Chapter 38 : Accidents! All accidents!
The Second Rose Garden Cafeteria was a battlefield, and Ailiya was a seasoned warrior.
Tray in hand, she executed a precise three-step maneuver—not a basketball layup, but close—securing her spot by the special dish sign.
Sylvie jogged up, shyly lining up behind her.
“S-Sylvie,” Ailiya said, making a last-ditch effort, “you can queue for what you like. No need to stick with me.”
“It’s fine,” Sylvie replied, shaking her head with a sincere, curious smile, her honey-colored eyes sparkling. “I want to try something new. I never had dishes like these in my fishing village.”
With that, Ailiya sighed, resigned, and faced forward to wait.
Great, she’s glued to me.
She really didn’t want to get tangled with a main story character!
“Um, Ailiya…” Sylvie’s voice came softly, as if tiptoeing to peek over her shoulder. “I heard… you’re a commoner too. Is that true?”
“Yup,” Ailiya sighed, her tone heavy with life’s woes. “Daughter of a baker from a village outside the capital. My deadbeat parents racked up a huge debt, so I got sold to a devil in the Winter family to work it off.”
“D-Devil?” Sylvie gasped, startled.
In rumors, Liliane von Winter was St. Freya’s untouchable, perfect honor student.
“Well…” Ailiya rubbed her chin, offering a “fair” assessment. “She’s occasionally decent… like, a fingernail’s worth. Otherwise, she’s a cold-blooded, labor-squeezing, torment-loving capitalist! Plus, she’s scarily erudite, with a freakish memory and absurd strength…”
Sylvie burst out laughing at Ailiya’s rant. “Ailiya, you’re really interesting!”
“No!” Ailiya nearly jumped, waving her hands frantically. “I’m not interesting! I’m super boring! Really!”
Dear heavens, don’t remember me! I’ll introduce you to Aurora, that hyper gremlin—go play with her!
Soon, it was Ailiya’s turn. She ordered deftly, grabbing a tray piled with golden, crispy phoenix wings, and scanned the packed cafeteria for a seat.
“Ailiya! Over here!” a familiar voice called.
In a corner, Aurora waved excitedly.
Ailiya approached. “You’re here too?”
“Heh, the threads of fate have already bound us Chosen Ones…” Aurora said, covering one eye dramatically.
Ailiya ignored her theatrics, noting the matching mountain of wings on Aurora’s tray.
Kindred spirits.
As she sat, Sylvie followed, tray in hand, shyly saying, “Ailiya, you disappeared when I turned around.”
The moment Aurora saw Sylvie’s face, she froze, petrified.
Sylvie noticed her, bowing politely. “Sorry, I didn’t see anyone here. May I sit?”
“Y-Yes! Please…” Aurora stammered, like a starstruck fan meeting an idol.
Ailiya, unfazed, dug into her wings with knife and fork.
She’d expected Aurora’s reaction—no surprise there.
“Hey!” Aurora yanked Ailiya close, still chewing a wing, whispering frantically, “Why’s the protagonist here?! You know her?!”
“Bumped into her. Total accident,” Ailiya mumbled through food. “Don’t make a scene.”
“How is this not a big deal?!” Aurora’s voice trembled. “Right before the ball, you happen to meet the protagonist? Your variable timing is unreal!”
Ailiya sighed, swallowing. “I swear, no more running in hallways…”
“What’re you two talking about?” Sylvie asked, curious.
“Nothing major,” Ailiya brushed off.
As Aurora opened her mouth to argue, Ailiya speared a massive wing and stuffed it into her chattering mouth. “Eat your food. You’ll need energy to think.”
A soft magical chime rang, followed by a campus-wide broadcast echoing through the cafeteria.
[Emergency notice: All second-year students, proceed to your classrooms immediately. Repeat…]
“Mm!” Aurora, mid-chew, sharpened her gaze.
She looked at the ceiling’s amplifying magic stone, murmuring, “It’s here.”
Ailiya ignored it, speeding up her eating.
Joking? I’m not wasting hard-earned food over some notice!
All second-years returned to their classrooms.
Ailiya and Aurora settled into Class A.
Ailiya glanced back instinctively. Liliane, indifferent as ever, was engrossed in a book thicker than Ailiya’s torso, titled On the Irreversibility of Entropy Increase in Mana Circuits and High-Dimensional Magic Conversion Hypotheses.
The title alone made Ailiya’s scalp tingle.
And that brick’s thickness?! Does it even fit in a drawer?
Sensing her gaze, Liliane looked up, offering a gentle smile and tucking a stray silver lock behind her ear.
“Ailiya,” her voice carried clearly, “focus on the class meeting. Keep staring, and I’ll make you memorize this book cover to cover.”
How can such a terrifying threat come from that mouth?!
Ailiya snapped upright, eyes glued to the podium, not daring to glance back.
Their homeroom teacher stepped up, counted heads, and cleared her throat. “Students, today’s urgent meeting is to announce something critical. By the way, Isabella is absent due to family matters.”
Liliane kept reading, seemingly in the know and uninterested.
Aurora, trembling with excitement, clasped her hands, whispering eagerly, “The main storyline of The Rose of St. Freya begins today—”
“By joint decision of the academy board and the royal family,” the teacher announced solemnly, “starting tomorrow, St. Freya’s second-years will merge with St. Ross Men’s Academy second-years for a year-long ‘mixed education trial.’ In short, both grades will attend classes together.”
…Huh?
Aurora’s excitement froze.
This… wasn’t in the script, was it?