Surviving As The Villain's Childhood Friend

He reached the library.

The place where all of Agrad’s history is stored.

The emperor granted them ‘Preservation of History’ in exchange for absorbing the powerful force of Agrad into the empire.

Instead, Evelian has to provide the empire with some of the force of ‘Agrad’s Swordsmanship’.

Some historians said it was a big loss for the empire, but Roziel disagreed.

No one can learn Agrad’s swordsmanship anyway.

Thus there was a loophole.

And the Evelian family didn’t open Agelisk with that excuse for generations.

This means Agelisk would be temporarily suspended until several people with ‘talent’ came out.

On the day Roziel turned twelve, the Marquis hosted Agelisk. It was the first time in fifty years.

I don’t know what exactly my father meant.

Why did he open Agelisk? Was it to save the knights of the Evelian family, Olodika?

“Good afternoon, young master!”

The librarian at the library greeted him by folding his waist in half. 

(T/n: meaning he bowed 90 degrees)

“What, what brings you here… Do you have any other books you want?”

Roziel nodded slowly.

“I’d like to see the books that the maids borrow often.”

Roziel said, recalling the romance novel Sally talked about.

“…Yes?”

“Like I said, the books women like…”

“I, I’m not smart enough to understand your intentions… Could you please explain it a bit more clearly?”

“I mean, feelings like…love…that are expressed in the books, things like that.”

Roziel said discreetly, embarrassed to utter the word ‘Romance’ out loud.

“…”

The librarian’s pupils shook.

He was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend the words he said.

But Roziel was firm.

“So, you mean, a romance novel?”

“Yeah.”

Roziel’s face turned red.

“Yes, these days, novels with keywords like emperor or villainess are popular.”

Villainess? Emperor? It seemed different from Sally’s novel.

How did the villainess and emperor meet and fall in love?

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

Roziel replied for now.

I don’t understand what he is saying but since I’m not an expert, I’ll let him handle it.

Roziel decided to trust him.

“Please, follow me.”

Roziel carefully followed the librarian.

The librarian walked cautiously as if he was an assassin who broke into a mansion.

“This way… be careful.”

“Okay.”

Roziel also became cautious.

He said that they shouldn’t leave any traces, so they walked around the bookshelves in a complicated path.

Thanks to that, Roziel was able to start thinking about it again.

‘I had skinship…’

Roziel gulped down.

He recalled what happened in the forest.

As soon as Yuria’s hands touched his waist, Roziel was surprised and almost slapped it away. But he endured it.

It was the first time in my life that I had physical contact with a girl my age.

But you’re trying to have skinship first…

I knew she liked me but when I actually went through it, my heart felt like it would burst.

Roziel secretly touched his waist. It was as if Yuria’s body heat was still there.

Besides,

‘Wasn’t it too fast?’

Yuria Zeos secretly revealed that she wanted to marry me.

You want to become rich.

The Evelian family is the richest aristocratic family in the empire.

So she must be determined to get married quickly.

‘Ma, Marriage? This fast?’

Was it supposed to be like this?

In Sally’s book, An adult man and woman must date for a long time before getting married.

And the process is quite complicated.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m obligated to accept her signal.

‘I really don’t know what to do.’

Wouldn’t reading more romance novels provide me with the answer?

The librarian soon arrived at the destination.

The main building’s library is made entirely for the Kingdom of Agrad.

There was, however, a side library for the employees next to it.

And there.

Bookshelves were filled with books with explicit titles.

Roziel picked one of them.

‘’

“Ah! Young master! Not that way.”

The librarian quickly took the book away from Roziel.

“It’s a novel that only adults read. Young master should come this way…”

The librarian guided me to the side with more wholesome novels.

“Here, pick them from here.”

“Thank you.”

Roziel slowly looked through the books.

Looking at him, the librarian gulped and said carefully.

“Everything that happened here…I’ll keep them a secret.”

“What?”

I didn’t mean to keep it a secret.

Books are made for everyone to read anyways.

I’m a little embarrassed but I don’t think it is bad to read.

“Ahem. Young master is reading these books to understand the movements of the empire right? Nowadays, these genre novels influence not only the ordinary people but also the aristocracy.”

“Rather than that…I’m just curious about people.”

“Oh. You’re observing people. You’re also philosophical. But even so, be careful. You know, we need to protect our young master’s image.”

Fortunately, the librarian was ignorant but he had a desire for power.

“I’ll keep it a secret. Instead please remember my name. I am Krell. Ahem. If you become the Marquis later… Please call me as a small favor. Haha.”

“Alright.”

Roziel grinned.

It isn’t difficult to call.

‘Because the librarian is kind. I’ll be sure to remember him and call him to eat choco pie with me later.’

Roziel had a grand plan to hire a dessert chef and eat as many sweets as he wanted when he became Marquis.

It wasn’t hard to waste one day to call him.

The librarian was ignorant but Roziel was even more so.

Roziel chose several books on the recommendation of librarian Krell.

They were all books with great titles.

Krell stacked the books Roziel wanted to read one by one.

“Thank you.”

“Yes, young master! Study hard for the empire! Oh and please remember this Krell!”

Roziel came back to his room, picked up one of the books, and carefully opened it.

Ba-thump, Ba-thump.

I don’t why but my heart is beating fast.

It was like opening an ancient document that was hidden for a long time.

‘…?’

The librarian said books with villainess are popular nowadays.

How will the villainess date the emperor?

Can the two achieve true love?

As such, Roziel had fallen into the world of romance.

And not long after.

“It’s shocking.”

All the books Krell chose were best sellers.

In a word, it meant they were different from the books Sally talked about.

The habit of savoring every word was long gone.

He couldn’t stop his hands from flipping the pages.

The story was quite shocking.

It was about a poor woman who was ill-treated and killed, and then possessed the daughter of the famous duke of the empire.

A story is a story, but what shocked Roziel was the “Romance” part.

“Holding each other’s hands…”

“Walking down the path without saying anything…”

“Sharing love tokens…”

I understand everything up to here.

It was the same as the one the maid talked about.

But…

“Lips, lips, lips together?”

In that part, Roziel was so surprised that he dropped the book.

Oh my gosh, such an act exists.

It’s somewhat embarrassing but I couldn’t imagine such a thing.

As expected, the villainess and the emperor were amazing.

I can’t believe I’m in such a relationship.

Roziel closed his eyes tightly.

‘I shouldn’t have done this.’

Training is coming up soon. I can’t read it during training.