Lilith’s POV

“I suppose there must be a reason for the prince to suddenly be present in a border village and also to order the massacre of its inhabitants, right? Please be kind to enlighten me.” Nicholas said looking towards the prince and company.

I can see that their eyes are staring at the badge on his robe. Guess no one expects to see one of the famous tower researchers who rarely leave their laboratories in a remote village like this.

Things have gone exactly according to plan… I’m a bit disappointed in the prince. Controlling the country would be easy if he became the king; but it would make things too boring… So no; I’ll kill him later.

Personally, as he is the first man who actually directed his ill intent to my face directly in this new life.

He should be honored.

Also, Nicholas is playing his part nicely.

It was totally worth the effort I spent to help him earn the achievements and results. It was especially hard to guide him without rousing suspicion as he is smarter than other people, a proof of his rare Enhanced wisdom trait.

It is easy to get strength, agility or dexterity traits but wisdom is the rarest of all. If there were more people who actually knew what they were doing, their roles in the world and understood what they are needed to do in the future, then the world wouldn’t have been nearly destroyed so many times now would it?

I was only laying the groundwork for when I decided to travel to Aera. Having a tower mage as friend will prove immensely advantageous. I heard wonderful rumors of that place.

“Brother Nick! You are back!” I cheered enthusiastically with a bright smile included in the package to convey how glad I was to meet him again. He has grown wonderfully as expected after leaving the village.

His cold eyes turn gentle as he looked over to me, “Lily, I wanted to surprise you; brought presents from the magical city too. Didn’t know you had a surprise waiting here too.” He said looking over to the princes group again. With his higher level 7 Appraise, it should be possible for him to see through their Status Page masking equipment.

“T-They were bullying Sister Leena, so I protected her.”

I said in a low voice looking a little guilty over the trouble I caused for everyone; of course it was just to make everyone focus on the idio-… prince’s group rather than me.

“Well then, your highness, I am Nicholas, 99^th mage of the Tower in Aera. May I inquire about your presence in our humble village?” Nick said giving a slight bow.

Hmm, he spent time learning the noble etiquette, so he has friends in high places now. Good.

A slight murmur passed among the villagers when they realized the hooligan who attacked me really was the prince. Standing there pitifully without any ounce of dignity and bloodied nose makes it fucking hard to believe.

“I am the crown prince Julian Von Zeigesar, I visited this village to see my ex-fiancé as I was concerned about her health, before Mary here was attacked by that demon-spawn followed by the villagers manhandling me. That, magister, is the crime they will be arrested for.” The prince said trying to gloss over the matter. Though since everyone her saw what happened, there was really no need to tell the shameful lie and shift the blame.

He just made himself look worse. What an idiot.

People from the orphanage arrived, the siren was louder than expected. A fine product made by Nicholas without any input from me. Nice work.

“Lily! Are you okay!?” mom said as she rushed over and hugged me tightly before patting all over me for wounds… I feel bad because I made her worried because of my selfish actions. I will make it up to her later.

“What happened?” she asked her eyes boring into mine.

Fuck. She will know if I lied now. I need to be careful with my words.

“They were bullying… hurting sister Leena, the evil prince tried to hurt me when I protected her. So I pulled the security alarm’s key. But when everyone tried to protect me, the bad prince ordered his soldiers to k-kill everyone.” I recounted what happened here, by the end I stammered a little to show how scared I was.

“But it’s okay now, Brother Nick was near; he stopped them from doing anything bad.” I showed a fearless smile to further impress the villagers and blacken the prince’s entourage.

Mom looked around to assess the situation; she nodded to Nick as a greeting and show of gratitude before looking at the noble looking people protected behind the fake adventurers.

“My name is Margaret Thales, a head sister and priest in service of goddess of Light Aaris. This village is under the protection of the church and I have a position equal to that of the village chief in this village. My I know the reason for your presence here incognito? Please don’t say you were concerned about Leena as her banishment was something the five of you present here pushed for… as punishment for bullying of Lady Mary, if I remember correctly? Leena Keizer has already abandoned her family name to join the church. She has no longer has relations to neither the Royal family, nor the nobility as of now.”

Wow! I never seen mom so angry before… did I overdo it this time?

Faced with such accusations to his face the prince was left speechless. It was Mary who jumped out to salvage the situation.

“We are really sorry, it was all a misunderstanding, Julian didn’t mean to hurt that child. I asked everyone to come over and see Lady Leena was okay. We were friends before and I still wish to be friends with her. The incident with the annulment of her engagement is my fault and I wanted to apologize for it! I am sorry it has led to this! Please accept my apologies.”

She has better brains than the disappointing prince. Her high charisma stat is already doing its wonders.

As if I let her!

“SHE’S LYING! She was making fun of sister Leena! She hates her and came here to insult and cause problems to sister Leena! I saw it with my own eyes!”

High Charisma stat is not all powerful; this village is my territory. You can’t win against me here.

Comparing the absurd notion of coming to a remote village to see your lover’s ex-fiancé because you are ‘too kind’ and sincerely worried about her to kicking her when she is down; it’s obvious which is more believable.

Everyone looked at the crying woman with wariness. I have never lied nor tried to go against anyone directly. That is part of the reason why everyone calls me their little ‘angel’.

Here, nobody will doubt my words.

With this, there is nothing else they can do.

Checkmate.

Rumors of what happened here will spread everywhere. His order to slaughter everyone will surely make things harder for the royal family with the church.

In the Holy Kingdom the church are the true rulers. An attempted attack on a village under its direct protection will not go overlooked.

Plus for souring the relations with a tower mage, the prince and his little clique will have to face the discontent from the nobles.

This single event will even affect his position as heir to the crown. While I still don’t have a complete picture of the political situation. This will add a little more chaos and make it more interesting when I go there next year.

“Since his highness’s identity has been revealed to public, it is better to quickly return to the capital. Your safety cannot be secured in a remote village like ours. However there is a teleportation portal connected to the church headquarters here. Please allow me to activate it so that you can safely depart. Lily, you stay with Nicholas and Leena for now.”

While mom said that with a polite smile, she was basically kicking them out of the village. A point not lost on anyone.

They could not oppose her and could only nod their heads before following her to the church.

It seems Leena is still in a daze. I walked over to her before hugging her tightly in front of everyone. She would no longer be thought of as a villainess Duke’s daughter, but as a pitiful, innocent girl who was treated unjustly due a plot by the prince and his lover.

I need to make this girl learn how to live properly.

Playing around with pure people like her is fun.

Maybe I should slowly taint her in my colors…?

Ufufufu.