CH 85

“As expected of the dining hall where 300 students can eat together, it is quite large.”

Inside the dining room, there were dozens of tables where eight people could sit lined up together, albeit each was separated by a potted plant. Most of the students seemed to have finished their meals, and the dining hall was quiet.

“What are the meal contents in this dining hall?”

“Bread, pottage, and cheese are the main ingredients. Sometimes, meat is also used.”

By her past life’s standard, that amount would be insufficient for students who were still in their growing period, but it was an acceptable amount for this world’s standard. Sophie was curious how it tasted, but it was unlikely to suit her palate.

My body is completely different from my past life self, but my sense of taste remains the same. I wonder why?

Because of that, Sophie was unable to eat things that most people in this world commonly ate. However, considering everyone ate the dishes she made with gusto, it showed that there was nothing wrong with her sense of taste.

“Perhaps I should eat at the dining hall tomorrow.”

“Eh?!”

Sophie didn’t intend to do so from the beginning, since she expected it wouldn’t fit her palate, so when Sophie muttered that, Luca responded in a hurry for some reason.

“Sophie-sama, you always eat food that is as tasty as what you gave me earlier, right?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, I think the dishes here won’t suit your palate.”

Seeing how Luca could declare that despite only eating Sophie’s food once, Sophie couldn’t help but stare at Luca.

“Does it taste that bad?”

“I think it is that bad. Some aristocrats also consume their meals in this dining hall, but those with wealthy families tend to eat what they brought from their house.”

It seemed there wasn’t any particular rule against that. Sophie thought the rule of the dining hall would be similar to public school in her past life, but it seemed that the rule was more lenient.

“I see… but I want to eat it at least once, so could you come along with me to the dining hall tomorrow? Or perhaps Gerald-sama would be the one responsible to be my escort tomorrow?”

“I would gladly escort you if Sophie-sama wishes so! …But is it really okay for me to be your escort? Just like what happened earlier, I am a weak deterrent.”

“There’s no need for any deterrent; it gives me the chance to grasp onto their weakness after all. I have to make use of it.”

“Heh?”

Despite being raised in a marquis family, it seemed Luca was still pure, and seemingly did not understand what Sophie was talking about.

Luca would never expect that Sophie, who looked so innocent, would remember every person who talked rudely to the purple star and considered using that as threatening material in case of emergency. Therefore, Luca was desperately thinking about what Sophie meant.

Just as they were about to leave the dining room, a group of several people entered. They seemed to be gold star students, and one of them looked familiar to Sophie.

“That boy, he looks familiar…”

“He is the eldest son of Viscount Rydholm1, Lars Rydholm-dono. He was one of the people present to greet you on your first day here.”

Sophie was really grateful to Luca for reminding her.

Otherwise, the fact that Sophie didn’t remember the man at all because of how unmotivated she was on her first day would spread.

The people who greeted Sophie on her first day might have been carefully selected by Ferio, but honestly, Sophie wasn’t interested, regardless of how much Ferio recommended them. She wished to judge for herself whether people were useful or not, not rely on others’ judgment.

Even so, it is still problematic to completely forget about them.

The only people she remembered on the first day’s greetings were Lorenzo and Gerald.

To think her inexperience was revealed like this because she was thinking about her beautiful, blond, blue-eyed “onee-sama” to escape from that period of hell.

Ah, but I remember there was Nert Barth-sama, the deputy director of the Institute of Medical Science.

She was surprised to remember that not just the director, but the deputy director was also present back then, according to her memory. Everything other than that remained hazy. However, Sophie was familiar with the Rydholm surname since way back.

“Speaking of the Rydholm house, it is one of the wealthiest merchant families in the Orlando Kingdom, dealing with fabric trade, tailoring, and decorating them, right?”

They collected excellent quality fabric from all over the world, including silk, cotton, and linen, and they boasted of their highest quality customers, including other aristocrats, bourgeois customers, as well as the royal family.

They produced great designs, and their tailoring technique was also excellent, with the latest dresses produced by the Rydholm family becoming very popular among the young ladies at “The Queen’s Rose.”

“I heard that the son of Viscount Rydholm was the same age as me. So he enrolled in ‘The King’s Sword’.”

“Among the people who gathered to greet you on the first day, Lars-dono was the sole gold star student.”

“Fu~hn…”

Sophie met with Viscount Rydholm once a few years ago.

That person had a broad view of the world, allowing him to judge the situation of the nations and determine the quantity of goods and amount of money he had to pay or set as the price for his goods. He also had a gentlemanly personality that earned him trust, and he was well-known in social circles.

The reason Ferio chose Lars Rydholm instead of another gold star student was most likely intended to take advantage of his father’s wide social circle.

In this situation, perhaps I should go and greet him?

Since Lars was allowed to give his greetings on her first day, it showed how importantly he was treated.

Being allowed to go for first greetings only to be ignored afterward would likely stain his reputation, so Sophie walked toward the group of gold star students.

But the content of their conversation was about sarcasm and slander against Sophie, who was granted the purple star.

Luca’s complexion changed again.

In Sophie’s perspective, sarcasm and slander weren’t that big of a deal. However, the slander they talked about wasn’t only toward Sophie, but an insult toward women in general, so Sophie began to get angry.

They said things like how women were troublesome; that as long as they looked good, it was hard to tell how vile their heart was, or how they had it easy since they could marry someone rich as long as they looked good.

They made it sound easy, even though they weren’t aware of how much effort a woman put in to maintain their beauty. Sophie wished to see if they could say the same after they put on a tight and hard corset, style their hair causing it to be heavy, and wear a hard-to-move-in dress and still move gracefully despite that.

Without noticing Sophie’s anger, Lars snorted.

“No matter how beautiful she is, she doesn’t have a chest. I guess the baron family didn’t give her enough food so she only has such a pitiful chest.”

It was such outrageous words.