An open book

Everything was a bit weird. Was there some sort of magic that could let someone take over someone's body? But wouldn't that have been some sort of curse magic? Maybe black magic, who knew really.

That's when I noticed to the corner of my eye my hair…

It was fluctuating colours, it wasn't its usual pristine white, it was a bright purple and now it turned into a lavender blue.

What in the world… could this thing read my emotions??

The colour in my face flushed out. Then had me worrying about whether to tell them the truth shown in my hair? Then did they know I was lying?

My hair turned a dark blue now.

- It seems like you've noticed what the meaning of your hair colour. So now, please tell me, why can't you tell me this secret of yours.

I looked back at her, how had I gotten in even bigger trouble the before? But well, this actually worked in my favor, if I could twist my words I could show my sincerity that I really do not wish to lie.

- I'm sorry but I cannot say why. Although the reason I know the reason I cannot tell you, you are just not ready for the information, not you or anyone else. I'm really sorry.

My hair turned into a turquoise color. Had it worked? Since green showed up it probably meant I was being honest but why was there some blue?

When I talked, I wasn't talking about the events to my parent's death. I was instead talking about how ready this world was for technology. Of course, I thought about bringing about things like power in a world like this. My final conclusion was that it would be disastrous, there fundamental vales and ways of doing were different, I couldn't simply implement random bits and pieces of modern technology.

Especially since the nobles were mages, they would most likely scorn and try to stop someone who used modern technology. As sad as it was, it was the sad truth oh how human beings were. And thus, that was why I had said that they were not ready for the information. It was a lie, but oh well, it wasn't my fault, I really had no clue about my parent's deaths.

My godmother looked at me again with her deathly stare, but at least no daggers were coming out of her eyes. Had it worked?

- Joel…

I looked at her, what was she going to say? Was I in trouble? My body tensed up.

- Il leave it at that since you are telling me a sincere truth.

Relief took over my body, it was done. I managed to get out of this horrible situation alive somehow. Honestly, without the hair dye, I would have been in a lot of trouble, it saved me from arguing with facts which I simply didn't have, I could use the fact of what I was feeling.

But I had to ask.

- How… how did you determine I was telling you the truth? Not that I wasn't! Just my hair was turquoise and not a pure green? And uhm, also when will my hair go back to my regular colour?

My hair was again going from blue to green to red, kept switching infinitely of colors. Seemed like my emotions were running wild, but I couldn't have this constantly, it would get to be bothersome.

- *Sigh*… Well, the first part is easy, how could someone grieving about the memory of they're dead parents not be sad while recalling the memory. So, when you started telling the truth your hair was a bright green, but the more you talked the bluer it became because you were recalling worse memories. And for the hair dye, another 5 minutes or so, that's why I made you come over right after your bath, this is due to the shampoo I made you use.

Well overall it made sense why she believed me, if my hair really did act out the way it did, it was a logical response to what I had said. And well for the shampoo it was the cause for my hair color, it was the only thing logical enough to have caused this.

Seemed like magic had many uses. But now I maybe I could have more freedom, is she believed I wasn't hiding it on purpose?

- So uhm, if you believe me, do you think I could explore the manor more now? Not that I am dissatisfied with my room, but well it has been a long time since I've roamed around.

She looked at me with a with a smile on her face.

- Oh, do you want to have a better view of the sky for what you were writing in your book?

I cursed to myself internally, how did I forget that she knew this?? I had truly done a mistake this time around. Did she try and bait me, to catch me like this. No not everything was lost, the hair dye was still active for at least another 3 minutes, I could still get out of this.

- Yes… I've been trying to find something out using the stars, it has to do with why I cannot tell you anything.

This time my hair turned green, it seemed like things worked in my favor, I was being honest, well towards the truth I had said earlier.

It was now my turn to study her face, unlike her who could see my hair color, I had to study her face, to know what exactly she was thinking.

Her face was unreadable, probably due to practice if she had done a lot of politics in her life. I smiled back at her, I really hoped she would believe what I told her.

Her face now turned long and a bit dejected, it looked like she decided to believe me for now, thank god.

- Joel, il accept your answer for now, but I can't just let things pass either. So il grant you 2 wishes at once. I will be sending you out to see the academy headmaster in advance. He is someone who has studied stars for most of his lifetime. He is the one that determined that that was what you were talking in your book in fact. Because of that he wanted to meet you, regardless of what I thought of your identity, that's why I gave you the suit my daughter sent over for you a month ago. So now, you will have more freedom and will be able to finish this book of yours quicker, as you wished.

Well, that was something. One second, I was worrying about whether or not I'd live, and now I was going to go see one of the most powerful mages in this country. Honestly, I wasn't really comfortable going to go see the headmaster and share my knowledge with him. It was just place me in an even scarier position then before. Especially if he knew what I was trying to determine, I had to be careful. But again, I couldn't simply avoid him if he requested to see me personally.

- Thank you for the opportunity, I will do my best to take the most out of the opportunity you have gifted me.

Thankfully the dye had really run out, I could now lie peacefully.

- Good, Arnold take him to the carriage and send him out. Il send a message to the headmaster so he can know to indeed be expecting a visit.

Well, that didn't sound ominous at all…

I guess even if she trusted me a bit more now, I was still on fin ice.

I stood up and decide to follow Arnold who had already opened the doors and was waiting for me.

As soon as I exited the doors Shiela ran to me, tears in her eyes.

- Are you, is everything ok? I'm sorry I really wanted to tell you everything but madame tell me not to and and…

- Everything's alright, and its fine the madame had no bad intentions, she just wanted to know the truth, so I was just honest with her and things worked out.

I smiled with the brightest smile I had, it made me feel horrible whenever someone would cry because of me, I had already done that enough in my past life…

Well, it was a bit absurd to think too much about it, I'm sure that everyone from my world cried in anger at some point thinking about me…

I turned to Arnold; I didn't wish to keep thinking about useless things.

- When will the carriage leave? I think I still need to take clothes and other things for the trip.

- Oh, please do not worry about that, we will take care of that. If we couldn't do that at the very least, what kind of family would we be?

He laughed a bit after saying that, it was a bit weird, was that really how Arnold usually acted? It seemed a bit od, but maybe he was just final opening up to me after what happened at breakfast.

My stomach growled. Oh… seemed like throughout everything and the stress I had forgotten to eat…