I Became the Villain of a Romance Fantasy

55 – The prince has no friends (2)

Corridor of a quiet castle.

I don’t feel like I’m there, as if no one is around. I knew that the atmosphere in the castle was very quiet from the day I arrived today, but the cause of this silence now was probably not because of Orcus and Noel’s visit.

No matter how quiet the castle was, running into servants in the hallway was another thing.

I don’t know how they might have seen me walking hand in hand with him toward his room, but I knew that my actions to them wouldn’t be completely ineffective in creating this silence.

I had a similar experience at Winter Castle.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as romantic as they thought, but since I didn’t feel the eyes of others, I was able to lean back comfortably with my back to the door he entered.

Strangely, there is no strength in the legs. Is it because I ran and arrived here?

No, it wasn’t that I was out of breath or anything like that. No matter how much time passed, the pain, which I should have felt if I overdid it, did not come, and rather, the feeling of exhaustion that started in my legs began to spread throughout my body.

I inhaled and exhaled deeply, as if draining my soul.

As I repeated these deep breaths, my body, which looked like it was about to collapse like a sandcastle on the waves, regained strength, albeit weakly. My head was looking for the cause of the current condition, and the closer I got to the answer, the faster my recovery speed went.

It’s not a bad feeling.

Both the feeling of exhaustion from earlier and the feeling of fullness I am feeling right now are all satisfactory.

When I looked up, my face was faintly reflected in the castle window.

The pure white girl inside the window was making eye contact with me with a small eye smile. Faced with my face reflected in the window, I closed my eyes for a moment and touched my face.

I suddenly remembered what he had said to me before coming here.

Were you jealous?

“Of course…”

It was the same as what I had said before, facing Richard.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if he was aiming for that and telling me that on purpose. Of course, unlike him then, I spoke my mind honestly.

In fact, his question probably did not necessarily require a truthful answer.

Just because he asked me that question meant he already knew the answer.

However, if there is one error here, it is that the feelings I felt at that time were not simply jealousy. So, strictly speaking, everything I said to him and what he noticed were half answers.

Even before I met Noel, I thought I had sorted out everything in the past, but as soon as I saw her face, I was caught up in the past again.

On the outside, he had been told that it wasn’t so, that it was just curiosity, but deep inside he knew that the worry that the past would not repeat itself because of this sparring did not disappear deep in his heart.

It culminated when Noel held his hand.

Anxiety that had previously been covered by worry about him began to creep in at once. For Noel, the act of holding his hand was nothing more than a mere treat, but even though I knew it in my head, my heart refused to understand it.

jealousy.

This would also be correct, but I felt that the word despair was more appropriate.

‘Why don’t you tell me your heart? While knowing everything.’

As she held his hand and spoke to me, it seemed as if she was talking to me in the present.

The words that Noel had said to him before, more like sharp daggers than any other words, resonate in his head like an echo. Unlike then, this time it was delivered clearly. I didn’t do anything to repeat the same mistake as before. But even so, the tinnitus ringing in my head does not go away.

So far, everything I’ve been through since the regression seems to be meaningless. Now that I think about it, I can say that I really overestimated the fact that I held my hand once, but normal thinking was not possible for me, who was paralyzed by reason.

It is not possible to tell him directly about this feeling. It was an incomprehensible feeling to him, who had no memory of his previous life without going through a regression, and above all, because he held my hand, the meaning had disappeared, so there was no need to say it out loud.

As soon as I felt his touch, the tinnitus that filled my head disappeared.

I feel like I’m a bit out of the past now.

After returning, I thought that almost everything would change, but the thing that gave me the greatest peace was that he held my hand in front of Noel. It’s a bit bittersweet, but it makes me look back on whether I was such a narrow-minded person.

Well, what if the stomach is a little narrow? It feels so good.

I laughed silently, then moved my feet when I heard a sound coming from behind the door. I hear the sound of shoes slowly approaching this place. I turned and prepared to meet him. When the sound stopped, the door opened and a neatly dressed figure was revealed.

He looked at the slightly wrinkled hem of my dress and asked me with a worried face.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“It can’t be.”

I smiled and answered his words.

***

After changing clothes in the room, I sat down with Elena to pass the time.

I promised to greet Noel again, but I thought that the size of the lord’s castle was not small and it would be inefficient to go around looking for her.

No matter how much I am of the royal family, there is no need for me, as Krause’s small household owner, to follow me around like that.

I struck the silver bell, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, called the attendant and asked him to bring refreshments and drinks.

If this is done, my father will know where I am, so Elena and I will have to wait patiently in the room until Father calls.

It’s not that I don’t have a desire to take a break for a while, but… Actually, this is my true intention. That’s right, as soon as I returned home, I met the bomb called the royal family, so it was no use of my heart.

It’s Noel, even if it’s called a good relationship to Elena, Orcus, that man is a relationship that could be a bad relationship if you argue with me. The reason he fell in love with Elena was because of an incident that happened a long time later, but he was also one of the three male lead candidates.

I know that Orcus isn’t a scum that would touch someone with a fiancée, but that’s just in case.

However, even if you think about those things, the visit of the imperial family is a matter that requires a little thought.

No way Noel, no matter how innocent that child is, ‘I heard that Count Krause’s knights are very talented! That’s why I’m here to apply for Dalian!!’

There must be a reason why they are moving.

About that, my father, the head of the household, knows better than anyone, so I’m not particularly worried, but I feel uneasy about it, so I decided to think about the reason.

If it had been a really serious problem, he would have pointed it out, but seeing that it wasn’t, it might be a simpler problem than I thought. But isn’t knowing better than not knowing?

It doesn’t seem like a bad idea to spend some time thinking about it.

“Bocchan. I brought refreshments and tea.”

“Come in.”

Just in time, the mouth was ready, so it went well.

The servant arranged tea sets and refreshments on the table, bowed his head once, and left the room without a word. I wondered if my father had left anything to say, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

I poured tea into the teacups placed between Elena and me and opened the cover brought by the attendant.

There, familiar refreshments thought to have been made by the chef, who had not been seen for a while, appeared. As soon as I opened the cover, Elena picked up one macaron and took a bite.

“Yum~”

Elena had cream smeared on the side of her mouth, probably because she had bitten into a macaron filled with cream. However, she didn’t care and started to put the macarons in her mouth into her mouth.

This was also a look that could only be seen in Sarham. The macaron made in the winter castle kitchen was not to her liking, so she did not enjoy eating it like this.

is it a week

It wasn’t that long, but I feel like I’ve been seeing this for a long time.

I rested my chin and watched her eat the macarons one by one.

The macaroons helplessly go into Elena’s mouth. Of course, macarons were destined to be eaten quietly because they had no limbs. Macaroons that disappear from the plate in an instant. Now, the only trace of the macaron here was the cream smeared on Elena’s mouth.

I forgot that she was looking at me as I was watching Elena eat so blankly. I noticed her gaze when the macaroons all disappeared from the plate and her hand stopped moving.

Elena looked at me with longing eyes. I could see it clearly as if I was looking through transparent glass, and I smiled.

Your eyes are so blatant.

Where did the person who blushed for feeding them macaroons before disappear?

But I had no intention of doing what she wanted meekly.

Among the refreshments on the plate, I grabbed a stick about the size of a hand.

As I lifted the stick and put it in front of her mouth, Elena glanced at me for a moment, seemed to think about it, and then began to nibble on the stick. I didn’t deliberately keep my expressionless expression like before. I put the bar into my mouth with a natural smile as if I just ate a macaron.

After some time passed, the span-sized sticks were as small as small pencils. And the distance between my fingers holding it and her lips was as close as its length.

Elena would also be aware that the current situation overlaps with some previous situation. However, she did not have the same shyness as before. It does not approach timidly like before, but moves boldly every time it moves its mouth.

I knew that too.

Oh Do-deuk

The stick chewed and she came closer. Now, with one more movement, Elena’s lips and my fingers touch. In response, Elena immediately asked for a snack bar. However, my hand was a little faster than Elena’s mouth.

I broke the bar just before touching Elena’s lips.

Her eyes widen as if I was surprised by my actions. But my hand didn’t stop there. I brought the very little remaining stick to her mouth. Then I scooped out the remaining cream and put it in my mouth.

“uh?”

Only then did Elena’s expression begin to fall apart. After all, she looks better with that reddish face.

“It’s sweet.”

I chewed on the stick and quietly recited my impressions of the taste.

The cream of the macaron is too sweet, but the thickness of the stick subtly neutralizes it. Still, it didn’t change the fact that it was sweet.

As the bar snack passed down my throat, I brought a teacup to my mouth to overcome the bitterness.

And at that moment, a third voice came from an unexpected place.

“Yes, it’s sweet.”

“Poop!”

I stopped drinking the tea at the sound I heard from the side and threw it out of my mouth. If I were to say that it was fortunate, it was the moment when I was about to put the tea in my mouth. I almost threw all the tea outside.

I wiped my wet lips once with a handkerchief and turned my head. As expected, the owner of the voice is my old family member and butler. It was Ken.

when did you come in?

When I was about to ask him a question, he looked at us again and smiled benevolently.

“It’s sweet.”

I kept my mouth shut.