With the delicious food helping things along, the atmosphere around the dinner table gradually grew livelier.
Everyone chatted on and off as they ate, letting Greg hear quite a few interesting things.
For instance, more boys at the Academy had confessed to Victoria than to Sylvia.
He had assumed that, with Victoria's little menace of a personality, everyone would steer clear of her. He never expected her to be so popular.
Another piece of information that caught his attention concerned Vivian.
During the break, Vivian had actually sought Lilith out to ask her how to use magic power more efficiently.
That came as quite a surprise to Greg.
In the original story, Vivian had been so troubled by Lilith's far greater talent for magic that the sisters had gradually drifted apart, eventually becoming enemies.
But now, their relationship seemed to have undergone a fundamental change.
Melina later shared a few things about herself as well, but most of them went in one of Greg's ears and out the other.
He knew perfectly well that nine and a half out of every ten things that woman said were carefully fabricated. Rather than waste time separating truth from fiction, he might as well have a few more bites.
"Aren't you always saying I'm just a lowly commoner? Yet you like my cooking that much?"
Victoria bickered with Lilith while casually adding more rice to her bowl.
"Who asked you to serve me?" Lilith protested, though she made no move to refuse.
"..."
Taking advantage of their argument, Vivian expressionlessly reached out with her chopsticks and deftly picked up the last piece of braised pork on the plate.
Sylvia noticed, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. In the end, however, she said nothing and merely took a quiet sip of soup.