“Junior Greg, why have you been so quiet? Is it because you can't answer?”
Senior Yelena's originally gentle voice now sounded like a terrifying death knell in Greg's ears, tolling once again.
Greg knew very well that he couldn't remain silent any longer. If he dragged this out, the atmosphere would only become more awkward.
He took a deep breath and spoke.
“No, it's not that I don't know how to answer. I was just thinking about how to express it accurately.”
Greg looked up, putting on an expression of serious contemplation.
“My relationship with Victoria is indeed a bit unique, but it's not the kind of unique everyone might be imagining.”
He looked at Senior Yelena, his tone sincere.
“Senior Yelena, you said earlier that we seem to have a very close relationship, and I won't deny that. Although there were indeed some misunderstandings between us at the beginning, we managed to resolve them after going through a few things. Using that as a turning point, we became friends. Since she later became my Junior Sister, it was only natural for us to grow even closer.”
Greg continued:
“But I can assure you, my current relationship with Victoria is absolutely pure.”
Greg's gaze was completely honest as he said this.
Yelena rested her chin in her hands, tilting her head to look at him, her bright eyes sparkling with thoughtful curiosity. “Are you really not lying?”
Greg replied, “Of course not. Victoria and I just tease each other occasionally, but we always help each other out in critical moments. If we really had some sort of scandalous relationship, we wouldn't act so natural in front of everyone, right?”
Hearing this, Lilith tilted her head slightly, the suspicion in her eyes gradually fading.
She thought about it and felt Greg's words made sense. If the two of them really had a secret relationship, they would definitely try to hide it instead of acting so close in public.
So, she spoke up in his support, “Hmph, what you're saying does make some sense.”
With that, she stopped dwelling on the issue and turned her attention to the bowl of cold noodles in front of her.
She picked up her chopsticks, lifted a mouthful of noodles, and delicately put them into her mouth. Her eyes lit up slightly.
The cold noodles were smooth and refreshing, the broth sweet and sour, and the toppings fresh and crisp. Eating a bowl on a hot evening was indeed incredibly comforting.
She didn't say anything, but her chopsticks involuntarily picked up a second mouthful, then a third, eating much faster than before.
Seeing this, Greg recalled the settings from the original game. Although Lilith was a princess, her tastes actually leaned heavily toward this kind of commoner food.
In the original game, one of the main reasons she and Victoria became good friends, aside from having somewhat similar personalities, was that they often snuck out of the academy together to forage for food, specifically hunting down small shops hidden in back alleys.
So, seeing her eat so happily was within Greg's expectations, though he hadn't expected her to speak up for him.
But with this development, Senior Yelena couldn't easily press the matter further. Greg had successfully navigated most of this crisis!
...
Yelena looked at Lilith's innocent face as she focused on eating her noodles, a polite but sympathetic smile playing on her lips.
She felt secretly relieved. The President's younger sister was surprisingly naive and simple. But because of this, although she was on par with the President in terms of beauty, she was highly unlikely to become the President's love rival. That was certainly a good thing to confirm.
Greg then looked at Victoria.
Her fingers were still gently twirling that strand of gray hair, her eyes holding a trace of complex, inexplicable emotion.
Greg softened his tone and said, “Besides, Victoria, although I've never said it before, you're really the only friend in the academy with whom I can completely relax.”
“Even though you're always so fierce and call me an idiot all the time, I'm actually really glad to have met a friend like you in the academy. I can just be myself around you. I'm truly lucky to have met you.”
Hearing this, Victoria's hand paused. She hadn't expected Greg to value her so highly.
Then why do you always have to make me angry?
She turned her head away, a prominent blush rising on her cheeks. “Who said I wanted you to be glad... That was so cheesy, I'm dying.”
Even though she said that, she was still savoring Greg's words in her heart.
She picked up her bowl of cold noodles, pretending to focus on eating to hide the slight upward curve of her lips, but a hint of a smile still escaped from the corners of her eyes.
“So that's how it is...”
Vivian listened to Greg's entire response, her eyelids lowering slightly as if she were contemplating something.
A moment later, she added Victoria to her list of potential candidates to become her sister in the future.
She felt that Victoria was a good girl, and she didn't dislike her.
So, if Greg wanted to keep her by his side in the future, Vivian could accept it.
“Since all the questions are answered, can we eat the noodles now?”
Noticing that the last trace of heavy atmosphere in the air had completely vanished, Greg picked up his chopsticks as if a great weight had been lifted:
“If we don't eat now, the noodles will get soggy!”
At his prompting, everyone except Lilith finally started moving their forks.
The aroma of cold noodles drifted through the air. Accompanied by the crisp clinking of bowls and utensils, the atmosphere at the table finally became lighthearted again.
While everyone else had only one bowl in front of them, Greg had three. After surviving this crisis, he felt an intense hunger, as if that brief mental workout had been more exhausting than a whole day of manual labor.
He began to wolf down the food, devouring one bowl after another, completely throwing his image out the window.
After a while, once they had finished eating, Yelena suddenly remembered something and turned to Vivian.
“By the way, President, is someone from the academy coming tomorrow? It seems we from the Student Council need to receive them?”
Vivian nodded.
Greg chimed in, somewhat puzzled, “The exchange is almost over. Why is someone else coming? It can't be that the students from the Department of Alchemy want to help rebuild the Imperial Capital too, can it?”
Vivian shook her head.
“They applied, but Headmistress Olivia rejected them. Her reason was—she'll call them in secret next time she wants to destroy the Empire.”
The corner of Greg's mouth twitched. “...As expected of her.”
Vivian paused for a moment, then continued:
“The person coming this time is the second-year Catherine Roman... and her family members.”
Rate on N.U.
