The Gourmet Club
Now that midterms were over and some time had passed, I found myself wondering how to kill the boredom.
While I was mulling it over, Estelia spoke up.
“Ah, the clubs are starting.”
Clubs!
In a romance fantasy, if the academy didn’t have clubs, it’d be like a rice bowl without rice.
Following Estelia’s finger, I spotted a group gathered for recruitment.
“Elesia!”
Eileen, who had been quietly staring at something, broke into a grin and dashed over.
Elesia spotted her and welcomed her with a smile of her own.
“Hyung-nim!”
“Yeah, hey.”
Serdian was also glued to Elesia’s side, looking bright-faced and completely smitten.
Red thread, huh…
A red string was tied around the ring fingers of both Serdian and Elesia.
The same went for Radion and Dierban, who were greeting me from the side.
They were all bound together by fate.
Serdian being a sub-male lead made sense, but not all red threads were equal.
Radion’s was the thickest.
Next came Dierban’s.
Serdian’s was thinner, probably because he was just a sub.
“So I’m thinking of joining the baking club!”
“Wow! You have to bake cookies for me later!!”
Elesia no longer spoke formally.
The male leads watched her with fond expressions.
God, their faces are disgusting.
“Hngh, hngh…! Why all of a sudden…!”
“What? So you do know how to make cute reactions.”
I slipped my hand under the back of Luka’s shirt while she was still staring at Elesia.
Not the front—definitely the back.
Strangely enough, their backs were incredibly smooth and pleasant to touch.
That was probably why I kept wanting to do it.
“…Can’t they see?”
“They can’t. I put up an illusion barrier.”
Even though it was just her back, Luka still didn’t want anyone seeing her skin.
I didn’t want the others seeing either, so the barrier was necessary.
“Luka, did you catch a cold? Even northerners get colds?”
“Huh…? Ah, no…”
Elesia sounded worried.
Estelia and Eileen shook their heads, clearly understanding the situation.
Anyway, the male leads and Eileen ended up joining the baking club.
They’re obviously planning to raise affection with cookie gifts.
That wasn’t my problem. Ours was.
While we were debating which club to join, Estelia spoke again.
“How about this one? I think everyone will like it.”
“Oh…? Ooh?”
The club Estelia recommended was the gourmet club.
Obviously, both Luka and I loved food.
Serena and Eileen, having been broke, were obsessed with good food.
“Estelia. Are you okay with it?”
“I’m fine with any club. It’s not like it affects grades.”
If Estelia said so, then that was that.
I called Eileen, who showed no intention of leaving Elesia’s side.
When I asked how she felt about the gourmet club, she got wildly excited.
“A gourmet club for nobles…! That means there’ll be tons of amazing food, right…? Haaah… Serena! We did it!”
“It’ll be way better than magic soup!!! Right!!!”
Serena sent her usual infinite positivity signals.
Eileen pitied Serena, and their personalities clicked, so Serena quickly blended into our group.
Estelia had been displeased at first, but now she took care of Serena even more than Eileen did.
Like a proper head wife, Estelia had become everyone’s maman.
“Maman!!”
“Kyaa…!”
Unable to hold back, I threw myself into her arms.
This soft, plush feeling…
How could I resist?
Estelia hesitated for a moment before gently patting my head.
“Oh my, oh my…”
“See? I told you Estelia is the head wife!”
“I guess I lost…”
Noble society really was complicated.
She’d already been dropping heavy hints that I was hers.
But what good was it if only she showed it?
I had to show, at least a little, that I was completely taken with her too.
I’m doing this for Estelia!
Rub rub
“I-I think that’s enough now…?”
Estelia’s face was bright red as she spoke.
Hmm… I was curious how much redder she could get, but I decided to stop here.
Thud thud!
Luka kept kicking my shin from the side.
It was starting to hurt.
“Alright, let’s head to the gourmet club room.”
“Hmph!”
I rubbed Luka’s back as she sulked and made my way to the club room.
They didn’t seem desperate for members—just a poster and no active promotion.
Gourmet Club
It looked surprisingly high-class.
“What the—only this door is different!”
It wasn’t just different. It was on another level entirely.
Other clubs had wooden doors. This one had a marble door.
An alien presence among the wooden doors.
“Let’s just go in.”
Opening the door revealed a club room far more luxurious than the outside suggested.
Club rooms weren’t usually this fancy.
Amazed, I stepped inside and spotted a student sitting haughtily.
“Excuse me…”
Whoosh!
“Huhu… So you wish to join this body’s gourmet club?! Very well—conquer this body’s tongue first!”
She spun around dramatically, golden hair and golden eyes flashing.
Pointing at her own mouth, she declared that only those who could introduce her to new delicacies would be allowed to join.
But she wasn’t scary at all. The reason was simple.
“So tiny… Hup!”
Eileen blurted it out before she could stop herself.
She quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late.
The blonde student shrieked.
“W-Who called me tiny?!”
“I said tiny…”
“Ugh… This body is still growing! Who was it?! Who was it?! Urgh…”
She jumped up, shouted, then bit her tongue and clutched her mouth in pain.
I looked around, wondering if this was some hidden camera prank, but saw nothing.
Tap tap
“The princess…”
“Huh?”
“That’s the princess. Fourth Princess Liris.”
The princess?
She hadn’t been at the imperial palace last time.
I’d left the north at eighteen after catching the White Calamity as a grand shaman.
During that one year, I’d traveled through several countries.
“So what year is she?”
“Are you referring to this body? Third year!! You look like a first-year—show some respect!”
“Bullshit.”
“W-What did you just say!!!”
Maybe she’d never heard the word before, or maybe she’d never been cursed at in her life.
She stood there with her mouth opening and closing in shock.
“Your dad begged me on his hands and knees too.”
“Y-You… You insolent—!!”
Liris shouted, clearly outraged that I’d insulted royalty.
But I was telling the truth.
When she refused to buy my talismans, saying they were too expensive, I casually blocked the magic of the court archmage right there in the palace.
After that, she suddenly wanted to buy them.
“Six hundred billion.”
“You said three hundred billion earlier…”
“That was earlier.”
In the end, the emperor had begged, claiming the national treasury couldn’t handle it, and bought them anyway.
Fifty billion gold coins was an enormous sum.
She probably hadn’t heard about me because she’d been at the academy.
“Kid. I’m telling the truth. If you don’t believe me, write to your dad.”
“Hmph! I don’t believe you! I’m using the crystal ball right now!”
Using the crystal ball was extremely expensive—it devoured magic stones.
Liris crushed several stones and activated it immediately.
“Just you wait… Ah, Father!”
“Oh, my Liris! Daddy missed you so much—”
“Father! He said you begged him!!!”
She shoved the crystal ball in my face.
The emperor looked ready to see what kind of bastard I was.
Beep—
The sound effect from Earth played in real time.
His eyes widened to their absolute limit.
“K-Kanahan-nim, why are you at the academy…”
“What? The emperor didn’t know?”
At my words, the emperor hurriedly summoned the finance minister.
He raged at the minister for not telling him.
The minister replied,
“I tried to report it, but you said you never wanted to see my face again and told me not to report anything anymore…”
“I-I never said that!!”
“Father…?”
The emperor had forgotten Liris was even there and was making a fool of himself.
The finance minister apologized with a wronged expression.
The reason? “You should’ve done better.”
Looking thoroughly pissed, the minister left.
The emperor, finally regaining some composure, wiped his cold sweat and returned to the crystal ball.
“Ah… That was unsightly. By the way, how is Liris? She takes after me—she’s quite lovely…”
“Haa… What are you doing? Calling your father just to tell him to confront me… And saying you insulted royalty so you want to be dragged away and flogged…”
“I-I never said that!!”
Of course, I’d only said she’d insulted royalty. I never mentioned dragging her away or flogging.
But in this situation, my words were law.
The emperor spoke to Liris, who looked utterly wronged.
“…Liris!! From now on, you get no allowance!!”
Thud…
Liris collapsed into her chair with a look of utter despair.
Damn, that expression.
I wanted to take a picture and keep it.
“Haa… I was thinking of giving her some talismans since she’s the emperor’s daughter, but…”
“!!! Oh dear, what should I do to make it up to you…”
“I was even going to give her a protection talisman…”
The emperor jumped in panic, desperately trying to smooth things over.
Liris stared in disbelief.
I needed to properly educate this cheeky little brat.
“Ah, Liris was running the gourmet club. I might be a little interested in that.”
“Then of course we must let you join! We’ll provide every convenience!”
“Haa… If the emperor is going this far… A package will be sent soon.”
“Thank you! Thank you!”
The emperor kept thanking me.
In Korea—and apparently even in this romance fantasy—the superior party was supposed to end the call first.
Click.
So naturally, I hung up.
After ending the call, I slowly approached Liris.
“Hehehe… Let’s get along from now on.”
“H-Hiik!”