Chapter Twelve: Selina’s Plight

“Hungry, are we?” Selina sarcastically said as she placed her tray next to Henry’s on the table. It was Friday, and it was lunchtime. It was the only time their lunch schedules overlapped, and they were supposed to eat together like a normal couple. They agreed to wait for the other if one of them was late, but the king was already eating. With the Otxoas yet again. All of whom were ignoring her presence at the table. She felt insulted, but did not voice it out—not with so many people present. Not with the king as their audience.

It’s only been a week since she arrived at Aldervolf University. Approximately 10 days since she migrated to the Greater Volfenheim Empire and Selina was already starting to question her life choices. Her frustration was increasing by the second, and she was disappointed with Henry for a variety of reasons.

For one, Henry agreed with the dorm mother’s decision not to assign Selina another room or replace Jet as her roommate. Out of desperation, she tried everything she could to persuade him: she cried, kicked and screamed, she even tried to seduce him, but her efforts were all in vain. Tired of all the drama and antics, the monarch had withdrawn from meeting with her whenever he realized she would only complain about her living conditions. He ignored her texts and phone calls, completely neglecting her for days.

This, of course, did not sit well with the princess. Henry’s defiance to cater to her whims irritated her to no end. She refused to return to her dorm, even if it meant habitually arriving late for her morning classes. Selina was aware that it was influencing how other people perceived her as well as how poorly she performed academically, but it was a matter of pride for her.

Two, her father checked her credit card billing statement and discovered she was staying in a hotel; he had already inquired as to why she wasn’t living in the palace like a proper aristocrat, but Selina couldn’t tell him about her plight. Rozen Maiden knows what her father would do if he found out. He might throw a fit and demand an audience with the Empress and the King, asking why his daughter was being treated like a commoner, a problem the princess could not afford because it would sour the already strained relationship between houses. Worse, King Saul would order his daughter to return home, thwarting Selina’s plans. No, she wasn’t going to tell him. She just needed a better plan to persuade Henry.

Three, the worst of all, the thing that made her week feel like absolute hell... was the lack of plant-based food options in the cafeteria. It wasn’t this difficult during her brief stay in the palace; a five-star royal chef prepared her meals, and they always adhered to her strict diet. In the university, the only vegetable option was a sad-looking cabbage salad, and the taste was atrocious. She could tell the vinaigrette was acidic and cheap; the greens were limp and rubbery. She wasn’t even sure if they made it with cooking equipment that had never come into contact with any animal products. If she hadn’t been so hungry at the time they served it to her, she would have thrown it out. It’s a good thing a fellow plant-based eater nudged her in the right direction. They introduced her to a restaurant that caters specifically to people like them. It was close to her hotel and the university, and she’s been eating and ordering there ever since.

“Sorry,” Henry said sheepishly at the princess. “We’ve been practicing with the Blade and Buckler Team all morning. I was famished.”

“Aww,” Selina swallowed her displeasure and brushed the fringe from her boyfriend’s eyes, doing her best to appear affectionate. “It’s fine. There will always be another time.”

The king studied her face for any signs of deception before smiling and digging back into his meal. The princess was convinced the monarch was not lying when he said he was hungry because of the way he scarfed down his food.

“Henry, slow down. You’ll get indigestion,” she reminded him. She looked down at his plate and gaped in disgust. “Oh my gods, Henry, why are you eating a rotting corpse?”

Everyone around them stopped eating, and it was as if the entire cafeteria stood still. Students, faculty, and the lunch ladies were looking at them, making Henry and Selina uncomfortable. The princess mentally blamed Henry for her outburst. She’d never seen him eat meat before. Although she knew he wasn’t plant-based like she was, it shocked Selina to see the slab of meat he was eating. It was brown on the outside but still bright red on the inside. As per the plates beside him, he already ate quite a bit.

She wanted to vomit.

“W-what are you talking about, Selina?” Henry asked, equally horrified. When he looked down at his plate, all he saw was a juicy steak, with potatoes and gravy on the side.

“You’re eating meat.” Selina took a deep breath. “You never eat meat.”

“I do, just not in front of you.”

She looked over at the Otxoa siblings, expecting to see them eating animal carcasses as well, but was surprised and relieved to see that they were eating sandwiches. Jasper was on his phone while eating a huge helping of tomato pasta, smirking to himself.

Selina wanted to wipe the smile off his face for some reason. The young wolf seemed to be laughing at her, not at some stupid thing he saw on his phone.

“Well, I’m in front of you now. Here.” The princess turned back to her boyfriend instead and pushed the plate of steak away from him. She sat her bowl of salad in its stead.

“But that’s your food,” Henry tried to protest.

“It’s okay.” She had already lost her appetite.

She took the plate of meat and put it in the trash.

She despised meat, and the stench of death it gave off turned her stomach. The thought of animals dying because of human greed made her shudder in horror. She considered people who ate them to be the worst people on Terran, hated them to the core. She believed those people were as abhorrent as the Occults, if not more, preying on things weaker than them. Henry, of course, was the sole exception to this hatred.

But just like Becca said, now that she’s here, everything was going to change.

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