The Tyrant Mistook Me for a Companion

Chapter 57:

“Well, you’re Leon, aren’t you?”

Janice’s confident words narrowed Leon’s brows.

There was nothing good about her discovering who I was now that I was looking at Elle.

I said I’d stay home.

“Tsk.”

Leon snatched Janice’s wrist and stepped elsewhere.

I didn’t know she’d be this annoying.

“Oh, it hurts……!”

Janice groaned low on her red wrist.

“How did you recognize me?”

“That’s natural of course…….”

Of course?

Leon chewed his lips at Janice’s words. Elle wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t seen him properly either because he was dressed up.

But Janice, who didn’t even know me properly, recognized me right away.

Naturally, Leon took a few steps away from Janice.

“You have the same pattern as me, don’t you?”

I was even displeased with Janice’s blatant question. Why is she so obsessed with my patterns?

It was not that I didn’t know either. It’s been a long time since I realized who my companion is.

Janice showed me her wrist.

I saw a gold pattern that became clearer than last time.

‘If you knew what I was thinking now, you wouldn’t do this to me.’

Leon grabbed Janice’s wrist with a helpful smile.

“I don’t know what you want, but I’m not like you.”

“…… Why? Why is it different? We’re meant to be with a companion that fate has paired us with”

Janice’s slender body trembled slightly.

Transparent tears soon filled her eyes and flowed down her red cheeks.

“Companion….”

If Janice knows that I’m the one who wants to get rid of my companion more than anyone else, will she be able to treat me the same?

Maybe she’ll get scared and run away.

“Do you know what I hate the most?”

“Then do you know what I hate?”

Janice rather asked Leon back. Leon did not reply to her words.

He just looked at her with bitter eyes.

“I don’t like this royal family……. I can’t get out of here without you.”

So please be my companion.

Janice was pleading desperately. Leon’s eyes shook for the first time at her behaviour.

“What does that have to do with me?”

Leon didn’t like this moment with him and Janice, who became his companion.

“As I said then, I don’t need anyone but Elle Natasia.”

“……Why all you think about is her?”

She’s the one who saved me and gave me hope to live.

Therefore, she was incomparable to others. She was my one and only love, everything.

Elle, who accepted me completely even though I was cursed.

It didn’t mean anything if it wasn’t her.

” I don’t want other people to pretend they know. Of course, it would be better not to pretend that you know me.”

At Leon’s cold words, tears dropped again from Janice’s eyes.

Damn it, damn it!

It broke my heart.

Even though I didn’t want to, I had Janice in mind. It’s probably the same with Janice.

What’s different is that the person we want.

Leon’s hand touched Janice’s face by itself.

‘Stop, stop.’

I didn’t want anything like this.

But contrary to his mind, my hand was wiping Janice’s tears affectionately.

“For Christ’s sake…”

“See, you can’t help it.”

Only then did Janice smile around her mouth.

Leon, who has the power to confront the royal family, will let me out.

Leon managed to remove the hand that reached Janice.

“I’ll get going now.”

“Le, Leon!”

Janice caught him in a hurry, but to no avail. Leon hurried left.

* * *

“Elle.”

I turned my head to the voice calling me. Leon was standing behind me for some time.

But how did he find me now?

Didn’t Leon come to me right away when I didn’t even wear a ribbon.

“……Leon?”

“Elle, I’m sorry I’m a little late.”

“Huh? No. But…….”

I wanted to ask right away, but my mouth wouldn’t drop. For some reason, it was like a Pandora box that I shouldn’t open.

“I found the culprit.”

“What?”

Surprised, I screamed. As everyone’s eyes were on me, I smiled awkwardly and pulled Leon’s arm.

Bringing Leon to the corner, I asked the whole story.

“Where is the criminal? How many are there?”

“They are at the count’s residence. I put them together where no one else can find them.”

“… Is it enough to collect them?”

How many people have moved systematically.

Leon nodded slightly to my question.

“But what’s in your hand?”

At Leon’s words, I smiled and took his hand and rolled up his sleeves.

“Ah, this is yours.”

Leon, who was flinching, hurriedly tried to pull out his hand, but I held tight to Leon’s hand, who was running away.

“It’s all right. Don’t avoid it.”

Eventually, Leon left his hand to me.

I slowly put on the accessories and lightly rubbed the pattern on his wrist.

“You can’t see it like this, can you?”

“……Yes.”

What’s the use of hiding it. Nothing would change if it didn’t disappear at all.

Leon’s hand wrapped around my face as a bitter smile hung around my mouth.

“Elle, I wish you were my companion.”

“You know very well that you can’t.”

The companion was already fixed. And no gold pattern appeared to me.

I knew from the beginning and saved him, so I had no regrets.

“Well, shall we go now? I have to give the news to my client.”

“Wait a minute, just a minute…….”

Leon murmured, burying his face on my shoulder.

” I just want to wipe your tears away. I don’t want to feel the same pain when I see others sad.”

“……What happened?”

I patted Leon gently on the back.

He must have talked with Janice when she was away earlier.

“It’s alright, Leon. And I don’t cry very much.”

Maybe…? Because I haven’t cried in front of Leon very often.

“That’s true.”

Picking it up, Leon smiled low. He seemed to feel a lot better.

* * *

I approached Duke Sen with Leon.

He smiled brightly when he found me. Leon kept his distance behind me and shook his head.

“Let’s go to my house after the banquet, Duke Sen.”

“Did you find the culprit?”

I nodded instead of answering. A smile of relief flashed across the face of Duke Sen.

“As expected, the Velois family.”

“Shh.”

How can you be so happy in this kind of place?

However, special attention was needed because the information store was operated in secret.

At that moment, a familiar scent brushed the tip of my nose.

“What are you doing here as if you’re planning something?”

“Would you please turn your attention away from me, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

I sighed automatically. I brushed my red hair away and stared at Delther.

He twisted his lips and then put his hand on my shoulder and brushed it off.

“I feel like I’m getting something buried while passing by. If you hold hands with anyone because you’re in a hurry, you’ll get sick.”

“……What do you mean by that?”

Duke Sen, who was still, looked at Delther with an unpleasant look. Leon tried to approach me, but I raised my hand to block it.

“I’ve never been in a hurry, so I don’t think you need to worry.”

Because Duke Sen and I were just informants and clients anyway.

“I’m just worried. I heard that pattern hunters are on the rise again these days.”

“Your Highness must not have a pattern. Seeing that you’re saying it like it’s nothing. But isn’t your Highness the princess a little different?”

My words gave strength to the hand that grabbed my shoulder.

His eyes glistened with madness, but he did not avoid it.

“……I take it as worrying about Janice’s safety.”

“Is there a possibility?”

I grabbed Delther’s hand and let it go, smiling.

“So, you can’t leave her alone. I think she’s alone over there.”

Delther’s eyes turned to my words.

Janice, staring at us, clasped the hem of her dress.

“Elle Natashia, you’d better not do anything useless. Because everyone is watching you.”

“It’s okay.“

I greeted him with a more profound smile than before.

Looking around, the reaction to the accessories was quite good.

This seems to have worked.

* * *

After finishing the banquet, I hurried into the carriage.

Duke Sen was given a separate carriage, so all we had to do was meet at the count’s residence.

“But how did you find them?”

“Well, by chance.”

“I think it’s too grand for a coincidence.”

“Elle, sometimes things fall too well to be a coincidence.”

Leon stared at me with a sullen face.

He didn’t feel very well when he saw the accessories on his hands 

“It will soon be fashionable. In that case, you are also a member of the Velois family, so I say that you received and wore it as a gift.”

“……Yes.”

“When are you going to the tower?”

“When you don’t need me.”

He answered as if he didn’t mind going anytime. Did the magic tower have a free admission system?

I didn’t hear anything like that.

I was thinking about Leon, but the carriage that reached the mansion stopped soon.

“Why is it so noisy?”

When I opened the door and got off with a strange feeling, Lord Hessen ran toward me.

He pointed to the mansion, unable to catch his breath properly.

“Huh, huh. Count Edgar……!”

Without listening to Sir Hessen until the end, I ran straight to the house.