Fala Rubia Academy was a prestigious academy where the aristocratic children of Kingdom Elgacia enrolled.
Only aristocrats could enroll in the academy. Other than that, the area was large. Within the academy, various facilities were built. In regards to the food, all the cafeterias were managed by professional, five stars, chefs.
In addition, a kitchen was furbished on each dormitory floor for the purpose of those who brought their own chefs.
In one of the kitchens, where a particular n.o.ble lady currently was—
"—Hyaaaah!!! Uryaaaa—!!! Doryaaa—!!!"
Her voice rose with enthusiasm, to the point it was almost unrecognizable.
The n.o.ble lady—Sharina Clydea—was struggling with bread dough.
The strategy of winning Riol"s heart through cookies was abandoned—not only because Riol refuse to eat them, but also because the cookies were stolen by a shady person.
…It seems that Riol-sama would only have my sandwich…
That was why she earnestly practiced how to make bread—of course, she acquired the recipe book from her chef. The book was sent a few days ago.
"After that, let it ferment first… hmm… if I cut my sleeping time, it"ll be finished just in time for tomorrow morning…"
Starting from tomorrow, Riol would be picking her up in the morning and escorting her home in the evening. She had to fully take advantage of the opportunity.
She would show him the cute lunch box in the morning and invited him to eat together in the backyard at noon. Until yesterday, she had brought the food herself—however, now…
…maybe we can promise to eat together, like a real couple!
"Ugh—! What am I imagining—! Too fast, it"s too fast—!"
She jumped up and down because of her imagination.
…don"t lose track of reality!
Riol-sama only offered so because he"s worried that the suspicious man would appear again—!
…Uggh, how kind of him, he"s so cool…
Where else can I find such a nice guy…?
—no, I"m going off on a tangent again…
It was obvious that Riol did his previous actions out of concern for her—and not, per say, because of attraction. Riol"s impression of Sharina was probably "a friendly person that gives delicious lunch" at best.
I mustn"t become delusional…
"But, maybe… this plan to get his heart through his stomach could succeed…"
If she practice diligently to improve her cooking, Riol might fall for her someday—other than this method, she couldn"t think of anything else…
As she began to ferment the dough, she hoped for that certain day to come with all her heart. The blush of her cheeks were rose.
"Tomorrow, it"ll be ready…!"
"Purely handmade bread—thus, my special sandwich is done!"
The next day, early in the morning, Sharina baked the dough. After that, she sandwiched multiple ingredients with the slices of bread. Full of energy, the sandwich she made too, was full of stuffing—a bit too much, to be honest. The sandwich"s final height was amazing.
If this sandwich stayed by its conventional form, the stuffing was likely to spill out. Hence, Sharina went out of her way to slice the round bread—half up and down, so that the ingredients would be held from top and also be supported from the bottom.
"I wonder if it"ll be easier to eat if I wrap it in thin paper…"
Tomato, lettuce, cheese, bacon, fried egg, and lastly, hamburger. Unfortunately, the hamburger wasn"t handmade. It was pre-made, thus, the only thing she needed to do was bake it.
The chef of her family, with whom Sharina consulted with, sent said patty. His advice was, "meat is a sure way to a man"s heart." She used it with grat.i.tude.
The other n.o.ble ladies" chefs in the kitchen also taught her how to handle fire.
"Alright, this is perfect! Thank you everyone! Now, time to go!"
"Haha, take care on the way, young miss."
She wrapped the hamburger sandwich in thin paper before stuffing it into a lunch box. She left the kitchen, full of spirit. Thirty minutes before the appointed time—I can"t make Riol wait, I have to come early!
"…That"s clearly not a sandwich."
"Oh well, it looks both nice and scrumptious, doesn"t it?"
Ten seconds after Sharina had left, the chefs murmured to each other.
"Oh, hey, if it isn"t the cat from yesterday. Today, you don"t smell of sweet, but sauce instead."
"He?"
It was twenty minutes before the appointed time. Unable to wait any longer, Sharina went to the boy"s dormitory by herself. There, she spotted a carriage. When the carriage"s window opened, the pa.s.senger was none other than that man.
It was only a short distance from here to the school building—about a ten minutes" walk, top. However, a lot of students prefer to use horse-drawn carriage.
But, it was clear as day that this wasn"t just the average carriage.
"Your Highness! Don"t just suddenly order the carriage to stop!"
"Aah, right. Hey, Woman, get on. It"s for yesterday"s cookies."
"No, I"m alright, thank you."
"…Ho. So, have you figured out who am I?"
—the Cookie Thief! She was about to spout so, but managed to shut her mouth.
"How dare you not know of His Highness" ident.i.ty! He"s this kingdom"s first prince—Leonardo Randall Ulyssia Elgacia—! Only ignorant people are unable to discern this carriage"s royal crest!"
"Ho… it seems that you"re aware of that, already. Yet, there"s no change in your att.i.tude. Why, this is so interesting…"
…the day has barely begun, but this guy"s nonsensicalness has already reached its peak.
I wonder if his head is alright. Should I check if there"s a hole somewhere? Maybe his brain is already leaking out—
—Sharina"s mind was filled with profanity.
"This is an order. Woman, get in the carriage."
"Eh? No… Nooooooo—!!"
The Thief Prince snapped his finger and a magic circle appeared—this time, under Sharina"s feet. The next moment, a heavy wind blew and tried to lift Sharina.
—Bachin!
"Eh?"
The wind scattered, as if it was deflected by something. The magic circle under her was ruined and vanished.
"…What just—"
"—Sharina! Are you okay!?"
"Riol—!!"
At the same time, her special someone rushed towards her. Did Riol negate the evil magic circle?
"—was that your work…? What did you just do…?"
"Again, I should be the one asking that—!! What do you think you"re doing, Your Highness—!? Best regards to the kingdom, its Prince already possesses the audacity to flip a lady"s skirt in broad daylight—!! Moreover, with magic—!!"
"Wha—!?"
"Riol—!?"
Riol raised his voice as he came between Sharina and the carriage.
"No, Riol, actually—"
—he wasn"t trying to lift her skirt, and more like, trying to lift her into the carriage—both were awful, but the former was just…
…to the misunderstanding Riol, Sharina was trying to explain the situation, however—
"Be quiet, Sharina."
"Okay~!"
—what a true gentleman!
I"m utterly grateful to Riol, my feet are trembling—I swear my hips are going to break!
"—instead, Your Highness should be the one explaining his intentions to me. Your Highness made a magic circle appear under her skirt. She screamed and held her skirt. If your magic wasn"t stopped by my magical amulet, what would"ve happen then—well, what else could happen then? I don"t care whether you"re a prince or not. I shall not overlook attempted s.e.xual hara.s.sment, I"ll report this to the teacher!"
"Wait! You misunderstood!"
Immediately before Riol could proceed with his words, the prince"s attendant jumped out of the carriage.
"You are misunderstanding something, Riol Glen!"
"…how do you know my name—"
"—you won the first place in writing department exam! Riol Glen! I know the face and the name of every special student! Even those in "Study of Written Magic Department"!"
Furthermore, the attendant was drenched in sweat.
"You misunderstood because you were far away! His Highness wasn"t trying to flip her skirt, he was just trying to help her onto the carriage!"
"Help her get onto the carriage? The carriage"s door isn"t even open…!"
"He"s going to open it after lifting her!"
The attendant was desperately explaining the truth, however, his desperation only made it sound like a painful excuse. The attendant, whom was also aware of that, nervously bit his lips.
"Hey, you! You"re the cause of all this! Explain properly!"
"—stop it right there. You referred to me by name, then why don"t you refer to her as such? If your explanation was correct, she should be well-acquainted enough with His Highness to ride together with him! Are you saying that you don"t even know her name?"
When the attendant tried to get close to Sharina, Riol got in the way again.
"I… I do, she"s… Miss Sharina, right?"
"That"s because I called her! What about her house name? Do you know it?"
The attendant grew completely silent. It was a tough job to remember all of the house names—especially of those that didn"t stand out—even if the number wasn"t unreasonable. Unlike Riol, Sharina was an average student. He knew of Count Clydea—but not to an extent of recognizing his daughter on sight.
"B, but… it"s true, His Highness didn"t mean to do that… please, believe me…"
In spite of his suffering, the attendant bowed his head—to an impoverished Baron"s third son, who resided at the bottom of the social ladder. Even though as an attendant, he probably hailed from a decent house.
**T/N: *Made a score board “Prince” “Riol” wrote 0 under Prince"s name wrote 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 under Riol"s name
–so sorry, guys, but I"m a bit tilted towards Riol rn. That wits. That confidence. That gallantness. AYYYY RIOL ALL TEH WAYYYYYYYYYY wave three lightsticks at each hand ///kicks the Prince to the curb: learn to respect ppl"s free will–///
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~a budding translator~