I laid on my bed and simply closed my eyes.

Perhaps the bad feeling would go away eventually the longer I waited.

But it never left.

Now, I could easily consider Lilly to be the cause of all of my problems.

First, I learned that she was a spy.

And now Ace has his eyes set on her?

I didn't quite understand the situation, but I didn't like it.

Somehow...I needed to stop Ace from pursuing Lilly before it became too late.

Hmm...What should I do?

If I simply kill Lilly right away, Ace will be sad...

And for some reason, I absolutely did not want that to happen.

I thought to myself for a long time before I came up with the perfect solution.

Hehehehe...

I chuckled to myself evilly.

...If Ace was in love with Lilly...all I had to do was to make him fall in love with someone else!!

It was a perfect plan~

I was absolutely sure that if Ace fell in love with someone else, other than Lilly, the terrible feeling in my chest would go away without a trace.

But...what does a person normally do to get someone to fall in love with another?

People may not know this but...I'm not very...good at understanding what "love" is.

I have had absolutely no experience whatsoever with love.

I was never loved in my past life and I don't believe that I am "loved" in this life.

And as far as I am concerned, I have never really fallen in love either.

Actually...

Back in my past life...when I was younger...

I used to think that I had a crush on one of my classmates.

He was probably the only one in the school who didn't bully or ignore me.

He was the type of kid who put all of his efforts into studying until the point where he basically had no life outside of his textbooks.

When I told my past life's parents that I believed I had fallen in love with someone, they gave me a harsh slap across the face.

They asked me why I was even telling them about it in the first place.

And they told me that what I was feeling was most definitely something of my imagination which, now that I think about it, was completely true.

Love is something that is meant to be eternal and everlasting, right?

Yet, whenever I think of that boy now, I feel nothing at all.

As if there was nothing there in the first place.

"...I want...to know what love is..." I unconsciously murmured from under my breath.

The moment I uttered those words, I slapped both of my cheeks with both of my hands in horror.

The pure amount of cliche and stupidity that came from those words made me want to smack myself in the face again.

I was not a delusional teenager who thought that she was the heroine of some sort of cliche romance story.

Immediately, I grabbed my feather pen and began to carry out my plan.

It was time to enact "Mission: Change Ace's Lover."

.

.

One Day Later

.

.

"Cordelia? Are you here yet?" Ace asked out loud as he walked into the small garden where I was.

I was hiding behind a tree, hoping that he wouldn't spot me right away.

He was holding the letter I had written to him, telling him to come to this exact location, and he had a slightly confused look on his face.

Around the same time, a woman with bright round eyes of deep blue and flowing hair of honey entered the scene.

Her name was Lady Clementine and she was the daughter of an influential Count in the east.

After a while of deliberation, I concluded that this lady was the only one that was suitable for Ace.

Therefore, it was my goal today to somehow get the two of them together.

I had sent her a letter as well in order to lead her into this exact location.



From what I had heard from the other students, she was known as the "Second-Goddess of Year One."

I had no idea who the "First-Goddes of Year One" was...but I was never able to find out who it was since no one was able to tell me.

When I asked the other male leads, they just shook their heads with a sigh.

I wonder why.

Anyway, when Lady Clementine entered the garden, Ace turned his head around to face her.

I could see Lady Clementine's eyes widening as she saw Ace's handsome features and she struggled to compose herself right away.

Yep.

Ace was sure handsome.

It really was unfair to all of the unsuspecting eyes of nearby victims.

"Good evening, I am Lady Clementine," she said with a curtsy as she held onto the letter I had sent her before.

"Good evening, Lady Clementine. I am Sir Ace," Ace replied awkwardly.

I guess Ace wasn't used to using his title yet.

"...It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir Ace," Lady Clementine said.

"The pleasure is all mine," Ace said afterward.

All of a sudden, there was a horrible awkward silence as neither of the two said anything.

...Things were definitely not going the way I was planning.

Why haven't the two fallen for each other like I was hoping?!

Isn't this how love is supposed to work?!?!?!?!

You just have to spot someone nice and then...BAM.

Love just happens.

I sighed to myself.

I guess it was time for me to enter the scene with the two of them.

"Hey, Ace! Good evening, Lady Clementine!" I said cheerfully as I stepped in between the two as if I totally wasn't hiding behind the tree the whole time.

"Cordelia...! I need to tell yo-" Ace tried to say before I silenced him.

"Shhhhh...It's okay. We can talk about it later! For now, let's all have some fun, okay?" I asked with a smile on my face.

"Lady Cordelia...? Is there a reason why you have called me her-" Lady Clementine tried to say as I shushed her as well.

"Shhhhh...Silence is key in these situations, Lady Clementine. I brought some food~ Let's have a picnic!!!" I said as I used my creation magic to whip out a blanket and a basket of sandwiches for us to eat.

Lady Clementine looked utterly confused at the situation while Ace looked completely desensitized to everything I did.

"Here, you can have this, Lady Clementine," I said as I handed her a sandwich and beckoned for her to sit on the ground next to Ace.

"I don't believe this is appropriate for me to join..." Lady Clementine said with a hesitant look on her face.

"...From my experience...I have learned that it is impossible to refuse Cordelia...Please, just accept the situation as early as possible before you become even more confused," Ace nodded to Lady Clementine.

"...I see. It seems that Lady Cordelia is much more...different than I expected," Lady Clementine laughed as she sat down next to me.

I immediately sat up from my spot and sat down on the opposite side of the blanket so Lady Clementine could be closer to Ace.

While eating a sandwich, I stared deeply at Ace and Lady Clementine with my eyes as wide as possible, waiting for something to happen between the two.

The two of them looked extremely uncomfortable as I stared at them.

I wonder why.

"Ahem...So, how has your day been, Cordelia...?" Ace asked me.

I didn't reply to him and instead looked toward Lady Clementine.

"Ace is wondering how your day has been, Lady Clementine," I said with a serious look on my face.

"...It's been going...quite well...I guess. How was your day, Lady Cordelia?" she asked in reply.

"Lady Clementine is wondering how your day has been, Ace," I turned to Ace with a nod.

".........It's been...fine...?" Ace asked as if he was unsure of what to say.

"Great! It looks like you two are in sync! You guys are just like each other! You two must be perfect together!" I said with a wink.

"........I guess so?" Lady Clementine replied.

"Is there a reason why you called us both here, Cordelia...?" Ace asked.

"Yep!" I answered with a nod.

"...Will you tell us the reason why, Lady Cordelia...?" Lady Clementine asked.

"Nope!" I answered with the shake of my head.

The two of them looked slightly dumbfounded as if they didn't know what to do next.

"Has...Lady Cordelia...always been so...enthusiastic? Whenever I met with her during formal banquets, she seemed to be very...proper..." Lady Clementine asked.

"Ah...she only behaves herself during banquets since she can't afford to ruin her dress or her hair. Her personal servant and her maid work quite hard on her appearance," Ace replied.

Lady Clementine laughed in response.

"I quite understand. I have a very strict maid back at my estate as well. It seems that she always disapproves of my appearance," Lady Clementine giggled as if she were remembering a funny past.

"Don't believe your maid's words...I think you have a lovely appearance," Ace reassured her with a nod.

Woah.

Ace was smoother than I thought he was.

"Hahaha~ You really are such a gentleman. To be honest, your personality is exactly my type," Lady Clementine said with a chuckle.

Perfect!

"Yes, you're exactly right, Lady Clementine! Ace is extraordinarily kind and is definitely the best man you will ever meet in your life. He's undeniably handsome and he's so perfect that he will never fail to make you happy," I said with heavy nodding the whole way through.

I turned to Ace, expecting him to say something, but his whole face was dyed red instead.

He covered as much of his face as he could with one hand as he averted his eyes away from me.

Cute-

"Cute! Oh my goodness, it is my first time seeing a boy act so adorable!!" Lady Clementine said with a fangirl squeal.

Huh?

"Oops...Hahaha...I'm sorry..." Lady Clementine said as she immediately stopped her squeals.

Hmm...

I don't like it when she calls Ace cute.

It just doesn't sit well with me.

"...Ah...uh...um...Thank you for your praise, but..." Ace said awkwardly while struggling to come up with a modest way to tell us to stop.

"What do you think about Ace, Lady Clementine?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh. Well, I think he is literally one of the cutest little bunnies I ever met in my life," Lady Clementine blurted out without a filter.

"Right?!?!?! I totally agree!" I said loudly with a nod as I slammed my hand onto the ground.

But as my hand made contact with the ground, it accidentally smashed itself against a sharp rock and my hand started to bleed.

"Cordelia...?! Are you alright???" Ace asked as he grabbed ahold of my hand.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." I muttered.

How the heck does someone self-injure themselves like this?!

As I was wincing from the pain I could hear a nearby window slam open all of a sudden.

I looked upward at the closest building to see Wolfe, the red-haired boy, staring down at the three of us on the fourth-floor.

"Wolfe?! You were there the whole time??" I asked loudly so he could hear us.

He didn't reply right away for a long time as he glared at us.

"...You guys were making such a loud commotion that you woke me up from my nap..." Wolfe growled.

Wow.

I can't believe we were able to wake up Wolfe.

After all, Wolfe is the deepest sleeper I have ever met in my life.

"Oops! I'm sorry...We won't do it again..." I replied back with a small bow.

"..." Wolfe didn't say anything as he continued to stare at us.

Actually...For some reason...I think he was staring directly at me.

But since he was so far away, I couldn't tell for sure.

"Do you...want to join us for some sandwiches...?" I asked him.

"...No. It's too sunny today, I'm sleepy, and..." he said.

"...And...?" I beckoned for him to continue.

"...And I don't like food," he said.

GGRAAAGHHHASDUISAUIWURMXNPA!!!

I want to kill him!!!

I can't believe I forgot he was a food heathen!

"I WILL KILL YOU ONE DAY, I SWEAR!!!" I screeched back at him.

"...Okay," he said with a simple nod.

"AHJDFHSJNJHSDJFHIEO!!!" I replied back loudly.

"So, what are you guys doing?" Wolfe asked with the cock of his head as he ignored me.

"We're having a lovely picnic with delicious food without you!!!!" I replied loudly.

Wolfe didn't respond as he turned to Lady Clementine and stared at her for a while.

"...What is it?" Lady Clementine asked.

"Aren't you a boy?" Wolfe asked Lady Clementine.

"Huh? How the heck did you come to that conclusio-" I was about to say before Lady Clementine interrupted me.

I turned my eyes slowly in shock as I saw Lady Clementine rip off her wig.

"...Oh, yes I am~" she...I meant...he sang.

And then this is when I knew that "Mission: Change Ace's Lover" completely failed.

Dang it.

-------------------------------------------------

A/N: It was a trap! Did any of you guys expect that? Tell me if you did~

Lately, the number of views and votes this story has been getting have been absolutely skyrocketing! I really appreciate all of your support~

Thanks, again, to all of my readers/voters/commenters for all that you do!

I really do have a lot of fun writing this story~

Stay safe, everyone!

Okie byeee!

Word Count: 2138