Kays Translations

Chapter 14: Confession at the Graduation Party (1)

On the day of the graduation party, there was a lot of excitement in the dormitory from the morning.

The girls were getting ready for the party and had been working hard to improve themselves since early morning.

The bathrooms in the dormitory were crowded, and the long lines stretched all the way to the hallway.

Even in the cafeteria, I was surprised to see a girl with a mask on her face.

Many children went out of the academy to go to the beauty parlor or to buy flowers for their hair.

When most of the children called for a carriage and left the dormitory to go to the graduation party, the academy was filled with silence.

It was a beautiful evening, and three shadows were moving in a line through the quiet school.

Mac, Cynthia and I.

At sunset, we carried our food on our backs and entered the forest of the school.

As we walked along the path from the dormitory to the forest, Mac spoke with great enthusiasm.

"In Sherne, they have a special outdoor meal for celebrations!"

"Well then, it's a Shern-style graduation party."

We set our bags down in an open area of the forest, and Mac built a small fire. 

We placed the folding chairs we had brought with us around the fire.

The only sound around us was the rustling of leaves, and the large forest of the Institute was now ours alone.

Mac and Cynthia began arranging the food on a wire mesh over the fire.

There were steamed potatoes, sausages, peppers and carrots.

The food was familiar, but it looked even better than usual when cooked outside on the grill over a campfire.

The bacon's juices dripped down the wire mesh, making a delicious sizzling sound. 

The bacon was also roasting on the fire, giving it a savory aroma. 

It appealed to both my sense of hearing and smell, and I couldn't resist.

I can't wait to eat it, and my throat starts singing.

"I recommend the potatoes. The skin is crispy, the inside is crunchy, and it's really good!"

Mac took his place in front of the potatoes like a potato guard, watching for burn.

The early spring breeze was a little chilly as the sun went down, so we opened not only a pot of tea, but also a bottle of wine.

We were allowed to drink alcohol from the age of sixteen, but we had to abstain from it during the school term, so on special evenings like this, the mere fact that we could drink wine added to the atmosphere.

Mac cut a cross in the top of the baked potato and put butter on top, then sprinkled some chopped crispy bacon on it. 

The butter melts in the heat and slides over the potatoes becoming smaller and smaller.

"Wow, this looks good. I'm a genius."

Mac praised himself as he prepared the food for the three of them and was about to serve it, but Cynthia stopped him.

"Not yet, Mac. It's not done until you put the sour cream on top. Are you sure you're from Sherne?"

"Huh? We don't use such fancy stuff at home!"

Ignoring Mac's raised eyebrows, Cynthia scooped up a jar of sour cream and placed it next to the potatoes.

Then she handed me the plate with a smile so loving that I thought she was the mother of all humanity.

"Now, enjoy the local cuisine of Sherne!"

When I stabbed my fork into it, the crispy skin split open and steam rose. 

When I put it in my mouth with the bacon, the hot potato and the cold sour cream tasted magical.

The sweetness of the potatoes and the saltiness of the butter and bacon were just right.

As I fought back the heat, I said to the two waiting for me to tell them what I thought.

"It's really delicious!"

"Isn't it?"

Mac and Cynthia burst out laughing.

I was in charge of making the soup.

I cut up some vegetables and consommé from the dorm kitchen and put them in a small pot to simmer.

We sat in chairs staring at the fire, drinking wine with sausages on the side, reflecting on our student life so far.

Cynthia told me that she had honestly been worried when she first entered the school that she would not be able to keep up with her studies and would have to drop out.

"It's really thanks to Liesel that I've made it this far. She's always helping me with my studies and practical skills."

"I didn't do much at all."　

"And you even got the ticket to become a royal sorceress, something you've always dreamed of!"

Mac laughs and pours some wine into Cynthia's empty cup.

"Thanks, Mac, but there's one thing that didn't work out the way I imagined."

"What's that?"

When asked, Cynthia squirmed and sat back down, for some reason finding it hard to say.

She looked embarrassed, "What? I want to know!" I called out to her.

Cynthia scratched her head in embarrassment and said,

"--That... I couldn't have a boyfriend..."

Immediately after, Mac burst out laughing.

"Oh, I see!"

"What are you laughing at?"

Cynthia turned red and got angry, but I couldn't laugh.

Because I hadn't had a single boyfriend in five years either.

Mac immediately noticed this and said to us, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Well, from now on, both of you'll be working for the Royal Palace of Hana. You'll probably have plenty of opportunities to meet wonderful men who will be fascinated by women in the palace."

Mac refilled his own cup with wine and said with a grin, "I'll look for a pretty lady, too."

Cynthia scraped the remaining sour cream out of the jar with a spoon and ate it wretchedly.

"You're not going to catch the young lady easily just because you're in the palace. Unless you win the jousting tournament, that is."

The tournament is long loved by the royal aristocrats, and the winner of the tournament, which is held once every four years in the royal capital, is honored by the king as "the King's first knight," and is given a knighthood and its accompanying territory. 

Above all, the honor of being the "strongest man" is difficult to obtain and is valuable.

So the king's knight - or rather, the best knight in the kingdom of Leia - has the right to choose the maiden who would receive his medal on the spot after winning. 

The maiden with the nominated medal was traditionally married to the first knight afterwards.

The next one will be held next year.

Although there was a jousting class in the academy, Mac was good at it.

"Well, if I enter and win next year, I'll introduce you both to someone nice. Don't worry."

"That's reassuring," Cynthia and I replied almost simultaneously.

After much chatting and eating and drinking, the fire was getting smaller and smaller.

Dinner was finished, and there was only dessert left to eat. 

The dessert was marshmallows, which we roasted over the fire.

Holding a tree branch with a palm-sized marshmallow attached to it, I looked up at the sky.

The smoke from the fire danced into the night sky as if it were being sucked in, and the deep sky was beautiful, like scattered shining diamonds.

We put the white marshmallows close to the fire while chewing on the end of the feast.

It was Cynthia who broke the silence. 

She stared at the fire and opened her mouth.

"Hey, Liesel, Gideon asked you to the graduation party, didn't he? Are you really certain you didn't want to go with him?

"Of course. I don't want to go with my rival. It would be sad if he asked me to the dance out of pity."

Then Cynthia shook her head slowly and looked at me with caring eyes.

"No. I don't think he asked you out of pity. --I think Gidion likes Liesel."

"What are you talking about? It's impossible. That's it.

"Liesel, did you know? Whenever we went to the library to study, he always had a book in his hand, but he never read it. He pretended to be studying, but he was always staring at you, Liesel."

"No! That's not true."

"When you were sick and couldn't go to the library, and I went to the library alone, Gideon quickly returned to the dorm when he realized you weren't coming."

"No way. So I always lost every test to the guy who didn't study hard in the library!"

"Liesl, you know that's not what I'm talking about. I feel a little sorry for Gideon when you tease him."

I have no choice but to tease him.

No matter how much of a gentleman Gideon Lancaster is in this academy, Iris will become a saint in the not too distant future, and he of the Lancaster family will be my enemy.

"Liesel, you're an aristocrat, but you actually hate royalty and upper class nobility more than me"

Mac said curiously.

He bit into a marshmallow that had burned its surface and ate it, his face contorted with enthusiasm.

"Maybe so. -- "I'm afraid of the Crown Prince and Gideon."

Mac and Cynthia looked up at the same time, a little surprised. 

I blinked a few times with a frozen expression but remained silent.

They must have sensed that I wasn't sure if I wanted to say anything.

"You know, I've lived until I was nineteen years old before..."

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