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

(unedited)

“You want time?”

He asked, as if to double-check.

“Yes.”

Liel replied without hesitation.

As far as he was concerned, Hamil’s offer wasn’t a bad one.

Instead of wasting his time in training, he could improve his grades and build his resume as a future knight.

The label of “bastard” was starting to bother him, though he’d pretended not to notice. But it wasn’t a label that could be thrown away at all.

So, since entering the Academy, he’d been thinking a lot about it while waiting for Lucy to arrive.

He wondered what he could do to hide his humble origins, which might be revealed at any moment.

“Is that what you say when you know you could get …… killed?”

Hemil put a hand to his forehead like a man faced with a troubling problem.

To tell the truth, the chances of Liel dying were rather slim; his swordsmanship exceeded that of most knights, and he was stronger than some of the instructors at the academy.

Still, Hemil was concerned that the young man, still only eighteen, would put himself in harm’s way.

“The other instructors are alive and well.”

He said in a playful tone.

It was a joke, of course, because Liel himself was objectively aware of his skills.

If any other instructor had heard it, they would have scowled at him for being arrogant, but not Hemil.

“So am I, and the others have lived long enough.”

He shrugged off Liel’s comment, but he couldn’t help but look worried.

“Ha……. Well, I’m not going right away anyway, I’m leaving roughly a week after vacation, so give me three days’ notice before I leave.”

The vacation period was almost two and a half months, which meant he would be out of town for two months.

Liel nodded in understanding, then gave a brief bow.

“I’m going on this extermination mission. If you say you’re coming with me, I’ll put you in the rear.”

His voice was low and menacing.

Still, Liel could only nod, his grin never leaving his face.

* * *

[Lucy’s POV]

“Uh……. I mean, what……?”

Pavon, who had followed me and Melissa yesterday, suddenly stopped me and asked for some time.

I followed him into the empty lecture hall with a puzzled look on my face.

Did I have enough of a connection with him to talk to him in private?

What the hell was he going to say?

After about five minutes of waiting for him to speak, Pavon suddenly confessed that he had a crush on me.

Did I hear him wrong……?

“I, I like you.”

Pavon’s voice was too shaky to be a joke. His face burned as if he could burn me if I put my hand on it.

“M, me?”

“Yes…….?”

I repeated, but apparently I hadn’t misheard him.

This is the first time I’ve ever talked to him, right……? So why does he like me……?

I quickly racked my brain in case I didn’t remember, but nothing came to mind.

“…….”

This was the first time I had ever been confessed by someone. I don’t remember much about my previous life, so I can’t be sure, but it was definitely the first time in this life.

The unfamiliarity of the situation made me feel a little anxious.

‘How should I say no?’

There was no reason for me to go out with Pavon. It wasn’t as if I liked him, and it wasn’t as if I was in any urgent need to interact with the opposite sex.

‘I was going to wait for Liel to get into a relationship, at least……….’

I’ve heard that there are relationships that you get to know after you’ve been together, but I honestly wasn’t sure.

If I went out with Pavon, would he even care about me?

I stared at Pavon’s hands, which were clasped together as if in prayer.

Pavon’s face turned an earthy color when he noticed my gaze.

“A, are you mad at me for confessing……? Are you offended…….?”

“Huh? No, I don’t think so……?”

“You have such an intense expression on your face to say no…….”

Pavon smiled vaguely, his face darkening even more. Only then did I realize that I had been overthinking things and tightening my brow and eyes.

I pressed my thumb to my brow in a desperate attempt to loosen my expression. The already deep frown lines wouldn’t budge.

I couldn’t.

I’ll just have to leave my brow alone and answer his confession.

“You said your name is Pavon, right? I—”

“Now, wait!”

I was about to tell him that I wasn’t looking for a relationship yet when Pavon shouted at the top of his lungs.

His voice was so different from the one that had been creeping up on me that I reflexively took a defensive stance.

Ah, that scared me.

“You don’t have to answer me right now!”

He shouted back at the once-empty lecture hall.

“N, not now, but in your……. C, can’t you think about it and answer me over the break?”

Why?

Isn’t it the same thing I heard then and now?

It could have been more torture for him. My slightly loosened brow tried to pull itself back together.

Then Pavon jerked back, as if horrified.

“Just a moment, Pavon. Just now, I’m not ready to—”

I tried to reject the confession with a gasp, as if he were going to run away. I was so rushed, the words didn’t come out right.

The problem was, he was faster than I was.

He was out of sight by the time I called his name.

He seemed like a fast kid, just like yesterday. I was no match for him, who has slow feet.

As I stood there, bewildered, he suddenly whipped around and looked at me.

W, what is it?

“Look, first of all, I’ll tell you about me…… I’m the third son of the Count of Merrin, so even if you inherit the marquisate, there will be no problem, and I’ve never liked anyone in my life, so I’m not a troublemaker, and I’m not a nuisance again…… again…… uh……. That’s all!”

What’s wrong?

I couldn’t believe I could hear his voice from this distance, and he was talking so fast.

He was gone before I could even open my mouth.

“Uh……. Mmm…….”

I just confessed, right……?

But why do I feel like I owe him?

* * *

It was vacation time.

Still, I wasn’t happy about it.

I was almost forced to think about Pavon’s confession over vacation.

Pavon had gone home as soon as vacation began, and I hadn’t seen him since.

He was a fast kid in more ways than one.

“You haven’t said much since yesterday, is something wrong?”

Melissa and I were sitting in the shelter between the girls’ and boys’ dorms, trying to get some sun.

Normally, when Melissa and I were together, I would have filled in the silence with my stories.

But right now, I was too busy thinking about the problem Pavon had left behind. It seemed to be keeping me from talking much.

“Well……. Something unexpected happened…….”

“Unexpected?”

It was definitely unexpected. I never thought the day would come when I, who was only concerned about other people’s love affairs, would receive a confession.

The other person even ran away so that I couldn’t refuse.

No, what kind of confession is this……?

I didn’t even realize it was ridiculous, because the person who confessed seemed pretty sincere.

“I got a confession…….”

“…….”

“The other person asked me to think about it over the break and get back to them with an answer.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but I was going to say no right away because I felt like that would be mean to him, too.”

“Yeah.”

“And then he didn’t even listen to me and just ran off.”

“…….”

Melissa’s expression changed oddly. She looked like she wanted to laugh, but she didn’t know if it was funny or not.

“I don’t mean to be mean, but I feel like I’ve taken on a burden I didn’t realize I had.”

I said in a serious voice.

“Yeah, I guess that could be true.”

To my surprise, Melissa agreed with me.

“But what if.”

“What if?”

“If he’s really good looking, and he’s from a good family, and he’s got a good personality, and he’s got a clean record with women, then maybe it’s worth giving this a serious thought.”

Soon after, Melissa spoke up, sounding even more serious than I was.

Suddenly, I remembered what Pavon had said to me.

‘I’m the third son of the Count of Merrin, so even if you inherit the marquisate, there will be no problem, and I’ve never liked anyone in my life, so I’m not a troublemaker, and I’m not a nuisance again…… again…… uh……. That’s all!’

“Uh……. I guess.”

To be honest, I don’t recognize his face. I’ve never seen anyone more handsome than Liel in my life.

In a way, I’d be more proud to say that there’s someone more handsome than Liel.

“Really? If that’s the case, it’s not a bad idea to think about it a bit more—”

Melissa stopped talking and looked up at me with a disapproving look on her face.

At the same time, a large hand gripped my chin painfully.

“Do you think so?”

I gently tilted my head up against my will.

My eyes went wide at the sudden upward movement. But strangely enough, I wasn’t blinded by the sun.

Because directly above me, Liel’s shaded face was blocking out the sun.

“What do you think it is?”

My chin held by him felt cold. Somehow, it felt like the air around him had turned chilly as well.