CH 145

“Aaron, I’ll ask just to confirm, but did Sophie-sama know about this…?”

Lars asked, even though he could guess the answer, and sure enough, Aaron shook his head.

“Well, I guess so…”

If Sophie knew the other party was the “King’s Divine Horse” who had five black stars, it was doubtful she could casually ask him to be his escort, let alone deliver her lunch.

“Firth-sama also said when he met Warren-sama at Sophie-sama’s dorm, the person himself asked him to keep it a secret. Apparently, Warren-sama introduced himself as a paladin with three black stars and didn’t mention his surname.”

According to Aaron, the only thing that wasn’t false was the name.

Marcus raised his voice in astonishment.

“Isn’t falsifying the number of stars a person owns considered a great crime?!”

“It’s certainly a great crime to claim to have more stars than what they actually possess, but there’s no specific punishment designated for claiming to have fewer stars.”

“…Well, there wouldn’t be anyone who would claim to have fewer stars than what they actually had under normal circumstances, after all.”

Moreover, it was unheard of for a person who had five black stars to do so.

“But he didn’t use a fake name, right? Even if he claimed to have fewer stars than he actually had, wouldn’t that ojou-san normally notice that Warren of the black star would be ‘King’s Divine Horse’?”

“No… rather, it’s likely that Sophie-sama isn’t aware of the ‘King’s Divine Horse’s existence to begin with.”

The one who answered was Lars, who heard the circumstances personally from Sophie herself. Marcus furrowed his brows in wonder and asked,

“Even though he is famous enough for a commoner like me to know his name?”

“Sophie-sama seemed to spend most of her childhood in Talis. Even when she returned to the royal capital, she apparently was immediately sent to enroll at ‘The Queen’s Rose’.”

“You mean she isn’t well informed about the royal capital? But wouldn’t such rumors be more likely to spread in that lady’s garden?”

Marcus, who thought it was normal for women to talk a long time just about the topic of tomorrow’s weather, thought it wouldn’t be weird if such a name was mentioned even once, but Lars shook his head as he said, “I wonder if that’s really the case…”

“The topics that men and women chat about are different after all. I think if women at that age talked about men, it would mainly be about men who could be their potential fiancé partners. Both Lorenzo-sama and Gerald-sama would normally be mentioned among them, considering their age, but as expected, I doubt Warren-sama’s name would…”

Lorenzo had earned five silver stars, but his age and generation were too different from Warren’s. It was doubtful young girls would speak his name as a topic of a casual chat.

“Besides, Sophie-sama is…”

Lars stopped his words for a moment, stared at the black star’s classroom, then muttered,

“She doesn’t even hold a copper coin’s worth of interest about the black star after all.”

“Now that you mention it, that ojou-san really feels like that.”

The reason Sophie knew the names of the holders of five stars for the gold star and silver star was because they belonged to the field she was interested in, and she was in an environment where she could hear of it in advance. Leaving aside girls at Sophie’s age that yearned for people of the black star, Sophie herself had no such interest.

“Since that’s the case, it’s less likely for Sophie-sama to know about ‘King’s Divine Horse,’ which means the black stars are most likely branding her as a fool who couldn’t even notice the honor she had earned.”

“Ah… I could easily imagine that coming from those black star fellows.”

For black star students, Gerald Forsius was their star of hope and a person of the same age to admire.

And his father Warren Forsius was a person who earned five black stars and was the pinnacle of a black star by being the sole person who earned the title of “King’s Divine Horse” in history, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that people still consider his existence as sacred even after his retirement.

For that person to not know the existence of the “King’s Divine Horse” and even asked him to bring her lunch, it was certainly not something that students of the black star would find amusing.

“This is troublesome…”

Since even Firth, who hailed from a count family, was stopped from telling Sophie, it meant they also weren’t allowed to tell Sophie about it.

Lars looked at the sky out of a dilemma of his inability to tell Sophie about the existence known as the “King’s Divine Horse.”

The sky sure is blue.

Lars had heard that Sophie’s beloved “onee-sama” had clear eyes like this sky.

Sophie also said her eyes shone in a miraculous color that was more beautiful than any jewel, with eyelashes like shining gold.

Lars had always been afraid of social circles, where he had to be responsible for whatever words and actions he made, but when he thought it was a valuable opportunity to see Sophie’s “onee-sama,” even that fear disappeared. 

If those two, who are different types of people, lined up, I’m sure the place would feel gorgeous just from that.

When Lars was lost in his delusion and imagined the two girls together, he noticed something and muttered in a whisper.

“What’s wrong, Lars?”

Aaron asked what Lars was quietly muttering.

“Well… if people who ignored Sophie-sama’s value as a purple star heard the actual identity of her escorts, there might be people who misunderstand her not as a concubine but as a potential legal wife out there, so I just think that is scary.”

As Lars muttered the words he had in his mind, he noticed how disrespectful it was and hurriedly covered his mouth. However, things that came out of the mouth couldn’t be swallowed back.

Both Marcus and Aaron’s eyes went wide at the remark.

Marcus even turned pale, which was unusual for him.

“Oi oi, don’t mention such a scary thing. If she knew there are fools who make such a stupid misunderstanding, that ojou-san might snap like never before. Just imagining it makes me chilled to the bone…”

Marcus held onto his arms as he trembled.

The theory of Sophie being a potential candidate for the prince’s legal wife was more dangerous than the theory of her being his concubine.

If Sophie were to hear such a rumor, that girl who shouldn’t be provoked more than anyone would snap.

Sophie’s praise toward her beloved “onee-sama” was spun softly from beginning to the end, but her words contained strong intention — that anyone who tainted such a sanctuary would be erased.

That girl of the purple star would smile gracefully regardless of what anyone said about herself, just like letting a butterfly land on her shoulder without shooing it away, but her tolerance was gone when it came to her “onee-sama”, and her heart became narrower than the tip of the needle.

As the heavy silence fell, the three prayed from the bottom of their hearts.

Please, for everyone out there, don’t make such a stupid remark— they thought.