Chapter 211: The Fine Line Between Stupidity and Politeness
Chapter 211: The Fine Line Between Stupidity and Politeness
The first classes of the day passed slowly, accompanied by Alicia’s internal prayers and Cassian’s silence.
When the lunch bell echoed throughout the academy, the corridors became lively once again. Students began to flock toward the canteen, common areas, and the courtyard, as if they had been set free.
Cassian mingled with the crowd and headed for the magnificent academy canteen, illuminated by massive crystal chandeliers and paved with marble floors. He grabbed a tray from the food section and got in line.
When it was his turn, he stared weirdly at the fancy, luxurious dishes he had never even heard of before, the meats slathered in colorful sauces, and the exotic fruit desserts displayed behind the heated glass partitions behind the counter.
The smiling old woman serving the food noticed Cassian’s blank and indecisive stare, and leaned in with a smile.
"Looks like you can’t decide, sweetie," the woman said in a motherly voice. "If you haven’t made up your mind, would you like me to recommend something from today’s special menu? How about the creamy beef stew?"
Cassian gave the woman’s smiling face a completely dull, expressionless look. He pulled his eyes away from the fancy food on the counter and muttered slowly.
"Onion."
The old woman was stunned. She stood there frozen with the large ladle in her hand. "O-onion? Do you want a raw onion, sweetie?"
"Put in some random things that don’t have onions, please," Cassian said, holding his tray out to the woman indifferently.
After a brief moment of surprise, the woman smiled again. "Oh, I get it! Alright, I’ll prepare it right away."
Cassian took the tray and walked into the massive hall of the canteen. Stretching his neck, he scanned the crowd. Before long, he spotted Felix at a table near the middle of the hall, already mingling with a few cheerful students around him. Felix’s warm aura drew people to him. Layla was right next to him, picking at her food and giggling at what Felix was saying.
Cassian went and sat at an empty table by the wall, relatively close to them, where he could observe them easily without drawing attention.
With his eyes locked on Felix, he slowly stabbed his fork into his meat and began to chew his food with complete disinterest.
However, Cassian’s moment of solitary, peaceful observation didn’t last very long.
Suddenly, someone sat down in the empty chair across the table with great ease, without even asking for permission.
Cassian stopped his fork and slowly raised his head.
Sitting across from him, with that wide-brimmed straw hat and a cold expression on his face... was Lunox vi Olerion.
The Eastern genius.
Lunox didn’t care in the slightest about meeting Cassian’s red eyes.
He had pushed the academy’s silver cutlery to the side, pulled out wooden chopsticks from his own pocket, and had already started eating his simple plate of rice and fish with great appetite, smacking his lips loudly.
Cassian narrowed his eyes slightly. During the exam, he had felt Lunox searching for his mana. Even if he hadn’t wanted to, he had clearly attracted this sword maniac’s attention, his ’desire to fight’.
A heavy and silent atmosphere formed between the two, completely contrasting the noisy environment of the canteen. Neither Cassian nor Lunox said a single word. They just quietly sized each other up, but without making it too obvious, continuing to eat their food.
As Cassian chewed his food, he glanced toward the other side of the hall out of the corner of his eye. Prince Daemon of Pelagorn was eating all by himself, sporting a deep scowl.
Because of his attitude towards those around him, no one had dared to approach his table.
Minutes later, a third person approached their table.
With flawless, shining blonde hair, a noble, upright posture, and that elegant, fake smile on her face... Imperial Princess Celine Luminara.
Right behind her were three or four other noble female students trying to curry favor with her, acting like sycophants. Celine arrived at the table with an aura of nobility radiating around her.
Cassian knew exactly why the princess had come to this table. In the original game’s storyline, to deal with her powerful older brothers competing for the imperial throne and to increase her own political power, Celine would try to draw anyone talented, strong, and with potential at the academy to her side, trying to form alliances with them. Now, she had come here to make Lunox, who was at the top of the rankings, and Cassian, whose terrifying power she had witnessed, her own pawns.
The cunning, calculating glint in Celine’s eyes practically screamed her true intentions behind her polite smile.
"Excuse me," Celine said, her voice as soft as velvet, yet equally authoritative. "The tables are quite full. I wonder, may I join you?"
In a polite tone, she had made a noble request that was almost impossible to refuse.
Before Cassian could even open his mouth and say ’I don’t care’, Lunox, who was smacking his lips over his rice across from him, replied with a mouth full of food, in an extremely flat and indifferent voice:
"No."
The flawless, polite smile on Celine’s face instantly froze. Her eyebrows twitched slightly. She couldn’t believe her ears.
"E-excuse me?" Celine said, trying to force her smile to remain. "I believe I misheard you?"
Swallowing the bite in his mouth, Lunox pointed at the empty chair with his chopsticks. "You didn’t mishear. No. Sit somewhere else. We’re eating alone."
Celine’s right eye twitched violently. The noble girls behind her looked at each other in shock and covered their mouths. A princess, and an Imperial Princess at that, had been told ’no’.
"Excuse me, but..." Celine hissed, the velvety softness in her voice completely gone, replaced by a sharp coldness. "These chairs belong to the academy and are empty. Besides, I didn’t ask you, I asked the other person at the table too."
Lunox shrugged and took another bite of his rice. "Fine. Then sit. Since it belongs to the academy."
Celine felt the limits of her patience being tested. Her face was starting to turn red from anger. "I’m not sitting just because you said ’sit’! I was going to sit here from the very beginning anyway!"
Lunox stopped chewing and fixed his cold eyes on Celine. "Then why did you ask for permission in the first place? If you were going to sit, you should have just come and sat."
Celine’s mouth opened, but the words caught in her throat. She couldn’t find a logical argument. The noble mask on her face was cracking. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself, to maintain her nobility.
"Look..." Celine said, emphasizing her words. "Unlike the savage, uncouth East you come from, there are things called ’rules of etiquette’ in the Holy Empire and in this academy. Before people sit down somewhere, they ask for permission simply out of respect. Knowing only how to swing a sword doesn’t make you a civilized person."
Lunox wasn’t affected in the slightest by this long tirade on nobility. He tossed another bite into his mouth, swallowed it loudly and completely rudely, smacking his lips, and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"My father always used to say this," Lunox said, looking at Celine with his expressionless face. "There is always a very fine line between stupidity and politeness. And you nobles love constantly crossing that line."
Those words were the final straw.
Celine’s face turned beet red with anger. Her pride as a princess had been trampled. One of the noble girls standing behind her jumped forward to curry favor with the princess and shouted in a shrill voice.
"How dare you speak to Princess Celine Luminara like that?! She is a member of royalty! You should be sent to the disciplinary committee and whipped!"
But Celine silenced the girl by raising her hand. Even though she was trembling with anger, she kept her head high so as not to belittle herself any further in front of that uncouth boy. Gritting her teeth, she plastered her thin, nerve-wracking smile back on her face.
"Girls, calm down. The rude behavior of this barbarian cannot tarnish our nobility," Celine said. Then, glaring angrily into Lunox’s eyes, she pulled the chair out forcefully and stubbornly, angrily sat down at the table.
Throughout this entire dialogue, Cassian had eaten his food silently without saying a single word, merely watching this absurd comedy.
Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at Lunox sitting indifferently across from him. He didn’t know if this sword maniac had the intention of shaking off a scheming, cunning nuisance like Celine, of cutting off those unnecessary alliance offers right from the start. But internally, Cassian felt a small bit of gratitude toward this Eastern boy for sparing him the trouble of dealing with those fake, polite dialogues.
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