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“I never thought you would be able to reserve such great seats, Betina.”
“Fufu, you can praise me more, Grace. After hearing that Prince Albert would finally attend the spirit power lessons, I skipped lunch and reserved our seats.”
The church’s main hall was filled with students. It’s a place of worship, but every afternoon they held a class about spirit power.
So Betina and her friend, Grace, who found out that Albert was going to attend the class for the first time since his enrollment, were sitting slightly close to the entrance of the church.
It wasn’t a great seat, Betina and Grace couldn’t even see the face of the teacher from there…… except for the fact that the two of them had a perfect view of Albert and his group of friends.
Natalia, Bianca and Leonora were sitting in the front roll, while Albert and Oscar were sitting behind them.
“Haaah… Haaah… the handsome Prince Albert is talking with Oscar… that’s good!”
“Haaah… Haaah… look! Oscar laughed!” ( Tl/n: ……(°-°) – I don’t know what to say……)
But Betina and Grace weren’t the exception, a lot of other girls were having the same kind of conversation.
“Hey, look! Natalia locked arms with Leonora so casually!”
“Maybe she’s trying to provoke Bianca?”
“Ah, look! Bianca grabbed the other arm!”
Every student was in that state……… even the boys–
“Leonora looked back! She’s staring at Prince Albert, again!”
“Fufu, Oscar was praised and became flustered.”
“Leonora is so beautiful… she’s like a small animal, I want to protect her.”
–And the arrogant noble ladies that used to dislike Leonora.
“Look! Leonora-chan is pouting!”
“Ahh∼! Bianca is patting Leonora’s head∼! So cute∼! They look like sisters∼!”
“Now Leonora is the one comforting Bianca∼!”
“\\\\\\Once, I had a hard time because I dropped my wallet, but she didn’t even think twice before picking it for me, Leonora-sama is really kind\\\\\\”
A child born from the Disaster of Flora. Leonora is kind, compassionate and her beauty is out of this world, but everyone knew why this gifted girl acted so timid sometimes.
And Betina, who knew about the girl’s past, said–
“–If you think about it… the Bernstein faction, Bianca-sama’s “Red Roses” faction and Albert-sama’s faction, are now in peace with each other thanks to Leonora.”
“That’s true. I thought it would be impossible, but Leonora actually did it, she brought peace to the academy. She’s definitively a saint.”
Grace also knew about Leonora’s past, so she agreed with Betina.
A Prince, a Princess, their cousin, the son of a wealthy merchant and a simple girl that, because of fate or destiny, joined hands with each other to make the academy a better place.
The future of the Empire looked bright, and no one present in the church doubted that these five could achieve the impossible, making the Empire a better place like they did with the academy.
“I wonder if my family would profit if we invested our money on the church.”
“You’re always saying unnecessary things, Oscar.”
“Fufu, It would benefit not only my father’s company, but the Empire as well. So it’s not unnecessary, Albert.”
“You have a sharp tongue, as usual.”
At first glance, Albert and Oscar seemed to be having a fight, because of their voice tones. But if you paid close attention to their facial expressions, they were actually having fun.
Albert and Oscar manged to become really good friends as of recently.
They both invited some of the “Influential People” of the academy to the Spirit Power lecture that would happen in the afternoon.
Because of Harlet, some of the students were afraid of the church. But Albert wanted to show these students that they didn’t need to fear the church, Harlet was an anomaly, and the majority of the Priests out there were actually good people.
“As expected, most of the students seems to be present.”
“That’s right. But most of them aren’t even paying attention to the class.”
The students were paying attention… not to the lecture, but to the black-haired girl that was being sandwiched between Natalia and Bianca.
“You’re right, and as always she is the center of attention.”
Albert was smiling with a sweet expression while staring at Leonora, which made Oscar feel a bit jealous.
Recently, Oscar’s best friend, Rolf, and his followers keep saying things to him, like: “Oscar, you have to seduce Leonora.” But Albert, one of his friends, is already in love with her. Besides, Leonora is still twelve years old.
(I feel like I’m using the age excuse a lot recently……)
Women grow fast.
And as the days went on, Oscar couldn’t help but to continue treating Leonora as a little sister.
Oscar wanted to kill the guys that were looking at Leonora with bad intentions, but Oscar himself wouldn’t admit that he was in love with her.
But then, Oscar remembered something really important that he had to tell Albert.
“Oh, that’s right. Albert, I forgot to tell you about the new project that my father is working on.”
“You mean, Francis?”
“Your, father!?”
Leonora turned her head to look at Oscar when he mentioned his father’s new project.
Her eyes were shining, Leonora wanted to join in on the conversation.
“Now is not the time, Leonora. I’m speaking with Albert right now.”
But Oscar shot him down, he was treating Leo like a child.
(Muuu∼, stingy! They’re talking about doing some kind of business in the down town, I want to join in on the conversation too!)
Because Francis is supposed to be a good guy, surely he wouldn’t complain if Leo joined in on the new project.
But Leo’s excitement didn’t go down, Oscar and Albert were talking about “The development team” and “Send more experts.” It seems that Francis needed more people to complete the new project.
“–And it would be more convenient if we had even more mages that are able to summon clean water, than to procure clean water elsewhere.”
“…I see, that would help the citizens.”
(They’re doing a water business!)
“And it seems that water magic and spirit cloth doesn’t mach well together. The magic circle collapses as soon as you summon the water.”
(I see)
“What if you knit the magic circle into the cloth? It would be easier than to dig a well.”
(Hee∟)
“That’s not really the issue, if the mage is good he/she can summon more water per magic circle, that’s why we need more experts.”
*Jiiiiiiiiiiiii∟*
Leo was fidgeting while staring at them through the top of his chair.
(I think I’ll join them)
Leo couldn’t back down when the other party was clearly doing some kind of business in front of him.
If Oscar were to hire him, Leo would even do the distribution of the product, he would calculate the best price and many other things.
“Uh, that… I know, how to knit, so if–”
“–Leonora, pay attention to the class.”
But Oscar shot him down, again.
Natalia and Bianca were laughing. To the two of them, Leonora looked like a young girl, with no business experience, trying to gain the attention of her beloved prince.
“No, Oscar–”
Said Albert, in a gentle voice.
“–Even you should know how many time Leonora has helped us already. Why don’t we let her join in on the conversation?”
(Nice save, Albert!)
Leo didn’t remember having ever helped Albert, but Leo was grateful for the follow-up.
“But it’s not a conversation a child like her would understand.”
“Leonora is more intelligent than you think, Oscar. You’d be impressed if you gave her a chance.”
“Albert-sama… . ”
“Well, if you went this far–”
However, Oscar couldn’t finish his sentence, because the other students were making a fuss.
“–Nani!?”
The students couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
After the first part of the class ended, the teacher changed.
And the one standing on the Altar was the new Head Priest–
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
–Gustav Schneider.
Ironically, he was doing another weird pose…… while grinning.