The Courage of Love (1)

Royal Academy. It was lunchtime several days later, and most of the students had come to the academy dining hall—indeed, almost all of them.

At Royal Academy, no one made a special case of themselves by bringing some extravagantly luxurious lunch. Naturally, it was because such special treatment would damage their image and make others resent them.

At the same time, it was something the academy prohibited. Otherwise, if every student did it, what kind of spectacle would this place become?

Of course, things like packed lunches were permitted as long as they did not affect anyone else. But in this environment, few people brought them, since doing so would make them lose face.

Generally, there were three kinds of people who brought packed lunches. The first did so to save time, and there were quite a few of those. The second could not get used to the food here, though they were very few. The third were exceedingly rare: those who wanted to save money. That sort was common elsewhere, but almost nonexistent here.

At this Royal Academy, filled entirely with high-ranking nobles, few understood the value of saving money. Prodigal Sons, on the other hand, could be found everywhere—for instance, a certain person in their midst.

As a young lady of the Ye Clan, Ye Lanyu naturally had no need to save money, nor would she do anything out of the ordinary. She always ate lunch in the academy dining hall, usually with two people. One was someone she liked, while the other was someone she disliked.

Those two were Ye Lang and the Seventh Princess. As for whom she liked and whom she disliked, that went without saying.

Yet for quite some time now, one of them had stopped eating with her. If that person had been the Seventh Princess, she would have celebrated with both hands raised. Unfortunately, it was Ye Lang, her most treasured younger brother. He had not eaten lunch with her lately, and that made her very unhappy.

"Ye Lanyu, where is Ye Lang? Is he not eating with us again today?" As the Seventh Princess entered the dining hall, she once again found Ye Lanyu alone, without a trace of Ye Lang.

At a time like this, if Ye Lang did not show up, it meant that he would not be appearing again today.

"Yes. No matter how I call him now, he refuses to come. He insists on eating the food that woman makes. You call yourself his wife, yet you're completely useless—you can't even keep hold of your own husband." After sighing, Ye Lanyu immediately launched her habitual attack on the Seventh Princess.

Though these two met often and came to understand each other better and better—so well that they now understood one another better than themselves—their identities as sworn enemies had never changed. The moment they met, they would argue and bicker. If one said something was right, the other would say it was wrong. Even if it truly was right, she would still raise a different opinion.

Of course, there were times when they agreed, and that was whenever the matter concerned Ye Lang. The reason they were often together was Ye Lang as well.

"I'm only his fiancée for now. How could I possibly control him? Right now, he's under the care of you, his elder sister. You're the truly useless one..." The Seventh Princess countered without the slightest politeness. Neither of them had any reservations around the other, and they often used the engagement between Ye Lang and the Seventh Princess as ammunition.

Over all these years, the Seventh Princess seemed never to have refuted it, as though she had tacitly accepted their relationship. Ye Lang, on the other hand, occasionally raised objections—though only occasionally, and very rarely.

"You should be thankful that he's with her. If it were another woman, your position as his fiancée might not be secure. Though I find you irritating, I don't object to you two being together in the future." Ye Lanyu said this with great reluctance. She was unwilling for her younger brother to marry the woman she argued with every day.

But she understood the Seventh Princess very well. She knew the princess genuinely cared about her younger brother, that the concern came from the bottom of her heart and was real. As long as someone treated him well, no matter how much Ye Lanyu disliked her, she would not object.

Of course, not objecting did not mean approving. Ye Lanyu also knew that the Seventh Princess did not feel love for Ye Lang, but a special, complicated emotion—something impossible to explain clearly.

Though she and Ye Lang were often together and had always been close, no sparks had ever flown between them. Both sets of parents were troubled by this, but there was nothing they could do. Such matters could not be forced.

"Hmph. Even if it were another woman, she still couldn't make my position insecure. Even if she were better than me, she still couldn't!" the Seventh Princess huffed. No one knew whether those words were spoken in anger or in earnest.

Soon afterward, she immediately changed the subject, giving no one a chance to pursue the matter further.

"Ye Lanyu, why do you think he likes being with her? Is it just for the food?"

"What else could it be? With her qualities, what besides food could possibly attract my brother? My brother doesn't have such terrible taste."

"Not necessarily. He has always liked strange and unusual things. Perhaps he..." The Seventh Princess raised an objection. Ye Lang's preferences were peculiar, and his standards were strange. Sometimes, things everyone else considered good meant nothing to him, while things considered bad instead won his approval.

That was why she suspected that perhaps his unusual taste had made him like the girl they were talking about. Of course, it was only a suspicion—one that everyone thought impossible.

"Pah, pah, pah! Wuji's words! If he likes her, I'll lock him up at once!" Ye Lanyu immediately objected, her tone utterly resolute.

"Hehe, I was only joking. Why are you so nervous? Do you really think that's possible?"

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!!" Ye Lanyu shook her head, then continued eating her lunch.

What kind of girl could make the two of them think it was impossible—impossible even by the tiniest margin? Naturally, it was the girl currently with Ye Lang. Though her appearance was somewhat... well, she truly was a youthful maiden of eighteen.

Of course, she was not a beautiful girl!

Inside the Alchemy Academy, in the classroom of Ye Lang's class, a scene was playing out—one that had appeared every day lately.

"Ye Lang, you stole my lunchbox again! Give it back!!" A voice rang out, seemingly angry, yet strangely filled with even more helplessness and resignation.

The owner of that voice was a large-built girl—Zhen Xiaoyan, the girl from their class. She was also the girl Ye Lanyu and the Seventh Princess considered absolutely impossible.

For quite a long time now, Ye Lang had eaten lunch with her. The reason was exactly as Ye Lanyu had said: for the food.

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