0&1 Ch 21.15

Idella bowed her head several times and disappeared. Overcome with relief, I accepted her goodbye, but upon reflection, I realized that I hadn’t actually done anything for Idella.

I had forgotten about the promise I made to buy her gloves and clothes. Would Idella come looking for me later to ask for them?

Probably not. But I also couldn’t bring myself to find her again at the academy and offer to buy them for her.

It might end up being like I was kicking away her chance to forget Joffrey.

When will Idella ever be able to forget Joffrey?

Wouldn’t it be better if I didn’t compensate her, so she wouldn’t think so kindly of Joffrey? Few people hold on to bad memories.

‘Oh, he never even brought those things up after all. Prince Joffrey is really a nasty person,’ she might think, and then she might forget about me.

The problem was that Idella had no money.

If I ruined Idella’s clothes and made her unable to wear them, she might end up enrolling in school with her only decent outfit ruined.

It doesn’t seem like becoming a hated person is an option.

“Did you know her?” Alex asked. He must have seen Idella and me introduce ourselves, so I don’t understand what he means.

“I saw you for the first time today.”

“…I see.” Alex turned his head away, looking a little confused.

Is he interested in Idella?

Almost all of the characters in the game showed interest in Idella as soon as they met her. That’s to be expected in a dating game.

If the character was designed to be interested in Idella from the start, Alex could have felt attracted to her even before the original story began.

“She seems like a nice person, doesn’t she?” I casually probed, and Alex’s expression became ambiguous.

“Yes.”
“Hmm. Yeah.”

Did he really develop feelings for her?

I remembered Alex interrupting to reveal his name.

Did he want to plant memories of himself in Idella’s mind?

I don’t want to mess up the main story. I shouldn’t have gotten involved with Idella.

I should have been more alert and watched out for the heroine or other characters to appear.

What was done was done.

When I arrived at the men’s dormitory building, students who had already been accepted were being assigned rooms.

Next to a senior who looked like the dormitory manager, I saw a dazzling machine.

Isn’t that a machine for drawing lottery tickets?

Lightweight balls were rolling around inside a round glass container.

A ball popped out of the machine, which looked like it might be some kind of advanced technology.

The dormitory manager looked at the number on the ball and said,

“Room 303.”
“Umm…”
“What’s your name?”

“Pavel Sanson,” Pavel answered. 

The dormitory manager wrote the name in the register and said, “Next.”

Pavel didn’t go up right away but went to Lowell and whispered something to him.

“Hey. You got room 303 too.”
“Am I a magician? How do I do that?”
“Magic and alchemy are similar, aren’t they?”
“It’s alchemy. There are still idiots like you who confuse the two…”
“What? Idiots?”

As I watched the two bicker, it was my turn.

The dorm rooms at the academy were assigned equally. Being a Prince didn’t give me any advantages or disadvantages.

They were assigned by lottery.

Balls were bouncing around inside a glass container. It was an intuitively fair method.

As I approached, the dormitory manager looked at my face and was about to ask my name, but then he straightened up.

“Your Highness, Prince Joffrey.”

He knew me. Some students had already noticed me, so there was little commotion.

Once again, I realized that even small voices can create a tremendous buzz when many people gather together.

The dormitory manager said, “I’m sorry, but even Your Highness must go through the assignment process. It’s the rule.”

He seemed embarrassed. He glanced over my shoulder.

It meant that even if I wanted to be assigned to the same room as Alex, I couldn’t.

“I understand. Please assign me a room as well.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”

The dormitory manager abandoned his previous indifferent attitude and picked a number politely. It wasn’t as if a special number would come out.

Alex hadn’t been assigned a room either, so what difference would it make if they were careful in assigning me a room?

“Room 306, Your Highness,” The dormitory manager said with an apologetic look. A few upperclassmen who were watching let out a groan.

“Is it a bad room?”
“No, Your Highness.”
“Why are you reacting like that?”

It didn’t seem like he was lying.

The dormitory manager scratched his head.

“That room is at the end of the hall, Your Highness.”
“Does it get drafty?”

I couldn’t think of any reason why the room would be bad. Surely there wasn’t mold in a dormitory where nobles slept.

“What? Hmm? You might get a little wind.”
“Is there another problem?”

The dormitory manager looked around and said in a hushed voice, “Yes, Your Highness. Actually, there are rumors about that room.”

“What rumors?”
“That… something shows up in there. I apologize, Your Highness.”
“No, thank you for letting me know.”

Isn’t the cold wind scarier than ghosts? The dormitory manager’s priorities were strange.

“Oh my, Your Highness is in the last room…”
“Shouldn’t we change his room?”

The students were whispering.

… Are ghosts actually haunting the room?

If this were the real world, I wouldn’t have cared, but this was a game. It wasn’t strange for ghosts to appear.

I didn’t remember there being any ghosts in the girls’ dormitory.

But the game liked to give strange settings to its extras, so I couldn’t let my guard down.

I stood to the side and watched Alex.

Alex was frowning. When he narrowed his eyes, his usual blunt and sincere face became sharp.

The dormitory manager was watching the ball’s movements much more carefully than when he assigned me.

The ball flew around like a shuttlecock hit by a smash, hitting the glass wall with a loud thud. If you could count the number of balls just by watching, you wouldn’t be human, you’d be a machine.

The dormitory manager didn’t have animal-like eyesight, so he couldn’t pick out room 306 again.

“…It’s Room 301, Your Highness.” The dormitory manager looked at me as he spoke.

Alex, who had been assigned, also looked back at me. Why are you looking at me?

“Is Room 301 far from my room?” I asked without addressing anyone in particular, but a senior student standing against the wall quickly replied.

“It’s at the other end, Your Highness.”

“He’s always been bad at assignments, Your Highness,” Another senior student said.

The dormitory manager looked down at the ball he had picked, feeling lost.

Alex approached me. He put his mouth close to my ear and said in a low voice, “Your Highness. If you allow me, I will quickly switch balls.”

“Everyone has already seen it. What are you going to do to change it…?”

The students who had gathered were all talking among themselves, saying things like:
“His Highness is in Room 306?”
“It’s the last room.”
“The bodyguard is in Room 301?”
“They’re completely apart.”

A male student who had just entered the dormitory looked around in confusion. He looked like he was wondering what was going on.

A student who had entered first kindly explained the situation.

“Oh, I see.” The male student looked at Alex with pity.

It seemed that soon everyone in the school would know about this.

I had always wondered how rumors spread in the royal palace. I didn’t know I would find out at the academy.

The male student who had just learned the news was telling the next student who entered.

Rumors were spreading like wildfire.

“Room 306 has already been assigned to a student. The door is open, so you can go ahead, Your Highness,” The dormitory manager explained.

Alex tried to go up the stairs before me. His expression was stiff.

“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll try to convince the other student in Room 306, Your Highness.”
“Don’t pick up any bad habits from Dot…”

You’re not that kind of person…

Alex was honest and sincere. He followed the rules and never did anything unethical.

They say children learn at the speed of light, but maybe he spent too much time with Dot. I didn’t think his character would change in just a few days.

“There are no special privileges in dorm assignments. That’s the academy rule. You know that. Equality among students.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”

I had to restore Alex’s character. Cooking class was the way to go to improve morality and character.

I climbed the stairs with Alex, who was full of discontent. Alex followed me, saying he would walk me to room 306.

The dormitory hallway felt like an old place. All the rooms were double rooms.

The game did not reveal who shared a room with the characters in the strategy guide. In the game, only the room where the heroine stayed in the girls’ dormitory was shown.

The friend character who shared a room with the heroine was there to tell her about various rumors and events on campus that she didn’t know about. It probably was a bit like Dot.

I don’t remember very well.

Alex opened the door to Room 306.

“Huh?”
“… Your Highness?”

As soon as he opened the door, Grey appeared. He looked at me with a surprised expression and touched his forehead with one hand.

“Yeah. Nice to see you too.” Isn’t that a bit too much?

I know you’re on Edward’s side, but we’ve built up some feelings for each other. And now you’re distancing yourself like that?