“Ha?!”
Hearing the name of her foolish childhood friend come from the lips of the icy beauty before her, even the dignified and elegant Alice couldn’t maintain her composure.
Oh no, could that idiot have done something bad again?
No way, right? It couldn’t be, right?
The brilliant Princess Alice quickly recalled all the mischief Lorin had caused growing up—the worst being when he dragged her along to skip class—and instantly regained her confidence. Her cherry-pink eyes stared straight at the aloof girl opposite her.
“Lorin can be a bit mischievous, but he’s still a citizen of the Papal State. If he’s done something wrong, Miss Yuffie, just tell me. I’ll discipline him properly when I get back!”
The matter involved her childhood friend, so Alice couldn’t help but straighten her slender waist, unleashing her full princess aura, staring seriously at the aloof girl.
“But I believe that in the upcoming Sera Academy assessment, our always impartial Discipline Committee Chairperson will certainly not show any bias, right!”
Seeing Alice’s sudden agitation, Yuffie’s violet eyes flickered with surprise. She squeezed her pale little hand in slight astonishment, then continued.
“I think you’ve misunderstood something, President Aksia.”
Watching the Papal State princess act so protectively, Yuffie’s eyes showed a trace of surprise. After all, from her investigations, Lorin didn’t have a great reputation. But then again, rumors were just like passing wind—you listened and let them go. She believed that someone in a high position should listen to all sides to stay clear.
So she continued to the main topic of their conversation.
“Please let me finish. Young Master Lorin hasn’t broken any rules. I came to see you because of a personal matter.”
At these words, Princess Alice, who had been ready to argue on behalf of her childhood friend, was dumbfounded again.
Since Lorin was fine and hadn’t done anything wrong, why did she specifically mention him? And she called him a “trouble” or something. How could her personal matter involve the two of them—one a profligate young master in the Papal State, the other a genius heiress in the Carlos Empire? They were completely unrelated. Even a novel couldn’t write such a strange plot!
So she could only calmly take another sip of black tea and continue looking at Yuffie.
“Actually, I just found out that I have a marriage contract with Lorin Morsat, so—”
Before she could finish, the usually dignified and elegant Alice choked on her tea, coughing twice. Her little face turned red, and she patted her chest frantically.
“Pfft!”
“What did you say? How come I don’t know? He has a marriage contract with someone you don’t even know?!”
Alice stood up abruptly and stared at Yuffie.
But compared to Alice’s excitement, Yuffie calmly opened her Space Ring and handed over a gilded Marriage Contract.
Alice, no longer caring about her image, quickly grabbed the contract. Her cherry-pink eyes seemed ready to bore through the small scroll.
“How can this be real?!”
Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.
No one from the Aksia family could better authenticate this marriage contract than her. Seeing the Phoenix Seal and the signature of the Crippled King—her tyrant grandfather—Alice felt like she’d been struck by lightning.
Even worse, the agreed date on the contract was the first Star Moon Festival after both parties came of age, which was in September of this year—only half a year away. Ha!
“So I think I’m no longer suitable to proctor my own fiancé’s exam alone. I know you, Princess Aksia, are the fairest, so I want to ask you to proctor Lorin Morsat.”
“Moreover, my grandfather also ordered me to favor students from the Carlos Empire in this exam. So I discussed it with the principal and want to ask you to be in charge of the more important practical exam, while I handle the theory exam with well-crafted questions from the Student Council. That way, we can provide a fair and pure environment for all students.”
Having stated her true purpose for visiting Alice, the graceful girl stood up and bowed deeply to Alice.
“Sigh, you don’t have to do this, Yuffie. This isn’t your fault. Your grandfather really is…”
Seeing the girl, who insisted on maintaining her principles, once again troubled by her rude and unreasonable family, Alice couldn’t help but feel sympathy.
“Alright, I accept, Yuffie. Sera Academy is a pure place for learning, not a tool for nobles to play politics!”
—
The first rays of morning sunlight pierced through layers of clouds, scattering onto the earth, allowing people who had rested all night to welcome a quiet morning.
But in the Morsat family kitchen, things were far from quiet.
“Young Master, please be careful. Blowing up the kitchen is a small matter, but hurting yourself is a big one!”
Watching the chaotic kitchen Lorin had created, the Morsat head chef could only hold onto his chef’s hat and watch from the side, afraid the little ancestor would fall.
“That’s salt, not sugar, Young Master!”
He had no idea why, today, their young master suddenly got up early on a whim, saying he wanted to make breakfast himself.
He threw a bundle of noodles into the boiling water with a swoosh and started messing around randomly.
He put some thinly sliced noodles into the oil pan and threw a few eggs into the hot water.
After a whole morning of hard work, Chef Lorin looked at his completed Clear Soup Noodles and Fried Dough Sticks with satisfaction and carried them out.
But halfway, he seemed to think of something, turned back with the tray, and pointed at Lucia, who had just finished her morning exercise, saying to the chef somewhat sheepishly,
“Take the breakfast out to her and say you made it!”
“Me? Me?” Looking at the swollen noodles in the bowl and the blackened fried items he couldn’t name, the chef felt his reputation as the God of Cookery was about to be ruined.
But since it was the heartfelt effort of their young master, who normally never cooked, Chef Uncle dutifully walked to the fairy-like maiden who was tidying her long hair and placed the tray down.
“Miss Lucia, this is… this is our family’s specialty breakfast. Please enjoy.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he dashed away as if his feet were on fire.
Leaving only the smiling fairy girl at the table. She tied her sun-kissed stray hairs into a high ponytail, elegantly picked up some noodles with chopsticks, blew on them, and put them into her cherry-like mouth, chewing slowly.
“Mmm, it’s really delicious. I’ve never had such unique noodles before.” As she spoke, her smiling golden eyes glanced at someone nearby who thought they were hiding well.