I Will Become the Villain’s Childhood Friend - Chapter 58

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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58

 

Kaileus spent the night with his eyes wide open.

 

Unable to stay still, he tossed and turned, then came out to the training ground at dawn to pound the striking post.

 

If he didn’t release this seething rage somehow, it felt like something would explode inside his body.

 

The day before, when he climbed into the Brante Estate carriage and faced Rieze after so long, he had merely felt troubled.

 

Not knowing how to cut things off cleanly, he had been avoiding Rieze for over three weeks.

 

Though curt words came out naturally, as they walked the streets holding hands, Kaileus changed his attitude.

 

They wouldn’t be able to meet for a while after today. This would also be the last time he’d spend time with her in such trivial ways.

 

If that was the case, he should make their farewell beautiful.

 

With that resolution, he tried to act more affectionately than usual.

 

Though his hands and feet cringed at behaving so unlike his nature, looking back, it seemed he had secretly enjoyed it.

 

After spending a pleasant day together and before parting, Kaileus solemnly revealed his ambitions to Rieze.

 

His grand ambition to inherit the title of Duke of Diern.

 

When Rieze first clung to him, telling him not to go to the duchy, he thought she was upset because it would be much farther than the military academy.

 

When she wetted her cheeks with tears, he felt like he was floating on clouds.

 

Do you like me that much?

 

Warm feelings bubbled up from his stomach.

 

This affection from another person, which he was receiving for the first time in his life, wasn’t bad at all.

 

Suppressing the laughter that threatened to leak out, he wiped away Rieze’s tears.

 

He thought her messy crying looked pitiful and cute.

 

‘I want to hold her and comfort her.’

 

Even knowing she was a poisoned cup that would intoxicate him with a comfortable world, it was such a strong impulse that he wanted to drink it anyway.

 

He would proceed with going north, but he didn’t necessarily have to cut off their connection like a knife, did he?

 

If he surpassed Darius and gained recognition… if he seized everything, couldn’t he be with Rieze continuously after that?

 

Hopeful fantasies gradually formed. Imagining a future with Rieze made his heart swell.

 

The words telling her to wait because he’d return after becoming cool were what slipped out unintentionally for that reason.

 

However, her state when she pushed him away was somewhat strange.

 

No matter how logically he explained, she continued to throw childish tantrums.

 

He gradually felt something was off about her desperate opposition to his going north.

 

Though he didn’t know the reason, seeing her tremble like that, Kaileus’s heart softened and he first tried to return home to postpone his departure date. Thinking she must have circumstances she couldn’t discuss immediately.

 

But then Rieze declared she would use her wish to stop him.

 

He could have refused such a wish as crossing the line, but Kaileus accepted that bet.

 

He was curious about why Rieze was acting this way, even though he couldn’t understand it, and his pride was involved.

 

Until the match became tied at 99 to 99, Kaileus deliberately gave her one point at a time.

 

He wasn’t giving his all but competing with lukewarm effort.

 

‘If this is truly Rieze’s earnest wish, should I just lose to her…?’

 

Perhaps his true desire to stay somewhere close to Rieze had leaked out.

 

However, in the final round, Rieze, who threw her accessories and clothes, was as resolute as if she had made a life-or-death decision.

 

She had a transcendent attitude as if making a resolution while promising a distant future.

 

The moment his eyes met Rieze’s as she rounded the turnaround point, Kaileus realized.

 

That Rieze’s desperate attempt to stop him like this was definitely not because she liked him or was worried about him.

 

He couldn’t not know.

 

She was saying ‘I’m sorry’ with her eyes.

 

Her light green pupils were soaked with guilt.

 

Why was she desperately trying to stop his going north while being so sorry and flustered?

 

Ding, an uncomfortable truth he didn’t want to believe struck his mind.

 

‘That girl is in love with Darius and wants Darius, not me, to become the Duke of Diern.’

 

Her attitude and gaze couldn’t be explained by any other reason.

 

But if that was the reason, all of her strange behavior today made perfect sense.

 

Kaileus screamed. Unable to give her the 100th victory no matter what, he drove his horse with explosive force.

 

After finally snatching victory and looking back, despair had settled on her face.

 

Kaileus was certain his intuition wasn’t wrong.

 

His chest ached as if countless needles were piercing it.

 

The magnitude of his sense of betrayal was indescribably enormous, making his entire body feel like it would collapse.

 

Ironically, he realized once again how significant this girl’s existence had been to him.

 

Yes, the sweet poison had finally spread its toxin through his body.

 

He should have cut it off when he first resolved to do so.

 

Then he wouldn’t have suffered like this. He had been foolish.

 

Gasping in regret, Kaileus continued his wild assault. The wooden sword that missed the striking post broke in half.

 

Kaileus looked at the half of the wooden sword that flew away with empty eyes.

 

His heart felt like it had been split in half just like that.

 

He soon roughly rubbed his face and laughed self-mockingly.

 

Morning had broken. It was time to prepare to leave for the northern Diern domain.

 

Half of his heart… he would leave behind here.

 

***

 

My eyes slowly opened to a ray of light streaming through the curtains.

 

Yesterday’s terrible memories rushed in like a tide, and I bolted upright.

 

Kail said he was leaving for the north today.

 

I was about to hurriedly prepare to go out but soon stopped moving.

 

What would I do if I went there?

 

Persuasion and pleading hadn’t worked, and I had even lost the bet that bordered on blackmail.

 

The only method left was to lie down in front of the carriage wheels in protest. If you’re going to go, step on me lightly and go.

 

A sense of helplessness washed over me, and I sat back down on the bed.

 

I felt like an ant swept up in a massive typhoon.

 

Had it been impossible from the start to go against the flow of the original story?

 

Kail’s essence and purpose hadn’t changed despite my three years of effort.

 

I could probably protect Darius somehow by finding other external methods.

 

But if Kail went to the Diern domain and spent about four years under Selpieus, he would return as the same person as in the original story.

 

What method was there to save him from his dark transformation?

 

‘I don’t know…’

 

Had everything I’d done so far been nothing more than throwing eggs at rocks?

 

It was when I buried my face in my hands and stewed for a while before lifting my head.

 

I finally noticed the pig doll placed on the nightstand beside the bed.

 

It was exactly that pig doll that Kail had won as a prize at the Brante Estate’s fair two years ago.

 

The one Kail had left by my bedside on the day I was bedridden with illness.

 

‘How did he find this?’

 

At the time, I had contacted the estate asking them to send it, but it had gone missing and couldn’t be found.

 

I picked up the small note placed in front of the doll. It was Milly’s handwriting.

 

‘I’m truly sorry, Miss. Due to my carelessness, the doll has only just arrived. They found it deep in the laundry room storage at the estate! Thanks to the writing inside the doll’s clothes, they could tell it was your doll, Miss.’

 

After reading Milly’s note, I immediately picked up the pig doll.

 

When I removed the sky-blue vest the pig was wearing, crooked black letters that had faded halfway were revealed.

 

A charm wishing for Rieze’s health

 

A hollow laugh escaped me.

 

It was endearing how he was too embarrassed to put it somewhere visible, so he hid it inside his clothes.

 

The laughter stopped and tears welled up in my eyes.

 

‘Kail has changed.’

 

Yes, hadn’t I realized this countless times yesterday at Serdin Lake and at the restaurant?

 

Kail had changed. In a good way.

 

My efforts weren’t in vain. He would never become the same villain as in the original story, I swore it.

 

‘I have to believe in him.’

 

I stood up straight and hurriedly resumed my preparations that had stopped.

 

‘Let’s go see him off. I’ll apologize for yesterday’s incident, clear things up, then send him off with encouragement.’

 

After roughly finishing my preparations and leaving my room, I ran into Milly in the corridor who was walking toward my room to wake me up.

 

“Where are you going, Miss?!”

 

“I’m going to see Kail for a moment!”

 

“What? This early in the morning?”

 

“Yes!”

 

I didn’t have time for long explanations, so I said just that and ran. I left a similar brief notice with the coachman who had come to work at the stables and took out a horse.

 

I urged the horse to pick up speed as I headed toward Diern Manor.

 

Having decided to trust Kail, I was filled with the single desire to meet him quickly, see his face, and make up.

 

‘Let me tell him that I want him, not Darius, to become the heir.’

 

It wasn’t one hundred percent sincere, but it was true that I wanted Kail to do well and be happy regardless.

 

After crossing through Greydan Town, the manor building finally came into view.

 

The moment I turned the corner.

 

“Depart!”

 

A man’s shout rang out, and the sound of hoofbeats and wheels echoed all around.

 

‘No!’

 

I could see a procession of carriages and knights on horseback surrounding them streaming through the manor’s gate.

 

Naturally, they were carriages bearing the crest of the Diern Ducal House. The ones Selpieus and Kail would be riding in.

 

“Kail! Kail!!”

 

I raised my voice and called his name, but it was buried in the rising dust and noise.

 

I belatedly gathered my wits and chased after the carriage procession, but it was impossible to catch up with the warhorses running at full speed.

 

‘We missed each other…’

 

A sigh escaped my lips as I stared in the direction where Kail had disappeared.

 

‘Is this really the end…?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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