Chapter 8
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 8
Dining Mate (1)
Aniel's mood had been in a low-pressure state lately.
"Hah, hah!"
"Don't stop, keep running."
Thanks to that, I was exhausted as if I were going to die right now.
The atmosphere wasn't bad even when she came to apologize to me, so how did it become like this.
The timing was exactly from when I met Princess Lucia.
Should I say she became slightly prickly since then.
"Any more is, unreasonable!"
"No. Move."
"Ack!"
And she turned merciless. Ah, was she originally merciless?
Certainly, I am the one who brought up the proposal first.
Because for graduation, I have to raise my stats somehow first.
But if I get rolled like this, I'll die first!
Even though the sun was slowly rising and the time to wrap up was approaching, Aniel seemed intent on continuing this hell training as if it hadn't ended yet.
No. If we do that, the possibility is high that the gap will widen even more without being able to attend classes properly.
"Um, Grand Duchess."
"If you have something to say, say it quickly. Because we have to proceed with the next training."
As expected, Aniel intended to continue.
I have to stop the training. The only problem is how to make her stop.
In the midst of this, a growling sound suddenly came out of my stomach out of nowhere. Without much thought, I spoke as if just tossing it out to Aniel.
"It seems like it's mealtime, how about a meal?"
Meaning let's wrap up slowly now and go eat separately.
Meals are important. Just like with Lucia, if I can't eat something, I can't do anything.
Of course, I don't know if the Korean 'power of rice' works here too.
What I feel after entering the Academy is that other people don't seem to consider meals that important.....
"Fine. Let's eat together."
"Yes, yes?"
Before I could even finish my thought, a storm suddenly raged.
No, eat together?
When did I say let's eat together. I just said let's go eat.
I wanted to say that, but seeing Aniel's mood appear somewhat better, I couldn't tackle her on it.
Although I'm not close enough to her to tackle her in the first place.
"Why? Do you want to train more?"
Not wanting to train more here, I had no choice but to accept the proposal as it was.
By the way, are you okay? Even eating together with someone like me?
Just as Allen thought, many people at the Academy did not consider meals important.
If they were hungry, they ate, but otherwise, they devoted most of their time to training and spent the remaining time resting.
Those who entered the Academy had a goal.
The goal of saving this world as soon as possible by fighting the demons that caused chaos.
Aniel didn't have such a grandiose goal, but she still didn't consider meals important like them.
She was the successor of the Windelof Grand Duchy.
Because the Grand Duchy personnel who followed her resolved everything, she had never used the dormitory cafeteria.
In the first place, she had a small appetite.
If asked to choose between starving for a day and not smoking for a day, she would naturally have chosen the former.
"Grand Duchess. Is there anything you would like to eat?"
Above all, it was even harder to imagine eating alone with another person, and an opposite sex at that, like this.
Aniel looked at Allen asking what she wanted to eat.
At first, she walked while continuously being conscious of the surrounding gazes with an expression like 'Is this really right?'.
But arriving at the cafeteria, he seemed completely distracted by what to eat right now.
Why is it. Looking at such an expression of his that she sees for the first time, she felt the irritation she had until just a moment ago disappearing a little.
Feeling that getting to know aspects of Allen she didn't know little by little like this wasn't bad, Aniel looked at the menu board again.
The dormitory cafeteria provides meals at a cheap price so that anyone can use it.
Naturally, the food quality was more considerate of commoners than nobles.
For Aniel, who had lived her whole life as a noble, it was difficult to decide what to eat.
"Give me the same as what you chose."
"What I chose?"
"Yes. Since I will pay the price. Try choosing."
So she gave the choice to Allen. Taking this opportunity, she was also curious about what he usually ate.
Why does a young noble use the dormitory cafeteria?
Like Aniel or Lucia, most nobles bring servants.
Even Baron families had servants prepare meals separately.
Those who use this cafeteria are commoners, illegitimate children who don't receive family support, or servants besides them.
"Is it really okay to choose anything?"
In the midst of being puzzled, suddenly excited Allen approached Aniel and asked.
She says choose anything.
Hearing Aniel say she would treat, my eyes rolled back.
I decided not to bring servants at all because I didn't want to stand out for no reason.
Because I knew there was a cafeteria inside the Academy anyway.
Also, since there were servants residing in the Academy who would do room cleaning and laundry instead if a certain amount was paid, I thought there would be no particular problem.
However, there was something completely unexpected.
Since I had to get textbooks hurriedly, I just bought them whatever the cost, and the money I had already hit bottom.
Since I sent news to the family, they said they would send it soon, but even eating right now was a problem.
It feels like a young company CEO suddenly giving me a corporate card saying 'have a company dinner to your heart's content'.
Anyway, for me who was living a miserly life, I ordered this and that taking this opportunity.
"Risotto and bread, and soup, ah! Please give me scrambled eggs too. And also...."
It's too abundant for breakfast.
Maybe I'm spending another person's money too recklessly.
But if not now, who knows when I'll have a luxurious meal again.
So I put on a brazen face and ordered this and that with the thought that today is the last supper.
"It is 100 Rupees."
The amount that came out is a whopping 100 Rupees. The money I have in hand right now is 200 Rupees. An amount reaching a whopping half.
If it were me, I would have taken money out of my wallet shedding tears of blood, but Aniel coolly took out a 100 Rupee bill from her bosom and calculated.
"Can you eat this much?"
As foods piled up on the table, Aniel sends a gaze mixed with doubt.
Asking if I can eat it all. I was confident.
"I don't know about other things, but I am good at eating."
"I don't know if that's something to take pride in, though."
"It is worth having. Because there are many people who can't even eat these delicious things properly because they have small appetites."
Because although my stats are the worst, I ate well.
Thanks to it suiting my taste well, it was rather more regrettable.
I wanted to try eating this and that as I wished, but I was in a state of mind where I had to hold out as much as possible with the cheapest things.
I am just grateful to the cooks who are in charge of the dormitory cafeteria today as well.
If I had my way, even if I get expelled, I wanted to take just the cooks back to the Wiesent mansion.
In the middle of eating food happily, my gaze met Aniel's.
She kept looking at me and hadn't touched the meal placed in front of her yet.
"Is food like this perhaps not to your liking?"
As a fellow noble, I knew well what foods nobles ate.
Because they always wanted the best, they didn't touch foods commoners ate.
I spoke thinking maybe Aniel is also like that, but Aniel shook her head and said.
"I was just watching because it looked good seeing you eat blessedly well."
She kept watching me eat?
As I stared at her not understanding, only then did she lift her spoon and start eating the food little by little.
"It's delicious."
At her evaluation that it's delicious, I was relieved.
Because it could be troubling from the buyer's perspective if the picks I chose didn't suit her taste.
Relieved, I concentrated on the meal afterwards.
Thinking that I should eat as much as possible to attend classes today as well.
Aniel wasn't a person who would exaggerate or say things she didn't mean.
It meant it was genuinely delicious.
Clearly, food was just for filling her stomach to her.
She didn't feel the taste much either.
But why does it feel delicious now?
Compared to the highest quality ingredients made by the Grand Duchy's servants, it would be ridiculously lacking.
Just one ingredient usually exceeded 1,000 Rupees.
But for some reason, to Aniel, these foods felt more delicious and valuable now.
Why is it. To know the reason, Aniel continued to look at Allen.
"I really enjoyed the meal. Thanks to the Grand Duchess, I ate heartily."
Allen, who finished eating before she knew it, says smiling heroically as if satisfied.
"And as expected, it's more enjoyable to eat with another person than eating alone."
That eating with another person is enjoyable, does that mean it was enjoyable eating with her?
Looking at Allen's smile placed on his lips, Aniel completely forgot to find the reason for a moment.
Instead, she also came to think. When was the last time she ate with another person like this.
And also how she was while eating with Allen.
'I don't know.'
She doesn't know. But there was no discomfort or unpleasantness.
Is that why. It popped out of her mouth as it pleased.
"Shall I buy for you next time too."
"Is that really true?"
Looking at the appearance of Allen rejoicing while smiling brightly at the words that she would buy for him, Aniel let out a hollow laugh.
Just because it felt worth buying seeing him eat well, and she was curious what the enjoyment about eating together he mentioned was.
Aniel thought there was no other meaning.
"Instead, eat slowly from next time."
"Ah, I apologize. Grand Duchess."