“……”

“……”

After lunch, on the train back to the capital.

An awkward silence had settled around me.

To be fair, the entire train car was quiet. When I’d gone to the Kingdom of Belbur as the Emperor’s representative, my security had been on par with the Emperor’s. Thus, the only ones sharing my compartment were Princess Alice, and Princes Jayden and Lucas. It was a rather spacious cabin, entirely for the four of us.

But as an academy student, I wouldn’t receive any special treatment compared to the other students.

Of course, the academy had reserved the entire compartment. Since the noble A-Class only had fifteen students, booking a whole cabin left plenty of empty seats. Still, this was just a standard first-class cabin, with lots of empty seats but not much room to wander around.

After practically fleeing from lunch with Lena Meyer, I’d holed up in my room, and then headed straight to the train station as soon as it was time. And there I found... Lena Meyer.

I thought I’d arrived almost forty minutes early, but she’d shown up even earlier and was waiting for me.

Then again, maybe she hadn’t specifically been waiting for me. With her diligent nature, she’d probably just arrived early to wait for the train.

When our eyes met, her face remained as expressionless as ever.

Snap.

Once again, I heard that sharp, disciplined salute. The sound of her heels clicking together was audible.

“You really don’t have to salute every time we meet. Now that you’re joining the academy, we’re just classmates.”

“Understood.”

...That stiff tone of hers.

I couldn’t get used to it.

It wasn’t my first time dealing with a character who showed no expression. Under other circumstances, Roti, who always accompanies Jake, was a similarly stoic maid character.

But... there was something different here. Roti was someone who found it awkward to show emotion. In the game, even if you became close to her, she wasn’t one to break into grins or bursts of laughter. Her personality was closer to Charlotte’s—just a bit more cautious and conflict-avoidant.

That’s why, even when Jake constantly bothered her, she’d respond with a hint of irritation or reluctance, separate from her underlying fondness for him.

When Roti smiled, it wasn’t shocking; it was simply a natural expression she showed when she became close to others.

Meanwhile, I was “playing” a character who suppressed emotions...

And Lena Meyer had a similar atmosphere. As if she, too, was hiding behind a mask.

“……”

“……”

Arriving forty minutes early meant that the train hadn’t even pulled in yet. This station, the Empire’s northernmost civilian stop, required the train to arrive and wait thirty minutes before departure. Further north lay Lena’s homeland, the autonomous state, but the security issues near the border made civilian train travel in that area rather unsafe.

“……”

“……”

Two expressionless people standing across from each other made for an awkward lack of conversation.

Did she feel as awkward around me as I did around her?

“Is this your first time visiting the Empire?”

“Yes, it is.”

At least she replied as soon as I spoke. Her demeanor reminded me of a new recruit, her conduct almost overly disciplined.

...Though she wasn’t actually a soldier.

“The atmosphere in the Riklant Autonomous State must be very different. Do you think you’ll be comfortable here?”

“Yes, I’m very much looking forward to it.”

Her expressionless face didn’t seem to convey much excitement, so it was hard to tell what she actually felt.

...Is this what it felt like for others to look at me?

Come to think of it, there was that time I’d set out at dawn to the village just to get ahead of Leo and Claire before a mission.

Was this how they’d felt when they’d seen me already waiting at the village gate with the quest target’s body?

“……”

Hmm, maybe not.

After all, Claire had always greeted me with a bright smile, even back then. She was delighted to see me every time.

The one who seemed uncomfortable was Leo.

...Had I gone too far?

As these thoughts ran through my head, the train finally arrived. Leo and the others hadn’t reached the station yet. There was even a game event where the players only managed to arrive just before the train departed.

And, as that implied, I would now be alone on the train with Lena Meyer until my friends arrived.

We weren’t the only students who had arrived early, but nobody seemed eager to strike up a conversation with us. With an expressionless princess known for taking lives without hesitation and an unfamiliar, stoic student beside her, it was unlikely anyone would be willing to approach.

Normally, I’d find this peace and quiet refreshing, but right now, I desperately wished someone would talk to me.

While boarding the train, I had a faint hope that Lena Meyer might sit a little distance away from me...

...But that hope was swiftly dashed.

As soon as I took a seat by the window, Lena Meyer confidently sat down directly across from me.

“……”

“……”

And silence.

It’s not as if I could just get up and move, either. Even without an expression, people still have feelings, and moving away would only hurt hers.

If I’d always sat alone, maybe people would eventually think, “Oh, that’s just how she is.” But I’d usually hung around with friends. Even though I wasn’t the leader, I tended to travel in a group.

If I left this seat to sit with Leo, Claire, Alice, Charlotte, Mia Crowfield, or even Jake, leaving Lena here alone...

...it’d feel a lot like I was ostracizing her.

“……”

“……”

So, I had no choice but to endure the awkwardness and sit there. Lena Meyer might be expressionless, but she seemed to express her feelings, however subtly, through her actions... probably.

Maybe she felt a slight sense of camaraderie with me as her first academy acquaintance... I wasn’t sure.

We sat in silence for about twenty minutes before other students started boarding the train, bringing some chatter to the cabin. Then again, there were fewer than ten of them.

In the original, none of the protagonist’s friends faced any kind of social ostracism. Now that I thought about it, they made up nearly a third of our class... a rather powerful clique, in fact.

They could have easily ostracized anyone if they’d wanted to.

About five minutes later, some kids finally stumbled onto the train, clearly rushing.

These were the ones who had only just come down from the mountains, taking a car back with Jennifer.

Considering Jennifer was with them, they would’ve made it back to the academy even if they’d missed the train. But knowing them, they were probably determined to stick to the schedule.

“Sis! ...Huh?”

Claire greeted me enthusiastically but hesitated when she noticed Lena Meyer sitting across from me.

As soon as Lena saw Claire, she sprang to her feet and gave yet another flawless military salute—the third one I’d seen. She spoke without waiting for me to introduce them.

“I am Lena Meyer. Greetings, Your Highness.”

“...Huh?”

Claire murmured, visibly taken aback.

I barely managed to hold myself back from facepalming.

...How embarrassing.

Even as a bystander, I felt embarrassed.

It seemed that Lena Meyer had mistaken Claire, who called me “sis,” for another princess.

...Well, it made sense.

The Empire’s nobles knew I wasn’t actually a blood relative of the Pengryphons, but in smaller nations where information flow was limited, they likely wouldn’t know. Even if they were curious, the Empire wouldn’t go around announcing that I was adopted. Nobles tended to keep quiet on the topic when dealing with outsiders.

In her autonomous state, they’d have been preoccupied with their own affairs, leaving little room to investigate the imperial family’s history in detail.

“……”

With Lena standing there in a picture-perfect salute, an icy tension settled over the train cabin for a moment.