I Couldn’t Stop my Childhood Friend from Turning Into a Villain

I immediately looked around to check my hair. Just then, I caught sight of a closed shop.

The interior was dark, so I thought I could use the store window as a mirror. I approached quietly and looked at myself.

‘You’ve made a real piece of art.….’

With my hair tied tightly back, my hair was twisted to the side. It was definitely pretty, but it was a little too much for a casual appearance.

“Lucy, what do you think? Do you like it?”

Liel came up to me and asked.

I was going to roughly say I liked it, but I remembered Liel, whom I made a mistake in praising once in the past, kept on making a line of snowmen.

Don’t tell me that he’s going to try new things with my hair after I compliment him again this time.

When I finished thinking, I smiled vaguely and nodded.

Aside from being excessive, I couldn’t say no because he tied it up so well.

“Yes…. Thank you, thank you……. Next time, just tie it to the back…….”

I was afraid that if I left it like this, he would try a new challenge.

“……? I tied it back right now, too.”

“That’s true, but… no, forget it…….”

I decided to just give up because I felt like I was rebuking Liel’s sincerity for tying my hair up.

It’s better than tying it weirdly.….

“Now, let’s go buy a present for unnie.”

The knight quickly followed us as I pulled Liel’s hand in a state of almost giving up.

What should I buy to make unnie happy?

When I recalled my original purpose, the excitement that had run far settled down again.

It was when I was thinking about what gift to give as I passed by the items listed in front of the store.

“Lucy, be careful.”

Liel grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.

At the same time, a person passed by me.

I didn’t realize that someone was coming towards me because I was looking around the store.

If Liel hadn’t caught me, I would have bumped into him.

“I almost bumped into someone. Thank you, Liel.”

Looking at the back of the man busily running away, it seemed that the man was also quite busy.

“Don’t go ahead of me because it’s dangerous.”

Liel held my hand and said.

I also nodded meekly and clasped my hand with Liel’s.

***

It had been a long time since I couldn’t choose a gift.

“If you haven’t decided what to buy yet, can we choose the one that I thought of?”

If you had something in mind, you should have told me from the beginning!

I’ve been thinking about it for no reason.

“Of course. What is it? Do you have anything in mind?”

“Yes.”

Liel nodded his head with a confident face. Then he asked the knight straight away.

“Do you know where the blacksmith is?”

Why are you looking for a blacksmith when you buy a gift for your sister…? Don’t tell me you’re going to give her a sword as an entrance gift.

The knight replied with a puzzled look, while he stared at Liel suspiciously.

“I know, but…… What are you looking for?”

The knight’s embarrassed heart was reflected on his face. I looked at Liel with a similar expression.

“I think she needs a self-defense dagger to protect her body the most.”

“Self-defense dagger?”

“Yes, now that she has to live in the academy dormitory…….”

His intentions seemed plausible. But can a slender person like unnie hold a dagger properly?

As if he had read my mind, Liel immediately added.

“Even a light dagger can be carried around.”

“It’s quite…”

As Liel said, I thought it would be better to give my sister something in her hand.

That’s right, Dioleta unnie….

“She has a lot of strange people around her.”

That’s right.

I nodded in sympathy with Liel’s words a hundred and a thousand times.

In the meantime, I wanted to add one thing, but I held it in.

‘In the original, out of all the weirdos that got tangled up with unnie, you were the worst.’

My mouth was itching, but I really held it in.

***

While the knight was guarding outside, we came inside the store and looked at the goods.

Liel’s eyes were cautious when choosing a sword. On the other hand, I was following Liel without knowing what was what.

“Lucy, look at this.”

Liel grabbed the blade of the dagger and pushed the handle at me and said.

I was worried that Liel might get hurt, so I quickly grabbed the handle of the dagger.

“Is it heavy?”

“Uh… a little?”

“Then what about this?”

This time he held out another dagger.

“Well…… I think this is lighter than the other one.”

I felt like the dagger that Liel first handed me was lighter.

Following Liel, I also weighed with a discreet face, and when I answered, I took back the two daggers he had given me with a smile.

“Then let’s go with this.”

Then we immediately approached the blacksmith and asked for the price.

“Oh, little boy. You have a good eye, don’t you?”

The blacksmith glanced down at Liel’s dagger and laughed widely.

What a loud laugh.

The eyes of the passers-by were staying on us.

“So what’s the price?”

“Just give me four golds.”

The blacksmith took off his worn-out leather gloves and offered the price.

If it was 4 gold, it was enough money for 2 months for a commoner family of 4 to play and eat without doing anything.

‘Is 4 gold cheap or expensive?’

The problem was that I knew the value of four golds, but I didn’t know the value of that dagger.

“Four golds is too cheap.”

My curiosity was solved without difficulty by Liel’s words that followed.

“Hey, young master. You seem to know the price of swords quite well, too.”

The blacksmith laughed again. It seemed like only him was in a different world.

I was surprised, too. I can’t believe he’s so knowledgeable at this.

“It’s originally about 6 gold, but I’m giving you a special discount because you seem to be young and sharp.”

He gave it 2 golds cheaper for that reason. Even if that’s true, the reason was so suspicious.

“It was a sword that hadn’t been sold for more than a year in the first place, so if you buy it for me, I’ll be in profit.”

No. It’s still a two-gold loss anyhow.

Liel also thought the same thing as me, so he didn’t take out the money willingly.

***

After a long scuffle with the blacksmith, we bought the dagger with five golds.

The blacksmith nagged Liel, who was trying to raise the price with even one gold, as if he was a strange person.

What did he say?

Then he said he’d get caught later?

A merchant who worries about getting caught by a customer.

It was a funny situation, but Liel seemed very satisfied with even one gold.

Yes, as long as you’re satisfied…….

By the way—

“Liel, tell me the truth.”

“What?”

“You’re hanging out with Dioleta unnie without me, are you?”

Of course, if it was the normal me, I wouldn’t be upset for this reason.

Even now, I wasn’t asking this question for childish reasons such as being very upset.

This, for me, was a matter of life and death.

“All of a sudden?”

“It’s the same as bargaining for goods earlier, and the fact that you know the blacksmith’s strategy strangely well…….”

“Ah…”

“I don’t think you’ve ever been out even once or twice……. I won’t be upset, so be honest with me.”

I put my ear close to him as if I had enough intention to listen. Then, instead of answering, I heard laughter from the side, but I tried to ignore it.

“Before I came to the duke’s house, I went around a lot with my mother.”

“…….”

“The bargaining was something I learned from my mother, and the market price was roughly adjusted by comparing the other swords in the forge earlier.”

For a moment, I could see longing passing by Liel’s eyes telling the story of his late mother.

No matter how much I didn’t know, I felt like he was revealing his past with unnecessary worries.

While hesitating about what to say to Liel, he took the lead first.

“It was fun today.”

Liel said that and untied my hair that he had tied carefully today.

My hair came loose when it touched one point.

My slightly curly hair soon swelled up like a cloud.

“It’s a little messy, so I’ll tie it back for you.”

He tapped his hand on the seat next to him as if to come closer. Instead of moving, I put my hand on his lap and said,

“When we grow older than we are now, let’s hang out here and there together.”

My grandmother is still very worried because we are both young now.

But if we grow up a little bit more, we’ll be able to hang out alone at least when we’re over 17.

By then, Liel’s sword skills would have improved a lot, and both of us would have grown up enough to enter the academy, so I decided to promise later.

“So let’s have as much fun as we had today, no, more than today.”

I didn’t just say it because I felt sorry for him remembering his mother.

This was my heart. Even as an adult, I wanted to get along with Liel as well as I do now.

“……Yes, let’s do it.”

Liel, who hesitated to answer, soon turned his head and looked at the window.

Soon after, the sky at sunset slowly began to color his face with a sunset glow.