My Childhood Friends Are Trying To Kill Me

The Duke of Superion blinked, finding  the situation hard to believe. No matter how many times he looked at his son, he seemed like he was crying.

‘What is he doing? This child… Why is he behaving like this in front of a child?’ The Duke sat opposite Carius and looked alternately at Lelia, whose mouth was covered with dessert powder.

He seemed to be wondering about the current situation.

Lelia, bewildered by the look, shouted without realizing it.

“Well, I did not! I didn’t do that!”

“Hahaha… haha!”

But strangely enough, Carius now began to laugh out loud at the words.

When I was young, he used to fight with his sister, Elizabeth, and if their father came in, his sister would always say, ‘I didn’t do that! Carius just cried alone!’

Still, in fear of getting scolded, she would quickly approach Carius and give him a hug. ‘I’m sorry, Brother. So, please smile!’ she used to whisper.

“…”

Lelia looked at Carius with a strange expression as if she had seen a madman.

The Duke of Superion and the maid, Becky, who were watching Carius, had a similar expression.

***

Back in the room with Becky, Lelia lay on bed feeling restless. Becky brought a lot of desserts, including Maclia to Lelia’s surprise,, but somehow it was out of hand.

[Is she sick?]

Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable when she thought of Carius, who was crying and laughing like a madman. Even though he hated her, he was still her mother’s best brother.

[‘And from what I heard from my grandmother, I think they were much closer than I thought them to be…]

Lelia spent time with her sweet grandmother and grandfather, but they were very strict parents towards their children when they were young.

Maybe that was why she kept her heart drawn to her.

At first, she wondered, ‘Why was he doing that being such a grown up man?’ every time he cast her edgy glances at her.

However, in a way, his eyes seemed to be depicting someone who desperately wanted to protect something from her.

[Like an adult who hasn’t grown up…]

Lelia rolled over her doll with a serious expression on her face, and then she got up from the bed again.

[Oh! I forgot. I have to do what I have to do.]

Lelia’s gaze reached the basket containing her health recovery potion.

[I need to earn money quickly and recharge my crystals.]

She was just like that when she got up and went out with her basket.

She was smart

She heard a knock and thought it was Becky, but it was Carius who opened her door and came in.

Lelia squinted her eyes and looked at him.

He cried and then laughed, and then his eyes were red as if he had cried again.

“Sit down for a moment.”

Carius spoke bluntly and sat down on the sofa. Lelia hesitated for a moment, then she walked across from it and settled down.

“What’s wrong?”

“… I have something to say.”

“…”

“Before, so in the Imperial Palace…”

“Yeah.”

“I apologize. I’m sorry I got so mad.”

“…”

Lelia wanted to know if he really had hit his head somewhere and she looked at him suspiciously.

“And… Now I believe you. No, the truth is, I knew it from the beginning, but maybe I didn’t want to admit it.”

“…”

“I’m sorry for being a mean uncle, Lelia.”

Uncle?

Lelia’s eyes widened.

She wondered what he was talking about, and now he seemed to believe that she really was her mother’s daughter.

Lelia couldn’t stop the corner of her mouth from rising as she smiled a little.

Carius smiled a little too.

“When I was as young as you.”

“…Yeah?”

“Now, to your eyes, my father may look like a very kind grandfather, but he was very strict.”

“…”

“He was a very scary father. He always compared our brothers to the children of vassals and wanted them to excel.”

“I see…”

“My father and my mother were always strict and scary, so I was scared of them.”

“…”

“I think I was in a lot of pain every time I was crying because my father and teachers scolded me. I thought I didn’t deserve it.”

Lelia just listened to his sudden confession.

Carius, whose eyes were red again, calmly continued to speak.

“But every time she came to me, she hugged me and comforted me.”

“…”

Little Carius and Elizabeth were depicted in Lelia’s head. They were scolded by their parents and encouraged each other.

As such, her mother must have been a precious person to Carius.

Lelia said carefully, “I’m not defending my grandfather, but he always said he regretted it. I should have been a more loving father..”

Carius looked at Lelia with a small smile.

“Yes, my father has changed a lot since my sister died.”

“Still… you must have been very sad.”

Speaking of which, Lelia muttered quietly because she seemed to have sided with her grandfather too much.

It broke her heart to think of a child her age who would have been scolded and frightened by strict parents. It was also similar to the wounds of friends who were most precious to Lelia.

“I don’t know properly because I don’t have parents. But I think I know now.”

Carius couldn’t say a word to answer Lelia’s words, who sympathized with the wounds of childhood.

Lelia looked at the dessert on the table.

These were the ones Becky had brought earlier.

“Eat this.”

Lelia carefully stuck out her plate.

Carius, who had been agonizing for a while, said, “…it’s funny that I was scolded by my parents when I grew up.”

“… Not at all.” Lelia replied, shrugging her shoulders. 

Often people used to laugh at the wounds they received from their childhood. When the skin was wounded due to your own fault, disinfecting the wound, applying her ointment, making it scab, enduring the itchiness, and enduring the process for new flesh to sprout.

His broken heart also needed such a process.

[Especially the wounds I received as a child.]

If you didn’t go through that process and became an adult, even if you looked like a decent adult on the outside, the scars left in your heart would remain stagnant for the rest of your life.

[The wounds I received as a child… Even if I die and become a corpse, they would remain.]

Before Lelia also went to the temple, she had many wounds from her childhood, but her friends had healed her to some extent.

So she knew…

That an adult who had not grown up would possess a heart as weak as a child’s.

“…My father would be amazed to know that I had told you this. He would ask me to do as if I were a grown-up.”

“And if I asked my grandfather to tell me about his wounds when he was a kid, he’d think about it and tell me.”

At Lelia’s words, Carius grinned. For some reason, the words sounded meaningful.

Carius apologized again as a result of a rush of guilt.

“Sorry again, for hurting you.”

“It’s okay.”

To be honest, compared to the wounds Lelia had received so far, the wounds Carius gave were not even wounds.

Carius said in a softer tone, as if he knew it. 

“…Did Cedric and Demian torment you and run away?”

“That’s kinda true..”

Actually, to be exact, it’s not to be exact.

She tried to survive at any cost.

[‘But to be honest, it did hurt my heart.’]

So she couldn’t even tell her grandfather. At least for those who knew her mother, Lelia’s misfortune would have been a big deal.

“… you can tell me you can tell me everything. I will be your uncle, not Cedric and Damien.”

“…”

The words staggered Lelia for a moment.

To be honest, there was no way she didn’t want to tell anyone.

But she still didn’t possess the courage to talk.

[I’ll keep acting like a child.]

Even in her previous life, she died at a young age.

After reincarnation, she had memories of her previous life, but her brain was still underdeveloped, so she often acted like Lelia’s real child.

It was still the same today. She really felt the urge to tell what she had been through, like a ten-year-old.

****

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