The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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“Are you not hungry?”

“…Yeah, for some reason I’m not that hungry today.”

Something about the food just didn’t sit right with me. Normally, I’m not one to eat like a pig, but today I could barely nibble at all.

…No matter how I pondered it, something must have happened after we visited that shop. I tried hard to remember, but I couldn’t grasp even a hint of it.

I’d think about it later. If I can’t remember, it probably isn’t that important.

One thing I was confident about was my memory. If I had forgotten it, maybe it really wasn’t a big deal.

However, seeing Dokan staring blankly into space like a soul just sucked out of him since earlier made me a bit worried.

He seemed to be deep in thought. Watching him look like someone who’s lived their whole life made me start to think too, so I decided not to dwell on it.

Men are supposed to have more worries that they can’t share with others, after all. They’d say that since you’re a man, you should endure it and that anyone who complains about it, whether they’re introverted or extroverted, is just being silly.

So, it’s typical for men to keep their troubles bottled up, even among family. Dokan must have his own concerns too.

Instead of awkwardly trying to console him, it was probably better to let him sort through his thoughts alone.

Even though we were friends, we hadn’t known each other long enough to share such deep worries, and how could I, with my introverted nature, understand the concerns of an extrovert?

For instance, if he was worried about liking some girl better than his current girlfriend, what good would that do?

…Just thinking about it makes me cringe.

“…Well.”

That aside, I didn’t expect to taste home in this faraway continent.

But I could definitely state one thing. This was the taste of home. The ingredients were different, but it was exactly like what the chef used to make.

I had been eating this non-stop for days, so it was starting to become a bit monotonous, but still, it was better than going on some adventure and falling into a trap.

Besides, there were those disgusting, mint-scented hot dishes on the menu here too.

Of course, that was the most extreme example, but the other foods also didn’t have particularly appealing scents.

That steak I had at first might taste good now, but since I ate it alone, it must have tasted bad. Though it lacked aroma, it was still edible.

Because I had someone to share a meal with.

I finished my plate quickly and looked back at Dokan, only to realize that nothing on his plate had decreased at all.

The only thing that was missing was a piece of meat, so at least I could tell he had eaten something.

Did something really happen? It was the first time I’d seen him this lifeless. Even when I got mad, he wasn’t like this.

Back then, he seemed to always be looking for a way out.

When I looked at Dokan, it felt like he was trying to do something, but now there was none of that energy at all.

It was like looking at a version of my past self.

Should I get up or stay seated? I pondered seriously.

If I waited here, he might stay in this state forever. But getting up felt like I’d be interrupting his thoughts, which bothered me.

After a considerable internal struggle, I finally rose from my seat.

“…Ah, have you finished?”

I realized that if I stayed here, nothing would progress, so I thought I should drag him out for a bit.

“Have you even eaten anything?”

“…Yeah.”

Now that I looked closely, he was avoiding eye contact.

I thought maybe he felt guilty for stumbling in while I was asleep, but I quickly rejected that notion. Friends wouldn’t do such things.

No way. Definitely not. Maybe he recognized me as a girl, but that was just an accident.

What if I were a guy, and some girl suddenly pulled me into a locker, and our bodies were touching?

I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Honestly, it was impressive that Dokan could hold back that long.

If not, then what was it? Could it be that he suddenly felt sorry now?

If that’s the case, it would make some sense of his current demeanor.

I knew that there’s a big difference between acting in hopes of being forgiven and genuinely feeling regret.

After I yelled at him, it was evident he was desperate to earn forgiveness rather than showing remorse.

If I were to ask myself if I forgave him, I would say I already did.

How could a person only look at one person for their entire life? They can talk about it with others too.

I got mad at Dokan because I exploded while feeling angry at what I saw.

…Honestly, I thought I would still find it hard to digest now.

As long as he didn’t blatantly rub his butt in front of me, hug me, hold my hand, or make me face him and laugh, I was willing to let it slide.

Because we were friends.

“If you’re acting like this because of the gym incident, then it’s all good. I’ve already forgiven you.”

“…Huh? You forgave me?”

He reacted like he heard something absurd, which made me wonder if I got it wrong, but I had to forgive him eventually.

Let’s just consider this as the moment.

“Indeed. But… try to be a bit more considerate of others. For some people, relationships can… be a very, very sensitive topic.”

Thinking about him asking if I had no friends still made me angry. But then he said this:

“Friends usually overlook mistakes, and learn from each other’s slip-ups.”

So, it was enough to overlook the mistake and correct the error.

“Yes. I will be careful.”

Suddenly feeling good about being forgiven, Dokan’s expression brightened a bit.

He still looked a bit under the weather, but at least I could see some determination to do something again. Well, that’s what I wanted to see.

It was great to pull him out of the restaurant feeling energetic, but I couldn’t think of anything to do.

After all, whether in my past life or this life, weekends were supposed to be spent cooped up in my room, lounging around. The thought of doing something outside didn’t even cross my mind.

It would have been nice if there was an internet café or something. But in a world where sound insulation wasn’t even a thing, such places probably didn’t exist.

“…Did you have something in mind?”

“No. Not really. But if it’s okay with you, I’d like to take a look around the Academy… Would that be alright?”

A tour of the Academy.

I thought it was probably not much different from a college campus tour, but then I remembered I had done it all alone in loneliness.

If someone were beside me, it might be fun. And if it was my only friend, it would be even better.

“Yeah, let’s do it. So, where should we go first?”

Seeing Dokan with a hint of a smile made me feel good too.

“…Then, what about the zoo?”

– – – –

“It’s late…”

Sitting in a chair, Stephanie was pondering while stepping on Iris.

After a day had passed, I felt it was as I expected. Even though she came from far away, as a princess, she wouldn’t listen to some noble from another country.

On the second day, I shrugged it off. Even if they heard rumors about her, there are still many who would push on as if they didn’t care.

By the third day, I thought she was quite stubborn. If she spent that long at the Academy, surely she’d know who she was.

However, by the fourth and fifth day, I was certain:

Hoyeon knew what she was and was deliberately ignoring my suggestion.

As she was using Iris as a footrest to clear her tangled thoughts,

“Ah!… Lady Stephanie…!”

“No, Iris. A footstool isn’t supposed to talk.”

Oh no, did I step too hard?

Stephanie slightly loosened her grip on her foot.

She began to stomp on Iris again, just enough to give her the amount of pain she could endure.

Lately, someone had invaded her sanctuary, and Gloria was also actively targeting her, so she felt quite pressured.

If she used the power of demons, she could make the entire Academy her accomplice, but she had no intentions of wanting to die.

At this point, so close to the arrival of the Demon King, being taken down by some unknown church hounds was a nightmare.

Stephanie thought it would be more horrifying than collapsing right before the finish line.

She could just cut off a few key people surrounding Gloria and throw them to the wolves, but how to deal with the unidentified intruder in her sanctuary left her at a complete loss.

All she had was that they left no traces that could identify themselves while skillfully provoking her and leisurely escaping, which wasn’t enough information at all.

Considering she maintained friendly relations with those of that caliber, Stephanie thought it unlikely they would invade her sanctuary.

That left her concluding that some newcomer or an entirely unfamiliar outsider had breached her sanctuary.

She decided to drop a suitable bait and wait for them to bite. That was the solution she came up with.

Finding out their identity was the most urgent matter for her. She needed to know who they were to threaten or entice them.

With temporary measures against the biggest threat set, she now needed to think about how to deal with Hoyeon.

Especially since Hoyeon had figured out and broken her surveillance magic tool disguised as the gift she gave, Stephanie couldn’t just use hard tactics against her.

Moreover, because of the information about the Demon King being in the eastern continent that the demons spoke of, she couldn’t recklessly move.

There was a chance that Hoyeon, who came from the eastern empire, could be linked to the Demon King.

It might be an over-exaggeration of my thinking, but it seemed like I kept my life safe several times by imagining worst-case scenarios, so Stephanie pondered how to build a smooth relationship with her.

She dismissed the absurd rumor that some commoner was favored by her, clearly intended to slander her.