I Became the Villain's Childhood Friend - Chapter 47

“Danae, wear a hat. It stings your eyes.”

Adele noticed me like this and handed me a straw hat, I wonder when did she brought it. It was much easier on my eyes when I wore the hat.

She whispered to me as she put the peaches in the box.

“Let’s take some pretty-looking peaches and make them into tarts.”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course! My grandparents told us to eat as much as we could. Grandma was really looking forward to meeting you. I talked about you a lot in my letters.”

I wondered what stories she would have written. At that time, Adele tapped my shoulder and continued speaking.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t write any bad stories!”

“I have nothing bad to be written.”

“There’s a lot, you know.”

I burst out laughing and went back to picking peaches. Even though I came here to have fun, I still felt like I had to pay for food.

But Adele said I was strange and used a lot of energy, taking me to see the farm.

I thought the Ligna family only ran a farm, yet it turns out they also run a ranch. Of course, the size of the ranch wasn’t that big compared to the farm.

“Its name is Pen.”

Adele pointed to a spotted cow. It was a cow characterized by a mole on its back that was larger than the other moles.

“Pen?”

Adele nodded and continued speaking.

“Grandpa said that when Pen was born, he was trying to write down the time and Pen’s characteristics. Then he accidentally dropped the pen, and that’s when Pen was born. That’s why it’s called Pen.”

Adele said, stroking Pen’s head.

“I’ve seen Pen since it was born, and it has already become a mother.”

Now that I think about it, Pen’s bosoms are swollen.

She said to Pen with an apologetic look on her face.

“Sorry, I’ll get some milk.”

“…Do you want me to help you?”

“Thanks, but I’ll just accept your feelings. Pen is sensitive.”

Even while Adele was milking the milk, Pen was very calm. Just looking at that now, I couldn’t believe that Pen was so sensitive.

Then something tapped my leg. I looked down and saw Victor, who was holding a ball in its mouth, tapping my leg with its front foot.

Seeing that, I let out a small laugh without realizing it, then grabbed the ball it was holding and threw the ball far away. Meanwhile, Adele finished milking Pen.

“Let’s go back now.”

“Alright.”

Victor, who had already returned to our side, was also with us.

Victor came back panting, and instead of the ball I had thrown, he was holding a basket with a large ribbon attached to the handle.

It was filled with eggs big enough to fill one up just by eating one.

“I guess Grandma told Victor to bring it to us.”

Adele smiled contentedly as she took the basket from Victor.

The distance between the farm and the mansion was farther than I thought. Grandpa Lawrence told us to go on horseback, but Adele said we wanted to walk while talking, so she refused him.

But Grandpa Lawrence added that we should take a horse with us just in case.

…And there was nothing good about not listening to the old man. Adele and I were out of breath, then eventually got back on the horse we had taken. If we hadn’t listened to Grandpa Lawrence, we would have definitely regretted it.

The mansion had a warm atmosphere. The ivy climbing the exterior wall matched the atmosphere of the mansion very well.

One thing that felt unusual was that there were no occupants in the mansion. There were definitely employees helping with the work within the farms and ranches.

Adele and I headed straight to the kitchen to make tarts.

“Can I help you with something?”

She seemed to think for a moment as she looked at me fussing hard next to her, but then she opened her mouth.

“…Could you cut me some peaches?”

“I’d love to!”

Even as I peeled the peaches as instructed, I didn’t miss the sight of her fiddling with the dough. The sight of Adele skillfully handling the dough felt new.

“Danae, be careful with the knife.”

Adele spoke in a rather urgent voice, probably because she was worried about me. Only then did I take my eyes off my hands.

“It looks like you’ve made this so many times?”

“Mmhm, it’s one of Grandma’s favorite desserts.”

Adele finished the dough in no time and began cooking the peaches with sugar.

I snooped around her to see if she needed my help, yet she only shook her head resolutely.

It was my first time seeing tarts made with my own eyes, so everything Adele did felt amazing.

She spread the tart dough neatly on the tart plate, held it up, and stood in front of the oven.

In fact, it wasn’t an oven, but a magic tool that looked like a oven.

It was large enough to fit about ten palm-sized tart dough pieces.

Usually, the things used for cooking in the kitchens of nobles are mostly magic tools. This was because there was little risk because it used mana.

However, the magic tools here were a little different from the kitchen magic tools I knew. I asked Adele while examining the magic tool.

“Did you make this magic tool?”

At my question, Adele smiled slightly and nodded her head.

“That’s right. This is the first magic tool I made. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t listen to me often. Thanks to that, this guy’s name is Victor. Grandma said it’s similar to Victor in disobeying me.”

Adele smiled mischievously and injected her magic into Victor.

Victor began to glow with its orange mana. The orange mana slowly colored Victor like a sunset.

Thanks to this, the glow of the sunset appeared on Adele’s cheeks as she stared at Victor.

Her red glow was dotted with stars.

“Grandma is extremely happy when she sees Victor. When Grandma was at our house, she looked very distressed.”

It seemed like something had happened at home. But since it was a family thing, I didn’t bother to ask. Instead, I listened to Adele in silence.

“The first and last time Grandma smiled in our house was when I made Victor and gave it to her as a gift. When she moved, the first thing she took with her was Victor (the oven). Oh, and she also took the Victor (the dog) out there. “

“…”

“Then I thought, no matter what happens, I will become a mage.”

Adele lightly shrugged her shoulders.

“A noble lady wants to become a mage. I’m so weird, right?”

“People should live their lives doing what they want to do.”

Adele paused for a moment at my words. But that was only for a moment, she said with a faint smile.

“You say the same thing as my grandpa.”

Adele stood up from her seat, stretching. Then, looking at me, she asked cautiously.

“Did you have any opposition from your father?”

“My father thought that all I had to do was enroll in the Academy…”

“…I envy you.”

There was sincerity in Adele’s voice as she mumbled that. From Adele’s point of view, she might be jealous, but if I knew my situation, she wouldn’t be able to be so envious. However, I couldn’t explain my whole situation to her.

Adele held out her hand to me. I took her hand and stood up.

***

The dinner was so wonderful.

Although it was a meal consisting of only fresh cheese, freshly baked bread, and eggs, it was one of the best meals I have ever tasted.

Ah, there was bacon, but the bread tasted better than the bacon today.

“It seems like just yesterday that you wet yourself because you had a scary dream when you were little.”

“Grandma!”

Adele called out to her in surprise.

“Now you’re a lady.”

Grandpa Lawrence and Grandma Sylvia smiled pleasantly and tipped their glasses of wine. I laughed along with them and happily finished the meal.

It was a feeling of warmth that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

After finishing eating, Adele took me to her room.

In fact, my heart was pounding because it was my first time playing with a friend of the same gender like this.

Adele also seemed to have prepared a lot when she invited me. I couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight of her even preparing my cute yellow pajamas.

Adele gazed blankly at the stars beyond the window in her pajamas.

When I followed her gaze to the night sky, the sky was filled with stars that seemed as if they were about to pour down on us at any moment.

As I was looking at the stars that filled the night sky without realizing it, Adele opened her mouth as if she had finally remembered it.

“By the way, did you hear that?”

“What?”

“They said fanatics came all the way to the capital.”

It was the first time I heard it in my life.

“Fanatics?”

“Yes. What on earth are they doing, crowding around… His Imperial Majesty ordered the Crown Prince to catch the ringleader. Thanks to that, it’s a situation where only the Crown Prince will die.”

“Whoa…”

The Crown Prince is in a difficult situation?

Oh, that’s not bad, though.

Obviously, I didn’t say that thought out loud.

Adele lost her voice.

“I heard that’s why His Highness came to the academy late.”

“But did those fanatics cause any accident?”

“They say they committed all kinds of crimes. There was even an attempt to poison the Crown Prince and Julia in the past. It was later revealed that the culprits were those fanatics.”

It seemed to be bigger than I thought.

But I don’t remember seeing it in the original story. Did I just not remember that?

“…They were the ones who did that?”

She nodded.

“It was a complete mess back then. Their Highnesses Julia and Charis both collapsed, without being able to wake up for a while…”

“…”

“Ah, the mood is getting worse. Did I bring this up for no reason?”

Adele smiled shyly and scratched her cheek. Then she glanced at me and asked cautiously.

“Now then, do you want to take turns asking each other something we’ve been curious about?”

“…What a mischievous question to ask.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll only ask questions that are extremely common sense.”

But contrary to her words, Adele’s face looked quite evil in the candle light. She tilted her head towards me.

“Ask me first.”

I thought about her words for a moment. However, the worries were short-lived.

Because there was something I was always curious about about Adele.

“Why are you so nice to me?”

“…Are you sure you’re calling that a question?”

Feeling strangely embarrassed, I hugged the pillow next to me in my arms and nodded quietly. Adele must have been flustered by my reaction, so she fanned herself with her hand.

“Of course because we’re friends.”

When I gaped at her words, Adele shook her head.

“If you want to ask more, wait your turn. This is my turn.”

It didn’t matter because the night would be long. Adele smirked as she asked me.

“Do you like someone?”

Although I paused for a moment at her question, I was able to answer it easily.