The Villainess Is Shy In Receiving Affection

Ronnie looked at Melody with a face asking her ‘What’s the problem with that?’ while hurriedly running towards his class. But the girl with a pale face couldn’t explain properly. Because her heart was in a hurry and her mind was a mess.

Loretta should never be left alone in the rain – no matter what. Melody could only recall that fact while her feet voluntarily moved on their own. She looked like she was really going to cry loudly now.

Ronnie bit his lips hard. He was worried about the butler finding him and running up with a scary face, but…. After all, it would be unpleasant for Melody to cry.

“If I get scolded later, know that it is all because of you!” Ronnie yelled and started running again – out of the mansion.

Since the two children couldn’t be pulled back by force, the servants put umbrellas over their heads. But since the heavy rain poured nonstop, it was almost like they didn’t use one.

The muddy ground and their water-soaked clothes made running more and more difficult. White steaming puffs of breath soon came out of Ronnie’s lips, and he finally arrived at the place where Loretta was hidden.

Following his gaze, Melody’s face turned whiter as she found the carriage. Hurry, she urged him even more with the shape of her lips. Amidst the drizzle of rain that fell on their cheeks, the two children finally reached the front of the carriage where Loretta was hiding.

“Loretta!”

Melody threw the door open first.

“…!”

Loretta was slumped on the floor of the carriage. Melody called her in a louder voice, but her tightly closed eyes didn’t even open. Is there something wrong? Terrified, Melody climbed up in the carriage. When she pulled up the body on the floor and hugged her, she was very cold.

“Loretta!”

Melody touched the child’s cheek and checked the sound of her muffled breathing several times. But Loretta’s consciousness did not come back.

「I am really lucky today. I found a fallen carriage that had been in an accident in the rain on my way from the auction house. Melody, look at this. 」

It reminded her of what her mother told her a long time ago. Rain and a carriage – it was that moment that changed Loretta’s life, so she couldn’t imagine how scared the child must have been.

She lowered her head and hugged Loretta’s body tightly. She couldn’t even tell her that she was sorry, so that was all Melody could do.

The rain fell more heavily. It was as if it was trying to muster enough force to destroy the carriage.

* * *

The servant who ran right after the children was stunned when he saw what was inside the carriage. He knew that Melody and Loretta were playing hide-and-seek, but he didn’t know that the game would turn into such a big deal.

They wrapped Loretta in a thick blanket and hurried back inside the mansion. The physician arrived with the Duke not long after they laid down the child. Fortunately, the physician said that Loretta’s body was healthy. The physician said that she must have been surprised for a moment and passed out. He added that she would be fine once she recovers.

The Duke still felt uneasy but couldn’t express himself in front of the terrified Ronnie and Melody, so he only nodded his head.

“She will be alright.”

After the physician went back, it was relatively quiet.

To the two children who must have been very surprised, and when the Duke told them, ‘She will be fine.’ Then the two children burst into tears at the same time as if they had planned that.

It was probably the tears they were suppressing the entire time while waiting. Duke Valdwin embraced the two children in his arms and slowly patted them on their backs. Even though Loretta ended up like that, he didn’t particularly want to punish the children. He knew that they were probably blaming themselves more than anyone else.

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault.”

The children didn’t stop crying despite what he said.

It was still raining and it continued to rain the rest of that night and into the next morning.

* * *

Contrary to what the physician had said. That ‘She will be fine,’ Loretta hardly opened her eyes even after several days. While lying prettily on her bed, sometimes Loretta had a slight fever and that caused waves of worry to wash through the whole mansion. The physician visited her several more times, but nothing much improved.

Melody always stayed with the sick Loretta. And often while she was staring at her face, she reflected on the contents of the original 『The Duke’s Family Has Three Sons and a Daughter』. She was racking her brain just in case she had glossed over some information that might be helpful in this situation.

But there was nothing. Loretta gets into many difficult situations in the story. But nothing was mentioned about her sleeping for so long like this. So she could only vaguely assume that Loretta’s last memories with her mother resurfacing was what made her like this.

‘The Duke seemed to also think that it was the case….’

She let out a small sigh when a knock sounded. The maid that was looking after Loretta went and opened the door, and just beyond the door was Ronnie with a large bouquet of flowers with him. He seemed to have picked flowers for Loretta despite the cold weather.

“Hey.”

But still, the boy hesitated to enter the little girl’s room. He stood by the door and asked Melody, “How… is she today?”

Ronnie bowed his head deeply, shrouding his face with the bouquet of flowers, as the girl shook her head.

“… It was because of me.” He said, blaming himself.

“That’s not true.”

Melody approached him and said that. Though it wasn’t particularly comforting.

“I was the bad one – it was me.”

Melody whispered while she squeezed the hem of her clothes.

“How could you be the bad one? You were just playing with her.”

“I knew what scares Lady Loretta the most, but I didn’t say anything about it to the Young Master.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Ronnie raised his head. His face had a distinctive stubborn expression. “Loretta Valdwin is my younger sister! She is my responsibility!”

“But still….”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Even if I didn’t know what she was afraid of!”

He quickly lowered his voice, which had grown louder moments ago, and continued talking, “… It was my fault.”

“Young Master.”

Hearing how she called him sadly, he pushed the flower he was holding towards her.

“Put it next to her. She likes things like this.”

Just like he said, Loretta loved pretty things. She will definitely be delighted if such a vibrant bundle of bright pink flowers is by her side when she opens her eyes.

Melody quickly embraced the flower she was handed.

“Are you… not going to look at how she is before you leave?”

“That… I have a class.”

He averted his eyes and scratched his head. As far as Melody knew, Ronnie didn’t have any classes today….

‘He probably felt so guilty that he couldn’t even come closer.’

Melody immediately thought that was the case. Because he felt more responsible for this than anyone else.

“If she wakes up, it is fine no matter what time it is.”

Melody gave him a quick nod at his hesitant words.

“I will tell you first.”

“Hmm.”

He nodded. He seemed to be telling her ‘thank you,’ but he was barely audible.

After he left, Melody went back to Loretta’s side.

“Loretta, can you see this? Young Ronnie brought you flowers because he was worried about you. They smell wonderful.”

She tried talking in a cheerful voice for no reason, but there was no answer.

* * *

The Magic Tower’s favorite, Jeremiah Valdwin, was quite a special being. With the use of magic, he could take in the power of nature into his body and make it into any shape and form he desired. That’s why the wizards in the Magic Tower called his body a ‘vessel’ – a vessel to contain the necessary power of a wizard. That is where the difference between a wizard and an ordinary human stands.

It was only possible for wizards to continuously accumulate the power of nature in their bodies, whereas regular humans are not able to contain that power. That is why the term ‘wizard’ is used as a classification for individuals who are quite special people just based on their existence.

Jeremiah was also quite prominent among wizards. It is in the sense that the storage limit of his vessel is indeterminable. Considering the overall characteristics of wizards who abuse their bodies in the name of research, it is only natural that adults could accumulate more power of nature than small children normally. Even if their magic cannot be fathomed by the naked eye, it is known that their limits do not deviate from the rules of the physical body. However, Jeremiah was different.

From the time he came to the Magic Tower, he was able to accumulate the same amount of magic into his ‘vessel’ as normal adult wizards do, and it also didn’t take long for him to become skilled and use the same training to strengthen his vessel as high-ranking wizards. Considering how Jeremiah was still a child, they became terrified of him.

They never dared to imagine what great powers he would wield when he grew up. Therefore, the Magic Tower cherished him and tried to make him realize as many principles of the world as possible. It was clear that unfortunate things would happen if there were no beautiful and merciful emotions in that powerful force.

Fortunately, Jeremiah loved learning, humans, justice, as well as peace. But no matter how much he was praised as a great person in the Magic Tower, his status was nothing more than an ‘apprentice’ – not a ‘wizard’.

Some wizards objected saying that it would be a waste for a talented child like him to stay as an apprentice. But the wise and old master of the Magic Tower had a different idea.

The young boy was obviously beautiful and strong. That was already enough for him to be qualified to become the successor of the Magic Tower. Even so, the old man’s gaze still saw the darkness, lurking in the boy, a hazy flash of his innermost thoughts. It was an abyss that no appeasement could reveal itself and satisfy. Unless he could solve it himself, he couldn’t give him [Jeremiah] the title of ‘wizard’.

“You’re back, Jeremiah.”

Owen, the master of the Magic Tower with a long beard, said to the firmly closed door. Someone would think this scene was strange if they had seen it, since there were no knocks or footsteps heading to this room.

“I’m back.”

But Owen’s prediction wasn’t wrong, as a handsome boy with light sky-blue hair opened the door and entered.