The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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“…What?”

How should I react when someone who showed a shy, girlish demeanor just yesterday suddenly returns as a domineering princess in just one day?

“What are you staring at like an idiot? I told you to come here.”

Hoyeon was pressing me to approach her, exuding an air that suggested she wouldn’t let me go if I didn’t comply. Regardless of what happened yesterday, she had always held the upper hand, so I had no choice but to shuffle closer to her, albeit hesitatingly.

And from there, I didn’t know how to explain the situation.

“…What are you doing? Hurry and take my hand.”

So, she called me over with a much more threatening demeanor than the previous day, and now she was suddenly asking me to take her hand. How was I supposed to respond to this?

“Ah, right. Hoyeon.”

Holding her hand was surprisingly warm and soft, almost reminiscent of touching a kitten’s paw.

But regardless of that soft sensation, the atmosphere felt tense as if a blade was pressed against my throat.

“Call me ‘Hoyeon-nim.’”

It genuinely seemed like she had a dual personality. The princess persona and the girl persona were clearly separated. There was no way someone could switch so drastically otherwise.

“…Understood, Hoyeon-nim.”

Even if she was pretty, a princess persona was still frightening.

Of course, there were times when she looked cute while in princess mode, but that was akin to finding a tiger cute when it acts oddly.

No matter how cute, a tiger is still a tiger. With just one wave of a paw, I’d be dead on the spot. So, I had no choice but to follow her lead.

As I held her hand and walked like I was tiptoeing on a blade, a sweet aroma wafted through the air.

If I said it smelled like food from the dining area, I would be lying since there hadn’t been any food scents from yesterday or the day before; I grew curious about the source of this smell.

“…Hoyeon-nim. Is it just me, or does it smell sweet?”

It was definitely coming from around here, but not knowing the exact source made me more anxious. Mixed in with the sweetness, I could also detect a distinctive odor from animals.

Being a beastkin, she couldn’t be oblivious to such a unique scent.

“You’ve been talking a lot since earlier. I don’t smell anything. Let’s keep walking.”

However, for some reason, she seemed to detect nothing at all. Based on her previous behavior, she was undoubtedly a being with heightened senses, but her sense of smell was lacking?

Yet, according to the descriptions I’ve read, beastkin were supposed to have excellent sense of smell among their senses.

But not everyone conforms to the stereotype. Just as not all elves are racist, it seemed individual differences existed among beastkin too.

In her case, perhaps her sense of hearing was the most acute. Given how well she caught even the faintest rumblings from above, that made sense.

By the way, even though I had fetched the status window scroll from the corner of the library, for some reason, it wouldn’t work.

Even attempting to infuse mana showed no change. Perhaps I had brought back the wrong one, but recalling the content perfectly matched, so that wasn’t the issue.

That meant there were surely unknown conditions.

Her gaze made it hard to think clearly. No matter how dense a person might be, it was impossible not to notice her intense staring.

Even if I wanted to ask why she was staring so intently, I knew she would just tell me to shut up and keep walking again, so I couldn’t do it.

That childish look she had last night had its difficulties too, but it was better than the current situation.

Surrounded by that peculiar aroma while being subjected to the gaze of a beast, I had to continue holding her hand all the way to class.

I didn’t hate it. However, her dominating position made it slightly uncomfortable. While getting closer wasn’t a bad thing, I wished for more of an equal relationship.

Like friends.

Even after sitting down, the strange fragrance continued to waft around, making it hard to focus on the lesson. It felt like the mixed scent of sweet flowers combined with the musk of beasts.

Most importantly, Hoyeon’s tail kept brushing against my leg.

Whether it was on purpose or if she was doing so unconsciously, her tail had continuously brushed my leg since the first period.

Today, I didn’t want to provoke her mood, but I thought I had to mention this.

“Hoyeon-nim? Your tail has been touching my leg for a while; could you please stay still for a bit?”

She kept looking at me silently, making me wonder if I should have just held my tongue.

“Ah, was it? …Sorry.”

However, against my expectations, she apologized to me. It seemed her hostility had diminished considerably, and she even seemed a bit flushed, though I wasn’t sure since she wouldn’t meet my gaze.

Yeah. It was just like now. She wasn’t as domineering as in her princess mode, nor was she overly submissive as when she was acting girlish. This was much more manageable.

“Let’s refrain from chatting during class, Han Dogon student.”

“Yes, I’ll be mindful.”

The teacher with a notoriously foul temper did call me out directly, but at least afterwards, Hoyeon’s tail didn’t brush against my leg anymore, so that was good.

Even with one less distracting element, I still couldn’t quite absorb the lesson content. But at least I could formulate a plan on what to do.

I hadn’t had the time to consider it yesterday since I was too focused on Hoyeon, but starting today, I need to buy Exipri a piece of candy each day.

No need to think about Cecilia and Gloria yet, as it wasn’t their time, and I couldn’t track Iris, so she was out of the question.

For some reason, Anastasia had lectured me on emphasizing family, but I didn’t worry too much since I had many events with her.

As for Camilla, we naturally developed a connection during the midterm survival exam when we were both stranded out in the wild for three days, so there was no need to work on that.

That left Exipri as the closest one to focus on first.

Although my wallet wasn’t in great shape, I didn’t feel it was a waste. Just buying candy would boost my favorability. No way that it would be a bad investment.

To win over Gloria, the latter heroine, I would have to personally deal with demon worshipers and present their heads to her, making it far more challenging.

Speaking of which, I wondered what level of difficulty Hoyeon would present.

Based on how she acted last night, she seemed like an easy heroine who would fall for the simplest designation of “friend,” yet her usual demeanor appeared otherwise.

It felt ridiculous to try and gauge someone’s character after only three days, but perhaps I felt that way because this didn’t feel real.

Once lunchtime rolled around, she naturally took my hand and led me somewhere.

Strange; the dining hall is over there, isn’t it?

– – – –

I heightened my senses to check if anyone else was around, but it felt like it was just Dogon and me.

Good, here I could speak freely.

“Uh, Hoyeon-nim? This isn’t the way to the dining hall; did you perhaps mix up the path?”

“…Sorry!”

“What?”

“The truth is, when I said there was no smell in the morning, that was a lie! That’s probably the smell coming from me… Ugh, I said it wasn’t there because I was embarrassed… And I was rough in my words too…”

“Uh… Hoyeon? First, let’s take it slow, okay? Are you saying that smell is coming from you?”

Since I got the sense that I shouldn’t have mentioned it from the very beginning, I felt bad for having spoken so authoritatively.

And when I said it smelled, it was clear I was overusing shampoo, which was embarrassing to admit, so I kept denying it to the end.

Was it really acceptable to treat a friend this way because of our status difference? If I were in her shoes, I would feel betrayed if the next day after calling me a friend, she treated me like a stranger.

Having already treated her as a subordinate, she would surely bear some resentment.

In overwhelming self-doubt and regret, I wanted to just go quiet and sink down.

“Please don’t hate me…”

I mumbled that with a voice barely above a whisper while looking down.

I still didn’t understand why she couldn’t keep her tail still during class. I couldn’t fathom why I kept making these foolish slip-ups.

While it could be attributed to her being in heat, it wasn’t like she had acted this way before.

“…First, let’s calm down. Take a breath.”

Inhale, exhale. Following Dogon’s advice, I tried to breathe deeply, but it didn’t really help me calm down.

“I was curious where the nice smell was coming from, and it turns out it was from you. I wasn’t trying to say anything bad about it.”

Huh? That wasn’t what I had in mind. The smell was nice? My face grew hot out of embarrassment. No, since that was the case, what should I say? Honestly, it felt nice, yet I was still unsure.

“B-but friends shouldn’t lie to each other… I was lying—”

“Friends can lie to each other too, you know.”

Oh, you’re actually a really good person, aren’t you? Even yesterday, you called me a friend, and now you calmly overlook the lie from today.

I began to wonder if one needed this level of tolerance to be popular.

“More importantly, why were you speaking like a princess a moment ago, and now you’re suddenly talking like a friend?”

Ah, that.

…Would it be okay to say it? Given her level of tolerance, perhaps it would be fine.

“Well, even as friends, you’re a commoner, and I’m a princess… right? So, um, maybe I was worried about people spreading strange rumors if we acted too comfortably… I didn’t want to hurt your feelings… Sorry…”

“Ah, so that was it. Since it would be odd for a princess and a commoner to be so friendly, you’ll act as a princess in front of others, right? That’s how I should take it?”

“…Yeah.”

When she said that, it felt like I was unilaterally declaring that I would act superior to her in front of others, making me somewhat uneasy.

“Then is the reason we came here to apologize to me in private?”

“……Yeah.”