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“{Heugh! Everyone, everyone, you must stay healthy, don’t get sick even outside, and live happily!}”
Look at him.
“{This instructor will never forget you!}”
Anyone watching would think they’d never see each other again for the rest of their lives.
Anyway, the commoner children will enter as Guardians, and the rest of the noble rascals will grow up fine on their own and might run into each other later.
“Heung, heung, heung! Instructor! I will never forget you either!”
“Thank you, sir!”
“…….”
Daphne frowned as she watched the instructor and the children embracing each other and shedding tears of parting.
“I truly cannot understand them.”
“There’s the time spent together, and since there was a fairly big incident, I suppose they’ve grown attached,” Shio said, approaching Daphne.
“Grown attached…….”
Daphne narrowed her eyes and looked at the people.
“{Let’s definitely! Definitely meet again!}”
“{Let’s always keep each other in our hearts!}”
“Yes, Instructor!”
She looked at Shio again.
“Does it make one become so excessively overwhelmed?”
“…….”
Shio slightly lowered his gaze.
“That is a bit excessive. Hahaha.”
It was a total mess. Daphne clicked her tongue and vowed that she would not join that crowd. But it was right then.
“Daphne!”
Cilia came running, her hair fluttering. Then she grabbed Daphne’s hand tightly.
“You. You’re going to take me with you, right? Don’t forget the towel I lent you. And don’t forget the bread I shared with you either!”
I don’t know when she was talking about, but Cilia looked quite desperate.
“I’m going to follow Joshua to the Grand Duke’s house too. You absolutely have to take me! Got it?”
“I, I want to go too. Of, of course, I’m a fellow who doesn’t have much to offer…… Bu, but sti, still, could you thi, think about it ju, just once?”
Bunny, who was behind Cilia, also suddenly poked his head out and spoke.
“Just try abandoning us. I’ll live the rest of my life hating you!”
“I, I won’t hate you, but I think I’d still be upset.”
Daphne blinked blankly while looking at Cilia and Bunny, then let out a hollow laugh.
-It’s a disaster! Run away! Argh!
-Ple, please save me! Please!
Back when she was Celus, the words she heard were always things like this.
Please save me, please forgive me, I’m scared, let’s run away…… such negative words.
But now it’s different.
People now say they want to be with her. They want to be by her side. They cherish her.
The severing of causality is such a joyful thing.
Daphne, feeling the preciousness of the present anew, nodded slowly.
“Seeing it now, it seems I have grown attached as well.”
Then she placed her hands on Cilia’s and Bunny’s shoulders.
“Fine. Let’s go together.”
Now there will be no reason to be hated like before.
As long as I live in this body, I will never be left alone.
***
After the completion ceremony ended, the children swarmed out of the villa like the tide receding from the shore. Of course, not all the children were returning to their original lives. They would take a rest at home for the first time in a long while and then come back to the capital.
Daphne fell deep into thought while staring at the backs of the commoner children who were skillfully boarding the luggage wagons.
Joshua, Cilia, Bunny.
It seemed fine to leave those she would take to the Grand Duke’s house as they were.
‘The other nobles are a waste, too.’
The fast-footed Teppy seemed like he would be useful in many ways.
But it was certain that Count Imperial would not allow it. He was the fellow who had ground his teeth so hard while looking at Daphne; there was no way he would place his son under Daphne.
‘That’s a shame.’
Daphne, scratching the back of her head, soon approached Mark Brown, who was waiting for his family’s carriage.
“You big child over there. Come here.”
Mark, who was peeking outside while waiting for the carriage, was startled by Daphne’s call and stepped back.
“M-me? Wh-why?”
Daphne frowned and crossed her arms.
“Since when did you start talking back?”
“……I’m coming.”
Mark hesitantly approached Daphne.
“I, I’m here. Why…… did you call?”
Because Mark was much larger than other children his age, he and Daphne looked exactly like a bear and a hamster. However, the bear-sized Mark was completely terrified. Because he had a history of being beaten up by the small and cute hamster-like Daphne.
“You.”
Daphne looked up at Mark, still with her arms crossed.
“When you go back, deliver this clearly to the Duke.”
“To Father?”
“Tell him if he does anything stupid to the kids, he’s dead.”
“…….”
Mark’s face turned pale, but Daphne didn’t care.
Originally, it was perfectly rational that the reward for completing the training center was given only to Daphne and not to the other children, but only the parties belonging to this organization thought so.
Those on the outside would wonder, ‘Why on earth is the reward only given to Daphne?’ and furthermore, they might think it’s unfair and feel anger toward Daphne.
In doing so, they might try to drive Daphne into a corner, or they might independently organize private soldiers in secret. In that process, the commoner children of the training center would become the prey.
If they tried to harm Daphne herself, she could sufficiently block it, but not the other children. That is, Daphne cannot stop it if they harm the innocent commoner children who were overjoyed by the fact that they were becoming apprentice Guardians.
So she was giving a warning in advance. Telling them not to act recklessly.
“I’ve grown more attached to the children than I thought.”
Daphne flashed her eyes open.
“If anyone touches the kids, I will step in personally. Do you understand?”
Wouldn’t it be scarier to say the Grand Duke would step in rather than Daphne……? Mark thought so, but decided not to say it. If he said something unnecessary here, he would be beaten again.
“I, I understand. I’ll deliver it that way.”
“Good.”
Daphne smiled broadly and nodded at the submissive answer.
“And.”
But it seemed she wasn’t finished, as she opened her mouth toward Mark again.
“You have quite a bit of grit. I’ve seen you in a new light.”
“……Me?”
“If you keep working as hard as you are now, you will receive a reward in the future. Do you understand?”
“…….”
Mark’s eyes widened.
Because he was moved by hearing something like a compliment from Daphne?
Absolutely not.
It was just that,
‘I’m much older than Daphne……?’
This situation of receiving advice from a child the size of a fist was just too absurd.
“Whew, I really am far too kind. Giving a compliment even to the fellow who defied me.”
These words were even more absurd.
“Be grateful to me. Because there won’t be another person in the world as generous, kind, and benevolent as I am.”
Mark, who had been looking at Daphne with his mouth half-open, soon gave up thinking. Right. It’s not like her being crazy is a one or two-day thing; there’s no need to care. Mark quietly cast his gaze toward the distant sky. Ah, I want to see Dad…….
***
All the children except for Daphne had left the Grand Duke’s villa. After the children left, the sky had already become the time when it held a dark blue light.
The Guardians, who had been seeing the children off for a long time and were occasionally tearing up, soon let out a sigh and turned around.
“Whoa, it’s finally over,” Kenrick Dried said.
“Indeed. It’s both sad and happy at the same time.”
“Once we go back, we’ll be training again, right?”
Nike’s eyes trembled slightly at Fiona’s question.
Since they had been away for over a month, he could picture the seniors in his head saying they would work them that much harder. Just imagining it made his stomach turn.
“Ha…… it really feels like hell…….”
Ugh, Nike curled his body, feeling nauseous. Fiona also stiffened her expression beside him.
But it was not so for Kenrick Dried. He looked around and around, and soon discovering Rache standing over there, he began to run toward him.
“Rache! You were here!”
Kenrick Dried, putting his arm around Rache’s shoulder, spoke with a giggle.
“Kenrick?”
“Hey, it’s over now, over! Let’s go back together now!”
Because of the training, Kenrick Dried had been too busy and hadn’t been able to hang out properly with Rache. So he wanted to return to the capital with Rache and idle about like before.
“Once you go back now, you’ll take off the apprentice label. You’ll be a real Guardian, so we can be together longer. Right?”
At Kenrick Dried’s words, Rache let out a low laugh.
“We’ll be stuck together tiresomely again. Phew. It’s sickening.”
“Look at this. He’s pretending to hate it when he likes it.”
“I am not?”
Rache spoke mockingly with a sidelong glance, but Kenrick Dried was not discouraged at all. Instead, he pulled Rache even harder and let his body go limp.
“I want to go back quickly. Right?”
“……Well, I guess so.”
Rache nodded, trying not to show his slightly stiffened face. He was pretending not to know the emotion vaguely remaining in his heart.
It was then. From the middle of the evening darkness, a round blonde head suddenly appeared.
“My eldest brother.”
Daphne reached her hand out toward Rache.
“What are you doing, not coming?”
Then she pointed to the carriage that Pauline, Arius, and Vipera were riding in.
“Shouldn’t you go home together too?”
Rache’s two eyes wavered.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
Ps :I apologize, I was mistaken about Bunny’s gender. The name sounded feminine, and many translations often misidentify it, but looking closely at the original Korean terms, it’s clear he is a boy.😭🚶♀️
