Dino, the single person not participating in this excitement over Nina stepping on someone, stood up since no one else would rein things in. “Well, it’s the end of class. Should we go to lunch? We wouldn’t want to keep Nina from eating…would we?”
That was enough to make the students break up their huddled crying fests and start moving. They waved at Nina, their eyes sparkling as they told her they’d be waiting in the cafeteria. The best she could manage in response was a strained smile.
“You are as popular as always,” noted Dino.
“If you’re the only one who can stop them, could you please step in sooner, Your Highness?”
Dino, being a prince in addition to the main love interest, was immune to Nina’s pervert—er—heroine buff. That meant he could end those types of scenes. That forced cancel ability of his was one of the reasons she’d been spending so much time with him lately.
“But you could solve everything just by giving one a little stomp on the foot,” Dino teased.
“I absolutely refuse to do that.” She didn’t like a leading lady who stomped on boys with a smile on her face because they asked, and she had no obligation to comply unless Clarissa wanted her to.
“I’m beat. I need to refill my energy stores,” Nina announced as she stood, stretched, and left the classroom.
Her destination was the cafeteria. She slammed the doors open with a battle cry and took a deep breath.
While it was called a cafeteria, the food was of high enough quality to please children of nobility. Essentially, it was a smörgåsbord of drool-inducing dishes for a commoner like Nina, who had become enchanted by the cafeteria from the day she learned that students of the academy ate free.
“I know I say this every time…but you really can eat,” murmured Dino as he sat across from Nina and sipped his cup of tea.
They weren’t eating together because they were particularly close friends or anything. It was more so that sitting with the prince made it more difficult for other boys to try to sit with Nina. He was kind of like a totem for warding off evil.
Dino also said he was happy to avoid getting dragged into things with other girls. They entered a sort of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” kind of relationship, as they were both people with buffs because of the contract.
“’Cause it’s so good!” exclaimed Nina. “The tomato harvests haven’t been good lately, and prices are skyrocketing, but there’re still loads used here. It’s ridiculously luxurious!”
She devoured the soup with all its tomatoes while bursting with excitement. Next, she reached for the bread with her cheeks stuffed with roast duck.
When she was finished with a plate and set it to the side, it disappeared. Servers worked in the cafeteria, of course, but it was a regular student who cleaned away Nina’s plate. Another student was practically joined with that one at the hip, and the two returned to the kitchen. Then, yet another ordinary student brought her a new plate of food, also with a second student by their side.
“It’s not any less incredible to see it, even though I see it every day,” remarked Dino.
“Things would be a lot easier if you just ordered everyone to stay away,” Nina returned.
“I don’t want to do that. It would be boring. I mean, everyone would hate me.” He flashed a gorgeous smile, and Nina could hear the female students swooning.
Despite having the same boost, he was also a prince, making him harder to approach despite the effects. That made Nina jealous. Really jealous.
In the beginning, the servers took care of Nina’s dishes, but they couldn’t keep up with how fast she ate. The students were unable to bear the horror of such a situation and started serving her to take advantage of the opportunity. This way, they got to interact more closely with her, watch her eat from nearby, and even get thanked by her sometimes. And so began the boom in the food transportation industry.
At the same time, students began showing up to clear away her dishes, and that’s where the big problem arose—students tried to smuggle the plates Nina had eaten from to keep for themselves.
“Ugh, that’s gross.”
“I can’t believe anyone would do that.”
“Still, I do sort of understand.”
“I want one too.”
“Can I just have a bread plate?”
That was the rapidly changing result of the situation, which was why each student was accompanied by a guard student for both the plate and Nina’s safety.
“I always imagined nobility to be super refined, but they’re really all just perverts,” remarked Nina.
“Uh, I think this situation is atypical. Just so you know, they’re not actually all perverts,” countered Dino.
“And I’m not even in the same class as Lady Clarissa, the most important person. I haven’t had many chances to interact with her. It makes things difficult.” Nina sighed as she wolfed down some meat before noticing the girl with plum-colored hair at the entrance to the cafeteria.
When she saw her, Nina held up a piece of bread and called, “Lady Clarissa!”
Even from that distance, Nina could see how tense Clarissa looked when she heard her call. Here was this girl waving a chunk of bread at her, sitting with her fiancé, while hordes of students scurried around with plates of food for her.
Honestly, any sane person wouldn’t want to go near that. But she was the heroine.
Clarissa walked boldly up to their table with her head held high. Her swaying plum hair and jade eyes gave her an innate air of nobility. Seeing such a feast for the eyes only made Nina want to feast on food even more, her hands and mouth never stopping.
“Prince Dino, why in the world are you sharing a table with this person?” proclaimed Clarissa.
“There’re many people after Nina’s plates. I’m on guard duty,” answered Dino.
“Her plates…?” Clarissa watched as a male student lovingly lifted the plate Nina just finished eating from while a female student glared daggers at him.
Even without understanding the situation, Clarissa seemed to realize this wasn’t something she should be poking her nose into. She cleared her throat and turned her eyes toward Nina. “You, Nina, was it? Prince Dino is a royal of this kingdom and my fiancé. You do understand that, don’t you?”
Ah-hah, this was the classic “Keep your paws off my man” bit.
Things had only begun, and Clarissa was still utterly confident that the prince belonged to her, so this was a warning for Nina—a warning against the indiscretions of a commoner.
The best thing here would be to respond like a heroine, with something that would make Dino want to defend her.
Something that would make him want to defend her…
…At the moment, he didn’t protect her even in extreme situations, so what sort of thing would have to happen to make him want to protect her?
“I’m sure Prince Dino would happily steal my bread if it meant having the plate you just finished eating off of, Lady Clarissa,” she suggested.
“…What?”
Oh no. She mixed up her two battles. She’d caught sight of the fresh bread being brought over. It looked so delicious that her thoughts strayed. She just made Dino sound like a plate thief.
It was not a good example for others to see the main love interest act like that.
“I bet you’d also scream with pleasure if Prince Dino hand-fed you some sizzling hot meat,” she claimed next.
“What?!”
Oops. This time, a bowl of soup with huge chunks of meat caught Nina’s eye.
It wasn’t like it was Nina’s business if a betrothed couple decided to share a bowl of meaty soup.
She wanted to salvage the situation, but…what were they talking about again?
She thought hard, her cheeks stuffed full of herb-roasted fish, as Clarissa’s expression grew darker and darker.
“Are you mocking me?” demanded Clarissa.
Nina didn’t care if she was angry, but she couldn’t let her leave yet. This was such a rare chance for her to interact with the villainess that she needed to earn some more heroine points.
“I’m not trying to get between you two,” Nina disclosed.
“I wonder. Prince Dino, do you prefer Nina’s company over mine?” Clarissa inquired.
Ah, yes. Now, they were headed into tedious jealousy territory.
Whether Clarissa was hot or cold toward Dino, Nina could always go the “I can tell you like him” route, but it was still too early in the game for that. If Nina didn’t get a chance to show off as the heroine more, and Clarissa didn’t have the opportunity to show off as the overbearing fiancée more, Dino would look like a cheater when he switched to Nina.
Nina waved Dino to stand, then made him face Clarissa.
“Uh, what are you doing?” stammered Clarissa. Even she, the adversary, lost some of her bluster when confronted up close with the prince’s beauty.
Nina grabbed a piece of bread and pressed it into Dino’s hand. “Okay, Prince Dino, please feed Lady Clarissa.”
“Wh-What the heck?!” Dino exclaimed.
“…What is this about?” squeaked Clarissa.
Since Nina needed to act like a heroine right then, she decided she would demonstrate by giving her blessing for their relationship. They needed Dino, as the main love interest, to behave favorably. To accomplish that, Nina wanted them to do the tried-and-true flirting technique: boy feeds girl.
Clarissa wanted to show that her love with the prince was a given. Once that was done, Clarissa could rest on her laurels with pride. It was the perfect solution.
“I want to watch you two lovebirds being all lovey-dovey until I can’t take any more!” Nina exclaimed. The request did sound somewhat perverted because she had to gloss over her real reasoning for this, but, well, that wasn’t something she could worry about.
Clarissa’s jaw dropped, and she froze in place. Dino sighed, holding the piece of bread, and stated, “I think seeing the things you do every day is starting to give you a dirty mind. But…I guess it’s not entirely the wrong direction.”
He shrugged, tore off a tiny piece of the bread, and popped it in Clarissa’s mouth.
“Wow?!” The students surrounding them let out squeals of joy on Clarissa’s behalf.
She chewed several times, swallowed down her bread, then locked tear-filled eyes on Nina, her face bright red. “H-How dare you subject me to such pleasurable and embarrassing treatment. You better watch your back!”
With that last word, half threat, half thank you, Clarissa stormed from the cafeteria.
Nina was filled with a sense of accomplishment at having achieved…something…and sat back down. “Okay, jobs done, and I’m hungry again. Let’s eat!”
Cheers filled the cafeteria again, and students formed lines with plates in hand.
“…I don’t think a heroine’s supposed to act like that. But I guess the villainess is strange too, so maybe it’s just about right,” sighed Dino.
Nina glanced at him sideways, then dove back into her lunch.