"What's wrong?" Celitia asked casually.

Sophia quickly shook her head. "Nothing."

To say that her way of doing things had been influenced by Celitia... that would be too embarrassing!

Shanie finished ordering and rested her chin on both hands, looking at Sophia with wide eyes:

"Huh? Who was that person? How could anyone disrespect the Princess?"

"Her name is Margaret Brian, the daughter of Duke Augs," Sophia answered.

Celitia frowned. "The Duke of Mist, the current Regent, Lord Augs Brian's daughter?"

"That's right," Sophia nodded, looking at Celitia with some surprise in her eyes. "You seem to know quite a bit."

Celitia's expression remained unchanged. "After all, my father is a palace guard."

In reality, "Celitia" didn't know these things, but Sercis would never overlook intelligence about an enemy country.

Shanie didn't quite understand. "Duke of Mist? Regent? Sounds impressive..."

The Kingdom of Lansca was divided into five duchies, two of which were directly governed by the king, while the largest one, called the Duchy of Mist, was Augs Brian's territory.

With the king gravely ill and unable to govern, and the first heir Princess Sophia not yet of age, power had temporarily been transferred to Augs, who served as Regent.

Sophia briefly explained Margaret's background, a complicated light flashing in her eyes. "Margaret and I have never gotten along."

Celitia acknowledged with a sound, empathizing. "Everyone has their own position, that's perfectly normal."

Back when she had forcibly installed Flora on the throne through military might, even if the vassals didn't dare speak out, Celitia knew very well that these people all harbored ulterior motives, with factions more tangled than a forest.

Shanie felt the topic was becoming too heavy, and fortuitously saw the waiter approaching with plates. Her eyes lit up. "Our order is here!"

Sophia turned her head at these words and saw trays filled with various desserts. She momentarily forgot to maintain her elegance and opened her mouth in shock.

"These... these are all ours?!"

Not only that, but behind the lead server followed three more waiters, each carrying similarly full trays.

Shanie put her palms together, making a pitiful face at Sophia:

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Because I didn't get to eat egg tarts, I was so disappointed... I thought I'd turn my frustration into appetite... and accidentally ordered too much!"

Sophia glared at her. "Ordering a lot isn't the problem, but you have to finish it all. No wasting food!"

"No problem!" Shanie patted her chest, readily agreeing.

Celitia watched as desserts gradually filled the entire wooden table and couldn't help but comment dryly:

"Is the issue really whether you can finish it or not? Shanie, I think you should get your teeth checked..."

"No, no, it's just that I usually don't have much money, so I can't eat this much— Ah!!"

Shanie suddenly covered her mouth and gave Sophia a pleasing smile. "I accidentally let that slip. Sorry, Your Highness, I promise it's just this once!"

"..."

So Shanie had come to feast at someone else's expense.

She felt both annoyed and amused. "I already said I'm not stingy. Do you really think you could eat me into poverty?"

"I knew the Princess was a good person!"

Shanie cheered and grabbed some pastries, stuffing them into her mouth with no regard for table manners.

"What do you mean 'knew'?" Sophia said unhappily. "Did you initially think I was a bad person?"

With her mouth full, Shanie spoke indistinctly while eating. "Because, well, last night in the dormitory, I heard—"

At this point, Shanie abruptly stopped, her eyes darting back and forth between Celitia and Sophia.

Darn it, she had promised Celitia not to spread those rumors anymore, especially since the subject of the rumors was right beside her. How awkward would it be to say it out loud...

However, Sophia widened her eyes, curiously waiting for her to continue. In her urgency, Shanie grabbed two more pastries and stuffed them into her mouth, successfully choking herself.

"Ugh—! Water—!!"

Shanie clutched her throat with one hand while frantically grabbing at the air with the other.

Celitia casually picked up a teacup and placed it in Shanie's hand. "Eat slowly, don't rush."

Sophia's attention was successfully diverted. She turned to call out to the busy servers. "Bring some more tea!"

After a cup of red tea, Shanie finally recovered.

"Looking at the way you eat, I feel like what you're holding isn't cake and desserts, but some rare delicacy," Sophia couldn't help but remark, then turned to Celitia. "How do you find the taste of this shop, Celitia?"

Suddenly being asked about the taste, Celitia's hand holding the spoon stiffened slightly.

This momentary unnatural reaction was quickly concealed. Celitia casually scooped a small piece of cake, put it in her mouth, and commented, "It's quite good."

"Is that so?"

Sophia felt something was odd.

Although Celitia's movements were elegant and she ate in an orderly manner, it was difficult to read any emotional feedback from her face, as if she were merely completing a task.

"I feel like you don't seem to enjoy it very much."

Sophia meant to say that if Celitia didn't like desserts, she shouldn't force herself.

"That's not the case," Celitia lowered her eyelids. "Your Highness misunderstands."

As if to prove herself, Celitia picked up the cake and took a large bite.

Sophia watched in astonishment as Celitia ate the cake, consuming the decorative fruit on top along with its peel. Her eye twitched involuntarily.

Wait, eating it this way would make it bitter and astringent, completely ruining the cake's flavor, wouldn't it?!

Could it be...

A sudden suspicion arose in her mind. Sophia found a small candy in her pocket, unwrapped it, and placed the brownish-black square candy on Celitia's plate.

"This is candy someone gave me, supposedly a rare treat from the south. It's very sweet, try it!"

Celitia frowned, wanting to refuse, but seeing that the "rare candy" had already touched the cream on her plate, it was clearly too late to return it to Sophia.

With no choice, Celitia used her spoon to scoop up the candy and put the brownish-black square in her mouth.

It seemed soft.

Celitia chewed casually and then swallowed.

"How is it?" Sophia stared at her intently.

"Indeed very sweet," Celitia followed Sophia's lead. "Thank you for Your Highness's generosity."

However, hearing Celitia's response, Sophia confirmed a fact.

"You actually can't really taste flavors, can you?"

The brownish-black square wasn't candy at all, but pure dark chocolate without any added sugar.

Sophia had tried one and found it too bitter, so she had casually put it in her pocket, never expecting it would come in handy.

"This isn't candy, it's chocolate. If I remember correctly, it should be very bitter."