159 Meeting Klaus

"Well, that should do it~," Thea said with a pleased tone. Looking at the bracelets and chokers she had crafted during the past few hours, Thea nodded in satisfaction before looking up at the lake, hoping to enjoy the sunrise that was currently taking place.

"Ahem!" a young masculine voice sounded from beside her.

"Yeah?" Thea casually asked without looking away from the lake, already having noticed the presence of the person sitting at the other end of the bench long ago.

"... Good morning, my name is Klaus Goldheart. Could I get the maiden's name?" The young man asked.

"Klaus, where have I heard that name before… Ahh, so you are the prince who placed second place. If I remember correctly, your father came to visit the academy as well, in disguise though," Thea exclaimed before turning to face the youth next to her.

Sitting next to her was a young man with clear, unblemished skin, blue eyes, and long blond hair tied into a ponytail, not making him any less masculine. Although he wasn't muscular in the way John was, you could still notice the toned body under the prince's current clothes.

"Well then, nice to finally meet you, Klaus. My name is Althea Ewald, and since we are going to be fellow students, as long as we're in the academy, I'll be addressing you casually," Thea replied with a smile, staring curiously at the prince, eagerly awaiting his response to her casual reply.

The prince had already enjoyed the sight of Thea's face for almost a whole hour, but now that Thea was smiling at him, he was stunned, and just as he recollected himself, he was stunned once again by the contents of everything Thea had said.

Not only had she revealed that she was aware of the king's attendance, but she also made no effort in speaking with elegance, despite her noble status. Normally, the person of higher status had to give permission to a person of lower status for them to address them in any other way, but now Thea had just taken the liberty to call the prince by his first name, without any honorifics!

"I-I see… It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Althea," Prince Klaus answered awkwardly, unsure of how to go about this unusual situation.

"Just Althea's fine," Thea said, happy with the prince's attitude.

"So… Althea, if you don't mind me asking, but I noticed you staring at those pieces of jewelry for a long time… Would you like to use one of my inspect stones on them?" The prince asked, while offering an inspect stone to Thea.

"No need, I plan on gifting these to my girls," Thea answered before putting the trinkets into her inventory, receiving a confused look from the prince. "Why are you here though?" Thea asked, looking at the prince before returning her attention to the beautiful scenery in front of her.

"My dorm house is close by, and I heard about this spot from my father, from when he went to the academy. I thought it would have been a good idea to watch the sunrise from here," the prince answered, unknowingly oozing an aura of elegance.

"I guess that's true," Thea agreed, watching the sunrise for a little longer. "Well, I've got to cook some breakfast for the girls, so see ya!~" Thea said as she got up from the bench and walked away before using her [Rift Magic] to leave the area altogether.

The prince continued to sit on the bench, looking at the scene in front of him in a daze. It was not until 10 minutes later that he heard an attendant calling out to him, that he remembered who he was.

"Hahaha! I understand now why father said she was interesting," the prince said, revealing that he had known who Thea was all along.

Back at the manor, Thea made some breakfast onigiri, making meat and vegetable-filled options. Just as Thea finished making the last piece, Mel walked into the kitchen, only slightly surprised to find Thea there.

"When did you wake up? I didn't even notice you leaving the bed," Mel asked as she helped Thea bring all the onigiri to the table before she started to set the table.

"A while ago, are the others awake?" Thea asked. 'I never specificized a day, so I'm not lying~,' Thea thought to herself with a victorious grin on her face.

"Everyone is awake and getting dressed, though Nala seems to still be very tired..." Mel said, side-eyeing Thea.

"Perfect, guess we just need to wait for them to come down," Thea said happily, ignoring Mel's stare.