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The carriage ride had been uncomfortable. Sherry only realised after seeing her brother that she did remember this day. She remembered making multiple barbs about Vincent's outfit in this very coach. His telltale squirming only egged her on. She was getting to him and hurting him, and that felt good. Now, there was no innocence in his expression left. His dress sense had also massively improved. He seemed like the jaded grown up he had been the last time they ever shared words. The day he visited her cell several weeks after her capture. If she recalled right, they had screamed at each other with nothing but seething vitriol for each other's position and actions. And now, the next thing she ever heard from her brother was....asking if she was okay. What the hell was she meant to say to that?

She wanted to ask him. She wanted to confirm her growing suspicions. He might have also returned to this time period. And if it was true for the two of them, maybe that was also the reason for Estelle's changes from Sherry's memories. Maybe every single one of the Klaides children had come back. But she wasn't prepared to discuss or address anything that had happened. She wanted to pretend it was just a bad, prophetic dream. She felt her stomach churn just thinking about talking about that last fight. Actually conversing about it would defeninitely give her a second panic attack. And in this carriage, there'd be no way to run this time. 

So she sat in silence. No snide remarks. No passive aggressive jabs. No attempt at small talk. No thanks. She stared out the window as if she was in the carriage alone. She hadn't seen the city this peaceful for a very long time. It was amazing what you could take for granted and never realise it. Sherry always saw the Collagem as an opportunity to climb the social and heirarchal ladder. But now she saw it differently. It was an opportunity to not just prepare herself for the turbulent future, but help prepare the entire country. To do this, she needed to cultivate her image and reputation. And that didn't just mean turning everything around but also using every advantage she had with the way things stood at the moment. She began sorting through events in her past. What has already happened? What will happen soon? What won't happen for a while? What could she change? What could she take advantage of?

Sherry went through the motions. She paid no attention to the boring speeches. She had no interest in the Class Challenge. She was already Noble Class. Her demotion didn't happen for another two years, and this time, it won't happen at all. At nineteen years old, she was probably the strongest she would ever be in her life as her lack of effort or training took its tool on her performance the more she coasted off her innate talent. She had never awakened at all in her past life. This time, she was going to.

When Vincent, who was sitting beside her,raised his hand and volunteered for the class challenge, Sherry couldn't keep the smile from her face as she looked up at him. If he met her eyes, he'd see something he'd never have seen on her face before;

Pride in him.