The Villainess’ Kindergarten

“Then you two go home.”

 

Thomas’ eyes widened at my words, and Ren grabbed one of my arms to see if I wanted to go with her. Feeling like I was going to lose heart, I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from my arm. Then Ren looked sullen. Her heart broke, but she had to persevere for the future.

 

“I want to get some rest now. Let’s stay together later when we select a guardian, Ren.”

 

Hearing what I said, Thomas grabbed Ren’s hand. Then he glared at me.

 

“You two can just go, what are you worrying about?”

 

Just like that, Ren was led by Thomas’ hand and went out of the parlor, leaving only Ash and I remaining in the room. I looked at Ash and grinned. 

 

‘Let’s talk about it alone with Mr. Black. But, what should I say?’

 

Fiora must have touched Ash’s weakness. Weakness, weakness. How can I find out his weaknesses? After hesitating, I opened my mouth.

 

“…Your face looks full of worry and concern.”

 

“Yes?”

 

I thought about his question. I ruined it. Embarrassment came over me. But since I was lucky, I had no choice but to continue.

 

“I do some physiognomy. There is a bad energy floating around.”

 

His eyes widened at my words.

 

“How… That… ?”

 

I actually wanted to ask him a question because of his naivety. Why did this work…? That’s it. But since we were able to get through, I thought, let’s keep pushing forward.

 

‘I’m sorry I cheated, but it’s not a bad thing, Ash. So please catch me.’

 

I fumbled, pulling out the lines that came to mind and roughly reciting them.

 

“No one knows… I’m excited. Tell me.”

 

A look of surprise flashed across Ash’s face at my words. He came closer to me, his eyes sparkling.

 

“The princess is someone who has divine powers, right?”

 

Wasn’t it? But why did this work? I continued speaking without missing a moment. My conscience was pricked because I felt like I was deceiving an innocent person.

 

“It’s not a big deal, so please keep it a secret. So tell me. What are you worried about?”

 

He thought about my words for a moment, sighed as if he had made a decision, and opened his mouth.

 

“My mother’s condition is getting worse day by day.”

 

The moment I heard his words, I was reminded of the way Fiora cajoled Ash. Fiora had lured Ash with a lie that she would cure his mother’s illness. However, his mother’s disease was diabetes, which was almost incurable. By the time Ash realized that he had been fooled by her words, it was already too late. Fiora was such a bad girl.

 

I sighed. Ah really. Was Fiora the only villain in this novel…? But that Fiora was me now. Why was I the cause of everything? Why me! Ash was a victim deceived by Fiora, not a black man. I sighed again. However, since his mother’s illness was not yet serious, I should tell him the cause.

 

“Your mother likes sweet food, right?”

 

His eyes widened at my words. As expected, my memory was correct.

 

“That’s the cause. You need to cut down on sweet foods and drink a lot of water.”

 

At my firm words, he nodded and thanked me. Seeing this, I could understand a little that he had been deceived by Fiora. A person as high as a knight commander was really naive. I hoped that his mother would quickly recover to her health, as there would be no such thing as darkness this time. Well, I thought the Ash issue has been resolved and I want to watch the children.

 

It was then. The door opened and the children came into the room. Ren ran quickly into my arms, and Thomas came towards me with a shocked expression on his face.

 

“Have you seen everything already?”

 

At my question, Ren shook his head.

 

“Because the princess is not there. She’s not having fun, can’t we go together?”

 

Ren was looking up at me with bright red eyes. Thomas opened his mouth with a tired expression, probably because he was under a lot of pressure from Ren.

 

“Let’s go together.”

 

Ren’s expression brightened at Thomas’ words. She nodded strongly and looked at me. I burst out laughing when I saw the two children like that. Ash’s side was now resolved and there’s nothing to do until we meet the children, so we can play with them.

 

“Okay.”

 

I smiled and held out my hand to Ren. Then Ren smiled brightly and held my hand. When I held out my opposite hand to Thomas, he seemed to have a look of disgust for a moment, and then took my hand. When we got up from our seats, Ash opened the door and greeted us.

 

“Thank you for telling me, Princess. I’ll see you later.”

 

I responded by nodding my head. As we went out of the living room, the eyes of the other knights turned to us, and Thomas opened his mouth as if he was embarrassed to be holding hands with me.

 

“I am not a child.”

 

Thomas, who was already grumbling after holding me, was cute, so I put more pressure on the hand I was holding with him, and his expression hardened a little more. In my eyes, he was still a child, but he seemed to think he was not. While I was wondering what I could do to get him to reject me, I opened my mouth.

 

“It’s not just children holding hands. Holding hands is proof that you are close to that person.”

 

“I’m not close to the princess.”

 

Although Thomas spoke firmly, he did not let go of his hand. I couldn’t tell if it was because I liked it or because I was afraid of getting hurt, but either way, I didn’t feel bad. One of his ears was also stained red.

 

“I will become closer to the princess.”

 

Ren said with a smile, and I thought he was so cute that I wanted to hit the ground about five times.

 

“Of course, Ren.”

 

“I’m glad, princess.”

 

At my answer, Ren smiled brightly and called me. Her cute smile made me feel both tears and laughter inside. Why was I a princess? Everything was good, but why was I a princess?

 

‘Cute! It’s cute! So sad! Guys, can you call me teacher?’

 

The moment I lost control of myself and was about to ask him to call me teacher, Thomas stopped. Thanks to that, I was fortunately able to hide my true feelings. There was a small door where Thomas stopped, and the sound of something being cut along with the sound of cheers could be heard coming from inside.

 

“Ren, you said you wanted to hold a sword, right? This is where new knights practice. I asked the leader, so maybe you can practice too.”

 

Ren’s expression brightened at Thomas’ words. When I knocked, the door opened and a man with a bushy beard came out. Perhaps because she was scared of the man’s large size, Ren hid behind my back and stuck out her head to look at him. The man greeted politely.

 

“Hello, my name is Ryu and I am teaching new knights. Please come inside.”

 

As we followed Ryu inside, we saw scarecrows made of straw. While we were looking around, Thomas went to the warehouse in the back and brought out two wooden swords.

 

“Do you want to try it?”

 

Saying that, he held out a sword to Ren. Ren nodded his head strongly and accepted the sword he held out. As Ren held her sword and stood awkwardly in front of her scarecrow, Toma walked up to her and held her in position.

 

“Her hands relaxed, her feet shoulder-width apart.”

 

But Ren seemed to have difficulty even holding her wooden sword. Beads of sweat formed one by one on Ren’s forehead as he was hitting the scarecrow under Thomas’ instructions. Thomas, looking at her, raised his sword. He got into position and caught his breath.

 

“Relax and be gentle.”

 

It was an instant. Softly, as if the wind was blowing. When Thomas’ sword was aimed at the scarecrow, the scarecrow, which did not budge no matter how hard Ren hit it, was cut in two.

 

“Like this.”

 

It’s so easy, right? Thomas, who spoke like this, was like Uncle Bob. It feels easy for people who do it, but it’s difficult for us to actually do it. I guess Thomas was definitely a genius. Ren looked dumbfounded at his words and held out a wooden sword to Thomas. She then glared at him.

 

“I will not! I can’t do that.”

 

“Why not? It’s easy!”

 

Thomas, who felt unfair at having been hated by Ren, looked at Ryu as if asking for help, even though he had done his best to inform him. Then Ryu smiled and opened his mouth.

 

“Geniuses are not good at teaching.”

 

“It is true that my brother is a genius. You are the unluckiest person in the world.”

 

Thomas and Ryu’s eyes widened at Ren’s calm words, and I almost burst out laughing. It’s been a while since I heard that pun. When I was young, I often played like that. But Thomas seemed shocked that he had heard such a thing from his younger brother. His hands were shaking.

 

“Where did you learn to say that!”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

Ren grabbed the wooden sword that had fallen from Thomas’s hand and headed towards the warehouse where other swords were gathered, while Thomas looked at Ren’s back as he walked away, as if it were unfair. As I was looking at the two cutely, Ryu brought them a chair.

 

“Please sit down.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Since my leg was sore, I did not refuse his offer. Thomas took the sword again and started striking the scarecrow, and I watched him do that. But no matter how much time passed, Ren did not return.

 

“Why doesn’t Ren come here?”

 

When I mumbled out of concern, Ryu opened his mouth.

 

“Do not worry too much. There is only one door leaving the training ground.”

 

“Okay.”

 

At that time, perhaps when the knights were ready, one knight came into the training area and called me and the children. But even at that moment, Ren did not return. I shifted my gaze to the direction where Ren had disappeared. I’ll have to go pick you up. As I made a gesture to get up from the chair, Thomas held out his hand to me. He was avoiding my gaze, but his earlobes were already turning red.

 

“Ren, if you’re going to pick me up, let’s go together.”

 

“Ok, thanks.”

 

I took his hand and stood up. The warehouse was not far away. It rattled. The large wooden door opened with a loud noise. The door opened and sunlight shone into the dark warehouse. At that moment, the image of Ren covered in blood came into my eyes.

 

* * *

 

At that time, Baridas’ office.

 

One document posted in front of him listed the ten knights who would take Fiora’s guardian exam. Baridas muttered softly as he checked the documents.

 

“It’s a guardian…”

 

Let’s go. Still, she was the princess of a country, so she couldn’t have just anyone be her guardian. Maybe she should have picked a good knight herself. Baridas was worried because there was no way she could see a decent knight. Baridas, who was pondering and regretting that he had made her personally select a guardian for no reason, eventually moved on to the training ground.

 

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