Two chapters in a day! More to come!

Chapter 10 - Lunch with Kaede

HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT THE SPEECH!!!

What should I even say?

I have zero experience in writing or giving speeches.

Could I just plagiarize something from my previous world?

Four score and seven years ago…

No, I don’t think that applies.

I have a dream that one day…

Nope.

I’m completely screwed.

“Hey Jin, do you want to go to lunch together?”

Lunch huh? Could be a good idea, my stomach has started to turn.

“Uhm, do you mind if join you two? I don’t really know anyone yet”

“Sure! The more the merrier!”

Hmm? What now?

Ah, shit I wasn’t paying attention.

The bitch has gotten Akiho to let her join us for lunch.

It’s just piling up at this point. This world must have a grudge against me or something.

…

We’re walking to the cafeteria now.

“Uhm, your highness, I’m very sorry I was so rude to you earlier, I didn’t know that you were the Prince”

Hoh, this is that thing right?

Where I say ‘Call me Jin’.

And she goes ‘I couldn’t possibly!’

And then I insist and she relents and we grow closer as a couple.

Like I’d fall for that!

“As long as you…”

“You don’t need to worry about that you know! Jin’s not that uptight!”

I got cut off.

Akiho, you’ve become incredibly relaxed around me in what seems like maybe 3 hours.

When we first met, he could barely speak and now he’s giving others permission to call me by name.

No, I must be firm here.

“Actually Akiho, it’s important to maintain a certain decorum with my subjects as the future King, otherwise people might start thinking less of the monarchy”

“EH?! That would be bad!”

“I see!”

Akiho seems shocked and the bitch seems like she’s just realized something.

Hmm, so she finally understands the difference in our position then?

“Very well your highness! You see Akiho, he doesn’t want us to call him by his name in front of others, otherwise his dignity would fall. But, he doesn’t mind if no one’s around to hear it!”

“OHH! I understand now!”

Wait…

Shit, she was being reasonable for a while so I forgot that she was this stupid.

I need to correct them.

“Actually...”

“Woh! This place looks amazing!”

“Wow!”

The two become amazed by the cafeteria and I get cut off.

I’m the prince you know…

Just as I was lamenting my situation, Mari approaches.

“Your highness, allow me to show you to where Kaede is sitting”

...

…

…

Uh oh…

I really need to start writing things down, I’m forgetting important things all the time.

Is this Jin? Or was I originally this stupid?

“Your lunch is also prepared, I’ll fetch a couple more lunches for your two associates here”

“Ah, yes please”

“Very well, first, follow me to the table”

Needless to say, the cafeteria isn’t very normal. The tables all appear to be hand crafted by master artisans out of the finest wood. The chandeliers are adorned with jewels and they might even be made of gold. There also seems to be a handsome man playing the piano in the corner of the room.

This is making me nervous now, the atmosphere is already pretty suffocating and now I have to go see Kaede.

She’ll surely be upset.

After all, we promised to have lunch together and I thoughtlessly brought along two other people.

I’ll definitely at least get scolded.

Maybe she’ll be mad enough to cancel the engagement…

Ohh, my stomach hurts…

We climb some exquisite stairs to a quieter area with even more incredible furnishings.

“Here we are your highness, I’ll go and get lunches for your two associates here. Priscilla, can you assist me?”

Kaede’s maid Priscilla sends me the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen. Like I just told her that I murdered her parents. But she acquiesces to Mari’s request and follows her without a word.

Kaede on the other hand looks really shocked.

Ah, Kaede I’m so sorry.

Silence permeates the table.

“Oh! How rude of me! I haven’t introduced myself yet! My name’s Haruna Keisuke! I was incredibly lucky to be able to attend this academy, please take care of me! I sit in class next to Jin………Uhh his highness!”

“Yes...”

Kaede’s being scarily quiet. She looks over at Akiho now.

Akiho flinches.

“Uh! Ah, uhm, my name’s Akiho Yamada! I’ve been assigned as Jin’s………His highness’s roommate and I also sit next to him in class! My father is the head of the royal guard and I hope to follow in his footsteps! Please take care of me!”

“Yes…”

Kaede?

“I do apologize Kaede, I know we planned to have lunch together…”

She seems to snap out of whatever trance she was in from the sound of my voice.

“Hm? No that’s alright, I mean that’s quite fine. I was just surprised to see that Jin…......His highness has already made friends”

Uwah, is she distancing herself from me now?

“Kaede, you can call me Jin. If my own fiancé can’t call me by my name then who can?”

“Ah, yes, my apologies………Jin”

The last part was a bit quiet, but she started blushing and it’s really cute, so that’s alright!

“Fiancé?!”

Haruna…

No sorry, the bitch got louder

Kaede smiles mysteriously but very charmingly.

“Yes, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kaede Yamahara, I am the daughter of the Treasurer and accounts manager for the Kingdom and the fiancé of Jin Wolfgang Staeles. It’s a pleasure to meet you both”

I can’t tell if her smile is genuine or not.

Is she angry?

Either way, she’s still cute.

“Fuuuu……”

Haruna is making a mysterious noise, but let’s ignore her for now.

I actually remembered something!

Hahaha, this marks a brand new start for Jin!

Ah, never mind, I’m getting off track again.

“That’s right Kaede, I wanted to ask your advice”

“M…My advice?!”

“Yes. I have to do a speech during the assembly later. However, no one told me before hand and I have nothing prepared…”

“Ah! You’ve got nothing prepared! That is bad…”

Don’t say that! You’re supposed to encourage me!

“Wait, you don’t have anything prepared Jin?!”

Haruna becomes shocked too.

What happened to your highness?

“Uwahh! That’s not good Jin!”

Again! What happened to your highness!!!

“Ah, no, it’s alright Jin. You’re going to do great!”

Kaede apparently realized they were just piling onto my stress and tried to offer some words.

Fuuu, even if you say that, I’m really screwed…

Her smile isn’t very convincing.

“No, I mean it! Just keep the speech short and simple! The Principal and the Student Council President will probably have really long boring speeches, so just keep it nice and simple and it will be fine!”

She must have realized my thoughts, because that was a lot more convincing.

Hmm, short and simple.

Should I tell a joke or something?

I still have no idea what I should say…

…

After that, Mari and Priscilla returned and we all ate lunch together with the two maids looking on.

The positions at the table were such that I was sat next to Kaede and opposite Haruna with Akiho next to Haruna and opposite Kaede.

At some point, Akiho began talking about fighting techniques and Haruna was surprisingly into it and they were having a very animated conversation.

During this Kaede leaned over and whispered something in my ear.

“Uhm, why is it that you’re sharing a room with a girl?”

Ah, was this why she seemed slightly upset.

Actually, if she did think I was sharing a room with a girl, why wasn’t she more upset?!

Also, my ear tickles now. That felt really nice…

I lean over to her ear and whisper back.

“Akiho’s a boy”

Her face went red from embarrassment due to the whispering and then further red when she realized her mistake.

She was doing that thing where she held the hem of her uniform in her fist…

She’s so cute.

Should we play a prank?

“Were you jealous?”

I whisper again.

Her face goes a further shade of red all the way up to her ears.

Hehe, so cute.

…

…

…

AH SHIT! THE SPEECH!!!

I guess I’ll just wing it…