Cecilia was on the run.

From a younger student offering up some snacks.

From a classmate getting stubbornly handsy.

From an older student taking any opportunity to invite Cecil to spend the night with her.

“Ugh, this sucks! I seriously hate this!”

She was always on the run.

Two weeks after Cecilia screwed up in the auditorium, her fans’ passion for the prince (?) who’d been selected as a knight had reached a fever pitch. Constantly chased around here and there, she had no time for herself at all. Someone would inevitably pop up next to her wherever she went and whatever she did.

It all came on so suddenly that she hadn’t held another strategy meeting with Gilbert since their earlier one.

At first, Cecilia toughed out her lack of privacy and the need to constantly wear her princely smile. She knew that her fans’ mania was fleeting, so she believed things would go back to how they’d been with the passage of time. But as the days wore on, Cecilia’s tolerance for toughing it out hit its limit, leading to her current predicament of attempting escape.

“Prince Cecil, please wait!”

“I’m in a bit of a hurry now, sorry!” she said, shaking off the female students in hot pursuit and slipping into the courtyard. Worried cries of “Where did he go?” rang out as her pursuers passed right by but were unable to find her as she was camouflaged by the shadows of the thick hedges.

“Alone at last…” She sighed, leaning against a tree trunk. “I need to hook Lean up with someone, but I can never go anywhere in peace.”

Since Cecilia had received a vote from Gilbert, she had to do whatever it took to get Lean and someone else to fall for each other so Lean could collect their Sacred Artifact. Lean and Cecilia were fortunately in the same class, so she’d thought it would be easy to instigate meet-cutes, but no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t do a thing for the time being. It would be best to just let nature take its course with Lean’s love life, but at the moment, there were no signs of developments. In fact…

“We need to change classrooms for our next lesson. Do you want to go together, Lord Cecil?”

“Lord Cecil, may I sit next to you?”

“Could you help me figure out this problem, Lord Cecil?”

Lord Cecil, Lord Cecil, Lord Cecil, Lord Cecil…

Why was Lean paying more attention to Cecil instead of her actual suitors? Yes, from her point of view, Cecil was a knight and therefore possibly a suitor, but there wasn’t actually a Cecil route. The man himself didn’t even exist!

I don’t want to be cold to Lean, but I feel like if I don’t, then Cecilia’s life is going to wind up as Cecil’s life…

Which would negate the entire reason she was dressing as a boy.

Well, the first three romantic events happen even if you don’t manage to raise the suitors’ affection points for you, so I guess I can think about it after that…

“Meow!”

“Meow?” she repeated, as a cry from behind interrupted her thoughts. She turned around to find a small cat. It had short legs and a coat that was a mixture of black and tawny brown. With its tottering, still-unsteady steps, the kitten was utterly adorable.

“Oh! You’re so cute! Munchkin breed, maybe? So soft and fluffy!”

“Mrow,” responded the kitten, who was evidently very used to humans, not resisting at all when Cecilia picked it up. She buried her face in its white belly. It smelled like sunlight.

“Oh my, looks like you have a little injury on your foot. Did you cut yourself somewhere? Wait just a second,” Cecilia said, digging through her pocket and pulling out a light pink handkerchief, which she wrapped around the kitten’s bleeding foot. “There we go! I’ll take you by the nurse’s office later. They might have some disinfectant. Oh, but can I put disinfectant for humans on you?”

“Meooow?”

“I’ll ask Dr. Mordred. He’s an intellectual-type character, so he should be able to answer just about any question!”

“Mrow!”

When she nuzzled the kitten’s nose, it rubbed its head against her affectionately. Precious.

Just then, she heard talking from the other side of the hedge she was hiding in. One had a lovely, clear, and beautiful voice, while the other spoke in a deep, intimidating baritone. She recognized both.

Peeking through a gap in the hedges, she observed the speakers.

It was Oscar and Lean, gazing at the rosebushes.

Oscar Abel Prosper.

The nation’s crown prince and fiancé to the duke’s daughter, Cecilia Sylvie.

Eyes as sharp as knives flashed from beneath his deep scarlet hair. Despite his handsomeness, his expression gave off a cold impression. Tall and lanky, he exuded a characteristically royal aura.

Oh, yikes. We’ve gotten to this part…

She scrunched herself down so that they wouldn’t find her. This was Lean and Oscar’s very first romantic event.

In this scene, Lean—saddled with the heavy fate of being a potential Holy Maiden and all mixed up over it—encounters the crown prince Oscar in the courtyard.

“I know you’ve been saddled with a difficult role, but let’s both do our best. At the very least, I think you’re much more suited for Holy Maiden than Cecilia. I find it very touching how you struggle through hardships instead of avoiding and ignoring them.”

That is what Oscar says to encourage Lean, who is feeling entirely out of her depth.

Right, Oscar loves Lean from the moment he sees her. And he hates Cecilia more than anyone…

He views Cecilia as an incompatible fiancée, an archenemy who gets between him and Lean. Despite their engagement, he detests her more than anyone.

Cecilia, on the other hand, adores Oscar, and her jealousy leads her to hurt Lean. This incurs Oscar’s wrath, which gets her imprisoned and then executed.

Actually, this “Cecilia hurts Lean, gets imprisoned, gets executed” plotline isn’t exclusive to Oscar’s route but appears rather often. In almost every route, it is Oscar who sends Cecilia to the gallows.

No matter who Lean ends up with, Oscar still holds feelings for her in his heart. What pure and unconditional love. But that love is also why Oscar abhors Cecilia in every single route.

Oscar is the one person I cannot interact with. Especially during this event…

In the next part of this romantic event, Cecilia butts in.

Things are just looking good between Oscar and Lean when Cecilia pops up from nowhere. Then she slaps Lean out of the blue and shouts at her.

“What do you think you’re doing trying to seduce an engaged man, you shameless trollop?!”

Oscar admonishes Cecilia, saying, “I could not be more disappointed in you,” and leads Lean away with an arm around her shoulders. This incident spurs Cecilia to further hostility against Lean.

Because situations like that one keep cropping up, it leads people to blame and suspect Cecilia of things she doesn’t even do: “It has to be her. That’s the type of person she is.”

Okay! Time to make my escape! she thought. If she stayed here and interrupted this event by some chance, Cecil might end up with the same fate as Cecilia, ruining all her cross-dressing efforts.

From her crouch, she slowly rose to her feet.

But then the cat jumped from her arms.

“Aah!” she cried as the cat used her head as a springboard and leaped over to Lean and Oscar, of all people.

Meanwhile, the recoil from the cat’s jump made Cecilia fall backward.

“Wha—?”

“Eek!”

Laid out flat with her back over the hedge, she tilted her head to sneak an upside-down glance at the couple.

N-now I’ve done it…

The cat burrowed itself in Lean’s arms and let out a happy meow.

“Were you eavesdropping on us?” Oscar said, glaring down at Cecilia coldly. Her whole body was trembling. She’d definitely spoiled the mood as some random man intruding on his tryst with Lean.

Yes, about 80 percent of Oscar’s affection points for Lean rest on this one scene.

If you like her so much, just give her your Sacred Artifact! she couldn’t help thinking. But she had to play by the game’s rules.

“Ah-ha-ha… It seems I’ve dozed off under this tree…,” Cecilia-as-Cecil said, making up a desperate excuse.

“Oh…?” Oscar replied, narrowing his eyes. Naturally, he didn’t believe it. Crap.

“Lord Cecil, are you all right?” asked Lean with an angelic smile as she helped Cecil up.

Ordinarily, Cecilia would be trying to avoid Lean at all costs, but her smile was like the warm sun compared to the subzero frost Oscar exuded next to her.

“Thank you.”

“I suppose even the gallant Lord Cecil has these moments. I feel like we might actually be quite similar,” said Lean.

“O-oh really?”

“………”

So cold I think I’m going to get frostbite! Help!

Oscar stared at Cecil so hard he could bore a hole right through him.

Wh-what’s his problem?! Is this like, “Don’t get close to my Lean—who do you think you are?” I’m not going to! I’m getting out of here!

“Ah, I’ll be heading back now. Very sorry for interr—”

“Would you like to join us for a chat? I’d actually love to get to know you better. Wouldn’t you, Prince Oscar?”

“…I suppose.”

Listen to that! Like hell he wants to!

“I-I’ll have to take you up on that another time. Good-bye!” Cecilia blabbed, fleeing the scene and the cold gaze of the frosty tundra.

After Cecil left, the pair exchanged glances.

“He’s gone. I wanted to talk to him more, though…,” said Lean.

“Mmm. Besides that, he looks kind of familiar…,” Oscar mused, falling into thought as he stroked his chin.

Then the kitten in Lean’s arms gave a cute meow. It jumped down, which sent the handkerchief that was wrapped around its foot fluttering into the air.

“I think Lord Cecil brought this cat over. Hmm? It looks like it’s hurt…,” noted Lean.

“Guess he used a handkerchief to give it some first aid. It’ll come right off if we leave it, so we should put a proper bandage on and disinfect the wound… Hang on. I’ve seen this handkerchief…,” Oscar said, picking it up and furrowing his brow. He recognized it from somewhere.

“Who the hell is that guy…?”

A look of loathing on his face, Oscar glowered in the direction Cecil had fled.