My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 131

The midterms ended up being less of a big deal than I thought.

Spending a whole week taking tests, it really was no big deal, and I had done alright on the exams overall.

After solving everything in about 10 or 20 minutes, I felt confident enough to take a nap after double-checking my answers a few times.

I took about 9 or 10 tests in fields like Mana Studies, Literature, and History, and the more I took, the more I found myself just going through the motions.

I had study buddies around, but I figured it was better to let them focus rather than distract them with unnecessary chatter.

After all, if I bugged them, I might unintentionally annoy them.

“Hehe! We’re done with the tests!”

“Right? It’s the first test of the first year, but there were more than I expected!”

“But that’s all over now!”

Well, as Ella said, it was all in the past.

Now that the first midterms for our first year were done, all that was left for us was to relax and have fun.

“Ella, did you do well on the tests?”

“Of course! Did you really think I’d fail?”

“Well, no.”

I wasn’t particularly worried about Ella or Nordal.

Worrying about them was a given…

“Hm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Should we head to the club room?”

“Sounds good! I’d like to just chill there for a bit.”

I glanced over at Grace but decided against disturbing her.

We’d probably run into her in the club room soon anyway, and during the exam period, I had intentionally avoided talking to Grace as much as possible.

Anyway, on the morning after the midterms had completely concluded, we headed straight to the club room.

It was a bit too early for lunch, and if we waited in the club room… other members would surely show up.

*

In the club room, I chatted with Ella about the exams and checked a few wrong answers as we spent about 5 or 10 minutes.

Rize also came to the club room, prepared some refreshing drinks and snacks for us after our tests… and we just hung out like that.

“Hi, everyone…!”

“Oh, sister! You came? What would you like to drink?”

“Uh, sure…?”

While we were there, Karen entered the club room.

To be honest, I hadn’t seen Karen much during the exam period, so it felt like it had been a while since I last met her.

Though to be fair, she didn’t seem all that different.

She was still her usual quiet and slightly gloomy self.

Just as always… with a look that could make her super popular if she dressed up a little brighter.

“Did you do well on the tests, sister?”

“I think I did well…! Way better than in my second year!”

“Well, that’s a relief. But honestly, I couldn’t help you much since the test scope was so different from the first-year members…”

“It’s fine…! Besides, you helped Grace a lot, didn’t you…? If you had helped me, it would have probably affected Camelia’s exams…”

I often thought how kind she was.

It was something I felt while spending time with Karen for a long time; her unique personality was always nice.

Sometimes it felt like she gave in too much to others, though?

“By the way, where’s Grace?”

“Um… I’m not quite sure. I came right after the exam too…”

“Uh…”

This was unexpected.

I had assumed that Grace would come to the club room with Karen, and was pretty convinced she would.

But apparently, that assumption was totally off.

“Uh, well, she’ll probably show up soon, right?”

If it were Grace, I figured she would make her way to the club room sooner or later.

Of course, my prediction about her coming with Karen was a major fail.

“Phew… It feels amazing that the exams are over…”

Karen, comfortably seated, leaned back and closed her eyes, just resting.

After all, studying constantly during the exam period must have been pretty tiring, so I understood.

In fact, Ella and I were comfortably lying on soft beds.

“Totally! It feels wonderful.”

The exams were done, and since our academy finished earlier than usual, we were just lounging around in our rooms.

Doing absolutely nothing, just sitting and lying back, relaxing.

During the exam period, we had spent every day focused in the club room, but now we were genuinely taking it easy.

Lying on the bed felt simply delightful.

-Click…

“Hey, everyone.”

As Karen was comfortably resting, the club room door opened again, and this time, Nordal walked in.

I thought it would be Grace, but Nordal came in first, which was a little surprising; then again, it wasn’t odd for Nordal to show up anytime.

“Lady Nordal, did you do well on the exams?”

“Yes, I did well.”

“That’s good to hear. I heard the Mana Studies exam was pretty tough.”

“I studied mainly for Mana Studies this time, so it wasn’t too hard for me.”

“That’s great then.”

I didn’t really need to worry about Nordal.

I already had a decent idea about him, and during my studies, I had learned quite well what his level was.

“Karen, did you hear where Grace went after the exams?”

“Um… I haven’t heard anything… Maybe she went back to the dormitory? She looked pretty tired lately…”

“That could be it. After all, we had quite a few exams this week…”

So maybe she was stressed and needed some time off.

Hmm…

Is she really not coming?

Grace had studied pretty hard for the exams and was very focused…

“Hmm…”

I worried she might be crying over having messed up the exams or something like that.

Considering Grace’s personality, I thought her reaction would be just that if she did poorly.

I had quietly eyed her during the exams, secretly watching her struggle with the test questions.

“Hmm… Is she just not coming today…?”

It was Friday, so if she didn’t come today, we wouldn’t get to see her over the weekend either.

That made me even more interested in how Grace did on the exams.

“Should we go have lunch? We all came straight here after the exams anyway.”

I figured we had waited long enough by now.

We all arrived at the club room after finishing our tests, and we were just snacking on some light snacks and drinks.

It felt like a good time to head out for lunch.

Surely there must’ve been reasons for Grace’s absence.

“Let’s go eat something delicious, and after that… we can decide what to do next?”

“That sounds nice! I’ve been so bored because of exams, I’m in!”

“Uh, should we…?”

“Definitely.”

Well, seeing everyone so positive made it seem like they were all hungry too.

The exams had wrapped up around 11…?

It probably ended around that time, so now it was really starting to get to the hour when everyone would be feeling hungry and likely low on energy from all that studying.

So as I gathered my things up, I prepared to leave the club room.

“Rize, did you pack everything?”

“Yes, Young Lady. I have everything ready.”

“Then let’s head out?”

As I said that, I attempted to slowly rise from my bed.

And just as I stood up, the club room door suddenly swung open.

“…Grace? Why did you come in now?”

“Uh… I had some things to do.”

“Uh, right…?”

I had thought she wouldn’t show up.

I had waited for about half an hour, expecting her not to come in at all, but contrary to that anticipation, Grace walked into the room.

I was confused about why she had only just come after the exams.

Karen had come straight here after she finished, so it didn’t seem likely to be related to her…

“Uh… why are you so late?”

I was quite surprised since our timings for opening the door had coincided, but I had to ask.

What could have possibly made her show up this late?

“…Hey.”

“Yes?”

Grace suddenly called out to me with her eyes fixed on me, making Karen turn her head too.

What was that?

I didn’t expect to be called out instead of just being answered.

“What is it?”

“…Take this.”

“Uh… Is that candy?”

“Yeah. Don’t like it?”

There was suddenly a bag full of cherry-flavored candies thrust in my direction.

Why is she giving me this?

“…Why are you giving this to me?”

I accepted the candy bag with my hands, but I didn’t really get why she handed it to me.

Not just anyone, but Grace specifically?

Could it be that this was why she hadn’t rushed to the club room?

“…Don’t like it? If you don’t want it, just don’t take it.”

“No, that’s not it. It’s just… I was quite surprised that you suddenly gave me something like this.”

I really didn’t expect her to just give me something like this.

I guessed the other members were probably surprised too.

“…You helped me study for the midterms, remember?”

“Ah…”

“Just take it!” You don’t want it? Huh?”

“No! That’s not it. I’ll enjoy it.”

“Good, just take it like that.”

“Uh… thanks. I really didn’t see this coming…”

I had done quite a lot to help Grace, but I hadn’t expected to be given a gift like this.

Just a few days before the exams… hmm.

How should I describe it? It felt like that cat I always looked out for suddenly came up to me first.

“…What are you looking at?”

Of course, Grace didn’t seem to have changed that much from her usual self.