After coming downstairs, Aurora noticed that not only had her room’s scent changed, but the entire mansion now smelled different.
She didn’t know why, but she liked this scent and wished it would linger forever.
When she arrived in the living room, Aurora saw two unfamiliar faces.
One girl had a head of messy gray hair, wore a white lab coat, and her skin was so pale she looked almost corpse-like. The dark circles under her eyes were severe, as if she hadn’t rested at all last night.
The other girl was the complete opposite of the gray-haired one. She wore a gorgeous pink dress, her bright golden hair tied into twin tails, and her shining eyes seemed to emit a jade-like glow.
At that moment, the two were sitting at the table, enjoying a lavish meal.
“Oh, here she comes, here she comes!”
The girl’s eyes sparkled even brighter when she saw Aurora.
Her feet, which had been swinging under the chair, came to a sudden stop.
She hopped down from her seat and ran excitedly over to Aurora.
“Oh oh~”
Propping one hand under her chin, she circled around Aurora, scrutinizing her from head to toe.
Then she suddenly looked over at Lola Bell, giving her a big thumbs-up.
“No wonder even you were smitten. She’s way prettier than any girl I’ve ever seen in my sketchbooks.”
Then, sounding a little disgruntled, she added, “Why didn’t you introduce such a beautiful girl to me earlier!”
Faced with the stranger’s scrutiny, Aurora felt a little uneasy.
“Um… may I ask who you are?” she asked hesitantly.
As soon as Aurora asked, Azalea straightened her posture.
Keeping a proper distance, she put on a dignified air and declared, “I am the princess of the First Kingdom, Leonos I Azalea.”
“Pr-princess?!”
Upon hearing that the girl before her was a princess, Aurora instinctively prepared to kneel.
But before her knees could bend, Azalea quickly supported her.
Flustered, she said, “No, no, you can’t kneel! If you do, your sister will definitely take it out on me.”
She glanced over at Lola Bell and saw Lola Bell staring intently at the hand she was using to support Aurora.
Azalea even felt a murderous aura.
She hurriedly let go, coughing twice in displeasure, “Honestly, if you protect her this much, how am I supposed to have a nice chat with Miss Aurora in the future?”
“You know my name?”
Hearing Azalea say her name so familiarly, Aurora felt a bit puzzled.
“How could I not? Lately, everything’s been revolving around you.”
“Around me…”
Thud!
“Ouch.”
A hard pear suddenly landed on Azalea’s head, making her cry out in pain as she turned, frowning, to look at Misha behind her.
“Misha, what was that for?”
“You talk too much, Azalea.”
“Alright, alright~_~.”
The girl called Misha now looked at Aurora, speaking calmly, “Just call me Misha. As for my surname… I forgot.”
“Forgot…”
Then she gave Azalea a slap on the back, casually saying, “Also, don’t be so polite to this one. She’s a princess, sure, but in reality, she’s just a pervert obsessed with shoujo novels.”
“Hey, Misha!” Azalea shouted in embarrassment.
All her previous dignity vanished. She glanced awkwardly at Aurora, forced a couple of laughs, and said, “A-actually, just call me Azalea, haha.”
“You can just call me Aurora…”
“Ahem.”
After a long silence, Lola Bell finally coughed and spoke up, “Hurry up and eat. If we wait any longer, the food will get cold.”
“Let’s eat, let’s eat!”
Azalea ran back to the table and started wolfing down her food.
Lola Bell casually grabbed a chair and sat beside Aurora.
She picked up a spoon, scooped some thick soup, blew on it twice, and held it up to Aurora’s lips.
“Sis, let me feed you,” she said with a smile.
If they were still inside the space magic, with just the two of them, Aurora wouldn’t have resisted.
But now, with two others staring straight at her, their eyes filled with obvious surprise, how could she possibly let her little sister feed her in front of everyone?
Aurora blushed deeply and whispered, “I-I’ll do it myself, little sister.”
The disappointment on Lola Bell’s face was obvious; watching her most anticipated daily feeding-her-sister moment slip away, she seemed not to care at all about the other two’s gazes. Unwilling to give up, she said, “I made all this breakfast especially for you, Sis. I want to feed you myself.”
Hearing the word “especially,” Azalea’s eating suddenly stopped.
“E-especially…”
Looking at the half-eaten fried egg in her bowl, she suppressed her pain and tried to put it back on the plate.
“Smack!”
“What are you doing, idiot?!”
Another hard pear landed on Azalea’s head, this time much louder than before.
“Ouch! That really hurt!”
She clutched her head, rolling on the floor in pain.
“Misha, you’re so cruel, wuu…”
“Aren’t you a princess? Didn’t you learn any noble etiquette at all??”
Faced with Misha’s scolding, Azalea crouched on the floor, holding her head, too embarrassed to utter a sound.
“So noisy…”
Lola Bell clenched her fist. This was supposed to be her precious time alone with her sister, but now it was ruined by these two being so noisy.
“Could you please be quiet?” Lola Bell said through gritted teeth, barely holding back her anger.
Finally, things quieted down. Then, suddenly, a soft “Ah-um” sound came from beside Lola Bell.
The sound seemed strangely familiar to her…
She turned to look at her sister, and saw Gudda holding a soup spoon several times bigger than herself, feeding her sister bite by bite.
“Th-that’s my… spot…”
With a clatter, the spoon in her hand fell into the bowl.
Lola Bell slumped into her chair as if all her dreams had been shattered, her body seeming to fade away, leaving only pale ash.
“L-little sister?”
Ding.
Just then, the clock on the wall chimed crisply.
Aurora instinctively looked at it—it was already eight o’clock sharp.
Suddenly, she remembered something, slapped the table, and exclaimed, “Right, aren’t we supposed to start school today?”
She hurriedly took out the admission notice and carefully read its contents.
Word by word, she read aloud, “Please arrive at A Class, First Grade before 8 o’clock on the second day. Latecomers will be personally urged by the Director of Discipline…”
“Personally urged?”
She repeated it, as if unsure.
Just as she was wondering what kind of “urging” that would be, a blue crack suddenly appeared above the dining table.
First, a rather plump dragon tail squeezed through the crack, then a blue-haired woman in a fitted suit jumped out and landed on the floor.
She glared angrily at Aurora, her tone icy as she spoke, “You dare to be late on the very first day, Aurora Eve.”