The Villainess in the Romance Fantasy Is Strange

6. Childhood (2)

About 20 minutes later, the time zone is the afternoon when the sun has already set.

We walked along the road and left the center of the village, and Leah and I arrived at the outskirts where fruit trees grew thickly.

Gently letting go of her hand and looking around her, Leah didn’t see the fig tree she was interested in. It seems that I have to go inside a little more to see it.

“Lia-sama, I don’t think there are any fig trees around here. Would you like to go further?”

“Yes, I have to go in. We’ve come this far, but we can’t go back without seeing the fig tree, can we?”

“I’ll follow Lia’s words, but would you mind? If it’s too late to go back, my mother will be worried.”

“Ah, then I can’t. Cain, what time is it now?”

“It is 5:40 in the afternoon. It’s been an hour and a half since you went out.”

She put her pocket watch in her pocket and glanced at Leah’s face.

It’s already been an hour and a half since I left for a drink. Hearing that her time is nearing six o’clock, she lets out a drool as she taps the tip of her own lips with her finger, as if it’s worrying her.

…… Well, I’m sorry about Leah. For me, it would be better for Leah to return to her mansion as it is. What dangers may lurk in her outdoors, and if she does something wrong, she may go through some kind of incident and turn into her villain?

This may sound like an exaggeration. It’s not an exaggeration at all in the current situation where we don’t know what happened to Ria becoming a villainess or what triggered her.

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To put it a little extreme, she can still be a villainess after she trips over there on her rock.

You need to be careful with everything that stands out. Again, since we need to check, it is better to root out what could be the sprout of danger without giving it room.

With that in mind, I opened my mouth to ease her worries.

“Oh, Lia. You know what?”

“Huh? That?”

Gee, he cleared her throat. Then, after putting her voice as low as possible, she looked at Leah and said.

“I also found out about it not too long ago, but it is said that monsters appear in this area after the sun goes down.”

“Demons, demons… ?”

“Yes, a monster. It is also incredibly terrifying.”

Leah’s shoulders trembled as she gave her accent to her afterword.

“Huh…. A monster, what kind of monster is it?”

She tried hard to pretend to be calm, but her eyes were moving around busily. Scaring seems to work.

This is the time. Beat the wedge.

“That’s not one type, but several types. First of all, the one that appears most often has a silver mane. It’s a wolf monster with red eyes that looks like it’s bleeding. However, his personality is so ferocious that when he sees a person, he attacks at random. Also, when he sees a young woman, he goes crazy like that, rushes in with his mouth wide open, and slowly chews and swallows her head first….”

“Ka, Cain… ! Stop, stop!”

Leah, her face pale, shook her head. It seems you don’t want to hear more of my description.

“Why, are you afraid?”

“No, I’m not doing this because I’m scared! I know everything I know, so don’t scare me!”

“You know everything? Who is it, could it be Lia-sama?”

As I was teasing him, I secretly got excited, so I unknowingly spit out words close to provocation.

Then, sure enough. Lia’s eyebrows twitched and drew the character eight in reverse.

“Hey Cain! I know everything?! Even though this is the outskirts of town, the amount of mana in the air is low. I know that it’s a place where monsters rarely appear!”

Oh, how the hell do you know that? Lia thought that since she was a well-bred aristocratic daughter, of course she would have no choice but to know, so she threw the words out.

For some reason, she seems to be well aware of the correlation between the amount of mana and the frequency of monster appearances. A tutor wouldn’t have told me about this, but did she learn by herself from a book?

I didn’t know that Lia would know, so she murmured inwardly, and I only munched her lips. She looked at me proudly.

“And, even if that kind of monster comes out by chance. I can even protect at least one part of my body!”

“How can you protect yourself?”

There was a nuance that she had a self-rescue plan, so she was curious about what it was.

It’s a weird, shy expression.

“…… Oh, anyway! There is such a thing. So, Cain, let’s go inside and see the fig tree. If it’s too late, my mother will worry.”

“Yes, then I will take the lead.”

What is it?

I was going to ask him in detail, but he seemed angry that his cheeks were slightly blushing. She didn’t seem to answer even if I asked, so I just quit.

Keep her mouth shut and move forward. Let’s step on the weedy thicket and pass dozens of densely-gathered trees.

Finally, there is a fig tree that Leah wanted to check. A small garden appeared.

“Oh, I found it. Cain, is that tree right?”

“Yeah, that seems right.”

“Let’s go closer, I want to take a closer look.”

I thought so. I nodded her head and held out her hand to Leah.

“Yes, let’s go.”

Lia, hesitant, looks at my palm. Suddenly, her hand looks like she’s showing me why, but I’m not doing this because I’m absolutely selfish. It is because this is the etiquette of the empire.

By the way, what is a garden? It’s just a small hill. And when a man and a woman climb a hill together, it is a traditional imperial etiquette for the man to escort the woman first.

That’s why I reached out my hand in order not to act against etiquette. Lia must have realized it belatedly too, so she carefully reached out her fingers and held her hand in mine.

“Okay, let’s go…” .”

“I’ll pull you over, so just leave your body comfortably.”

I took Lia’s hand and climbed her garden. Maybe it’s because it’s slightly higher than the surrounding area, and as soon as you step up, you can see the surroundings open, giving you a feeling of being open.

I was going to look all around her to see if there was anything suspicious. Leah gently tugged at my hand.

“Wow…. Cain, look at this. The tree is so tall! How many meters, three meters? Four meters?”

“Okay. Lia-sama, it looks like she is five times her height, so maybe seven meters?”

“Cain! What do you mean, I’m not that short?!”

Perhaps in a fit of rage when the story of her height came up, Lia squeezed her hand tightly. Although she didn’t hurt because she was a girl’s strength. Her words immediately after pierced my ears.

“And, isn’t Cain shorter than me?”

“Yes? It can’t be. Look, just by looking at it, I’m much taller than Lia-sama.”

“Lies. Cain, did you think I wouldn’t know that you’re always wearing tall boots? That insole is only 7cm high!”

No, how else did you know that?

I was stunned the moment I got hit. However, the surprise was short-lived, and soon his expression changed to his usual expressionless face. As if Ria had witnessed that fleeting moment, she opened her eyes fiercely and looked at me.

“Cain, I saw everything. Did you just break your poker face?”

“What is that…. What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean? Don’t pretend again, you Cain. You’re wearing tall boots, right?”

“No, no. I don’t know where you heard such a false story, but Lia-sama misunderstood….”

“Really? Then take it off.”

“What do you mean?”

“The boots Cain is wearing right now. If it’s not tall boots, won’t you be the same height with the boots off?”

Now that I’m wearing tall boots, my eye level is slightly higher than Leah’s.

However, the situation is reversed when you take off these tall boots. Lia’s eye level will be higher than mine.

Needless to say, I am a man. And a man’s pride comes from his height. I can’t take off my tall boots no matter what….

“Cain, if you don’t take off your boots right now. I’m going to go and tell my mother that Cain didn’t listen to my orders.”

“… ….”

Cowardly using your parents chance. Lia, you’re like this cunning villain girl… !

In fact, Lia might have already become a great villain, so she took off her boots while imagining something scary.

Then, after coming down from the boot heels and height-height insoles, my height decreased by more than 7cm at once. Their eye level was reversed, and Lia looked down at me.

“What is it, Cain. You said you weren’t wearing tall boots?”

“It’s only the afternoon, so my height has shrunk a bit.”

“Huh…. I see Did you lose your height because it was afternoon?”

Leah caught my horse by the tail and smiled. She had a lovely, cute smile, like a 10-year-old girl.

For some reason, to my eyes, it looked like the villainous young lady, who looked like a picture, covered her mouth with her hand and smiled contemptuously.

“When is your birthday, Cain?”

“It’s December.”

“I am April, so am I your sister?”

…… What, sister?

Involuntarily, my head turned. Leah, who was still wearing a lovely smile, pokes my cheek with her finger.

“Cain, can I call you older sister?”

“…… It’s not possible. Such a disrespectful title.”

“Ugh, don’t do that. Aren’t there only two of us here? So, say noona, noona just once. Huh? I want to hear Cain call me older sister.”

Even if you multiply Lia’s current age by 2, it’s still less than my previous life’s age, and I’m much older than her zodiac sign. Call me older sister?

Then she’d rather bite her tongue.

“Only once, huh? Cain, please don’t-“

Leah, clinging to her left arm, keeps asking me to call her older sister with her charming voice.

However, I can’t call Lia, who is much younger than me, my sister just because she acts cute.

So I just tried to pretend I didn’t hear at all.

“…… You know, Cain.”

Lea came closer to my ear.

Then he murmurs something meaningful in a low voice.

“Do I really have to give orders?”

Because those words were the kind of counter-threat that I couldn’t just hear and let go.

I sighed and looked at Leah at her.

“…… All right. Instead, just this one time. As someone who has become an escort knight, I can’t call the lady she serves my older sister.”

“Yeah, okay. Just listen this once, and I won’t ask for more!”

She has a smile all over her face, probably because she likes to be called noona.

“… ….”

I will definitely repay this shame on the day I can reverse Lia’s height.

I sighed several times and took a deep breath.

And then, I slowly opened my lips that didn’t want to come off.

“Who… ….”

The very moment you tried to call me me.

──Rubbish.

A little noise came from under the hill where we were. I instinctively realized

This isn’t the sound of tree branches shaking in the wind, it’s the human movement.

“…… Who are you?”

I stood sideways in front of Lia, with my back behind her, and put her hand on her hilt so that I could draw her sword at any moment.

From behind, I heard Lia’s panicked voice.

“Ka, Cain. What’s the matter? The expression on my face just scared me….”

“Ah, that….”

I heard someone’s presence somewhere, but I don’t know exactly where it is. That’s when I tried to explain her situation to Ria.

-Poof!

Something sharp and black flew towards Lia’s shoulder.

“──Ria!”