"You seem to like me a lot, don't you?" The words slipped out of my mouth, but I was genuinely curious. I didn't understand why these "love interests" still seemed obsessed with me despite my cold manner towards them.

Then again, a fair share of noble ladies had chased me when I was Prince Vel no matter how many times I rebuffed them. But I had just assumed the promise of wealth and status was enough to overlook my personality.

"I do." He smiled at me. "You're very clever and interesting. And you were the only person who was honest with me about my poetry. It really is awful."

He knew? I regarded him with surprise.

"You see, although originally I wanted to improve my poetry, my objective changes when I'm with you." He looked down, blushing. "Sometimes I just want to make you smile."

Oh dear. "Is my smile so elusive?"

"Yes." His eyes went all dreamy as they sometimes did. His head must have ascended into the clouds again. "I still remember the first and only time I saw it. I was upset, and you comforted me while smiling."

That must have been after I made him cry. Wow, that made me seem a little sick.

"You patted my head."

I coughed. "Well…you were a bit cute."

His eyes widened and his face turned as pink as his hair.

At this point, we were never going to get any work done. 

I still hadn't gotten any clues about Marion's place in all this.

"Marion, what do you think of the royal family?" I asked abruptly.

Marion's shoulders drooped. "You're thinking about Prince Vel again, aren't you?"

I scrutinized him. Was jealousy enough of a motive to want to become king? 

"No, I'm not. But why does that matter to you?"

"I heard that Duke Cultivar and King Galath broke off the engagement between their children." The news had already circulated the academy? No wonder I hadn't seen Camellia all day. "I thought you and the prince might become engaged."

"Would you want to stop that from happening?"

His orange eyes took on a gloomy look, his head beginning to droop. "To tell you the truth, I'm a bit jealous. But…it is Prince Vel. He's amazing. It's hard to compete."

I was flattered. I had no idea Marion thought highly of me (my princely self, that is). Despite Marion’s dramatic side, it sounded like he didn't have the kind of intense and possessive feelings for "Lady Raine" that might cause him to try and take the throne. He didn't seem to have any aspirations or drive in general.

He was really quite pathetic. But, oddly enough, the side of him that floated along through life was far more charming to me than the helpful womanizer.

With this man, maybe it was best to be direct.

“Have you heard any rumors of a possible rebellion to overthrow the king?”

Marion turned pale. “A rebellion?” He seemed to ponder the idea, and started to gradually speak in a slow voice, “They’re just rumors, but I may have heard something at Lord Luce’s party.”

Luce held many parties at his family’s manor, which I of course had never attended, but I didn’t recall hearing about any recently. “When was this?”

“Yesterday.” His eyes suddenly filled with worry again. “But that was…during the time you were missing.”

If Luce was behind the kidnapping, he could have purposely had me kidnapped to prevent me from attending the party. But there was no way he would hold some kind of conspirator meeting in the midst of all that revelry…

If the leader of the rebellion were a reincarnator, they could have had me kidnapped because some kind of event was scheduled to happen at that party. Perhaps an event that would help the heroine prevent a rebellion.

That made this conversation all the more important. “What did you hear, Marion?”

“Well..” he fidgeted. “Some of the nobles were saying they had received invitations to clandestine meetings in the city. Some were too afraid to go, because these meetings were held in seedy places.”

That sounded like something Roy could concoct. Perhaps he was the mind behind all of this after all?

“They were also saying…” he drew a breath. Taking a couple furtive glances at the groups around us, he leaned in to whisper, “there is a plot to assassinate the king.”

It was too soon…Asa told me she didn’t know much about the rebellion in the second playthrough, except for that it occurred towards the end of the game. If this was a world based on Garden of Dreams, we had only just started to progress the story. 

“Who were these nobles, Marion?”

“Umm…I’m not sure. I don’t remember their names.” That made sense, since Marion didn’t even remember the names of women he carried around buildings. “But I think one was a woman with brown hair, and the other was a man with black hair and a mustache.” 

I sighed in exasperation. “Thank you Marion, that is very helpful.”

He beamed. “You’re welcome!”

I shook my head and turned to our worksheets. Even if sarcasm went right over his head, maybe math was something he could understand.