"Embarrassing."
Magnus leaned back in his seat and scoffed.
"...!"
At first other students thought that it was a comment directed to the exchange student, believing themselves to be in the right for being noisy. Only after a moment more and more people were noticing that the glare of the blue-haired man's gray eyes was directed at all of them and not at the gold-haired girl.
And once he finally looked at her, he was met with the sight of Melinda tapping her index finger on her own notebook.
-You seem used to this kind of thing despite starting the Academy rather late.-
Was what she had written to him.
"...let's just talk after lectures…"
"Hmm? Sure~"
Magnus glanced to the side, considering his own options before breathing out and asking with a shrug, to which Melinda smirked and nodded in agreement.
Still, it was easy to say, but when the school day did come to an end, the royal siblings ended up swarmed by the boot-licking crowd composed of not only their classmates but also people from other classes and grades.
"..."
After a few moments of hesitation, Melinda grabbed her schoolbag and get out of the classroom together with Catherine.
"I-it's good th-thing th-that you like His H-Highness…"
Surprisingly, after talking for a bit, the timid girl picked a rather interesting subject that her gold-haired friend did not expect to hear from her.
"Mhmhm~ I'm happy that you noticed what kind of like I meant back then. Also, it feels so weird to finally properly hear our dearest classmates run their mouths instead of just learning about it from you."
Melinda chuckled before turning to the side and glared into the distance.
"Th-that's inexcusable…! I c-can't believe n-nobles of th-the Empire would a-act th-that way!"
Catherine stuttered with a frown and pouted.
"Oh-ho~! While we're at it, what I'm happy to be able to properly hear is that that spunkiness of yours is really coming out nicely~"
"M-maybe…"
The gold-haired girl didn't actually want to linger on the subject so she changed it, causing her black-haired friend to blush, but not deny anything.
"As I said before, I will not press you to tell me everything, but it really seems like originally you weren't the silent cautious type. Anyway, whatever happened to change you, I'm happy to see you start getting over it."
Melinda added, lightly patting Catherine's back.
"S-step by s-step, I guess…"
The timid girl shrugged her shoulders and smiled awkwardly, making it clear that no new information on the subject would be shared.
"By the way, about their eyes…"
The gold-haired girl glanced back at the crowd of people trying to have a conversation with the royal siblings and wondered out loud.
…the crowd that was only growing larger instead of the opposite…
"Wh-what about th-them…?"
"...no, just a silly thought of mine…"
Catherine inquired, raising her brow, but her gold-haired friend shook her head and dropped the matter.
"..."
"D-do you want to w-wait for him…?"
Melinda looked back again, making a rather cold expression, which caused the black-haired girl to ask timidly.
"Nah. He wanted to talk, if he won't put the effort to make it happen, why in the world would I bother? He is not Zane."
The gold-haired girl leaned her head to the side while considering her options before shrugging her shoulders and continuing to walk down the hallway.
The two of them went back to their respective rooms before meeting up again and going to the city.
Catherine's destination was the adventurers' guild, where she worked part-time. Ross living in one of the quarters of the guild was also a reason for that. The black-haired girl would definitely prefer him to stay a lot closer. Still, the additional surveillance actually made it easier to keep up the pretense of the very special Pigkin Orc being just the dumb beast who succumbed to the power of the control collar.
As for Melinda…
"Hmhmhm~"
…she appeared to be just hanging around Catherine, humming absentmindedly without any plans on her own…
"Umm… a-are you perhaps in-interested in working h-here t…"
"And I'm off~! This cozy little cafe serves the most delightful shortcakes~"
As the girls were in front of the guild, Catherine opened her mouth and asked, but Melinda spoke out at the exact same time while pointing at the building on the corner of the opposite side of the street.
"Ah… I-I'm sorry…! I…"
"What are you apologizing for? It's me who's sorry, but I'm not interested in working for the guild staff. But do tell me if you notice an impossible quest or two. I think I did not traumatize that one receptionist nearly enough~"
Catherine trembled, getting teary-eyed over the mistaken assumption, but Melinda merely waved her hand dismissively and winked.
She took a few steps and turned around with an even bigger smile.
"I also don't want to intrude on your time with Ross~"
"I-It's not like th-that…!"
Melinda chuckled, ending up chuckling even harder at the sight of her blushing face, trying to deny everything that was implied in the short sentence.
"Hmhm~'
Melinda merely hummed, waving her friend goodbye and making her way to the supposed quaint little cafe, which was already full of customers.
The gold-haired girl passed the first few tables until unceremoniously taking a seat next to a tall, light-brown-haired woman.
"...!?"
…who seemed particularly confused by that turn of events…
"E-excuse me, Young Lady… I… I'm waiting for someone…"
The woman cleared her throat and tried to be the bigger person in the situation, even while the gold-haired girl grabbed the dessert fork and scooped a piece of the strawberry shortcake that was undoubtedly ordered for that person the woman was supposed to meet with.
"Molly. Even with succubus blood in your veins, you still can't tell through the disguise of the transformation ring, hmm? Unfortunate. Mmmmhm~! Delicious~!"
"!!!"
Melinda let out a sigh before having a proper taste and gushing over the sweets while the light-brown-haired woman flinched and suddenly broke out in cold sweats.
"Y-you are…! But you can't…! You…! Eh…?! Th-this whole time…?!"
"I will leave it to your imagination~ Hmm… No, but seriously, yeah. And you are the only person who knows, so if that piece of news spreads… I don't have to finish this sentence, now, do I~?"
Molly continued to gasp in disbelief, and Melinda, instead of attempting to calm her down, only added more fuel to that fire.
"Gah! Pull yourself together! Showing up like this is a sign of my goodwill. Stop having a mental breakdown!"
But after a while, when the light-brown-haired woman wasn't showing any signs of composing herself, Melinda scoffed at her and pouted while stuffing her face with another forkful of the shortcake.
"!!!"
The gold-haired girl's scolding did have an effect, and the woman straightened her back while trembling like a leaf.
A silent leaf, at least.
"I believe that all my debts to your organization were paid back when I got you and Vicky out of that interrogation or, rather, execution line. Even so, in my magnanimous heart, I found it pitiful that one of the three organizations in control of the Jade City underworld can't recover after some minor inconveniences…"
Melinda chuckled while leaning back in the comfy chair and motioning towards the waitress to bring her another serving of the strawberry shortcake.
"...y-you exposed our hideout…! In the first place, the business is suffering because Victor abides by your unreasonable demand to let girls over eighteen work for us! All adult girls under eighteen left for the other groups!"
It seemed that her words struck a chord in Molly because the light-brown-haired woman trembled and spat through her teeth, clenching her fists under the table.
"Wow. Those whores aren't loyal at all, huh? Who could have known?"
Feeling absolutely no remorse, Melinda not only didn't attempt to act apologetic but even openly mocked the agitated Molly.
"Anyway, since you are here, I presume my message was delivered, and you do want to inquire about changing the focus of your lovely company?"
"..."
The gold-haired girl chuckled one more time before shaking her head and turning serious, which seemed to have made the light-brown-haired woman anxious…
"...I cannot make the decision on my own, but I can pass on your proposal to Victor…"
In the end, Molly let out a bitter sigh and muttered without looking up at Melinda.
"I expected as much~ Well then…"
The gold-haired girl chuckled and leaned in, beginning to share her ideas...