Banished Villainess

29 : Internship Ends

No one was able to understand what Keith had said immediately. However, the first person to ever truly tasted Chloe’s finished cooking was indeed, neither the prince nor Shin, but rather Locke.

“That man is in love with Momo, isn’t he? Even Chloe should have understood that.”

“That’s true, but Lady Chloe should also know that Lady Momo will be married to brother Leddorio, which means that Locke will be single. In the first place, can we even control just whom the lady will fall in love with?”

“Shin is in the position to make her entirely dependent on him. When he shows her his favor, Chloe, who has no other people to rely on will soon… “

“It doesn’t seem to be going well though.”

As the prince discussed with his younger brother, the recording of the past few days kept rolling on the screen.

Receiving lunches from Chloe every morning, Locke drops at the bar in the evening along with his companions. The mirror had shown Chloe worriedly gazing at the door of the lodging house during the times that Locke doesn’t return, as well as the figure of her immediately rushing to treat him with sacred magic when he returns wounded. 

The surrounding people gazed at her actions pleasantly and now treats her as though she was Locke’s lover.  On the other hand, Shin’s approaches barely elicit responses, and when he tries to woo her with sweet-talking, she only assures him that he does not need to mind her as much any longer.

In the first place, they have been fully occupied in the past few days and barely had time alone together. When Chloe is done with her work, she immediately lies on her bed to sleep in tiredness.  The situation is still way too far from the lady falling in love with her butler.

In the meantime, the promised one-week probation period with the mistress had already passed. As for the result, Chloe and Shin were formally hired as employees of the lodging house.

 “Chaco’s hardworking anyway, and you are well received by the guests. Besides, you’re a kind girl. No matter what circumstances you may have, you are free to stay here as much as you want… or rather, we’d like you to stay.”

“Thank you, mistress.”

‘That overbearing woman was able to put up with her pretentions for a whole weak,  how surprising.‘

‘That’s not very honest of you, Darck. Why don’t you just acknowledge the hard work of your adorable younger sister?‘

‘My only adorable sister in this world is none other than Momo, your highness, Yellow.‘

As Darck kept harshly talking about his younger sister, a broad grin surfaced within the face of the 2nd prince.

 “Oh? Darck must not have any romantic feelings for Lady Momo then. I mean, if Lady Momo were to have feelings for Darck, you will have to decline her because you only see her as a sister. Not to mention, you can no longer treat each other as opposite sexes which obviously, means that a wedding is out of the question too, right?”

“W-Well…”

“Keith, you’re being malicious.”

　Leddorio had rebuked his younger brother, but what truly made the relationship between the two cloudy was his idea to have her adopted by the House Sereknight in order to allow him marry Momo. She may have been a saintess, but she is still a commoner and needs a sufficient peerage for that.

However, maybe because the Duke feels conflicted about adopting the lady who was the cause for his daughter, Chloe’s banishment, the negotiation regarding the adoption has not been moving smoothly.

First, Momo needs to be clear on who she will be marrying, their reactions will vary depending on that.