MFAWW 31

Chapter 31

Could I, an applicant, actually beat an active-duty knight?

They said I only needed to hold out for ten minutes, but if possible, I wanted to win decisively.

“I wonder who my opponent will be…”

As I relaxed my body and lay comfortably, drowsiness began to creep in.

I let out a small yawn, my heavy eyelids closing and opening, when I heard a voice as clear as a nightingale’s.

“Iris.”

“Your Highness?”

I woke up at the pretty, familiar voice. I sat up abruptly to find the Crown Prince standing there with a smile.

“How did you know I was here?”

“There are ways to know everything.”

When I asked in surprise, the Crown Prince gave a meaningful smile. Before I could say anything, he sat down beside me with a thud.

“I heard you got first place in all the morning exams. You performed remarkably.”

“I was just lucky.”

“It wasn’t luck—it was skill.”

“Do you think so?”

“I do.”

“If you keep praising me like that, I might get arrogant.”

“It’s okay to be arrogant.”

The Crown Prince said it as if it went without saying.

The results had indeed been good, but hearing him say that made me feel somehow acknowledged.

“What are you holding?”

As I tried to suppress my lips, which kept threatening to curl up, I noticed the small basket he was carrying.

“This?”

At my question, he placed the picnic basket he was holding onto the rock. When he opened the lid, a toasty, fragrant aroma burst forth.

“Bread?”

Inside the basket were croissants, egg sandwiches, fruit salad, and a bottle of milk tea. They all looked delicious.

“You need to eat well to take the afternoon exam.”

The Crown Prince smiled and handed me a sandwich. I reflexively took it, but when I tried to put it down, he spoke in a stern voice.

“Don’t skip meals.”

“I was worried about feeling bloated later…”

I had planned to go without food in case I felt heavy or unwell during the sparring. I mumbled my reasons for not eating, but the Crown Prince firmly shook his head.

“What if you get heartburn? You must be tired from taking exams all morning—at least eat a little.”

“…Then I’ll just have one bite.”

I surrendered. Succumbing to the Crown Prince’s urging and the mouth-watering smell, I ended up taking a bite.

“…! It’s delicious!”

*Good-looking bread tastes good too, they say.*

The sandwich, beautiful in appearance and fragrant and tasty, melted softly in my mouth.

*Did the palace chef make this? This kitchen sure knows what it’s doing.*

Just a moment ago, I thought I had no appetite—but apparently I was wrong.

As the soft, sweet food entered my mouth, my previously quiet stomach clamored.

“Do you like it?”

I nodded vigorously as I chewed the sandwich.

If I had to name one of the best things about coming to the capital, it was being able to eat delicious food to my heart’s content.

If the meals I ate in the territory were more about survival than taste, the meals I had while staying at the Marquess’s residence were about enjoying fine cuisine.

My mind might not know it, but my body was certainly living the good life.

“Try this too.”

The Crown Prince spread strawberry jam on a croissant and handed it to me with a pleased face. I happily accepted and ate what he gave me, but then another worry crossed my mind.

“But is this alright?”

“Hm? What?”

“If people see us like this, they’ll make a fuss again.”

“So you don’t like that?”

The Crown Prince, who had been beaming just a moment ago, suddenly wore a sullen expression.

His drooping eyes made him look like an abandoned puppy, and my heart ached.

“It’s not that… But ever since it was revealed that you’re my cavalier, there’s been an uproar. It’s better to be careful in advance.”

The day after Count Olette’s daughter had come, every newspaper in the capital ran articles about me and the Crown Prince. I had expected it to some extent, but the reaction was bigger than I thought.

*’People talk about you nonstop whenever they meet.’*

According to Sophie, wherever she went, the topic was always about us.

Whether good or bad, all kinds of rumors surrounding us spread rapidly.

The Imperial Household took no official stance, saying it was the Crown Prince’s private life. The Bright family also kept their doors firmly shut.

A few bold reporters who had come all the way to the Marquess’s residence were grabbed by the collar and chased out by Duke Bright himself.

Marquess Bright also wasn’t sitting still. He issued a stern warning to the newspapers those reporters belonged to, saying he hoped such incidents would never happen again.

*[Lady Subrina’s Cavalier Revealed to Be the Crown Prince!]*

*[Following Lady Bright, Lady Subrina Also Caught in a Scandal with the Imperial Family]*

*[The Empire’s Cinderella—Lady Subrina of Viscount Subrina, the Future Crown Princess?]*

With no solid information to obtain, all the reporters could do was write whatever they wanted about us.

The stories in the newspapers were closer to delusions and fiction than journalism.

As Duke Bright had said, reporters truly had a natural talent for producing garbage.

I could now understand why Lady Bright had been so utterly ruined.

“Crown Princess—what nonsense…”

“Why is it nonsense?”

When I muttered, still incredulous at the thought, a sullen voice came from beside me. Turning my head, I saw the Crown Prince looking at me with a pout.

“You could actually become the Crown Princess, you know.”

“Come on, you’re joking.”

I waved my hand dismissively with a laugh, and he tilted his head. His pale emerald hair cascaded down softly.

“Iris.”

A voice as somber as withered grass flowed between his lips, as luscious as a ripe peach.

“Do you dislike me?”

The question, as serious as his smileless face, momentarily left me speechless.

*Hey now, we’re not even that kind of relationship! That look is cheating!*

“…It’s not that I dislike you, Your Highness. It’s that I have no intention of becoming the Crown Princess.”

“Why?”

When I answered honestly, the Crown Prince asked with a puzzled face.

“I’m the future Viscount Subrina, you know. To carry on the family, I need a matrilineal husband, but if I become the Crown Princess, that becomes impossible.”

“Hmm.”

As I recited the future plans I had kept to myself, the Crown Prince stroked his chin and lowered his gaze. After a moment of thought, he looked up with an expression that said he’d found the answer.

“Then how about I come in as your matrilineal husband?”

“Huh?”

*How did it come to that?* A strange sound escaped me in disbelief.

“If the Crown Prince of the Empire says he wants to become a viscount’s matrilineal husband, the nobles will rise up in arms, don’t you think?”

“Then I’ll just give up being Crown Prince.”

“The Empress Dowager would welcome that with both hands.”

It’s not like being Crown Prince is a position you can just quit because you don’t feel like it.

Watching him speak so casually, I was the one who became confused.

“So what’s your answer? If I give up the Crown Prince position, will you accept me?”

“Pardon?”

The Crown Prince asked again, his voice as serious as before.

“Well…”

*This is difficult. Extremely difficult.*

I couldn’t answer right away and trailed off. I couldn’t tell if the Crown Prince was joking or serious.

“I mean, well…”

Faced with the Crown Prince quietly waiting for my answer, I didn’t know what to say, and my eyes darted around.

If it were just a joke, I could brush it off—but his golden eyes were unusually earnest this time.

“…Pfft.”

Just as I was hesitating, at a loss, a small laugh suddenly broke out.

“Your Highness…?”

When I called out to him with a bewildered face, he spoke with a mischievous expression.

“It was a joke.”

“Pardon?”

“A joke, I said.”

“You, you scared me!”

*Geez!* My voice rose without meaning to. My heart was pounding so hard I pressed my chest with my hand, and he murmured in a voice so quiet I could barely hear.

“…There’s still plenty of time…”

“Pardon?”

“Hm? It’s nothing.”

The Crown Prince lightly shook his head and casually handed me the bottle of milk tea.

“Drink up.”

“Thank you…”

*What about this atmosphere?* Fiddling with the poor bottle in the awkward air, I blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Oh, right. Earlier, Sylph chased off the reporters.”

“I know.”

He looked at me, clearly trying to change the subject, narrowed his eyes, and then smiled, letting it go.

“How do you know?”

“Another spirit told me.”

“There are other spirits here besides Sylph right now?”

“Spirits are nature itself. They’re everywhere. In the grass, in the wind, in the water… They exist in many forms.”

His long, straight fingers gently stroked the wildflowers swaying beside the rock.

“They’re just invisible to our eyes.”

“But you can see them, right? Since you’re a spirit mage.”

“That’s right.”

“What do spirits look like?”

“They’re all different.”

“I’m curious…”

I wish I could see Sylph directly. I fiddled with the necklace containing Sylph.

“Do you want to see?”

“Of course I want to see!”

*How kind and adorable our Sylph is!* I nodded enthusiastically.

“Hmm, then…”

Seeing that, the Crown Prince reached out and tapped the spirit stone around my neck. The gem glowed blue, and a soft breeze flowed from the necklace.

“You can’t see its form, but how about this?”

The Crown Prince bent down and picked up a leaf rolling on the ground. Then he released the leaf into the air.

“Oh?”

I opened my eyes wide at the sight unfolding before me. The leaf, released from his hand, didn’t fall to the ground—it floated in midair.

“S, Sylph?”

When I called Sylph in a bewildered voice, the leaf spun in a circle as if answering.

*Whoosh—*

As if responding to Sylph’s movement, the dense thicket rustled with a clear sound.

“Is it really you?”

When I asked half-doubtfully, this time the leaf moved up and down as if nodding.

*Oh my gosh! It’s so adorable!*

Unable to contain the overwhelming cuteness, I stomped my feet, and the leaf drifted closer.

I carefully reached out my hand, and the leaf gently touched my fingertip.

“Ahah.”

A small laugh escaped as the leaf tickled its way up from my fingers to the back of my hand.

“It tickles.”

Sylph seemed delighted by my reaction. The leaf, swaying back and forth, moved from my hand to my wrist, from my wrist to my arm, and from my arm to my shoulder.

“Sylph? What’s wrong?”

Just as the leaf was about to touch my chin, a white hand suddenly appeared before my eyes.

“Not allowed.”

The Crown Prince, blocking Sylph’s approach, spoke in a cool voice. The leaf spun in circles as if protesting.

But he didn’t even blink.

“No second chances.”