The Reincarnated Villainess Whose Romantic Trauma From Her Past Life Is Too Strong Is Sweetly and Painfully Doted On by the Prince of the Neighboring Country - Chapter 13

Lily, the commoner-born “Maiden of Flower Succession,” had been granted a room in the student dormitory within the academy grounds.

High-ranking nobles like Cherie, Salute, and Reiss commuted to the academy from their own homes or estates nearby. However, commoner girls like Lily or lower-ranking nobles who couldn’t afford to rent a mansion near the school lived in the dorms to carry out their student lives.

Even so, because of her status as the Maiden of Flower Succession, Lily was specially provided with a private room and her own dedicated servants.

It was a clear sign of just how much the academy favored the Maiden.

◇◆◇

“…Huh? A greeting from the Maiden of Flower Succession is unnecessary?”

As Lily sat in her room having her hair styled by her servants, she listened to the report from another attendant and couldn’t help but scowl.

“Y-yes. Prince Salute of Trigea stated that a greeting from the Maiden was not part of his current itinerary, and therefore wouldn’t be necessary…”

“It’s not a matter of ‘not being in the itinerary.’ I’m the one saying I want to greet him, so it’s your job to make that greeting happen!”

“But…”

“I don’t want to hear excuses! Just go check Prince Salute’s schedule. I’ll just show up wherever he’s going to be.”

Lily waved her hand dismissively, signaling for the servant to “get moving.” The attendant left the room with a look of visible discomfort.

(…Honestly, completely useless!)

She had tried through Reiss to offer an “apology” to Salute, but had been flatly rejected with a “No apology is necessary.” She was furious at Reiss for being so unhelpful, but she couldn’t exactly scream at one of her love interests. That was why she had decided to reach out as the “Maiden” instead, using a servant this time, but the result was the same.

(I mean, seriously, what is the point?! Is the morning prayer completely useless?!)

Ever since she decided to make Salute her main target, she had dumped all her prayer points into him yet there was zero effect! How on earth did the mechanics of this game system work?!

Boiling with inner rage, Lily screamed at the world inside her head, but there was no one to answer her.

This is a game reincarnation! Shouldn’t there be a Divine Voice or a System Support or something?! Even though she thought it, it changed nothing. Lily decided to vent her mounting frustration on the servant nearest to her.

“…Hey. Use pearls for my hair ornament, not fresh flowers.”

“But, the Maiden of Flower Succession is said to gain power by wearing fresh blooms.”

“Shut up! Don’t talk back to me! I’m in a pearl mood today!”

Even after snapping at the servant, she didn’t feel any better. Lily watched as the servant swapped the ornament for pearls as ordered, then stood up with a heavy, performative sigh.

◇◆◇

“O-oh! You’re wearing the hair ornament I gave you.”

“Ehehe. Well, you went to the trouble of getting it for me, Geek.”

As soon as she arrived at the academy, Lily was surrounded by her love interests. Reiss was away on other business today and couldn’t attend, so in times like these, she kept her other conquests close.

The one who had just spoken, Geek Ruxton, was the eldest son of an Earl in this kingdom. If Reiss was the “Cool/Domineering Prince,” Geek was the “Wild/Domineering Knight.” Standing opposite him was Thiel Yorkend, a beautiful young man with a loose braid trailing down his back—the “Gentle/Intellectual Adult” Flower Mage.

“Pearls suit you well, Lily. They bring out your purity; it’s a perfect match.”

“Thanks, Thiel. But I think they’d look good on you too.”

“…Does that mean you think I look feminine…?”

Thiel gave a strained, wry smile at Lily’s words. Having a complex about his “pretty face,” being told feminine things suited him was a major “landmine” topic. To an outsider, this looked like a peaceful, classic scene from an otome game.

(…Ah, after all, being surrounded by love interests is so healing.)

Handsome men of different types. The fact that they were all obsessed with her deeply satisfied Lily’s ego.

(Now, if only Salute would join them, it would be truly perfect.)

Seriously, why were things being so difficult? Suppressing the urge to gnash her teeth, she was enjoying her current happiness when someone approached her from the side.

“Um, Lady Lily. We would like you to replace the ‘Flower Offering’ (Hoka) soon…”

“…Eh? I’m pretty sure I just did that three days ago…”

The “Flower Offering” was one of the Maiden’s duties. It involved decorating the “Offering Altar”, a place of prayer linked to the World Tree with flowers. By using her powers to arrange flowers suited to the current conditions, the Maiden purified the World Tree and lessened the “Miasma.”

“The temperature has been rising lately, so the flowers are wilting faster. Plus, for some reason, the effects of the flowers you arranged this time are all over the place.”

“Is that so? I thought I did it the same as always…”

To be honest, Lily hated this task. It wasn’t fun to pull out and throw away rotting flowers, and it was a pain to have to think about the magical effects while arranging them. Handling so many flowers meant her hands got wet and chapped. She really didn’t want to do it.

(But well, I have to keep up appearances in front of Geek and Thiel…)

She couldn’t exactly abandon her duties in front of her love interests. Forcing down her annoyance, Lily put on a smile. “I understand. I’ll go change the offering during my lunch break, then.”

—Lily did not know.

She didn’t know that up until now, Cherie had been subtly correcting her half-baked flower offerings to make them right.

She didn’t know that it was the offerings Cherie had remade that had been protecting the country.

And, she didn’t know that during the three days Cherie had been locked in her room, the sloppy offerings Lily made had failed to work properly, providing neither purification for the World Tree nor suppression of the Miasma.

The only reason Lily had managed to pass as the “Maiden” until now was that Cherie had been quietly fixing her mistakes behind the scenes.