Prologue

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The adults were staring at something with great interest.

Had some noble brought a rare animal?

Villarosa stretched her neck to see it, but when she saw her father’s stern expression, she realised that whatever was in the center of that place, it was by no means anything good.

“Villa, let’s go back.”

Before she answering with an “yes” like a sensible child, a flashy-looking man approached the parent-child pair.

Her father smiled instantly and exchanged greetings with him.

“Villarosa, I have some talking to do. You’ll be fine alone, right?”

“Yes, father.”

Dressed up Villarosa showed a childish smile that suited her lovely appearance and bowed courteously.

As she did so, the nobleman, who approached them, exaggeratedly sung praises of her. making his ploy to get on her father’s good side way too obvious.

Her father, who didn’t break his smile and replied humbly, excused himself from the man and turned back to Villarosa.

Then, he crouched and matched his line of sight with the small girl.

He mindfully avoided ruining her exquisite hairstyle as he placed his hand on her head. To an outsider, this finesse probably made him seem like an excellent father.

“Well then, I’ll be going…don’t approach the group over there even by a mistake.”

Otherwise our ducal family’s character will be questioned, he added with a quiet voice, while still maintaining the face of a “good father.”

Looking up at her father’s narrowed eyes that seemed to be asking if she understood, Villarosa nodded again.

“Yes, father. I will be a good girl.”

“Sorry, Villarosa.”

Saying so and leaving, her father’s figure was instantly swallowed by the crowd.

After a while, the group that her father told her not to approach, scattered.

And children started to gather in its place.

Villarose, who stood on her tip-toes to see what was happening, gasped.

The children were surrounding a black-haired―― child.

However, in contrast to the surrounding children who were smiling maliciously, the black-haired child was the only one looking down and not moving.

Perhaps they had gotten cocky seeing the child’s obedient appearance, the children who were surrounding the black-haired child, pulled his hand and taking the opportunity while the adults weren’t looking, dragged him towards the yard.

“…”

Villarosa, who had witnessed that scene, looked around.

Was nobody from the adults who were surrounding the child just a while ago, looking?

Was it okay to not stop them from taking him away?

However, contrary to Villarosa’s thoughts, everybody seemed to be indifferent, as they were immersed in the atmosphere of the colorful evening party.

The black-haired child was small and skinny.

The surrounding children were all ill-natured bunch, who were notorious for being especially ill-tempered among the children of nobles and would harass anybody new or weaker than them.

Villarosa hesitated a little but, after making up her mind, she chased after the children.

―― She found them quite easily.

They had pushed the black-haired against the wall and were poking him while jeering.

“Hey look, at this guy. His eyes are really red!”

“Yikes, so disgusting!!”

Their malicious voices reached Villarosa too. However, even though he was being sneered at, the black-haired child didn’t show any signs of retaliating.

“I know it all. You’re being kept by the duke, right? Because you’re a rare animal with red eyes.”

Those words were too cruel. Still, the black-haired child stayed silent,

―― As expressionless as a doll, his red eyes kept staring at the empty sky. As if he was apathetic towards his surroundings.

“So stupid.”

Unknowingly, Villarosa muttered.

As if snapping out of it, the children turned back.

“You lot are so stupid.”

“What’d you say?”

“You’re too cocky for a girl.”

Villarosa laughed at the children, who were trying to intimidate her, without hiding her intent of mocking them.

“Can’t you even notice that you are not being taken seriously? As expected, people who can only reuse the same insults just like a one-trick pony are different. Boys are really stupid.”

Villarosa determinedly approached the children.

As she did, their faces gradually grew pale.

“E-Elme…!”

“Aaah! It’s Villarosa!”

“Violent Woman…!”

How rude, Villarosa glared at the children.

“Oh? Just when I was thinking about what kind of face would idiots, who don’t even notice when they aren’t taken seriously and continue with their fruitless antics would make…this couldn’t get any more boring. Aren’t those just your usual stupid faces?”

This bunch was really malicious.

In fact, even Villarosa was harassed once.

After having a big spider set on her, she grabbed it with her bare hands and hurled it at the opponent’s face, making him faint.

After that, she repaid all the small harassments twice-fold, so now they would turn pale the moment they would see her.

In fact, the same was happening at the moment too.

Even despite trying to act tough and calling her all kinds of insults like a ‘violent woman’ or a ‘barbarian’, as the distance between them and Villarosa gradually shortened, perhaps they had become unable to endure it, all color drained from the faces of the children and they fell on their butts.

The only one still standing with the skinny black-haired child with red eyes.

There were no signs that he was disturbed ―― He was simply standing, as if he could neither hear nor see whatever was happening in front of him.

(He’s like a doll.)

She recalled her acquaintance, who loved to collect dolls.

He was the kind of delicate and inorganic living doll that her friend ―― who wasn’t attending today’s evening party, but collected dolls from all over the continent, would like.

(I’m glad that they’re not attending today’s party. Otherwise he would definitely catch their eye and get turned into their doll.)

A doll-like child, who didn’t seem like a living being at all. He would be just ideal for her friend, who claimed to be a human-hater.

While thinking that she was truly glad that her friend wasn’t here, Villarosa grabbed the standing child’s hand.

“Let’s go.”

“…Huh.”

She gripped his hand tightly and pulled it.

There was a reaction from him for the first time.

Right after his body shuddered, his red eyes, which weren’t looking at anything before now, were opened wide as if surprised from the bottom of his heart ――and reflected Villarosa.

“Looking at those fools is boring, right? Let’s go.”

“…W-where?”

Villarosa replied to the awkward question with a smile of a cheeky child.

“Where do you want to go? Do you want to go back in and eat the feast? You’re so skinny, it would be better if you ate a lot.”

“…but that person said to not eat.”

“Why?”

“Because…it’s…messy.”

The child obediently answered the questions while being pulled by the fast-walking Villarosa.

However, his eyes were darting around as if he was embarrassed.

“Messy?…do you mean your table manners? Is that why you can’t eat?”

The child nodded.

“But are you not hungry?”

“…”

As if just remembering it, the child’s stomach gave a quiet grumble.

After bursting into laughter, Villarosa proposed a plan.

“How about eating here, together with me? That way, it would be fine even if you aren’t confident in your manners. There wouldn’t be anybody who would get mad at you either.”

Nobody would pay attention to the corner of the garden.

Being convinced of her genius, Villarosa immediately got to implementing the plan.

“Wait here! I’ll bring some food!”

Saying so, Villarosa tried to go back to the mansion, but turned back after her hand was pulled.

“D…don’t…go.”

“Huh? But I can’t take the food if I don’t go insi――”

“I don’t need it,…I can…endure…so, don’t go, Stay…with…me?”

“You mustn’t endure. You’ll miss out if you don’t clearly say that you want something.”

“…”

The child tightly grasped Villarosa’s hand with both of his hands and looked at her with upturned-eyes. His desperation made Villarosa feel like an older sister and she laughed.

“I came up with something even better! Hey, let’s go together. That way, we’ll be together and you’ll be able to fill your stomach too.”

“…Together.”

“That’s right.”

Repeating the word ‘together’, the child’s red eyes glittered and he smiled as if his initial expressionless appearance was a lie.

“―― Mhm…together…is good.”

Villarosa also started to feel happy.

The two started walking, trying to return to the mansion immediately.

“Hey, your name…”

In the meantime, the child asked a question for the first time.

“Tell me…your name.”

His red eyes were glittering.

Those mean children called it disgusting, but they were beautiful, almost like jewels.

―― With a mood as if she had found a treasure, Villarosa stuck out her chest and said her name.

“Villarosa De Elme. ―― Remember it well, because this is the name of the future best knight of this country!”

“Alright.”

A nod.

Just as she was about to ask his name to the obediently nodding child, the end came.

The moment they approached the door that connected the mansion and the garden, an adult with a scary face rushed out.

Behind him was Villarosa’s father, with his hands calmly folded.

“My apologies, Lord Elme…!”

“My daughter also seems to be in a good mood, so he doesn’t seem to have had bad intentions. It’s nothing to feel concerned about.”

Villarosa tilted her head.

On the other hand, the child squeezed their connected hands. The adult who noticed him, turned his eyes towards him and forcefully pulled them apart.

“Lord Elme, this one did something terribly rude towards your daugh――”

“I don’t mind. This kind of place was the one at fault and I also made my daughter feel lonely…But my daughter also seems to be getting tired, so I will excuse myself with this.”

Saying so with a smile, her father lifted her up.

“Father?”

“We’re going back, Villa.”

As she hesitated and looked back, she saw that that skinny child was being pressed down by the adult’s big hand and forced to bow his head.

“Your presence will worsen that child’s position. Let’s return.”

Villarosa lowered her eyebrows in response to the words that were whispered in her ears.

Red eyes.

The eyes that were sparkling just a moment ago were no longer visible.

“Name…”

Did his whisper reach that girl?

The black-haired child shook off the adult’s hand and raised his face.

Just before the door was closed, it looked like he had opened his mouth wide.

“Wait! Name! My name is――!”

The rest of the words were cut off by the door closing.

That was the first and the last time.

Villarosa never again saw this child, whose name she didn’t even know.

―― And after the years passed, Villarosa De Elme, who had completely forgotten about this encounter, became a knight of Torsus Kingdom.

—

Notes:

Since I don’t have Fake Cinderella anymore, I thought I’d pick up something now

This has about 25 chapters in total (including prologue and epilogue) so it shouldn’t take me literal years to finish it lol

Don’t forget to notify me about mistranslations, typos and awkward grammar.

I was lazy to provide elaborate synopsis so please feel free to edit the novel’s page and replace it with your version.

Raws

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