“Hey. Get up. We’re getting breakfast.”
I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, so you don’t need to be that loud trying to wake me up.
Ran ripped off my comforter, so I reluctantly got out of bed.
“Morning.”
“Yeah, good morning. Did you not get much sleep?”
Ran was staring at my face, obviously worried. I guess I’m wearing the turmoil of my heart out in the open.
I told Lily my feelings last night, and I was summarily rejected. The regrets have been eating away at me since.
I finished changing my clothes, and Ran rushed me over to the cafeteria like we were late for something important. Like usual the nobles had occupied a corner of the room where a luxurious meal had been prepared for them. The ladies working in the kitchens seem to have gotten used to all the food waste and have started preparing a lot of extra food for everyone.
Melia and Peony were already here and sitting together at a table. Ran and I sat down with them after getting our own food.
“Melia, Peony, morning.”
“Morning Lily-chan! How are you? Do you feel okay?”
Melia greeted me with her usual upbeat voice and a soft smile. We’ve only been apart for a single night, and I’m already feeling lonely.
“Yeah, I’m okay. You’re the one more likely to have a hard time staying with Olive.”
“Actually, Olive-san is really kind! She is a little shy in public, but when it was just us, we talked with each other while drinking tea! “
I can’t even picture that considering what Olive is normally like. Is she actually a kind-hearted person, just like Lily said? She might be going for some angle, so I shouldn’t drop my guard. Even if Melia already trusts her completely.
“We talked a lot about Lily-chan! Olive-san is a good listener, and she asked me a lot of questions about your dancing, what you usually do in the room, and everything else!”
I’m getting the feeling Olive wasn’t asking those things out of the kindness of her heart or because she was trying to be friendly. More likely she was trying to stock up on gossip. And Melia probably told her everything she knew about me without realizing it.
“It’s probably better to keep the topic to something safe. You don’t know if she has any hidden motives.”
Ran gave Melia a warning. I was thinking the same thing, so I appreciate it though. Olive would be delighted to find out what Lily and I have been doing when nobody was looking. If she spread those rumors around, she would probably rise to a higher position than Lily.
“Come to think of it, have any of you heard the rumors about Lily-san?”
Peony leaned forward and started talking in a hushed voice. It surprised me since I was just thinking about Lily, but it didn’t look like Peony could read minds.
Melia and Ran both had a blank look, so neither of them knew what she was talking about. Then Peony drew even closer to them, and her voice fell to a whisper.
“It sounds like Lily-san is going to be engaged to a son from the Candy family. And not even the eldest son. Fifth, the fifth son.”
“What!? Ho-….”
“Keep it down, Onee-chan!”
Surprised, Melia was about to shout out loud for everyone to hear, so Peony plugged up her mouth. A rumor like that has probably already circulated around every other table, but I don’t want to make a fuss and have all eyes on us.
“The fifth son of the Candy family…. that is a huge difference in status. Is it true?”
“It’s true. My friend’s friend’s sister’s friend’s boyfriend’s friend is the good-for-nothing son of the Candy family. Apparently he got drunk at a bar yesterday and accidentally let the whole thing slip. The topic was all over the place by the time I took a bath this morning.”
According to Peony, she heard about it from someone else. Probably the least credible source I have ever heard, but where there is smoke, there is fire. Even if there isn’t a finalized engagement, if there is a rumor spreading around, it must have come from somewhere.
“But I am sure it must be awful for Lily-san to hear the other nobles talk about it in the bath.”
“You’re right. Even if the Candys are a family growing quickly in the ranks, this is still the daughter of the prestigious Ruhuna family being married off into a new aristocratic house. If you’re being generous, you could say the Ruhunas are trying to make connections with the new rising power, but honestly, it sounds more like they are trying to throw away something they find troublesome.”
“I wonder how this will affect the audition”
“If she’s going to get married, she won’t have time to be a hero. Won’t she have to decline?”
“Meaning this is a chance. But I wonder if all of Lily-san’s votes will end up flowing to the other nobles. This might actually work against us.”
Ran and Peony were already talking like Lily getting married was official, and she is going to have to drop out of the audition.
I couldn’t accept it, so all I could do was keep quiet and watch the two of them worry about their rankings.
If I tried to spin this in a positive way, I could see this as being the real reason why I got rejected last night. If I do that though, it will mean Lily really is engaged to someone else. Either way I have nothing to be happy about.
“Lily-chan, you don’t look well. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Ah. Well, it’s only natural you’d find someone snoring annoying. It’s honestly reassuring to know someone who seems so perfect has at least one flaw though.”
Ran laughed and looked over at Lily who was sitting with the other nobles. Like always she was sitting straight up like there was a post holding her up as she ate her sumptuous breakfast with the other nobles.
Nobody is going to bring up gossip in front of the person themselves, but everyone there probably has it on their minds, making the atmosphere in that group hard to handle.
“Snoring?”
“Yeah, you couldn’t sleep because Lily was snoring so loud right? That’s what she told me when you were moved to my room.”
“Ah…. that’s right. You could say that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Despite asking, Ran randomly cut off the conversation there and started shovelling down her breakfast all at once. I appreciate it since if they pushed me, whatever lie I’d come up with probably wouldn’t match up with whatever it was that Lily told her.
But Lily embarrassed herself when she got me out of the room. There was a reason why Lily acted the way she did last night. I couldn’t help but be sure of that.
“Hey. Get up. We’re getting breakfast.”
I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, so you don’t need to be that loud trying to wake me up.
Ran ripped off my comforter, so I reluctantly got out of bed.
“Morning.”
“Yeah, good morning. Did you not get much sleep?”
Ran was staring at my face, obviously worried. I guess I’m wearing the turmoil of my heart out in the open.
I told Lily my feelings last night, and I was summarily rejected. The regrets have been eating away at me since.
I finished changing my clothes, and Ran rushed me over to the cafeteria like we were late for something important. Like usual the nobles had occupied a corner of the room where a luxurious meal had been prepared for them. The ladies working in the kitchens seem to have gotten used to all the food waste and have started preparing a lot of extra food for everyone.
Melia and Peony were already here and sitting together at a table. Ran and I sat down with them after getting our own food.
“Melia, Peony, morning.”
“Morning Lily-chan! How are you? Do you feel okay?”
Melia greeted me with her usual upbeat voice and a soft smile. We’ve only been apart for a single night, and I’m already feeling lonely.
“Yeah, I’m okay. You’re the one more likely to have a hard time staying with Olive.”
“Actually, Olive-san is really kind! She is a little shy in public, but when it was just us, we talked with each other while drinking tea! “
I can’t even picture that considering what Olive is normally like. Is she actually a kind-hearted person, just like Lily said? She might be going for some angle, so I shouldn’t drop my guard. Even if Melia already trusts her completely.
“We talked a lot about Lily-chan! Olive-san is a good listener, and she asked me a lot of questions about your dancing, what you usually do in the room, and everything else!”
I’m getting the feeling Olive wasn’t asking those things out of the kindness of her heart or because she was trying to be friendly. More likely she was trying to stock up on gossip. And Melia probably told her everything she knew about me without realizing it.
“It’s probably better to keep the topic to something safe. You don’t know if she has any hidden motives.”
Ran gave Melia a warning. I was thinking the same thing, so I appreciate it though. Olive would be delighted to find out what Lily and I have been doing when nobody was looking. If she spread those rumors around, she would probably rise to a higher position than Lily.
“Come to think of it, have any of you heard the rumors about Lily-san?”
Peony leaned forward and started talking in a hushed voice. It surprised me since I was just thinking about Lily, but it didn’t look like Peony could read minds.
Melia and Ran both had a blank look, so neither of them knew what she was talking about. Then Peony drew even closer to them, and her voice fell to a whisper.
“It sounds like Lily-san is going to be engaged to a son from the Candy family. And not even the eldest son. Fifth, the fifth son.”
“What!? Ho-….”
“Keep it down, Onee-chan!”
Surprised, Melia was about to shout out loud for everyone to hear, so Peony plugged up her mouth. A rumor like that has probably already circulated around every other table, but I don’t want to make a fuss and have all eyes on us.
“The fifth son of the Candy family…. that is a huge difference in status. Is it true?”
“It’s true. My friend’s friend’s sister’s friend’s boyfriend’s friend is the good-for-nothing son of the Candy family. Apparently he got drunk at a bar yesterday and accidentally let the whole thing slip. The topic was all over the place by the time I took a bath this morning.”
According to Peony, she heard about it from someone else. Probably the least credible source I have ever heard, but where there is smoke, there is fire. Even if there isn’t a finalized engagement, if there is a rumor spreading around, it must have come from somewhere.
“But I am sure it must be awful for Lily-san to hear the other nobles talk about it in the bath.”
“You’re right. Even if the Candys are a family growing quickly in the ranks, this is still the daughter of the prestigious Ruhuna family being married off into a new aristocratic house. If you’re being generous, you could say the Ruhunas are trying to make connections with the new rising power, but honestly, it sounds more like they are trying to throw away something they find troublesome.”
“I wonder how this will affect the audition”
“If she’s going to get married, she won’t have time to be a hero. Won’t she have to decline?”
“Meaning this is a chance. But I wonder if all of Lily-san’s votes will end up flowing to the other nobles. This might actually work against us.”
Ran and Peony were already talking like Lily getting married was official, and she is going to have to drop out of the audition.
I couldn’t accept it, so all I could do was keep quiet and watch the two of them worry about their rankings.
If I tried to spin this in a positive way, I could see this as being the real reason why I got rejected last night. If I do that though, it will mean Lily really is engaged to someone else. Either way I have nothing to be happy about.
“Lily-chan, you don’t look well. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Ah. Well, it’s only natural you’d find someone snoring annoying. It’s honestly reassuring to know someone who seems so perfect has at least one flaw though.”
Ran laughed and looked over at Lily who was sitting with the other nobles. Like always she was sitting straight up like there was a post holding her up as she ate her sumptuous breakfast with the other nobles.
Nobody is going to bring up gossip in front of the person themselves, but everyone there probably has it on their minds, making the atmosphere in that group hard to handle.
“Snoring?”
“Yeah, you couldn’t sleep because Lily was snoring so loud right? That’s what she told me when you were moved to my room.”
“Ah…. that’s right. You could say that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Despite asking, Ran randomly cut off the conversation there and started shovelling down her breakfast all at once. I appreciate it since if they pushed me, whatever lie I’d come up with probably wouldn’t match up with whatever it was that Lily told her.
But Lily embarrassed herself when she got me out of the room. There was a reason why Lily acted the way she did last night. I couldn’t help but be sure of that.
