Chapter 40: The First Friend!

Trying very hard to ignore the swarm of bees in her stomach, Mia walked into the classroom during lunch break.

"Um, Miss Rafina, may I have a moment?" she asked with a nervous smile. Her voice cracked a little.

"Hm? Oh, Mia." Rafina looked up from her desk and, seeing it was Mia, stood up to greet her. "What is it?"

She was wearing her usual polite smile, but that was cold comfort to Mia. After all, they didn't call her a saint for nothing; her face defaulted to a smile. She could be sentencing Mia to the guillotine and still look the same. One could never be too careful around her.

"There's something I'd like to discuss with you..." asked Mia as she peered timidly up at Rafina.

"Is there? In that case, why don't you come join me in my room? I was just about to have lunch," Rafina responded, her voice smooth and calm as always.

Once they entered her room, she suddenly clapped her hands once and turned to Mia.

"Gosh, I just remembered! Thank you very much for your gifts. The staff loved them very much," she said happily.

Mia smiled back, both out of relief that Rafina was in a good mood as well as to hide the fact that she had absolutely no idea what gifts she was referring to. They were, of course, from Anne, who hadn't informed Mia about them yet.

Thank the moons. At this rate, I might actually survive this encounter...

Once they took their seats and laid their lunches on the table, Mia slowly turned toward Rafina and, without any hesitation, humbly bowed her head.

"I'm terribly sorry for what happened."

This was a potential guillotine moment; her ego could wait.

"Please, Princess Mia, you do not need to apologize. It was not your doing, correct?"

"No, but as Tearmoon's Princess, I am responsible for the actions of its nobles," said Mia, trying to sound as earnest as possible. It took some effort, because in the back of her mind, she was thinking Of course not! It's got nothing to do with me! I didn't even know it happened!

"I see. Then, as for disciplinary action... What did you have in mind?"

"I have already ordered the culpable attendants to be sent back to Tearmoon. As for their student masters, due to a lack of clear evidence indicating their direct involvement, I have asked them to engage in self-reflection and remain vigilant against such behavior in the future."

Rafina's eyes narrowed immediately.

"That seems rather lenient of you."

Eeeek!

The student council president's piercing gaze sent a terrible chill up Mia's spine, and she instantly regretted letting the student masters off so easily. Alas, it was far too late to reverse her decision. At this point, she had no choice but to argue the merit of her lax sentence.

"It would appear, Princess Mia, that you are a very merciful individual."

M-Merci— Merciful moons! What do I do?! I'm in so much trouble!

Mia felt like a kitten who'd wandered into a lumbering lion and been fixed with a hungry glare. With her neck on the line, she desperately looked for a way out of this predicament. Unfortunately, having already hit peak mental performance previously, her brain was now overheating and refused to serve up any ideas. Just then, she noticed the bowl of soup on the table. A piece of something yellow protruded from its surface. It was her old friend, the ambermoon tomato.

The face of the Empire's head chef popped into her mind. She remembered how she'd hated ambermoon tomatoes, how he'd stubbornly kept serving them to her, and how he'd labored to work them into something she'd like...

"Ah, ambermoon tomatoes... " she murmured to herself. "How ironic that their pungency often leads to their wastage... yet remorse for this sin only comes after there is nothing left to eat..."

She recalled the first time she'd tasted them after being reincarnated. The thought that she'd previously thrown away such meticulously prepared food — and all the care and dedication that went into it — made her grimace. It was a stark reminder of how terrible a person she'd been.

...Wait! This is not the time to be getting nostalgic! I need to face reality!

"So... you mean to say that people do bad things because they're not aware they're wrong?"

"...Huh?"

"And in this case, there was little actual harm done, making the victim's redress a much simpler matter. Of course, I see now... So that's why you sent your most trusted aide, Anne..."

Rafina's attitude changed visibly. She smiled again, but this time, it was much gentler than before.

Punishment serves two purposes. The first is to provide emotional solace for the victim. The second is to encourage reflection in the offender. In this case, Anne's efforts had kept the harm done to a minimum.

"Allowing us to focus on promoting reflection in the offenders, after which they will hopefully learn and mature... Indeed, that may very well be the course of action that more befits an institute of learning."

"A-Absolutely!"

Mia jumped on it. She didn't know what it was, but she jumped anyway — whatever would get her out of this predicament.

"Mia," Rafina said as she took Mia's hands in hers, "you have my honest admiration and respect. There is a profound mercy in you. It pushes you to seek the redemption of even the wicked, and it is something that I do not have. I see now why they refer to you as the Great Sage of the Empire."

"I-I'm honored to hear that," Mia said with a nervous smile. Being overly praised wasn't comfortable either.

"And, well... Y-You see, about that..."

Rafina suddenly began to stammer.

Th-There's more?! What now?!

Resisting the urge to dash out of the room right then and there, Mia kept listening. Rafina's next words, however, took her completely by surprise.

"Um... Would you... like to be my friend?"

"Would I... what?"

From that day on, Mia gained a friend: the daughter of the Duke of Belluga, Rafina.

After saying goodbye to Rafina and returning to her room, Mia took the time to heap a ton of praise upon Anne. Then, before the poor maid had even recovered from being hit with a sudden outpouring of gratitude, she'd already been dragged out to town in the name of rewarding her for her efforts. Thus ensued Mia and Anne's quest to try all the sweets in town, but that is a story for another time.