The Villainess Hides Her Wealth

‘Why is His Highness Crown Prince Enoch here…? Since when was he here?’

I gazed at the familiar back and recalled the memories of my previous life.

Something similar also happened then.
It was a day when I was jealous of the relationship between Lord Vieira and Lilika, and even insisted on entering the hunting contest I wasn’t invited to.

“Honestly, it’s disgraceful, isn’t it? She’s the duke’s daughter, but she isn’t much different from us. She’s impatient because she can’t even get a man.”
“She is from the Primrose family, so it must be hard to be this unpopular. To be honest, even if I were Sir Vieira, I don’t think I would like Lady Primrose, that evil lady!”
“Haha, why did she have to be a Primrose, like Lady Lilika? I mean, it’s confusing!”

My face became hot with embarrassment. It wasn’t that I wanted to do this.

They couldn’t say much in front of me, but the moment I turned my back, they raised their voices right away… If I was that disgraceful, why didn’t they say it openly? I tried to laugh at them as they did, but it didn’t work.
Even if I thought about it, I was unsightly.
I couldn’t stop my beloved fiancé from dancing with my sister, and I looked disgraceful following him around.

I thought about what would happen if I stepped up in this situation. Even if I rushed in and got an apology, it wouldn’t be sincere. On the contrary, they would only trust my family and treat me even more like a ruffian.
I lowered my head with a hot face as I thought.

“But doesn’t Sir Vieira have a problem too for requesting his fiancée’s sister to be his partner?”
“Y-your Highness?”

Hearing that, I bravely looked back. I was just going to leave because it was hard to see people laughing at me…

The sleeves of the white uniform hanging from his shoulders fluttered. Back then, I also came across that hair of an ecstatic color.
Crown Prince Enoch spoke like that, as he did now, in a way that could never be ignored while lightly bringing up what others found difficult to say.

“Sir Vieira. What are you doing right now, against a powerless lady?”
“Th-that…”
“I thought you were an extraordinary knight, but it seems I was wrong.”

Feeling the power that was being exerted on the hand that was grabbing me, Sir Vieira, who had been raging for a moment, stepped back with a bewildered face. And only then did he become polite as if he had come to his senses, but it was already too late.

“No, Your Highness. There is a misunderstanding. Your Highness. The humiliation I experienced because of this woman…”
“Ah, did Lady Yuria Primrose threaten you to like her sister? In that case, I’ll admit that you experienced some humiliation.”
“That’s not it, I was deceived…”

Sir Vieira hurriedly tried to explain himself, but it was to no avail. Without giving him the slightest chance, Crown Prince Enoch scolded him harshly.

“Isn’t the one who was deceived Lady Primrose, who was engaged to you without knowing you were going to propose to her sister?”
“That’s a slightly different matter.”
“Can you explain what’s different? I must be dumb, as I can’t seem to understand.”
“No, Your Highness is not dumb!”

I was amazed at this situation where someone showed up to confidently take my side. He didn’t just take my side either. He made Sir Vieira sweat with every word he uttered.

Is he well-spoken because, as a wizard, he is smart? No, but his opponent is a knight, so isn’t he overpowered? Come to think of it, I had heard that he was also good at swordsmanship.

“I… I’ll be going now because I remembered something important, Your Highness.”
“Why are you leaving without saying anything to Lady Primrose, after being rude to her?”
“…”

In the end, Sir Vieira couldn’t handle the situation and left as if he were running away. I stared blankly at his back, and only returned to my senses after Prince Enoch turned to me.

“In the end, I couldn’t make him apologize to you, Lady Primrose.”

While he was dealing with Sir Vieira, Prince Enoch spoke in a voice that showed that he clearly knew he had the upper hand. He dealt with him relaxed and comfortable, or so I thought… Surprisingly, his eyes were not smiling.

‘I wonder if he would have made such a face in my past life…’

I blinked for a moment before bowing my head.

“I’m sorry for the delay in greeting you. Thank you for your help, Your Highness.”
“There’s no need to act so formally, it’s alright. You must have been very surprised.”

When his low voice reached my ears, I realized it.
Ah, so this was the tone of voice used by Prince Enoch when he spoke softly.

“I’m alright now. Thank you for your concern.”

I pretended to be strong in front of Sir Vieira, but I guess I must have been a little nervous. When I sighed, my breathing must have trembled.

‘Did I overestimate Sir Vieira? I didn’t expect to meet him all of a sudden, but I also didn’t expect him to be ignorant enough to use force.’

It seemed that Sir Vieira couldn’t really feel any guilt towards me. Just like the time in my previous life when he caught me and sent me to my father and brother who would kill me.

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‘I don’t know about Lilika, but I didn’t expect him to treat me as an equal…’

Maybe it was because the tension was suddenly relieved, but I didn’t have the strength to bluff. I didn’t like to show my weakness.
But although I was hiding it, Prince Enoch seemed to have noticed that I was less energetic than before.

“Why don’t you take a seat first?”

I headed to the sofa on the other side of the boutique. The Crown Prince looked at my bruised wrist and clicked his tongue.

“Luckily, I don’t think you got badly injured, but… you seem to have quite a bruise.”
“It’s alright, it will get better over time.”

After that, I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t open my mouth because I was too out of my mind to speak, but realizing that the Crown Prince was next to me, I wondered if I should talk about something. When I was about to,

“Don’t say anything. Rest.”

The Crown Prince spoke first. And I just accepted his consideration. Hm, would it be correct to say that I had no choice but to accept it?
And after a while, my mother, who was changing dresses upstairs, came running as if she had heard the news late.

“Yuria!”
“Mother.”
“How can that jerk cause this disturbance in a boutique in the middle of the capital… Dear heavens, look at the bruise on your wrist!”

My mother repeatedly thanked the Crown Prince for helping me. Prince Enoch shook his hand, saying that he had only done what was natural.

“I just came to the boutique, but I didn’t expect to witness something like this.”
“Thank you again. Your Highness. By the way… This boutique mainly makes women’s dresses…”

Prince Enoch smiled softly as he heard my mother’s story and shook his head.

“Aah, I just came here as requested by my sister Vivian.”

Princess Vivian, the prince’s younger sister, was famous for not coming out of the palace or calling anyone to the palace. To the point that not even I, who was the daughter of the duke, could remember her face well.

“Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I saw her. Is Her Highness doing well?”
“… Vivian is the same as always.”

The Crown Prince answered my mother’s question, not positively or negatively. It was just a simple question about how she was doing, but why did it feel strange for a moment?

‘Should I change the topic?’

But he didn’t seem offended. The Crown Prince looked at my mother and continued.

“I wish Vivian would be healthy… Just like the Duchess.”
“Is Princess Vivian feeling unwell?”

I didn’t know anything about her being seriously ill, I was just told that she had an introverted personality, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Except for the fact that she has a good relationship with her brother, the crown prince, I didn’t know much about Princess Vivian…

“If the Ladies can keep Vivian’s secret, I have something I want to ask you.”
“I don’t know how we can be of any help, but we will not tell anyone what we talked about here today. Right, Mother?”

My mother nodded hastily at my question.

“Of course. Your Highness, regardless of what is wrong with Princess Vivian, we will keep her secret.”
“I’m deeply moved to hear you say that.”

The voice of Crown Prince Enoch sank more seriously than ever. He adjusted his posture once again and spoke to us face to face.

“Vivian does not have a major health problem, as you were concerned about. However…”

To summarize, what the Crown Prince said was as follows.