It has been 3 days since the beginning of the second phase exam.
Neptune started to doubt about her appearance
Arthur has been following a consistent routine: eat breakfast, play games, eat lunch, play a different game, eat dinner, write something and then sleep.
During this time Arthur shared his experience on the time when he became an emergency commander. How he enjoys time talking with Hood, Belfast, and Queen Elizabeth.
He never attempts to make his moves onto Neptune.
Neptune looks at the mirror to check her figure. From her face, her body, and her legs, everything seems… oh wait a second.
She realized she looks like a teenage girl with the "mediocre" development of her body. Sure she has some curved lines, but compared with Belfast, for example, she looks like a child.
Royal maids often said most men only play with "matured" young women.
She feels as if a surge of thunder drops onto her. Of course, someone "experienced" like Arthur can't possibly be interested in an aesthetically teenage girl like her.
Next day, when Arthur wakes up, he sees Neptune who hopelessly sits at a corner of the room.
Something must be wrong, he approaches Neptune to find the cause.
"You alright? What happened?" asked Arthur.
Neptune looks at Arthur with an empty-minded expression, as if Arthur issued a NEO to her. Quite a horrifying expression she got.
"Hmph, why do you bother to talk to me? I am not attractive anyway."
Arthur cannot grasp the situation. Did he say something about her appearance? As far as he remembers, he did not mention anything about it.
She has a energizing cute style. Her elegance and royal maid uniform show a contrasting, but unique atmosphere around her. If he has to say anything, he agrees Neptune is a cute and rare royal maid to witness.
"What are you talking about? You should have confidence in yourself," said Arthur. However, he never realized he stepped into an "explosive trap."
"Me? Confidence? With such a childish appearance? Wow, I didn't know you are such a liar," Neptune started to sob.
Childish appearance? Arthur realized he apparently made things a lot more complicated.
"A child can never make such an elegance as you do, Neptune," Arthur crouches down, trying to keep his eyes at the same height as Neptune and then gently holds her shoulders. "Crying would only ruin your beauty, making you a real child. Here, let me brew you some tea. Hood taught me that whenever you feel emotional, drinking hot tea helps you relieve your frustration. Remember the etiquette of drinking tea?"
Arthur quickly and professionally brews breakfast brand black tea. Although it is too early to set an afternoon tea party, consoling a crying lady takes a higher priority.
The etiquette of drinking tea? Neptune thoughts, what an elementary question.
She straightens her back to fix her ruined posture.
"See? Only true elegant ladies can regain their elegance back in an instant," said Arthur.
Feeling the slightly stimulating taste of the black tea, Neptune regains her composure. Now that her logical senses came back, she realized that Arthur never once said or treated her like a child. All of her tantrum only occurred because she thought she looked like just a teenage girl.
She made a critical mistake of being an elegant lady: Never let your emotions take over you.
As soon as she feels a wave of sadness and embarrassment coming to her mind, she quickly shakes them off so she does not end up with another tantrum.
"My apologies for such a shameful display, master," said Neptune.
"Now do you feel comfortable telling me what happened?" asked Arthur.
"Uh…," Neptune hesitates. Should she really tell him that these are all because she misunderstood Arthur?
She sees the ring of NEO on Arthur's finger. Arthur can use NEO to force her to tell everything he wants to know. Instead of being controlled, she would rather expose her secrets with her will.
She tells Arthur that since he never made a move on her, she thought it was because she looked like a child.
"Hmm…" Arthur thinks deeply, Neptune's reaction was half-right and half-incorrect.
She does seem like a high-school student but with a developing nobility. Frankly speaking, Arthur is interested in tall young women who own some "mountain," thus Neptune is out of his interest range. However, Arthur sees a lot of growing potential for Neptune. If Kansens can develop their physical appearance like humans, then Neptune may become one of the finest women in the Royal Navy.
For the half-incorrect, he has some concerns regarding the exam instruction, "you are free to interact with your Kansen. Your interactions and actions will not be questioned."
If an examinee let his desire run wild, then his Kansen would be suffering from violence, sexural assaults, and maybe even nastier treatments.
Being closed in a room with a Kansen will stimulate males' desires. Arthur fortunately can hold for several days, but that does not mean he can hold his desire forever. Therefore, he has been requesting different items to play games and writing random texts to distract his attention.
Does he need to do something special to meet the exam's instructions? The staff provided him with a Kansen and the ring of NEO.
If passing the exam involves Kansen and the ring, then there is only one combination to do.
He taps the ring three times to activate it for the second time.
"Neptune, tell me the way to pass this exam," said Arthur with a serious voice.
Neptune's eyes turn lightless.
"To pass the exam, demonstrate your honest opinion to the lesser kind in front of you."
Arthur's honest opinion? He already wrote something like that on the previous exam. Oh wait, he needs to "demonstrate."
Arthur holds Neptune's shoulders and looks at her eyes that are still lightless.
"As I wrote on my exam, I believe you need to rest and enjoy some entertainment, even if just briefly. No one can work forever without any rest. You know… I… I know I am just an outsider so I don't have the right to say I understand your pain. But right now, not only do we have Sirens and Ironblood as our enemies, we treat our sole measure as a tool. I don't want to live in a divergent world like this and I am sure you don't as well. If no commander desires to bring peace to this world, then I will do it, at least let me try. That's why I volunteered to be the emergency commander."
Arthur concludes, "I don't care about politics or profits, I just want this chain of discrimination and hatred to stop. We have better things to do, and I mean A LOT of better things like repelling Sirens."
Arthur takes a moment to stop his speech. How long has it been since he got this emotional?
As he stands up, Neptune suddenly hugs him tightly. It seems at some point she regained her mind from NEO.
"I suppose there are still decent human beings like you. Perhaps the world is not as bad as we thought."
Neptune let Arthur go from her hug. Arthur sits on the bed while Neptune sits on a chair.
After 10 minutes, the door opens. The leading man with the wolf-mask and an escorting squad stand outside of the room.
"Mr. Mandelson, your exam is over and our leader wants to see you," said the man.
Arthur shakes off his emotions, he almost forgot the objective of this exam.
As he leaves the room, he looks at Neptune.
"The Kansen will move to a different location," said the leading man.
Whoever Neptune is, Arthur will not forget his experience with her.