The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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There were those who said there was a difference between loneliness and solitude.

They claimed loneliness was bad and solitude was good, spouting off eloquent words about the need to be alone for a healthy life.

They truly don’t understand what it feels like to be genuinely isolated.

They don’t know the fear of disappearing one day, only to find that no one would come looking for me, nor the despair of a tomorrow that won’t be any different from today.

They can’t understand the heart of a wooden plank, floating day by day, waiting to be eroded by water, with no hope of an expected change for tomorrow.

So, I hate being alone.

So, being alone…

I hate it.

It’s been a day since I got angry at Dokan.

I had been intentionally avoiding him, not wanting to seem like an easy person, but honestly, I felt like my heart might crack.

The food was unappetizing, and I barely touched it, and the air smelled even worse than usual.

No, was the stink really in the air or was it in me?

After I made my resolution, I didn’t even look at him for several hours. But soon, I had to admit it.

I didn’t want to go back to being lonely.

It was all hypothetical, of course, but while I wasn’t looking, he could charm another girl.

Having done it once, it wasn’t impossible to do it again. As that thought crossed my mind, my anxiety was unbearable.

I found myself straining to hear if he was talking to someone from afar, watching closely where he went and who he met.

Feeling pathetic about my own behavior, it was barely an hour after deciding he wouldn’t care that I found myself trying to find Dokan.

Fortunately, he hadn’t spoken to any girls, but I didn’t want to see him talking to other boys either.

I knew that really, I was sick over it, but I still wished he wouldn’t pay attention to anyone else.

It was a bad thought, but I couldn’t help it. He was the only person I could call a friend.

Even if to Dokan, I was just one of many friends.

I wished he could just notice me.

…When I came to my senses, I realized the diary was filled with thoughts about Dokan. This hardly felt like a diary entry.

No, thinking about it, I had spent all day watching him. So I could call it a diary entry.

I just didn’t want to show such things to my mother. I wanted to write that I was doing well, as strong as I could.

“It’s a strange continent with odd air and bad veins, but I’m perfectly fine,” that sort of thing.

Right now, my mother was probably quite busy with national affairs, so I had plenty of time to rewrite everything.

On the first day, I had written as usual with ink, but the pencil felt much nicer.

So what should I write? If I took out the story about Dokan, really, I would have nothing left to write.

In an extreme summary, I could just say I attended class and ate food in one line. That wouldn’t do, so I thought I should write a story instead.

But I also didn’t want to write anything false. I could ask what was wrong in heat, but technically, that wouldn’t be a lie.

I was just hiding the truth.

However, this time I had to fabricate a completely fictional story. That wouldn’t do, my worn-down heart’s triangle told me.

Yeah. Let’s not write.

That was the conclusion I reached. I hadn’t written during the trip to the academy either, and since it didn’t seem to bother her much, I figured skipping a day might be okay.

If my father heard that his daughter was just chasing after a boy’s back, he would definitely be displeased.

As I brushed off the eraser dust and closed the diary, a sense of emptiness washed over me. It was the first time in a long while that I felt such a profound boredom.

This isn’t particularly an interesting academy life. That’s the thought that crossed my mind.

Though I brought it on myself, it was so boring to be so dull just because one person was missing.

I wouldn’t be able to last through two days, even though it was just until tomorrow.

After all, it wasn’t like I’d promised anyone else. Breaking a promise to myself wouldn’t matter.

Yeah. Right.

One day of punishment should be enough. After all, being near me would probably be more of a burden to him; that might actually be the real punishment.

I don’t know what that’s like, but if someone were angry at me and stayed close by, I would probably be more careful in my actions.

Since tomorrow would be the first weekend at the academy, I’d be right there, interfering with whatever he was doing.

There was no way he would turn his attention to another girl after going through such a hard time with me.

It seemed like a sound plan. It felt more like punishment to be the one doing the punishing than to be the one receiving punishment.

I shouldn’t need to ask the God for companionship, trembling in loneliness.

—

Through a full day of collecting information, I learned that in this world, there are also plants that make cats go crazy.

At the pet supplies store around the academy, they carried such plants. It wasn’t particularly important that the noble ladies favored that store, but it was crucial that I could gift it to her.

However, there was one nagging thought.

Was it okay to give her something bought at a pet supplies store?

It seemed quite insane to give a princess a pet item. But if I didn’t explicitly state where I got it, wouldn’t it be fine?

If asked, I could say I picked it up in the back mountains or something.

While contemplating how to soothe her with the bedcovers, I suddenly remembered the weekend plans I had made.

Going to the bakery with Exipri. Finding Anastasia at the gym where she was training. Visiting the church at the academy to get acquainted with Gloria.

Well, I couldn’t do any of that now.

I had to dedicate the entire weekend to Ho Yeon. Of course, she deserved it, but it was a bit disappointing.

Right now, it would have been a good time to get acquainted with Gloria, who was otherwise unrelated.

But compared to the safety of this continent, it would be less important. There wouldn’t be an issue doing it later, so I decided to focus entirely on lifting her spirits this weekend.

As soon as I stepped outside to look for something for her, I ran into Ho Yeon. Oh no, this wasn’t good.

I had been dodging her all day yesterday, so starting off today’s plan with her around had gone off the rails.

…

Her tail was wagging, but her mouth was saying nothing.

I silently hoped my assumptions were wrong, and as I tried to pass her by without a word, Ho Yeon naturally walked beside me.

…Was going to a pet supplies store really the right call? But I couldn’t think of any other way to lift her spirits.

If I asked what she liked, she probably wouldn’t answer either.

In the end, I had a bad feeling about it but had no choice but to press on.

She said nothing as we passed through the academy’s main gate and walked toward the pet supplies store I had only heard about.

Yet, oddly, her tail was swaying pleasantly, which was confusing.

Such movements appeared when one was happy or when called a friend, which made it all the more puzzling.

I wondered if her anger had already subsided, but her expression still seemed stiff, so I couldn’t tell what she was feeling.

Carrying my unease in my heart, when we reached our destination, I found it to be much larger than I expected. I had thought it would be a small shop in the corner of a building.

To find out it occupied the whole building was a surprise.

Ho Yeon seemed puzzled too, tilting her head.

“Casey’s pet… supplies store? A pet supplies store? Why have you come to a place like this?”

Unable to hold her curiosity any longer, she asked me a question after remaining silent up until now. I couldn’t be honest, so I made up a suitable excuse.

“I thought I might buy some food for a stray cat.”

Whatever she found objectionable in that statement, she frowned slightly and said to me.

“I didn’t expect you to have such a taste… That is not good. The wild should be left as it is to be beautiful.”

“Oh… Is that so? Then what if I were to raise it?”

“Your attitude of taking responsibility is commendable, but can a pet be kept in the dormitory?”

“Yes. It says in the rules that as long as the waste is disposed of on time, it’s not a problem.”

Though she was a girl and a cat beastman, I thought she would like cats, but it seemed she didn’t.

That didn’t mean I wouldn’t go, though. I wasn’t really thinking of having a cat, but it turned out well.

While buying what was needed to raise a cat, I could also pick up some catnip.

The item I intended to gift her was catnip.

Having seen a video of a tiger burying its nose in catnip on social media, I thought it would also delight Ho Yeon.

If it didn’t…

I would have to claim myself as a slave or something.

But that wouldn’t happen. Even in the original source, it mentioned that certain plants drive cat beastmen crazy, so I felt confident in that.

“Well, then, go ahead. If it’s to take in, I won’t say anything, but don’t make sure to throw it out again.”

Of course, I didn’t plan to keep it.

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

With a pleased smile on her face, we stepped into the pet store.

As rumored, lady-like figures were boasting about their pets to each other. I could hear some forbidden sounds like “Drake” and “young dragon,” but that was that.

Picking up sand, molds, deodorizers, and food, I wandered near the catnip display, waiting for her to get distracted.

After circling around for a while, whether it was boredom or sleepiness, while she was lost in thought, I discreetly picked up a bag of catnip.

“…Yes, I’ve bought everything I intended to buy.”

“……Huh? Ah… Have you already bought it all? Then let’s go.”

Watching her finally react after a long delay made it seem like she hadn’t noticed a thing.

Was she sleepy from following me around since the weekend morning? Well, that didn’t really matter.