"...uhhh… no. It's nothing like that…"
Natalie let out a heavy sigh before shaking her head.
"I am engaged because of my grandfather. Before I was born, he and his best friend made a promise that their grandchildren would marry."
"That's pretty common. My parents were in the same situation."
"I wish my grandfather had been sensible enough to arrange things for me, too…!"
"Isn't that a good thing? That gives both of you enough time to get to know each other. Much better than being potentially thrust into a sudden marriage with who knows what kind of creep…"
Natalie crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair, while other girls commented. Two of them were in the single minority and rather annoyed at Natalie's approach to a situation they considered very fortunate.
"...yeah… well… my fiance is nine…"
"NINE!?"
The girl in the spotlight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, bracing herself before revealing, causing almost everyone to call out in shock.
"Technically ten…"
The girl faced the other way and added without sounding any less bitter.
"Natalie… Aren't you twenty?!"
"Don't you think that I know that…?!"
Louise gasped, earning herself a glare from her best friend.
"Well… I mean… ten years difference isn't a big deal, especially considering what potentially awaits some of us… but…"
"But right now, I am in my twenties and engaged to a snot-nosed brat. You really don't have to spell it out for me, I am more than aware about it. Each visit is basically a compulsory babysitting session! I am wasting my youth on some… ughhh…"
Another of the single girls mumbled awkwardly, causing Natalie to hide her face in her hands and let out a desperate groan.
"L-look at the bright side… With the age difference, he must be looking up to you quite a bit! I'm sure his adoration would only grow, and in the end, once he turns into a fine gentleman…"
"...when I visited during the summer and had to watch over him, he called me an old lady and an ugly hag…"
"..."
Louise tried to lift her friend's mood, but her words had an adverse effect and prompted Natalie to share some more information that caused the room to go silent.
"H-hey… umm… If it's not too much, do any of you happen to know about a single gentleman interested in marriage…?"
One of the single girls ended up biting the bullet and taking it upon herself to shift the attention away from Natalie.
"What about boys from our class? There's a few single ones."
"Eww… No! I'm asking because I can't imagine myself with any of them!"
"Pffft… ahahaha~! And that's why you're still single!"
"It's important to have standards while you can, but yours are just unreasonable, you know?"
The atmosphere was changed successfully at the cost of that one girl catching a few stray hits here and there.
"..."
"...?"
Using the opportunity, Louise beckoned one of the waiter who approached her and leaned down while she whispered something to him.
…it just so happened that even though she put one hand to her mouth, the angle in respect to a certain gold-haired girl quite proficient in reading lips was just enough for the barrier to mean nothing.
The question that Louise had for the waiter was…
-You got them from Ir'ceguns' right? Mine doesn't taste right. Are those fresh?-
"...!"
Even when the waiter nodded his head and assured the girl that nothing was wrong with the eggs, Louise seemed unconvinced, clearly finding something off with the taste.
"..."
Melinda gulped down her saliva as her most modest chest rose and fell in the rhythm of her erratic breaths as the horrible feeling was setting in.
The girl who was supposedly behind the mean prank, the one who also had Basilisk eggs often enough to even come up with the plan, found something wrong with the eggs.
Could it be that only her egg had a problem, or was it something else…?"
Melinda slowly turned her head, directing her gaze towards a certain blue-haired girl.
"!!!"
"...!"
Who flinched and averted her eyes, making the gold-haired girl feel as if someone had punched her in the guts!
*knock* *knock*
"Big brother!?"
"Sorry for the interruption. I want to pass on a letter to Young Lady Fenrioette."
After a quick knock on the door, a particularly tall blue-haired individual entered the room without any introduction except for Bjorki's confused call and walked right up to the gold-haired girl slouched in her seat.
"Here."
"...Young Lord Em'raldio, here…"
Magnus took out an envelope and tried to hand it to Melinda, but the gold-haired girl ignored his attempt. Instead, she reached out for the egg cup and slid it to the side as an offering.
"Although I know it's a Basilisk Egg, I can't actually get myself to eat it, but it would be a shame to waste it. You should eat it, maybe your ability will activate and you'll gain some status point, Young Lord."
Melinda said without lifting her head or looking at Magnus while handing him the spoon.
Her behavior seem to revert back to how it was right as the eggs were served, causing the other girls to look at each other in concern.
"...!"
"I'm here only to…"
"I'll take the letter if you take a bite."
Magnus picked up on his sister's nervousness and tired to refuse but got cornered by Melinda's next words.
"Don't mind if I do…"
"Brother!"
As if used to unreasonable requests, the blue-haired man shrugged his shoulders, receiving the spoon and taking a spoonful of the egg white, only for his sister to call out to him anxiously.
"Yes?"
Magnus asked, furrowing his brows.
"I… it is not appropriate for a gentleman to take food from a girl engaged to someone else…!"
Bjorki gulped down her saliva and declared, although, for some reason, she could not keep up eye contact with her older brother.
"Don't be silly. That only applies when the food or the cutlery was already used."
Magnus chuckled, shaking his head at his younger sister's innocence, putting the spoonful of egg white in his mouth.
But at the very moment that the food touched his tongue…