Chapter 8

Translated by Momo & edited by Mary

"Cecil Admina, we need to talk.“

A day after the romantic event with Leanne, Oscar called out to Cecil while entering the classroom.

The first thing in the morning Cecilia experienced was being scared stiff in her seat.

Their classmates were slightly fascinated by the spectacular scene, seeing the "Prince of Wruhel Academy” and the “Real Prince” together.

Leanne widened her eyes in surprise while her cheeks flushed.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“W-what is this about?”

“It’s hard to talk in the classroom. Come meet me at noon.”

Oscar slammed a note on the desk. Her body jumped from the impact.

“You should definitely come. I won’t accept if you try to escape.”

A frosty stare was aimed directly at Cecilia. Under that look, she could only silently nod her head.

During lunch break–

The place mentioned in the memo was a salon inside the school. It is not a place anyone can enter, but a special salon that can only be used by the high-class nobles and those invited by them. So, curious classmates and Leanne couldn’t freely access it.

The salon was designed for the purpose of discussions between high-ranking aristocrats, so the entire room was grand and had a few partitions.

Oscar sat on a sofa in a corner and showed a certain object to Cecilia.

“Why did you have this handkerchief?”

“This handkerchief?”

Cecilia recognized the handkerchief as the one she wrapped around the leg of the injured kitten.

Oscar pointed to the edge of the handkerchief and declared with a sharp resounding voice tone.

“This is something I have previously borrowed from Cecilia.”

“Ah?”

“I’ll only ask one more time, why do you have this in your possession?”

He points to the embroidery part. There was a crooked four-leaf clover embroidery.

It was her first attempt at stitching something when she was younger.

(I lent this to Oscar…?)

She desperately combed through the memories in her head.

Then, along with the sweet voice of a boy, memories of her childhood come back.

“But, if I stretch it a little bit, it’s not so bad.”

A red-haired cheeky brat gently let his stern stomachache-like expression fade and smiled innocently.

In his hand, there was a handkerchief he used to wipe his cheek. A distorted four-leaf clover is embroidered on the edge of it.

The next moment, a round belly minister rushed towards them like a bouncing ball.

And spouted out that unbelievable sentence.

“Your highness Oscar, you were in a place like this!”

(He was so kind!!)

Cecilia holds her head.

She remembers meeting Oscar in that gathering. After that, she fell down foaming and completely recalled the memories of her previous life.

But she couldn’t remember exactly what happened to her handkerchief at that time.

That’s understandable since it happened twelve years ago.

(Wait. If this goes on…I’m going to be exposed!)

A cold shiver ran through her spine.

Oscar is silently staring at Cecil.

(Did he notice!? Cecil = Cecilia!? Did he just realize it?)

“Eerm…”

“What is the relationship between Cecilia and you?”

“R-relationship?”

She was relieved to hear that question. Apparently it wasn’t obvious that “Cecil = Cecilia” to him. However, the possibility of being discovered will rise depending on how she will answer. Cecilia thought through her words carefully.

“C-Cecilia is a friend …”

“Is it possible for Duke’s daughter and a Baron’s son to be on a ‘friendly’ relationship?”

She was caught between a rock and a hard place and couldn’t find any words to refute.

She didn’t consider the different gender relations and ranking between a Duke’s daughter and a Baron’s son. Aristocratic friendships were basically made between peers of a similar degree.

Even though it’s not impossible to be acquainted if they’re opposite genders, but their rankings were too far apart from each other. Usually, it would be impossible to have a 'friendly’ relationship with each other. In this situation, it would be easier to point out they might be lovers separated by the aristocratic establishment as an excuse for this hidden relationship.

Well, the fact that the future queen is keeping a lover beside the crown prince would be a serious situation, so there’s no way she could say that…

(Actually, I don’t understand why Oscar and I are still engaged! There’s no way a sickly person could become the queen!)

Naturally, the queen must have a healthy body to give birth to the next king. So Cecilia convinced her loving parents to propagate her rumoured sickness, desperately creating an image of being in poor health, but it didn’t yield any results.

(Well, thanks to my ailing image, I don’t have to attend social circles, and no one suspects me even if I’m not commuting to school …)

“Are you really friends?”

Oscar’s skeptical voice brought Cecilia back into reality.

Cecilia had an uncomfortable smile on her face.

“Ehhh …”

“His Highness, to be more precise, Cecil is a friend of mine.”

Soon after, Cecilia looked back to a familiar voice came from behind. Standing there was a familiar figure.

“Gil!”

“Isn’t that right, Cecil?”

“Yes, of course!!!”

Gilbert grabbed Cecilia’s shoulder and gently pulled her towards himself.