Two weeks later, Fii found herself looking at the Apprentice Knight Exam’s huge line.

(There’s soo many people. I’d better line up soon…)

The queue went from beyond a nearby gate, all the way into the castle.

Early this morning, Fii snuck out of the villa before the guards normally woke up, and hid herself inside the castle.
It was for the sake of taking the exam.
And so as to avoid being spotted by the people of the castle, she snuck along the outer walls, and made it all the way to the location of the exam.

Fii wanted to line up like everybody else coming from beyond the castle, but she had actually come from the other direction.
Because of that, she had to quickly sneak out and reach the end of the line.

These last two weeks Fii had swung her sword, day and night.
She was all on her own, so there was nothing else she could do to improve. But she was confident that she had done everything she could have.

Honestly speaking, her body wasn’t in good shape.
It was because she hadn’t been able to eat properly.

Ever since she had come to this country, Fii had evolved from being treated like air, to being treated like a parasite.
Besides food and daily needs, she had been granted nothing else.

Well, thinking about it though, that much was natural.

To the people of this nation, Fii had both hijacked her younger twin’s romance and demanded a free ride into a wedding with a powerful groom. What’s more, she was merely a princess from a small nation, that normally no one in Orstoll would have given a second thought to.
Who would willingly look after a woman like that?
If she asked, they would probably curtly give her the minimum, but that kind of att.i.tude couldn’t be helped.

Since coming to this nation, Fii had only been given lazy guards, and a villa that had likely been used as a storehouse before her arrival.

Because of that, the ingredients for her food thus far had been bought by the Head Chef using her own money.
He had probably bought them from merchants visiting the castle.
Her food had been nothing but cooled soup and unappetising bread though…

And now that the Head Chef had resigned, there was n.o.body to leave the villa to buy ingredients for her.

Even Fii was worried when she first noticed this.

But there was nothing she could do about it.
It wouldn’t have done for her to ask the guards for help.

She was going to grab hold of another life soon. In order for her to succeed in doing so, the less people who knew her face, the better.

Because of that, Fii spent the last two weeks carefully rationing out the remaining ingredients.

Sadly, despite being in one of the most prosperous nations in the world, and inside its Royal Castle, for some reason Fii was faced with a sudden survivalist challenge. Life could truly be ridiculous sometimes.

At any rate, her rations had run out two days prior, meaning that Fii had spent the last two days without eating anything.
All while continuing her sword swinging regimen.

(This might be my only chance like this.)

Today held the critical moment that would decide if Fii would be able to live as another person.
There was no failing now.

Fii was still inside the castle.
Her immediate goal was to cross the walls, and then line up in the queue.
This was the first challenge of her day.

While Fii was keeping a low profile in her search for a way to leave, a voice suddenly called out from behind.

“Oiii, the cute little miss over there. Are you lost?”