Galen's Birthday Feast (2)

Then, Inna saw the napkin by the side of her plate. And if she remembered correctly, back in her high school years when they held a seminar for proper etiquette before their prom, she should place it on her lap before eating.

Or was she supposed to place it on the collar?

She couldn't really remember clearly because it has been years since that occurred. And she didn't actually listen much on that seminar because everyone else wasn't listening either. That's because they all knew that that seminar was merely a formality. No one would actually follow those rules on prom.

Heck, some people were even using their own chopsticks to eat.

And those napkins were left to be forgotten decorations at the table.

So, going with her gut feeling, Inna grabbed on side of the napkin and flicked it before placing it on her lap.

At the back of her mind, she was expecting another hit from Professor Gnarly. But instead of getting hit, everyone else seemed to follow what she did.

Oh, so was she supposed to do that first and then the rest follows?

Then, she realized.

Ohhhhh! The one with the most authority should be the one to commence the eating!

Hence, they can't start eating unless she starts!

She finally understood why all the students were smiling at her stiffly earlier. It's because she was supposed to take the lead!

Then, without further ado, Inna reached for the spoon with a large rounded bowl that was commonly used for soups. Using all the knowledge she was able to recall from her etiquette lessons years ago, she gracefully began eating, only sipping her soup by minuscule amounts. She made sure that she didn't slouch nor did she lean too forwards that her hair would dip on the soup.

When Inna finally finished her first scoop of the soup, the rest of the students on the table began to dig in in silence. They carefully watched their conduct as they scooped spoonfuls of soup and sipped them quietly. Then, the tranquillity of the meal was broken when Professor Gnarly's angry voice suddenly echoed across the room.

"Such shamelessness! Do you think I would not be able to notice?!"

Everyone in the table briefly stopped their sipping mid-way to figure out what was happening. Then, Professor Gnarly's angry voice became louder as he screamed.

"You're disqualified! Leave the table now!"

Pretending like nothing was happening, Inna and the rest of the students continued to sip on their soups. They knew not to break character because they were afraid that they might be disqualified as well.

Since Inna had the greatest view of the scene, she couldn't help but furrow her brow at what happened. She didn't see or notice anything unusual at all.

"But Professor! I didn't do anything!" The student who had the 'middle class' role exclaimed as he feigned his innocence.

He was sure that he did it discreetly!

It's impossible that the Professor would've seen him!

"Did you actually think that I wouldn't be able to notice, my boy?"

Professor Gnarly sneered as he grab the student's robe from behind, then he threw him near the audiences as he spoke.

"If you will still feign ignorance, then let me relay every detail to you. Your spoon accidentally dropped into the soup. But you didn't want to draw attention to yourself and your mistake by fishing the spoon yourself. So, to get the spoon back and to avoid stacking mistakes, you opted to use a small inkling of magic to have it land on your hand. And you expected no one would notice since you didn't use much magic and you hid it when you were leaning towards the soup. Am I correct?"

The student gaped at Professor Gnarly as he slowly stood up.

"H-how did you..."

Professor Gnarly growled at his reaction in anger.

Did this little brat actually think he wouldn't notice?!

"Ha! You're a hundred years too early to fool this old man!"

Then, he casted an immobility spell which made the student unable to move from his spot. He can only stand and stare at his fellow students in shame and jealousy.

Meanwhile, while all the commotion was ongoing, the rest of the remaining ten students were still obediently acting out their roles. And that includes Inna.

She tried her hardest not to grab the bowl of soup and dunk it in her mouth to finally finish the soup.

Then, as she tried to get scoop some more soup, she suddenly heard this slurping sound. She looked at the student who slurped and saw Professor Gnarly immediately smack the student in place. But because of the student's shock of being hit, he ended up choking on the soup, making him roughly grab the table cloth as he wheezed out for dear life. Professor Gnarly roughly smacked the student's back with his harisen and that seemed to help since the student breathed deeply afterwards. But then, the student stood up to thank the Professor which meant that he was breaking out of his role. So, after one smack from Professor Gnarly's harisen, he dejectedly walked towards the bleachers.

Yet despite the fast elimination of their fellow student, Inna and the others continued on with their scooping like nothing happened. But in her mind, Inna made a mental note.

Okay, so slurping isn't allowed... as well as grabbing the table cloth....

And going out of character is also not allowed...

The test went on for another half an hour and Inna was able to survive the next two meals which were the salad meal and the main course. The salad was torture for her since she hated all kinds of vegetables. So, with their world's salad being all veggies and no meat, she had to force herself to chew each leaf like a goat, all the while preventing her distaste and disgust from showing in her face as she ate. And that wasn't the worst part of it all. The worst part for her was the fact that she was expected to finish the meal or else she would be smacked like the students on the opposite side of her who didn't.

But the struggle she had on the salad was rewarded well on their main course. The main course was similar to the premium meal she had, only that there was no juice. But she didn't really care much on the absence of the juice since her whole attention was focused on the heavenly goodness in front of her. She eyed the meat as though it was an oasis in a desert and she nearly salivated from the smell alone. But she needed to control herself and not take in big bites since it would be unbecoming of an 'Empress' to do so. She cut up the steak in small pieces before placing them in her mouth.

She was about to groan in pleasure when someone in the middle of the table beat her to it. And that someone was awarded with a smack on the head soon after. So, Inna withheld her groan as she learned to quietly eat.

Then, as she finished her steak, four people had been eliminated already. And in Inna's opinion, the reason why they were eliminated were quite laughable. Yawning, burping, sneezing, coughing, having the inability to finishing the steak, lightly tapping their fingers on the tablecloth, drinking too much wine, laughing for no clear reason, fidgeting in their seat, looking around the table too much, and the list goes on and on.

When these four people left the table, it suddenly looked so bare. All in all, there were already six people eliminated and they were all students who held the middle or common people role. So, the students left on the table were simply the high nobles and the Empress, which was Inna.

Inna was already in cloud nine as she happily sneaked a look around the table.

To think that she actually reached the top 5!

Hehehe... she's gotta thank those TV series and those useless etiquette seminars she wasted her time on for letting her make it this far!