After hours of consideration, the queen ordered Sebek's grandfather to find a trustworthy human lawyer in the kingdom to investigate this matter. Only for him to come back reporting that the royal family's castle has lost one-half of its entirety due to one attempted kidnapping. Then, the princess displayed an other worldly knowledge and talent in magic. Finally, she defeated Sebek's grandfather in a strategic games. All while knowing that she was still five!
The news sent her court in a great disarray as they were all taken aback by the child's abilities. In their eyes, she was either a prodigy or a monster. Had they known how displeased she was with her own results, they would've already coughed up blood! At the age of five, she had created so many shifts in her own surroundings. When compared to their prince who accidentally burned down houses and fields during Halloween as a child, it was second to what he was capable of and he's a dragon fae of the royal family which made more sense than her abilities!
After hearing this, the results, the queen passed down a secret order to the elderly general. Fake his death and tell no one but his daughter and son-in-law. Taking advantage of the princess's constant request for martial arts lessons, the queen assigned the old man to mentor the child should she pass with great expectations to the result. Since then, it has been one event after another and the inner court has become as busy and lively much like it had been so many years ago when the prince was still an infant.
Seeing that the queen had lighten her mood over some papers from the princess made them wonder what had the princess done this time to make the queen so happy?!
Wasn't it just the other day that the castle was clearly gloomy because the queen had to turn down an invitation to the fairy gala sent by the princess?
.....
The next day, Lotus made her way back to the dorms with meat and veggies in a large basket when she noticed Ruggie was picking dandelions just behind the hall of mirrors through her butterflies. She raised a brow and walked around the dome building surprising Ruggie, "Ruggie?"
"Wah?!" Ruggie jumped out in shock only to breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing Lotus, "Oh! Ah, Lotus... It's just you. Geez, don't surprise me like that!"
"You're picking dandelions..." Lotus noted, "Have things not been promising back in Afterglow Savannah?"
"Eh? Well..." Ruggie hesitated with suspicions.
"Jack already told us. That Ruggie senpai grew up in the slums of Afterglow Savannah." Lotus explained, "To explain why you took so much food over winter break."
"So, that's it. He shouldn't rat me out like that..." Ruggie sighed, "Well, things have always been right to begin with."
Lotus hummed in deep thoughts before responding, "Last time when I visited the slums, it seemed that the residents were still barely able to get by. It's been two years since then... Did something happened to the Outland Districts?"
"You know of that place?"
Lotus nodded, "I've visited the place in the past. Compared to the other more well-off places, the outlands are not cold and everyone watches out for one another. So, I would rent out a room from the impala inn whenever I visited."
"That's interesting. You know of the Impala beastman family." Ruggie looked up in surprise.
"Their son is a very energetic child. Pickpocketed me once while I was out shopping with my elder sibling." Lotus responded, "I brought him back home and that was when I came across the slums."
She shook her head and sighed, "Then, I heard that he got caught by the royal guards three years ago."
"That guy..." Ruggie sat on the ground and grumbled, "We told him to stay off the streets since his family was doing better, but he started to help me feed the kids too."
Lotus nodded, "He was certainly the black sheep of the family. For them, making sure one another was fed was good enough, but the kid has greater ambitions and wanted to help others. For the family, I managed to find him in the other districts and we managed to get him to work for a different inn with some help. I thought that things would be fine since then, but perhaps I was wrong?"
Ruggie remained quiet for a bit before responding, "Nah. It's nothing major. That kid is doing much better now anyway. Just that my grandma is now on hard times and we can hardly pay the taxes now."
Taxes...
Hearing this, a small figure and a few thoughts ran through Lotus's mind in a flash.
"I see..." Lotus hummed curiously as she pushed them back, "Can you bring those dandelions to the kitchen with me? I'm making Lunch and Dinner today. Besides, someone saw you picking dandelions earlier."
"Eh?!" Ruggie jumped up in shock upon hearing this, "Y-You're kidding me, right?"
"As if." Lotus lied again, "They were doubting that it was you since you're a vice-dorm leader too. I already told them that I had you go pick some herbs for me, so it would seem like a lie if you don't go to the kitchen with me. Did you really thought that no one would be able to see you back here?"
"Man..." Ruggie grumbled with a heavy sigh before responding, "Fine. Just give me a sec."
With that, they made it to the kitchen as she instructed Ruggie to cut the vegetables and she began prepping the ducks and meatballs.
"You're pretty good at this." Ruggie noted curiously, "Half of these dishes seem awfully fancy. How did you know how to make these?"
"My brother taught me how to make them." She responded truthfully before she lied again, "Him and mother. After I left, I began making sweets for my family. I only make food to satisfy my appetite after that."
"Your brother?"
Lotus nodded as she began to handle the pig trotters, "Others dug his grave for him."
"Others..." Ruggie shuddered, "What about now?"
"Now?" Lotus raised a brow in bewilderment.
"Yeah. What about now?" Ruggie nodded, "I've heard you talk about your past life with that scary life style, but you never talked about your current one all that much."
Lotus shrugged, "What can I say? I'd be lying if I say that I'm unsatisfied with my current living conditions. There's no competition to live, my family loves me very much, and they always pay attention to my needs and wants before their own. Just living would've been more than enough when I left. I never expected to be this fortunate. They're not human, but they're more open-minded, especially when it comes for my sake. Blood is not as close as bonds are in my family. They usually aren't the type to eat savory foods, so I went to learn how to bake sweets. However, that certainly wasn't easy. Sometimes, it's too sweet and, other times, it's not sweet enough. It took me a long time before I managed to get it right. Some of my relatives are loud and hot-headed while others are more calm and insightful. All of them are very amazing, though."
"Then, why did you not tell the headmaster that you were adopted? For weeks, he thought that you weren't adopted." Ruggie raised a brow.
Lotus wore a dry smile and replied, "Well, they weren't very supportive of the idea to attend a school with so many other humans away from home. So, I had to use another way to get accepted on my own. Most finally came around, but the others are still urging me to just stay at home with them. They don't really care how difficult it is to get into the school either or how well-known they are. They nearly tore up the second recommendation letter which was from Royal Sword Academy too. I was almost unable to send in my response to turn down the offer. Quite an unusual experience. Haha..."
"Eh?! So, it was true that you were also recommended by Royal Sword Academy!" Ruggie looked up to her in shock, "It's more unbelievable to hear it from you..."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Lotus huffed in dismay, "Am I not qualified to receive a recommendation letter from Royal Sword Academy when I could even get one from Night Raven College?"
"But, why did you choose Night Raven College when you can be with those shiny white coat guys?" Ruggie pointed out with a look of confusion.
"Because..." Lotus sighed, "They have not experienced failure often."
"Eh? What does that mean?" Ruggie frowned, "You know that sounds awfully rude."
"I'm not lying though." She said with a frown, "When cooking, we learn from our mistakes and failures to adjust and readjust until we find the recipe that best suit our palette. However, for chefs, they probably have done this since the day they took up this path going a more creative route and experience numerous failures. The one who are the best chefs in the world tend to be those who have money, but, when you try their dishes and see their strategies or recipes, that is when you can find who is actually the best. The ones who fail this journey are those who gave up after suffering failure after failure and those who are still present are those who have overcome that chain of failures to get to where they are today."
After adjusting the heat, she continued, "I've done my research and found that most who claim to have been accepted are those who have struggled quite a bit before being successful upon entering the school. But, those who enter Night Raven College are those who are in the process of overcoming that hurdle. I want to be there when those students finally made their breakthrough. That is why I chose this school instead. Those who are struggling are those who are more ambitious, after all."