CH 4

The two were friends.

When Gloria found Reynold inside the Academy, I remember that Danae was always by his side.

To think that he’s a male lead with a female friend. Honestly, he was disqualified as a male lead.

And since he killed that female friend, he deserved to be stripped of a guy friend’s status as well.

So, for me now, it was better not to be involved with Reynold at all.

Reynold seems to be relatively nice now, but I never know when he’ll change.

I was still afraid of this world.

I don’t even know if this world is real or if I’m just dreaming.

In particular, I was still not sure if Sylvester, one of the male leads and my younger brother, was the right person for me to breathe with.

He was a character I had seen in a novel, so I was reluctant for no reason.

And, if my memory wasn’t distorted, one of the people with the surname of Lerdonia besides Sylvester was definitely another male lead, which certainly wasn’t Edin.

However, I can’t remember the exact name, so I decided to just dismiss him as someone who doesn’t exist. Well, it’s a complacent idea that he’ll show up on his own when the time comes.

It was my intention not to get involved with the original characters as much as possible.

I will only preserve my life, and I’m going to get home somehow.

If the main leads didn’t enter the Academy by themselves, they would be able to move around as they wanted because they would be at a certain age then.

In the meantime, I’ll have to find a way to get back somehow.

Thus I prayed that time would pass quickly.

More than anything else, living confined to a child’s body with the spirit of an adult was a lot harder than I thought.

***

I was more attached to Edin, who didn’t appear in the novel more than the male lead, Sylvester, and I cared more for my escort knight, Pul, and my dedicated maid, who didn’t appear in the novel at all, than my father, the Duke.

“Sister.”

The door to my room was slightly opened, and Sylvester poked his head.

Looking at those green eyes staring at me, I started to feel jagged again.

Sylvester approached me and hesitantly mumbled.

“Can’t you read me… a book?”

I flipped the book I was holding.

“Sister is reading a book right now.”

“Then can’t I watch you read a book next to you?”

I couldn’t even say no to a child.

I nodded roughly, and Sylvester cautiously approached me, sitting next to me.

Then he glanced at my face and opened the storybook he had brought.

However, it seemed that Sylvester, who couldn’t read all the letters yet, was bored just looking at the pictures.

“Sisteeeerrrr…”

Sylvester grabbed my arm and shook it away, whining beside me.

I thought for a moment while entrusting myself to Sylvester’s hand.

It wasn’t that hard to read a storybook to him, and I knew that it was a very bad thing to be so reluctant to my seven-year-old brother.

But he’s not my real brother.

I never really imagined myself having a conversation with a character in a novel.

Of course, I knew full well that Sylvester was someone who thought the same thing as me.

However, knowing that fact didn’t lead to me doing rational things immediately.

I still hated Sylvester.

“Danae!”

Then my savior appeared. Edin burst open the door to my room and came in.

When Edin saw Sylvester sitting next to me, he looked at me unexpectedly.

As soon as Sylvester saw Edin, he ran to him and hugged him.

“Sylvester, have you been playing well with Danae?”

“No, Sister doesn’t even read me a book…”

At those words, Edin glanced at me briefly with her resentful eyes.

However, Edin calmed Sylvester as usual without saying anything to me.

“Brother will read it to you.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Edin took his hand and came over to the couch where I was sitting.

Sylvester looked at me and pursed his lips.

“I hate you, Sister.”

“Thanks. I hope you won’t change your feelings in the future.”

Hearing my words, Edin opened his axe eyes and called my name.

“Danae.”

“I hope you will change your feelings in the future.”

When I forced a sad expression on Edin’s words and responded, the quick-witted kid pouted his lips even more.

I saw Edin reaching out for a storybook and asked him.

“So, why did you come to my room?”

Only then did Edin open his mouth as if he had remembered something.

“Ah. Father calls you.”

“…Why?”

Edin replied as if it were natural.

“Isn’t he going  to scold you for what happened on the Collin’s?”

“What? What did I do wrong!”

“Shut up. Hurry up and leave.”

Edin narrowed his brows and ordered me as he kicked me out of my place.

But it was so unfair.

This is my room.

I hurriedly left the room and headed for the duke’s office.

I thought I should go and speak to the Duke.

I have no intention of becoming friends with that proud Duke.

As I hurried to the front of the office, Benjamin, the butler, smiled benevolently and informed the Duke of my arrival.

Soon, the door to the office opened.

At the sound of the door opening, the Duke, who was looking at the papers, glanced at me. Then he gestured his chin slightly towards the sofa.

Not long after I sat down on the couch, he also got up and sat down in front of me.

There were a lot of my favorite desserts on the table. And in front of the Duke was a steaming teacup.

I picked up a macaron and ate it. It was a macaron with a sweet strawberry filling.

The Duke looked at me like that and opened his mouth.

“I hear Madam Collin likes you very much.”

Indeed… It was something I couldn’t even guess why.

I answered in a calm voice.

“I don’t want to be friends with her son.”

“Why?”

What do you mean why?

“I fell into the lake because of him. I was very scared then. When I see Reynold, I think I will get reminded of that time again.”

The Duke nodded his head quietly to see if I had any point.

“But why is that all of a sudden?”

“Because the Madam and the Young Lord like you very much.”

What? Reynold does?

It felt like the macarons I had eaten deliciously were stuck in my throat.

I choked and coughed, then I hurriedly poured the drink the Duke had rushed out into my mouth.

“N-No… Reynold does?”

Upon hearing my words, the Duke’s eyebrows raised for a moment, but then came down.

He put the teacup down on the table.

“You call him by his name, I think you’ve already become friends, though?”

“That can’t be! To think that I’m friends with him!”

My frightened voice rose without my knowledge.

Hearing a voice much louder than I expected, I hurriedly covered my mouth.

In times like this, I need to be calm.

I opened my mouth in a calm voice.

“I need another friend. In any case, heㅡ”

At that time, he cut off my words.

“I get it.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll find you another friend other than Collin’s son.”

I was taken aback by the Duke’s unexpected words.

But what was good, was good.

“T-Thank you.”

“There’s no way that a son of that rascal would get along well with you.”

Ah, things would be easier if the Duke took my side.

As expected, there was no law that said that people should die easily.

***

The new friend introduced by the Duke was a boy with a vague expression.

Well, although he looked warm, he didn’t have the same strong impression as the male leads, Sylvester and Reynold.

I looked at the mole near the child’s eye and asked.

“What is your name?”

He blushed at my question. Then, hesitantly, he opened his mouth.

“Serik Detwin.”

It was a name I really didn’t know.

He’s not a character in a novel, so at least I can be friends with this kid.

I smiled brightly and took his hand, shaking it up and down.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Danae Lerdonia. Feel free to call me Danae.”

Pul covered his mouth with both hands with a thrilled expression on his face.

He seemed to be very happy that I had approached my friend first.

Upon hearing my words, Serik’s face swelled red as if it were about to explode.

He answered with his head bowed.

“Yes.”

“What do you usually do with your friends?

In response to my question, Serik spoke in a crawling voice.

“I don’t have any friends…”

“It’s okay! I have no friends either.”

Wow, could this really be fate?

I crossed my arm around the shy Serik’s and moved to my room.

Then I persistently questioned him.

He was the same age as me, and the eldest of the Viscount Detwin.

The more I got to know him, the more it became clear that he really was someone I didn’t know.

I was so happy that I hugged Serik.

Because I needed such a person who had nothing to do with the novel.

I needed someone to help me hold on to my mind that this world seemed fake.

There was Pul and the maid, but I was their lady, and I knew very well that they couldn’t just treat me comfortably.

Edin, who is 12 years old this year, was very busy with his classes as a successor, and Sylvester was one of the main leads, so he was out of the question from the beginning.

In that sense, Serik would be my best friend.

And my predictions were somewhat correct.

Serik and I had many similarities, and thanks to that, I was able to quickly become friends with him.

Pul, who always clicked his tongue saying that I look like an adult, wiped away tears saying that now I look my age.

I already knew that people regarded me as an alien.

How can a child imitate an adult?

I was just behaving normally, and it was natural for people to regard me as weird.

But the fact that people were treating me like a child these days must be because of Serik.

A person who didn’t appear in the original story, that fact alone puts me at ease. Thanks to that, I didn’t have to be nervous in front of Serik, and I laughed more than before.

Serik stared blankly at me as I was eating a cookie, then opened his mouth.

“You know, I know what people call the likes of you.”

“What is it?”

“Old woman.”

His words made my face crumple.

Soon after, Serik let out a good laugh, and I playfully threw the cushion I was sleeping on at him.

Then he lightly caught the cushion I threw.

I thought Serik was thin, yet he was surprisingly athletic.

I stretched out and sat down on the sofa again.

“Are you mad?”

A shadow fell over my face as I lay down.