"Mou, I asked you to stop..." Clara pouted and straightened the wrinkles on her habit.
"Sorry, sorry, I could not control myself." I scratched the back of my head with a wide grin.
"Hmph!" Clara rolled her eyes, but her lips curved up in an imperceptible smile. "You did it for so long, I hope that sister Safelia doesn't notice anything strange and enters the room... If she realizes that we are not there, then..."
"Don't worry about that, I made sure that she does not suspect anything."
Clara looked at me with a suspicious expression, but in the next second, her face bloomed into a smile.
She then hugged my arm and pressed her body against mine with a concerned look. "Claus, what are you going to do now? I have the presentment that the people that visited father are not simple. If you are being targeted by them, then you..."
"Silly girl, don't worry." I knocked her forehead slightly and kissed her lips. "You saw my strength. In fact, I already have an idea about who sent those people. I know what to do."
Clara nodded softly and looked into my eyes with a worried expression. "Claus, be careful."
"I know."
Afterward, we went back to the meeting room. When Safelia saw us exiting the room, she stared at us with an unreadable expression. "You sure took long... Did you come to a decision?" She looked at me.
I did my best to show a cold face. "I'm sorry, saintness Safelia, but I need to think a bit more before coming to a decision."
Safelia frowned. "Prince, I want to remind you that we already gave you enough face allowing you to rescind the marriage. But if you don't want to accept our kindness, I don't mind rescinding the marriage from our part."
My expression turned chilly. "Are you threatening me?"
"If you think so." Safelia put on a kind look befitting of a saintness, however, her eyes were arrogant, looking at me as though I was nothing more than an insignificant insect.
... Well, I have always hated religious fanatics for this reason.
They are a pretty unpleasant bunch.
"Don't worry, you'll know my answer soon." I smirked and walked away. Before leaving, I shot a last look at Clara.
Clara gazed at me lovingly, but she quickly hid her feelings. It would be bad if saintness Safelia realizes that something is wrong.
...
Once Claus was gone, Safelia furrowed her brows.
"Clara, are you sure that you don't want to rescind the engagement on your own? That prince does not look like someone that will cooperate easily. Don't worry, with the church backing you, nobody can say anything even if the other part is a prince."
Clara looked in the direction Claus left and heaved a sigh. "... I can't do it, sister Safelia. You know how much I love him. I don't want to harm him more than I have done..."
"... Clara, feelings like love are unnecessary for the servants of the goddess. Although I can understand you, I hope you can get over such feelings quickly."
Clara lowered her head silently.
Seeing this, Safelia sighed. "Ha... It doesn't matter. You will soon understand the goddess's greatness anyway."
For some reason, Clara was reminded of Claus's big thing when she heard Safelia's words.
Instantly, she blushed and scolded herself in her mind.
'Clara, did you turn into a pervert after doing it with him!? How can you think of something so dirty...!'
'Although honestly, he truly was great...'
...
Night.
After the meeting with Clara, I went to the student council and explained things to the others. Of course, I did not tell them about the sex, only mentioning that Clara asked me to cancel the engagement.
Strangely, Daisy looked at me with an explain-to-me smiling expression. I swear I don't know how she realized. I even made sure to eliminate any strange smell.
I can only say that women's instincts are very frightening.
By the way, Dina and Andrea were smiling despite outwardly criticizing Clara for asking me to cancel the engagement. Girls, your true thoughts are clear for everybody to see.
Afterward, we finished the work for the day and returned to our dormitories. Some noble students prefer to return to their houses instead of sleeping in the institute, but I don't have plans to return to the imperial palace for the time being.
But when I entered the bedroom, instead of going to sleep as I was supposed to, I created a small spell on my fingertips and pushed it inside my body.
[Recognition Interference]
A very useful spell for undercover operations. It's a mind interference spell that prevents others from recognizing the true identity of the user.
With this spell, I don't need to disguise myself to avoid being recognized as the prince.
It's like when that famous superhero put on the glasses and becomes a reporter. Even though his face is exactly the same, nobody recognizes him. Well, this spell works the same way.
But just in case, I dyed my hair and eyes red. With this, even someone with an outstanding perception will fail to recognize my true identity.
When my preparations were done, I flashed out of the institute.
Something I realized when I met Clara today was that I have been too relaxed.
I said it before, but it's a bit difficult for me to take the problems around me seriously. After all, no matter how threatening they look, I'm confident about having the last laugh.
For me, Lilia's attempts to harm me are nothing more than a joke.
However, sometimes I forgot that everybody is not like me.
Even if I don't feel pressured by empress Lilia's schemes, the people around me, like Dina, Lena, Clara, or aunt Dayana, are giving their best to overcome Lilia's schemes. They did not know about my prowess or abilities, so they can only see the great danger we are under.
So, even if it's to relieve them, I decided to be more proactive.
Didn't I promise Dina that I would make her the emperor? Well, I'll take the first step towards that goal tonight.