“……”
“……”
After lunch, on the train back to the capital.
An awkward silence had settled around .
To be fair, the entire train car was quiet. When I’d gone to the Kingdom of Belbur as the Emperor’s representative, my security had been on par with the Emperor’s. Thus, the only ones sharing my compartnt were Princess Alice, and Princes Jayden and Lucas. It was a rather spacious cabin, entirely for the four of us.
But as an academy student, I wouldn’t receive any special treatnt compared to the other students.
Of course, the academy had reserved the entire compartnt. Since the noble A-Class only had fifteen students, booking a whole cabin left plenty of empty seats. Still, this was just a standard first-class cabin, with lots of empty seats but not much room to wander around.
After practically fleeing from lunch with Lena yer, I’d holed up in my room, and then headed straight to the train station as soon as it was ti. And there I found... Lena yer.
I thought I’d arrived almost forty minutes early, but she’d shown up even earlier and was waiting for .
Then again, maybe she hadn’t specifically been waiting for . With her diligent nature, she’d probably just arrived early to wait for the train.
When our eyes t, her face remained as expressionless as ever.
Snap.
Once again, I heard that sharp, disciplined salute. The sound of her heels clicking together was audible.
“You really don’t have to salute every ti we et. Now that you’re joining the academy, we’re just classmates.”
“Understood.”
...That stiff tone of hers.
I couldn’t get used to it.
It wasn’t my first ti dealing with a character who showed no expression. Under other circumstances, Roti, who always accompanies Jake, was a similarly stoic maid character.
But... there was sothing different here. Roti was soone who found it awkward to show emotion. In the ga, even if you beca close to her, she wasn’t one to break into grins or bursts of laughter. Her personality was closer to Charlotte’s—just a bit more cautious and conflict-avoidant.
That’s why, even when Jake constantly bothered her, she’d respond with a hint of irritation or reluctance, separate from her underlying fondness for him.
When Roti smiled, it wasn’t shocking; it was simply a natural expression she showed when she beca close to others.
anwhile, I was “playing” a character who suppressed emotions...
And Lena yer had a similar atmosphere. As if she, too, was hiding behind a mask.
“……”
“……”
Arriving forty minutes early ant that the train hadn’t even pulled in yet. This station, the Empire’s northernmost civilian stop, required the train to arrive and wait thirty minutes before departure. Further north lay Lena’s holand, the autonomous state, but the security issues near the border made civilian train travel in that area rather unsafe.
“……”
“……”
Two expressionless people standing across from each other made for an awkward lack of conversation.
Did she feel as awkward around as I did around her?
“Is this your first ti visiting the Empire?”
“Yes, it is.”
At least she replied as soon as I spoke. Her deanor reminded of a new recruit, her conduct almost overly disciplined.
...Though she wasn’t actually a soldier.
“The atmosphere in the Riklant Autonomous State must be very different. Do you think you’ll be comfortable here?”
“Yes, I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Her expressionless face didn’t seem to convey much excitent, so it was hard to tell what she actually felt.
...Is this what it felt like for others to look at ?
Co to think of it, there was that ti I’d set out at dawn to the village just to get ahead of Leo and Claire before a mission.
Was this how they’d felt when they’d seen already waiting at the village gate with the quest target’s body?
“……”
Hmm, maybe not.
After all, Claire had always greeted with a bright smile, even back then. She was delighted to see every ti.
The one who seed uncomfortable was Leo.
...Had I gone too far?
As these thoughts ran through my head, the train finally arrived. Leo and the others hadn’t reached the station yet. There was even a ga event where the players only managed to arrive just before the train departed.
And, as that implied, I would now be alone on the train with Lena yer until my friends arrived.
We weren’t the only students who had arrived early, but nobody seed eager to strike up a conversation with us. With an expressionless princess known for taking lives without hesitation and an unfamiliar, stoic student beside her, it was unlikely anyone would be willing to approach.
Normally, I’d find this peace and quiet refreshing, but right now, I desperately wished soone would talk to .
While boarding the train, I had a faint hope that Lena yer might sit a little distance away from ...
...But that hope was swiftly dashed.
As soon as I took a seat by the window, Lena yer confidently sat down directly across from .
“……”
“……”
And silence.
It’s not as if I could just get up and move, either. Even without an expression, people still have feelings, and moving away would only hurt hers.
If I’d always sat alone, maybe people would eventually think, “Oh, that’s just how she is.” But I’d usually hung around with friends. Even though I wasn’t the leader, I tended to travel in a group.
If I left this seat to sit with Leo, Claire, Alice, Charlotte, Mia Crowfield, or even Jake, leaving Lena here alone...
...it’d feel a lot like I was ostracizing her.
“……”
“……”
So, I had no choice but to endure the awkwardness and sit there. Lena yer might be expressionless, but she seed to express her feelings, however subtly, through her actions... probably.
Maybe she felt a slight sense of camaraderie with as her first academy acquaintance... I wasn’t sure.
We sat in silence for about twenty minutes before other students started boarding the train, bringing so chatter to the cabin. Then again, there were fewer than ten of them.
In the original, none of the protagonist’s friends faced any kind of social ostracism. Now that I thought about it, they made up nearly a third of our class... a rather powerful clique, in fact.
They could have easily ostracized anyone if they’d wanted to.
About five minutes later, so kids finally stumbled onto the train, clearly rushing.
These were the ones who had only just co down from the mountains, taking a car back with Jennifer.
Considering Jennifer was with them, they would’ve made it back to the academy even if they’d missed the train. But knowing them, they were probably determined to stick to the schedule.
“Sis! ...Huh?”
Claire greeted enthusiastically but hesitated when she noticed Lena yer sitting across from .
As soon as Lena saw Claire, she sprang to her feet and gave yet another flawless military salute—the third one I’d seen. She spoke without waiting for to introduce them.
“I am Lena yer. Greetings, Your Highness.”
“...Huh?”
Claire murmured, visibly taken aback.
I barely managed to hold myself back from facepalming.
...How embarrassing.
Even as a bystander, I felt embarrassed.
It seed that Lena yer had mistaken Claire, who called “sis,” for another princess.
...Well, it made sense.
The Empire’s nobles knew I wasn’t actually a blood relative of the Pengryphons, but in smaller nations where information flow was limited, they likely wouldn’t know. Even if they were curious, the Empire wouldn’t go around announcing that I was adopted. Nobles tended to keep quiet on the topic when dealing with outsiders.
In her autonomous state, they’d have been preoccupied with their own affairs, leaving little room to investigate the imperial family’s history in detail.
“……”
With Lena standing there in a picture-perfect salute, an icy tension settled over the train cabin for a mont.
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