the csses about ? He needed that information to emute her. In the normal world, it was fine, because everyday was the same, so he just needed to act normally. But in Hell ? What should he do, how should he act ?

  It would have been easier if he could be honest about the fact that he was a different person, but this body was Mariane’s, his decision would impact her, so it was only fair if she was the one to tell that secret. And if the girl chose to keep quiet, who was he to go against her wishes ? He didn’t exist for real, anyway.

  Thomas finally felt a pull again, and braced himself. He had no idea what he would see in the control room.

  When he opened his eyes, he secretly looked around him. There were several rows of desks and chairs, all occupied by young looking people. In the front, a man was reading a book in a commanding voice. It was a cssroom, an old looking one, with tapestries on the walls and chandeliers attached to the ceiling. It contrasted with the modern video projector showing pictures of strange-looking pnts. If Thomas was to believe the inscriptions on the bckboard, he was in a ‘demonic herbalism’ css.

  He was sitting at the back of the room between two princes, the fierce-looking Byleth, who had fought with Asmodey, and Paimon, the oldest, blonde with long hair and red eyes. This arrangement was probably made to protect Mariane, as proved by the hungry-looking stares nding on him. Humans must be a kind of delicacy in this world. Or was it because demons consume souls, like in horror stories ? Thomas had no way to know, but he was still grateful for the thoughtfulness of the princes, who at least were taking responsibility for bringing Mariane here by mistake.

  “If you stop writing, you won’t have the needed materials for the test.”

  Paimon had adjusted his round gsses on his nose, and was staring at Thomas with an air of disdain.

  “Yes, sorry !”

  He responded in his best Mariane’s voice, and focused on the teacher in front of him. Contrary to what he had first thought, the css wasn’t that different from a normal human one. The lesson was easy to understand, with a lot of different pictures and examples, to help with comprehension. The different pnts of Hell were fascinating, with colors and shape never heard of in the human world. Without realizing it, Thomas was completely absorbed in the css, and didn’t pay attention to the demons around him. This had a strange effect on them. Especially on Paimon. The strict looking guy was writing in his notebook while gncing at the girl next to him.

  ‘She was still shaking in our presence until an hour ago, but now she doesn’t even look at us. It’s the first time I see her so focused on something. Is it intellectual curiosity ? Maybe she is not as dumb as I thought…’

  On the other side, Byleth looked equally pleased, brushing his bck hair back with his hand, and looking at Thomas with gleaming green eyes.

  ‘She can look fierce when she wants to ! I’m sure with a bit of training she could kick someone down. I should bring her to the gym sometimes.’

  What Thomas was fearing, he was the one to unknowingly provoke it.

  After the ‘demonic herbalism’ css, it was time for ‘practice of demonic magic’, and the atmosphere was widely different. Contrary to the previous one, this course was compulsory, and Thomas ended up in the same group as the seven princes, including Beliar, the delinquent one who had talked about eating Mariane, and Asmoday, who was way too seductive and was making Thomas uncomfortable. The next two hours were guaranteed to be hellish, so to speak.

  “It’s a good thing that we are all in the same group, because we don’t necessarily need good grades, as princes. If you were paired with anyone else, you would have bombed their score since you can’t use magic !”

  The one who had mocked Thomas was a small guy, not even reaching his shoulder, with curly brown hair and big blue eyes. He seemed to be high energy, and had a mischievous smile that felt a bit cruel. Judging from the look in his eyes, he didn’t seem to like Mariane.

  “Pursan, stay polite with our guest.”

  Paimon had rebuked him, but without great conviction. He didn’t seem very pleased to be paired with the human either. Thomas internally shrugged. What did it matter, if they were pleased or not ? He wasn’t here because he wanted to anyway. If the guys wanted to be mad, they could bme themselves for their mishap with the teleportation spell. It had nothing to do with him.

  Ignoring the disapproving looks, he turned to one of the princes who didn’t seem to mind him. In fact, he didn’t seem to mind anything, he was quite aloof.

  “Vinea, can you expin to me how magic works ?”

  The man, who was hiding his face behind his white hair, looked surprised to be talked to, and he wasn’t the only one.

  ‘Did she just ignore us ? But she was still scared during breakfast, and would shrink everytime we made this kind of remark. What is going on ? She is not like usual…’

  All seven princes were confused, but Thomas didn’t understand why. He had perfectly acted like Mariane, it should have looked natural. Except, he had forgotten something : Mariane would never treat demons as if they were normal humans. He was the only one capable of this, since this world didn’t seem real for him, and he wasn’t a real person either. He felt a kind of kinship with the princes, in a sense, and it was easy to interact with them as if they were other roommates from the inner world.

  Not knowing that important fact, he deepened his Mariane-like smile and asked again :

  “Could you tell me, please ? I know I won’t be able to use magic, but I want to understand how it works.”

  It was real curiosity. Thomas found Hell fascinating, and he was thirsty for more knowledge. However, Vinea, the man with long white hair and dull blue eyes, was too shaken to answer. It was the dignified Paimon who took the role of a teacher.

  “Human witches are born with mana, angels with divine power, and demons with demonic power. This is the source you use to create magic. The method to bring out that source and create a spell differs on the species. Humans use ‘will’, wishing their magic into existence, angels use ‘prayers’, borrowing the divine to perform their spells, and demons use ‘desire’, performing magic according to their emotions or their cravings. To sum up, in order to learn magic, you need to control the replenishment of the source, and the materialization of it. You can learn the spells ter, when you control those two points.”

  “I see… And how do you know if you have a source ?”

  Beliar, the delinquent-looking prince with yellow eyes, smirked.

  “Don’t bother, there is no way someone like you can have mana. You didn’t go to magic school and you aren’t a demon or an angel, so what else is there to say ? Just shut up and sit prettily. You’ll be gone soon anyway.”

  It wasn’t wrong, but Thomas didn’t like his attitude. He just wanted to learn, was it that bad ? Somehow, he had a suspicion that he wouldn’t be able to leave a peaceful life with these bastard princes.