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The prince’s gaze was grave.
What his eyes were telling were clear-cut.
“This must be natural for you, Young Lady.”
I lost my appetite, and put down the sandwich I was eating.
How was I pictured in his head?
I only wished to live my life to the fullest though.
“Here are your portions.”
Next to me who turned sad, Rany handed out the food that was put in the other section of the basket.
Young Lady Liz looked at the two boys with a curious face.
She and the prince had met before, but she looked like she couldn’t recognize him.
The effect is better than I thought.
On top of changing his hair and pupil color, we used delusion magic to confuse other people.
I was doubting the words that said it would make people unable to recognize him as ‘the prince’ despite not changing his appearance much.
However, I could clearly see the effect through Young Lady Liz’s response.
Of course, it couldn’t hide his unique elegance, but it might be better to have this much elegance in the imperial academy.
Benji opened the food wrap and then handed it out.
“Try this one first.”
“Thank you.”
The two seemed to have become quite close from the first day.
It’d be good if both keep being good friends for each other in the future.
Wouldn’t they undoubtedly become good friends as long as one lessened his plan to sell items and the other one lessened his plan to buy items?
“How was the class, Your Highness? What about your classmates?”
The prince rolled his eyes, then carefully whispered.
“Please talk casually. We’re in the academy and I’m your junior, Young Lady.”
“Ah.”
When I awkwardly closed my mouth, Rany nodded.
“Yeah, Jeremy and Benji are right. As a senior, we shouldn’t trouble our juniors.”
“You’re too unreserved . . .”
As I sighed, Young Lady Liz opened her mouth.
“Then, these two people are . . .”
“You too talk comfortably, Liz. This one my brother. And this one is a precious son of a family that we somehow got to know.”
Isn’t your explanation too careless?
I, who hesitated and tried to contemplate other modifiers, reluctantly nodded.
After being introduced to Young Lady Liz, Benji and the prince stared at Abigail.
“Ah, that one is Abigail. You’ve heard of her before, haven’t you?”
Hearing Rany’s words, Benji glanced at me.
From what I saw, it seemed like he had heard the summary of things that happened in the previous academy through Rany.
He only nodded without commenting.
“How about you, Jeremy? What about your lessons, did you have fun?”
I hesitated, but then I awkwardly spoke without honorifics.
The first time was difficult, but I felt like it became easier.
Jeremy, who chewed on his sandwich, answered.
“There are various subjects, and above all, it’s good to be able to hear other people’s opinions.”
I was glad that he looked like he adapted better than I expected.
“I hope you can have fun here.”
“I’m thinking of doing my best for a lot of things that I couldn’t do before.”
Benji commented on Jeremy’s words.
“Me too. We happened to apply for a special guest lecture in the afternoon.”
Active academy life was good too.
After finishing the meal, we returned to our classes to have a break.
Suddenly, Young Lady Liz spoke as if she was envious.
“I only pondered whether to apply or not, but it seems like I should have applied.”
“Are you talking about the guest lecture earlier?”
“Yeah. I thought most of the applicants would be the male students so I gave up.”
Rany, who had been casually listening to her, suddenly changed her expression.
She strongly grabbed my arm and whispered.
“The special lecture! I’ve been thinking it’s weird!”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you find it familiar?!”
She hurriedly whispered to me, who looked lost.
“The instructor is Young Duke Bolton!”
“. . . !”
My heart sank hearing her whisper.
Finally I could know the identity behind the weird feeling I had been feeling since earlier.
The name proudly stated as the ‘yellow category’ that shouldn’t be touched in the file folder that I memorized so much.
The moment my eyes met Rany’s, we ran to the administration office to cancel Jeremy’s class.
While leaving behind Young Lady Liz, who was at a loss.
* * *
“It’s impossible to cancel unless you’re the applicant.”
The administrator was unyielding.
He explained that the list had already been submitted because the guest lecture was from someone from outside.
“Is it possible to cancel it if the applicant comes here?”
His eyes glancing at me were meaningful.
“Could I ask whose application you’re trying to cancel?”
Hearing the tone that sounded like he wanted to know that person, I was reminded of Rany’s hint that the administrator could also be receiving someone’s bribe.
Something like giving wrong guidance, or playing with our foods.
Everything was a trifling harassment, but there was no guarantee that it would stop here.
They were arrogant nobles to the bone.
Therefore, in the situation where there were a lot of people who wanted to trouble me, it was dangerous to let them know I treated Jeremy specially.
Someone, who was going crazy because I kept avoiding their traps, might abuse this fact.
We completely hid his identity using magic, but it was better for people to not pay attention to Jeremy.
Rany squinted her eyes as if she got a headache from thinking the same.
After calmly organizing my thoughts, I changed my words.
“If we apply now, can we enter the lecture?”
“Yes, you can.”
His eyes scanned me as if he was amused.
I was rather glad because the lecture would start soon.
If my actions would be heard by other people, then it was better to give them little time to respond.
Although I would hear unpleasant words next time because I would be absent without excuse in the scheduled afternoon classes . .