Having made eye contact with the crown prince, I couldn’t do anything.

Since it was the crown prince who had eavesdropped, I should be the one getting angry, but rather, the crown prince seemed to be the one with an angry expression.

The crown prince’s face was subtly contorted.

No, why is he so angry after eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation?

Though I thought it was absurd, I couldn’t take my eyes off the crown prince.

Because the crown prince’s attire was quite different… from usual.

……He’s wearing completely commoner-like clothes.

Of course, they couldn’t hide the evidence of his fine face and delicately raised hands.

The hat and gloves he was holding in his hands seemed to be meant to conceal that.

So I looked at the gloves and hat in his hands, wondering why the crown prince of a country was wearing commoner clothes and making such a contorted expression in front of me.

But no matter how much I thought about it, the crown prince’s attire made absolutely no sense.

“Um…… Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

But since I needed to return to class soon, I carefully opened my mouth toward him.

He looked at me with a startled face.

“Ah.”

With just that “ah,” he quickly ran off somewhere and disappeared.

Since I couldn’t leave the academy before classes ended, I could only stare blankly at his figure as he grew more distant.

……Perhaps he heard what the young duke of Posilia and I were talking about.

If he heard and somehow relayed the words strangely to the emperor…….

Having returned to the classroom like that, I sat quietly in my seat while letting the lessons go in one ear and out the other, and useless thoughts began to creep up.

But then, my first meeting with him flashed through my mind.

More precisely, that playful smile as he caught me when I almost fell filled my mind completely.

……Surely he wouldn’t say anything strange.

Even if he relays the conversation, he would say what he heard.

Since it was a problem I couldn’t solve no matter how much I worried about it, I gave up on needless worrying and turned my eyes back to the blackboard to focus on the class again.

Of course, none of the lessons entered my head.

* * *

In an instant, the afternoon classes ended, and we prepared to return home.

But on the way home, the gazes of people looking at me were strange.

As I was leaving the academy, they kept glancing at me, but when our eyes met, they quickly turned their gaze away as if they hadn’t been looking.

It was then, as I was leaving the academy with my friends.

Splash—

I felt something pouring over my head and Grace’s.

“……What is this?”

Grace looked up in bewilderment, searching for whoever had sprayed something on us.

I quickly pushed her head down so her face was facing the ground, and then once again, smelly liquid fell onto our bodies.

Aliana and Cordelia, who were standing next to us waiting to go home together, stamped their feet in frustration seeing our situation, while other academy students watched our predicament as if it were entertaining.

I quietly looked at the ground, pretending to be flustered, while listening to their voices.

“What? Isn’t that Rowenloa? That rumor, isn’t it false?”

“Yeah. I heard the young duke of Posilia himself clarified it……”

“But to be doused with sewage like that…… Did the young duke lie? Honestly, what wouldn’t he do for the woman he likes?”

Ah, so…… the young duke clarified the rumor, but now someone who didn’t like that clarification poured sewage on us?

Having assessed the situation, I whispered to Grace.

“Pretend to faint here. Grace.”

Grace looked at me with round eyes after hearing my words.

“What……”

She looked at me, bewildered, but soon nodded as if she understood and let her entire body go limp, falling forward.

Not expecting her to throw her body with such sincerity, I hurriedly supported her as she completely lost her balance.

Then, I started shouting to the children around as if I knew nothing.

“Grace has fainted!”

The renowned Lady Posilia had been hit with a water bomb at the academy and fainted.

Even if the Posilia ducal family or the academy didn’t make a big issue of this, the people who did this would be quite terrified.

“Oh my goodness, Lady Posilia was hit with  a splash of water and fainted!”

Starting with my cry, the eyes of the students watching us began to fill with shock.

Ah, this damn class society.

I looked with an amused expression.

As the students were buzzing for a while, someone soon pushed through the crowd and approached us.

Contrary to my expectation that it would be teachers, the one running toward us was the young duke of Posilia.

“What is this……”

I raised my gaze upward and explained the situation with just one glance.

The young duke’s breathing seemed to roughen with anger, but soon regained its stability.

He wrapped his jacket around me and carried Grace on his back.

Just before we left the academy and got into the carriage, teachers who had noticed the commotion ran toward us, and after briefly explaining the situation, we headed home.

The young duke asked us to go to the ducal residence together, but I refused his offer.

Because I was itching to quickly inform certain people who didn’t yet know about this that Grace had fainted and the young duke was angry.

It’s obvious who would do this kind of thing.

So I deliberately wore the young duke’s jacket and headed home, dripping wet.

* * *

The expressions of the servants who saw me arriving at the mansion contorted.

“Oh my goodness, Miss!”

Soon, someone must have called for Mylene, as she approached me with a startled expression, holding towels.

“Miss, what in the world…… Are you hurt anywhere?”

Mylene and other maids carefully wiped my body with towels.

“Hurry and wash up and change your clothes.”

It was then, as I was heading to wash with Mylene’s support—

Heavy footsteps were heard from somewhere, and soon my father’s voice pierced my ears.

“What is going on here?”

At the same time as my father’s question, Bershua and Leila entered the mansion.

They didn’t look surprised at all by my appearance.

“Rowenloa, don’t make me ask twice what happened.”

As my father urged me to answer, I opened my mouth.

“Someone poured sewage over my head at the academy. Twice, in fact.”

Seeing my words, Bershua and Leila were trying their hardest to hold back their laughter.

So now they don’t even pretend to be nice in front of me.

“And Grace, who was next to me, was also hit by that water and fainted, so she’s being carried on the young duke’s back to the ducal residence.”

However, at these following words, their faces began to stiffen rapidly.

Then their gazes shifted to the jacket draped over my shoulders.

“These days, strange rumors have been circulating in the academy. It seemed like the young duke of Posilia was firmly determined to find the culprit of this incident while also tracking down the source of those rumors.”

With those final words, I shifted my gaze back to my father.

“So, please don’t worry too much, Father.”

Because I’m not going to worry either.

With that, I bowed to my father and turned away from them again.

After washing up and changing clothes with Mylene’s help, the cold subsided and my body warmed up.

As I was sitting wrapped in a shawl to prevent catching a cold while drinking warm tea, I heard the sound of a carriage outside, and soon someone knocked on my door.

“What is it?”

“Miss Rowenloa. Lady Heris from Viscount Brel’s family is looking for you.”

Hearing that, I glanced out the window and saw Heris waiting for me anxiously.

Since receiving her help to attend the banquet held at Marquis Clevan’s residence, I had been training with her every weekend for two hours under the pretext of discussing reading-related topics.

But today, since I had just returned from the academy, there was no way I had a training appointment with her.

“Miss, how about inviting her to your room? If you wear a dress again and go outside in this state, you’ll catch a cold. You have your debutante ball coming up soon, so you need to take care.”

Hearing Mylene’s words, I nodded.

So when Mylene relayed the message to the maid, she bowed to me and quickly moved her footsteps to the first floor.

Through the window, I could see Heris entering the marquis’s mansion with a worried expression after hearing the maid’s words.

Soon after, there was a knock on the door, and Heris entered the room.

“Lady Rowenloa!”

With that, Heris ran toward me with an expression that anyone could see was full of worry.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Heris seemed to have heard about the commotion at the academy and hurriedly come to find me.

“Anyway, those bad…… They didn’t bother me, but now they’re determined to go after you, Lady Rowenloa.”

Hearing that, I tilted my head.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well……”

Heris, trailing off, opened the door to check that no one was in the corridor, then approached me and whispered quietly.

“I saw everything. Those kids mixing a lot of dirt into water and pouring it out the window.”

At those words, the corners of my mouth curled up into a smile.

I inwardly praised my past self a hundred times for becoming friends with Heris.

This is why connections are important.

Having people who could be my eyes and ears anywhere was truly a good thing.