Goddess Of Fate (Gakuen Alice)

Chapter 18 - Goodbye, Princess Valerie

Suminako's POV

The semester has finally come to an end. Today is the day where Valerie finally returns to her home country, England.

I had no idea time flies this fast, it's already October.

Valerie stared outside the window, like any person would if they had the window seat.

I've always noticed that she's usually secluding herself from others, I mean I understand it was because of the assumption everyone has of her, but she still secluded herself from most people even when the misunderstanding cleared up.

"Valerie-hime~" I made my way towards her seat.

"Oh, Sumi-chan. Don't call me hime (princess), I want to be treated like a normal person," She said.

"Hm? But you're the princess of England," I said.

"That's true. But it's not that easy being a princess, my freedom is restricted in an extreme way, not to mention I have an Alice. At school, everyone pretends to be nice when they only wanted to make use of me because I have the royal bloodline running in my veins," Valerie started to open up about her life in England.

She mentioned that when the Alice Academy in England held a special program, which was the student exchange program, she took up the only chance for her to leave England.

She wanted to be away from all of her responsibilities, and coming here was the first time ever she's experienced the feeling of freedom in her life.

"Waking up every morning in bed knowing that you don't have to do anything, no princess duties, no etiquette classes, and I don't have to hear the words 'young lady' from my mother, which is the Queen of England," said Valerie with a relaxed expression on her face.

I think, Valerie really enjoyed her time in Gakuen Alice. And if she could, she doesn't want to go home.

"Oh, but Sumi, I'm really glad that I've met you, really," said Valerie.

I looked at her with confusion and asked her why since I didn't do anything for her, which she told me I was wrong.

"Meeting you changed my perspectives. You always seemed fearless of everything, you know? But I knew that you were actually really afraid on the inside, but you still faced everything on. I thought it was really admirable," said Valerie.

"Um..." I looked at her, still confused.

"Well, I'm talking about the day we first spoke. You were left out by everyone in this class, so normally people wouldn't even dare to talk to you even if they wanted to, and the same goes for you. I was really surprised by how fearless you seemed when you talked to me, I thought to myself, isn't she afraid that I wouldn't talk to her because of her circumstances? But I knew well you were afraid, yet you had to try," Valerie explained.

"Is it really that admirable? I should be the one admiring you for be willingly to open up to me when I was under those circumstances, you could've been judged and bullied for it," I said.

"That's why I admired you, you see, being part of the royal family means I'll be marrying off to some random prince from another country that will be chosen for me, so I've decided I'll make my own choices from now on, and not let others decide my own fate for me," said Valerie.

"I want to be able to marry a man I choose for my own, even if it's a man of no status," She continued.

"Oh, I understand. I really hope everything works out for you," I said.

"Well, it won't since it's not that easy. But best of luck to me, I guess," said Valerie with a huge smile on her face.

That was the first time I've seen her smiled so happily in this academy. I don't recall her smiling like this at all, maybe she was really happy to have someone to hear her out.