Chapter 46

"Ah, it's Fried-kun."

As we head to the cafeteria with the usual group for lunch, there's that cool guy, Fried Black, sitting alone by the window, eating his meal with a bored expression, looking like he's not enjoying it at all.

Yes, guys like him always act moody to keep people from approaching. That's a typical trait of the cool type.

There's always one of these guys at noble parties. You wonder why they're even there, but it seems they think it makes them look cool. The reason is unclear, though.

"I'll go talk to him for a bit. I'll join you guys for lunch later."

Cerea looks a bit worried, but this is just for information gathering. To really understand a person, you have to talk to them directly.

I take my tray with pasta, bread, and soup and sit in front of him.

For a moment, he looks surprised, but quickly regains his composure and ignores me.

"Good afternoon."

"...What do you want?"

There's the cool type.

"Actually, I wanted to have a word with you."

"Stay away from me."

Hmm... I didn't expect that.

"Do you really call someone by their full name and point at them, saying, 'I don't recognize you' in front of everyone...?"

He hesitates for a moment but continues to ignore me.

"Normally, when you declare 'I don't recognize you' in front of everyone, you'd want to know what exactly you're not recognizing, right? Isn't that strange?"

"...I said I don't recognize your dirty tactics."

Ah, I see, that's it.

"If the prince is the goalkeeper, no one can score, and it's scary to play against him, right?"

"That's right."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I thought about it later and agreed."

"Don't lie. It was clearly a strategy to make it hard for others to score."

"Well, I only volunteered to be the goalkeeper because no one in the class wanted to do it. I had no choice."

"You're lying. Your class is under your control."

What a delusion.

"Really? After I was chosen as the goalkeeper, I had to practice every day, taking over fifty shots from the team. No one held back."

"That's a lie. It's impossible."

"If that's true, then you managed to stop my shots even though I didn't practice at all..."

His eyes start to twitch.

"...I just thought you were good enough for that level."

"Thanks for going easy on me. We won because of you."

"You...!"

He glares at me intensely.

"I don't recognize you as a prince or a highness."

Another thing you don't recognize.

"It would be nice if being recognized by you had some benefit, but it doesn't matter to me if you don't think of me as a prince. I've been telling everyone that since the opening ceremony, but they don't understand... I hope you can tell the people in your class that they don't have to recognize me as a prince."

"...No."

"Too bad. I thought I could ask the one who can kick a ball at my face."

He looks startled and stares at me.

"'Everyone was too scared to kick at the prince, but you really aimed for my face. That's amazing courage! It doesn't matter if you're a prince or a highness. You showed me that you wouldn't back down.'"

I'll try to imitate the heroine's lines.

"You can't understand that!"

"'I can. Whether you're a prince or not, on the field, we're all equal. I wanted to tell you to play a fair game without using cheap tactics.'"

Fried is confused and seems to be acting naturally.

He looks completely baffled.

"Anyway, it's true that being the goalkeeper was a mistake. I wanted to apologize for that. I won't do it next year, so please don't hold back. Not many people call me 'you' or 'you bastard,' so I find it valuable."

I pick up my half-eaten tray and return to Cerea's table.

"Jack, what's his face like?"

Since I'm facing away from him, I ask Jack, who's in front of me.

"He's just staring blankly."

Jack is trying not to laugh.

"Lord Shin?"

"Hmm."

Cerea gives me a slight glare.

"You went too far again, didn't you?"

"...Sorry."

A pink-haired girl appears in the cafeteria and sits at the seat I just vacated, opposite the lone eater. The heroine, seeing an opportunity, is about to continue her strategy. I don't care. I'll ignore her.

"I think there are too few participants in the sports festival, only eight for football. Can we add some events that girls and other boys can join?"

"That's true... If there were such events, I could participate too."

Hartis, a member of the literature club, isn't good at sports. That fits his image.

"How about Karuta?"

"Karuta?"

...Is this from Cerea's past knowledge?

"Yes, it's a game where you create a hundred pairs of cards with classical literature, poetry, and proverbs. You lay them out on the floor, and two or more players sit facing each other. A reader reads out a card, and the players try to grab the matching card. The one with the most cards wins."

"Wow, that sounds like an elegant game."

Hartis is impressed.

"Not really. It tests memory and reflexes. You have to stretch to reach distant cards, and it gets quite noisy with each card grabbed. The lower part of the poem is written on the cards, and the reader starts with the upper part, so you need to know the whole poem to grab the card first."

"So, for a four-line poem, only the last two lines are on the card?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. It requires knowledge and familiarity with poetry... It could be a good study for the upper-class ladies and even the boys who dislike classical literature."

Hartis nods in agreement.

"We also have poetry recitation in class, so it would be good practice for the readers too!"

Silfa is excited. Does she like that kind of thing?

"I'm not good at that, but you know a lot, Cerea."

Jack just needs to play football.

"It's a game that's been around for a thousand years."

Impressive. Cerea's past culture is deep...

"I think we can make this work! Let's have the literature club compile and create the cards!"

Hartis is enthusiastic. This could be promising.

After school, I go to the library and find a pile of poetry books on a table. The literature club members are selecting famous poems and writing them on cards, filling boxes.

"What's this?"

"There are so many candidates that we've easily exceeded a hundred, so we thought we'd put them in a box and draw lots."

"Be serious, Hartis... This could be a cultural treasure that lasts a thousand years. Let's choose the best poems, famous or not, and discuss their value one by one."

"You're right... We'll do it properly."

I try to draw a card from the box.

"'In July 1999, a great king of terror will descend from the sky. He will revive the great king of Angolmois, and Mars will rule the world before and after.' ...What's this? Who put this in?"

Cerea quickly looks away.

It's you again. Be careful, or you might be treated as a witch someday.

It's been a week since my last day off. Despite everything, school life is my main focus now, and my days off are usually spent on official duties. It's been a long time since I've had a break like this.

I have plenty of time today, so I'll take a walk through the town and head to the Colette Duke's villa where Cerea lives. Then we'll go on a date. We can shop at a general store and add to my collection of civilian clothes. I also want to visit a bookstore.

"Aaaah! Prince-samaaaa!"

I run to the pink-haired girl and cover her mouth.

"Mmmmm!"

"No 'Prince' in public!"

I let go. She gasps and glares at me.

"That's terrible! It's assault!"

"You're everywhere... That's obstruction of official duties."

"Koumu?"

"Inspecting the town is part of my job. I'm on duty now. My guards are surrounding me discreetly. If you interfere, you'll be arrested without question."

"Liar!"

"It's true."

I snap my fingers, and Cerea's hand is grabbed by Schwartz.

She looks up at Schwartz in surprise. He drags her into an alley, and the guards who were nearby form a line to block the view.

"Please take care of her..."

"Understood. Obstruction of official duties and breach of confidentiality. Arrested on the spot. 10:25. Now, we'll take you to the guard station for questioning, miss."

"Confidentiality breach? What's that?"

"Today, His Highness is on official duty incognito. You tried to reveal his identity in public. You called out 'Prince' loudly, didn't you?"

"I'm a classmate at Flora Academy! My stepfather is Baron Brouwer..."

"That makes it worse. If you were a commoner, I'd just scold you, but as a noble, you'll be restrained and sent back to the baron's residence. The royal family will formally protest to the baron. Please wait for the consequences."

"Whaaat!! You said it doesn't matter if I call you a prince!"

"That's only in school. As a noble, you should know the difference between public and private."

The conversation between Schwartz and the heroine is amusing.

"Schwartz."

"Yes."

"I'll let it slide today, but tell the guards to release her in ten minutes."

"Understood."

"Whaaat...?"

What's your problem, heroine? I said I won't arrest you.

"Do you have a hat?"

Schwartz pulls out a wide-brimmed hat from his pocket. Some citizens must have seen our interaction.

"Thank you. Well, Link, have a good day off. See you at school."

"It's Lins, Lins Brouwer!"

I put on the hat Schwartz lent me, raise my hand to the guards who are shielding me, and return to the street from the opposite alley.

At the Colette Duke's villa, I tell Cerea about the incident while we have lunch on the outdoor terrace.

Cerea brings the food on a cart herself.

Since Bell retired, Cerea doesn't have a personal maid. She's a student now. She does her own things, even if she sometimes asks the maids in the mansion for help. Cerea likes to do things herself, including entertaining guests.

I... come to think of it, I've never had a personal maid. The head maid usually handles everything, and the roles are well-defined. I haven't had someone dedicated to me since I was very young. The palace maids are all experienced, and there are no young women. I'm used to doing things myself. Letting a maid dress me is something only vulgar nobles from the countryside do. The royal family doesn't rely on others for such things. It's essential for the royal family to be self-sufficient in emergencies.

"That was too much, Lord Shin..."

Cerea's face turns serious when I tell her about the heroine's arrest.

"I thought she needed to experience that once to stop causing such a commotion."

It's frustrating for me. I don't want our precious day off to be ruined. If people recognize me as the prince, I won't be able to walk around the town freely.

"You're hopeless, Lord Shin... It's so troublesome."

"I know, it's so troublesome. Come on, let's get ready to go out. It's a precious day off!"

I can't be bothered with such things.

Let's go out, let's go out.

Next: "46. Summer Vacation is Coming"