A few weeks have passed since Wilhelm gave me and Valerie-chan our "assignments" from Lawliela-sama.

And aside from us doing her work for he- I mean... helping her, and giving them back to Wilhelm to send to Lawliela-sama, nothing's been happening... Surprisingly.

Aria's been... suspiciously silent...

She's still glaring at me every chance she got, enough that I've gotten used to it. But other than that, she never did anything...

I was ready and waiting for her to try and frame me. I've developed an ice spell to create a super soft bed of snow to catch her if she tried framing me for pushing her off the stairs.

I've also practiced catching someone if she ever bumped into me and framed me for purposefully pushing her. Apparently, I've gotten really good at it thanks to the feedback the girls have been giving me. Fufu~ They're helped me a lot by becoming my practice partner. They're super enthusiastic too, for some reason. What good girls they are~

Other than that, I've also been asking Alexus, Lu-nii, Keith, Luke, and even Wilhelm if they've been approached by Aria.

After all, they're the capture targets of the otome game who Aria is targeting. And I need to know which route and which even she's currently on so I can prepare for them before the next one happens!

But... nothing really happened to them as well. Alexus avoided her like the plague, and when he was caught by her, he'd immediately made an excuse to go to the student council room for work.

Lu-nii smartly avoided going through any of the places where his event would happen thanks to the list Lily had given him. And even when he had no choice and saw the heroine waiting to ambush him, he'd stealth away and erase his presence.

Luke just run away the moment she tried to approach him. And with his speed, there's no way the frail Aria who never exercised in her life could keep up. Moreover, Luke's really fast. If he's second in terms of speed, then the only one who could claim to be the fastest is me~ So there's no way the heroine could catch him.

As for Keith... Well, it seems like he's been approached the most by the heroine. Unlike the other guys, he is the one who sucks the most at avoiding girls because he's overly polite and gentlemanly to them. It's weird to say that about Keith, the playboy of "Lovely Happenings", but it's the fact.

Even then, it seems like he always has an excuse to not go along with any of Aria's shenanigans.

Fumu. As expected of the heir of a ducal household. He's good at making excuses, just like the politicians in my previous life.

And lastly, Wilhelm... Honestly, I didn't expect much of him. I mean... he's always in his lab. The only time I've ever seen him out of it is when he comes to give Valerie-chan and I "assignments" from Lawliela-sama. Which is why, I've heard the least stories about his encounter with Aria from him.

The only encounter he ever had was when he returned after giving us the assignment from Lawliela-sama. He got ambushed by Aria, who was waiting on him near his lab. Since then, he's apparently been concealing his presence with magic whenever he goes anywhere.

Well, thanks to that, I've been leading a pretty peaceful life, so I'm really grateful.

I can finally be free from my headache... at least for now...

"The spring festival holiday is coming soon. But do not relax just yet! Remember, you will have your mid-semester exams in two weeks before you can enjoy your holiday! Keep your mind sharp and train your body for the upcoming exam! Live up to your status as a student of Lavinia Academy!"

""Yes!""

Hah... It's finally that time of the year, huh...? Seems like I'll still need to keep my guard up.

The mid-semester exam was no problem for me. After all, I've essentially learned everything twice or thrice by now, so I'm pretty sure I've got both the general academics and magic theories down.

The problem is after the exams... The spring festival holiday.

Since I was young, I've always loved the spring festival holiday. Because during it, I can go out and play with my besties in beautiful gardens and eat many spring-themed desserts. And when I opened Eden, the spring season has always been the busiest time of the year.

A lot of people, especially girls, wanted to experience "spring" in their lives too. So they bought a lot of our products to enhance their beauty and attract their crushes. Those who already have a partner or are married also bought a lot of stuff during this time because of the Spring Festival Holiday.

They want to look good, both for themselves and for their partners, when they visit the many festivals that would be happening during this holiday and celebrate another great year of harvest and prosperity in the kingdom. Although the government wasn't as involved in these festivals as, for example, the Kingdom's Founding Festival, it's still a super popular festival because there'll be a lot of great food, music, parties, and fun.

I've experienced it a few times when I finally finished a long day in Eden, and it was really fun. It was especially fun when I had to go incognito along with Lily and Lu-nii to visit the festivals in the city.

But this year's festival might give me a bunch of headaches instead... After all, there'll be a lot of events happening during this...

The Spring Festival holiday is the time when the Heroine would go on "dates", or as the game called it, "outing between friends but just the two of them" with the capture targets. She'll be invited to go around the festival incognito five different times in five days by all five capture targets.

It's essentially the event where the player, a.k.a the heroine, can choose whose route she'll go into by the end of the five days. And after she made a choice, the chosen capture target will go on a second date with her, solidifying their relationship.

After that, she will support the capture target she chose during the annual Lavigina Academy tournament, and that capture target will win the entire thing because of her "support".

Yeah... You can now see why this would be a bunch of headaches for me...

It's highly unlikely that any of the guys would go out of their way to invite the girl they've been avoiding on a date during the Spring Festival holiday, but the last thing I want to do is underestimate the "plot armor".

That's why I need to prepare a plan for this... Maybe I can just invite them first? I know the dates they'll be going to the "date" with the heroine. If I invited them first on that day, then they wouldn't be able to go with the heroine...

...

Wait... isn't this a good idea...?

A-Ahahahaha! Of course it's a great idea~!!! As expected of the great prince of the drama club! Not only am I suave, I'm also super smart~!!!

But wait... How can I have them go with me...?

Inviting Alexus and Lu-nii would be easy... But what about the others...?

I have no reason to invite them... In fact, it wouldn't make much sense for me to invite them to go to the festival because I'm engaged with Alexus. If I do, rumors about me cheating on him would spread, and I don't want that to happen.

Luke... might be easier. I can invite Noir and most likely, he'll come along. But the problem is Keith and Wilhelm...

I really have no reason for inviting them... How did the heroine invited them anyway...?

Hm... When she went with Alexus, he was the one who invited her. Lu-nii was also the one to invite her the next day.

Luke ran into her when she was being bothered by some men in the festival and saved her.

Keith... I think he's also the one who invited her to go with him. While Wilhelm... Ah, I think it's because he run into the heroine in the festival after ditching Valerie somewhere. He was brought against his will by Valerie because she wanted to get him out of his hobbit hole, but instead, he went with the heroine instead and left Valerie alone.

What a horrible guy... I'll punish him for hurting Valerie later.

Hm... Now, I don't think Keith would be inviting the heroine to the festival. He's been avoiding her like the plague, so... Don't think he'll accept even if Aria invited him.

As for Wilhelm... He won't be accepting Aria's invitation too. But I don't think Valerie-chan would also bring him out of his hole. So... It's going to be fine, right?

Mm... I think it's going to be fine...

Then... I can just invite the girls to go with me to the festival~!

"-sama... Risa-sama... Risa-sama!"

"Eh? Ah, yes?"

I snapped out of my daze and saw Evelyn, Illya, Noir, Valerie-chan, and Celine all staring at me worriedly.

"W-What's wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong..."

"Risa-chan, you've been in a daze for a while now! Were you thinking of something?"

Eh? Really? Have I been in a daze for that long?"

"Ah, it's nothing~ What were you talking about?"

"T-That's, uhm..."

Hm? Why is Illya getting nervous?

"Risa-sama, if you have the time, we would like to invite you to a group study session tomorrow~"

"Oh? That sounds like a nice idea~"

A study group session, huh~ What a high school-ish thing to do~

"That's great~ Isn't it great, Ellie~?"

"A-Ah! Yes! Thank you very much! Uhm... I-I can do general studies, but I-I'm still not that good in magic theory. S-So I'm truly grateful that I-I have been given this opportunity to study with everyone!"

Ellie bowed deeply with her face blushing red.

I see... Umu, Ellie excels in the general subjects, but magic is definitely not her forte. It couldn't be helped though. After all, she had just learned about magic when she awakened it, which was just a few years ago.

Just the fact that she could understand it enough that she got a scholarship to the royal academy was amazing enough. Unlike Aria who got in because of her ridiculously rare talent in magic, she got in through sheer hard work.

Ah, could it be? Did these girls purposefully set up a study group so that we can all teach her~ What good girls~

Fufufu~ I was quite confused at first since they're all super amazing and don't need anyone's help to score high in the exam. But it seems like they all do it for Ellie~

Umu umu~ What a beautiful friendship~

"Please don't mind it, Ellie. I'm happy to be able to help~ And I'm sure everyone is also happy to help you~"

"Mm! Don't worry, Ellie! Although I'm not as good with magic theory as Risa-chan, I've been thought by my mom for as long as I can remember! I can definitely help you~!"

"T-T-Thank you very much! A-Alterisa-sama! Valerie-sama!"

"Then, that's settled~ I shall reserve a room in the library for tomorrow afternoon~ We shall head there once class ends~ Will such an arrangement be fine for you, ladies~?"

""Yes~""

"Then, let us do our best together~!"







AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please vote and comment your thoughts~!