episode_0008

In the restaurant, I suffered an embarrassment that couldn’t be washed away by Shasha.

I felt dirty.

I asked her to stop hitting me on the head gently because it would hurt if she hit me hard.

As she stubbornly continued speaking as if my opinion didn’t matter, a sense of gloom descended upon me.

Derren openly laughed at what was so amusing,

“We’re the only ones doing this in the restaurant.”

All eyes in the restaurant focused on us, and I lowered my head in shame.

My face was flushed, and I tried to control my expression by biting my lips lightly, but it was still difficult.

I introduced Shasha to the prince with the hope that things would go well for her.

I never expected that the first friend I made at the academy would stab me in the back.

“…If it’s come to this, there’s no choice but to break through head-on.”

“Huh?”

While Shasha still hugged me and tilted her head, I had already made up my mind.

Yes, we shouldn’t let these kids make fun of us here.

If I did this just to see me embarrassed, then if I don’t reciprocate, that’s it.

“That’s right.”

“What?”

“I’m incredibly cute, aren’t I…!”

I poked my cheek with my fingers and stuck out my tongue slightly.

Shasha’s words weren’t all lies, and I could pride myself on being cute.

After all, isn’t the female lead supposed to be pretty in the first place?

In this world, it’s natural for the most beautiful people to become princesses.

What could possibly attract a fallen nobleman like a prince who has nothing but his title?

Talent… disappeared, and even if you’re rich, you can’t be richer than a prince.

The inner beauty that novels often mention?

The words may sound nice, but it’s common sense that to confirm inner beauty, outer beauty must come first.

If we were to explain why the prince fell for the female lead, it would start with her looks.

In other words, I was being called pretty.

Does it make sense for the female lead to be ugly?

Anyway, what Shasha said was ultimately true, so I just had to accept it.

Perhaps the prince might not like my shameless behavior.

So, with a bit of exaggeration, I should confidently say,

“…Honestly, am I not the cutest and prettiest here?”

I closed my eyes tightly and spoke.

I thought that if I acknowledged it this once and moved on, we wouldn’t be bothered like this again, but whether my voice was louder than I thought or not, the voices of people whispering about us reached my ears.

Some laughed, some looked at us incredulously.

…Even without looking in the mirror, I knew my face was probably bright red right now.

Right?

“…Huh.”

Derren shook his head as if in disbelief, but since that action was akin to admitting defeat, I forced a smile.

It’s nothing but a wound, but it’s definitely my victory.

“…Let’s eat.”

Rather than feeling proud of my victory, I just wanted to leave quickly, so we silently focused on our meal for a while.

After finishing our meal and leaving the restaurant, the heavy air felt a bit lighter.

“Ugh, that was humiliating…”

“I thought something was off, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad…”

I muttered, turning my head away from their complaints.

“Who’s making fun of us, huh?”

Since Derren was also there, I guess I should use honorifics now.

“It’s more irritating when you keep using honorifics all the time.”

Approaching Derren, who seemed a bit flustered, I whispered in his ear, wanting to tease him a little more.

“…Oh, do you prefer casual speech over honorifics?”

“…Is that so?”

It seemed like Shasha found my actions amusing.

Just a while ago, the kid who couldn’t speak properly in front of Derren was now standing next to the prince imitating me, which was quite cute.

Indeed, no matter how much they pretended to be adults, they were ultimately ten-year-old kids.

“…Shasha, don’t get influenced by bad friends.”

With a sigh, Deron casually tossed out words without much thought, marveling at Shasha’s concern.

“Have you two become close?”

“Not exactly close, more like worrying.”

He mumbled about being worried that he might get involved with bad guys, but they heard it all.

“…What makes you think I’m bad?”

“…I mean, not bad, but definitely peculiar.”

“Shasha, the prince says I’m strange!”

If he were a true friend, he would defend me now, right?

Hoping for support, I leaned towards Shasha, but it seemed like she had no intention of defending me as she subtly avoided eye contact.

“…Honestly, you are a bit strange…”

“…Shasha.”

“But still, despite being strange, we’re friends!”

What’s with that pitiful look, as if looking at a sad animal?

And what about willingly agreeing to be friends?

Tsk. I clicked my tongue and looked at Deron.

Is this guy so lonely that he doesn’t even have friends despite being a prince?

He followed us eagerly from the restaurant and sat down with us, which warranted some reasonable suspicion.

“…You don’t have any friends, Prince?”

“Friends…?”

“Oh, except for Shasha and me.”

In reality, we aren’t really friends either. I felt uncomfortable around the prince, and Shasha still had many doubts about considering Deron her friend, so we were excluded.

“…I do have friends.”

“You don’t.”

There was a strange silence before he responded to my question, which implied that my guess was correct.

It seemed like he had people close to him, but he was unsure if they could be called friends.

Honestly, such speculation.

It was almost like an obsession, but since my guesses usually turned out to be right about 6 out of 10 times, I was confident this time too.

“Well, then.”

As if making a decision, I cheerfully patted Shasha on the shoulder and pushed her towards Deron.

“…Shasha will be your friend.”

They hadn’t known each other for long, but they seemed to be conspiring to tease me.

It appeared they could become good friends.

“…Shasha is cute, smart, annoying, but charming.”

“…Annoying?”

Ignoring Shasha’s words, I continued.

“The prince is cool, wealthy, powerful. Lacks a bit of tact, but not really a bad person.”

“…Lacks tact?”

Disregarding Deron’s words as well, I introduced them to each other.

It didn’t go well in the restaurant, but I hadn’t given up trying to connect them.

If they were interested in each other, their interest in me would naturally diminish.

This was my plan.

“What do you think about the two of them being friends?”

With a forced smile, I tried to appear harmless, and in response, Deron and Shasha sighed deeply and weakly shook hands.

“…Must be tired.”

“You too, Prince…”

What’s with this strange connection?

It felt odd, starting from the restaurant, trying to describe each other.

It felt like we had formed some kind of understanding, but now that it had happened, I felt left out and somewhat disappointed.

“Anyway, you must know, right? Many new students will start coming from tomorrow onwards.”

“Yes.”

“…Yes?”

Many new students, huh.

I had no idea about that.

“…Since you seem unaware, let me explain.”

The prince’s explanation went like this.

During this period, nobles moved to enroll their children in academies, leading to a surge in crimes targeting nobles.

To prevent such incidents, there had always been a large procession of nobles moving together to avoid such events, and the fastest procession was expected to arrive by tomorrow.

“…I had no idea.”

In novels, the female protagonist usually enrolled towards the end of the admission season.

There was no way to know the circumstances before the female protagonist enrolled.

But did I really need to know this? I pondered, and Shasha, glancing around, quietly spoke up.

“…I heard that some very famous people are coming this time.”

“Sure, with all the famous figures gathering at once, it seems like there’s a particular interest in this year’s procession.”

When they talk about famous people, they must be referring to the supporting characters in novels.

…I wasn’t particularly interested.

Even if the villainess Yeong-ae entered the academy almost at the same time as the female lead, she wouldn’t be involved in the procession now.

“I heard that the kingdom decided to enroll the princess from the royal family in the royal academy this time…”

“A princess… Indeed, I heard that the princess is also part of this year’s procession.”

Shasha chirped and chattered with the prince as if discussing something she was interested in.

There was a bothersome word hidden within.

The princess of the kingdom…?

“They say it’s to seek more knowledge from the kingdom…”

“It’s not necessarily for such innocent reasons, but anyway, since this year’s procession includes the princess and other prestigious individuals, it doesn’t seem like a bad thing.”

“…How could I even approach her… I’ll just be satisfied watching from afar.”

“…But what if the person in front of you is a prince?”

“Gasp!”

As they continued chatting, my mind gradually became more complicated.

It was clearly a matter of status and words that felt uncomfortable.

Nothing came to mind immediately.

“…By any chance, do you know what the princess’s title is?”

Upon my sudden question, the prince looked at me quizzically, then nodded and revealed the princess’s title.

“Child of the Stars.”

At that moment, it finally dawned on me.

Born on a day when the brilliant stars adorned the night sky.

The sole bloodline of the kingdom.

Thus named, the star of the kingdom.

Child of the Stars.

“…Oh no.”

I wiped my face.

If those words were true, then it meant a serious problem had arisen in this year’s procession.

After all, the princess of the kingdom, known as the Child of the Stars, was already deceased at the start of the story.

“…Are there soldiers under your direct command, Your Highness?”

I sighed.

Pretending not to know was the best course of action, but once I learned that a child was murdered, there was only one thing I had to do.

Allowing a child to die for my own benefit was out of the question,

It was something an adult should naturally do.

And I am an adult.