Chapter 10: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

"Who are you?"

The gorgeous woman kept holding Lydia’s hand as she led her toward the women’s area of the Regular Dormitory.

Lydia was still trying to catch her breath after being dragged halfway across the academy, but the moment the woman noticed, she stopped and took out a handkerchief.

"My bad. Are you all right? You must be tired."

She gently wiped the sweat from Lydia’s forehead before beaming a smile at her. Then she stepped back and curtsied elegantly.

"My name is Rishe. Rishe Arestionne, my lady."

Before Lydia could respond, Rishe took her right hand and pressed a light kiss to the back of it, just as a gentleman would.

"Lady Rishe?!"

A wave of confusion hit Lydia hard. Today was really something.

First, her fiancé had wanted to annul their engagement. Then he had suddenly changed his mind and decided to resume it.

After that, a drop-dead gorgeous young woman had slapped him in public and now she was kissing Lydia’s hand.

At this point, Lydia wasn’t even sure what kind of day she was having anymore.

Lydia studied the woman in front of her. She had never seen this student before. Not in this life. Not even in her previous life.

I was sure I had never encountered this beautiful girl during my sophomore year. I was 100% certain. A face that pretty wasn’t exactly something you forgot.

Unless I had somehow developed amnesia specifically for gorgeous women, there was no way I would’ve forgotten her.

Long pink hair framed Rishe’s face neatly. Her icy blue eyes were striking against her fair features. Unlike the other students, she was wearing a yellow floral dress instead of the university uniform.

Is she a new transfer student?

"Nice to meet you, Lady Rishe. My name is Lydia Valendorf."

"Ah! So you’re my new roommate."

"New roommate?"

"Yes. The Head Principal said the academy provides dorms for students. The men’s and women’s dorms are separate, and the academy assigns a Sentinel and a Guide to share each room. He told me that you would be my roommate."

"That’s right, Lady Rishe. Which means..." Lydia tilted her head. "You must be a Sentinel, right?"

"Correct."

Rishe’s icy blue eyes flickered for the briefest moment. That tiny reaction was so quick Lydia almost thought she had imagined it.

"I will be in your care, Lady Lydia."

Rishe pointed toward the luggage sitting beside the door.

Lydia followed her gesture and saw her own belongings stacked neatly in front of the room. So this was her new home.

The Regular Dormitory. No more Elite Dormitory. But that meant Lady Rishe belonged here too.

"The Head Principal said your belongings had been moved here earlier," Rishe explained. "Lady Emily insisted that they be placed outside our room while I was waiting for you."

Emily Fielyn.

That two-faced bitch.

Lydia’s expression soured at the name. Just thinking about that white lotus made her blood boil again.

Emily had thrown her belongings out of their old room, started the fight, and somehow still managed to come out looking like the victim.

"Did I say something wrong?" Rishe asked, her smile fading slightly. "I’m sorry, Lady Lydia."

"No, it’s nothing." Lydia quickly shook her head. "And just call me Lydia, Rishe."

"Then please call me Rishe as well."

Getting a new roommate might be a good thing for Lydia. At the very least, Rishe seemed much saner than that annoying Emily. She hoped they would get along.

With that thought, Lydia followed Rishe into their room. Unlike the Elite Dormitory, the Regular Dormitory was much more cramped.

Their luggage made the room feel even smaller as they unpacked, and even after everything was put away, there was barely enough space left to move around.

There were two single beds, a pair of basic desks, a small wardrobe, and a tiny bathroom.

Compared to Lydia’s old room in the Elite Dormitory, this place was almost embarrassingly small.

Still, she had no choice but to get used to it. At least she had a roommate who seemed friendly now.

Clothes came out of the suitcase one by one as Lydia arranged them neatly inside the wardrobe.

"So, why did you slap my ex... uh, I mean, fiancé?"

Even saying the word felt strange now. Ephraim had burned the annulment papers and asked to resume their engagement. So technically, he was still her fiancé.

That evil prince has burned my financial freedom! How annoying.

"So he wasn’t your ex-fiancé?" Rishe stopped wiping dust on the windowsill as she tilted her head at Lydia in confusion. "Didn’t the Crown Prince annul your engagement?"

How did she know that?

Rishe hadn’t been there when it happened. As far as Lydia knew, Ephraim never told anyone about the annulment either. Not even House Valendorf.

"Wait. How did you know that he is a Crown Prince?"

After arranging her books on the desk, Rishe cleaned the rug outside the bathroom.

"I recognized him when I saw you two in the garden earlier," Rishe explained. "The Crown Prince is not exactly someone whose face is difficult to recognize."

After a while, the room began to look less like a storage space and more like somewhere they could actually live.

Rishe tapped her bracelet and reached for something. Is that a purple fan with rose patterns and fluffy fur trim along the edges? It really suited her.

"The Crown Prince changed his mind," Lydia explained. "So we’re still engaged."

Something dark passed over Rishe’s face at those words. It disappeared so quickly that Lydia almost wondered if she had imagined it.

Then Rishe smiled again. It was a lovely, innocent smile. Enough to make Lydia doubt herself.

There was something strange about this woman. Or was I overthinking things?

A few wrinkles were smoothed from the bedsheets as Lydia tidied her side of the room.

Lydia had no idea what Rishe’s real reason for interfering was, but she had certainly done her a favor.

"Thank you, Rishe. But why did you have to yell that the Crown Prince harassed and molested me? You sure had guts, you know."

With her hands folded neatly in front of her, Lydia raised an eyebrow.

"What if they arrested you for treason or something? You basically accused the Crown Prince of a crime in front of half the academy!"

"But I couldn’t just let a man force himself on a woman. Even if he is the Crown Prince, there are some things a man simply shouldn’t do to his own fiancée."

Such an interesting woman. But she got a point there.

Rishe covered her lips with her fan and glanced to the side. "To treat the woman he’s supposed to protect that way... He sets a new bar for being low, Lydia. How shameless."

"Still, didn’t you think slapping him was way too overboard? And throwing such baseless accusations was quite bold."

The purple, rose-patterned fan slipped lower, slowly revealing the smile hidden behind it.

The bright, harmless smile was gone.

In its place was a faint curve of the lips that sent an inexplicable chill down Lydia’s spine.

Terrifying.

"Sure, he is a Crown Prince," Rishe answered calmly as she fanned herself. "But even a Crown Prince won’t be able to easily defend himself against an accusation of forcing himself on a woman."

Lydia gulped from her words. Rishe’s icy blue eyes glinted like polished sapphires.

"If he denies it, people will become suspicious. If he admits it, he will lose favor. And if he uses his authority to silence the accusation, people will believe he abused his power."

Rishe slowly licked her lips, her calculative smile never fading.

"And that’s how you gain an upper hand against him, Lydia."

Perhaps her new roommate was much more dangerous than Emily Fielyn. She looked like a graceful noble lady, as beautiful and alluring as a rose.

But just like a rose, Rishe had deadly thorns hidden behind that lovely smile.

Something about that brief glimpse of those thorns left Lydia with the uneasy feeling that there was far more to her new roommate, Rishe, beneath her graceful facade.

Damn. This woman was dangerous.