Chapter 24: Girls Talk

As soon as she entered her room in the girls' dormitory, Mia let out a deep sigh. After escaping the situation in the street, she'd spent the rest of her day acknowledging the greetings of scores of people who were drawn to her title, Princess of the Tearmoon Empire.

Ugh, greeting endless waves of strangers is so terribly bothersome. I wish I could just ignore them all.

While it might have seemed arrogant of her to find her celebrity status bothersome, her arrogance was ultimately dwarfed by her innate cowardice. With Anne by her side, watching, she simply didn't have the audacity to ignore anyone who showed up to courteously pay their respects. As a result, she ended up personally receiving each and every one of them.

"...I'm so terribly exhausted."

She kicked off her shoes and collapsed spread-eagle onto her bed in a most unseemly fashion. While she was aware of the inappropriateness of her conduct...

Who cares! I'm the Princess of the Empire, damn it! No one gets to tell me how to behave!

She was determined to maintain some element of independence. At least in her own inner monologue.

"You were wonderful today, Princess Mia," said Anne, noticing Mia's fatigue. "I'm sure everyone was really glad to meet you." She smiled appreciatively.

"Thank you, Anne. But it sure is exhausting."

"Would you like some tea? Or shall I prepare the bath instead?"

"The bath, you say..."

Her room was outfitted with its own bathroom. So long as she was brought hot water, she could take a bath whenever she wanted. There was also no need to be stingy, as water was an abundant resource here — so much so that the Principality had a full complement of water and sewage systems. If someone from the desert came here, they'd probably find it unthinkably decadent. While Mia found the thought of settling into a hot bath and soothing her carriage-beaten body rather alluring, she quickly shook her head.

"No, that won't be necessary. In another hour, the communal baths will open. Let us head there instead."

The girls' dormitory was furnished with a hot spring facility that could be accessed during certain hours. For the sake of being able to stretch herself out and relax in a truly luxurious fashion, she chose to delay her gratification.

"More importantly, Anne, there's something I'd like to ask you..."

"Yes? What is it?"

Mia sat up on the edge of her bed and gestured for Anne to sit down on the adjacent bed as well. Their beds, on a side note, were identical in size and adornment. Normally, it would be unthinkable for a daughter of a noble house to live in the same room as her attendant, but Saint-Noel Academy was the exception. Here, many of the accompanying attendants were of prominent noble lineages themselves. To accommodate that, the school ensured that their rooms were suited for cohabitation by pairs of nobles. Anne, therefore, stared uneasily at her elaborately decorated bed before gingerly lowering herself onto it.

"Um... what would you like to know, Princess Mia?"

"I need your advice on something..."

"My advice...?" asked Anne with a perplexed frown.

"Yes. It's an important matter..."

"An important matter..."

Anne gulped audibly as she waited for Mia to reveal what was undoubtedly an issue of grave importance.

Mia took in a deep breath, held it for a second, and let it out. Then, she looked Anne in the eye and asked, "What's the best way to make an impression on the man of your dreams?"

"...Huh?"

In the previous timeline, Mia was certain that she and Sion would become a couple. It seemed to her that as the renowned Princess of the mighty Tearmoon Empire, the only person worthy of her hand was the Sunkland Prince. She figured the opposite was true as well. Consequently, her stance toward Sion was always feel free to ask me out if you're so inclined. It was like that during the dance party, it was like that during the evening gala, and it was still like that on the day before the holidays. Every time, she'd go up to Sion and do some sort of feel free to ask me out routine. It was, needless to say, supremely annoying. Even present-day Mia had more or less clued in to the fact that her previous behavior was maybe, just maybe, a terrible mistake. It was a sign of maturity. Mia had taken a big step forward. It might not have been a giant leap for mankind, but it was certainly a big step for Mia.

Of course, her reasoning had been it's all because Sion has a terrible personality! Her time in the dungeon, however, had planted the seeds of doubt in her mind, which sprouted into tiny saplings of common sense. Eventually, it occurred to her that maybe I was at fault in some ways as well?

Currently, Mia still had absolutely no intention of actively courting Sion's affection. Still, she did need to make enough connections to save herself from the guillotine, and the first and most important connection was, of course, one's lover or spouse. To that end, she figured she'd ask Anne if her approach to dating was wrong, but...

"Princess Mia... Who taught you to act like that?" asked Anne after hearing Mia's story. Her face was rigid save for one cheek that twitched intermittently.

"What do you mean by 'who'?"

Mia was about to answer "Me, I suppose" when Anne grabbed her shoulder.

"Listen, Princess Mia. Everything you just said... It's all wrong! I don't know which bigwig noble daughter you asked, but nobody is going to talk to someone who's looking down on people all the time."

"I-Is that so?"

"It is so. Granted, you are the Princess, so there are probably people who will still go out with you, but they're after your influence and power. It's not because they like you as a person. And you wouldn't want to be with people like that anyway. They don't deserve you," she declared in an assertive tone. "Now, with that out of the way... Who are you going after? Let's discuss strategy!"

Anne's eyes glowed with excitement.