Jane's POV
Just when you think life doesn't get any more boring, it does. Especially in my neighborhood. When you grow up in the suburbs you think, 'Oh My God. I am so lucky', and then the next thing you know you are getting wasted on a school day, getting kicked out of your house and living with your sister's boyfriend. That couldn't be so bad, you think. And then it does.
You realise that your sister's boyfriend is a douche, and you want to go to university. So you fill out a bunch of forms, pull up an extra shift at the closest mall and pack your bags. Long before I could ever figure out what to do with all of my five feet and two inches, I was already a student at Montreal State. What was really surprising was, I hadn't even applied for a course there. It was a serendipity really. It all started with a story. I didn't know much about isekai novels but I did read a few, and wrote one for their 'New Literature Prodigy Program'. By that time I had little idea about the course. And then, the letter arrived. The acceptance letter. They did go all out with the theatrics of the occasion. Not long after, I found myself walking in and out of the university library, with my head buried between new and old isekai novels.
My newest research partner for the story about mediaeval dukes and their mistress was supposed to meet me at the library today. And of course, she had bailed out despite being a full time scholarship student. I didn't know what to make of it. Finding myself all alone, I decided to read on my own. That's when my phone buzzed with the text I dreaded.
Sister: Jane the hell you are in Montreal.
Sister: I am going to whoop your ass. What did I tell you about it?
Sister: John filled your head with all sorts of ideas.
Sister: You know they are all scammers. That University is not even a registered one.
My heart sank. Camile, my sister was something of a journalist. She wrote for the local newspaper and specialised in the sports column. That's where she met John, her senior editor. They hooked up the very night and she moved in weeks later.
Me: You've got to be kidding me. I am here on a scholarship. It's all fucking free.
Sister: Where are you? God. Jane, you are so stupid!
Now, it was going to get annoying. I wasn't the one who moved in with her boss. Her newspaper had hit a dead end when they published a poorly researched paper on one of the top actresses who was said to be 'in a sex scandal involving the President', and got sued. They were all out of commission and had to scurry their way to other newspapers. All except John and Camile who had succeeded to throw over their Managing Editor and took the bait. Now, the local newspaper only wrote about sports, diapers, and random shit about babies. Much of it had to do with what John and Camile wanted to do with their lives. Which is why it would also print about orgies. Sometimes marriage. And sometimes about cheating.
Me: You don't know anything about Montreal State.
Of course, I would argue with her. She was only two years older than me. A whopping twenty two, and had dropped college to be with an out of station man who wrote stories about his infidelity on local newspapers. If there was anyone who was stupid, it was her.
If there was anything good that John had ever done was show me the newspaper clipping that their newspaper had printed about Montreal. It would look so bad on paper for Camile to call out the news she herself text proofed and stamped with 'Okay. Print'. All I knew was I had a paper due, and a fifty page report and my partner had bailed out on me.
Me: I am going to be at the library. I have REAL work.
Camile didn't text after. To my relief, the library wasn't plagued with the couples either. They are every single student's worst nightmare. Most of them would kiss between the shelves. God forbid, I might have even seen one of them jerking off to the spine of World Encyclopaedia. It was horrifying but I never touched that section ever. Neither told anyone about it.
Everything about Montreal State was something you don't talk about much. It was an old building, close to the Montreal Administration office. Its campus was spread across four hundred acres, all closed with the Montreal Fort. On my initial days at Montreal, I thought it was so thrilling to study within the palace. But it turned out that the last touches of Montreal royalty had been scrubbed off with cheap Lysol and food stamps from smelly sneakers by students who went to Montreal State. The building was in rambles. The maintenance guys frequented it so much, they could be mistaken for permanent residents. And then, there was the academic section filled with passionate nerds, and choppy teachers. None likes the other. But are expected to make through.
I was lucky though. My major was a specialization in Mediaeval literature. But with the recent thrust in the popularity of isekai novels, the department was trying something new. A thorough study of any traces of isekai literature was to be done and recreated. I had set my heart on a very spicy one. The Mistress' Revenge.
The Mistress' Revenge was one of its kind. It was set in the kingdom of Gestalt, where Duke Canton, who was known to be a celibate was asked to be the King. His life seems to have passed in the war torn battlefields but he would refuse to marry even the prettiest women of Gestalt. To his dismay, he rejects the love of the most coveted woman in five kingdoms. The story follows the life of a plain girl, who takes over the body of the Mistress and manages to seduce the Duke.
For some reason, the thought of hot broody men making women yearn does things to me. Not that I have lived long enough to experience it all. If only I could get my hands on a handsome man, perhaps life wouldn't be some morning. Someone like, the Duke perhaps.