Let's Make You A Duke

I opened my eyes and saw an unfamiliar room. I tried to sit up and became dizzy the moment I did. 

Where am I? What happened?

I tried to steady myself and fight off the headache and dizziness I'm feeling. I took one look around the room slowly and tried to figure out what was happening. 

It seems like I'm in a hospital or a clinic. There are three other beds aside from mine, it looks like a ward. I'm trying to remember what happened to me. 

Did I finally collapse from overwork?

I heard the door open and saw a man enter.

Professor Xander.

Huh? How did I know that? I don't think I have ever met him before. Wait, no, I did. He's my magic professor. Magic? What the…? There's no such thing. No. Huh?

"Ouch." I exclaimed as I held onto my head. 

There's too much information flooding my brain.

"Lady Audrey, are you alright? Should I call the healer?" He asked, looking slightly concerned.

I couldn't answer him because of the pain but it seems like he took the initiative to call one as I heard the door open and a few seconds later, another man arrived. The other man came closer at me and put his hand on top of my head. He muttered a few things I couldn't understand and then the pain was gone. 

"How are you feeling now Lady Audrey? I am Jan, the healer here at the National Magic Institution." He introduced himself.

Did he just call me Lady Audrey? Lady? National Magic Institution? Wait. I know these things. Audrey, that's my name. I'm the daughter of the late duchess of Garrick. I'm a second year student at the National Magic Institution. 

I looked at the two men staring at me and told them I'm alright now. The healer, Jan, took one more examination at me before he announced that I can now leave the place. 

I stood up and left the place together with professor Xander. When we reached an empty classroom, professor Xander suddenly grabbed me and pushed me inside while covering my mouth.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed when he let go.

"How did you do it?" He asked.

How did I do what? Is this guy insane? Am I gonna be murdered here?

"Help! Somebody!" I shouted.

"That's no use. I made a barrier here." He explained.

I tried to distance myself from him. 

I haven't even fully understood what's happening yet, so I can't die here.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to know how you did it." He explained and sighed.

He stayed in the same place without moving while staring at me waiting for answers.

"How did I do what? I don't understand what you're saying." I exclaimed, feeling annoyed at him.

"How you protected your life. What magic did you use? With the amount of blood and the time I found you, you should have been dead. You were on the verge of dying but you still held on to your life even Jan was amazed with how you were still alive with that injury. So what magic did you use?" He asked while his eyes were shining with anticipation. 

Blood? Right, someone pushed me down the stairs but I'm not very good with magic, so how can I preserve my life. Wait. What do I mean I can't use magic? I can create systems, debug codes, understand system flows and work with 1L of coffee but no, I can't do magic. That is definitely not part of my skill set.

"I heard you have a very high aptitude in magic but I thought those were lies by your family. I mean, I've taught you for almost a year and a half now but you're one of the lowest scorers in my class. You can't even sometimes create a low level magic." He explained.

I just stared at him. I got the feeling that there's something wrong with this guy's brain or maybe there's something wrong with mine because for some reason I do understand his point but I also can't get my head around it.

"Professor Xander, can you give me a moment to get my thoughts together because I also can't understand what's happening." I told him and hope that he will stop badgering me to tell him whatever he wanted to know.

He looks shocked with what I told him but didn't ask further questions. He seems to be analyzing me now.

Anyway, let's try to understand what's happening. Who am I? I am Audrey. Yes. My name is Audrey. I am an application developer in one of the top IT companies in the world. It was so hard to get them to notice me but I made it! Okay next, who is this guy? Professor Xander von Ceredig. He teaches the fundamentals of magic in this school. Okay. That doesn't match. I'm a 35 year old hardcore programmer, how can I be in a school learning magic. Wait, did I enroll myself in my free time? But really? Magic? Is this real? Really Audrey? You're questioning if magic is real? Is this a dream? Right, a dream.

I slapped my face hard and damn it hurts so much, my eyes got teary.

"Lady Audrey, are you alright?" Professor Xander asked. He looked so shocked with what I just did.

I held my hand up high signaling him to wait and I got myself composed as much as I could while deep down I'm panicking so much. 

Mayday!! Mayday!!! This is not a dream!!!!! I repeat THIS IS NOT A DREAM!!!!! What is happening? Where am I? I'm in the kingdom of Allenscheid. Great, now where is that on earth? It is the west country in the Freidrungen Continent. What is the Freidrungen continent? What is this knowledge I have? Am I making this up? Did I finally make myself crazy from staying at home during weekends and watching youtube and reading manga and novels all day rather than going out and meeting new people?

"Excuse me professor but is this actually an institution?" I asked him and he looked at me confused at what I'm saying.

"Yes. This is an institution. A learning institution. The National Magic Institution. You know, the school for young nobles like you to learn and polish your magic skills for whatever career you chose. Did you lose your memory?" He asked. 

He looked very concerned and tried to approach me but I signalled him to stop again and he stopped and just stared at me.

I didn't lose my memory more like there are many memories in my brain. Wait, don't tell me, this is that popular isekai theme.

I ran past Professor Xander and opened the door behind him and went outside the room. I glanced at the huge open window but all I can see is a huge lawn and the other buildings I can see look like old churches. 

Is this monastery? Did someone send me here? 

"What is wrong with you?" Professor Xander asked.

You're asking me that when you just dragged me in an empty room.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Lady Audrey, I'm getting tired of this question. I suggest you return to your room and I will ask my questions tomorrow." He said and left.

I stared at his back and walked to the familiar corridor heading to my room according to my memory. 

This institution has a dormitory and all students are required to live here while classes are ongoing.

Is this real? Did I die and reincarnate here or something? What is going on? 

"Lady Audrey, I'm so glad you're back. I was about to go look for you. Did something happen? You came home so late, I was getting worried." Carmella, my personal maid according to my memory, said as she fussed over me.

The institution allows a person to bring one personal maid or butler who will take care of the students needs.

"I'm fine. Just got into an accident but the healer already healed my wounds." I replied and Carmella looked at me shocked.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, Lady Audrey. It's just the first time you informed me of what truly happened." She replied.

Right. According to my memory, Lady Audrey likes to keep things to herself. She's been bullied and sometimes beaten to submission by her father and stepmother.

We entered my room and I was shocked to see how huge it is. It's as big as a medium built house. It has a living room, bedrooms, walk-in closet and bathroom. I sat down on a very comfortable looking sofa and tried to get my memories in order.

Carmella prepared me some tea and snacks. 

So who am I again? I'm Audrey. Audrey von Garrick from the Ducal house of Garrick. I'm 16 years old. My mother was the legitimate heir of the Duke title but this country doesn't allow women to hold them. So my mother married my father, Giotto von Nijwaard from a Viscount house, whom she loved deeply. Sadly, my father only used her to get the title of duke. She died soon after giving birth to me. My father then remarried the woman he loved, the daughter of Earl Blyth. She gave birth to a daughter a year after I was born.

I sighed sadly, the story felt somewhat like Cinderella. My evil stepmother was mean to me and so were my stepsister and stepbrother.

It was thanks to my grandfather, the former Duke, who died when I was six, that I'm still living as a proper lady of nobility. Before he died, he secured the crown prince engagement to me, and made sure to leave some trusted people by my side. Carmella is one of them. My father or anyone else can't replace her, only I have the right to dismiss her. But that didn't stop them from bullying me. I was given the bare minimum a daughter of a duke should have.

Outside the house my father and stepmother made sure, it looks like they were taking really good care of me but in reality they can't wait to get rid of me.

For my father to pass down the duke title to my stepbrother, I, who is the legitimate heir, should be incapable of inheriting the title. How can I be incapable of inheriting the title? If I die or if I were to be married off to someone with higher rank. In the case of our ducal house, if I got engaged to royalty. If I get engaged to anyone of lower rank than my ducal house, they will be married into the ducal house and would be the next duke since I'm the only one with the Garrick blood in me. This is also the reason why my grandfather got me engaged to the crown prince for my protection. They won't be able to touch me if I'm the future crown princess and they don't need to kill me to get rid of me.

Sadly, all the effort my grandfather did was for naught. My stepsister, Emily, who had been envious of me since she was born, has set her eyes on my fiance, the Crown Prince Stefan d'Allenscheid. If you ask me, she can have him. The guy's a total narcissist. I can't believe this country is stuck with that guy as the next king. My stepsister has seduced my fiance in the half year she entered the institution. 

She had been pretending to be the innocent kind lady of our family and had been spreading rumors of me bullying her for not having a Garrick blood and was riding on my family's coattails which was not exactly false. She is really not a child of the Garrick house which is why she uses her mother's house as a last name. Even my stepmother doesn't use the Garrick last name which made them more bitter. It's not like she didn't know what would happen when she married my father. The country's law states that you can only use the house name if you are;

1. a child from a legitimate member of the house

2. married to a legitimate member of the house

3. adopted by the legitimate member of the house

4. adopted because there are no more legitimate members of the house.

In my family's case, my mother and I are the legitimate members of the house. My father doesn't have any right to adopt anyone as long as I'm able to inherit it.

"Is there something wrong, my lady?" Carmella asked after the long silence.

"Hmmm… someone tried to murder me." I replied as I took another sip of my bitter tea.

"What?" Carmella blurted out.

"Yeah, someone pushed me off the stairs. Don't worry I'm alright now. Professor Xander found me and carried me to the clinic for a healer." I explained.

"We should report this to the headmaster." She replied.

"No, let's not. It's not the right time yet. Whoever did this will not get away with it." I replied.

Oh yes. They will not because if they did, it will be me who will not have a happy ending. If I'm going to be here from here on out then I better make sure I live comfortably.

"Do you know who's behind this?" Carmella asked.

"I have a few people in mind. Say Carmella, where do your loyalties lie?" I asked.

"To you my lady. I will follow you and serve you with my whole life." She said as she knelt in front of me.

According to my memory, Carmella was picked up by my mother. She was 5 years older than me. She trained to be my maid and before my grandfather died, he assigned her as my personal maid. She also seemed to be proficient in offensive and defensive magic.

I grabbed her chin and looked straight in her eyes. I saw some resolve there.

"Good. You should be prepared. We will start to counterattack soon." I told her and smiled.