CH 79

Calm down, Sophie! Remember that I am an aristocratic young lady, so I shouldn’t reveal my anger.  If I explode here, my efforts to become a proper young lady would be all for nothing. If I let it show even once, then this man would not treat me as a proper young lady ever again. We would end up kicking each other the next time we met! That would be no good. It would be terrible if the fact I am a person who would kick others became known by Christina onee-sama!

Dozens of seconds passed with that thought.

Sophie, who instantly calmed herself down, revealed a lovely smile and answered,

“You’re right. I’m embarrassed by my lack of forethought.”

“Then…”

“However, I have no intention of changing what I already requested of His Highness. Since the beginning, I’ve thought that there would be no one who would endanger the bearer of the purple star, who is the spokesperson of the king, in ‘The King’s Sword.’ Don’t you also think an escort is unnecessary to begin with?”

The students of “The King’s Sword” were subject to absolute obedience to the current king and the next king. It was outrageous to harm the bearer of the purple star, who was regarded as the spokesperson of the king.

If there were such students and the action wasn’t prevented, the other unrelated students would also be caught in the aftermath. That generation would be known by the graduate students and their future juniors as “the shame of The King’s Sword.”

“So you don’t have to be my escort. I’m sure everyone else is probably busy as well.”

That was a pure threat.

Perhaps she really didn’t need an escort. Because if there were even a single person who dared to harm her, then everyone in “The King’s Sword” would be in trouble. If they want to avoid that, then they should protect her properly.1

Those words, which would be taken literally by a pure person, were taken as the girl’s poisonous sarcasm to Gerald, which made his eyebrow twitch a little.

Before Gerald could open his mouth, Sophie gave him a lady-like greeting with a lovely smile on her face.

“Thank you for escorting me to the dormitory, Gerald-sama. Please excuse me.”

She thanked him and quickly went away.

The dormitory prepared for Sophie was a two-story building, which was smaller compared to other buildings, but she was authorized to use the entire building.

There were always escorts inside and outside the building, and they were all paladins who experienced hundreds of battles. They weren’t youngsters like Gerald was; they were all men in their late forties.

As long as Sophie entered the dormitory, Gerald would have no role to play since these men were there instead.

One of the escorts waiting in front of the door noticed Sophie and opened the door. When she greeted him, he replied with a smile.

They had to keep their emotions in check at the royal palace, but this place wasn’t the royal palace, and as they took into consideration the girl they had to protect, they all showed their expressions to Sophie.

Soon after Sophie entered the hall while thinking ‘a stuffy man being expressionless was not a consideration,’ Sunny came to greet her. 

“Welcome back, Sophie-sama! Are you okay?”

Sophie smiled to reassure Sunny, who had a pale expression that seemed to come from her worry.

“Oh my, Sunny. There’s nothing to worry about, so rest assured. Everyone seems to be very good people, so it’s okay.”

Sunny was visibly relieved by those words.

Most of those words were lies, but there was no way Sophie could say that to Sunny, who was clearly worried about her.

Just like Ferio said, Lorenzo Forsell-sama is indeed cooperative. But the others are…

Since Sophie already inwardly exploded around the time Gerald introduced himself, she could only vaguely remember the names and faces of the others, but she could tell from the atmosphere what they all thought.

—Why did such a woman receive a purple star?

She could feel the malice and curiosity prickling on her skin. Sophie could easily tell that they were checking out the weird girl, and she wanted to retort and tell them to learn how to hide it better.

After returning to her room and changing her clothes, Sunny left the room for a bit to prepare tea.

After confirming that Sunny had left the room, Sophie began to frown and speak with a rough voice that didn’t fit an aristocratic young lady at all.

“Those annoying words and behavior are way beyond Leoleo! Even though you are just the model for Leoleo, you damn Geragera!”

She spoke rough words as she sat on a chair and took out the diary from the desk. Sophie squeezed the quill and filled the white paper with complaints to vent her anger.

She noticed it after living as Sophie Linier for 14 years, but apparently, she hated unfriendly handsome dudes. Although Tenma was also somewhat of an unfriendly handsome dude, she could tolerate him, but not Gerald.

“I wonder why Geragera pisses me off so much?”

Wouldn’t a normal girl be attracted to that kind of unfriendly handsome dude?

However, Sophie wasn’t a normal girl. Was that the reason?

Perhaps because she was a man in her previous life, but just the fact that that kind of unfriendly dude was popular just because they were handsome repulsed Sophie.

“Tenma is certainly an unfriendly handsome dude, but he is a kind person at his core!”

While having a subtle opinion of her best friend from a doting parent’s perspective, she nodded as she was convinced by her own opinion.

As Sophie became calmer, she took out another piece of paper.

Lorenzo Forsell asked her some questions when they talked earlier, so she had to write him her answers. She wasn’t in a state to be able to give a proper answer back then, which she found regrettable, as she learned that he wasn’t known as the “Genius of the Generation” for nothing.

The content of his conversations and questions were all sophisticated, and they were questions that appeared due to his understanding of the sewerage plan that Sophie made.

“Ah… but how do I give this to Lorenzo-sama?”

Should she ask the escort paladin in the dormitory, or Gerald?

“I don’t want to ask Geragera for it… I already told him all that earlier, so he might not come to escort… rather, it’s better if he doesn’t come.”

She quickly shot down the idea. Since she would have her next meeting with Lorenzo next week, she was wondering if she should just directly answer him then.

And so, the Purple Star Sophie’s brilliant first day at “The King’s Sword” ended mostly with her being angry at Gerald Forsius.

By the next morning, her tiny hope was in vain, as Gerald came properly as an escort.

Sophie plastered a smile on her face but clicked her tongue loudly in her mind.