Chapter 363

The Duke of Grants' mansion. As soon as I entered the annex building, I couldn't help but be surprised. First of all, the dining room in the annex was filled with a delicious smell. Of course, there were numerous dishes on the table. But the important thing wasn't the food. "You came." Ellen. "...." Harriet. "Wow, you came...." Adelia. "Uh, um.... Did you come? Reinhardt." Even Cliff was there. "What is all this?" Rihanna elbowed my side, not understanding the situation. "What is it? I thought I'd do something for you since you looked unhappy. Let's have a party." The food was food, but everyone seemed to have made it themselves, wearing aprons. They didn't tell me why I looked unhappy. So I tried to comfort myself, but I didn't know what to do, so I planned a surprise party. This doesn't solve any problems or relieve my psychological anxiety about what I'm facing. The more they think like this, the more afraid I become of the future. This is useless. The more I enjoy the present, the more I fear the future. I don't need this kind of thing. Someday, I'll miss this moment. "Uh... are you crying?" Rihanna's trembling voice broke the silence in the dining room. It sounded genuinely surprised, and the other kids were staring at me with their mouths open. "What the hell! Why would I cry?" "Oh, no... this guy is really crying?" Rihanna was confused about what she saw. It's not the kids. I'm way past the age of crying over something like this. "I'm not crying!" Am I going to cry? Just because the kids planned a surprise party? Do you know how old I am? "...This." Ellen came up to me and handed me a tissue. No, I'm not crying. Why do I need this? "You're not crying?" I didn't cry. I don't even know if something came out of my eyes without my knowledge. I don't know. "Yeah, I'm not crying." In the end, I accepted the tissue Ellen offered. "You're a crybaby..." It wasn't a defeat, but it felt like a loss. And there's someone like that. Someone who doesn't even know what's going on and cries along with you. "Huk...." "No... why are you crying?" "Woo... I don't know...." Harriet suddenly started crying, and Rihanna was the second to freeze. "This." "Uh, um... huk...." Ellen gave Harriet a tissue. * * * I didn't cry, but Harriet did. That's what I believe. Of course, the kids have a different idea, but I don't know. So in the end, there was a surprise party, but there was a luxurious dinner spread out. So it's only natural to eat it. It wasn't a social party with musicians playing music and people dancing. It seems clear that Rihanna dislikes that kind of thing. It's hard to imagine her dancing at a social party in a dress with men approaching her with nothing to do. Of course, we don't know what it's really like. There was a lot of food prepared. Ellen knew she could cook well from last time, but it was surprising that Harriet, Adelia, and even Cliff had helped. "Did you drag them here?" "I said we needed more hands." It seems that Cliff was brought along by Rihanna. Has she become Rihanna's exclusive slave? If it's something she likes as a reward, I don't know, but if she really hates it and is forced to do it, isn't this school violence or something? No. At this point, calling it school violence is a bit funny. What I'm curious about is who made what. Ellen can't tell what I'm eating in front of her. Harriet's dish was all too obvious. When I sneakily look to see what I'm touching, she looks at me with expectant eyes. But it's quite amazing. Cream pasta in front of me. Judging by the way she's watching, it's clear that Harriet made it. But honestly. You're the kind of character who shouldn't be able to cook at this timing, right? Shouldn't there be a development where you put sugar instead of salt or something like that? In the end, I closed my eyes and took a bite because I was sure I would be disappointed if I didn't eat it. "How is it? How is it?" Harriet asked me, looking scared to eat. What? Why is it just delicious? It's not extremely delicious, but it felt even more delicious because I thought Harriet made it. "Why is it delicious?" Harriet narrowed her eyes at my words. "What? If it's delicious, it's delicious. What does 'why is it delicious' mean?" "No, why do you know how to cook?" "I just followed the recipe in the cookbook." Ah. Is it saying that if you just follow the recipe, it can't be bad? It's a top student-like approach to cooking. It even made me think that it's not impossible for Harriet to be bad at cooking. But still, it's the first time and it's this good. Maybe she has an incredible talent for cooking? The types of food were different, but the feeling was the same. Ellen did most of the good ones. Harriet did most of the ones that were okay. "..." "..." There were some really bad ones. "It's the first time...because it's the first time..." "No, if it's the first time, it's natural to be like this. Don't think you did something wrong." Adelia took care of the cooking attribute. No, it's not even worth calling it a cooking attribute. It's weird that Harriet, who is good at cooking for the first time, did something strange. It seems that Cliff was in charge of preparing the ingredients and other miscellaneous tasks. In the end, the abundant meal came to an end. The protagonist expressed gratitude for everyone coming together to do this for someone like them who was feeling down. The party didn't end there as they were invited to stay overnight in the Granzalk Castle since there were plenty of empty rooms. The protagonist had enough time since it was winter break. They were staying in a separate building to avoid the gaze of the servants and family members in the main building. Rihanna was trying to find an opportunity to be alone with the protagonist's group, but it wasn't the right time yet. The discussion turned to where they wanted to go during winter break, and Rihanna seemed to want to go somewhere before winter break ended. The protagonist noticed that Cliff was frozen and unable to respond when Rihanna asked him where he wanted to go. Eventually, Rihanna teased Cliff about wanting to go alone with her, and Harriet and Adelia were uncomfortable with the situation. Ellen was preoccupied with macarons. The group discussed where to go for winter break. As the conversation continued, it was amusing that Cliff, who seemed to have social anxiety, had the most reactions after Rihanna. The protagonist went outside because they weren't sure if they could join in and took a walk in the nearby mansion garden. They realized the power and wealth of the Granzalk family, especially with a daughter like Rihanna who spends money like water. They also thought about how most of the students with powerful backgrounds were in the A class. Unexpectedly, they encountered Owen de Gatemora, the Master of the Merchant Guild, at the entrance of the mansion. The protagonist was surprised and felt uneasy about why he was there.