I Became The Childhood Friend of the Obsessive Second Male Lead

Even though there were very rare colors mixed in, his grandmother said that she enjoyed watching him mix them and meeting new colors.

“After I had painted my body to my satisfaction, I ran to my grandmother.”

“Were you going to ask her to wash you?”

“I couldn’t have been like that back then.”

“Then?”

He answered by spreading both arms of the squirrel doll.

“I want a hug.”

Rieta naturally imagined the child Everett.

A boy with various colors painted all over his body ran to his grandmother with arms wide open.

What happened after that was somehow easy to imagine.

“She must have hugged you.”

She would have done it without the slightest hesitation.

She was sure that his grandmother would do that.

“She hugged me.”

Fortunately, Rieta’s prediction was not wrong, so Everett gave the same answer.

“She hugged me very tightly. Thanks to that, not only her clothes but also her face were covered in paint.”

“For some reason, I think you enjoyed it together.”

Rieta’s answer made Everett raise his head as if he was a little surprised.

“How did you know?”

“It’s just.”

Rieta replied with a chuckle.

“She’s not just an angel, I think the Archangel would have been like that.”

“That’s right. So I . . .”

Everett rested his chin for a moment and closed his eyes.

The colors of that day were still vivid.

“So I . . . couldn’t help but notice that she loved me in a very special way. That made me who I am today.”

“Did Everett love your grandmother that much?”

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t. I didn’t have the courage.”

“Courage?”

“The courage to defy my father. He was surprisingly averse to my grandmother’s ways.”

“Then . . . Have you got the courage to go against it now?”

Rieta asked, recalling his recent actions.

“Yes. It’s simpler than I expected.”

When asked where he got such courage from, he answered while holding the necklace carefully.

“Because Princess Gabriella was happy. Just like my grandmother was happy.”

“Ah.”

“Actually, I regret it sometimes. I wonder what it would have been like if I had expressed my feelings to my grandmother so actively.”

“I see.”

“Because it is necessary to receive firm affection. For anyone.”

“So Everett sets the standard for all actions on Princess Gabriella? To give her firm affection?”

“In the end, I am greedy and want to become the person Princess Gabriella needs.”

With that greed added with the Princess’ joy, no one has been able to stop Everett?

“Well, I ended up talking about myself.”

“I asked too much.”

“No! I got too excited, so I started talking about this and that.”

“Somehow, I talk to Princess Rieta about anything,” said Everett with a shy smile.

“Actually, this wasn’t the time to talk about this.”

He put down the stuffed squirrel and stood next to Rieta.

“. . . Everett Hewitt?”

When Rieta called out curiously, he bowed deeply to her instead of answering.

“I apologize for my rudeness toward Princess Rieta yesterday.”

“How many times should I say it’s okay . . .”

“No.”

Even at Rieta’s words, he cut off her answer and slightly raised her head.

“No matter how much forgiveness you gave me, a polite apology is necessary. Besides . . .”

“Besides?”

“Because the Duke said, ‘If I properly apologized to Princess Rieta, and you accepted it and forgiven me, there’s nothing he can do about it.’”

Rieta nodded her head.

It sounded somewhat like the Duke’s words.

It would be an advice to give and receive apologies and forgiveness through proper procedures even when they are close friends.

“Alright. Everett.”

Rieta smiled.

“Thank you for your formal apology. I will accept your heart and offer you forgiveness in return.”

He straightened his body at her sincere answer. His face looked deeply relieved.

“Thank you. Really. Thanks to that, I have the face to see the Duke.”

“The Duke is not the kind of person who would reject someone for something like that. He’s very friendly.”

Everett couldn’t really relate to Rieta’s words.

It was because the Duke’s expression was so frightening when he spoke the words, “If the Princess has forgiven you, there is nothing I can do.”

If Rieta hadn’t forgiven Everett, he wondered if something dreadful would have happened.

“Oh, Everett! It’s really true.”

Even so, Rieta emphasized the Duke’s kindness to him again.

In the end, he never even nodded.

“Anyway.”

Instead, his response surprised Rieta a little.

“It seems that God sent the Duke because God couldn’t take care of the Princess himself.”

“What?”

“Like my grandmother.”

“But, that . . .”

Wasn’t that something only used to describe families connected by blood?

Rieta was about to ask that but she stopped. She was kind of upset.

“I can assure you.”

Everett, on the other hand, looked confident.

“Will the Duke warmly hug the Princess anytime? Even if you are smeared with not just paint but something more than that.”

“. . .”

“Uh . . . Of course, I wasn’t talking about you being a messy Princess. I swear.”

Rieta laughed as he added lightly to soften the mood.

“I know. Thank you, Everett.”

And then it was time for him to return to the academy.