I Didn’t Mean To Save The Villain - Chapter 10 – I Became Friends With The Young Male Lead (3)

Chapter 10 – I Became Friends With The Young Male Lead (3)

“…Yes?”

As if he didn’t understand what he just heard, Leopold’s eyes, full of curiosity, dwindled down.

‘It is common for a late-bloomer like Leopold to like a mature girl, and besides, when it comes to appearance, Cecilia’s…’

Right, I should avoid any awkward atmosphere right from the start.

I am already satisfied with my life as is, living as a diamond-fed extra. Importantly, I have no plans to leave the family I have now because of some kind of romantic getaway.

This may be presumptuous for a 7-year-old to decide, but I am not really one anyway…

I have to establish a wedge.

“I am wondering if you fell for me because I’m pretty.”

I may have bottled up with a crooked heart.

When Mary Jane and Patricia make a fuss, or see the young knights bump each other’s shoulders as they accompany me to the garden, or the maids and the chefs at the Freesian Palace greets me with sparks in their eyes…

And so, when everyone in the Palace looks at me with a loving gaze and cherishes me like I am a piece of glass.

At times like this, I always remember it.

‘I am still the same inside, but seeing how life treats me now, I guess it was my appearance that’s the problem after all.’

This love I receive bewilders me. Sometimes, it feels awkward, and when I see myself in the mirror, I find the reason why.

To my question that could be considered rude, Leopold answered me enthusiastically.

“You are lovely, Your Highness!”

“Okay, I admit I am lovely. Your heart must have been pounding when you saw me today, but that’s only natural when someone is taken aback, not because you like it.”

Leopold stared at me with his mouth open and seemed not to comprehend what I had just said.

‘Studying is a good thing but… well, it’s possible he never thought of it that way, but human relationships are a different matter.’

Worried about the ripple effect due to Cecilia’s face, I solemnly spoke the words I made up. The words I prepared in fear that something like this might happen.

“When you meet someone you really like, you will hear bells ring.”

“Yes?”

“If you cannot hear the bell, it means you don’t like her.”

“The sound of a bell…?”

Leopold’s expression grew more confused.

This was actually not out of the ordinary.

「“The moment I first saw the Young Lady… It was as if I could ring a bell. Just as if it tells me that you are the angel who will make me know love.” 」

That’s what Leopold said when he confessed to Amelie in the future.

It must be because you’re the one who said it. Isn’t it?

‘If I brainwash him like this, he’ll feel at peace.’

When I looked at him, he gestured and smiled that he didn’t hear any ring.

It was not difficult for me to guess that the admiration he had for a princess who conversed well was just a fleeting feeling.

‘You don’t know what I am saying now, but you will soon discover how right this Sister was.’

Feeling a bit more relieved, I moistened my lips with the iced fruit tea that Mary Jane left behind.

Then Leopold tilted his head and opened his mouth.

“Do you think, Your Highness, that people only love you because of your beautiful appearance?”

“Yes. What else is there?”

I answered without any hesitation.

“The Imperial family..?”

“I guess?”

Leopold tilted his head and carefully opened his mouth.

“I… I think Your Highness will still be loved regardless of what you look like.”

What, you blushed at the sight of Cecilia’s face, what do you know?

When I looked at him without hiding my sign of displeasure, Leopold smiled slightly and replied hesitantly.

“The people of the Freesian Palace are the people who are always with Your Highness in everyday life. It is even no question for your family members. For people who are your family and friends, looks have nothing to do with it.”

“I don’t know. All you can see is what you see.”

Now I am the same as I was in my past life. Am I loved because my appearance has changed even though I am the same as before?

‘Not everyone in my family loves me this much.’

Feeling bad, I said something petty.

“Isn’t that because you’re beautiful too? Because the love you receive is similar to what I receive.”

“I– I don’t think so. How dare I…”

Flustered, Leopold replied in a slightly tearful voice.

I was right that you’ll be embarrassed by what I said, but when the child in front of me suffered, I felt a little guilty.

… Saying that doesn’t compensate for my past life.

Silence momentarily passed, Leopold carefully opened his mouth.

“I was very ill not too long ago, but my family says it’s enough to stay healthy and be alive.”

Yes, Leopold also had a back story that he was weak during his childhood, perhaps to give the probability in his character that he’ll grow with a kind heart, even though he is an heir to a Dukedom. That’s why this is his first time going out this far.

“They say I don’t have to study, and that this love should be received by every member of the family.”

“A pretty kid is always beautiful even if he’s sick.”

I replied with a snort.

Thinking of a sick child… It reminded me of my youngest brother in my past life. He was born weak and thus wholly received our parents’ attention.

I unknowingly frowned.

Leopold was not discouraged by my reaction and continued speaking.

“When I first heard that Your Highness is the same age as me, and that you are braver and more mature than me, I knew I already wanted to be friends with you. So I begged my father. Is it wrong of me to want to be close to Your Highness even though I have never met you before?”

Leopold had finished talking and looked like he was about to cry.

‘Ah, so…’

Hearing it, Taeyeol didn’t go away from my mind. I thought he would be red and wrinkled, so he must have been ugly… The faces of my parents and siblings passed by who looked at me lovingly.

‘Actually, I know I’ve been forced.’

That didn’t mean that I accepted Leopold’s pure and beautiful words.

I couldn’t help but sigh deeply as I watched the child turn red as he continuously spouted stories.

Anyway, I didn’t intend to be mean to Leopold.

‘I’m not qualified to be an adult…’

I was confident that I am an adult and think like one, but I was proven wrong when I was faced with the shackles of my past life and eventually vented my anger in my present life.

If I did something wrong…

* * * 

And thus, that is how my first meeting with Leopold ended.

Feeling sorry, I pushed all the biscuits and chocolates prepared by the maid to Leopold, and then he began to cry, thinking that he had done something wrong.

‘Was I like that when I was seven…’

I felt guilty and treated Leopold as best as I could, without even knowing what a normal 7-year-old child would like.

“Your Highness, don’t you want to eat more?”

“Yes, just watching you eat already makes me feel full.”

Even after making silly comments.

“Really, eating sweets is going to make your teeth go bad, so you have to brush your teeth right away when you get home.”

“Brush… my teeth?”

This is how I started nagging him.

‘Anyway, we’ll keep seeing each other, so we should get along well.’

Looking at Leopold’s dreamy back as he rode away in the carriage with the Duchess of Aulenbach, I thought about the story he had told me.

‘No matter what Leopold looked like, he would still be lucky.’

There was no way that the childhood of the male lead of a RomFan could not have been lovely.

‘My parents and my siblings are all beautiful in appearance, and all have no ambivalent personalities, so I thought that the Imperial family was harmonious. I thought that the reason I received this undeserved affection was because Cecilia was beautiful…’

Perhaps, if it was not me, but Cecilia in the original, she would have grown up as bright as Leopold without this twisted past…

The fact that my adult mentality remained intact clearly helped me live as a princess. On the other hand, it was the first time I felt that I wrongly judged other people because of my prejudice.

“Your Highness is amazing! You are already finished with the Monarchy Theory.”

“How do you, Your Highness, differentiate all varieties of apples? Your Highness must have different taste buds.”

“Your Highness, how can you take your medicines so well? I am always at a loss…”

After our first meeting, Leopold would always admire me randomly whenever he came to visit twice a month.

Just how pure were those sparkling blue eyes every time.

“As expected, Your Highness is mature because you have also read the ancient scriptures.”

“Leo, you didn’t fall for me, did you? The bell didn’t ring, right?”

“Yes, it didn’t ring.”

As the number of times we met like that exceeded the number of times we could count using both hands, we became close to the point of calling each other by nicknames.

‘There is an episode in the original where Amelie is jealous of me because Leopold calls me by a nickname, so I did what I had to do…’

Convinced that the nickname would never have any affection between a man and a woman, I began to accept Leopold’s childishness in moderation.

I think I’m being childish, Leopold was just trying to express his natural friendliness, but…

Leopold’s endless expressions of friendship kept me off balance.

‘Since Cecilia is pretty, so maybe that’s why he wants to get to know her more?’

Maybe it’s because the child is just really kind…

Was it because I had never experienced such a blind friendship in my past life? I was constantly wary of Leopold’s mind.

‘I don’t want to create a possibility that the world of this novel will go wrong even a little.’

If only this world could be maintained as it is, I would enjoy the peace and quiet without any difficulties.

“Your Highness seems to have better etiquette than my grandmother!”

“Better than the Duchess? Does that make sense?”

“You are so perfect even now, how much more amazing will you be when you grow up as an adult like my grandmother?”

“I have been learning it since I was two.”

“Nevertheless, Your Highness, your clothes are always clean. I fall down and often spill something on my clothes to the point that I feel sorry for the servants.”

Sometimes there are absurd moments like this.

“Wow, my tutor said there is no 7-year-old who is more advanced than me, but Your Highness is the best in the world.”

“Wh-what. It’s my younger brother rather than me…”

“Your younger brother?”

“Oh, no. I said something wrong.”

Sometimes, the baseless compliments even touched my discouraged self of my past life.

Thanks to this, I was able to little by little doubt the orthodoxy of the riding charter fairy that had been my solid belief during the years I grew up as Cecilia.

It was not easy to break the thoughts that had been hardened in my mind for over seven years at once.

Yeah, maybe this was some sort of defense mechanism.

As long as Cecilia’s appearance doesn’t change, the affection and attention she’s getting now won’t change…

Like clothing getting wet during a drizzle, that shield was melting little by little due to Leopold.

Then one day.

“Cecil, do you have a moment?”

Rebecca, my third sister, visited me in my study room.