Chapter 14 – Falling ②
“What the hell……! What the hell, what was that!!
Bang! She slammed her notebook down on the desk.
Manna’s classmates watched her behavior with suspicion, but most students, wanting nothing to do with it, pretended not to notice.
Lunaria’s actions since returning to the academy—though there were only two incidents, one in the morning and one at noon—had caused Manna’s reputation to plummet.
Right after returning, Manna had confronted Lunaria about something she hadn’t done, and then accused her of damaging a textbook—something Lunaria definitely hadn’t done.
Word of these incidents spread like wildfire among the students in their class.
“Hey… is she okay, that girl…”
“She seems a little unhinged…”
When she glared at the students whispering behind her back, instead of the usual hurried averted gazes, she now faced looks of utter contempt.
“You guys. If you’ve got a problem, just say it! I’ll be sure to let His Highness the Crown Prince know!”
“Say whatever you want. We’re commoners, it’s not like we have houses that could be ruined or anything.”
“Exactly. If it comes down to it, we can just leave the country.”
“Wh,”
Hearing this completely mocking comment, Manna involuntarily flinched.
“Just getting into this academy is an honor for our families. For us commoners.”
“It’s difficult enough just to keep up with the classes, but I kept my grades average, unlike a certain someone.”
“We don’t wanna be criticized by you, who’s rumored to have your grades padded thanks to your ‘Saintess’ status and being the Crown Prince’s lover.”
“Besides, the fact that you keep chasing after a guy who’s already engaged is just pathetic to begin with.”
“When you say stuff like ‘I’ll tell the Crown Prince’, people can’t help but think those rumors must be true, you know.”
The academy is open to everyone, from commoners to nobles.
Once enrolled, tuition is waived, cafeteria meals are free, and textbooks are provided at no cost.
However, if you fail and get expelled, it’s a different story.
The academy is open to anyone eager to learn, so if you quit, you will be charged for tuition, meals, and textbook costs that have been incurred up to that time.
Even graduating from the average C class leaves you with the ‘achievement’ of completing the academy, which greatly benefits your future career path and job prospects.
With this goal in mind, even commoners who can study strive desperately to make their futures just a little brighter.
“Wh, what…”
No one had ever said such a thing to her before.
Faced with this third-party assessment of her situation, her eyes welled up, truly on the verge of tears. But no one seemed concerned.
“If she cries, the Crown Prince will protect her. I’m so jealous.”
“Lady Lunaria is the pitiful one! Her fiancé was stolen, and now she’s being mocked by this person and even the Crown Prince’s entourage, and even falsely accused.”
To make matters worse, a classmate made remarks that seemed to defend Lunaria, Manna’s (one-sided) nemesis.
Even when she glared at them hatefully, all she got back were blank stares.
When she first entered the academy, people would praise her and say, “I’m so thrilled to be in the same class as the Saintess!”, but that kind of atmosphere was nowhere to be seen now.
Unaware that this was the result of her own actions, Manna burst out of the classroom crying.
As she sniffled and cried in the courtyard, Dale happened to pass by during a class change and rushed over.
“Manna!”
“Prince Dale… everyone in the class was so mean…”
Her swollen, red eyes looked painfully pitiful.
Dale’s classmates paused for a moment, wondering what was going on, but those who understood the relationship between the two chose to leave them alone and quickly moved on.
Only the two of them remained.
“What happened? Could it be Lunaria again…?”
“No! It’s my fault…”
Hearing those words alone, it seemed undeniably true. But to Dale, the crying Manna was what mattered most.
In Dale’s mind, Lunaria was just an “evil” who bullies Manna.
Manna is crying, that was the fact right in front of him.
Even though he knew his thinking was simplistic, when his beloved was crying, the first one he suspects was his own fiancée. A heartless, boring duke’s daughter, who he couldn’t care less about. She was the “Evil” after all.
He gently embraced her, patting her back to calm her down. Seeing her tears gradually stop, he felt relieved.
“I… I said something… flaunting my status… so everyone… scolded me…”
“But Manna, you are a splendid ‘Saintess’. You have every right to be proud of that, this I guarantee.”
“Prince Dale…!”
He hugged Manna again, who looked thrilled.
He would like to stay like this forever, but they both have classes, skipping them wasn’t an option.
However, Manna gently grabbed Dale’s uniform.
“Just a little… could you stay with me just a little longer? Then I’ll have the courage to go back to class…”
“Just a little longer, then.”
With a wry smile on his face, he was happy to be relied upon, and stroked Manna’s soft hair.
Lunaria definitely wouldn’t rely on him like this.
So he felt even better.
Manna then thought deeply.
Although she has a very high level of likability among the main romance characters, from Manna’s perspective, she was utterly disliked by the so-called “mob characters”.
For her, aiming to be the beloved Queen, this was a matter of life and death.
For a glorious future like the ending stills of the old game, she had to be liked by the commoners, too.
However, there was no doubt that they supported Lunaria.
They only had bad impressions of Manna and Crown Prince Dale.
She pondered why this was so, but convinced this was simply the game’s story, she failed to realize her actions were just plain repelling them.
However, having Dale stroke her head, Manna thoroughly cheered her up that she didn’t care about any of that anymore. She flashed a bright smile and pulled back slightly.
“Thank you, Prince Dale! I’ll keep doing my best!”
“Yes, stand firm.”
The two stood up and walked to their respective classes.
They hadn’t noticed, nor did they know.
That the Queen, who happened to be visiting the academy incognito by pure coincidence, had overheard the incident in the cafeteria.
And that the Queen had clearly seen, at that very moment when they were alone together, how Dale was in an extremely intimate relationship with Manna, setting aside his fiancée Lunaria.
The Queen fixed her son, Dale, with a gaze colder than ice, one she had never shown anyone else.
Furthermore, the Queen wasn’t the only one watching Dale and Manna’s retreating figures.
The principal of the academy, who had accompanied her on this inspection, was also watching them intently.
They were being watched.
Very, very closely.
Sads Translates 