The Villainess' Son is Innocent

The current Emperor had neither a Princess nor a Prince yet.

It was two years later that the Empress had a Princess, the year I turned twelve.

Without a Prince in the direct line of the Imperial Family, the highest-ranking child around my age was, undoubtedly, Emil Callixst.

Duke Callixst’s only legitimate son.

A child with imperial blood was born from the womb of Princess Robellin. 

However, people paid more attention to Lucretius’ son, Rastein, or Marquis Reymon’s child, Hildred, over Emil.

‘Still, the side glances are quite severe.’

It was for nothing more than the bad deeds of Robellin Kastone, who gave birth to Emil.

‘They’re all avoiding him.’

Even if it was the birthday banquet of the 10-year-old Marquis’ young Lady, in the end, adults were at the center of the gathering.

As I was today’s main protagonist, one by one I received all the gifts that were offered to me in the grand banquet hall, and then guided the children to the playroom prepared for us, emptying the parlor for important guests.

And now I was faced with the current situation.

Children between nine and ten years old gathered in groups, but only Emil was alone, staying isolated by the window.

His golden eyes met mine and I tried to smile but it didn’t work out the way I wanted. 

‘It’ll be better to approach him directly.’

Either way, it was an opportunity, so I took a step towards him, but I was stopped within three or four steps.

A shy congratulatory greeting called me from the side. 

“Um, young Lady Lankester… On your tenth birthday, I sincerely congratulate you.”

It was Count Byut’s young Lady.

‘The name… Blensia Enrivia Byut.’

Behind her, I could see the neat appearance of Reymon Hildred, giving me a nod. 

‘You sent her on purpose.’

I greeted Blensia with a grin.

“Thank you, Miss Byut. I’m glad you came today.”

“We– well. I always wanted to meet young Lady Lankester. My parents told me that both the Marquis and the Marchioness are very good people… they said the young Lady is very good too.”

Before the regression, I heard that a lot.

Daughter of Ismeralda Eprish and Jenoart Lankester.

Velsia Lankester.

After stopping the villainess, the two gained the favor of the current Emperor, who was the Crown Prince at that time, and they played an important role in sentencing the evil Robellin to death for the many innocent victims.

As a result, they gained people’s love and trust.

The problem was that the high expectations they had placed on them now fell on me.

‘Emil was the same too.’

Looking back, Emil and I were different, but there were a lot of similarities.

“I’m not as great as my parents. If I were just an average person, would you be disappointed?”

“Yes? Of– of course not! That couldn’t be! What I mean… young Lady Lankester is already ordinary and…”

“Thank you! I want to be good friends with Miss Byut, I like how open-minded you are.”

I understood what Blensia was trying to say, but pretended not to know and just smiled brightly.

As I clasped her hands while pleased, a blush spread across her puppy-like face.

“Me… me too. I wanted to be friends with Miss Lankester.”

In the end, Blensia spoke with a small, glad voice almost as if whispering. Her face was fully red.

‘All right, I’ve laid the groundwork…’

Little by little, the other children, who had glanced over at the active interaction between us, approached.

‘Did you see, Hildred Reymon?’

Hil was sensitive to his status. He was smart and cunning. It was even more so because he knew that if Emil wasn’t isolated, the public’s attention would be divided between him and Rastein.

‘Well, isn’t that always the case?’

A child can bully their younger sibling just for parental attention. In the same way, Hildred’s reasons for isolating Emil were a by-product of his obsession with his position and recognition.

‘But I plan to get closer to Emil naturally.’

“Now, shall we go eat cake instead of staying like this?”

‘Cake!’ In a second, the children’s attention shifted to the cake. Just then, the big door opened. The children’s eyes sparkled as the chef and a huge five-layer cake came in.

“Please wait for a moment.”

The chef smiled brightly and cut the cake with neat skills, cute astonished exclamations floated around.

I glanced at Hildred, then I approached Emil, who was alone.

“Hello, young master Callixst?”

The child turned his head. He had golden eyes that seemed to be reflecting the sunlight with a metallic glow. When I met those eyes, my heart pounded. 

I was unexpectedly nervous.

From sneaking out of the mansion to watch the festival to apologizing to me. Many images of Emil that I had already seen overlapped in my mind. Even if he was a ten-year-old boy now, my heart filled with resentment was about to pop out and ask why, why did you kill my family?

Emil, who stared blankly at me, hid his startled expression. ‘Why are you here?’ That was the question etched on his expressionless face. He didn’t even say it out loud, but I felt that I could read his mind.

Ten-year-old Emil was always alone and was frail. The way he wanted to be part of the group somehow, but couldn’t, seemed to overlap with my former self.

So he was always shadowed and I wanted to comfort him.

But that was all.

My mother was the one who truly cared and loved Emil, unlike me, who gave him shallow sympathy.

‘Maybe, my selfish side who wanted to gain satisfaction by comforting Emil was angry.’

Emil was also a precious person to me, but I didn’t accept him even as a family member. 

‘Still, I’m approaching him again to avoid my mom and dad’s future death…’

…It felt as if I was doing something bad to this little boy.

‘Though I’m not.’

That future must be avoided.

‘I can’t help it. Otherwise, he might kill my family again.’

Rather than answer Emil’s question, I reached out my hand.

“Shall we go eat cake together?”

He didn’t hold my hand, even if I reached out. It was like, ‘What’s this?’ And he looked puzzled at the sight of an unfamiliar action.

He barely asked. 

“Together?”

“You don’t like it?”

“No. It’s not that…”

In the end, I held his hand first.

“Come on, let’s go.”

As I walked, I felt a familiar hand being gently dragged.

*   *   *

The chef also went back after his mission to cut the cake was done, leaving only a few servants. The children went silent when they saw me return after a while bringing Emil with me. He was being treated as a monster among children because of Robellin’s misdeeds. 

Among them, there were many false rumors. From the story that Robellin, turned into a demon, haunts Emil, and attacks children, to the false rumor that he eats people… It was all because of Robellin’s bad reputation.

A child hiccuped while holding a fork in his hand. Anyone could tell he was terrified.

“Hiccup…”

It took less than a few seconds for the atmosphere of joy to turn to absolute silence as they ate.

“…”

Emil, who was about to protest, shut his mouth and tried to let go of my hand.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not…”

I pretended not to know why the kids were acting like that.

“My mom told me to get close to young master Callixst.”

They weren’t empty words. Duke Callixst never allowed Emil to go out nor did he let him be shown in public. After the Duke let go of such a closed attitude for the first time and sent Emil to my birthday, my mother occasionally brought Emil from the Ducal household. And he used to stay at my house for a few days. Each time, my mother handed over mines or political decisions to Duke Callixst as a deal to keep Emil.

“I heard that you have already finished reading the Ivnea scriptures? I heard that now you’re starting the next one, the Klaujevitz scriptures.”

Those holy scriptures were not only read in the Kastone Empire but throughout the continent. The books were arranged by the name of the saint representing each period and went from the recent times moving on to ancient times. 

I wrapped Emil’s hand with both hands. Thanks to this, the children’s eyes were shaken as they seemed to admire his learning.

“It’s not that big of a–”

“I haven’t finished reading it yet. Young master Callixst must be the only one here who has finished reading the Ivnea scriptures.”

It wasn’t a surprise, the Ivnea scriptures were for kids above fifteen. The children here were around ten years old. Twelve at most. Hildred was probably studying almost the end part of the scripture, but he didn’t learn them completely.

As for me?

I, of course, read it all when I was five, but that’s a secret.

“Perhaps you are learning the Northern Roban language too?”

“Just a little…”

“I also started it a while ago. Who’s your teacher?”

“I’m learning by myself…”

It would be impossible for Emil to say who’s the one teaching him Roban because that person wasn’t noble.

‘So it’s good to ask. On the surface, he’s self-taught.’

I exclaimed as much as I could at each of Emil’s remarks. It wasn’t that hard because I had a dad who was a big fan of every little thing I did.

“What about history?”

Philosophy? Geography? I asked several questions and nodded each time, waiting for the children to hear about it.

And I nailed it all together.

“Would you like to be friends with me?”

“Tha–!”

Suddenly, Blensia got up with a face dyed red. Emil, who was stunned as if he had heard something completely unexpected, was the same.

Gradually, the tips of his ears were turning red.

“Friend…?”

Embarrassed, he looked at the children. This child was like that before too. He looked at children and adults who had nothing to do with him and tried to avoid the situation.

“You don’t like it?”

“…”

“Akk, as expected, you hate it…”

“N, no it’s not…”

I smiled brightly as soon as Emil said yes.

“Thank you!”

Then stuttering, Blensia said.

“N- no! He- he doesn’t fit with Miss Lankester.”

“Is it because I’m lacking…?

“It’s not that. Young Master Callixst–!”

“He’s great! Isn’t he?”

It was too big of a statement to just pass on. Other nobles wouldn’t know. On the surface, Emil has no identity flaw. Even if Robellin was called a villainess, undeniably she was a princess by blood. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the blood of the Imperial Family was flowing through Emil’s veins, even if he wasn’t in direct line to the throne.

‘Adults are always the problem.’

I let go of Emil’s hand for a moment. Just before it fell, the hand I was holding flinched slightly. When pointing out Emil’s birth, the children will recall his bloodline, which was forgotten due to Robellin’s reputation. But doing so, the blame would be on Blensia’s ignorance, whether she did it on purpose or not. I wanted Emil to get close to the kids, not start a discussion about bloodline and status.

This child is innocent. 

An adult being prejudiced against a child was the bad one.

“Miss Blensia.”

“Ye- yes…”

“You said you wanted to be friends with me.”

She was taken aback by my teasing tone.

“Your friend’s friend is your friend too.”

“What…?”

“So, Blensia and young master Callixst are already friends.”

From somewhere, I heard someone sneering as if it was ridiculous. I didn’t even have to look at who it was.

‘Hildred Reymon.’

Pretending not to hear, I brought Blensia and introduced her to Emil.

“Young Master Callixst, this is my friend Count’s Byut young Lady, Blensia. She’s my first friend.”

I purposely emphasized the word ‘friend.’

“Miss Velsia…”

“I… I…”

Emil, who faced Blensia, turned to me. He was at loss, not knowing what to do. And so was Blensia.

I deliberately blinked at her, asking if she didn’t want to be friends. Blensia was well aware that she couldn’t refuse, so she talked first.

“Ah… uhm, call me Blensia please.”

“Uhuh.”

After pushing two children to forcefully befriend each other, I turned to the other children and smiled brightly.

“Is there anyone else you would like to be friends with?”