I Became the Villain’s Childhood Friend

At my words, sparks flew from Rian’s ultramarine eyes.

“Who are you to call Mother, ‘Mother’?!”

“My goodness, how resentful! I can’t even call Mother, ‘Mother!”

I wanted to swear at him, who was seriously paranoid, but I tried to open my mouth in a soft voice.

“You know, I want to get along well with Brother.”

“What? Brother?”

“…Then shall I just call you, ‘you’?”

“Shut up, you crazy!”

“Wow, look at that snout.”

I looked at Rian, who was running amok on the road, with a small admiration for his great way of speaking.

At my gaze, Rian squealed as if he was getting more angry.

“If I become a duke, I will kick all of you out!”

Listening to the words that I had already heard several times, I roughly perked my ears.

“Those whose mothers are unknown… I’m a noble being on a different level from you, who were born dirty!”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.”

“What do you know!”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes back at his cry.

Then I glared at him with white hair, screaming like crazy, and trembling all over.

“I got it!!! I got it!!!”

“…”

“I got it!!! I got it!!! I got it!!!”

After repeating the action a few more times, I returned my eyes to see Rian sitting on the ground with a terrified expression in front of him.

I was quite satisfied with the result, so I raised the corner of my lips and smiled. Rian, whose face turned blue, got up in a gasp and ran away.

He even fell while running away.

And after that, I was called to Father.

“Are you sick anywhere?”

When Father asked me if I was seriously ill, I also replied no seriously.

Then Father washed his face dry as if he had a headache.

“I heard that Rian has seizures in his sleep?”

“It wasn’t intentional.”

“Alright… I guess so.”

Father sighed and said.

Now is my chance. Let’s tell him everything he did.

I opened my mouth to him with a serious face.

“Brother told us that we’re of low blood, and that he would kick us out when he became a duke.”

“…Rian?”

Father asked in disbelief.

“Yes.”

I spoke in a gloomy voice.

“…Then are we really being kicked out?”

Hearing my words, he looked quite shocked.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“We’re not the children of Father and Mother.”

Of course, I didn’t think that we would be kicked out of the duchy.

Because Rian won’t be the Duke of Lerdonia.

It was Edin who inherited this family.

Still, it would be better to drive a wedge in once in a while.

“…Although I’m really shameless, but if possible, I’d like to continue living in this house. Or, since I’m leaving, just Edin and Sylvester,”

“What are you talking about? No matter what anyone says, you’re my daughter.”

“…”

Father, who cut off my words at once, continued with a firm voice.

“Besides this house, where else would you go if you had nowhere else to go?”

It wasn’t a bad thing to live on the pocket money I had saved up.

So, I added my words cautiously.

“It’s okay if I get kicked out of the family… ”

As soon as I finished my words, he banged his fist on the table. Startled, I looked at him. He seemed oddly angry.

“That will never happen.”

…Seriously, I’m okay, though?

***

“You…”

“Brother!”

Seeing Lian’s face from afar, I smiled and approached him.

Then Rian started swearing at me as if he had seen a ghost.

“F*ck!!! Get lost!!!!”

His perfect response gave me a wide smile and I stopped moving closer to him.

Only then did Rian completely frightened and leave the place as if to run away.

Serik, who had only heard about our new half-brother harassing us, looked at me with a puzzled look and asked,

“Danae, you… What the hell have you done?”

“Nothing. I only scared him a little.”

“…”

Serik looked as if he was at a loss for words.

Ah, great. As long as people live, you can scare people!

I pulled Serik’s arm.

“Let’s go where there is no fool.”

“…Alright.”

Today was the day Reynold didn’t come because of swordsmanship training.

At first, I snorted, saying that swordsmanship training wasn’t even funny, but after seeing Reynold training, I completely changed my mind.

Reynold handled the sword much better than I thought, and he was serious about swordsmanship.

Looking at Reynold training hard, saying he would enter the Academy with me, my conscience didn’t sting.

Well, regarding wanting to go to school with me, he seemed like just saying that.

Reynold, who genuinely enjoys wielding a sword, looked like he wanted to enter the swordsmanship department even if it wasn’t for me.

“You know, Danae…”

Then, as if he had something to say, Serik called me.

“Is Reynold not coming today?”

At his words, I nodded.

“Mm, he’s practicing swordsmanship today.”

“He works harder than I think.”

Serik murmured.

“Does he want to be a prosecutor?”

“…Does he?”

“He bothers you so much as a friend, but what about him being a prosecutor who saves people?”

Serik’s words made me visibly flinch.

“Besides, he’s not a person who has a good influence on anyone.”

At some point, Serik began to gossip about Reynold more often.

“Honestly, isn’t it true that his personality is difficult to handle? When I’m with him, I feel like I’m going crazy too.”

At his words, I kept my mouth shut.

To me who didn’t answer, Serik opened his mouth insinuatingly.

“How about talking to the Duke again?”

“What?”

As if asking for something obvious, Serik replied in a light tone.

“Are you going to keep your relationship with Reynold? I… don’t see that.”

“…”

“If it’s hard for you to tell him, I’ll help you, Danae.”

Serik’s face was quite serious.

“He’s so weird, it won’t change anything if you add some words.”

I didn’t want Serik to cross the line. I liked Serik a lot, and I wanted to get along with him for a long time.

“Serik, thank you so much for thinking of me and giving me advice. But regarding Reynold…, I’ll take care of it.”

Hearing my words, Serik hesitated for a moment.

Maybe he’s sad bcause of my words?

After all, what I thought was right.

Serik’s heart must have been hurt, so I hurriedly continued.

“If Reynold had said this about you, Serik, I would have said the same thing.”

When I tried to smile, Serik smiled along with me.

Without being able to erase the expression of laughter or shyness.

After that, Serik seemed awkward with me.

I treated him casually, but Serik climbed into his carriage and said he would return home earlier than usual.

I was very heartbroken.

I didn’t know how to react in this situation.

I only turned my back after seeing Serik’s carriage leaving the mansion.

Shall I write a letter to Serik asking if he has any regrets about Reynold?

With that thought in mind, I inadvertently looked at the first-floor window of the mansion, where my eyes immediately met.

And the sight in my eyes… I saw Madam Collin, standing outside the window, looking at me with an expressionless face.

I was so shocked that I almost fainted.

…I didn’t hear that Madam Collin visited the mansion today. Could it be that he was looking at Serik and me?

The eyes of the Madam who was looking at me seemed excessively wide. At the sight of her eyes, where the whites were barely visible, goosebumps broke out all over my body, and my feet were glued to the ground, unable to move.

It was a primal fear that rode up from the bottom of my heart.

My heart pounded wildly and my fingertips trembled slightly.

But I pretended to be nothing and forcibly lifted the corner of my completely frozen mouth and smiled at the Madam. Then she smiled along with me.

Like someone who has never smiled before. Her smile was somehow very awkward.

***

After that day, Serik and I became quite awkward.

I tried to treat Serik as if nothing had happened, yet the relationship between us was still awkward.

In the end, only Reynold was excited among them.

Of course, this guy was never openly excited, so I was the only one who knew that he was excited.

I stared blankly at Reynold, who was studying hard even though no one had told him to, and straightened my posture at Ren’s clearing of his throat.

“Ahem, you must have done your homework, right?”

Ren, me and Reynold’s teacher, took a sip of tea and asked.

Apart from other subjects, I was able to present the book to Ren with relative confidence because I always did my best on my Tiberian homework.

Ren also knew full well that the only subject I did my homework on was Tiberian, so I quickly skimmed through the book.

“…Princess, I’ve been curious about it before.”

When Ren looked at my perfect homework, he opened his mouth.

“Why are you only studying foreign languages, Princess?”

At Ren’s words, Reynold’s gaze also turned to me.

I had spoken to him on this subject before.

Reynold asked if I probably wanted to go abroad.

Half right and half wrong.

The reason I focus on foreign languages is because I have to go home somehow.

There was no doubt that Harchen couldn’t speak the Imperial language.

At least I thought so.

Otherwise, there would be no answer to my question of how to return home.

There were quite a few cases of receiving Harchen’s response among non-empire foreigners. However, seeing that there was no such case within the Orpedia Empire, I thought that Harchen couldn’t speak the Imperial language.

If not, am I lacking in faith?

But in my current situation, it was strange to be religious.

I smiled brightly and answered Ren’s question.

“Foreign languages are the most fun.”

…Because it’s not a lie

At my words, Ren’s face lit up.

“Then how about learning a new language?”

Ren hinted at me as if he was proud of me studying a foreign language diligently, even though I had no interest in studying for the past time.