Felix and Helena headed to Evergreen Night’s Feast.

The restaurants around the academy, frequented by nobles, were all quite pricey, but the newly opened Evergreen Night’s Feast was even more expensive than the others.

Of course, the atmosphere and food quality were excellent, making it quite popular among academy students.

We were always a bit behind on trends, so we visited the restaurant a little late. It was still early for lunch, so the inside wasn’t very crowded.

“Welcome.”

As we entered, a man resembling my family’s old butler greeted us politely.

Dressed in a suit like the butlers of noble households, with his hair neatly slicked back, the man’s courteous greeting made us feel a bit awkward as we looked around with wide eyes.

“Oh, it’s nice.”

“It really looks… luxurious.”

I nodded in agreement as Helena muttered in admiration, and we were guided to our seats.

Helena was still looking around curiously, like a meerkat. It was somehow cute.

“What do you want to eat?”

I asked, handing Helena the menu as soon as we sat down.

“…Um, give me a moment.”

Helena seemed to be in deep thought. I too was seriously considering the other menu.

There weren’t many options, but every dish looked delicious. Usually, Helena would order various things to try everything, but given the prices, she seemed to be hesitating.

“There are too many choices. It’s hard to decide…”

Helena muttered, pouting. Smiling slightly at her expression, I put the menu down on the table and turned it so we could look at it together.

“How about we share these three dishes?”

“Huh…?”

Her eyes wavered intensely when I pointed out some dishes Helena might like.

It seemed she had made up her mind about what to order but was concerned about the price. Even though I was from a baron family, she probably thought this amount would be burdensome.

“What do you think? Are the dishes okay?”

“The dishes are fine, but…”

“Then I’ll order.”

However, since I hadn’t had many opportunities to spend money after entering the academy, I had unexpectedly saved up quite a bit, so this much wasn’t a burden at all.

The family wasn’t poor, and after Ashillya was appointed as the Crown Princess, we were quite well off.

I casually raised my hand to order from the approaching waiter, then fondly watched Helena, who was still looking around curiously.

“Why are you looking at me like that…?”

After staring for a while, Helena finally noticed my gaze and muttered, blushing.

I just shrugged in response to Helena’s words, smiling like a proud father.

“We could come here occasionally, right?”

“It’s a bit… expensive though…”

“Don’t worry. You have me as your wallet, don’t you?”

Helena’s concern about money wasn’t because her family was poor.

The Degreff family, though not of high rank, was involved in several businesses and had sufficient wealth. It was clear they had accumulated even more wealth after leading the Empire’s business initiatives under Ashillya’s direction.

Baron Degreff, clearly doting on his daughter, wouldn’t hesitate to support Helena, so she was simply worried about my wallet.

“…I’m going to pay next time, you know? Who do you take me for, someone without shame?”

“Free meals are always welcome.”

Helena pouted as she spoke, and I laughed mischievously in response, causing her to burst into laughter as well.

In this pleasant atmosphere, we chatted casually. Fortunately, Helena seemed to be in a much better mood than before.

“If you like free things so much, you’ll go bald. You won’t be able to get married if you’re bald, you know?”

“…Apologize to all the bald people in the country.”

I firmly objected to Helena’s factual violence, and she stuck out her tongue slightly and smiled brightly.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her shameless words.

She seemed too young to understand what would happen if she really angered bald people.

“I’m not disrespecting bald people. It’s just that I think Felix would look ugly if he went bald.”

“…I think I would look pretty good.”

“I heard that men usually think they look good.”

That’s probably not true.

Felix’s face wasn’t my original from birth, so I could judge it objectively. Objectively speaking, he was quite handsome.

I glared at Helena playfully in response to her clearly teasing words, and she burst into bright laughter.

“But Felix is lucky, right?”

“…How so?”

After laughing for a while, Helena looked at me intently and spoke. When I tilted my head at her sudden words, she rested her chin on her hand and curled up the corners of her mouth.

“Because you have me?”

“How does that work?”

“Even if Felix really went bald and had to live alone, I’d be by your side, you know?”

I blinked slowly.

Helena’s sudden direct statement had left me dumbfounded. She seemed to like my blank expression and giggled softly.

Feeling like I’d lost somehow, I grumbled sullenly.

“Why does it end with a question mark…?”

“Who knows~?”

Helena seemed to find even that amusing and continued to tease me, stretching out her words.

But in the end, her laughter didn’t stop until the staff brought our ordered food.

***

“Thank you for the meal…!!”

Helena thanked me with a satisfied smile. I nodded slightly with a small smile to accept her thanks.

One of the reasons for treating Helena to delicious food was that she ate so heartily. The feeling of being full just by watching someone eat could only be experienced by eating with Helena.

Today, as always, we finished all the food we ordered and returned to the academy leisurely.

Having finished eating, it was a little past lunchtime, so the streets were bustling with people.

We walked among those people, looking around.

We browsed items on street stalls and observed people as we headed towards the academy, feeling like time had flown by.

As we entered the familiar academy grounds, Helena started to pout, looking regretful. Seeing her like this, I gently smiled and patted her head to comfort her.

“Evergreen Night’s Feast was delicious, right?”

“Yes… it was worth the price.”

“Next time, you’re paying, right?”

I said jokingly, poking her side. Helena’s eyes widened for a moment before breaking into a bright smile.

“Of course!”

Relieved by Helena’s cheerful response, I waved goodbye to her as she entered the dormitory.

Helena waved back, bidding me farewell.

…Ah.

Sylvia let out a small sigh as she looked out the window.

Recently, she had met with Helena a few times but hadn’t seen Felix at all. To be precise, she had been avoiding Felix.

After realizing that Felix had misunderstood her relationship with Cain, she thought she should talk to him, but she couldn’t bring herself to face him.

Why, for what reason?

During that time, Sylvia had no choice but to spend time thinking about her own feelings.

Why did a corner of her heart ache when she saw Helena laughing brightly while talking about Felix?

Why had her heart sunk so much when Felix misunderstood her relationship with Cain?

For what reason was she still avoiding Felix?

She already knew that such behavior would be impossible if she simply thought of him as a friend.

And finally.

When Sylvia saw Felix outside the window, chatting amiably with Helena and then seeing her off, she had no choice but to realize.

It was jealousy.

She had felt that sticky emotion watching Helena talk about Felix’s stories she didn’t know.

It was anxiety.

She had felt uneasy seeing Felix act nonchalant after misunderstanding her relationship with Cain.

It was fear.

That’s why Sylvia had no choice but to avoid meeting Felix. She was afraid of finding out that Felix had no feelings for her and was supporting her and Cain.

“…No.”

Sylvia shook her head vigorously.

Felix had sincerely confessed to Sylvia. Although she had rejected him, his feelings couldn’t have cooled off so quickly.

Only then did Sylvia acknowledge her own feelings.

This was love. From the moment she saw him protecting her, no… from the moment Felix approached her without hesitation that day.

Sylvia’s heart had been leaning towards Felix.

She decided not to deny this fact any longer.

Be it Crown Princess Ashillya or childhood friend Helena.

She was confident she could win against anyone in a fair competition.

After all, the only person Felix had confessed to was her.