That night, both Celitia and Sophia slept well.

Perhaps even too well.

So much so that when Sophia felt someone calling her, she was a thousand times unwilling to respond.

"Sophia, Sophia."

That voice persistently called her name, haunting her ears repeatedly.

Unable to bear it any longer, Sophia extended a hand and firmly covered that chattering mouth: "Shut up!!"

"..."

Suddenly having her mouth covered by Sophia, Celitia wasn't angry.

She calmly pried Sophia's hand away, her five fingers ice-cold, making Sophia's body shiver as she quickly withdrew her hand.

"Time to get up, Sophia."

The night before, Sophia had specifically told Celitia that there would be an opening ceremony the next day. She needed to speak on stage as a representative and had other preparations to make, so she had to get up early.

However, the colder the weather, the more Sophia tended to linger in bed, and she had a bit of a temper when waking up. Thus, she had asked Celitia to make sure to wake her when the time came.

"Sophia? Are you awake?"

Not only was Sophia not awake, she grabbed the blanket with both hands, pulled it over her head to block out Celitia's voice, closed her eyes, and was about to fall back asleep.

"In that case," Celitia observed, a cold smile appearing on her lips, "don't blame me for using special measures."

No sooner said than done, Celitia grabbed two corners of the blanket, pulled it back forcefully, completely removing it from Sophia, and threw it far away to the other corner.

"Aaaahhhh!!"

With the warm cocoon suddenly gone, Sophia was caught off guard. She let out a series of miserable cries, her body trembling as if plunged into ice water, curling tightly into a ball.

"Which audacious scoundrel dares to be so disrespectful! Someone come, throw her in jail!!"

After shouting a couple of times with her head covered, but not seeing anyone come, Sophia finally became somewhat more awake. Looking up, she saw Celitia's face wearing a cold smile, like an ice beauty.

"Ah... uh..."

Reality dispelled the dream. Remembering what was happening, Sophia felt guilty and stammered, unable to speak.

Celitia didn't let her off, bending down to pick up the metal handcuffs that had been discarded in the bedroom corner the day before, and presenting them along with her own hand to Sophia:

"Here, go ahead and cuff me. Which prison is Her Highness planning to send me to?"

Her cheeks burning red, Sophia jumped up from the bed, snatched the metal handcuffs from Celitia's hand, and stuffed them into a cabinet.

"Don't mention that anymore!"

"Seems like you're finally awake." Celitia unhurriedly dusted off her hands. "Your morning temper is truly something most people couldn't handle."

"I told you it was just said in anger..." Sophia was too embarrassed to lift her head.

Celitia didn't continue teasing Sophia, turning around and walking toward the door: "Then change your clothes, go wash up, and come down for breakfast."

She had already checked and found that the kitchen was stocked with plenty of food, enough to make breakfast.

Celitia cut four slices of bread and was about to carry them out when her movement paused slightly.

For herself, anything edible would do; but for the Princess, two slices of plain bread might be a bit too simple?

Celitia's gaze fell on the stove nearby.

"To think it's a magic-powered stove... how extravagant. Is this how those aristocrats waste magic crystals?"

Despite her disdainful remarks, Celitia still went back, found two eggs from the basket, and decided to fry them as filling for the bread.

For Celitia, anything that could be broken down into steps wasn't difficult, and cooking was no exception.

The only difficult thing was...

Staring at the two glass jars on the counter, Celitia picked them up one by one, examining them repeatedly, lost in thought.

Which one was sugar? Which one was salt?

Both looked very similar, and Celitia really couldn't tell them apart.

She dabbed a bit with her finger to taste, but still couldn't discern the difference.

Celitia looked back at the increasingly golden-brown fried eggs and, having no choice, made the universal choice: for the two fried eggs, she added a bit from each jar!

By the time she carried out the bread with fried egg filling, Sophia had already dressed, washed up, and was sitting at the dining table.

Seeing the plates in Celitia's hands, Sophia's gaze revealed surprise: "You can cook?"

"A little," Celitia replied casually.

Placing the plates down, Celitia untied the apron from behind her waist, took it off, and hung it on the wall.

Her movements were casual and natural. Watching this, Sophia's heart skipped a beat, a feeling she couldn't quite describe rising in her chest.

"Um, Lily, has anyone ever told you that you seem a bit..." Sophia searched her brain for the right word, "...domestic?"

Sophia could confidently say that among all the noble students enrolled, not a single one knew how to cook, including herself.

"Domestic?"

Celitia repeated, a strange expression crossing her face.

If someone had pointed at the Commander of the Holy Temple Knights back then and called him domestic, Celitia would have thought they had a mental problem.

But now, she simply pushed the two plates in front of Sophia calmly: "Choose one and try it."

Sophia's gaze fell on the plates. Feeling that the two sandwiches looked identical on the surface, she asked in confusion: "What's the difference between them?"

"Just choose one."

Celitia didn't answer, waiting for Sophia to take her pick.

"Then... I'll choose this one?"

Sophia hesitantly selected the plate on the left, glancing at Celitia's expression. Seeing no issue, she confidently took a large bite of the bread.

When she got to the fried egg layer, Sophia chewed, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Sweet? Sweet??

What regional cooking style was this? Why would a fried egg be purely sweet??

From Sophia's incredulous expression, Celitia could probably determine that her luck in choosing wasn't very good.

"Then eat this one instead."

Celitia took the plate from in front of Sophia and exchanged it with her own bread.

What's going on?!

Sophia's eyes darted frantically between the two plates before cautiously taking a small bite of the new bread.

With this bite, Sophia's face wrinkled like a dumpling.

So salty!

Like having a mouthful of salt!!

"The taste is still not right?" Celitia asked.

Sophia hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded miserably.

If it had been anyone else, she would have ordered them to make a new portion immediately.

But the person across from her was Celitia.

"Sigh..." Celitia sighed. "I'm sorry, I really messed up."