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 36

As her consciousness sank slowly into the darkness, Cherie dreamed of the past.

It was not her past as Cherie Mercury, but a memory from even further back, her life as Chieri Makita.

“Look, that’s Makita-san. The one who’s ranked first in the grade…”

“Whoa, she’s a beauty, but she seems so unapproachable…”

“Her family runs a company or something, right? A total rich girl. I doubt we’d have anything in common…”

As the girl walked gracefully through the high school hallway, her surroundings erupted into whispers.

In her previous life, Chieri Makita had been born into a wealthy family.

Excellent grades, refined looks, and decent athletic ability combined with a lack of social grace meant that throughout middle and high school, she was treated as a “solitary flower on a high peak,” a status she never actually desired.

The truth was, she desperately wanted friends but simply didn’t know how to make them. And while people called her a “rich girl,” her father was so inept at management that the family business was already on the verge of collapse.

They managed to keep their grand house, but in every other aspect, they were no different from her classmates. In fact, their financial situation was likely much worse. In the Makita household, Chieri lived a frugal life with her grandmother, supporting her father as he struggled to rebuild the company.

Another element was added to this mix when Chieri was seventeen, a second-year in high school.

“He’s the son of an acquaintance of mine. His name is Ryuto-kun. He’s eleven, right? We’ll be looking after him for a while. Come on, Ryuto-kun, can you say hello?”

“………………”

The boy named Ryuto, prompted by her father, didn’t utter a word. His expression was dark, but he managed a small, apologetic bow toward Chieri and her grandmother.

He was skin and bones. Through the gaps in his oversized T-shirt, purple bruises were visible, making it easy to imagine how he had been treated in his previous home.

He had likely lived a life where he wasn’t fed properly and was subjected to violence at every turn.

Chieri had no idea why her father’s “acquaintance” would treat a child that way, but she understood that her father was taking him in to protect him.

Even so, the Makita household didn’t exactly have the breathing room to support an extra person.

(My father is a truly good person. But he is terrible at drawing the line between what he can handle and what he can’t…)

Despite those thoughts, neither Chieri nor her grandmother treated the sudden newcomer coldly. Her grandmother, who was naturally sociable, even knelt down to get on the young boy’s level.

“Hello, Ryuto-kun. You can call me ‘Grandma’ or ‘Granny Rie,’ whatever you like. And this is Chieri, my granddaughter. You can think of her as your big sister, okay? Right, Chieri?”

“Yeah.”

As her grandmother smilingly introduced her to fill the silence of her soft-spoken granddaughter, Chieri crouched down to match her grandmother and gave Ryuto a small bow.

“………………”

Ryuto’s hollow eyes didn’t seem to reflect anyone. Seeing him like that, Chieri thought, He’s a child with very little emotional range, but since she felt the same about herself, she didn’t dwell on it much.

In the Makita house, Chieri handled almost all the housework.

Until recently, her grandmother had done everything, but since her knees had worsened a few years ago, Chieri had taken over the heavy labor.

She had never thought of this as particularly good or bad.

However, in that specific moment, she was glad she knew how to do housework. It was through these daily chores that she was able to naturally find points of contact with the new boy.

“Ryuto-kun, I’m making dinner. Is there anything you don’t like?”

“Ryuto-kun, the bath is ready. Can you wash by yourself?”

“Ryuto-kun, I’m going shopping. Is there anything you want?”

Sometimes there was a response; sometimes there wasn’t.

Still, as the points of contact increased through their daily life, she began to understand the boy bit by bit.

—He liked cookies.

She had made some cutout cookies during a home economics class at school and brought them home for him. He seemed to love them, eating them slowly and savoring every bite. When she asked, “Do you like them?” and Ryuto gave a silent, firm nod, she found it adorable. After that, she made them for him many times, even while scraping by on a tight budget.

—He had never used shampoo or conditioner.

When she explained how to use the bathroom and mentioned shampoo and conditioner, he looked at her with a blank, puzzled expression. She realized then that he had only ever washed his body with bar soap.

She taught him how to use them, and since he said he’d never used a hairdryer either, she dried his hair for him. His hair became surprisingly fluffy.

Once his hair was silky and smooth, she began to notice how long and unkempt it was.

Ideally, she would have taken him to a hair salon, but the Makita family didn’t have that kind of financial leeway.

So, she said:

“Ryuto-kun, isn’t your hair in the way? Want me to cut it for you?”

And as she, a complete amateur snipped away at his thin, silky, light-colored hair, an incredibly handsome young face emerged from beneath.