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 15

“I am here under the orders of His Highness Salute. My mission is to protect her so she can spend her time at this academy in peace and to identify exactly which piece of ‘trash’ is trying to harm her so I can report back to him.”

“Eh…?”

At Lute’s composed declaration, Lily froze in her tracks.

Identifying who is harming Cherie and reporting them to Prince Salute—?

“Wait, you mean…”

“Congratulations. You’ve been successfully certified as ‘Trash No. 1.’ I’ll be sure to pass this along to His Highness, so please, feel free to focus on your duties as the Maiden of Flower-Sowing without a care in the world.”

In reality, since Lute is Salute, there was no one to actually report to. However, since Cherie was the only one present who knew the truth, the surrounding students erupted into a flurry of whispers at the revelation of Lute’s supposed role.

(…That startled me. I was certain he was about to reveal his true identity right here.)

The moment Lute told Lily he’d “let her in on something,” Cherie was sure he was going to expose himself as the Prince. She thought he was going to put Lily in her place by revealing his status; instead, she was deeply impressed that he managed to shut Lily down while keeping his cover intact.

(It makes sense. Since Salute Stanley is technically a transfer student from Trigea, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have a connection to Prince Salute.)

Cherie watched in admiration as Salute, still in his disguise, offered a composed smile. Noticing her gaze, Lute looked back and gave her a reassuring grin.

“W-wait a minute! Is it true that you’re connected to Prince Salute? I mean—is it really true, sir?”

“Believe it or not as you please.”

“T-then show me proof! Show me proof that you actually have a connection to Prince Salute!”

“And why exactly should I do that for you? I don’t see any benefit in it for me.”

“………”

As they went back and forth, the warning bell for the start of class began to ring. It wasn’t surprising; break time only lasted about ten minutes. Between moving between classrooms, there wasn’t much time for long arguments.

“Look at that. Class is starting. Shouldn’t you be heading back to your own room?”

Lily hesitated, but realized she couldn’t skip class. “I… I’ll be back! I’m coming back for this…!” she cried, retreating to her classroom with a face twisted in frustration.

“…Prince Lute, was that really alright?”

“Was what alright?”

When Cherie asked out of concern, Lute answered with a look of utter indifference.

“Well… she is the Maiden of Flower-Sowing, after all. Making the relationship this toxic might cause problems later on.”

“Cherie.”

Trigea was one of the countries under the protection of the Flower-Sowing Maiden. Cherie spoke up because she felt it was better to keep things cordial for the sake of the future.

“Do you really think I don’t know?”

He whispered into her ear not in his “Lute” persona, but with the tone and authority of Prince Salute.

“Eh…?”

“I know you’ve been cleaning up after that trash’s pathetic attempts at work. I know you’ve been following behind her, fixing her disastrous flower offerings. You know it too, don’t you? That she isn’t actually doing her job as a Maiden properly.”

Cherie’s eyes widened. She hadn’t realized Salute knew she was secretly covering for Lily. In truth, she hadn’t done it entirely of her own volition; the Church of the Flower-Sowing had approached her privately.

—Since the current Maiden shows a certain level of immaturity, we would appreciate it if Lady Mercury could subtly support her—

That was why Cherie had persisted with advice Lily didn’t want to hear and continued to fix things behind the scenes, even knowing it made her look like a “mean girl” to the girl herself.

“…Cherie, you’re far too kind for your own good.”

Salute smiled, and it didn’t seem like he was blaming her. He gave her cheek a playful little pinch, then turned his attention to the front of the room as the teacher entered.

Cherie gently touched the spot he had pinched, trying to calm herself and hide the fact that her cheek was still tingling from his touch.

After that.

Every time a break started, Lily would come to the classroom looking for Lute. However, surprisingly, it wasn’t Cherie or Salute who blocked her entry. It was their classmates.

The students had more or less begun to figure things out.

(No, seriously. He’s disguised, but that’s definitely the Prince.)

(Right?! There’s no way a mere bodyguard would radiate such a sweet, protective aura!)

They had no hard proof. However, half-suspecting that Salute Stanley was actually Salute himself, the classmates chose to side with Lute over Lily.

Most importantly because Lute was there, they were getting to see a side of Cherie Mercury they had never seen before.

(Wait! Is that for real? Lady Cherie looks like a total maiden-in-love only when she’s with Lute… how precious…)

(And she’s a bit clumsy at expressing her joy directly, which is just blindingly cute…?!)

The atmosphere between the two was lukewarm yet undeniably flirtatious—a “will they, won’t they” tension that hung in the air. Almost every classmate watching them thought the same thing:

Just get together already!

By Lute Stanley boldly approaching Cherie, the public perception of her shifted drastically. The girl they once thought was an iron-walled, icy “Perfect Lady” was actually just a very cute, slightly socially awkward girl in love.