Chapter 120

I arrived at the dorms, but Princess Margaret was still at the royal palace.

“Oh right, I need to water the herbs in the greenhouse.”

I put my coat back on and headed to the greenhouse.

“Oh dear, this is terrible.”

In my plot, the low-grade herbs have grown thick and lush. But in a few of the other plots, the herbs lack energy—or rather, they’re nearly dying.

“I bet they went home on Friday without watering them.”

I want to water not just my plot, but the weak herbs too. However, if I do that, it defeats the purpose of taking the Herbology class.

“Ah, Benjamin forgot too. Maybe Bryce as well.”

Those two were at the Alchemy Club until late, after all. I watered mine on Saturday, but day students usually don’t come on weekends.

“Just this once.”

I water the slightly weak herbs in Benjamin’s and Bryce’s plots, too.

“Ah, I forgot Andrew.”

He’s always fighting with Benjamin, but since they’re in the same class, it wouldn’t be fair to leave him out. I check the name tag and water his plot as well.

Back at the dorms, I warm my cold body in front of the fireplace while reading my law textbook.

Zofie let me know once again, “She has arrived.” Yep, I was engrossed in reading my textbook. That’s because I want to get that completion certificate!

“Patience, I heard from Brother Richard that you’re Percival’s second cousin.”

My heart skipped a beat when Prince Richard’s name came up.

“Yes, my great-aunt married into the Earl of Moran’s family.”

Princess Margaret thinks for a moment and smiles.

“So you’re very distantly related.”

I don’t know where this conversation is heading.

“Yes, the blood relation is quite distant.”

Someone super handsome like Percival definitely carries the Moran Earl family line. Nacius and Henry are cute, but I don’t think they’ll turn into strikingly handsome young men like Percival that everyone stares at. That’s okay, I’ll love them just as much anyway!

“Hmm, then there would be no problem at all if you were to marry Percival, Patience.”

I was drinking the tea Zofie brewed for me, and I choked on it.

“Pardon me! There is no way I would marry him.”

Princess Margaret looks at me with suspicious eyes.

“Oh, really? Brother said Percival thinks very highly of you. So… well, I guess it was a misunderstanding. What a shame.”

I don’t even want to ask what’s so shameful about it. She probably just thought it would be amusing if Percival—who Catherine and the others are crazy about—and I were on good terms.

“More importantly, I composed a few new songs for the Glee Club.”

Princess Margaret, who loves music, her eyes light up.

“My, several songs! So you really were slacking off before.”

“No! This time, my cousin Samuel wrote down the sheet music for me. I haven’t made clean copies yet, but see, it looks different from the sheet music I write, doesn’t it?”

Looking at the sheet music, she says, “It looks like it was written with much more energy than yours,” sensing that Samuel wrote it all at once.

“Samuel said he can play a song after hearing it just once. That means he wrote this sheet music after hearing you play it once, too. Samuel really is a genius!”

I’m sorry, Samuel. It looks like you’re going to become the official sheet music transcriber.

“How about leaving the transcription to Samuel from now on? That way, we can enjoy as many new songs as we want.”

If Princess Margaret asks him directly, Samuel—who admires her—probably won’t refuse. But I’d hate for his weekends to be ruined every single time because of that.

“Well, Samuel joined the Riding Club as well, so I think he’ll be quite busy.”

Ah, oops. Mentioning double club membership was a taboo topic. Princess Margaret’s eyebrow raises slightly.

“I’ll leave the lyrics to Club President Albert, but let me play the new songs for you.”

I flusteredly fled to the Hanon piano.

“My, these are all wonderful songs! It’s almost a waste to give them to the Glee Club. Why don’t you compose more?”

I can’t keep up with Princess Margaret’s whims.

“I will make clean copies and hand them to Club President Albert. We need him to add lyrics, after all.”

I decided to leave things to Club President Albert from here on out. The remaining question is whether to tell Princess Margaret about the mess with the Knight Club.

If I tell her, she’ll definitely scold me, saying I should have composed more new songs if I had time for that.

“Princess Margaret, there is a somewhat troublesome matter…”

Looking at my face, Princess Margaret seems to understand somewhat.

“Could it be about the Knight Club? I thought that was already resolved, but… yes, it would be strange for my graduated brother to meet with Percival.”

Princess Margaret might have also thought it was strange and investigated the connection between Percival and me. She asked me this and that.

“It looks like this coming week will be a storm. I want to avoid getting caught up in it as much as possible.”

Even as I say it, I don’t believe it myself, so it feels hollow.

“Keith is likely to cause a huge fuss. Please try not to do anything to annoy him.”

Wait, me? It feels a bit unfair, but I’ll stay quiet until the storm passes.

Despite making that resolve, I ran right into him at dinner. I complained internally that it was because Princess Margaret wanted to play the new songs herself, even though I told her we should go to the dining hall earlier.

“Sister, why don’t we eat together?”

Ralph and Hugo are by his side, too. I wish Princess Margaret would decline.

“Yes, but let’s eat together with your schoolmates as well.”

Ah, Ralph, Hugo, don’t make those faces. You were originally going to eat with Prince Keith anyway, right? Wait, are they worried that I’ll get into a fight with Prince Keith? Really? Is that it?

Dinner was the calm before the storm. When we returned to the private room, Princess Margaret let out a sigh.

“I can’t stand this. When is Student Council President Rufus going to announce the disbandment of the Knight Club?”

“I don’t know any specific details… Please ask Prince Richard.”

I pray that the mess with the Knight Club settles down quickly and Prince Keith returns to normal.

Monday’s homeroom was a bit restless. On top of that, Mr. Cuthbert wasn’t hiding his obvious bad mood at all. The disbandment of the Knight Club is going to be announced. I don’t know any of the boys in the Knight Course, but I recognize the faces of my classmates in the Civil Servant and Mage Courses. The unfamiliar boys from the Knight Course sit in their chairs, unable to contain their anger.

In a classroom of about 30 students, 15 are girls, and the rest are boys—3 in the Mage Course, 7 in the Civil Servant Course, and 5 in the Knight Course. The reason Class 1-A had so many boys—20 of them—was that students a few months younger or older had their birthdates faked to be in the same grade so they could become Prince Keith’s schoolmates. Class 4-A has many female students who want to be friends with Princess Margaret. I wonder if they faked the girls’ birthdates to put them in the same grade, too? But the gender gap isn’t as extreme as in Prince Keith’s class.

At the Royal Academy, it’s a rule that all noble children attend. There are also commoners who passed the entrance exam. That Class C has mostly male students. I also heard a rumor that local and lower-ranking nobles often don’t send their illegitimate daughters to the academy. Even if they’re illegitimate, they send the boys because they can’t get good jobs otherwise. So what happens to the illegitimate daughters who aren’t allowed to attend? “They get married off to rich local merchants or become concubines to local nobles.” Girls are treated poorly in this parallel world.

The reason I’m thinking about this is that Mr. Cuthbert just read a notice: “This is a notice from the Student Council. The Knight Club hindered the autonomy of other clubs and is being disbanded as punishment. That is all.” The classroom has turned into a hornet’s nest. Well, the girls are surprised too, but the boys—especially the 5 in the Knight Course—must have heard internally that there would be some punishment, but they shout loudly, “Unbelievable!” and “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Mr. Cuthbert, there must be some mistake! Disbanding the traditional Knight Club? Isn’t it just a one-week suspension of activities?”

It seems Mr. Cuthbert is the advisor for the Knight Club. Since he’s a muscle-brain, maybe he didn’t notice what Captain Hammond was doing, or even if he noticed, he didn’t feel the need to stop it. The homeroom teacher, who should be calming the commotion, is getting angry right along with the Knight Club members.

“Princess Margaret, you have Japanese and Child Rearing, right? For etiquette this afternoon, if you write while recalling tea parties at the royal palace, you’ll pass. I have Diplomacy and World History, so I need to move to another classroom.”

“Patience, you’re so calm. I’m terrified of lunchtime.”

“I am also worried about how shocked Prince Keith will be. Skipping lunch might be an option.”

Princess Margaret considered skipping for a moment, too, but shook her head.

“No, I must supervise Keith so he doesn’t do anything foolish. Let’s eat lunch together.”

Even when the bell for first period rang, the male students around Mr. Cuthbert were still making a fuss. But several students from the Civil Servant and Mage Courses left their seats. Unfortunately, the students taking Japanese in this classroom have no choice but to stay. The Japanese teacher will probably kick Mr. Cuthbert out.

During Diplomacy and World History classes, the students were somewhat absentminded, and there were many moments where the teacher scolded them.

“I will have you present what you researched about the Four Wise Emperors who developed the Empire in the early days of the Kazaria Empire. The student sitting by the window last time has the 1st Wise Emperor, Flapio. The next row has the 2nd Wise Emperor, Baburis. The middle row and the adjacent one have the 3rd Wise Emperor, Lucius. The seats by the hallway have the 4th Wise Emperor, Maxim. Please start your presentations with Emperor Flapio!”

As expected, since the presentations were just reading what everyone had researched, everyone did fine. Mine was the 2nd Wise Emperor, Baburis. I tried to look it up at the library, but the books had already been checked out. Times like this make me glad our home library is so grand. I presented what I researched properly, too.

“Everyone is so absentminded! What’s wrong with you all?”

While they gave their presentations properly, their attitude while listening to others was floating in the clouds. I was also thinking about nothing but the coming storm.

“Please bring a bit more spirit next week!”

The teacher seems to know about the Knight Club story, too. But that’s separate from class, right? I need to reflect!

Ah, I have to go to the upper-class dining salon. My stomach feels so heavy.

“What? What is this?”

The salon, usually a place where upper-class noble students enjoy lunch in an elegant atmosphere while chatting, has turned into a battleground.

“Patience, over here!”

Princess Margaret arrived at the upper-class dining salon first and had partition screens set up. But unlike during the Aoba Festival, she had enclosed about a third of the dining hall.

“I had them create a refuge for female students and others who don’t want to get dragged into that commotion. I thought we could eat in a bit more peace.”

Inside the screens, female students who looked anxious about the Knight Club’s disbandment commotion were eating lunch more quietly than usual.

“I’ve secured seats for Keith and his group just in case, but I doubt they’re in any mood for lunch.”

Inside the screens, it’s calm, but the intensity of the storm outside vibrates right through, making it hard to swallow my food.

“Ah, there are good seats left. Princess Margaret, may we join you? Over there is hardly an atmosphere for eating.”

Club President Albert, Rupert, and members of the Music Club come fleeing in as well.

“Yes, anyone is welcome to sit here as long as you don’t mention that issue.”

Samuel and the other first-years have fled here, too.

“Samuel, the topic of the Riding Club is off-limits here, too, alright?”

I make sure to warn him. The Knight Club was disbanded because they forcibly interfered with the Riding Club and the Magic Club.

“Yeah, I know.”

From Samuel’s expression, I can tell he had a run-in with the Knight Club students.

“Now, eat your lunch.”

As the first-years in the Music Club start eating, Princess Margaret lets out a sigh of relief, too.

“The people out there are participating in heated debates of their own free will, so let’s just leave them be.”

Considerable time passed during lunch, but Prince Keith didn’t show up. In other words, he’s probably making a huge scene and in no state to eat lunch.