The Tyrant Wants To Live Honestly

“You can’t go a little late…?”

My voice dwindled even quieter. Then Stefan grabbed my hand.

“I am the escort of the princess.”

That short, unexpected word struck my heart.

my escort knight. my…escort knight.

“However… It’s better to go up higher than here.”

Everyone will think so. This is a question with a fixed answer…

Instead of answering, Stefan just stared at me with black eyes.

He would sometimes embarrass me with the glamorous words in his eyes.

I shut my lips and swallowed a single tear at those eyes that said that he would never leave and that he would always be by my side.

“People…would call you an idiot for staying here.”

I said in a slightly trembling voice.

Stefan didn’t add any more words to my grumpy words. He didn’t say anything and didn’t let go of my hand. As if he had already said everything he had said enough.

At that, I could not make eye contact with him any longer and lowered my head.

Why am I surrounded by idiots?

No matter how I look at it, why do I choose to lose out on a problem that is obvious to me?

“Why does Stephan choose the bad over the good?”

Dorothy couldn’t understand Stefan’s decision.

That’s good for you. That’s how you can become a high-ranking knight of the Knight and become a leader.

In this countryside for the rest of my life, even if the emperor says he won’t assign you anymore…

Stefan looked at Dorothy quietly.

“I am just doing what I want.”

Stefan added as if that was all he had to say.

Drops of water formed on my blue eyes, which had grown bigger.

“Stefan is an idiot.”

Even before the return, Stefan was like that.

Even at the moment when Raymond’s defeat was certain, he tried to protect Raymond until the end. Even though it was very clear that he was going to lose. He was a man who made stupid choices with honesty.

“Thanks, Stefan.”

Even though I knew it was a stupid choice, I was happy. Thanks for choosing Dorothea Milanaire, this stupid option that no one finds.

I couldn’t help pointing out that I was selfish. Dorothea Milanaire is a bad person by birth.

Even though it’s my second life, I’m still not used to being abandoned by someone, so I’m very, very sorry, but thankful.

* * *

I went out into town with Stefan.

The reason I went to town was to fulfill my bucket list.

Practice living well.

Picking up something that someone dropped, picking up a load, or even giving food to a child who is hungry when something is not right.

It was annoying to do it, but after doing it, I would feel refreshed as if I had finished an important mission.

When I went out into town, I wore shabby, unadorned clothes that did not reveal my identity.

If it was known that I was a princess, I could become a target for bad things like the kidnapping case the other day, and it was because I was not able to freely move around because of troublesome attention.

Today, I dressed up as a commoner and roamed the streets like a beast looking for food for good deeds.

At that time, what caught my eye was a crowd of people on one side of the street.

I ran over there, wondering if she could do anything good.

“You should know what it says.”

“It’s going to be about a festival that’s coming soon.”

People gathered in front of the bulletin board with the announcement of the Duke of Bronte and murmured.

Everyone was curious about what the duke had said, but it seemed that no one among them could read.

‘I can read for them!’

Dorothy found a good job of the day!

Read announcements for dark-eyed people.

The problem, however, was that I was still short, I wasn’t the tallest of my peers and the posts were hidden by the crowded people.

I couldn’t even read it because I couldn’t see the letters even when I lifted my tiptoe and peeped out my head.

Then her body was lifted up.

“Stefan!”

“….”

Now, the age of being lifted up like a baby had passed, but to Stefan, I still seemed small and light.

When Stefan lifted me, I was able to look down on the people’s heads. 

Thanks to that, the post that had not been seen was immediately visible.

I was a little awkward to be hugged by Stefan, but I hurriedly read the announcement so that he wouldn’t be heavy for long.

“This year, an amateur swordsmanship competition was held! Applications can be made at the reception desk in the square from today to the day after tomorrow. It is divided into age groups and held in a tournament format, and the prize money is…”

I read the text calmly. People who had been talking and speculating in frustration, shook their heads as if they knew only then.

When I finished reading the announcement, Stefan lowered his back to the floor.

“Stefan, it’s a swordsmanship contest.”

My voice was mixed with some interest.

Stefan knew exactly what I was thinking. Stefan’s gaze turned towards the plaza. ‘Shall we go?’ like asking.

At that, I nodded once and moved lightly.

In the square, as advertised, there was a convention reception desk made of a small tent.

I proudly opened the reception desk tent door and entered with a little excitement.

“I’m here to register for a swordsmanship contest.”

The reception desk was quiet with flies flying.

It wasn’t until I entered that the sluggish man glanced at me and Stefan.

“Are you an amateur?”

When the man frowned and asked, my heart pounded.

Did my skills show on my face?

Did you feel the aura of the tyrant Dorothea Milanaire, who was once the incarnation of war? Were you not too conscientious?

“What kind of amateur is he?”

As Dorothy was thinking about everything, the man pointed to Stefan.

Stefan, like me, was also wearing plain clothes, so it was not revealed that he was a knight. However, he seemed to have sensed that he was not the culprit from his height and frame.

“no. Professional can’t take it.”

“Hey, it’s me, not this person who wants to take over.”

I seemed to have been ignored, so I took a step closer to the man.

I’m the one who came in and shouted that I’d take it in.

“Ah…Is that so?”

The man glanced at me with a look of ignorance and pulled out an application for a children’s contest.

“name.”

He seemed to fill out an application for those who did not know the text.

But I was stunned.

Children’s competition?

Behind the man were a poster with flowers and a smiling sun.

I didn’t come here just to compete in children’s competitions.

“I Am not a child!”

“What do you mean? You look like a kid. Still, you seem to be able to read letters, don’t you?”

The man scooped his ears and ignored me.

That’s rude!

If it was the old Dorothea Milanaire, this guy’s head would have been cut off and it would have been rolling on the floor.

“I am twelve years old. I’m definitely a teenager. Let me go to the youth tournament.”

“Hey, kid. It is said that older sisters and older brothers who are 18 or 19 will appear in the youth competition. 

This is not a place for a small child like you to play war with a sword.”

“Thanks for your concern, but I didn’t come here to play war.”

“I’m not worried about you, but it’s a place where kids like you can’t run around and play around and make the water cloudy.”

The man’s smirk passed through his ears. Sarcastic tone, annoying indifference, and ignorance.

He was dismissing my request because I was a child.

‘Be nice, be nice…’

I recounted my creed inwardly, soothing the sword of self-defense that was crying from my waist.

I can’t go into town to do good and bad things.

“Baby, if you don’t like children’s contests, eat more of your mother’s milk and come at least 15 years old.”

Do you want me to drink more mother’s milk?

His childish words touched my nerves.

It was me who grew up not drinking even a drop of mother’s milk. His man’s words bothered me even more. I had never seen my mother’s face in a portrait in the first place.

“As you can see, I am already well past the age of breastfeeding. According to the rules, anyone over the age of 10 can participate…!”

“Tsk, it’s even worse to see you talking back rudely. Where are you opening your eyes like that? That’s how your father taught you?”

The man cut off my words and clicked his tongue. At that, I felt a throbbing pain in my chest.

Does father teach that way?

“ I don’t teach.”

“What?”

“My father never taught me anything.”

Carnan didn’t want me to go to Episteme so he wouldn’t teach me. He never came to me, and he didn’t like me going out and learning.

“But I can do well without learning.”

I can do well without that kind of parental love.

“Where is the little one talking like that? Parents are going to get upset because they’re raising a kid like you.”

The man shook his head and sighed deeply at me.

I clenched my teeth at him.

Am I wrong enough to even hear a sigh from a person like that?

Is it so wrong to grow up because I can’t even eat my mother’s milk, to learn nothing from my father, or to rot in my parents just by being there?

I eventually couldn’t contain my emotions and tried to draw my sword.

If I pull out a sword and prove myself here, that man will surely…

Sushh!

But it was Stefan who drew the sword before me.

In the blink of an eye, Stefan’s sword was stuck on the reception table. It barely slipped between the man’s fingers.

“Stefan!”

When I turned around in surprise, Stefan was looking down at the man with a daunting sight.

Originally, he didn’t have a blunt and easygoing face, but now he has a much more terrifying face than usual.

“Rule. Keep it.”

A short, bold word from Stefan.

“Uh…are you threatening me, now?”

The frightened man stuttered.

“Keep it.”

Stefan took one step closer to the man. Then his large shadow fell over the man.

* * *