Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 45

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

“If you leave here, don’t you dare come back to my house to clean again!”
“I have a spare key, so I can enter whenever I want. Seian, are you stupid or just incompetent?”
“Ugh!”
Seian threw a pathetic punch at me, which I easily dodged while sweeping up the photographs. I neatly organized the pictures of the handsome man and tucked them into my pocket, then asked only the questions I needed.
“What time is the appointment?”
“Tomorrow at 1 PM at Coffee House No. 1 within the Academic Department grounds.”
“Any club activities scheduled?”
“None today. Tomorrow I’ll be observing your blind date.”
“Understood.”
The Third Princess really does love having fun. Well, you should play while you’re a student—when else would you get the chance? Play as much as you can, you young people.
“Your Highness, the Third Princess. What about me? Didn’t anyone ask to meet me?”
“No one. Not a single person.”
“Why?!”
Perhaps you should reflect on your usual conduct. Your personality is peculiar, and your constant quarreling with me has become so notorious throughout the Academic Department that no one would be interested in you—except for that strange fanbase of yours. Logically speaking. In short, SS.
I told Sunbird to hang in there and hurried back to the Dormitory. Alright, my first blind date ever! I’ll wear my school uniform. But what about my hair? Should I put some shine in it for once?
I decided to splurge a bit for the blind date and stopped by the school shop to buy a new hair ribbon. It was shiny and had a nice color—the kind modern students seemed to like.

After returning from the club room, I left Reina behind as she lay in bed with a blanket over her head in a foul mood, washed up neatly, and hung out the summer uniform I would wear tomorrow.
This summer uniform has a sad history. Since summer only comes during June and September during the school year, it can only be worn for two months, but due to a mishap involving the Magic Department students, the summer uniform for the Magic Department could only exist in skirt form.
Basically, Academy students were free to customize their uniforms. Since there was a need for warmth in winter, students could lengthen skirts or wear pants as long as they didn’t deviate from the basic form and color, and the uniform room would alter them accordingly.
This school rule came about ten years ago, and that’s when the nightmare of the Magic Department’s summer uniform began. Female students complained about male students wearing pants in winter, and someone—who is now known as the Village Chief—made the insane argument that “there’s no reason why men can’t wear skirts in summer; they’re breathable, so everyone should wear them.”
The so-called Village Chief, who now leads Starlight Village, infamous as the Homeless Settlement, boldly shaved his leg hair and appeared in a snug miniskirt. Impressed by this, male students one after another started wearing skirts. And now, ten years later, it has become tradition—all male students in the Magic Department wear skirts.
Of course, this phenomenon only appeared in the Magic Department. The reason was obvious: the male students in the Academic Department and Combat Techniques Department had retained their sanity. Only those mage bastards would pull off something like this.
Anyway, during morning exercises the other day, the Village Chief proudly explained the origin of this tradition, and the other morning exercise members applauded with tears streaming down their faces.
That’s when I realized something. Then the Village Chief has been attending the Academy for over ten years, hasn’t he? When the Village Chief received this legitimate question, he cried while wearing black sunglasses. The other morning exercise members blamed me for making the Village Chief cry.
I was simply curious about why the Village Chief had been attending the Academy for ten years. There’s no reason to make it seem like I cursed him into tears. What a mess.
“Evan.”
Oh, Gerth—it’s been a while.
He was talking about how after the final exams, I could return home, and how he was looking forward to seeing the remodeled Tower. Gerth, using White One’s body, glanced around quickly and asked in succession.
“Why is Reina like that?”
This idiot Reina exchanged names with Gerth the other day but won’t even respond. Since our communication with Gerth seemed like it would continue, we had a formal introduction. As a result, Gerth welcomed Reina as my roommate, and Reina accepted Gerth as my hometown friend while burning with hostility.
No matter what, I couldn’t honestly introduce Gerth as the Serpent King, so I called him a friend. Why she showed such animosity remained a mystery to me.
“She’s upset because no one asked her out on a blind date.”
“What’s a blind date?”
“Well…”
I found words to explain, but the explanation seemed like it would be long, and the connection might cut off due to White One’s whims before I finished, so I went with the most accurate method.
“Hubert would know well.”
“I see. Then does your disheveled hair now have something to do with the blind date?”
“I suppose it does.”
“Hmm….”
After drying my hair and combing it through, I was deliberating on how to tie the ribbon, so there was indeed a deep connection.
Now that I thought about it, Reina Letem was buried under her blanket anyway, so the timing was perfect. I tried tying my hair in various ways with the newly purchased ribbon and showed Gerth, asking for his opinion.
“Which looks better?”
“Evan Laef. You look prettiest with your hair neatly tied in two braids.”
“But I want to try something different for a change.”
“Then that high ponytail from earlier looked beautiful.”
A high ponytail? When did that expression come into fashion?
But I didn’t let it show and tied my hair up high, attaching the decorative ribbon.
“How is it?”
“Hmm, after all, the two braids do look the most neat….”
“I’ll go with this.”
After that, I debated the ribbon’s color with him until the communication showed signs of cutting off, so I quickly said goodbye and received encouragement for the blind date. Just before the communication cut off, I noticed Gerth muttering “What’s that about a dog and something,” seemingly unable to grasp what it meant at all. Hubert would have his work cut out for him explaining it.

◇ ◆ ◇

The next day, I dressed myself up nicely and carried the pretty bag I’d extorted from Reina Letem. The professors said we should play hard since we could only do so in first year, so I decided to make the most of this free time.
The moment etiquette class ended, Reina Letem and I rushed to the Academic Department’s coffee house, where the Sunbird couple and Eugene had already claimed their seats and were ready to watch. But the handsome man I was supposed to meet was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is he? Besides Eugene, I don’t see anyone particularly handsome.”
“Hey, don’t say that in front of the Third Princess. You’ll start a fight.”
“Unlike you, I have tact.”
“I have it too.”
Yours is detachable. People who only equip tact when they need it aren’t considered tactful.
“He probably hasn’t arrived yet. I’ll go check on Eugene then.”
As I nodded, Reina Letem went to Eugene’s table and ordered a jumbo pasta. Was she just here to eat lunch?
Well….
Since the person in the photo was nowhere to be seen, I had no choice but to wait. This cute bastard, not even arriving ten minutes early, how much does he want to rely on his looks?
I pulled out the photo I’d received yesterday from my pocket and smiled contentedly. He really was handsome. The adults were right that everyone gets a boyfriend when they go to university. Was spring finally coming to my life?
“Lady Evan Laef?”
Yes! I am Lady Evan Laef!
So delighted, I turned around with a full smile, but instead of what I expected, a toad was standing there. Ugly. Truly ugly. His parents probably didn’t want to give birth to him like that either. If he had money, he could at least manage his appearance. Suppurative acne is a treatable skin condition.
“The reason I called you here….”
“I came to meet this man today.”
When I showed him the photo, the Emperor’s twelfth cousin let out a derisive snort.
“My story would be far more worthwhile.”
“I came to meet a handsome man. You are not handsome.”
“Don’t discriminate against people based on appearance!”
“On a first meeting, appearance is the only metric by which to judge someone.”
“I am the Imperial Grandson!”
“A twelfth cousin is just a stranger.”
“Ugh!”
So he really is the Imperial Grandson. The way he gets angry reminds me of Seian.
The Imperial Grandson’s face flushed as though he might overturn the entire table, but he soon composed himself and placed his bag on the table.
“Stay away from Seian.”
“When is the handsome man coming?”
“Can you still say the same thing after seeing this amount?”
As the man proudly opened his attaché case, it was filled with bundles of hundred-thousand Crown notes—the highest denomination currency in the Crowell Empire. I understood what the Imperial Grandson wanted to propose to me. However, I decided to mimic Reina’s behavior, which possessed a detachable sense of obliviousness.
“When is the handsome man coming out?”
“Hey! Don’t you see this money, money?! It’s a billion! I’m saying I’ll give you this if you don’t pay attention to Seian?!”
“What a ridiculous proposition. The privilege of seeing Seian’s face every day holds far greater value than a billion.”
“Are you insane, woman! Do you really like handsome men that much?!”
“I do!”
Why would that be surprising? Handsome people, beautiful people, cool people, cute people—without discrimination across all ages, genders, and eras, everything beautiful is righteous!
As I expounded on this at length, my twelfth cousin’s complexion turned sickly, and he trembled as he closed the money bag.
“You’re saying handsome is better than money?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then… if I were more handsome than Seian, you would have listened to me without the money?”
“Of course.”
At my resolute answer, my twelfth cousin made a face like rotting dog meat and tried to leave with his attaché case.
“Wait. So when is the handsome man in the photograph coming?”
“He has a girlfriend! Keep waiting forever, you ugly woman!”
“I am objectively not ugly!”
“I don’t care, you idiot!”
Perhaps because he resembled Seian so much, the more I looked at him, the cuter he became. But the fact that the handsome man in the photograph wasn’t coming left me with an inexplicable sense of emptiness. Well, it made sense—a man this handsome and tall couldn’t possibly be without a girlfriend. In the end, I had simply been played by that toad and wasted my time.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————