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Chapter – 05
“It was lying over here! I found it.”
With dirt smeared all over her face, Ruruka smiled brightly like an angel.
“I’m really glad I found your necklace, Elia.”
“Ruruka! Thank you sooo much…!”
“I’m happy that I was the one who found something so precious to you.”
“I’m really happy too!”
As I tightly hugged Ruruka, I looked toward Akkelte.
When I gave him a relieved smile, he nodded as if he too was glad.
‘If it weren’t for Akkelte, I never would’ve found the necklace. How am I ever supposed to repay him for this?’
If Akkelte hadn’t informed the director, my necklace might have disappeared forever.
But once Akkelte stepped in and things became serious, the thief probably got scared and tossed my necklace somewhere random, which Ruruka then found.
‘I definitely have to repay Akkelte somehow!’
While I was making that promise to myself, Ruruka patted my shoulder and fastened the necklace around my neck.
Then she leaned close to my ear and whispered softly.
“Everyone looked really exhausted from searching for your necklace, Elia.”
“Hm?”
“Some kids were sweating buckets while searching every corner.”
Just like I usually did, Ruruka tucked the pendant deep beneath my clothes before stepping back, almost as though she didn’t want anyone else seeing it.
Then she pointed at her own dirt-covered appearance and smiled bashfully.
“Even I ended up looking like a complete mess!”
“Ah…”
Well, it was true that all the orphanage children had suffered because I lost my personal belonging.
“Sorry… everyone went through trouble because of me.”
Still, somehow it felt like I was being subtly scolded to my face, which left me awkward and embarrassed.
As I scratched my cheek and apologized, Ruruka’s eyes widened.
“I wasn’t saying it because I wanted an apology!”
“Huh? Then why?”
At my question, Ruruka smiled gently like an angel.
“I just hate seeing other people talk badly about Elia!”
“…?”
What did she mean?
Did she mean people had actually been badmouthing me because I lost the necklace?
Since I’d been talking with Akkelte the whole time, I had no idea whether the orphanage kids had really been gossiping about me or not.
“Talk badly about me…?”
I asked nervously.
“Ah! I-It’s nothing.”
Ruruka suddenly startled and covered her mouth, as if she’d made a slip of the tongue.
Like a startled squirrel, she looked at me carefully with widened eyes.
‘…What is this?’
I couldn’t shake off the strange feeling.
But the idea that my favorite heroine—the angelic girl I adored—might actually be skilled at subtly manipulating people behind sweet words…
I didn’t even want to imagine it.
If I accepted that possibility, all the affection I’d built up for Ruruka would collapse like a sandcastle.
I didn’t want all my memories and feelings to be denied.
Caught in this strange and subtle emotional gap, I could only open and close my mouth without knowing what to say.
‘Besides, the original story is the only thing I can rely on.’
In this unfamiliar world, I didn’t want the knowledge I possessed to suddenly become useless.
Unable to sort out my confusion, I stood there awkwardly while Ruruka quietly added,
“Next time, don’t make such a big fuss over things like this. Just tell me directly, okay?”
“…Just you?”
“Yeah! I think I’m pretty talented at finding things like this.”
Her harmless face showed not even the slightest trace of malice.
But looking at that expression, I could only force an awkward smile.
Once suspicion started creeping in, even a smile that once looked purely lovely now appeared different.
“Hey.”
At that moment, Akkelte, who had been standing behind me, walked over.
He was frowning deeply.
Stopping beside me, he looked down at Ruruka and spoke in an openly displeased voice.
“No one among the children was talking badly about Elia, though.”
“…W-What?”
Ruruka stared blankly at me, clearly bewildered by Akkelte suddenly cutting into the conversation.
Honestly, I was just as confused.
‘No one did? How would Akkelte know that?’
He’d spent the whole time talking with me too, so he shouldn’t have had any opportunity to speak with the other children either.
As I looked up at him in confusion, Akkelte added coldly,
“If anything, everyone was just worried about Elia.”
“That’s…”
“So why are you making up things that never happened?”
Even to me, Akkelte’s voice sounded frighteningly cold.
I had never heard such an icy tone from him before.
It almost made the way he grumbled at me in the backyard seem gentle in comparison.
Now that everyone knew he was the young master of House Isis, a voice like that was terrifying to children like us.
Sure enough, tears quickly began gathering in Ruruka’s pink eyes.
“Sniff… I-I wasn’t lying.”
“Then what?”
Seeing tears well up in her deer-like eyes made my chest ache painfully.
But at the same time, I felt a strange sense of disconnect.
Was it because I’d started suspecting Ruruka?
Akkelte, meanwhile, looked completely unaffected by Ruruka’s delicate and innocent appearance and continued staring down at her coldly.
“What I meant was… I mean, not that Elia was actually being insulted…”
“Speak properly. Stop stumbling over your words.”
“I-I just worried she might get insulted!”
Ruruka answered while slightly avoiding his gaze, looking off to the right instead of directly at him.
At that, Akkelte’s expression hardened even further.
“Akkelte, I’m okay!”
Unable to bear it any longer, I grabbed his arm to stop him.
Only then did his gaze finally shift toward me.
I could understand why Akkelte was acting cold toward Ruruka.
He didn’t know that the girl standing before him was actually the heroine of this story.
‘And it’s not like I can explain all of this.’
There was absolutely nothing to gain from Akkelte ending up on bad terms with the original protagonist, so I hurriedly waved my hands to stop him.
“I’m sure Ruruka only said it because she was worried about me. It’s okay! She’s my friend too.”
“Friend?”
“Yeah. She’s the one who found my necklace.”
I lightly tugged at the necklace chain while speaking.
But Akkelte still stared at my face with a stiff expression, clearly dissatisfied about something.
“…The one who helped was me.”
“Huh?”
It sounded like he muttered something, but I couldn’t hear clearly, so I leaned closer toward him.
Immediately, Akkelte jerked only his face backward.
As a result, it looked like I was leaning toward him while he was trying to escape from me.
“What did you say?”
“Move your face away.”
“What did you say?”
Out of stubbornness, I leaned even closer.
Akkelte responded by pushing my cheek backward with his hand.
“…I said I’m the one who helped find your necklace! So move your face away.”
“Tch.”
Was that really something to make such a huge fuss about?
Puffing out both cheeks, I grumbled inwardly.
‘It’s not like my face is ugly enough to avoid that badly.’
When I first possessed Elia’s body, I’d actually mistaken myself for the heroine.
Because the face reflected in the mirror had been unbelievably pretty.
Sharp upturned eyes balanced by soft green irises, and platinum-blonde hair curling in waves.
‘Like a hot iced Americano.’
A strange mix of cold elegance and warm kindness.
A face that looked both cold and warm at the same time.
Of course, after seeing the true heroine Ruruka’s fairy-like appearance, I quickly abandoned that misunderstanding.
Still, my point was that my face definitely wasn’t ugly enough for someone to avoid it like that.
“Ruruka, it’s okay. Don’t be too upset. I think Akkelte just misunderstood what you meant.”
“…Elia, if my words upset you at all, I’m sorry.”
Ruruka tapped her index fingers together while sadly drooping the corners of her eyes.
“I was just worried about you…”
“Yeah, it’s okay.”
I gently patted Ruruka’s shoulder.
‘Ruruka is the protagonist of this novel.’
Meaning that, even if not right now, she would soon become someone powerful.
Just like Akkelte, Ruruka was also the daughter of one of the empire’s founding duke families—House Rubelian.
Someday, Ruruka would possess power equal to Akkelte’s.
Naturally, nobody would want to end up disliked by someone like that.
“Akkelte, it’s time to go back now.”
I was comforting the dejected-looking Ruruka when the man who resembled Akkelte—the one I’d seen earlier—approached us and spoke.
‘That’s the Duke of Isis…?’
Akkelte’s biological father and an incredibly powerful duke.
Since the original story mostly revolved around Ruruka’s family and the male lead’s family, information about the Duke of Isis had been limited.
Not knowing what kind of person he was, I nervously kept my mouth shut.
“Please wait ten more minutes.”
“Why?”
At Akkelte’s request, the Duke of Isis crossed his arms and asked for a reason.
After hesitating briefly, Akkelte answered,
“…I haven’t finished talking yet. And I still haven’t properly said goodbye.”
“Talking? Goodbye?”
The Duke of Isis repeated those two words with a puzzled expression.
As though they were concepts completely foreign to him.
Or perhaps as though he had never imagined hearing such words from Akkelte’s mouth.
“With whom?”
“My friend.”
“Friend? Are you saying you made a friend? You?”
Akkelte didn’t answer.
But the Duke of Isis seemed to arrive at the answer himself and slowly turned his head.
To my utter shock, his gaze landed on me.
“So it’s you.”
“…M-Me?”
“Elia, was it?”
“Y-Yes.”
With an overwhelmingly imposing expression, the Duke of Isis looked down at me.
Frozen stiff, I swallowed nervously while trying to suppress the tension.
‘Why does this gaze feel like a father inspecting the boy his daughter brought home to marry?!’
