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Restlessness at the Academy and Homecoming [Part 2]
In the midst of all the talk about the official Holy Maiden, Arthur was particularly curious about one thing.
“…Your Highness… this is just between you and me, but…” he whispered to Edward stealthily, “Everyone seems to call Lady Joanna beautiful, but I just don’t get it.”
“Arthur, it’s rude to say that a young lady is not beautiful. Hold your tongue,” reminded Edward with a frown. Commenting on a woman’s appearance in a demeaning way was ungentlemanly behavior.
“Didn’t I say that it’s only between Your Highness and me?! I didn’t say that she wasn’t beautiful. Every woman in the world is beautiful. But when I see how those noble’s sons look so spellbound, I am struck by this strange sense of unease…”
In Arthur’s eyes, Joanna was not blessed with an outstandingly attractive appearance.
“…”
“Don’t you feel the same way, Your Highness?”
“Arthur, finding faults with a woman’s appearance is a little…”
“Those students who are charmed by that Lady Joanna all say that she is more beautiful than Lady Emma, you know?”
“Huh? How can that be possible? It goes without saying that Emma is much cuter. Are you sure those people don’t have eye problems?”
“Your Highness! You’re being too loud.”
Arthur hurriedly blocked the prince’s mouth. It would be bad if they were overheard by Joanna’s followers.
Fortunately, no one heard the prince’s voice as it coincided with the school bell.
Only one person, Joanna, looked at Arthur with a smile on her lips. But this smile went unnoticed by anyone because the teacher had arrived.
♠♠♠
“What do you think?”
When the usual gang gathered in the cafeteria building’s courtyard during the lunch break, Arthur expressed his unease about Joanna’s popularity and asked for the opinion of his younger sister, Marion.
The prince returned to the royal castle to attend to his official duties as usual, so the ones hanging out in the courtyard after the summer vacation only consisted of Marion, Francesca, the twins, and Arthur.
Arthur didn’t dislike being surrounded by young ladies, but he kinda missed the days when George, William, and Joshua were also around.
“Holy Maiden Joanna… I can’t say anything because I don’t take the same classes as her,” answered Marion straightforwardly, to which Francesca nodded in agreement.
“Joanna-sama is popular with everyone regardless of gender, isn’t she, Caitlyn?”
“Yeah, Joanna-sama is popular regardless of gender, Catherine.”
It seemed like the gossip-loving twins had taken an interest in Joanna.
“I also get what Arthur-sama‘s talking about. Joanna-sama doesn’t really stand out. Right, Caitlyn?”
“Uh-huh, we get what Arthur-sama‘s saying. She doesn’t help everyone like Emma-sama, right, Catherine?”
Joanna’s forces were increasing steadily.
But at the same time, Joanna herself hadn’t seemed to have done something that would make her fans increase. She was just attending classes at the academy as per normal.
Other than being recognized as a holy maiden by the Church, she had no distinctive personality.
“Oh, right! Speaking of Emma-sama, we heard that she’d be back soon. Right, Caitlyn?”
“Right! Emma-sama will be back soon, Catherine.”
” “We’ve been wanting to talk about this today,” ” the twins clapped their hands once and added.
“Oh my, really? Catherine-sama, Caitlyn-sama, I’ve been worried because Emma-sama seemed like she would not return.”
“That’s good to hear. She will have a hard time catching up to the lessons if she comes back any later than this after all.”
Francesca and Marion sighed in relief after they heard the news from the twins.
“Lady Catherine and Lady Caitlyn, may I ask where you got that news from? Even the Royal Family still has zero information on the Stuarts’ return, you know,” asked Arthur to the twins in surprise as he remembered the prince’s gloomy face.
“Was it from our territory’s sailors, Caitlyn?”
“We heard it from the Simmons’ sailors, Catherine.”
According to the twins, a ship from the Marquisate of Simmons encountered the ship the Stuart family rode in on sea.
“? In that case, shouldn’t the Stuarts’ ship arrive at the Kingdom earlier than the Simmons’ ship?”
Arthur tilted his head to the side, feeling even more confused.
The ship the Stuarts rode in was supposed to be a state-of-the-art ship with the best performance among all the ships the Rothschild Company owned. Performance-wise, it would be weird if the Stuarts didn’t arrive first when both ships were headed for the Kingdom.
“They said Emma-sama‘s ship was fully loaded and could only sail slowly, didn’t they, Caitlyn?”
“Yup, Emma-sama‘s ship was slow because it was full of cargo, Catherine!”
The ship the family traveled on was loaded with souvenirs and local products to its maximum capacity, which seemed to have further delayed their already postponed return journey.