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—meanwhile, at the same time.
"…how strange."
"Your Highness? What could be the problem?"
In the greenhouse at the rooftop of the academy, Leonardo muttered over a cup of black tea. He sat on a table surrounded by rose bushes.
"Was it the taste of the tea? I"ll make them prepare another right away."
"No, it"s fine."
The n.o.ble girl sitting on his left was ready to call the butler, but Leonardo stopped her while silently sipping the tea.
In addition to tea, sandwiches and baked goods were lined up on the table, but so far, none had been touched.
"Your Highness, would you like something to eat? Yesterday, I wasn"t prepared, however, today, I prepared everything that seemed to be in Your Highness" liking."
The young lady sitting on his right proudly showed the high-cla.s.s dessert and food, however, Leonardo didn"t even bother answering, only glancing at them.
"Violet-sama, you mustn"t bother him like that. The fact that His Highness agreed to sit here with us is already something for us to be grateful of—right, Imeldsama?"
"I agree, it is as Camilsama"s says."
A young lady who sat diagonally from him, Camila, reprimanded Violet, who recommended the food. Imelda happily agreed with her.
"…Fuun."
…what a shallow conversation—and they all belong to the rank of a marquis?
In disgust, Leonardo put his cup back in the saucer rather harshly.
"Your Highness, was something not to your liking? …I"m deeply sorry."
d.u.c.h.ess Rosalind Ariarose, who sat in front of him, said with a very remorseful expression.
Platinum blonde hair with no curls. Her blue eyes were like the deep sea; beautiful, but hidden beneath, was an absolute coldness.
"Fuun…"
Even though they are both blonde, they"re so different…
When he thought about a certain strawberry blonde, immediately, what came afterwards was something reminiscent of a gentle, warm spring—to which the girl"s clear blue eyes were the sky. Leonardo laughed bitterly.
That girl should be wearing his blue corsage by now, and would attend dance party tomorrow.
While he was busy preparing a suitable corsage for that Uniquely Furred Cat, the annoying Black Rat beat him to it.
Yet, who had ever heard of a cat dancing with a mouse at a party? Dancing with a mouse shouldn"t be the Cat"s real intentions.
"Your Highness? Were you thinking of something interesting?"
The Cat probably felt bad refusing the Rat"s invitation, hence she had no choice but to accept. Leonardo"s invitation would be the solution to that. With it, the Cat could refuse the Rat"s invitation. In a way, he was lending her a hand.
"Your Highness, are you perhaps unwell…?"
While he was busy thinking, Rosalind inquired once again.
"No, it"s nothing. I was just thinking about yesterday"s commotion."
He was reluctant, but making enemies with those girls would be troublesome. Thus, he reached out for one of the sandwiches on the table.
"Ah, yes, that was indeed quite a commotion. There was an intruder in the girls" dormitory, who, for some reason, gave everyone a blue rose corsage."
"Ever since we enrolled, this is the first time this kind of thing has happened. Not just the first years, the whole school is talking about it."
"Even if there"s no collateral this time, it"s still creepy…"
"Yes… what a strange coincidence…"
He chewed the bland sandwich and drank the tasteless tea.
"…it"s too much to be called a mere coincidence." After putting the cup back in the saucer, Leonardo uttered so.
"Your Highness…?"
"Never mind. I"m returning to the cla.s.sroom. Just continue your tea party."
Now that he had confirmed that the commotion had truly happened, there was no longer any need to waste his time there. Leonardo left his seat.
"Your Highness—!? But—!?"
"Please wait—! You haven"t had any—"
—the n.o.ble girls were obviously disappointed, however, he didn"t spare them a single glance—
—not worth it.
He left the greenhouse, and was finally free from the grasp of the sickeningly sweet perfumes blended with flower scents.
"…I"ve kept you waiting."
"No, I haven"t been waiting." The servant shook his head. "You sure you want to leave? You could always stay with the "Rose Garden" a little bit more and converse with them."
"—and endure those sickening aromas for "a little bit more"? My nose will bend."
"It"s also your responsibility to maintain a relations.h.i.+p with them, Your Highness. Even though you were advised to attend tea parties, you never did… Now, when you finally do it for the first time in a while, you were barely there—"
"Ei, so noisy! It"s up to me where I spend my lunch break!"
"Rose Garden"—a group formed by four n.o.ble girls with the Marquis t.i.tle. d.u.c.h.ess Rosalind Ariarose was the leader. They were all the candidates to be the Prince"s fiancée.
"This is beneficial for your future, Your Highness. Someday, you"ll have to choose one of them to be your Queen and reign with her—"
"—whom I"ll marry is my own decision. I won"t accept any kind of instruction from others."
Leonardo"s fiancée candidates had already been decided from an early age. Those so called fiancée candidates were, in reality, only some women who had no interest in anything else beside his status.
"In reality, all you want is to gain your father-in-law"s favor, who favored your sister-in-law more than you."
"T-that"s not true! I"m only thinking about your future, Your Highness!"
His attendant belonged to the Ariarose Family, whom were trying to make their lady a queen. This man was from a very distant relative.
The attendant was generally a nice person, but that didn"t mean Leonardo trusted him. Because, at the end of the day, those from the Ariarose Family were just trying to appeal Rosalind to him.
"What did you gain out of this?"
"This—… here, why are we suddenly talking about this—?!"
"What? Something you want to say? You better be quick, then."
The attendant shut his mouth in frustration. It seemed that he didn"t have the heart to continue. After a while, he switched topics.
"Your Highness, the culprit of the girls" dormitory incident, you aren"t searching for him?"
"You dare order me around?"
"I, I"ve spoken out of line."
Last night, Leonardo overheard another student talking about an event in the girls" dormitory.
However, it wasn"t about "Sharina Clydea, the first year, received the prince"s blue rose corsage", and instead, about someone who dared to give out the same corsage to everyone in the dorm.
He was shocked.
To pinpoint the culprit, he had tasked one of his attendants to bring him one of the fake corsages from the first year female dorm.
"Fuun. As expected, it"s a cheap imitation."
The corsage was made of a material so cheap, no aristocrats would even think of wearing it—just as Leonardo imagined.
"…as what you can expect from that Rat. This is obviously the extent of his wealth."
"Your Highness? What could you possibly…"
Even if the trick was still unknown, the true perpetrator was easy to guess, considering their motives. There was only one person capable of such things—
"…I said it, didn"t I? "There would be no third time"."
Leonardo laughed fearlessly, as he crushed the faded corsage in his hand.
"You dare latch around my Cat, huh? You delusional Rat whom forgets his own position!"
Leonardo Randall Ulysia Elgacia was born a winner and never had a shortage of women.
As such, the fact that he had since the start lost to a poor Baron"s son who lived in the countryside;
That his approach was seriously unasked for—
—he had never dreamed of such possibilities.
***T/N : …Regarding this prince who treats everyone living under the sun like s.h.i.+t, I have so many questions–but first and foremost, yeah where tf is his tutor? Just by enabling this Narciss.h.i.+t"s “I won"t abide by anyone rules–it"s either my way or the highway!!” att.i.tude, that tutor deserves beheading. I think his ideal type of girl is someone he can unaware-ly annoy to death.
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~a budding translator~