0&1 Ch 21.11

“Good luck. Please give my regards to Her Majesty.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The escort knight placed a fist to his chest. The soldiers followed suit. Thanks to them, people who hadn’t been paying attention to us all glanced in our direction. 

I waved my hand. Hurry up and go.

As the soldiers left, other people rushed in like a tidal wave. “Did you pass? Are you on the list?” Someone’s voice passed by me.

Even though the soldiers were urging him, Dot remained motionless a few meters away.

He kept looking at me. Why isn’t he leaving?

I wanted to enter the main gate in style. I thought Dot would leave once I entered.

But I couldn’t walk properly.

“Your Highness!” Alex shouted. 

It happened in an instant. The moment I lost sight of him, I was surrounded by people. I couldn’t move, as if I were stuck in a press.

What? Against my will, my body was lifted up and sucked forward.

People were carrying me forward like broken tracks. They didn’t want to do it either. Screams and moans could be heard from all around. Everyone was being swept away as if they were on a crowded subway, unable to move an inch.

I saw a door column next to me. We were about to pass through the main gate of the academy.

Uh oh.

People began to stir.

Alex appeared through the crowd and reached out his hands from behind. He grabbed my waist.

“Excuse me.” He lifted me over his shoulder, and I was able to avoid being pushed by the crowd.

That was it. The huge flow of people engulfed Alex.

Alex and I were sucked into the main gate. People groaned.

It really was just rush hour on the subway…

Alex’s hands gripped me so tightly that I felt like I was going to get bruises on my sides. My feet were off the ground, and it felt like I was about to fall.

I wanted to walk on my own feet, but it was too late. If I fell now, I would be trampled by everyone.

I clung to Alex. Would he be able to hold my weight? What if he fell?

“Are you okay, Your Highness? Are you hurt? Oh, don’t pull my hair…” Alex said.

Amidst the buzzing noise, his voice was clear. I could feel his body moving and his muscles tensing against my skin.

Through my blurred vision, I saw the pillars of the academy’s main entrance pass by.

We entered the academy.

People poured out into the wider space. I could finally breathe. Wow, what the hell just happened?

I was stunned. This was my first time being surrounded by such a large crowd since entering the game. How could we be sure no one would get trampled to death here? Shouldn’t there be security guards?

Alex was still holding me like a sack of rice. I was about to ask him to put me down.

“Ahh!” Someone who wasn’t looking ahead bumped into my back. They fell down.

Alex was startled and let go of me. I slipped off Alex’s body and landed on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Alex apologized.

No, isn’t there someone you should help first?

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

As I tried to help the person who had fallen, I saw their face. There were things scattered all around them. Their face was grim.

A huge ribbon.

It’s the heroine!

I quickly turned my eyes away.

Grey Cracker didn’t like the market-like atmosphere of the academy. He hadn’t planned on coming to see the acceptance results in the morning.

It was obvious that he would pass, so why should he have to struggle among the crowd first thing in the morning? He could have simply sent a servant to check for him.

Of course, Grey had no intention of sending a servant. The servants only had to carry Grey’s luggage to the academy.

Grey’s acceptance was a foregone conclusion. Grey didn’t like doing unnecessary work.

However, Edward had a different opinion.

Prince Edward, who had as little need to check the acceptance list as Grey, woke up early in the morning and ate breakfast.

He was eating bread with a generous amount of jam. The jam overflowed and fell onto his plate. It was unclear whether he was eating bread or just jam.

Thanks to that, Gray lost his appetite. He was just sipping his tea. He wondered who the inconsiderate servant was who had been knocking on his master’s bedroom door since early morning.

“Come in,” Edward said. Grey thought that Prince Edward would send the servant away again soon.

The servant immediately approached Edward and reported something to him. Grey watched Edward’s expression.

Edward put down his bread knife and wiped his hands on a handkerchief.

“Let’s go.”
“Now…?”
“Now.”

Grey put down his teacup.

Did something happen?

And now, here they were.

Was half the population of this country gathered here? Grey asked himself a question he already knew the answer to.

He had never beaten Edward. Since childhood, Edward had done ridiculous things, but Grey didn’t feel the need to stop him.

At that time, Grey was observing Prince Edward. He wanted to know what kind of person he was, and the more he got to know him, the stranger he found him.

Prince Edward grew up and became increasingly strange, and by the time he went to war, he had become a bizarre person. And now…

Grey and Edward were inside the academy. Grey separated from Edward to find his assigned dorm room and saw Prince Joffrey being swept away by the crowd as he passed through the academy’s main gate.

Joffrey was being protected by Alex. Alex was holding Joffrey with one arm and blocking people with the other.

Grey was speechless. Where was the dignity of royalty? He was hanging onto a knight.

When he’d mentioned Alex at the banquet, Joffrey had pretended not to know him.

Joffrey’s clumsiness wasn’t something that had just started yesterday. His insincerity was also nothing new.

Joffrey, who had been swept into the academy, was whispering something to Alex with his face close to his.

Grey watched them for a moment, then walked away as if to shake them off. He felt uneasy for some reason. He could understand why Edward would come out at this hour, but still.

“Ahhh!”
“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Joffrey was reaching out his hand to the girl who had fallen. It was exactly the sort of thing he would do.

He used to do that at banquets, too. Joffrey didn’t attend banquets often, but when he did, situations like this often unfolded.

Then Joffrey suddenly froze and stepped back.

The girl who had reached out to take his hand missed.

“…Excuse me?” The female student asked irritably.

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

Joffrey didn’t look at the female student. He was avoiding looking at her unnaturally.

“I’m not over there,” The girl said in a tone that implied, ‘Why are you talking to the air?’

Grey almost approached Joffrey, calling him ‘Your Highness.’

If Alex was a perceptive nobleman, he would have naturally revealed Joffrey’s identity. He couldn’t let a future acquaintance speak informally to Joffrey.

No matter how much the academy emphasized equality among students, their status outside of school was not something that could be ignored.

No matter how well a commoner did, they were still a commoner.

They did not try to be equal to the nobility, and the same was true for the royal family.

Even though the students enjoyed equal rights in their studies, no one addressed the royal family without honorifics in the classroom.

A Prince is a Prince.

However, Alex had never learned to be mindful of the nobility.

Prince Joffrey sat down in an undignified manner and began to pick up the girl’s bags.

I knew it!

Grey glared at Alex.

Alex said, “I’ll do it,” and crouched down in the same manner.

No, you should help the Prince up first! Grey was so eager to intervene that his hands were itching.

Where is the servant? Isn’t he going to stop them? … The academy doesn’t allow servants!

Grey finally sighed and walked over with long strides. He bowed low in front of Prince Joffrey and took the bags from him.

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

“Grey?”

Grey shoved the luggage over to the girl. The girl took it with both arms and narrowed her eyes at Joffrey. “Your Highness?”

Prince Joffrey ignored her, but then realized that it wouldn’t accomplish anything, so he turned his head away.

“Yeah. Sorry. Did you get everything? Let me know if anything’s broken. I’ll pay for it.”

It was an awkward smile. Even his tone was awkward. Was he reading from a script?

The Prince was nervous.

Was she someone to be nervous around?

Grey studied the girl. He looked at her ordinary brown hair, her soft lips, and her generally pretty face.

Even though she was pretty, she didn’t impress Grey. He had been visiting the royal palace since he was a child, and his standards were very high.

What kind of beauty could she be compared to Edward? The King and Queen were both strikingly beautiful, and Prince Joffrey was also very handsome.

Grey looked at Joffrey again. Joffrey couldn’t meet the girl’s gaze.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.