The Lady is a Stalker

Chapter Eight

Waiting in the dining hall by yourself for the hungry young soldiers is quite stressful, to say the least. There's something about waiting in silence and the delicious aroma emitting from the freshly prepared meals; it was difficult to control yourself from gobbling everything up.

I wonder if Prince Layven would show up. And if he did, would he insult me and doubt whether I've poisoned his meals? Like what happened a few days before.

Before my mind escapes into another world, heavy footsteps from soldiers can be heard from miles away; it sounded as though bombs were attacking the training campsite.

Man, I'm so hungry!"

"I can't wait to finally have a good meal, after a long day of training!"

"Yeah, especially after today! His Highness' training seemed more intense than usual - I thought I was going to pass out."

"So did I. And did you see the way His Excellency was swaying the sword? I could see the air being slashed by how powerful and agile the sword was going!"

"Even Sir Kotaro and Sir Sato looked tired."

"Ahem. Did you say something Misumi hmm?"

"N-nothing, Sir Sato...! I was praising how awesome you looked when you struck down the dummy."

"That's what I thought."

"I mean Misumi was right though, Sato. You look awful."

"Ko shut up, or I'm going to break your heart."

"Stop referencing your song, Sato. Every time we work with the dummies; you sing that creepy song."

"It's not creepy; it motivates our students. Plus, they like it, don't you?"

"Y-yes, we do, Sir!"

"See."

"They agree with you because you scare them."

"You're just jealous cause I'm more popular."

One by one the soldiers came flooding the dining room; their faces were somewhat grimmer than usual except for Sir Rowan who looked completely fine and seated in front of me giving me a small smile in the process.

I wonder what happened. I heard that Prince Layven's training was more 'intense' than usual? He has been acting weird ever since this morning.

"There's a rumour going around that Lady Serabi has poisoned His Grace, which explains the strange behaviour.'"

Ahem. I am right here, you idiot.

"Shhh! His Highness is here!"

Surprisingly enough, there sat Prince Layven at the head of the table; he looked more annoyed than unusual (if that is even possible). Briefly, our eyes met; they were cold and filled with anger, I quickly broke eye contact, but that didn't help since I can still feel his burning glare on me.

Trying to distract myself from the Prince's eyes, I decided to focus on the soldier's reaction to my freshly prepared meals. Luckily for me, the soldiers seemed to have more trust in my ability as a chef, however, the need to check whether I poisoned the food still seems to linger on their minds. While one soldier is performing a sniff test, another is testing the soup through tiny amounts and another is eyeing the food? Maybe to see whether the foods' appearance would change? As my eyes wandered around the dinner table, amused by all sorts of examinations the soldiers would come up with, my eyes finally landed on Sir Rowan.

He ate the food without hesitation much like the time last time when I had prepared dinner. Accidently, making eye contact with Sir Rowan; it wasn't filled with hatred, rather it gave me a feeling of kindness as a small smile formed on his face, which I gladly returned. Moving on, there was only one person left and he was Prince Layven. Surprisingly, Prince Layven was... Eating?