“Are you done with your business?”
Roziel nodded.
Yeah, I’m sure that’s enough. Maybe your stomach is full of cream.
The sun was already setting before I realized it.
“Shall we go back to the mansion?”
Roziel did not answer. Instead, he asked, “There’s a street play over there, why don’t we go see it?”
His eyes lit up when he asked.
This kid. You’ve got everything in the city’s entertainment scheduled. It was a planned runaway.
“The plays they’re doing here these days are really fun…I’ve heard from the maids.”
“If I’m late, the man who drives the carriage will be working overtime.”
“Huh? He’s never worked overtime in his life.”
Mister. You scammed me, didn’t you?
“But if you go in late, won’t you get caught by the Marquis?”
“Don’t worry, I know of a dog hole to sneak through.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Countryside nobles like me could not enjoy culture as much as the nobles from the capital.
But the reality was a little brutal.
Now that we’re here, let’s go play!
Tomorrow was my day off, so I had plenty of time.
“Wow, there are already so many people here.”
Me and Roziel were little kids, so we couldn’t break through the crowd.
“Let’s go up on the roof.”
Instead, we trainees, who had nothing but strength, climbed onto the roof of a nearby house.
“I’ve never seen a street play before.”
“Neither have I.”
We sat side by side.
The sunset colored the entire area in orange.
“What’s the title of the play?”
“Heroes and villains.”
“What a simple and insincere title. What’s the story?”
Roziel explained the play to me with a flushed face.
“It’s a story about a villain who falls in love at first sight with a woman who will marry a hero, so he destroys the world to have her.”
“…”
No. Why would you do a play on this plot?
“But the hero stops him with great power. It’s really cool.”
I slowly opened my mouth more carefully.
There was something to check before watching the play.
If he was on the villain’s side, I had to take a sword and destroy the play.
It’s not good for children’s education!
“Roziel. You’re rooting for the hero, right?”
“Huh? Of course!”
“Even if the villain’s love is true?”
Roziel. You are destined to be a villain in the future. It was because he was obsessed with a woman named Luena.
“L-Love?”
Roziel’s body stiffened.
Why are you so nervous about the word love? Something was suspicious.
“G-G-Great. As for me… If someone, if they really love…”
He stammered.
“Even if the person is a villain, I think it’s beautiful…”
“No!”
I jumped up from my seat and shouted as soon as he finished speaking.
“Huh?”
“A villain shouldn’t love. Oh, no. Villains don’t know anything about love in the first place!”
“What are you talking about?”
“L.O.V.E. They don’t know it!”
Roziel tilted his head at what I said.
“No, love is instinct. I saw it in the book. I said that love is a feeling that people are born with.”
It was a good mindset.
If it wasn’t Roziel who said that, I might have given a standing ovation.
“Roziel.”
“Yes?”
My heart was pounding. Peace in the world was at stake in his answer. I grabbed him by the shoulder and asked.
“So you… Do you know love?”
“Love…”
“Yeah.”
“It’s, uh…”
Roziel covered his face with his palm.
He didn’t answer.
But his ears are a little red. Perhaps…
I thought there might be some hope.
“Roziel?”
“I-I don’t know… I won’t tell you.”
He kept avoiding my eyes and trying to cover his face.
“Tell me. Please?”
“N-No.”
Despite urging several times, he persisted.
I couldn’t hear the answer in the end.
Just as I was about to ask again, the play began.
The play, which was conducted without props or equipment, was quite sloppy.
However, thanks to the warm scenery and the loud laughter of the people, it was okay.
Roziel was naturally absorbed in the atmosphere.
At this moment, he was just a young boy, not a villain or a genius swordmaster.
When I saw that, I put my mind at ease.
‘Yes, that’s enough for now. That’s enough.’
Roziel Evelian’s childhood was quite innocent and nice, contrary to my expectations.
I’ll teach you well from now on.
So the future could be changed enough.
For now, I have compromised with myself to be content with this level.
Roziel was watching the play crouched next to me.
It was questionable if he was really focused on the play or if his mind was elsewhere with dazed eyes.
As the play reached its climax, it became quite violent.
A man who looked like a villain, to anyone who looked at it, was wielding a sword and roaming the streets.
“I’m against this production.”
Roziel suddenly woke up at the sound of my voice and asked.
“Huh, what?”
“Why? Why is the male lead always handsome and the villain ugly?”
“Because the villain is… the bad guy?”
“Does a bad heart appear to hide an ugly face?”
I glanced at Roziel and then turned to the theatrical version again.
“That prejudice is what makes our minds sick. Even a villain can be handsome!”
People were not prepared in advance because of the prejudice that villains would be ugly.
Look. Who would have known that the pretty boy sitting next to me like this would destroy the world?
“Roziel, a villain can be handsome, and even a male lead can be ugly. I mean… So you shouldn’t judge people by their faces. Okay? Especially, don’t fall in love just because she’s pretty.”
Luena was the heroine femme fatale, who captivated men with her great beauty and good heart.
The day may come when even an innocent person like this will one day fall for her beauty. I’m just worried.
Whether or not he understood my feelings, Roziel nodded hard.
“Yes, I don’t look at faces.”
“Really?”
“Yes, the face doesn’t matter.”
Then he looked straight at me.
The sparkling eyes were very burdensome.
“Why, why are you looking at me like that?”
Are you looking for the reason for my zero votes on my face? Join the club.
It was when I clenched my fist.
“But…”
He looked at me as if he were observing.
“…I think the eyes are a little important.”
“Eyes?”
“Yes, I hope their eyes are pretty. Especially if it’s green that resembles plants…”
I was stunned by the words.
Luena was a classic empire beauty with blond hair and green eyes.
His taste was set from the beginning.
I was distraught, but it was fine.
“Okay. That’s your taste. I understand.”
There are plenty of pretty girls with green eyes. As long as his target is not Luena.
“Yes.”
He grinned at my words.
It must be pretty good to think of your ideal type.
The play was over. Unlike this world, the ending was a happy ending in which the hero defeats the villain.
I must. I have to keep world peace.
“Come on. Let’s go back.”
“Yes.”
That day I crawled through a dog hole with a future villain.
* * *
It was the next morning.
I woke up being slapped on the back by Leniana.
Normally she doesn’t touch my body, but she put her palms on my back.
“W-what- what’s wrong?”
“What is this?”
She handed me a paper. A piece of paper that looks exactly like a newspaper.
“I think that’s a question I should ask…”
I slept so much that my eyes were swollen and I couldn’t see properly.
I asked moving my tightly closed eyelids.
What on earth is this to wake a sleeping person for?
“Who did you date?”
“…What? Fight?”
“Date.”
Did I just hear it right?
If you’re not asking me who I fought with, the word I heard would be “date.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I asked who you dated.”
“No, no, I’m not. It’s not right to ask an 11-year-old if she dated a man. Ask them what brand they use for diapers.”
“Look at this.”
I looked at the newspaper that Leniana handed me.
There was a picture of me and Roziel eating a cake on the terrace of a cafe.
“Oh, my god.”
The picture composition was so… It was so beautiful.
At first glance, Roziel’s mouth was smiling brightly, and the way I was looking at him… It looked so warm to anyone.
Fortunately, Roziel was wearing a wig and a hood, so you couldn’t see his face well, right?
“This is ‘Agelisk Hot Times’ published by Marin Cyans. It records what’s going on in Agelisk and social circles. Anyway, you’re doing something useless.”
“Yes, that’s really useless.”
I guess Marin didn’t train but worked on this all weekend instead.
And the front page victims were me and Roziel.
How the hell did you know?!
I had a good feeling. Because she had a natural talent.
But maybe it was because the Agelisk trainees were also very talented people. I didn’t even know who was following me.
“Marin’s camera has a magic stone on it. It completely covers your tracks. It’s not easy to avoid since it’s the invention of the century.”
“Ah. The world is progressive in strange ways.”
The content of the article was simple. That I secretly went out on a date with someone in the city on the weekend.
“It’s not a date. I didn’t even do it secretly.”
I just happened to meet him.
“I don’t want to dig deeply into Miss Yuria’s private life. But I’m afraid. Who is your partner?”
“That’s…”
I almost said it was Roziel Evelian.
It was a secret that he came out of the mansion.
First and foremost, you must never find out it was Roziel.
I didn’t know, but the rumors would spread strangely if they noticed that I was playing with him in the city here.
‘My future is getting dark.’
I might want to die of shame.
A date with a 12-year-old. No way.
“Another secret?”
“…There’s no secret. It’s not a date, it’s just that I met someone I know!”
“Okay. It would be better if you explain the situation to Marin Cyans instead. I’m sure it won’t be good for your reputation to have this kind of article spread.”
“Yes. I’ll kill her.”
I tore the newspaper apart.
* * *
Children’s eyes followed throughout the dormitory as I looked for Marin Cyans.
She knew I was coming, so she didn’t seem to be hiding anywhere.
I finally made it to the garden.
Maybe because it was the weekend, there were a lot of people in the garden.
Everyone’s eyes widened when I came out.
The children had newspapers in their hands, whether it was Hot Times or a newspaper called Koulta.
Oops.
It was time for me to turn around again.
“As expected, it’s the wonderful Yuria.”
The girls who were having tea time in the garden approached me.
Their eyes twinkled fiercely.
They looked as if they were looking at a prince on a white horse.
Still, it was better than ‘A relaxed genius knight who is not bound by convention’, so shouldn’t we be relieved?
“Dating.”
“You’re like an adult.”
I forgot. This was where young boys and girls gathered before Agelisk.
Just like at the welcome banquet, they were very interested in relationships of the opposite sex to the point where they chose women to date Roziel.
And most of them had never been in a relationship.
“Who is he? Where did you meet him?”
I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know what to say.
“Gee, how far is the progress…Have you ever held hands?”
“Hey!”
The children became vigilant after that question.
It was absurd to hear these kinds of words from children who seemed to drink milk from a bottle.
But their curiosity did not subside.
Just as I was about to make an excuse…
Wait a minute. If I admit that I’m dating here. Will the rumor that I want to be Roziel’s lover disappear?
Yeah, I’d rather be considered in a relationship with another man.
“I just… bumped into him on the street.”
“Oh my, oh my.”
I spoke with great pride.
Ten years as a romance novel reader.
In addition, hundreds of novels were read for the family business.
It was not hard to create a story.
“The boy was walking from afar. The whole world was dyed with darkness. I didn’t see anything else. He was all I could see.”
“Aaaa.”
The children clasped their hands and fell in love with my story.
“People can shine, too. I found out for the first time.”
“R-really?”
“This…How do I explain it? My heart beat fast, my ears turned red, and the world looked beautiful…”
I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them. I looked at each of the children’s eyes.
“Could it be called fate?”
They screamed.
As a result of reading numerous novels, I realized what made readers most excited.
It was the beginning of romance.
And romance shattered all logic with a tremendous probability of ‘fate’.
Why did the male lead and the female lead have to meet on that day? It’s fate.
Why are you tied up with a loan shark and a debtor? It’s fate!
Your childhood friend suddenly became a handsome boy and confessed to you? It’s also fate.
It didn’t make sense, but it made sense because it was a novel. And that was the most romantic thing.
“It’s fate…”
Ah, young ones.
“Now, look at this.”
I took the button out of my pocket.
It was Roziel’s jewelry button that I forgot to sell while going out to town yesterday.
I was in a hurry to come out, so I was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, so the button was in my arms.
“What’s this?”
“It looks expensive.”
“Well… a token of love, you’ll know.
“Ahhh.”
Some of the children burst into tears.
“Just before we split up, he put it quietly in my hand, you see?”
“Oh, I envy you so much.
“I want to be in a relationship, too!”
The children stamped their feet saying they were jealous of me.
“Love. Not yet. Not yet but it could happen soon.”
“Wooow!”
I enjoyed a moment of pleasure playing with the children’s pure hearts.
“But do you know where Marin is?”
“Marin? I saw her eating in the lunchroom earlier.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I guess she could eat well after giving me such an ordeal.
I turned to the lunchroom thinking about how to grab Marin by the collar to put her on the floor efficiently.
* * *
After Yuria disappeared someone quietly emerged from behind a tree.
It was Roziel Evelian.
In his hand was Agelisk Hot Times.
Roziel happened to get a newspaper near the training ground while he was on a ride with Cutie.
And there was a shocking scene.
He came running with the mind to let Yuria know.
But he heard a very strange thing.
“Fate… destiny?”
Roziel knew what that fate was.
A lovely word that makes your heart pound.
The word which was based on the fact that everything from one to ten is inevitably connected.
“Cutie.”
“Heeee.”
It was windy.
Like dew on a blade of grass, Roziel was smiling.
“She thinks I’m her fate.”
“Pshhh.”
Cutie blew his nose and turned his head.