Surviving As The Villain's Childhood Friend

I came back to the room in a daze.

First, I headed to the bathroom to wash off my sweaty body. I thought about what I did wrong while being hit by the water flowing out of the shower.

As for how hard I thought about it, I went back to the point where I first met him and looked at my actions and tone of voice one by one.

The only thing that came to mind was my dark past. 

‘…What is a man’s heart? It’s very difficult.’

I would rather go to war than understand a man’s heart. 

Leniana was standing near my desk when I just came out of the bathroom with a tired face.

“What are you doing there, Leniana?”

“Lady….” 

There was a piece of paper in her hand.

Oh. That.

It was scribbles on ‘love’ that I wrote all night.

Throughout this week, I lied down and wrote what I would teach Roziel about love.

“Oh, that one. I just scribbled…”

I was a little embarrassed.

It was as if she had found a diary I had been secretly writing.

I approached her as I scratched the back of my head.

“Leniana, what do you think love is? Have you ever been in love?”

Leniana was a person who was more familiar with this world than I was. I asked because I thought she might know something about the feelings of a nobleman I didn’t know.

“Why do you ask that?”

“I’m in a difficult situation these days.”

“Oh. Did you say you met your destiny?”

“…I didn’t know that Leniana was also the type to pay attention to rumors.”

“It’s about the Lady, right?”

“You sound like the male protagonist in a romance novel.”

“…”

Leniana heard a rumor about her roommate, so she must have listened carefully.

Leniana frowned at my teasing.

“Don’t say weird things.”

“….Yes.”

As expected, pranks don’t work. What a blunt woman you are.

Leniana sighed heavily and said.

“I’ve never been in love or read a romance novel like Lady Yuria, so I don’t know what love is.”

I nodded my head.

I didn’t expect much anyway. 

“But I know one thing.” 

“What’s that?”

She returned to the paper to me and said, 

“I think it’s love that makes you worry like this.”

“Oh.”

“Lady Yuria is a person who falls asleep right away when she lies in bed. But to endure that desire and write things like this… It’s a great thing.”

It seemed like a compliment, but it didn’t feel like a compliment.

“Thank you… For overestimating me like that.”

Of course, unlike what Leniana said, I didn’t scribble like that because I was in love.

“By the way, didn’t you say that you met by chance and just spent time together?”

“That’s right… I lied saying it was fate because the kids were bothering me so much.”

“Are you lying…? Wouldn’t that be a bit dangerous?”

“Why?”

“If the lie spreads and spreads, and the other person hears it.”

“Huh?”

“…Maybe they’re looking forward to it.”

“Looking forward to what?”

“The expectation that Lady Yuria thinks of herself as the partner of fate.”

I burst out laughing at her words.

“Hahahaha. That won’t happen. Hahaha.” 

The opponent was Roziel Evelian. 

Leniana was a very imaginative person.

I can’t believe I and Roziel were meant to be. Just imagining it didn’t suit me.

“Leniana. How about making your debut as a romance novel writer right now? Your imagination and speaking all seem to be on a higher level than mine.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Her face turned pale. 

“Why? I think you’ll do really well!”

“Saying I have a better imagination than Lady Yuria, what a humiliating remark.”

Leniana opposed what I said, pressing her forehead hard. 

“I’m going to be a knight.” 

“Ah, didn’t you know that having two jobs is fashionable these days? If you publish one book now, you will change your mind…”

“…I don’t have that kind of talent.”

“No. Lady Leniana seems to know much more about love than I do. I can’t believe it’s love that makes me worry like this… Woo.”

“…Get up.”

“What?”

Leniana smiled at me.

It was kind of a scary smile.

“I suddenly want to have a match with Lady Yuria.”

“…I just washed up.”

“Get up.”

She grabbed the back of my neck.

Oh. She was really angry.

* * *

Roziel continued to attend training, but never made eye contact with me.

‘Why is he angry?’

Was it because I called him my fate?

He believes in fate.

You were waiting for your fate to appear one day and were angry because I was talking about fate.

But that’s too much. I said I lied for you.

‘Was it because I spoke badly about fate?’

When I asked him if he knew anything about love, I remembered his shy face.

Surely he cherished fate with that emotion.

‘…Thinking like this, I think I’ve become a really bad person, right?’

I couldn’t believe I trampled on the boy’s innocence.

Men of that age would have fantasies, but I think I didn’t know too much.

‘I need to apologize.’

In any case, a man should be well comforted.

After training was over, I caught Roziel as he was about to go back.

“Roziel.”

“…”

He moved forward without saying a word to me.

I followed behind him.

Just as he was about to enter the forest, I called him back.

“Roziel Evelian.”

“….What.”

He was really angry, so he answered without looking at me.

“It’s my fault.”

“What did you do wrong?

“It’s all my fault.”

As if he was hurt by what I said, his eyes became teary.

“You just did everything wrong… Why are you so insincere?”

His words made my heart sting. 

Hurting a child was not something an adult should do.

I felt guilty. 

“You don’t even know what you did wrong…Why are you apologizing in such a way?” 

He was still avoiding my gaze.

The face that had lost the smile looked extremely cold, but on the other hand, it also looked very sad.

I hurriedly made an excuse.

“No, I know. What I did wrong was… Talking about whatever I want without your consent. And what I said was bad about fate.” 

In fact, I thought there would be a few more, but I omitted it.

His long eyelashes created shade under his eyes.

Roziel cried for a moment. His lips and nostrils twitching seemed to burst into tears right away.

I gently patted him on the back.

Roziel wiped away the tears around his eyes with his sleeves as if his sorrow had subsided from my comfort.

Then, he blinked several times and whispered small in a pure voice.

“I don’t care if you speak freely… But.”

He looked straight at me. 

“…I believe in fate.” 

“I know.”

“So Yuria…”

He looked at me. His moist eyes resembled the clear sky after the rain.

“…I hope you believe it too.”

Single drops of tears, which had been hanging around, tapped and flowed down his cheeks.

The baby angel was pleading with holy water tears.

How could I pretend I didn’t know?

I felt compassion and wiped away the tears.

“Okay. I’ll trust your words from now on.”

“…Really?”

The wet eyes filled with joy.

“Yes. Really.”

Fate. It was good. Was there fate only in love?

Maybe it was fate, not coincidence, that I came to Agelisk.

And it might be my destiny to be the hero who really saved the world.

Perhaps he wanted to share similar thoughts and values with his first friend.

When I said I would believe it, Roziel’s face burst into laughter.

“Hehe.”

Oh, my. So pretty.

Roziel’s smile was fantastic.

I vowed to protect that smile.

And while Roziel was in a good mood, I made a suggestion to him.

“The gardener said that he had planted new flowers in the western garden. Would you like to go together?”

Roziel eagerly nodded his head.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

The western garden was a little far from the annex, so it was a deserted place.

If I brought picnic supplies and cute toys there, Roziel would definitely like it.

Good. I had another chance to play with him.

I looked at Roziel and laughed for a long time without reason.

Obviously, all this was just an operation to save the world, but somehow I enjoyed it more.

Actually, everything was just good.