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

Playing with a child was harder than I thought it would be – not only was she tireless, but she also cried easily.

She also got bored quickly and was constantly asking for something else to do.

On top of that, if she didn’t get the reaction she wanted, she would turn red and cry.

As time went on, I began to wonder how my grandmother managed to take care of the Princess.

“Uwaaah! That’s not it!”

As the sky turned dark, Princess Chloe burst into tears again. I held the brown teddy bear and watched as thick tears fell from her eyes.

‘Liel used to cry too, but I don’t think he was like this…….’

When he was younger, Liel often cried when he felt sorry for me, or when he was upset with me. But definitely not this often.

I used to think Liel was quite the crybaby, but after seeing Princess Chloe, maybe I set the bar too low.

Suddenly, I wanted to go home.

Knock knock—

“Lucy, it’s getting dark, let’s go back.”

Liel’s voice came from the other side of the door, like a promise, just as my ears were beginning to ache with desperation. This must be what it’s like to have a savior.

At the same time, Princess Chloe stopped crying.

My mouth dropped open in surprise at the rapidity of her emotional change.

“A, are you going back already?”

Her voice was muffled from crying. I smiled at her awkward way of speaking.

“I’ll come back next time, will you still play with me then?”

I was just as emotional as she was. Just a moment ago, I was eager to return home, but seeing her wistfulness made me feel weak again.

“If you want to play with me again, I’ll play with you as long as you want!”

She smiled brightly with reddened eyes. She was so cute that I almost hugged her tightly.

But I couldn’t be so rude, so I grabbed myself by the arm and stumbled away.

As soon as we were outside, Liel saw me biting my lip, and asked in disbelief.

“Are you hurt?”

He asked worriedly. I quickly shook my head and replied in a low voice.

“The Princess is just too cute.”

It didn’t take long for the concern to fade from Liel’s face. Surprised by the tepid response, I hastily excused myself.

“I haven’t played with a child since you were a baby, so she looks cute no matter what.”

“When I was a kid, you were a kid too.”

He pointed out.

No, you were the only one who was a kid then.

I swallowed the words I couldn’t bring myself to say.

“There was a time when you were just as cute as that…….”

Instead, I said something else.

“And now?”

“Huh?”

“I’m not cute now……?”

He asked with a serious look on his face. You’d think we were discussing a life-and-death matter.

By the way, aren’t you embarrassed to ask that question……?

“Now…….”

Of course, I was definitely going to answer the question.

“You’re not cute.”

Because he had grown so hopelessly unmanageable, she couldn’t even lie and say he was cute.

Liel’s amber eyes fluttered pitifully. Did he really want me to tell him he was cute?

Even before I finished answering, he was already preparing to get upset.

“You’re cool now, and you’re pretty.”

I quickly added, realizing that if I delayed any longer, he would really pout. I gave him an exaggerated thumbs-up.

“I told you I’m handsome.”

I patted him on the back to make sure he wasn’t disappointed. Liel curled his lips into a smile. Seeing me stumble around must have made him relieved.

No, rather than relieved, he looked very happy.

⁂

After that, I went to see Empress Chloe several times.

It was only once every two weeks or so, but she never forgot my face and welcomed me every time.

It was as if she had been waiting for me to come, even though she pretended not to.

There was only one problem: Her irritation was getting worse by the day. No, not irritated, but more like grumpy.

I’m usually pretty good at letting her have her tantrums, but today I wasn’t having any of it.

“I don’t like dolls! I don’t like dolls! I don’t want to play with dolls!”

It was Princess Chloe who asked me to play with the doll, but she was already tired of it. I nodded and put the doll down.

Then, without warning, the Princess picked up a doll the size of her face and threw it next to me.

“…….”

“Ouch!”

I glanced at the doll, which grazed my thigh, and then back at the princess’ weeping face.

She was going to cry for ten or twenty minutes if I left her like that. Normally, I would have comforted her, but not this time.

“Heuk, hmph……!”

When I didn’t react, the princess glanced at me. I hardened my expression and looked her in the eye.

“…….”

Hiccup––

She hiccuped, surprised by my unexpected expression. I almost reached out and patted her on the back.

“Princess, it’s okay to cry, you can cry as much as you want.”

The Empress told me that if Princess Chloe became unruly or her tantrums became too much, I could always leave her with a maid. But I never did.

And it was the same today.

“It’s okay to cry at your age, but Princess, it’s not okay to throw things at people.”

I said, holding the doll on the floor in front of her.

“You can’t hurt people just because you’re angry. It won’t make you a good person when you grow up.”

If the princess told the Empress that I had done this, I might never enter the palace again, let alone get my wish.

Still, I couldn’t ignore her bad habit. I’m sure my grandmother would have done the same thing.

“…….”

The Princess clamped her mouth shut. Her pouting lips were damp with tears.

I waited in silence for her to speak.

“A, are you angry?”

It wasn’t long before she asked in a stuttering voice. I still hadn’t relaxed my expression.

“I, I’m sorry……. I won’t throw things in the future…….”

“…….”

“So don’t hate me…….”

The Princess’ tone had changed to that of a child’s[1], so I smiled and nodded.

“That’s good. I’m sorry I lost my temper, Princess.”

I followed suit and apologized. Then she started crying again. I guess she still had more to cry.

She opened her arms to me. I blinked quickly at the sight of her short arms.

“Do you need a hug?”

I asked, and her tiny face bobbed up and down wildly. I walked over to her on my knees and gave her a quick hug.

Until now, I had been holding back because I thought it was rude.

Perhaps this was the best way to stop her crying.

Before returning home, I told the Empress the truth about my behavior and bowed my head.

Fortunately, the Empress was puzzled by my behavior and told me that my behavior and my grandmother’s behavior was exactly the same.

Apparently, my grandmother was just as unwilling to let the Princess’ misdeeds go unnoticed as I was.

⁂

Today, I took the Princess’ hand and walked around the garden. The palace is so large that I didn’t think we’d make it halfway around, but she was thrilled.

As we walked, Princess Chloe talked eagerly about the Empress in a voice like a bird chirping.

Despite the Empress’ concerns, she had a great deal of respect for her.

Although her affections were directed toward my grandmother, her admiration for the Empress was unmistakable.

“I dream of being as great as her, the Empress!”

Swords clashing against swords soon drowned out her hopeful shouts.

Walking with no set destination, we must have gotten closer to the imperial training grounds.

As I expected, I could see knights in the distance, working out or dueling.

Even though they were too far away to see their faces, I could tell that one of them was Liel.

Out of habit, I was staring at the shadowed figure, whom I assumed to be Liel, when his head turned in my direction.

Startled, I frantically gestured for Liel to focus on his sparring. Of course, he couldn’t see me, but I still gestured as hard as I could.

Contrary to my fears, however, Liel gave a slight bow to the knight in front of him. Then he trotted over to where I was.

When he was almost in front of me, he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“You came out at this hour without a parasol?”

“Why would I need a parasol? Oh, is Princess feeling alright? Are you feeling too hot or anything?”

Instead of asking Liel if his sparring was over, I lowered my head to examine the Princess’ flawless skin.

I’m fine, but she’s still young and her skin might be sensitive.

But instead of answering my question, she looked up at Liel with her mouth open.

“If it’s too hot, shall we go inside?”

“W, what…….”

The Princess’ words trailed off. But her gaze remained fixed on Liel.

“You!”

Liel……?

The Princess’ short index finger pointed at Liel. Feeling accused, Liel tilted his head and gave me a questioning glance.

No, but why aren’t you greeting the Princess?

Without realizing it, the Princess gestured for Liel to hurry up and greet her.

Liel, belatedly realizing his rudeness, dropped to one knee and bowed to the Princess.

“My name is Liel Marsen. It is an honor to meet you, Princess—”

“You are indeed a fine-looking young man, and I shall have you as my husband one day!”

Although she stumbled a little in the middle of her sentence, perhaps finding it difficult to say a long sentence at once, the princess still managed to finish her words.

At that moment, I realized that regardless of age, everyone sees things the same way.

⁂

[1] Remember that Princess Chloe imitates the Empress’ way of speaking