CH 89

“I see… Sophie-sama’s name has often been mentioned at the Lion Association in recent years.”

The gold star students became nervous when they heard the name of the association.

The Lion Association was a group of people consisting of the bearers of four or more gold stars and the people who held the foundation of the nation’s finance together. One’s position inside the Lion Association was determined not by their family pedigree, but by the number of gold stars each person bore.

The opportunity to hear the story about the Lion Association was important, but Sophie didn’t understand why her name got mentioned there. She didn’t think they were a group of people who would gossip without purpose.

“The first who mentioned Sophie-sama’s name is Rydholm-dono. He said he met you in the Daksha Kingdom.”

“Oh my…”

Lars, whose expression stayed pale all this time while desperately trying not to turn around, turned to look at Sophie in astonishment when his father’s name was mentioned.

He must never have expected Sophie to actually be acquainted with his father.

“Rydholm-dono often stayed in other nations for long periods of time due to his business. Regardless of which nation he visited, it seemed that the leading merchants of that nation would mention the name of a certain girl. They were all happily speaking of the business deals they made with said girl as if they were boasting about them. According to Rydholm-dono, the interesting part was he heard that girl’s name more often in other nations than in the capital of this nation.”

“Oh my…”

It seemed that Sophie could only say ‘oh my’ all this time.

Since Sophie reined herself in so as to be a proper young lady inside the nation, she never thought the actions that she did in other nations would come back and bite her in this troublesome manner.

Who was the one who blabbed about me?! Is it Arcantar? Cerlano? Terrasus?

She thought of the names of the merchants who seemed to be the most loose-lipped among the ones she made deals with, but it was useless now that things reached this point.

“…Everyone is just very talkative, so I think their unwarranted praises were more of a social courtesy.”

“By the way, I heard that the things that Sophie-sama planned were read by His Highness.”

Alan casually changed the topic.

Kuh, I wonder why Alan-sama felt similar to me. He just tried to sweep others into his pace to get the information he wants…!

“It really was something amazing. It is understandable why that Lorenzo Forsell praised you as a genius.”

Only a select few people could read Sophie’s whole proposal. The documents mentioning how the technology could eventually be sold to the nation were now being totally treated as confidential documents. The fact that Alan was allowed to read them demonstrated his importance to the nation.

“I read it and understood it well–about why His Highness granted you a purple star instead of a silver star. The consideration was because your talent is not limited to a silver star but also a gold star, and seeing how the proposal takes many accounts into consideration, it would be impossible to decide which star suited you more by that understanding. Even if it was His Majesty instead, he wouldn’t be able to grant a person two types of stars. In that case, you could only be granted a purple star. While there are some things that could be improved further, that proposal proved that you ought to be a purple star.”

His smiling eyes looked more like the eyes of a lion to Sophie. His praise instead made Sophie feel dread, so much so that she couldn’t help but feel scared. 

As expected of a bearer of five gold stars. His perspective was fundamentally different from others. 

Just like Lorenzo Forsell, since they weren’t so obsessed with common sense, they wouldn’t see Sophie as merely a young lady of low nobility. For Sophie, who would feel more at ease if she got underestimated, such treatment felt troublesome to her.

I’m not a genius in particular. I’m just making use of the knowledge of my past life. I shouldn’t act badly and get caught.

There was no book that mentioned the concept or definition of previous lives in this lifetime, even in those fictions that were written freely back at “The Queen’s Rose.”

Even if Sophie told them she merely made use of the knowledge of her past life, nobody would believe her. However, the bearers of five stars were dangerous. Since they weren’t constrained by common sense, she couldn’t guess how they would interpret her words.

Perhaps he felt that Sophie was feeling troubled, so Alan shifted his gaze to the gold star students.

“I’m really jealous of the gold star students in this place. You have received the chance to walk together with the harbinger of this age’s change and get closely involved with the business. I would like you to think of this as an honor and devote yourself–by the way Sophie-sama, do you have time after this?”

“Ah… yes…”

Since Sophie was still feeling relieved that Alan’s gaze was directed at the gold star students instead of her, her reply was a beat slower.

Alan asked with his usual gentlemanly smile, but Sophie wondered if she really had the right to refuse such an invitation. But it was probably a useless question since she probably didn’t have such a right.

If she really declined the invitation from Alan Aubin, the bearer of five gold stars, it was likely that her father’s future work and the Linier merchant group would be hindered. That alone must be avoided at all costs.

After the class was over, she spent a few hours answering Alan’s questions and chatting while having tea in a special room.

For some reason, the topic ranged from the difficult situation with other nations down to Sophie’s favorite food. She tried to give safe answers as much as possible, but she was very uncomfortable with his gaze, which felt as if he was seeing through all her responses.

Are all the bearers of five stars weirdos?

Although Sophie had no right to say that since she was a weirdo herself, she couldn’t help but think so.