It seemed my heart stopped the moment I didn't see Erica.
At first I thought she had simply dived. Maybe she decided to show off? Maybe she wanted to prove that she could swim better than I thought?
But a second passed.
Another.
A third...
And the dark head still didn't appear above the water.
The worst thoughts instantly overwhelmed me.
Without losing a second, I rushed into the water. Splashes flew to the sides, the blanket remained on the shore, but I didn't care. The water in the lake was transparent, and I quickly saw Erica's silhouette. She was desperately floundering under the water, her hands grabbing at emptiness, and her legs tangling in something invisible.
In my past life, one of my hobbies had been going to the pool. I went there not for my figure and not for a fashionable lifestyle. I simply liked swimming. The water calmed me. And, as it turned out, this skill could now save someone's life.
I quickly swam up to Erica and caught her under the arms.
The girl, seeing me, stared at my face in shock. Fear was frozen in her red eyes.
But I remained calm.
Panic in such a situation would only make everything worse. If I started screaming or thrashing, we would both go to the bottom. And I couldn't allow that.
"Hold on to me," I silently signaled to her with my eyes.
Erica didn't resist. Maybe she simply had no strength left, or she was too frightened. But thanks to this, I managed to safely pull her first to the surface, and then to the shore.
As soon as we were on land, Erica immediately fell to her knees and began spitting out water. She coughed, wheezed, her small body shook.
I gently patted her on the back.
"Erica, how do you feel? Is everything all right now?"
For a while she couldn't answer. She only coughed and gasped for air convulsively. Finally, when the fit passed, she raised her head and looked at me in shock.
"Y-you saved me..."
"Of course. What else was I supposed to do? You suddenly started drowning!"
The young villainess bit her lip. It was obvious that she felt awkward. Very awkward.
"Th-this happened by accident... My foot got caught on some seaweed, or something like that."
I chuckled quietly.
Of course, I knew that there was no seaweed in this lake. And moreover, the depth here wasn't all that great. Even if an adult stood up to full height, the water would only reach his throat. But I understood that right now Erica was desperately trying to find an excuse for her embarrassment.
So I decided to simply support her.
"Yes, you're right. That can happen to anyone."
Erica flushed.
"...To you too?!"
"Of course. I didn't always know how to swim. But the more practice, the more likely you are to get out even from a situation like that."
After my words, Erica was silent for a little while. As if thinking.
"And you..."
She was about to ask something. But at that moment we were interrupted.
"Ah, what are you two doing here?"
It was Amalia. She had already returned, carrying three glasses of cold lemonade in her hands. The ice clinked, droplets glistened on the walls of the glasses. It looked simply divine.
The girl stopped and suspiciously shifted her gaze from one face to the other. As if trying to understand what we had planned.
I was going to clarify the situation, but I noticed Erica's expression.
She looked very embarrassed. She looked straight at me, as if begging me not to tell.
Although this was only her first attempt at swimming, Erica was ashamed that she had almost drowned and I had to save her. The pride of the young villainess had been wounded.
I, of course, immediately read the situation. And smiled, deciding to support her.
"Nothing like that. Erica just finished swimming. You should have seen how well she handles it! For a beginner it's simply amazing."
After my words, Amalia's expression relaxed a little.
"Well, I saw. As expected, this girl was just pretending she couldn't!"
I nodded in agreement and hurriedly snatched one glass of lemonade from Amalia. After taking a sip of the refreshing drink, I felt many times better. The cold sweet and sour moisture rolled down my dried throat, and I almost purred with pleasure.
Amalia sat down next to us. Soon we had already forgotten about this incident, immersing ourselves in conversations about all sorts of nonsense.
Meanwhile, Erica, though she tried to hide it, involuntarily looked at me with an embarrassed gaze.
***
A whole week had already passed since I reincarnated into the world of the novel.
At the moment I was the childhood friend of the heroine and the villainess. But I understood perfectly well that I couldn't remain in such a role all my life.
Even if I could avoid my predestined death, I would still need to continue living on. And, of course, everything couldn't remain the same as now.
After we leave the orphanage, our paths with Amalia and Erica would certainly diverge.
Even if we were childhood friends, that status meant nothing.
What could connect me, an ordinary commoner, with the daughter of a Grand Duke and the heir of the king of the underworld? Right, nothing. Compared to them, I was an absolutely unremarkable creature. Just like a wet spot on the asphalt.
Amalia would return to the Sirinix family. Erica would become the heir of Marquis Blackwell. And Hazel Brown? Who would she become?
No one.
Merely an old acquaintance who had disappeared from their lives.
And since in the future we would stop communicating anyway, right now I first had to think about myself.
I had to decide what my own future would be.
How would I live on? What would I earn a living with when I left the orphanage? Where would I live? What would I eat? What would I buy clothes with?
Thoughts about this became more and more persistent.
Of course, since I was an orphan, apart from myself there would be no one else to take care of me. In this cruel world I could rely only on myself.
So... after some reflection, one idea did come into my head.
How about becoming a teacher?
The work of a teacher, though low-paid, is at least stable. If you get a good position, you can provide yourself with a piece of bread for the rest of your life.
Since the level of education in the empire was steadily rising, even among commoners the demand for education was now quite high. Thus, if I tried, I would surely be able to get a position in some school for commoners' children.
But... why did such an idea even come into my head?
It was very simple.
The thing was that in my past life I had also been a teacher.
I graduated from university last year and managed to work as an elementary school teacher for half a year. Yes, the period wasn't all that long, but I had already understood exactly how it worked. The work of a teacher, though difficult, was still something I liked. Besides, I like communicating with children.
So... Decided. In this life I will become a teacher!
But if I really want to do this, then I should start preparing right now.
Even if in my past life I had experience working as a teacher, now it no longer mattered at all. Of course, the subjects and disciplines studied here were radically different from my world.
Simply put... right now I know nothing.
This was a big problem. There wasn't much time left until my graduation from the orphanage, so I couldn't leave this place empty-handed. For the sake of my bright future, I should try hard and right now plunge headlong into the maelstrom of study!
Having decided not to postpone my education for even a single day, the very next day I went to the library.
Despite the fact that I attended classes at the orphanage, the knowledge they gave us there was extremely insufficient. Of course, no one was going to seriously educate the orphanage's orphans, and so we were given only the very basics. In other words, for the most part I would have to study on my own.
The orphanage library was small, and the books here were old and worn. Some pages had yellowed, the spines had cracked, and the smell of dust made me want to sneeze. Nevertheless, I managed to find several suitable books that would work for my initial stage of study.
I found a suitable little table in the reading hall and settled behind it.
Thank God, at least I can read in the local language. And that was already a big plus.
I sat down to read the book and for a while immersed myself in this process in the silent quiet of the library.
But then...
Unexpectedly, after a few minutes I heard the creak of a chair next to me.
"Can I sit here?"
I raised my head and saw Erica.
"...Ah, Erica? What are you doing here?" I was surprised.
The girl looked embarrassed.
"Amalia said she would study with me today. But she still hasn't come..." she grumbled displeased.
"Really?" I asked again. "Then she's probably busy with something..."
Well, Amalia was usually the busiest of our trio, so I wasn't particularly surprised. Because she was popular in the orphanage, she always had a lot to do. Even the caretakers often asked her to help with something, since she was very capable and clever. So she must have been delayed today because of something like that.
Understanding the situation, I nodded and smiled.
"Yes, of course, sit down. Then we'll wait for her together."
Erica sat down next to me, and meanwhile I returned to reading. After watching me for a while, she quietly asked:
"What are you doing?"
"Huh? I'm studying."
"...Studying?" Erica blinked in incomprehension. "But why? You already attend classes with the others."
"That's true," I shrugged. "But that knowledge isn't enough for me. So now I'll study additionally too. I'm thinking about my future."
"About the future?"
"Yes. I'm thinking about my future after I leave the orphanage."
After I said that, Erica's scarlet pupils suddenly froze.