CH 15

――I wonder, If I ever experience a moment that seems fated, what will it feel like?

By chance, if you behave differently than usual you might end up avoiding an accident you were supposed to have.

When this happened to me, I met someone I hadn’t seen for many years and we hit it off.

Some people may feel that even a small inevitable event like this is fate.

For a girl named Raffine Odium Refinard, her fated moment was an encounter with a boy.

~

Nine years ago- Raffine, who was 6 years old at the time, was a tomboyish child, so much so that you couldn’t even imagine that she would have a graceful and elegant appearance like her current one. 

She liked to get into trouble, annoying the maids and the servants of the royal castle on a daily basis.

However, the servants did not pay much attention to Raffine. Rather, they couldn’t. If they did that, then they would be reprimanded by the king – Pilar Odium Refinard.

Pilar doted on Raffine so much that it hurt others’ eyes, and he always forgave her while saying, 「it’s because Raffine’s cute」no matter what she did.

No matter how mischievous she was, no one would point out her selfishness.

Living in such an environment, Raffine grew up to be a cheeky tomboy- a  fucking brat.

But… there was a reason behind all of Raffine’s mischief.

Raffine has two older sisters- the second princess and the third princess, but unlike them, she lives in a separate house.

Since she wanted to be close with her sisters, Raffine went to their house to visit and play with them frequently. However, the sisters always pushed her away saying, 「I don’t want to play with the child of a concubine.」

Raffine was young at the time, so she didn’t understand what her sisters meant.

So, she went to play again and again and was always thrown out, and sulked every time.

Her father, Pilar, was always busy and didn’t care much, and her servants were aloof. She had never even met her mother, either.

So― because she wanted attention, she became mischievous. That way, people would actually notice her.

She was doing the same today.

Raffine had escaped from the castle, without any of the servants knowing. She thought he (Pilar) would be worried once he realized that she wasn’t there.

「Thirteen thousand, one hundred and one… Thirteen thousand, one hundred and two…」

In the forest near the castle, passing through a small passage that only one person can go through at a time, and walking to a clumsy secret base that she made herself…  there was an appearance of unexpected visitors.

Raffine hides in the shadow of a nearby tree as she secretly watches the visitor.

「Thirteen thousand, one hundred and five; Thirteen thousand, one hundred and six…」

The first thing she noticed was the black hair, which is rare in the kingdom, and is as glossy and beautiful as obsidian. He seems to be about 10~11 years old. He was a head taller than Raffine, and had a well-trained body for a boy his age.

「Thirteen thousand, one hundred and twelve……! Thirteen thousand, one hundred and thirteen….!」

The boy was on the ground, doing push-ups for some reason. With… just one hand.

(One hand……? It’s a lie! You can’t do that! You liar!) Raffine had never seen such a boy, so she thought he was a liar.

A boy who isn’t much older than me shouldn’t be able to do that many. .At best, he could probably only do twenty. At least, that’s what Raffine thought.

「Hmm……? Oi, is anyone there?」

The boy stops doing push-ups and turns around, as if noticing Raffine.

「……!」

Surprised that he had noticed, Raffine’s heart beat fast.

「Come out now.This is a warning.」The boy said in a cold tone. However, Raffine did not move from her spot and remained hidden in the shadow of the tree.

No, it would be more correct to say that she couldn’t move.

Raffine felt some kind of strong presence from the boy which made her scared to move.

For the spoiled Raffine, it was her first time feeling this emotion.

「…… If you don’t come here, I’ll go over to you.」

While Raffine was still puzzling over the new emotion, the boy approached.

「…………Ah.」

As the strange boy approached, she noticed something. If she looked closely… the boy was wearing a strange mask. A strange mask that covered only the eyes and nose, but had no holes for the eyes.

She thought, 「I wonder if he can even see with that mask……?」

「…… What, it’s only a child?」

While looking at Raffine, the boy sighed in disappointment.

His attitude made her face puff up. Why should a boy who isn’t much older than her treat her like a child? She was livid.

Raffine:「Don’t stay here, you need to go home quickly. Your parents must be worried.」

The boy waves his hands as if dismissing her statement, and then resumes his push-ups.

Raffine glared at the boy and said in a loud voice, 「…… Here! Raffine!」

「……Hah?」

The boy looks at her as if he couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.

「Here! Is only a place for Raffine! Get out!!」Rafinha shouted at the boy.

She was scared of the boy, but this place was Raffine’s favorite secret base. It cannot be used by outsiders without permission, and she could not afford to go home quietly. So although she was scared, she suppressed her tremors as she shouted that desperately.

The boy glanced at Raffine in annoyance. 「…… Haah? This isn’t your property, is it? Why do I have to leave?」

「…… Just get out! 『Go away!』」

Raffine became desperate and used 《Word Magic》to try and make him leave. But―

「Hmm? …So, what did you just do?」

For some reason, it didn’t work on the boy.

There had been no person like this until now. Raffine was born with a large amount of magical power, so anyone who had a lower magic power than herself always obeyed.

There was a drawback that the magic was still new and could only be used on one person at a time but, 一Still, she was confident that she could make someone obey her.

But for some reason it didn’t work on the boy.

Raffine was confused by the new experience. So…… tears welled up in my eyes, and I tried to hold them back.

「Ahー……was that a bit harsh? My bad.」

The boy tries to calm Raffine, but for some reason that just frustrates her more, 一and more tears accumulate in her eyes as her lips begin to quiver.

「Then, then I’ll tell you something really interesting! So stop crying! Okay?」The boy hurried to try and calm Raffine.

With that said, the boy told a plethora of stories to Raffine, who became enraptured.

―A slice-of-life story about the Demon king who wants to live in peace

―A love story between a fallen boy and a demon who was exiled because of it

―A heartwarming story in which a knight who became a hero creates an orphanage and raises children.

The boy was very good at telling stories, and all of the tales told were more interesting and thrilling than those than the ones from the royal bard.

When he looked at Raffine, the boy noticed that she was absorbed into the story and her tears that were previously about to fall had vanished. His stories must have been interesting.

The boy finished telling another story and asked Raffine,「―Well, that’s the end. Did you stop crying?」

「……Not, not yet.」There were no tears left. But, she answered that because she wanted to hear more stories from the boy.

「Eh…… but you, you’re not crying anymore―」

「Not yet! Not yet!！」Raffine interrupts the boy’s words and shouts.

The boy sighed at Raffine, 「Haa…… I understand. But no more today alright? It’s getting dark already…… shouldn’t you already be home?」

Looking at the sky, the sun was already setting. She had been so involved in the stories that she hadn’t noticed at all.

「Then…… tomorrow! See you tomorrow!」

「Okay okay.…I’ll be back here around noon. If you want to come, come at that time. It would be nice if you didn’t though.」

Rafinha replied,「I got it!」and snuck back into the royal castle. None of the servants even noticed that Raffine was gone, and nothing was said.

It’s not surprising. The servants probably only thought, 「She must be playing hide-and-seek somewhere.」

In the first place, the only way to get out of the castle surrounded by high walls is through the main gate. Actually, due to aging, there was a hole in it that small children could pass through, but…… it was hidden in the shade of the grass, so only Raffine knew about it. Raffine was nine when she first found it. It was obvious that she was going to use it as her secret base.

The boy appeared almost every day around noon and told Raffine a different story every time.

For Raffine, who wanted someone to talk with, her time with the boy was spent happily. She loved it.

Even if she asked a question about something she didn’t understand in the story, it was troublesome, but the boy would politely explain to her so that Raffine could understand it. She was happy that he was different from servants who would blow steam (TN: get irritated/mad) and walk away if she tried to talk to them.

「…… Then, what do you want me to tell you today? That story again…?」The boy sounded a little dismayed as he asked Raffine. His voice’s tone said「Again?」though.

Raffine sat down and gazed at the boy in front of her while cheerfully saying, 「Yep!」

「How do you not get tired of it…… well, it’s fine.」

Although the boy complained, he agreed to Raffine’s request and began speaking.

The boy told her a simple story about a hero, 『The hero who defeated the Demon King and saved the world is connected with the gentle Princess who is loved by the citizens.』

Rafinha loved this story. Because― it reminded her of herself.

For some reason, it was a story that Raffine admired, except that 『The hero who had become King, began to seclude himself inside his room and withdrew from the world.』

No matter how many times I asked him to change that part, the boy was dissatisfied that I did not like it because 「this is the best part.」

「Is it possible that……Raffine can become like the princess?」Raffine, who longed to be like the princess from the story, asked the boy.

The boy glanced at Raffine and laughed, 「it’s impossible, it’s impossible,」 and said, 「in the first place, this princess is not a shitty brat who can’t use honorifics like you.」

Raffine frowned at the words. 

「I was taught to speak like this! …Is it really not possible?」She, who was longing to be a story-like princess, asked the boy.

The boy glanced at Raffine, who was speaking in strange honorifics, and shrugs saying,「Yare yare.」(TN: good grief)

At that time, Raffine vowed to take lessons without skipping. She wanted to look back at the boy who had made a fool of her and see his reaction.

From that day on, Raffine stopped skipping her training at the Royal Castle in order to become someone like the Princess in his story.

The servants were puzzled by Raffine’s new conviction, but they just assumed that she would return to normal soon because it was due to a whim, so their attitudes didn’t change drastically.

But Raffine no longer cared about the servants’ coldness.

Because if she went to the secret base, she could meet that annoyed yet still kind boy.

Raffine was happy. Life was fun. Her father, Pilar, was also kind to her and she liked it, but the boy who spent time with her and thought of her as an equal, she liked even more.

『I hope these fun days will continue forever.』

Just after she thought that it was a happy moment― a crevice opened up.

TN: Okay so first off, I am suuuuuper sorry!!! I know I haven’t updated in over a week, but I had some irl problems plus my internet went out so I couldn’t translate anything (I write out all of the translations on Google docs) TT

Secondly, I’m going to be doing something a bit different for the next week or so. Besides this, there are currently two more chapters left for this part of the story, along with three side stories afterwards. I am planning on getting these translated as fast as I can, and posting them every other day. After that, I plan on taking a break so that I can plan out and get some translations done ahead of time. In all honesty, I didn’t really plan this through very much, so I’m going to take the time off to assess how I’ve gotten everything done so far and whether I need to make changes to anything. I don’t know the exact length of time I’ll take off yet, I’ll announce that with in the notes on the last side story.

Besides that, I hope everyone had a happy holidays and a great new year! (I know that I was ready for 2020 to end xD) I hope that everyone likes the chapter, and feel free to point out any mistakes. I hope everyone has a good day!