I was Reincarnated as the Youngest Child of a Villainous Noble Family Who Controls the Kingdom from Behind the Scenes
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The long holiday is over, and once I come down from the mountains, I am back to school life.

We're eating lunch on the rooftop, with our bento boxes that have gone from five layers to four. I said five layers were too much, so they reduced it by one, but it doesn't feel like much has changed.

"Alphiss ! Here's some rolled omelet!"

"I've been wondering, when did you even make this? Can you just freely use the girls' dorm kitchen like that?"

"At first, the dorm mother was really noisy about it, but after I let her taste it, she quieted down."

"So you won her over with your skills. That's more like it."

Lushiel is leaning her head against me, clearly in a good mood. That's fine, but having to deal with—no, eat—this every time is exhausting. It's already tough enough, but recently...

"Alphiss ! I made you a bento! Please let me eat with you!"

"Letitia, what's with the amount of food in that Kinkaku-ji-like box?"

"Kinkaku-ji?"

Yeah, this is Letitia. At first, it was just Lushiel , but now even Letitia is enthusiastically making bento for me. From a distance, the male students are sending me some seriously resentful looks, but this is just plain tough.

"Dammit!Alphiss is so popular!"

"What's this about equality? In the end, it's always the nobles who get all the attention."

"But she's ridiculously strong. Females are naturally drawn to strong males."

Some of them have come to some oddly profound realizations, and lunchtime is always chaotic. If they're so envious, I feel like inviting them to eat with us. Why do I have to eat two of these cultural heritage-level bentos? I think that, but I also feel bad about refusing.

"Here, Alphiss  ! Say 'ah'!"

"Letitia! That's against fan club regulations!"

"Huh? I read the rules thoroughly, and it only prohibits things like confessions, right?"

"Ah..."

Now that I think about it, they're both fan club members. Isn't this just sneaking ahead? I want to ask Esty about it, but she's probably not around here—oh, wait, she is. She's peeking out from behind the building with the staircase leading up to the rooftop, keeping an eye on us. Seriously, what a handful.

"Hey, Esty. Come over here and eat with us."

"Wha—wah!"

Esty got so startled that she spun around three times and fell over. How do you fall over when you're not even walking?

"N-no, I can't, as the president!"

"What's wrong with classmates eating together? If you really can't accept it, we can call the other members too."

"No, no, nooooo!"

Esty dashed away at full speed. I was hoping to share this cultural heritage-level bento with her, but she's so cold.

"Guess we'll just have to eat it quickly."

"You're eating quite luxuriously for a student."

"Here comes another weird one. You were following me again, weren't you?"

Lilysha shows up as usual, carrying a bento that looks like Ayers Rock. She used to always eat in the cafeteria, but lately, she's been bringing her own bento.

"I wasn't following you or anything. Don't get the wrong idea—I don't like you or anything. I was just a little curious."

"Normal people don't go on long-distance stalking missions just because they're 'a little curious.'"

"...By the way, how do you plan to eat all that bento? You're not going to waste it, are you? That would be shameful."

Lilysha casually takes a seat next to me and starts eyeing the extravagant bento with a hungry look. You're the one carrying a world heritage-level bento, and you still want to eat more?

"Miss Lilysha, if you eat that much bento, you'll upset your stomach."

"Oh, princess. Don't get the wrong idea. This was meant for Alphiss to eat. If he's not getting enough nutrition, I wouldn't be happy even if I won."

"Th-that's what they call a 'loving wife's bento,' isn't it?!"

"W-what?! Don't say such stupid things! This isn't some rehearsal for married life! I just made a little too much, that's all!"

You said it was meant for me to eat, didn't you? Both of them are turning red for some reason, so I'll just eat in the meantime.

"Ugh, I wanted to spend a blissful moment with Lady Alphius..."

"Stop muttering and just eat already."

The portions are huge, but the taste is good. I thought Letitia and Lilysha were just sheltered rich girls, but they're surprisingly skilled at cooking. The most unexpected one is Rouchelle—with her personality, I'd never have guessed she could cook. As I'm devouring the food, I overhear some students talking in the distance.

"Hey, did you hear? A top member of the Rubiton faction lost in a duel."

"After the Togari faction, seriously? The Rubiton faction's top members are all within the top 10 in our grade."

"The Togari faction got wiped out by that female boss, so what the hell is going on...?"

As I listen to their conversation, a male student comes running up to the rooftop, out of breath.

"Huff... huff... it's bad! The Scalarba faction got taken down!"

"What?! By who?!"

"By a first-year! It wasn't even a close match!"

"The Scalarba faction was gaining a lot of power after the Deniro faction disappeared... Who is this first-year?"

Oh boy, the school is as lively as ever. I hope they keep going at it and grow stronger. With the guard selection exam coming up, maybe some new factions will rise.

"Well, things seem pretty chaotic... Miss Lilysha, can't you do something about it?"

"As the student council, we allow duels as long as they're within school rules. More importantly, Letitia, don't you have any pride, asking me for help?"

"It's because it's you, Miss Lilysha."

"Huh? Oh, I see."

The atmosphere between them is getting weird. You two should just get along. For me, the more important thing is figuring out what to do during the next break. There aren't enough days to go into seclusion in the mountains, so training at the Barufonte family estate might be the best option.

"Alphiss , about the next break... I was thinking, maybe instead of the mountains, we could go somewhere else..."

"Somewhere else? Is there another place suitable for training?"

"That's not what I mean! Like, shopping in the capital, or..."

Lushiel is fidgeting while trying to invite me to go shopping. For her to suggest something like this, she must really want to escape the mountain seclusion. Or is it something else?

"Shopping?"

"WithAlphiss ?"

Whoa, everyone stops eating their bento at that. Lushiel , that wasn't the right thing to say in this situation. I can already predict how this is going to play out.

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