Chapter 4

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(O3O)/ – Here is Ch-4!!!

(-.-) – I’m sorry for changing the date of the post so suddenly. My grandpa was taken to the hospital, so I got worried and had a mental block. He’s doing a bit better now though, so I managed to finish the chapter on my phone. If the quality of the writing decreases by the end of the chapter, it’s because of that.

(OwO) – Anyway, enjoy the chapter∼♥

<hr>

I’m finally going back to school after such a long time, so I can’t help but feel super nervous right now, after all, I’m wearing the girl’s uniform that Her Majesty prepared for me.

To tell the truth, I didn’t want to go back to school looking like this, but I promised Vee I would, so there’s nothing much I could do about that….

Well, I originally intended to go to school looking as plain as possible to not attract much attention to myself, so I wasn’t really that worried about my appearance… that is, until I remembered what my mom said she’d do to me if I didn’t act like a proper lady.

So, since I didn’t want to have an early death, I asked my personal maids to help me look as cute as possible… and this was the result of their hard work.

“Wow… I’ve never seen that girl before… is she really a student from this school?”

“Dude, look! That girl is so pretty!”

“Hey, do you guys think she’ll go on a date with me if I ask her out?”

I thought everyone would recognize me right away when I came back to school, but that didn’t seem to be the case at all. I changed so much in this past few months, that the other students didn’t even realize I was Lenoir Miller.

(Now I feel like an idiot for even worrying about that…)

As I approached the school gate, I noticed that there was a flock of noble ladies surrounding someone in front of the entrance, so I knew right away who was that person.

“Oh, Leno! You’re finally here!”

The one standing in the middle of that sea of girls was none other than Vee, and his face lit up the moment he spotted me amidst the crowd of people entering the school.

“What are you doing standing here in front of the school gate, Vee…?”

“Well, you said you were coming back to school, so I decided to wait for you here. Now come on, class will start soon. You don’t want want to be late on your first day of school after such a long time, right?”

After saying that, Vee then grabbed me by the waist and escorted me to our classroom.

Needless to say, but my face went pale as soon as Vee did that. I thought his fans would start a riot because he was acting all intimate with a girl that wasn’t them–

“Who is that girl? Is she some foreign princess?”

“No way… Vincent-sama had a lover…?”

“To make Prince Vincent smile like that… just who is that girl…?”

–But they didn’t do anything, which actually surprised me even more.

“I thought they would make a lot more noise after seeing me with you, but… that doesn’t seem to be the case, huh?”

(Perhaps they learned from the mistakes of that crazy girl who tried to curse Vee…?)

“Of course they wouldn’t complain about this. They know I could easily destroy them and their families if they disturb my alone time with you, Leno.”

“D-destroy…!?”

(T-this guy…! He said he didn’t intimidate anyone, but maybe he lied to me…!?)

As we walked together to our classroom, I couldn’t help but ponder if going back to school was actually the right decision.

<hr>

The reaction of my classmates upon seeing me was practically the same as the other people.

“Wow, she’s so pretty!”

“Is she a foreign student?”

“Maybe she’s a princess from some other country!”

Hearing all of that made me feel a bit embarrassed, but since I couldn’t just continue standing here throughout the whole class, I took a step forward and reintroduced myself.

“Hello again everyone, I’m Lenoir Miller. I was on sick leave until recently because of my sudden appearance change, but now I’m back.”

There was a brief moment of silence amongst my classmates after I said that. However, once they processed what I said, they became even louder than before.

“No way, that Lenoir became this cute girl!?”

“Wow…! You look so different, that I didn’t even recognize it was you!”

“You were so plain as a guy, but now you became such a beauty!”

“!!!!!!!!!”

For the first time in my life, I think I can understand what Vee feels like when he’s surrounded by a lot of people. This is a bit too overwhelming for me.

Thankfully though, Vee was right behind me, so my classmates didn’t get too close to us.

However, they were being so loud that the other classes ended up coming here just to see what was going on… and in less than a minute, the outside of our classroom was already flooded with people.

“Wait, what!? That girl over there is Lenoir!?”

“Hee∼, he became really cute, huh?”

“That curse turned him into a beauty!”

“He turned into a girl…?”

I basically turned into the main attraction of our school. Everyone, including the teachers, wanted to see my new appearance.

Well, I’m not going to complain about that, since I would probably do the same thing if it was me… but being the center of everyone’s attention is really tiring.

I don’t know how Vee can handle this everyday like it’s nothing. Usually, I would’ve already sent all these people away by now, but since I’m not his retainer anymore, I can’t really do that.

Besides, it’s not like they’re being too intrusive with their questions anyway, so there’s no reason for me to be mean to them… right?

“Hey, do you remember me? We were in charge of guiding the new students once!”

“Y-yes, of course I remember you… haha….”

“You’re really cute, you know? Do you want to go on date with me?”

“N-no, thanks….”

(Haaah∼, I’m starting to miss my old job…)

Well, on the bright side, at least Vee’s here to protect me in case something happens, so there’s no need for me to worry about anything.

“…*Whisper*…Hey, don’t you think Lenoir and Prince Vincent look good together?”

“…*Whisper*…Now that you mentioned it, I always thought they were more than friends.”

I take back what I said. There’s a lot of things I need to worry about.

<hr>

After being treated like a rare animal all day long, I felt really exhausted.

The only thing I wanted to do right now, was to go home and relax as soon as possible, so I gathered my things and left the classroom.

However, as I walked down a corridor that led to the school building’s exit, a group of boys blocked the way and surrounded me.

The way they were dressed suggested that they were actually sons of nobles, but to me, they didn’t look like normal nobles at all. They looked a lot more like thugs than anything else. And to make things even worse, Vee wasn’t with me right now, so I couldn’t even ask him for help.

“Well, well, well, look who finally decided show up to school after such a long time. It seems like our dear friend Lenoir changed a lot since the last time we saw him, huh? Hahaha!”

After making that stupid joke, one of the boys started approaching me. I don’t really know who he is, but the other party seems to hate me for some reason.

“Hey, Lenoir, how’s it like being a girl? Did you masturbate with that body yet? Or did you perhaps ask your dear prince to do it for you?”

Disgusting. That was the first thing that came to my mind after hearing that. I never thought that having this kind of conversation with someone other than Vee could feel this unpleasant.

“Oh, I have a great idea! How about I play with you for a bit? That way you’ll be able to compare who’s better between me and your dear prince! Hahaha!”

Right after saying that, the wannabe thug started approaching me again with a mean look on his face.

Even though I stopped Vee when he tried to touch me some days ago, I still felt a bit exited at the thought of him doing that to me.

At the time, I thought I was reacting like that because I wanted to know what it felt like to be touched as a woman, but now I can’t feel like that at all. Rather, just imagining this guy touching my body made me feel disgusted and scared.

“S-stay away from me…!”

“Hey guys, grab her!”

As soon as the wannabe thug said that, a loud bang echoed from behind us, so we all turned around to see what was going on.

“P-P-Prince Vincent…?”

Just like one of the boys said, that loud bang came from Vee, or rather, the small crater on the wall that he made using his fist.

Needless to say, but the boys started shaking the moment they laid eyes on him. They even parted ways to let Vee reach me more easily.

“Do you guys see this brooch here on her uniform? This means Lenoir will become part of the royal family in the near future–”

After pointing at the brooch that his mother gave me, Vee glared at the boys with a murderous look in his eyes, then he continued.

“–Now, what do you guys think will happen if you try to touch my fiancee again…? Well, let’s just say I’ll smash something else instead.”

“”””W-w-we’re deeply sorry, sir! We’ll never do this again!””””

The wannabe thug and his friends were so scared of Vee, that they started running away as soon as they apologized to him.

…

…

…

When those guys finally disappeared into another corridor, I couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh.

If Vee weren’t here, something really bad would’ve happened to me, so I turned around and thanked him for helping me–

“Thank you for saving me, Vee. There were too many of them, so didn’t know what to do.”

–However, instead of just saying an “It was nothing,” like he’d usually do, Vee started scolding me.

“Why didn’t you wait for me in the classroom!?”

“Huh…? But you didn’t even ask me to wait for you….”

“That’s not an excuse, and you know it! Besides, you don’t even have that many male friends anyway, so why did you talk with all of those guys!?”

“Hey…! That’s really mean, you know!? I get it that I’m basically a loner, but you don’t have to throw it on my face like that!”

“………….”

“Aren’t you going to say anything…?”

“Sorry… I got angry because I couldn’t spend that much time with you today….”

Vee was sulking. He got mad because he didn’t get to spend much time with me today. I had never seen him acting that way before, so this was a completely new experience to me.

I know I should be mad at him because he said something really mean to me, but seeing Vee pouting like a little kid because things didn’t go the way he wanted was just too cute!

(\\\W-what’s with this cute creature…! I really want to pat his head…!\\\)

I was one step away from loosing control of my facial muscles. I was literally doing everything I could to hold myself back from grinning.

However, Vee didn’t know about the battle that was going on inside my head, so he just casually dropped another bomb.

“I wanted you to pay attention just to me… but you were too busy talking with our classmates to notice….”

(\\\Hnnnnnn!!!\\\)

“I-I’m sorry for not paying attention to you, Vee….”

“Me too… I’m sorry for acting like those guys that day… you were probably scared back then, right?”

Now Vee was feeling depressed and sulking at the same time. He thought I was scared when he tried to touch me back then, so I couldn’t help but extend my hand in his direction to pat his head–

(\\\T-this is bad…! I think my maternal instincts are kicking in…!\\\)

–But, thankfully, I managed to focus all my willpower on holding myself back.

“\\\Well, it’s true that I felt scared when those guys tried to touch me… but I didn’t feel that way when you tried to touch me, Vee…\\\”

“R-really…?”

Vee’s face lit up the moment I said that. After seeing his innocent smile, a warm feeling started welling up inside my chest, so I answered him honestly, without hiding anything.

“\\\Y-yeah… I’m okay if it’s you, Vee…\\\”

“\\\Leno…\\\”

I don’t know why, but after saying that, we just continued staring at each-other while blushing. The mood was so sweet right now, that I even started feeling a bit fidgety……… that is, until I remembered something really important.

“W-w-what should we do, Vee!? Now those guys know that we’re engaged! I’m sure they’ll tell that to other people! And then your fans will go crazy!”

“That’s indeed a problem… but I don’t think my fans will do anything to you. I mean, they know what happened to that girl who cursed you, so they’ll think twice before doing anything.”

True, his fans aren’t dumb enough to go against him just because they’re jealous.

But there’s also the fact that everyone will start treating us as a couple from now on, which is really embarrassing, specially because everyone knows I used to be a man.

I’m sure my classmates will tease me until the end of times if word of this reaches them… but Vee will probably take care of that when the time comes, so there’s no point in worrying about it yet.

“Hey, Vee, do you want to go home with me?”

“Oh, right… you were going home….”

“Hmm, if you’re busy right now, then it’s alright. I can go home by myself. You don’t have to go out of your way just to accompany me.”

I used to be Vee’s retainer, so I know that he’s a very busy person. His job as the heir of the Skyford throne isn’t easy. He often has to settle disputes between nobles, go to far away places to inspect how the people there are doing, and kill dangerous monsters to keep the people of his kingdom safe.

But that’s not all.

Sometimes, Vee also helps his father with his paperwork, which is extremely difficult. That’s why I said he didn’t have to go out of his way just to accompany me. I don’t want to impose even more things on him.

“I’m not really that busy. Besides, being with you helps me relax, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“The last time you told me you weren’t that busy, you almost collapsed from exhaustion, so I’m not buying it this time! You have to rest from time to time!”

“Fufu, you’re starting to sound like my mom, you know?”

I was about to tell Vee to not make fun of me, but after seeing him laugh like that, I decided not to.

“By the way, have you found someone to replace me yet, Vee? From what I’ve heard, there are a lot of promising candidates for you to choose.”

Considering that I wasn’t Vee’s retainer anymore, this was the perfect opportunity for the other nobles to show off their skills in front of their beloved prince and have him acknowledge their potential–

“Hmph. Promising candidates? It would be more accurate to call them useless trash.”

“T-trash…!?”

–But the prince in question didn’t seem to like any of them.

Well, I don’t think those candidates are lacking in terms of manners, since the majority of them come from prestigious noble families, but there’s also the fact that Vee didn’t want to replace me in the first place, so he’s probably just unsatisfied with this whole ordeal.

However, that’s not to say I’m the best retainer there is. I know I’m mediocre at best. The point is, the other nobles were also unsatisfied when I was by his side. Sometimes, they would even say things like, “He’s just Prince Vincent’s retainer because they’re childhood friends.”

Fortunately, I haven’t heard anything like that ever since I came back to school.

(Maybe my perfect lady act left them with nothing to complain about…?)

Anyway, I was a bit curious as to why Vee wasn’t pleased with any of the candidates, so I decided to ask if I could go with him to the palace to meet them, since he was headed there after this.

“Well, I don’t really want to take you to a place filled with men, but… I have to agree that’s way better than letting you go home alone, so why not?”

(Well then, since Vee’s okay with that, let’s see what is the real problem…)

<hr>

Shortly after exiting the academy, we arrived at the palace.

The party hall that Vee chose to hold this small gathering is really high-class. Only the top candidates were invited as well. And they’re all well known nobles to booth.

In terms of capabilities, these people are way better than me, so I guess I’m a bit relieved. It would be bad for Vee to have useless people working under him.

“I know you said you’d help me find a new retainer, but don’t overdo it, okay? You can leave this to me and just enjoy the party if you want to.”

“It’s alright, Vee. As your previous retainer, it’s my job to help you find someone that’s well suited for that role. Besides, I wouldn’t rest easy if I left everything to you.”

“Leno….”

If I leave everything to Vee, I’m sure he’s going to choose someone that’s easy to deal with, rather than someone who’s good at doing their job. This is his future, and the future of the Skyford Kingdom we’re talking about, so I can’t let that happen.

As soon as we entered the party hall, everyone focused their attention on us, so Vee stepped forward and introduced me.

“Hello everyone, we have a special guest here today. This is Lenoir Miller, my previous retainer.”

“Good evening, everyone. I am Lenoir Miller, Prince Vincent’s previous retainer. It’s a pleasure to meet you all again after such a long time.”

After I introduced myself, many candidates raised their voices in surprise, which made me wonder if I said anything wrong during my introduction. But the usual mood returned not long after that, so they just continued socializing with each-other like they were doing before we arrived.

Vee was a bit worried of leaving me alone in a place filled with nothing but guys, so he told me to stay by his side, but since my objective was to observe the situation, I rejected his idea. I decided it’d be better for me to stay in a place that was relatively close to his location. That way, he would be able to check on me whenever he wanted, and I would be free to do my job.

Soon after we agreed on that, the son of the Prime Minister approached me.

“Hello, miss Lenoir? No, that doesn’t sounds right… hmm, would you rather be called miss Miller instead?”

“Both sound a bit unsettling, so please, just call me Lenoir.”

“If that is your wish, then I would be more than glad to comply.”

He was one of the top students of our school and many of the new groundbreaking policies were formulated by him, which awarded him a permanent seat on the court during official meetings between the high nobles and the crown.

In terms of capabilities, he was as competent as his father, but I never had a good impression of him, mainly because he’s always smiling, which I find a bit creepy. Nonetheless, this young man has a bright future ahead of him, and I know he would serve Vee as best as he could.

“It’s been a long time, Lenoir. Everyone here was complimenting your, uh… new look?”

The one who chipped in on our conversation was the son of the Commander of the Royal Guard. This guy was the definition of the word muscle-brain. But contrary to his looks, he had a really good head over his shoulders.

People often praised him for having an outstanding fighting sense and commanding ability, so he was sure to inherit his father’s position when he retired. In terms of capabilities, he wasn’t lacking in practically anything, so he was also a good pick in my opinion.

“Oh, is that so…?”

“Honestly, I used to underestimate you. I’m sorry….”

“Huh…?”

I was a bit surprised to see the son of the Commander of the Royal Guard apologizing to me, specially since I didn’t know why he was doing that. But after noticing my apparent confusion, the son of the Prime Minister explained me everything.

“It was only after you stopped coming to school that everyone realized how hard it is to deal with Prince Vincent. That’s why he’s apologizing to you.”

(Oh… now that makes sense…)

“Yeah, Prince Vincent is known for being a strong, wise and caring person, that is loved by everyone.”

“But he is only caring when you are around, Lenoir.”

Since I wasn’t there to defuse any situation that would’ve made Vee break out of character, it seems like everyone in school got to know his true personality.

“Hahaha… Vee tends to dislike people who flatter him too much….”

I always feared that the people would stop supporting him if they learned about that, so whenever I noticed a shift in Vee’s mood while he was talking to other people, I would quickly separate him from them, which in turn made me look like the bad guy instead.

“Well, most of us didn’t get that… which is why there’s only a handful of people here.”

“That, uh… I’m really sorry about his temper….”

“It’s okay, that’s not really your fault, so you don’t have to feel sorry… although, being compared to you all the time was a bit hard for us at first. Prince Vincent would always say something like Lenoir could’ve done this much better than you, or Lenoir would never waste my time with something so pointless.”

“……….”

Vee was the son of the Hero King, so if he said he didn’t need someone because they were worse than his last attendant, that person would have no choice but to give up on that position, which was a little bit too cruel in my opinion.

Well, to be honest, I know I’ve done nothing but spoil Vee a lot all this time. However, taking care of his basic needs, like getting him food, and dealing with the people he found annoying, were the only things I could do for him, so what was I supposed to do?

Still, I think it’s a bit unreasonable to compare all those talented people with someone like me, who was more like an experienced butler than a retainer.

“Whenever Prince Vincent said something like that, I would think to myself: “Does a guy like him even need a retainer?” I mean, he can do practically anything, and he’s way stronger than me, so what would be the point of me even trying to protect him?”

“Same thing for me. What’s the point of having someone smart by your side, if you’re smarter than them, right?”

(I see… in other words, they started feeling useless because Vee can do everything that they can, and way better than them.)

“We couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed whenever we compared ourselves with Prince Vincent… but you’re different than us, Lenoir. Not only you endured that same feeling all your life, but you also served him even better than us, despite the opposition.”

“Well, Vee is Vee, so I never really cared about that. I just focused on serving him as best as I could.”

“And that is what’s so amazing about you, Lenoir. Not that many people can just discard those feelings and move on with things.”

Humans are competitive in nature, so it’s normal for them to feel jealous of someone who is better than them in something. However, I never really felt that way towards Vee. We became best friends in no time after I started serving him, so my priority was never to surpass him, but to make his life easier.

“To tell the truth, I always thought you didn’t deserve your position, Lenoir. However, after being made to do all those chores, I finally realized how hard you were working everyday. That’s why I also want to apologize to you… I’m sorry for thinking that way about you.”

This time, the son of the Prime Minister was the one who apologized to me… but that only made me feel bad about all this, since I finally understood what was going on.

Knowing Vee, he’s probably thinking of having his new retainer do the same things I used to do. In other words, he’s going to make his next retainer work as a butler.

And the worst part of it all, is that it’s all my fault.

I made Vee become too overly dependent on me, so I should be the one to fix this situation.

“Would you two mind if I excused myself for a moment? You see, I really need to speak with Vee right now.”

After saying that, I then turned around and started walking towards my best friend.

Vee was more than happy to see me approaching him, however, I wasn’t here to chat, so I took a deep breath and started scolding him.

“Why are you making all these talented people do chores!?”

The entire party hall became silent after I yelled at Vee.

“W-why are you so angry…?”

“Because you’re making the future of this nation do chores! I know that was the only thing I was good at, but you can’t just force them to do the same! You’re wasting their potential!”

Saying that was really embarrassing for me, since I was technically telling everyone how much of a useless retainer I was, but it had to be said, otherwise, Vee would just continue wasting their potential.

“S-sorry… I won’t do that again….”

“You better not! Now then, why don’t you go talk with them to see what they’re good at? Maybe you’ll find someone who can help you with paperwork, or something like that.”

Vee went to talk with the candidates as soon as I said, and then they introduced themselves to him. After the round of introductions was over, everyone started talking about their dreams and aspirations, until it became a huge debate about laws and politics.

The boys were so into their dabate, that they even forgot about their titles and positions.

(Even though I can’t understand anything that they’re talking about, it seem like Vee finally found some friends who enjoy the same topics as him, huh…?)

…

…

…

Two hours later, the boys finally decided to end the debate because it was getting late. However, as they were preparing to leave the place, the son of the Prime Minister suddenly turned around and asked me a question.

“Even though you gave us the opportunity to have this wonderful debate, you never joined us in any of the topics, Lenoir, so… do you want to add something before we end things for today?”

To be honest, I didn’t even understand half of what they were talking about, so I felt like I couldn’t really give a comment on anything. But, since I didn’t want to look bad in front of all these people, I just donned one of those perfect smiles that my mom had taught me, and said–

“–Well, if I had to say something, it would be that I’m glad I gave you all the chance to know each-other a little bit better. Watching you guys talk about something that you all enjoy, was really fun.”

After I said that, there was a brief moment of silence… then they all started applauding me. Even Vee was doing that, but with a proud look on his face.

(I really hope none of them finds out that I made this lie on the spot…)

<hr>

(O3O)/ – That’s it for now!!!

(OwO) – Don’t forget to join the Discord.

(O-O) – Link’s HERE….

(-.-) – See you all soon.

<hr>

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