Chapter 48: The Toad''s Tale


    Stanley felt cold sweat soak his back as he recalled the destruction and chaos that the prince had caused in the pce when the Aquan princess had called him a ''toad''.


    And to make matters worse, somehow the girl he proposed to a year ago ended up doing the same, this time for an entirely different reason than the princess. The girl was lucky that she survived due to the timely interference of the academy staff.


    "N-No one has the guts, my prince, rest assured!"


    Craigughed. That''s right, he hadn''t heard it ever again in the past year, and how could these newbie children even know?


    "Ahaha you''re right, I guess I''m just getting paranoid. Anyway, all this food looks equally shit to me. How in the name of mother Terra do I tell what is below standard?"


    Gazing at the wide variety of food in front of them, with many dishes that Stanley could never afford with his father''s entire month''s sry, the boy could sigh in envy. Truly, the crown prince lived a different life.


    "Like I said earlier, your highness, we should delegate this kind of job to themoners. The academy''s rules are archaic and blind. There''s no need to follow them like this."


    The chefs presenting the dishes were already covered in a cold sweat since the prince had entered theirpartment. And each of his words was like a hammer to their heart. A mockery of their entire life''s hard work and research.


    "Hm I suppose you''re right, I''m tired of looking at this shitty food anyway."


    Stanley felt a headache when he thought of how the prince had previouslypletely ignored his position as a prefect, focusingpletely on self-improvement throughout his years at the academy.


    However, he seemed to have suddenly lost interest in training a few weeks ago, and had been doing things quite whimsically since then.


    Stanley recalled oftenining to himself about how irresponsible the prince was, but looking back at it, wasn''t he fortunate that the prince had been willing to stay put? He was suffering from far fewer headaches back then aspared to the present.


    "Let''s go inspect the toilets next. Wonder if that runt is having fun."


    The chefs did not say anything to the prince, but Stanley could feel their sharp res filled with hatred on his back when he left.


    ''My life sucks''


    ----------


    Evelyn giggled as her friend went on a tirade about how she will absolutely crush ''that toadstool'' in a variety of ways.


    "I''m sure you will be stronger than him soon enough, Cecilia. But why do you call him a toad?"


    Cecilia paused as she scratched her cheek shyly. "Eh, to be honest, I don''t really know. I heard about it because he created a massive ruckus in the academy when someone called him that. And now most people call him a toad in private. Oh, but of course no one dares to say it to his face."


    The pink haired girl blinked in surprise. "What did he do to the guy who did that, back then?"


    Cecilia bit her lip as she tried to recall the incident. At that time, she had just finished sending a letter as well as ''the cookies'' to Evelyn, and wasn''t paying much attention. She couldn''t be med, since it was not an easy task to arrange it, after all.


    "Uh, it was a girl, I think. I''m pretty sure he broke both her legs. She was a spirit physique, and it took her six months to fully recover. That''s pretty much all I heard. If you want, I can ask around about it more."


    Evelyn shook her head. "It''s fine. But, she must really hate his guts now, huh."


    Cecilia smirked. "Absolutely. But it''s no surprise, no one likes him except the Terrans."


    The pink haired girl couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "Aren''t these prince types usually popr amongst the girls?"


    Cecilia nodded. "He used to be quite popr when I first came to the academy, but remember that girl I told you about earlier?"


    Evelyn tilted her head. "The one who had both her legs broken?"


    The ash blonde nodded. "Yeah. This is only based on rumors, so take it with a grain of salt. But apparently, they had a private wager going. The Terran prince liked her and proposed, but she told him she''d only consider it if he beat her in a battle."


    The girl paused for suspense, and even though Evelyn resisted the urge to ask, the eavesdropping Vivian couldn''t help but jump.


    "What happened then?!"


    Cecilia smirked. Little hamster is cute... when it''s not biting people.


    "Fufu After he defeated her in the arena, she told him he was just a toad who wanted to eat swan meat! Then he beat her half to death, breaking both her legs, and might have even killed her if not for the academy staff arriving on time. Or so the story goes. Anyway, most of his admirers abandoned him after that."


    Vivian pped happily. "Ahahaha! Nice! I like that girl! Terrans are morons. Dare to go against us, humph!"


    Amara couldn''t help but shush her sister. "Don''t speak like that, Vivi, you''ll get us into trouble."


    The little redhead turned her head away with a snort, causing her sister to look at Evelyn helplessly. "Evelyn, you tell her!"


    The pink haired girl nodded.


    "Vivi?"


    "Yeah?"


    Evelyn thought about it for a while. Although she would rather let her be free, she really couldn''t afford to seek trouble with the prince right now.


    "You can say whatever you want, but only when there are no outsiders around, okay?"


    The little redhead nodded happily. "Okay!"


    Amara didn''t know what to say as she watched Evelyn get back to her conversation with Cecilia as if nothing had happened.


    "Anyway, is he like, really ugly?"


    Cecilia scratched her cheek as she tried to recall what the prince looked like. She had never paid his appearance too much attention before, after all, and only saw him asionally from afar.


    "Ugh, no I guess if I have to be objective, he looks quite good? He shouldn''t be ugly, at least."


    Evelyn nodded, but she appeared a little skeptical.


    The ash blonde hurriedly waved her hand as she thought maybe her friend ''misunderstood''.


    "Not as good as you, though! Not even close!"


    The pink haired girl couldn''t help but burst into giggles. "Okay, I get it. I don''t think that the love conflict thing is true, though. Sounds so made up."


    Cecilia hummed in thought. "Maybe he has warts like a toad? Oh! It could even be abination of the two! Maybe she saw his warts, and didn''t like him anymore."


    Their conversation was interrupted as four youngdies in white aprons walked in with two interconnected carts full of food and sweets.


    Even Evelyn could feel that the aroma was appealing. Probably the food was of a good enough grade for even spirit physiques to eat without any consequence.


    "Oh~ The food sure got a lot better than when I came to the academy?"


    One of the youngdies sighed as she saw the prefect badge on Cecilia''s chest. "The chefs are overdoing it because Prince Craig keeps walking by. They''ll end up burning themselves out if they keep this up for too long."


    Evelyn blinked. Wasn''t the prince also a spirit physique?


    "Ah~ What is he there for, does he want to eat swan meat?"


    As Evelyn''s group of four burst into giggles, the youngdy with the cart looked at the door in a panic. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw no one from the Terran side had overheard them.


    As a citizen of the Lavinian kingdom, thedy did not like the prince at all. But as the senior-most prefect of their grand expedition, it wouldn''t end well if he wanted to make trouble for someone.


    She didn''t want these young children to suffer due to their ignorance.


    "Miss prefect should teach your friend to be more careful. It would be a disaster if someone heard us just now."


    In fact, it was fortunate enough that her group of four did not have a Terran.


    Cecilia nodded as she knew thedy was only warning them out of goodwill. "Don''t worry, I''ll watch out for her. What do you have on the menu, by the way?"


    The youngdy handed them a single long sheet of paper, and the four of them as well as the two little fluffballs looked over it curiously. Unfortunately, it did not have any pictures, so Vivian and Ruru quickly lost interest.


    Evelyn''s focus shifted to the little puppy, who seemed to be intently looking at the menu with an unnatural focus. It was as if the puppy really could read what was on it, and was very interested in the contents.


    Of course Bree could read, Evelyn had no doubt about that. But ever since she transformed into a puppy, she did not exhibit any signs of her previous intellect. Even among normal puppies, the little thing would probably be considered dumber than most.


    ''Could it be...?''