0&1 Ch 21.13

Idella pulled her chin up and straightened her back.

She tried to stand up, taking the boy’s hand.

But at that moment, the boy pulled his hand away, and she fell forward. Her white gloves were rubbed and dirtied as she supported herself with both arms.

Her palms hurt. It was no big deal that her hands were scratched. But the pain from the scratches spread to her eyes, making her eyelids flutter.

What was that?

Did he not want to touch her dirty gloves? Or were they dirtier than he thought when he tried to grab them?It was possible.

Idella knew that nobles were like that.

Even her parents, who were nothing more than fallen nobility, couldn’t bear to get their hands dirty.

“I’m sorry. Really. Can you get up by yourself?”

The boy lowered himself and spoke, still not looking at Idella.Idella bit her lip.

She hoped her voice wouldn’t tremble as she spoke.“Where are you looking? I’m not over there.”

The boy looked at her without thinking. His black eyes caught sight of her disheveled appearance and quickly looked away.

“I’m sorry,” The boy apologized.

Idella tried to say something in response, but her throat was so tight that no sound came out.

He was picking up the things Idella had dropped. He hadn’t meant to insult her.

But Idella still felt insulted.

Idella shrugged her shoulders. She took a deep breath and tried to speak again.

A huge knight appeared before her eyes. It was the man she had thought was a servant earlier. When he put down the male student he was holding, she saw the sword at his waist. He was a knight carrying a sword.

The knight knelt down and said, “I’ll do it.” He took the bag the male student was picking up.

The boy looked embarrassed.

A nobleman and his knight.

Idella stared at the two men in a daze.

They were nobles. They were nobles who didn’t need to loudly proclaim their status like Idella’s parents, nor did they feel the need to embarrass Idella.

They didn’t need to say embarrassing things like Idella had done that morning.

When she came to her senses, her cheeks were wet with tears. She wanted to cry. She wanted to slap herself for being so stupid.

The boy was the very image of an academy student, and Idella realized that she had come here believing the words of her childhood tutor, like a fool, in pursuit of her only hope.

She had come here believing that she belonged in this world.

Through her blurry vision, she saw a young man with a cold expression walking toward her. He stood in front of the male student and sighed.

“Your Highness, Prince Joffrey. What are you doing here? Have you checked your dorm room?”

“Grey.” The boy responded.

Prince?

Idella closed her eyes tightly and then opened them again.The tears that had been hanging precariously on her eyelashes overflowed.

When her vision cleared, she saw the boy staring at her with wide eyes… His Highness Prince Joffrey, the second Prince.

Why didn’t she realize?

Only royalty could look so radiant.

Idella had never imagined that she would meet a Prince in her life.

She greeted him dazedly, “Hello, Your Highness.”

“Why are you crying?”

The Prince stood up abruptly.

Maybe I have a talent for making people cry?

I had a theory about that before, and now I think it’s been confirmed.

The heroine started crying as soon as she saw me. Why? What the hell?

My plan to avoid showing my face to the heroine was stopped in its tracks. It was a plan I had formulated just a second ago.

I wondered if it was okay for Joffrey to appear before the main story even started.

No, they’re in the same school, so they must have met before!

Maybe the heroine forgets about it. Maybe she thinks she met Joffrey for the first time in second grade…Is that possible?

I think I’ve ruined everything.

“Your Highness… I didn’t know you were the Prince…” The heroine said with tears streaming down her face. She closed her eyes tightly, but her eyelashes were so wet that tears continued to flow from underneath.

“Of course you wouldn’t know. I’m not famous or anything. If I asked everyone who doesn’t know me to raise their hands, 99 percent of the population would raise their hands. Grey, give me a handkerchief.”

“Did you leave yours with me?”

Grey took a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was neatly folded and clean. Had he not used it today?

The new handkerchief was taken by the heroine and used to wipe her tears. She kept sniffling, so I said, “You can blow your nose.”

The heroine glanced up at me with bright red eyes. Really? She looked like a small animal.

I felt sorry for her and nodded, but Grey said in disbelief, “That’s my handkerchief.”

While Grey was flustered, the heroine blew her nose. Grey’s expression turned cold.

You saw her like that and you’re still worried about your handkerchief?

Well, probably.

“I’ll buy you ten new handkerchiefs and send them to you.”

“That’s not necessary. Your Highness doesn’t have great taste anyway,” Grey replied.

Then at least relax your expression. You’re stressing out the heroine.

She’ll be stressed enough throughout the game because of you. Don’t make it difficult for her before the main story even starts.

I signaled to Grey with my eyes and gestures. But Grey wasn’t the type to relax his expression just because I asked him to.

The heroine seemed to have fallen and hurt herself. Did she twist her leg? Is that why she’s crying?

Or because she didn’t recognize the Prince and spoke to him informally?

I tried to reassure the heroine with a gentle expression. But she couldn’t see my face because of her tears.

“Are you hurt? Let’s go to the dormitory. There will be a doctor in the infirmary. Alex, give me your bag. Can you help Idella to the infirmary?”

Alex glanced at me and said, “Yes, Your Highness.”

He approached the heroine. “Excuse me.”

“It’s okay, huh?”

Alex lifted the heroine up. It was a princess carry, shining with the time-honored tradition of romance.

Alex was already a handsome young knight, and he looked even more handsome carrying the heroine like that.

Is this okay?

She was too surprised to keep crying. She held the handkerchief tightly in both hands and looked up at Alex.

If this were a drama, music would have started playing and the camera would have brightened.

They look so good together.

The first meeting between the two was supposed to take place in the student council room.

Will the heroine forget about this? It seems like I’m in trouble.

“…Your Highness.”
“What is it, Grey? Do you have something to say?”

Grey hesitated. He pressed his eyebrows together and asked, “Are you going to follow her?”

“I guess I should.”
“With that bag?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine… do as you wish.”
“If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”

After saying all that, Grey tried to back away. What are you doing? That’s weird.

“No, now that you’re enrolled, you’re an academy student too. You should help your fellow student who fell down and carry her luggage to the infirmary. It’ll look good.”
“If you’re going to be sarcastic, at least do it right.”

“I’m not. I just have a headache now.” Grey was touching his forehead. He closed his eyes as if he didn’t want to see anything.

“I have some medicine that works well. Do you want me to get it for you?”
“Why do you have medicine like that?”
“Dot gave it to me.”

“I see.” Grey sighed and muttered, “I really don’t want to get involved in something like this. I’m leaving. See you at the entrance ceremony. I need to rest my head.”

“You always think too much.”

Worrying doesn’t solve many problems. At least, that was true in my case. It was a statement based on years of experience, but Grey reacted angrily as soon as he heard it.

“Who’s that because of? Oh, I’m really leaving!”
“I didn’t stop you.”

Grey really was difficult. He turned his back on me and walked away with big strides. Edward was standing where he was headed.

Of course. Why are you looking at me?

I lowered my head and picked up my bag and the heroine’s. One on each shoulder. Alex didn’t go far and waited for me.

The heroine was carried like a princess and kept insisting, “You can put me down.”

“Your legs must be sore. Are you uncomfortable with a stranger? If you’re worried about rumors, I’ll defend you with my honor.”
“No, I’m really not hurt. I’m really strong. They’ll tell me to stop pretending when I get to the infirmary. And…”
“And?”

She hesitated. “I… I didn’t pass the Academy entrance exam…”

“What?” This time, I was truly shocked.

What kind of nonsense is she talking about? How could the heroine fail to get into the academy?

Cold sweat instantly drenched my back.

“I’m not an academy student, so I shouldn’t be using the infirmary.”

The heroine looked at me with teary eyes. She seemed to be telling the truth. She had no reason to lie to me in the first place!

Wow, this is really scary.

“Wait, you’re not an Academy student…?”

Could it mean something different from what I thought?

Did she actually come in as a staff member? Does that make sense? The female lead was a student!

I personally made her a murderous study schedule, didn’t I? It was an endless cycle of studying and part-time work, with hardly any sleep…

I also remembered how she got sick after a month of that and how scared I was. My baby is sick! Who made her work so hard? It was me, wasn’t it?

It was an impossible schedule, but I remember thinking, ‘Why did they even bother to implement such a useless detail?’