“Oh…..”

The lunchbox Helena confidently prepared looked quite delicious, beyond my expectations. 

Come to think of it, according to Felix’s memories, Helena was quite a good cook.

Even so, feeling the devotion put into preparing it made me feel a little burdened. In response to my exclamation, Helena showed a peculiarly proud smile.

“I thought you probably didn’t have dinner.”

I gave a small nod.

Naturally, I hadn’t eaten dinner, so as soon as I opened Helena’s lunchbox, a rumbling sound came from my stomach.

“I’ll eat well.”  

With meat, vegetables, and even pasta prepared, the lunchbox felt too fancy to be called one. The portion was quite large, but for my extreme hunger, it was an amount I could finish.

“Eat with me.”

“I’m okay.”

As if feeling full just from watching me eat, Helena smiled and waved it off.

I shrugged my shoulders and shoved the food into my mouth.

Like a mom. Does she feel full just from watching someone eat?

The food quality was so good that I would have been satisfied even if I were a gourmand. Still, since neither Felix nor I cared about such things, I could eat it even more deliciously.

Or rather, since Helena knew Felix’s tastes well, it might be right to think she prepared the lunchbox to match my palate.

“… It’s too much for one person, though.”

The important thing was that no matter how delicious the food, it would be problematic if it exceeded my limit.

Just a while ago, I thought I could finish it all by myself because I was extremely hungry, but the food was more than expected. It seemed like it had been prepared from the start with the intention of sharing.

“Can’t eat it all…?”

Still, Helena gave off the nuance that I should eat it alone.

When I said it seemed I couldn’t eat it all by myself, she blinked away the small tears in her pale sky-blue eyes and looked at me.

“…I can eat more.”

I’ll eat everything!

The thought unconsciously occurred to me that it would be better to force myself to eat rather than refuse.

There’s a saying that a beauty’s tears are a weapon, and it seems to be true. I answered defiantly and shoved the food down my throat.

‘I probably can’t back down now.’

At one point, I thought about stopping, but seeing Helena’s pleasant smile, I silently ate the food.

***

“…I ate well.”  

Every time I opened my mouth or even exhaled, the food stuffed in my stomach felt like it was refluxing, making me unconsciously shut my mouth.

Oblivious to my state, Helena proudly held the empty lunchbox and smiled contentedly.

Not knowing why she seemed so satisfied, I unconsciously patted Helena’s head and thanked her. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she asked me.

“Did it suit your taste?”

“Yeah, it was perfect.”

Of course it would be.

Swallowing the rest of my words along with the food, I forced an awkward smile.

Of course, Helena didn’t force me to finish the food, and it wasn’t terribly bad either, so I didn’t feel too bad.

Rather, I was grateful to her, considering that I might not have had dinner, let alone prepared food as good as this.

“I’m glad, hehe.”

“Thank you. I didn’t expect it at all.”

Helena smiled back, waving her hand lightly as if it was no big deal. I waved back, seeing her off, and watched her retreating figure.

Helena kept turning back to smile at me as I saw her off.

…She might trip at this rate.

Eventually, when her figure grew smaller, I turned my back. I entered the training grounds, clutching my bloated stomach and letting out a deep sigh.

Even delicious food makes you feel bloated if you eat too much. After exhaling, I slowly walked over and picked up my sword again.

I felt as if I rushed to move my body. I might throw up all the food I had just eaten.

‘…As they say, too much of a good thing is bad.’

Next time, I should hint that she can prepare a little less. Of course, since she might get upset, I’ll have to phrase it very carefully.

My bloated feeling gradually subsided as I started swinging my sword while exhaling lightly.

Still, having food in my previously empty stomach made me feel more energized to focus on training than before. Come to think of it, it’s silly to complain about being full.

“Whew…”

I wonder how many times I focused on training like that.

“Felix!”

Somehow, I felt a sense of déjà vu creeping up on me. When I turned my head at the voice calling me, this time it was Sylvia instead of Helena standing there.

And she had her hands behind her back, too.

For some reason, Sylvia’s appearance was completely identical to Helena’s an hour ago, making a cold sweat trickle down my back.

‘No way… it can’t be, right?’

Helena was originally Felix’s childhood friend and had feelings for Felix, so it’s understandable if she did that.

But Sylvia wasn’t like that.

Sylvia didn’t usually show kindness to people without cause to avoid them misunderstanding her heart, so there was no way she would have brought a lunchbox.

To personally prepare a lunchbox for a male student practicing alone? And for someone who had confessed to her, no less?

‘Anyone would misunderstand that situation.’

Of course, I don’t have romantic feelings for Sylvia, and I wouldn’t misunderstand. Still, Sylvia, who doesn’t know that, would never do something like this.

“…Sylvia?”  

Her response seems identical to Helena’s earlier, but maybe it’s just my imagination.

Please let it be that.

“What’s going on here?”

Like before, I thought maybe I was so focused on training that I lost track of time and was training too late… but it was still just evening outside.  

That meant there was still quite a while until curfew at the dorms.

I looked at Sylvia questioningly, conveying my confusion about why she was here and my hope that she wouldn’t do what I thought she would.

But against my earnest hopes,

“Did you have dinner?”

“…Huh?”

However, my luck with food seemed too good as Sylvia disregarded my pleading gaze and spoke to me.

Seeing what she was holding behind her back, I could predict from experience, so I licked my dry lips and exhaled a small breath.

“Did you, by any chance?”

“…No.”

No matter how much I insisted to Sylvia that I didn’t have romantic feelings for her, I couldn’t easily dismiss her effort to prepare a lunchbox so diligently.

After all, men are naturally weak to beautiful women.

I answered, trying to deny that reality. Sylvia broke into a delighted smile and walked towards me with short steps.

Taking the same steps as Helena, I suspiciously wondered if she was the same person as Helena, who had just left the training grounds. 

“Since I thought so, I brought a lunchbox…!”

“Wow… really?”  

Here we go again.

Watching the lunchbox, Sylvia proudly took it out, and I could only mutter that to myself.

Because my stomach was so overfilled, I had considered lying that I lost my appetite, but…

“…Why are your hands like that?”

Seeing the bandages wrapped around Sylvia’s fingers, I had no choice but to set aside that thought.

Come to think of it, Sylvia wasn’t particularly talented at cooking. It was incomprehensible for someone like her to go through such trouble to bring a lunchbox.

But if I had to guess, she might have been worried that her few friends weren’t even eating while just training.

‘If that’s the case, it would have been better to just have dinner together……’

My stomach is about to burst, but the smell of food is making negative thoughts well up inside me. However, since I know that even having such thoughts is a luxury,

And I had no choice

Since she had clearly prepared the lunchbox to the point of cutting her fingers in various places, I had no choice but to force a smile and accept Sylvia’s food despite my full stomach.

“It’s nothing…” 

“I see.”

Swallowing the rising sigh, I looked past Sylvia’s injured hands and at the food she had brought. 

At least the food wasn’t exactly the same. She had prepared relatively simple sandwiches.

‘But still, to cut her fingers that much while preparing sandwiches……’

I was grateful Sylvia’s talents lay in healing rather than close combat or ranged support.

If she had been a knight, she would have cut her own wrist instead of the enemy.

Having such pointless thoughts, I forced the food into my already full stomach.  

“How is it…?”

“It’s…delicious!”

It wasn’t an outright lie – the sandwiches really were delicious.

The problem was that I was too full to properly taste them. No matter how much I tried convincing myself I was hungry, my stuffed stomach refused to accept more food.

“Really? I’m relieved.”

Unable to bring myself to say I couldn’t eat anymore in the face of Sylvia’s bright smile, I just forced myself to swallow the food.

It was serious enough to make me wonder if Helena and Sylvia had conspired to torture me like this.

Translator’s Corner

Sorry it’s late. One more chapter at the regular time. Also changed chapter title to original. Who knew it would fit the best?

-Ruminas