“So that’s how it is, Chloe can already use the magic and mana manipulation techniques you taught us earlier,” Charles said.

  “Well at least that’s what I can conclude, because I didn’t see the fight either, fortunately the attack she used wasn’t fatal,” I said.

  “That’s right,” Charles said.

  “The supervisor said they decided to use two arenas at once to save time, but the effect of having a match in two arenas at once is that the audience’s focus is divided, they would definitely prefer to watch a match that’s interesting and exciting for them. Princess Irene competed after Chloe’s turn and the two of them immediately competed next to each other in their respective arenas. The effect of Princess Irene advancing to compete was that the audience shifted their focus to Princess Irene rather than Chloe. Chloe is shy around strangers and it seems like she doesn’t like being the center of attention either, with the audience turning to watch Princess Irene it could be an advantage for Chloe because she’s no longer the center of attention. Whether this is a coincidence or the order of the matches has been arranged,” I thought.

  “Huh,” I said.

  “What’s wrong Rid?,” Charles asked.

  "Nothing," I said

  I felt like I was being watched by someone, then I looked around the arena to find out.

  "Princess Irene is still below and she is looking the other way so she is not the one watching me. I also did not find anyone watching me in this arena, judging from her thin presence it seems she is watching me from another room, who knows who it is I have to be careful," I said.

  -

  Princess Irene who was previously walking to leave the arena, suddenly stopped because she was curious about what happened in Chloe's arena.

  "Princess Chloe..... looks like she also won huh," Irene thought while looking at Chloe.

  Chloe who became nervous because of the cheers and applause looked around then she looked at Princess Irene too.

  "Irene.... You are indeed strong and not even injured in this test, but you are not the only princess who passed this test," Chloe thought while smiling looking at Irene.

  Their eyes met, then Princess Irene turned her face away and continued to leave the arena. Chloe who saw Princess Irene starting to leave immediately ran to her.

  "Wait, Irene," Chloe said.

  Princess Irene who was called by Chloe immediately stopped.

  "What's wrong, Princess Chloe? Do you want to talk about 'Matchmaking-Battle' again? If you want to talk about that, then I'll excuse myself," said Princess Irene who tried to leave again.

  "No, wait Irene, I won't talk about that," Chloe said.

  Princess Irene stopped again.

  "Then, what's wrong?," said Princess Irene.

  "Well, I want to apologize for what I said after the second exam that touched on the subject of matchmaking," said Chloe.

  "About that, I don't have a problem with it. I should be the one apologizing because maybe my words were a bit rude," said Princess Irene.

  "I don't have a problem with it either, because it started with what I said," said Chloe.

  "Okay, then I'll excuse myself," said Princess Irene who tried to leave.

  "Wait Irene, I'm not finished yet," said Chloe holding her back.

  "What else is there, Princess Chloe?" asked Princess Irene.

  "Um, since we both passed the third exam and most likely passed to enter the Academy, how about we start being friends, Irene? I once offered you to be my friend, right?" said Chloe.

  "Friends, huh?" said Princess Irene.

  "Yes, friends, we can do many things together while at the academy until we graduate. Not only at the academy, after graduating we can do things together. How about it, do you want to?" said Chloe.

  "Sorry, Princess Chloe, but my answer is still the same. I can't," said Princess Irene.

  "Wh-why, is your reason still the same?" said Chloe in surprise.

  "Yes, I don't want to have friends," said Princess Irene.

  "Why are you like that?" asked Chloe.

  "........Princess Chloe, you know that we as the daughters of a high-ranking noble will definitely be the center of attention and many people will want to get to know us," said Princess Irene.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Chloe said.

  “Can you tell the nature of the people who approach you? Are they nice? Or are they mean?,” Princess Irene asked.

  “I don’t know their nature, besides I usually prefer to avoid them because I get nervous talking to strangers, so usually my sister goes instead of me to chat with them,” Chloe said.

  “Well, you’re a shy person anyway. Then let me tell you a little bit of my story,” Princess Irene said.

  “When I was little, my father often held banquets at Snow Palace and my father invited nobles in the San Lucia area. It was a tradition for nobles to bring their sons and daughters to banquets to introduce their sons and daughters to other nobles and hope that their sons and daughters could make friends with the sons and daughters of other nobles. When I was introduced as the daughter of a Duke, many of the nobles approached me and asked me to get to know them, and they also told their children to get to know me,” said Princess Irene.

  ”......,” Chloe just listened silently.

  ”Because of that introduction, I became close to their children. Every banquet my father held, I always looked forward to it because if there was a banquet, they would definitely come and play with me. When the banquet started, when the adult nobles chatted with each other. We also chatted about something, joked around and played tag. Isn’t doing all that the same as having fun with friends?” asked Princess Irene.

  ”......,” Chloe didn’t answer and just listened.

  ”Until one day, I realized the reason they approached me. While gathering and playing at a banquet, suddenly one of my friends was called by his father to chat for a while. He immediately went to meet his father. We continued the game without him. After a while, he still hadn't returned. I was a little worried and finally decided to go find my friend. I went to the banquet hall but didn't find him, I searched around Snow Palace until I found him in the yard. I intended to call him, but before I could call him, I heard their conversation," said Princess Irene.

  "'How about it, son, are you close to the Duke's daughter? You have to stay close to her or if necessary you have to win her heart too. Duke Louis does not discriminate people based on caste, if you can win her heart, you can be her partner later and our family can become part of the Duke of San Lucia family. Our family can become the highest ruler in San Lucia, if our family becomes the highest ruler in this area, you can get anything'," said the noble father, imitated by Princess Irene.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "'Okay, father. I will do all your orders. I also want to be able to get anything'," said the nobleman's son, imitated by Princess Irene.

  "'Good, that's my son'," said the nobleman, imitated by Princess Irene.

  “When I heard that, I was shocked. At that moment I thought that the nobleman was just using me for his family’s benefit. I immediately turned around and decided to go back to my other friends. I thought that at least I still had other friends who didn’t think the same way as him. When I arrived at the place where my friends were playing, they weren’t there. I started looking for them again. When I found one of them, I listened to the conversation I had heard earlier. It turned out that he was the same as the previous nobleman. I started looking for the others again, and everything I found was the same. They were talking to their parents and their conversations were all the same. They approached me and befriended me to take advantage of my status as a Duke’s daughter for their own family’s benefit. Since then, I never attended any banquets. My father asked me why I didn’t attend the banquets anymore. I explained my reasons to my father. Instead of getting angry, my father apologized for introducing me to those nobles and making me get used. My father understood my reasons and he allowed me to not attending any subsequent banquets anywhere. At first, whenever there was a banquet, I decided not to come, but over time I started to feel bad for my father. One day, when there was a banquet, I decided to come. Those who had previously chatted with me started to approach me again and asked why I never attended. But I ignored them and started to change my nature to give a cold impression to others. Not only at that banquet, but at the banquets I attended afterward, I was still cold. That is why until now I have been given the nickname "The Ice Princess," said Irene.

  "......Irene,"

  "Sorry Irene, I didn't know your past was like that, I once called you an unfriendly person because you always acted cold, even earlier I called you that because you avoided my brother. Even though I myself not very friendly with people because of my shyness towards strangers," said Chloe.

  "It's okay, Princess Chloe. But you are always friendly with people you know, right? That means you are friendly, your shyness towards strangers is good because you don't know anything about them, you can distance yourself from them first. You and I are clearly different, you are a good princess," said Princess Irene.

  "Aren't you the same, Irene? You even employ other races, rather than being slaves, you prefer to employ them as your assistants and your relationship is very close, right? And again, even in your own territory, you are recognized as a good princess because you never rule arbitrarily to your own people," said Chloe.

  “My father hired them. My father doesn’t like slavery, so he prefers to hire them. They always follow my orders because they are paid by my father, not because we are close. And for the people of San Lucia who say that I am a good princess, I don’t know why. I only follow my father’s orders so that I don’t act arbitrarily towards my own people,” said Princess Irene.

  “I-is that so,” said Chloe

  “Besides, Princess Chloe, you and the prince must be careful when choosing friends so that you don’t end up like me. You could just be taken advantage of because of your status as prince and princess of the kingdom. You just got new friends, right? No matter if they are nobles or commoners, they always have ulterior motives when they approach you,” said Princess Irene while looking at Rid and the others.

  ”What do you mean Noa and Rid? They are not like the people you think, Noa and Rid are very kind. Noa was shy at first when talking to me and my brother. But slowly he was able to talk more casually. And for Rid, he even taught me a technique. If it weren't for him, I might have lost the previous match,” said Chloe.

  “You were taught a technique by him?,” said Princess Irene.

  ”Yes, this technique is like a trick technique that can trick the opponent,” said Chloe.

  ”Is that so,” said Princess Irene.

  Princess Irene was silent for a moment as if thinking, then she spoke again.

  “I'm not accusing them of being like that. Well, the point is you and the prince need to be careful,” said Princess Irene.

  ”Okay then,” said Chloe.

  ”I've been talking for too long, this is not like my usual self. Then, I'll excuse myself, Princess Chloe,” said Princess Irene who immediately turned around.

  ”Okay, Irene,” said Chloe.

  “........If I were in a normal situation, I would probably accept your friend request, Princess Chloe. You are a noble of a higher rank than me, there is no way you would offer me to be friends with a specific purpose like other nobles,” Princess Irene said while facing the other side.

  ”But....,”

  ”.....The situation I am in is very complicated. I have to participate in the 'Matchmaking Battle' with the Princess of Duke San Quentine after graduating from the academy. I am not interested in the match so I decided to withdraw by canceling my participation requirements. Even though I am not interested in participating, if I have not canceled my participation requirements and instead become close with the royal family, they will definitely suspect that I am still interested in participating because I am approaching the royal family to seek support from the royal family. For that reason, I will not accept your friend request. But...if I have successfully canceled my participation requirements, if Princess Chloe asks me to be her friend again, ...... Maybe I will accept it,” Princess Irene said.

  “Huh,” Chloe said in surprise.

  After saying that, Princess Irene immediately walked away from Chloe.

  “Wait, Irene,” Chloe said, trying to stop Princess Irene.

  But Princess Irene kept walking away from her.

  “So that’s it, you still intend to withdraw from the match. It seems like you’re not interested at all in being my brother's fiance,” Chloe said a little sadly.

  “But I was happy when you said that you would be willing to be my friend if I offered you another chance later,”.

  “Even so, after talking to me for so long, you still didn’t smile. I thought you would smile when you talked to me,” Chloe said.

  -

  "What do you think Chloe talked about with the ice princess?" Noa said while watching their conversation.

  "I don't know, maybe it's just a greeting between a princess. Are you curious about their conversation?" I asked.

  "Not really, it just seems interesting to see two princesses talking," Noa said.

  "Are Chloe and Princess Irene close friends, Charles?" I asked Charles.

  "I don't think we know each other well, like I said earlier. We only know Irene because we often see her at noble gatherings. Besides me, Chloe often asks her to chat but she always answers with a cold expression. I remember the first time Chloe tried to chat with her, Chloe was shy at that time," Charles said.

  "Well, Chloe is indeed shy around strangers, but why is the shy Chloe able to ask Princess Irene to chat?" I asked.

  "Maybe because Chloe felt like accompanying Irene who was always alone during the noble gathering or maybe Chloe felt that she and Irene were similar, I was also surprised when Chloe tried to talk to Irene first," said Charles.

  "But cold and shy natures are different. Where does feeling similar come from?," said Noa.

  "Hahaha I don't know," said Charles while laughing.

  "But during the gathering, did Chloe and Irene always have long conversations?" I asked Charles again.

  "No, usually their conversations are just greetings and even if they do, it's only short, I was also surprised when Chloe and Irene had a long conversation just now. You could say, I'm also curious about their conversation. I'll ask her later when I get back here," said Charles.

  "Is that so," I said

  -

  Back to the arena.

  "The calculation results are complete, participant Chloe Estella San Fulgen got 180 points on this third exam," said the supervisor Nora.

  "180 points huh, that's the same points as Noa's. Although it's not a perfect score but at least this point is still considered high," Chloe thought.

  "Congratulations, Princess Chloe,"

  "180 points is already quite high Princess Chloe, keep up the spirit," said another participant.

  "W-why are they still so excited even though the match is over?," Chloe thought nervously.

  "For participant Chloe, since you are injured, please come with our supervisor first to be healed, then you can come back to watch the remaining match exams," said supervisor Nora.

  "O-okay," said Chloe

  Chloe was finally taken by the supervisor to be healed.

  "Get well soon, Princess Chloe," said the other participants.

  -

  "Princess Chloe is really popular, she is cheered on by many participants," said Lily.

  "Yes, that's because Princess Chloe is beautiful, especially since she's a princess, it's natural that many people cheer her on. When Prince Charles appeared, many people also cheered for them. They are good princes and princesses, it's natural that many people support them, especially since the prince is a friendly person," said Leandra

  "If only Miss were like that," said Lily

  "I can't imagine Miss being a friendly person," said Leandra while imagining Princess Irene when she was friendly.

  "Are you talking about me?," said Princess Irene who suddenly came.

  She immediately rushed to her seat after chatting with Chloe.

  "N-nothing, Miss, right, Lea?," said Lily.

  "Y-yes, Miss," said Lea.

  "Okay then," said Princess Irene.

  "By the way, Miss. What did you talk about when you were with Princess Chloe earlier?," asked Leandra.

  "Princess Chloe just came to greet me and after that there was no important conversation," said Princess Irene

  "Is that so," said Leandra

  After that, Princess Irene seemed silent while thinking about something.

  "Rid Archie, it seems like Princess Chloe's impression of him is very good, especially since Princess Chloe said that she was taught a technique by Rid. If that's the case, it seems like it's okay to ask for his help later because I trust Princess Chloe's judgment of others. But, I have to wait until she passes this third test and successfully enters the Academy," thought Princess Irene while looking at Rid.

  -To be continued