CH 114

“Sophie-sama, your complexion doesn’t look very good. Are you okay?”

In the morning, Luca was being considerate toward Sophie, who looked less energetic than usual.

“Don’t worry. I just got lost in thought and ended up lacking sleep because of that.”

It would be too much of a joke if Sophie admitted that she was suspicious the person she met at the book storeroom was the nation’s second prince to the point of not sleeping.

“Hey, Luca… Is it possible for a person of the royal family to enroll in ‘The King’s Sword’?”

“A person of the royal family, is it? There is no precedent of such a thing, though…”

Seeing Sophie ask that with a serious expression, Luca thought Sophie had such a thought because she wanted the first prince to enroll in the academy to accompany her and he panicked.

Ever since Sophie arrived at “The King’s Sword,” she had been throttled with numerous malicious words and gazes.

Therefore, Luca didn’t find it surprising for Sophie to feel anxious and to wish for help in the form of the first prince, who she was supposed to be close with.

“…Although I can understand how you feel, ‘The King’s Sword’ is an academy that fosters people who will support the king and his successor. It would be impossible for anyone with the right to succeed the throne to enroll in ‘The King’s Sword’.”

“You’re right!”

Even though Luca said that while he worried about how to comfort Sophie, she instead raised her voice as if her worries were cleared and smiled gleefully.

That’s right. The second prince is the second successor to the throne. There’s no reason for anyone with the right to succeed the throne to enroll in ”The King’s Sword”!

As she came to that conclusion, the worries in her heart seemed to disappear.

She had the sturdy body she inherited from her father, so there was no way a little lack of sleep could affect her much.

As she nodded and thought she could do her best for the rest of the day, they saw Lars come running toward them.

“I’m terribly sorry for arriving late! …Is something wrong?”

Seeing Luca’s confused expression, Lars asked in wonder.

“No… I just thought Sophie-sama’s complexion didn’t look so good earlier.”

Sophie, who seemed to be energized as if her earlier worry was never there, made Luca lost in wonder. He had no idea why his earlier response made her energetic. Luca couldn’t help but worry that Sophie was just being considerate toward him.

“Eh, are you okay? Perhaps you feel tired because you accompanied us for a long time yesterday?!”

When Lars heard Luca’s words, there was only one reason that came to his mind.

After school yesterday, Sophie was asked to revisit the gold star’s classroom.

Even though Lars was the very person who insulted Sophie, the next day, Lars instead was being taught something by Sophie, which caused him to be rained with criticism from his classmates.

[“That’s cheap, you only benefited yourself”] they said.

If one ignored the fact Sophie was the purple star, which made her hard to approach, she was just a girl with long black hair and a lovely face. For male students who hadn’t entered social circles yet, it was a rare chance to talk to a beautiful woman.

After being criticized by his fellow classmates, Lars consulted Sophie and it turned out Sophie also wanted to talk to them so she opened time for it.

Some were frightened due to the fact the other party was the bearer of the purple star who received approval from a legendary gold star and thought the things that Sophie would talk about were something they wouldn’t be able to understand, but what Sophie talked about was how to make the meals provided in the dining hall more delicious.

Lars, who stood beside her back then, thought, “Ah, so you brought that topic here.” However, seeing Sophie talking with a serious expression, Lars chose to shut his mouth.

“I think it is wrong for a woman who came here just recently to one-sidedly declare something as bad solely based on personal opinion. Therefore, I came here to ask about your opinions.”

As they listened to her passionate speech, all the gold stars students, except for Lars, had their mouths hanging open.

“There are about 300 students in ‘The King’s Sword.’ If we added the number of staff into account, there would be about 400. Preparing such a large amount of food for the morning, afternoon, and evening every day is something difficult. The cost of ingredients, personnel, and firewood used to cook such an amount of food would be quite large. Even so, despite having so much of the budget dedicated to it, why is it still…!”

As the purple star shook her fist in indignation, one of the students present raised his hand. It was Lars’ friend, Aaron from a count family.

“Isn’t being a gentleman about training the spirit to eat things served without complaining?”

“In that case, did you eat the food from the dining hall for every meal?”

“T-that’s…”

Aaron looked away with an awkward expression.

Since most gold star students were richer than most aristocrats, they were accustomed to tasty food. There was no way the food of the dining hall could fit their palate.