Helena Fell Degreff.

She, the daughter of the Baron Degreff, had another concern.

The fact that Felix… no, the fact that Felix had become even better than before was a great thing for her.

She had liked him since she was young, and he was close to her ideal type.

Appearance? His blazing red hair and deep black eyes. He didn’t realize it himself, but he was handsome.

…In fact, the fact that he didn’t know he was handsome was also one of Felix’s charms.

When he was young, he seemed to have quite a bit of confidence in his appearance, but after being rejected by Sylvia, there was no sign of that.

Family? What more is there to say? He was the second son of the Astria Family. No matter how disinterested he was in becoming the head of the family, there was no way Felix, who was on good terms with his elder brother, couldn’t borrow the power of Astria.

Ability? Felix had been called a sword prodigy since he was young. Because of that, there were times when he was a bit averse to sword training.

But after being rejected by Sylvia, it seemed like there was some change of heart, and he was dedicating himself to sword training like his life depended on it.

Thanks to that, Helena could see his skills rapidly improving daily.

Getting back to the main point.

The problem wasn’t actually with Felix himself.

‘The competitors… are increasing…!’

Helena looked at Felix with anxious, wavering eyes. Even though he was just walking alone, lost in thought, gazes began to pour down on him from all around.

“Is that the one from Astria?”

“… He’s quite handsome, isn’t he.”

Furthermore, with rumors spreading about some kind of relationship between the current most likely candidate for the Crown Princess and the Astria Family, people began to focus on Felix even more.

No matter how much he had given up his claim to be the family head, people believed that Felix would play an important role in connecting them to Astria.

‘…Still.’

Helena could be proud that those nameless wenches were no match for her. They could not easily surpass the depth of time she and Felix had built up.

The real problem was that even Helena was dumbfounded by the extremely impressive people flocking around Felix.

The first of them was…

Sylvia Bersche.

If asked to name the most popular girl among the new students enrolled at the academy this year, anyone would mention Sylvia’s name.

That’s how outstanding her beauty was and how captivating and enchanting this girl named Sylvia was…Moreover, Felix had even confessed to her and been soundly rejected.

Recently, the same Sylvia has been spending more time with Felix.

“Felix…!”

Even now, it was like that.

Upon spotting Felix as they passed each other, Sylvia unconsciously broke into a bright smile and headed towards him.

The fortunate thing was that Felix didn’t seem to have any lingering feelings for Sylvia, just as he had said.

“Oh, Sylvia.”

Seeing how he treated Sylvia like a friend, Helena could only let out a sigh of relief.

It was still unclear whether Sylvia saw Felix as a potential romantic partner or just a friend.

‘At least that’s fortunate……’

Sylvia’s dazzling beauty was always fresh and thrilling, even for Helena as a fellow woman.

‘But still! I have no intention of backing down obediently!’

Helena clenched her fists tightly and steeled her resolve. She had known Felix for a longer time. She knew more about Felix. So she wouldn’t let him be taken away so easily.

At the same time, if Sylvia hadn’t yet clearly realized her own feelings…before that…!

“Helena.”

A soft, pleasant voice whispered in her ear.

Upon realizing the voice belonged to Felix, Helena came to her senses and looked at him.

Somehow, Felix and Sylvia were looking at Helena with worried eyes.

“…Huh! Ah, hello!”

“What are you spacing out for? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Yeah…Helena, are you okay?”

“Ah, um…Yes! I’m, I’m fine! Totally…fine!”

Helena’s natural personality was rather rough and a bit boyish. It couldn’t be helped, as she had always been surrounded by more boys than girls.

…Of course, it didn’t mean she was popular, just that her friends happened to all be boys. And they were well aware that she was solely fixated on Felix.

In any case, she couldn’t help but speak in a girly tone whenever she was in front of Felix these days, despite never having done so in the past 16 years.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t something she did intentionally but happened unconsciously.

She had thought about what had changed over the past few days, but Helena couldn’t come up with a conclusion.

Well, the only thing that had changed over the past few days was Felix’s personality becoming more aligned with Helena’s preferences.

…Nothing else.

***

Anyway, the second concern was…

“…I hope we’re not interrupting your meal.”

“Just dining with Your Highness the Crown Princess is an honor for my family.”

None other than the Crown Princess of the Empire herself, Ashillya Philippe Hamen Urlas!!

Helena started her meal stiffly, her body tense.

Perhaps because of Ashillya’s sudden entrance, the air around them seemed to have frozen over.

…The true culprit who caused this situation remained nonchalant, conversing with Ashillya.

‘…Why?’

As a result, only Helena and Sylvia struggled to maintain their table manners, inwardly screaming in silence.

“You always remind me you have a way with words.”

“To have pleased Your Highness with my humble tongue is an honor.”

“I apologize, but please feel free to eat comfortably.”

Despite Ashillya’s cold, haughty gaze, which lacked emotion, Helena realized that she was being ‘considerate.’

“Yeah, eat comfortably. I doubt she’ll behead you just for lacking manners a bit.”

At Felix’s casual words, Helena clenched her fist under the table and resumed eating with an awkward smile.

In fact, even Felix seemed a bit tense, but he didn’t show it outwardly, so Helena and Sylvia didn’t notice.

“The young lord of Astria should relax a little too, no?”

“…An appropriate level of tension helps with one’s physical movements, Your Highness.”

Ashillya let out a soft laugh at Felix’s response.

That small laugh was so noble and beautiful that Helena unconsciously bit her lower lip hard.

Ashillya Philippe Hamen Urlas.

Who was she? She was known as the Iron-Blooded Princess, a political prodigy of the Imperial family.

When everyone agreed that the Second Prince was the likely candidate to be crowned as the next Crown Prince after the First Prince passed away in an unfortunate accident as a child.

However, Ashillya had quietly built up her forces behind the scenes, winning over the nobles and eventually becoming the leading candidate.

Ever since becoming involved with the Third Prince Leonhardt because of Felix, she had occasionally joined Felix like this.

‘…Could it be?’

Helena couldn’t help but stare intently at Ashillya. She noticed her gaze but simply smiled back with composure.

…No, that would be too much of a delusion.

Helena lowered her gaze and focused on her meal again, thinking that way.

Why would the Crown Princess, the one most likely to become the next Empress, be interested in Felix? It’s not like he had any enchanting charm, nor had they been close friends.

It could only be a simple curiosity. No, it had to be.

Because if the next Empress were to take a liking to Felix……

‘What chance would I have…?’

Helena unconsciously pouted her lips in a dejected manner.

Suddenly, Felix felt so far away. Even though they were from Earl and Baron families, he had always been by Helena’s side.

After entering the academy, there was a period where Felix became distant due to his infatuation with Sylvia, but now things have returned to normal.

So he was still by her side. And yet, she couldn’t help but feel that way.

As if even if she reached out to Felix now, she wouldn’t be able to touch him.

There was nothing particularly outstanding about her. Her appearance couldn’t compare to Sylvia’s, and her abilities and family couldn’t amount to Ashillya’s.

If either of them, took an interest in Felix and tried to claim him for themselves, there would be no way for Helena to stop them.

Chink.

Helena’s fork mindlessly stabbed at the meat on her plate.

This was something she often did when she was dissatisfied.

Swish.

That’s when it happened.

Someone placed a piece of meat on Helena’s plate. Following that, when she looked up, she saw Felix’s black eyes gazing at her nonchalantly.

With his usual calm demeanor, Felix mouthed at her.

‘What’s the problem? What are you dissatisfied with?’

…Felix had always been like this.

As if proving that the time they had spent together was not short,

He quickly picked up on even the slightest hint of her feelings being hurt, and instead of ignoring her, he would soothe her.

‘That’s why… That’s why…’

Helena bit her lower lip tightly, then smiled brightly while gently shaking her head.

Seeing that, Felix let out a slight chuckle as if finding her endearing, shrugged his shoulders a little, and then refocused on his meal.

No matter who the opponent was.

She would never give up.

Smiling to herself, Helena firmly resolved not to surrender.