Happy Friday!
I’m a little late today, but then again, this chapter needed a little more editing than usual, so I wasn’t procrastinating, kind of…
Anyways, enjoy the chapter and please leave a comment; I like reading them. Also, I noticed that there are no reviews on the NU page for this project, so please leave a comment/review over there as well. Much appreciated.
Enjoy and I’ll see you next week!
There were only a few things that I treasured when I was young.
When I was a child, I was not able to go outside if my parents didn't accompany me, but now that I think about it, I laugh at how I had lived in such a narrow world.
My beloved parents cherished me, but sometimes, they got too intimate with each other and there have been times when they had forgotten about me.
During those times, the only one who played with me was my ever-present childhood friend who could do anything and was older than me, and one of the few things that I enjoyed doing was giving my greetings to Duke-sama that I admire who I only saw sometimes.
However, after that time, I got something extremely precious.
That was, Cain Marian and Dahlia Marian, who were siblings who were younger than me.
While their father and my father were talking, I was to accompany them. But truthfully, I might have been the one who was being looked after.
Mira. Mirojousama.
The Marian siblings who followed after me were extremely cute.
Before anyone knew it, Father began to treat the always smiling Marian who he had invited to the mansion with disdain. Around the time when Marian stopped visiting, Mother left the mansion. I had understood, even as a child, that Marian was the reason why Father's mind was unstable, and why Mother left me behind.
Though in the beginning, the one with whom I was angry at was not Marian, but my parents.
I was silently angry at my parents, for taking away my cute friends who were like my younger siblings.
It couldn't be helped. Marian was much more intelligent than Father. That's it. Even if I blamed someone and hated them, it would never end. Naturally, that Marian man was despicable. Even so, no matter how much I resented Marian, there was nothing I could do, not to mention, it would be ridiculous to resent everyone from Marian House. Children wouldn't suspect that their parents were scheming, and even if they knew about it, it would be too complicated for them to understand.
Whether there was discord between our families.
Whether they were being hated.
For those siblings, I was irreplaceable and no one could take my place.
That gaze was prickling me again.
It was a gaze filled with malice.
With all due respect, I had actually thought that the gaze was from the jealous His Highness Prince Alan after finding out that they got along well, but it seems that that was not the case.
According to Yurii-sama, if he felt that disgusting gaze on him, he would know it.
Then this was, without doubt, a sign of danger, and I began to feel that it was a genuine danger to my safety.
I even discussed it with Dia just in case, but he made sure to not interact with me as much as possible within the school, so he couldn't constantly stay together with me. It seems that His Highness Prince Alan also investigated it, but there was no guarantee that nothing will happen before we figured it out.
The scary part was, what if the target was Yurii-sama?
If it were someone who intended on making a move on a prince, then it might be an accomplice of the queen. If it were that kind of person, we should be cautious.
Like not going to places where there was barely anyone, and being careful just in case, but…
「Ah, if you run, you'll fall–」
In the middle of the hallway that led to the cafeteria, Yurii-sama ran backwards when he saw my friends A, B, and C. As soon as he said that he was ok, he bumped into someone when he turned at the corner.
「You, the hallway is not a place where you should run, don't you know that?」
The person who Yurii-sama had bumped into looked down at him, with a creepy smile on his face.
Ah, he came back. He came running back.
「No…right now, Yurii-sama needs to apologize…」
No matter how much he disliked this oniisama.
「I see. At least you have common sense, Count Swain's daughter.」
「I'm terribly sorry.」
I didn't expect that. He was already looking down on me.
Cain, who was walking next to His Highness Prince Romeo, saw me, and reluctantly gave his greeting with an unpleasant look on his face.
「Yurii-sama, you need to say, sorry.」
「No…way…」
「If it were Dia…」
The extremely reluctant Yurii-sama reacted to the words 'if it were Dia'.
「If it were Dia, he would properly acknowledge his mistakes.」
「…. …. …it was my bad.」
He kept on scowling, but well, His Highness Prince Romeo had laughed scornfully, so the both of them were at fault.
With a ridiculing smile, His Highness Prince Romeo who saw me patting Yurii-sama with all my strength, suddenly glared at something behind me.
「Count Swain's daughter, you, have been accompanying that thing a lot recently.」
…that thing?
「I also didn't notice until Cain told me though.」
「What might you be talking about?」
「We were talking about how the son of that vixen had been following you around.」
With a faint smile, His Highness Prince Romeo pointed at pillar that was behind me. For an instant, I happened to catch sight of the head of His Highness Prince Gilbert who was peeking at us from behind the pillar. I've only seen him a few times, but I'm sure that it's him.
He should be the only one who wasn't blood related, but he looked just like all the other siblings. Compared to Their Highnesses Princes Alan and Romeo, he still had some childish features, but as expected, he's a beauty.
Even so, what do you mean by vixen…
「As brothers, your relationship is good.」
He said the exact same thing as His Highness Prince Alan.
The veins on His Highness Prince Romeo's head bulged.
「That joke isn't funny. I don't even want to breathe the same air as that thing that you're holding in your arms, the guy that's hiding over there, or aniue.」
It might've been my imagination, but it looked like he was most displeased when he said 'aniue'. Even though they have the same parents and they're close in age?
「Recently, it seems that you are getting on more familiar terms with His Highness Prince Alan, but aren't you being too nosy? Since, senpai is slow.」
Not even trying to hide his disgust, Cain folded his arms, and cocked his head to the side as if looking down on us.
「He isn't being kind because he likes me, ok? His Highness Prince Gilbert too, I only found out about him just now.」
Hahaa. So that painful prickling gaze on us recently was actually from that prince? Honestly, having to deal with more troubling things than necessary was annoying, so I wanted to ignore it, but since I had noticed him, he might do something.
「That's why I said you're slow.」
「What are you mad at?」
「I'm not mad.」
Shouting angrily, Cain's brows became more and more wrinkled. Even though he's young, what if it froze that way? Even though he's such a handsome young man.
I looked at Yurii-sama, wondering if he was frightened, and I inadvertently laughed.
He made the same face, perhaps unconsciously, after having seen Cain's grim face. He wrinkled his brows, narrowed his eyes, and his cheeks were twitching.
「You're always mad. Ever since you entered this school and I saw you for the first time in a long time, you've always been mad. That's not good. Haven't I always told you, to stop misbehaving and just talk about it instead? If you don't tell me, I won't understand.」
「I don't even want you to understand. I'm not a child anymore. I realized it. I realized just how unreliable you are. That's it.」
Yurii-sama looked like he was ready to attack him, so I held him up in my arms to stop him.
「Don't insult Mira! You…mercenary face」
「Wai…ha, u…fufufu…, u…kufufufu…」
My stomach hurts. It would hurt if I kept trying to stop myself from laughing.
That would be impolite to the mercenaries. Was he trying to insult him? Perhaps he wanted to say that he looked like a bad person, but Cain doesn't look like a bad person. Besides, for Yurii-sama, the face that was the most intense was probably that of a mercenary's. Certainly, there were also those in the royal family who did not think well of them, and there were a lot of bandit-like mercenaries, so it's not like I don't understand though.
The result of all the hard work I put into teaching him was this gentle slander. It might be because His Highness Prince Romeo was here that he was more flustered than usual.
「Despite the Count House falling this much, you are still carefreely taking care of a child. Just how stupid are you?」
「Even if I struggle, there's nothing I can do anymore. If Father has enough money to last until graduation, then after that, I'll take care of it myself one way or another.」
Even if I found employment, it would be impossible for it to be a high-paying position though. If it was an occupation based on my grades, then there would be a lot. I'm studying healing magic, so as a last resort, I could even serve as a doctor's assistant at the front lines.
I would like to be a private tutor. If I'm a live-in tutor, then it would include three meals a day. Hence, it would be essential to have the guarantee of my employer at the time of hire. At that time, if I could propose this to ojisama or obasama, then that would be great, but…I thought that I would do the best that I can on my own.
「The world is not that nice.」
「I know. I grew up with those kinds of parents.」
I'm the only daughter of the Count Swain House. Thanks to that, I can say that I grew up strong.
「I wonder. I don't know, so were you always a pure young lady?」
「I love Mira, but Mira is not pure!」
There were times when I shed tears from being deeply moved or from gratitude, but it's been a while since I shed them due to being truly sad.
「Yurii-sama…?」
「Mira actually has a bad personality…is what Judias said.」
Starting from where were they Dia's words? I believe you. I believe that 'is not pure', were, not Yurii-sama's words.
「Looking at you makes me irritated. You seem to think that you know everything, but you don't actually know anything. That includes you, and those around you. That younger sister, and this tiny prince too, as well as His Highness Prince Alan, and above all Duke Roderick's son!! That guy makes me the most angry ! He keeps on protecting you, and he doesn't know anything!! Mira too! That guy too! Don't be stupid!」
Getting louder as he spoke, Cain was eventually yelling and the surrounding people were all looking at him.
Even I have only seen it several times, and it seems that it was the same for His Highness Prince Romeo as well, but everyone seemed to be surprised at Cain who was unlike his usual self.
「That guy, called Mira Mira!」
「It was the correct choice to ignore that.」
He's energetic, just like when he was little.
Ahem, clearing his throat, Cain bowed once after glaring at those around us.
「Excuse me. I'm in a hurry.」
He quickly walked ahead, leaving His Highness Prince Romeo behind. Wasn't he accompanying him?
Having said all that as he stood next to the pillar, Cain, after glaring at His Highness Prince Gilbert who was hiding, still gave a bow. He was polite and deep down, he's a good kid. He's just too serious.
His Highness Prince Gilbert wouldn't come out from the other side of the pillar.
Cain had turned the corner and at a place where he couldn't see, His Highness Prince Romeo was trying to keep himself from laughing out loud.
「You, I had only thought that you were just a slow-witted girl, but you're pretty interesting, Count Swain's daughter.」
Covering his mouth with his hand, His Highness Prince Romeo, looked back and forth between me and the direction in which Cain had walked towards.
「I hate idiots.」
Ooh, it slipped out from my mouth. It seems that His Highness Prince Alan knew a lot about his own siblings. A few days ago, I had already heard about His Highness Prince Romeo's inner thoughts from His Highness Prince Alan before the person himself told me.
「That includes the majority of the students that go to this school, the teachers, and the incompetent nobles who come and go from the castle acting like they're part of the government. The small thing that you're holding in your arms, the idiot hiding behind the pillar that the ignorant woman gave birth to, the obnoxious vixen who thinks that the world revolves around her, His Majesty the King, and aniue, it's unpleasant for me to see all these idiots.」
Yurii-sama was not an idiot. You who was calling a five year old an idiot was acting like a child. If I said that, this person seemed like he would nonchalantly strangle me.
In the end.
His Majesty the King and aniue. There was no one else like them within the country, if you said that to someone with a higher status than His Highness Prince Romeo, you would have a lot of self-confidence. He's probably actually really smart, but looking down on his own parent was not really a good thing, but even then, His Highness Prince Alan still worried about His Highness Prince Romeo.
「I'm quite pleased with Cain. He is not smart, but neither is he an idiot. Above all, he's interesting. Especially when it comes to you.」
He wasn't smart but neither was he an idiot. Was this some sort of quiz? It was a hard-to-understand phrase that a smart person would say.
「Although there are no changes to your unpleasantness.」
So he's saying I'm stupid.
「Since it's thanks to you that my friend has become interesting, even if I say that you're unpleasant, I wouldn't go so far as to think that it would be good if you died.」
Even though I'm just living my life, even if he thought that I should die, there's nothing I could do about it. Or rather, that way of saying it, depending on the person, they would think that it would be good if they died?
It was good that the one who came to my house was the cute Yurii-sama. This person might have been like this even as a child. If that were the case, I'm a little worried as to if I would think that that child would be cute.
「This was the first time that I've seen him lose self-control like that in public. As expected, it seems that it's not good for Cain to have direct contact with you.」
Was he saying something like, don't come near my good friend? But it's amusing.
「This time, he's probably feeling down, so I need to comfort him. …since you let me see something interesting, I'll especially let you know something. Since aniue is brainwashing you one way or another, you should be curious too, right?」
Of what, before I could say that, His Highness Prince Romeo took a step forward, and whispered into my ear.
「Cain is not on my side.」
Feigning ignorance, I wasn't even given an opportunity to ask anything, and having only said that, His Highness Prince Romeo leisurely went after Cain.