The Villainess is a Marionette
Chapter 53

Translator: thursdays PR: scarcecrow

After a while, Ethel finished changing clothes and stepped out from behind the partition. His ruined garments were dumped in the infirmary’s trash can.

“I have a prior engagement, so I have to go meet with someone.”

Ethel’s face stiffened at her words. Cayena hadn’t finished speaking, though.

“Do you want to accompany me?”

Once again, she held out a hand to him. She had taken off her glove to apply ointment on him, and her hand was lovely and pale.

Ethel’s unexplainable bad mood faded away.

As he grabbed her hand, Cayena got up from her chair, smoothing her dress.

Ethel glanced at her graceful movements.

The elegant princess resembled him, but she was so different as well. He frowned because his heart kept feeling ticklish.

When they left the building, they saw Raphael and his entourage being guided by Olivia.

Raphael looked back and forth between Cayena and the little boy holding her hand. Raphael’s eyes momentarily narrowed at their young, uninvited guest.

“I respectfully greet Her Highness, the Princess.”

Cayena calmly introduced Ethel.

“This is my brother, Ethel. I ran into him and brought him along.”

“I see.”

Raphael knew exactly who the boy was. There was no chance he wouldn’t recognize the son of Catherine Lindbergh. Furthermore, Ethel was a well-known problem child at the imperial academy. Despite his slim form, he was considered a promising swordsman for his natural strength and reflexes. Raphael had heard about how he could wipe the floor with the influential families’ children.

It was quite surprising that Ethel was with Cayena. Moreover, he was acting rather calmly.

“Ethel, this is Sir Raphael Kedrey. Say hello.”

At Cayena’s words, Ethel obediently greeted Raphael.

“Salutations. I am Ethel Lindbergh.”

At his respectful greeting, Cayena gently patted his hair as if telling him he had done well.

Raphael suddenly recalled Cayena’s recent nickname that he had overheard.

‘I think they called her a “beast trainer”?’

After receiving the greeting, Raphael went by Cayena’s side. He was offering to escort her.

Cayena had always seemed uncomfortable, but now she held his arm like it was natural.

Suddenly, Ethel grabbed Cayena’s other hand, as he had let go of it while he was giving his greetings.

“Ethel?”

Cayena called with confusion in her voice. Ethel looked at her. His eyes seemed to say that if it was just escorting, he could do that for her too.

Cayena ended up with both of her hands full.

‘If others saw this, they would think it weird.’

Somehow, it felt like they were a young couple with a son. Shaking aside that strange mood, Cayena said,

“First, let’s go check the site.”

They headed to the construction site.

In the meantime, Ethel looked at Raphael with a peculiar hostility. For some reason, he didn’t like Raphael.

Cayena and Raphael toured the site to discuss the building’s function.

They thought it would be better to use it as a dormitory or for some other special purpose.

In the middle of the conversation, Cayena turned to Ethel.

“What do you think?” she asked.

Ethel looked surprised, not having expected her to ask for his opinion on the matter.

“The opinions of the current students are also important, though you won’t be able to use it before it’s completed.”

Finishing a building took quite a while.

‘The construction should be finished around the time Ethel has grandchildren, right?’

By that time, Cayena would have already absconded from the capital city and ran somewhere far away.

There was a large possibility that she would never see the completed form of the building that held her name. She felt a bit disappointed.

Ethel hesitantly replied, “…I think it would be best to do as Your Highness said.”

“Is that so?”

Cayena smiled brightly.

Raphael looked at Ethel. The relationship between the Lindbergh child and Cayena was truly strange. It was difficult to tell how their closeness would affect the future. But one thing was for sure.

‘This is going to be bothersome.‘

It was clear that her younger brother did not like him.

Cayena was thinking about how to change the topic of her conversation with Raphael to politics.

“Ethel, shouldn’t you start preparing for your afternoon classes now?”

Cayena’s words made Ethel realize that it was time for him to leave.

It was a shame. When Cayena noticed that he was looking a little deflated, she gently brushed back his hair.

“We’ll meet again, won’t we, Ethel?”

“…Yes?”

“Let’s see each other again. At that time, would you call me ‘Sister’ rather than ‘Your Highness’?”

Ethel’s eyes widened with surprise. He hesitated, then opened his mouth.

“…I can call you ‘Sister’?”

“Well, it may be a little difficult to do so when other people are around.”

Cayena smiled and added,

“But you can call me that in private. Sir Raphael can be our witness.”

Ethel’s face was peculiarly distorted, neither smiling nor crying. He bowed his head and left as if he were running away.

Looking at the retreating back of her youngest brother, Cayena thought that adolescent boys were really mysterious.

“You seem close to Lindbergh’s son.”

“Does it look like that? I felt comfortable with him since he’s my younger brother.”

‘But more than that, Ethel’s attitude is…’

Raphael changed the topic without saying anything further on the matter.

“I didn’t know Your Highness had come so early. I should have hurried. My apologies.”

“It’s no problem. This wasn’t the purpose of today’s meeting, actually.”

They didn’t really meet to discuss how to use the building.

It was just an excuse. Even Raphael knew well that it was an excuse for them to meet. However, their personal goals for the meeting were not the same.

“While it was an excuse, I thought that I should still survey the site of the building first since I am receiving it as a gift.”

Coincidentally, she had witnessed her half-brother fighting and abandoned the thought of checking the construction site.

“Are you hungry?”

Thinking about it, she hadn’t eaten anything other than some tomato soup this morning because she was busy working.

“Did you say you reserved a spot at a restaurant?”

“I reserved a full-course dinner at a restaurant close to the academy.”

“Then, let’s eat first and come back to the academy to go over the documents.”

She also had to check how the principal would deal with the miscreants.

Because Raphael knew where the restaurant was, they decided to ride his carriage together.

Raphael’s carriage was not lacking compared to the imperial family’s.

Raphael helped Cayena into the large carriage and then offered her lady-in-waiting, Olivia, a hand as well.

Seeing that, Cayena thought things were going well.

‘If I provide them opportunities to interact like this, their love will naturally bloom on its own.’

However, contrary to Cayena’s thoughts, Raphael’s face stiffened slightly while helping Olivia climb into the carriage.

Soon the carriage arrived at the restaurant where Raphael made the reservation.

Cayena stepped out of the carriage with Raphael’s help. Despite herself, she sighed.

“Hmm…”

She saw Raphael, who just assisted Olivia off the carriage. He turned his head and made eye contact with Cayena.

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

The restaurant was a charmingly decorated white mansion-like building.

As they passed through the romantic garden full of colorful flowers and a fountain, an employee bowed to them.

Raphael said, “I have a reservation under Kedrey.”

“Please follow me.”

The place where the employee guided them was the most beautiful spot in the restaurant.

Olivia, who followed at Cayena’s side, also admired the stunning views.

The restaurant employee approached and informed them there was a separate room for their entourage.

Cayena told Olivia and the knight, “You two should eat too. I’ll send over someone to fetch you after a while.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Cayena and Raphael went to their table.

White curtains adorned the building, which was built like a small shrine, along the path of splendidly blooming flower trees. The way the curtains fluttered in the wind reminded Cayena of an exotic resort.

She had felt embarrassed from the moment she stepped in the restaurant.

‘This restaurant seems to be a popular date spot for young couples.’

In terms of atmosphere, this restaurant was by no means appropriate for business. In addition, Raphael most likely wouldn’t have chosen this place himself knowing the atmosphere.

‘Did he reserve the spot without knowing?’

But he seemed to be guided by the employee too naturally for that to be the case. Cayena was puzzled.

At that moment, Raphael asked, “I picked the most popular restaurant these days. Do you like it?”

“It’s a pretty restaurant, but…”

The problem was that they looked like they were on a date.

“What’s wrong?”

Raphael looked as if he had no idea what the problem was. Cayena tried to reply but gave up on it. She sighed.

“I was just admiring your taste.”

Raphael smiled at her words.

‘Things like this are nice once in a while.’

It just happened to be the most popular restaurant. That’s what Cayena told herself as she started to sit.

However, Raphael pulled out the chair for Cayena before the waiter could do so.

“…Thank you.”

Cayena’s brows crinkled slightly as she saw him pulling out her chair. She sat down anyway, but she kept thinking that he was somewhat acting out of character.

~~~

[TN] Heyo, for our PR scarcecrow’s birthday, we’ll be releasing two additional chapters later today! It’d be nice if you could drop a kind message in the Discord channel for her ^^

Happy birthday scarcecrow, and thanks for working on this project with me!