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

As the rattling of the carriage became more intense, I began to grow restless. I glanced over at the stretched-out window and asked Liel if he had noticed my unease.

“Sorry, but isn’t it a bit far?”

We’d been moving for nearly an hour, so it wasn’t close.

Still, given the direction we were going, it was only a short distance from the academy, not that far from my house.

We’d have to see once we got there, but…….

“No, that’s not the problem…….”

The distance from my house to the academy was quite a bit, so the distance wasn’t a problem. My concern was that the road was rougher than I expected.

“Are we on the right track……?”

“Yeah, we’re almost there.”

Liel replied, not even looking out the window to see if he could make a rough estimate of the time, and soon, true to his word, the carriage screeched to a halt.

“Marquis! Sir Liel, we’ve arrived!”

At the sound of the coachman’s cheerful voice, Liel opened the door with a leisurely movement and slipped out of the carriage.

Instead of following him out, I poked my head out to take in the surroundings.

“I, uh, don’t see the slightest hint of a mansion……?”

As far as I could see, there was nothing but dense forest and a low mountainside, with a small trail leading up to it.

Are we on the wrong trail?

“It’s up there.”

Liel pointed to a small path that led up a hill or mountain.

“You’ll have to walk from here. It’s rough.”

How could it be more difficult? Why did he choose this one out of all the mansions?

I looked at Liel as if to question his taste, and he grinned in embarrassment.

“It’s worth living in.”

With a look like that on his face, there’s no way I could have believed him. I even wondered if he’d been scammed into buying the house.

But then again, Liel knew more about money transactions than I did and was more cautious.

“Yeah……. If that’s your thing, who am I to argue…….”

I replied, haphazardly brushing back a stray strand of hair that had fallen when I leaned forward.

“How far is it from here?”

“Um……. Ten minutes at my pace? At your pace…… it would take about 20 minutes.”

I don’t know why he was counting my steps, but he was saying it would take 20 minutes at a normal human pace.

What a pain.

“It’s just a straight forward path up from here. Thanks for the ride.”

As I looked at him with a pitiful gaze, Liel suddenly expressed his gratitude. Could this mean it’s now okay for me to go?

I nodded and turned back to sit down, if not for Liel, who suddenly spoke again.

“Lucy, please don’t tell anyone where I live.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because it’s not like you’re going to be here often anyway…… and you might come over to hang out once in a while, and they’ll get the wrong idea.”

“Oh…….”

Grown men and women going back and forth between each other’s homes could be a source of misunderstanding among the nobility. Just as I’d been caught up in rumors with Liel at the Academy.

But here, I don’t think I’ll be seen by many people, much less dare to think someone has a home here.

The area around it was deserted.

“I honestly don’t mind a rumor or two, but Lucy, you don’t.”

Liel said, just as I was wondering if human eyes would ever see this place.

I turned to look at Liel’s face to get back on track, and he was smiling in a way that belied the bitterness in his voice.

I stared at the upturned corners of his mouth, contemplating.

“You should really go now. It’s getting dark. It gets dark in here.”

After another farewell, Liel closed the carriage door with his hand. Even as I watched the door close with a squeak, I didn’t come to an easy conclusion.

Thud—

Only after the carriage door was completely closed did I hear Liel’s voice calling for us to leave. The coachman reined in the horses at Liel’s signal.

“I don’t mind, but…….”

I muttered as the carriage rattled and began to move.

In hindsight, I didn’t mind the rumors being spread about Liel and I.

I just didn’t think it would do much good for either of us.

In the old-fashioned sense of the word, it was more of an inconvenience than a dislike.

“But just in case…….”

I swiveled around and poked my head out the window where the coachman was sitting.

“……?”

The coachman’s shoulders jerked up slightly in surprise at my sudden appearance.

“You heard what Liel said earlier, didn’t you? For the sake of Liel’s reputation, I need you to keep the location of the house a secret.”

“What? Ah, yes. I will.”

The coachman replied coolly, as if it were a difficult task. Of course, it was a useless promise if Liel’s family already knew where he lived.

I was about to close the window with a satisfied look on my face when the coachman paused, as if he still had something to say.

“Why?”

“Uh……. Not that it matters…… but I thought I could see with my own eyes why the late Marquis Anise was so frustrated.”

Why does my grandmother suddenly come up here?

I paused, wondering if I’d given him a reason to remember my grandmother.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s dangerous, so just go inside and sit down.”

The coachman must have seen me flinch because he shook his head quickly and fixed the reins, and I closed the window and sat back down.

I felt a tingling sensation that I had felt once before, but I don’t know when.

⁂

Liel’s house was located on the fringes of the Empire, the closest thing to the outer walls. In fact, half a year ago, he’d been looking for a place closer to Lucy’s mansion.

He’d picked the best of the bunch, but he’d had to reverse his decision shortly afterward.

Kkaakk—

As he made his way up the hill, he felt eyes on him. Not human, but animal, demonic gazes.

Liel rubbed the back of his neck in annoyance.

“Why do you look to me for your king.”

He was sick of it.

The demons were getting bolder by the day, more insistent than ever, even climbing over the outer wall to find him.

That’s why he’d taken up residence in a clearing close to the outer wall.

“If you can get inside, why don’t you find him yourself?”

Liel said, not bothering to acknowledge my stare. The birds’ beaks opened slightly.

[We can’t find him].

[The king has hidden himself so that we cannot find him].

[We cannot enter without the king’s command].

The birds began to explain, as if mesmerized. Liel narrowed his eyes like a man listening to a boring story.

“Not now that you’re already here.”

A reflexive snort escaped Liel’s lips, and his voice was tinged with bewilderment.

[Only you can find the king].

Well.

If I could, I’d like to see the face of this man called the King. The way the demons are reacting to me, the tattoo on my ankle must have something to do with him.

But Liel’s guess was a mixture of certainty and denial.

For the world knew the King of Demons to be dead.

“Get lost.”

Liel stopped his pointless musings and turned to the birds. The birds began to flap their wings in unison at his command.

One by one, their feet slipped off the branches, and the branches shook with the recoil.

The birds hovered above Liel’s head for a while before flying away.

⁂

Dailor was in quite the predicament now.

“You still haven’t found it?”

His master’s patience was wearing thin, as it had been more than a year since he’d made the claim that he’d found it.

She has a sensitive temper, and if he dragged it out any longer, his eyes would roll back in his head.

As we walked through the streets, blending in with the knights, Dailor made grunting noises.

Meanwhile, the other members of the troupe, oblivious to his situation, were busy chattering away.

“So you’re saying you got dumped?”

“So what……. He said I wasn’t his type.”

“Haven’t you had a crush for over three years already, just stop it and marry whoever they decide for you at home.”

Since they were all in their prime, the topics of conversation were flowery.

One of the paladins turned to Dailor, who wasn’t engaged in the conversation, and asked him if he was worried.

“Is something bothering you?”

Dailor shook his head, saying it was nothing, and then he heard a woman’s voice.

“No, didn’t I tell you that I don’t suit white?”

“Really? I think it’ll be fine if you design it right…….”

Another familiar voice followed. Dailor turned quickly toward the source of the sound, thinking, finally, the Goddess Ophelia is giving him a fair chance.

Lucy and Liel were having a small argument.

“……Yes, it’s yours to wear, so do what you want.”

Lucy had been deciding on the colors of the fabric, and her hand held a bundle of black and navy blue fabric.

“And I’ve been doing some research on how I can make the uniform more practical…….”

Lucy soon brought up another topic. It seemed to be about tailoring the uniforms. Dailor’s eyes flicked back and forth between Liel and Lucy.

This was why he hadn’t made much progress so far. There was a wall between them that he couldn’t break through.

But it wasn’t necessarily with Liel, and it wasn’t with the Marquis, Lucy Seywint, either.

“Is there any good justification?”

The knight’s sobbing voice rang in Dailor’s ears as he wondered if he should just go over and talk to her.

“I was aiming for a love marriage!”

“Your family is quite conservative, isn’t it? Maybe it was never meant to be in the first place.”

“No romance…….”

“Well, I’m a realist, and I just sent off a marriage proposal to a woman from the next country over. You’d better get your act together before you’re dropped from the marriage market.”

As soon as he heard those words, a single thought popped into Dailor’s head.

Lucy Seywint, who had risen to the rank of Marquis and had no fiancé.

“Marriage…….”

Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t like there wasn’t a way to approach her.

A grin spread across his face as he thought of a plausible, if slightly outlandish, idea.