I Became the Villain’s Childhood Friend Chapter 15

 

Reynold asked cautiously with a downcast look on his face.

 

“…Are you okay?”

 

“I just need to rest a little.”

 

I straightened my legs and looked up at Reynold.

 

Then I gestured toward the seat next to me to indicate that he should sit down, and only then did Reynold sit down.

 

I thought the wind would be less strong than the one we encountered while walking, yet it was even cooler as we sat quietly by the lakeside.

 

The smell of the forest blowing with the wind from afar was also perfect to wash away my frustrated mood from earlier.

 

As I was staring blankly at the lake sparkling beautifully like a jewel in the sunlight, Reynold’s voice came to me along with the sound of the grass and trees shaking.

 

“Danae, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a while.”

 

“What?”

 

I was surprised to see Reynold looking at me in an unusual way.

 

I lightly urged him to speak quickly, yet he found it difficult to speak.

 

After hesitating for a while, Reynold carefully opened his mouth.

 

“Do you… think you’re close to me?”

 

“…What?”

 

“…”

 

In Reynold’s dark eyes, the bewilderment I was unable to hide was reflected.

 

There was sadness in those eyes, like I saw at the villa earlier, as well as various other emotions.

 

“…No. Pretend you didn’t hear me.”

 

When I couldn’t say anything, Reynold quickly took a step back.

 

Seeing him looking dejected, I opened my mouth before even thinking.

 

“Isn’t it obvious?”

 

“…Yeah.”

 

However, despite my answer, Reynold muttered in a gloomy voice.

 

…Isn’t this the answer he wanted, I wonder.

 

What should I say in times like this?

 

But isn’t it obvious? It’s already been 4 years since I first saw Reynold, and we’ve been together every day.

 

However, Reynold didn’t seem to believe my answer. As I looked at him speechless, the inside of my mouth went dry.

 

So I hesitated for a while and then carefully asked Reynold.

 

“…Would you like to bury something here as a token of our friendship?”

 

Maybe it was because the words were unfamiliar, my cheeks seemed to turn a little red.

 

I smiled lightly at Reynold, who was looking at me with a puzzled expression.

 

“I thought it would be nice if we could come back here and open it together later.”

 

Fortunately, Reynold seemed to understand what I meant and seemed interested.

 

“It’s gonna be fun.”

 

But even for a moment, Reynold paused. Finally, he spoke in a gloomy voice.

 

“But there’s nothing worth burying right now.”

 

“No matter what we bury, when we go and see it then, it will all seem plausible.”

 

I took off the brooch from my dress and proudly showed it to Reynold. It was a brooch with a ruby that looked exactly like my eye.

 

“I’ll bury this, you bury the button.”

 

When I tapped the silver button on Reynold’s shirt sleeve, he hesitated and took it off.

 

Then, after thinking about something carefully, he got up from his seat and went down to the lakeside.

 

I wanted to follow him, but my feet, worn by his shoes, didn’t obey me.

 

I eventually sat down again and called Reynold.

 

“Hey, where are you going!”

 

“Wait there for a moment!”

 

I leaned back against the tree again, watching Reynold look around the lakeside to see if he could find anything.

 

A little while later, Reynold came carrying a glass bottle that, although cracked, looked relatively intact.

 

Since he picked it up from the lakeside, the bottle was wet.

 

Fortunately, the water didn’t break into the inside of the bottle.

 

“Let’s put it here.”

 

Reynold said proudly and placed the button inside the bottle. His silver button went into the bottle with a cheerful sound.

 

I tried to follow him and put my brooch in, but it was a little too big. I couldn’t put the brooch into the bottle because it got stuck at the entrance.

 

…Should I at least cut my own hair?

 

“What do we do?”

 

But there is no knife to cut the hair.

 

When I tried to tear my dress to fit the hem, Reynold stopped me.

 

“Then let’s put a letter in.”

 

“A letter?”

 

Reynold nodded his head and suddenly whispered something to himself.

 

Then, paper and pen popped out of the air.

 

I couldn’t understand it properly, but it was one of the practical magics we learned from Ren last time.

 

As I was staring at him, Reynold quickly added his words.

 

“Teacher told me to develop the habit of taking notes.”

 

“Alright. Good job.”

 

More than that, a letter… It’s not that bad, but isn’t it too unfamiliar to exchange letters between us?

 

Well, if you think about it that way, it was more embarrassing that I decided to ask for a token of friendship.

 

And he went one step further in the letter.

 

“How about putting a letter, a pledge… or something like that in the glass bottle?”

 

“A pledge?”

 

“I mean…”

 

Reynold turned his eyes and continued.

 

“Something like a friendship pledge.”

 

His face turned a little red, perhaps because he was embarrassed.

 

As I looked at his face, I remembered my blushing just moments ago and started laughing.

 

“Alright, then.”

 

When I nodded my head, Reynold seemed to be in a better mood, the corners of his lips twitched and he grabbed the pen floating in the air.

 

Then he went to a rock that was easier to write on than the rugged ground and started writing on a piece of paper.

 

I walked over to Reynold and sat down on the rock.

 

“How do you write such a pledge as you mentioned?”

 

Reynold thought about my question for a moment.

 

“Wouldn’t it be okay to write something like a clause?”

 

“Let’s do that.”

 

“Then, shall each of us say one clause we would like to add?”

 

When I nodded, Reynold spoke to me in a firm voice.

 

“If something happens, tell each other honestly. It’s better than suffering alone.”

 

“Okay.”

 

I’m going to have to constantly talk about it every time something happens and bother him.

 

“Are there any clauses you want to add?”

 

“Hmm….”

 

Honestly, there was only one thing I wanted from Reynold.

 

“Whatever happens, don’t kill each other.”

 

Reynold, who had been working hard with his pen, stopped.

 

Then his face scrunched up.

 

“What is that…”

 

This was a kind of insurance.

 

It may be a joke, but you never know what will happen to people. I tapped my finger on the paper and opened my mouth as if nothing had happened.

 

“I mean, if you look at history books, there are many cases like that. Cases where people were closer than anyone else but killed each other out of greed for power.”

 

It was a common story. It was used quite a bit as a theater material, and it happened a lot in real history. Moreover, Reynold and I had similar backgrounds to the tragic friends in the theater. We are descended from the only two ducal families in the Empire.

 

“…That’s right.”

 

After hearing what I said, it seemed to make sense then Reynold wrote down the second clause I suggested.

 

Soon Reynold put a dot at the end of the sentence and looked up at me sitting on the rock.

 

“But… no matter how much I hate you, I won’t kill you. We’re friends.”

 

I was still reflected in his eyes.

 

It seemed like there was a lot of eye contact today.

 

Reynold’s eyes were like the night sky. Although I’m saying it now, I felt it from the day I first saw this kid.

 

It’s darker and scarier than anything else, yet the stars and the moon appear in the middle of it.

 

Quite a lot of things that people enjoy happen at night.

 

Both the fireworks that bloom beautifully in the sky and the lanterns that contain people’s memories and wishes. Perhaps because I was staring into Reynold’s eyes without realizing it, he spoke, avoiding my gaze.

 

“It’s just… for me, it’s like that.”

 

…Are you really not going to kill me?

 

I wanted to hear a definite answer from him. But I struggled to swallow my words.

 

Reynold turned his head back to me, who was silent.

 

“…I promise.”

 

Immediately afterwards, he held out his little finger to me. I don’t know why, but the finger extended towards me looked quite fragile.

 

“…I promise too.”

 

As I said that and hooked my finger with his, Reynold smiled softly.

 

Reynold’s hands were warm. Unlike my hands, which were very cold because I had been holding on to a rock.

 

“Anything else you want to add?”

 

“Ah, about you not bothering me.”

 

Seemingly getting stabbed by something, Reynold quietly added the words.

 

“…I’ll add that too. Is there anything else?”

 

“Nothing in particular.”

 

Reynold also bobbed his head as if he had nothing to add.

 

Then he wrote his name in the right corner of the paper and held out a pen to me.

 

I glanced at Reynold, took the pen, and wrote my name.

 

It was easy to make a friendship pledge for the first time in my life.

 

Reynold rolled up the paper and placed it inside the glass jar.

 

All that was inside the vial was Reynold’s silver button and a friends pledge.

 

Just when I thought something looked empty, Reynold shouted as if he had forgotten.

 

“Geez, the letter!”

 

Only then did Reynold and I remember that we had decided to write a letter, and on separate pieces of paper, we started writing letters to each other in the future.

 

…Please, I hope I survive and check this letter with Reynold.

 

In any case, for the sake of the future, it’s natural not to read each other’s letters now.

 

So I didn’t even wonder what Reynold was writing to me.

 

However, he wrote the letter while covering its contents, perhaps because he didn’t trust me.

 

His appearance was so absurd that I let out a laugh without realizing it.

 

“…I wrote it all.”

 

As I was writing the closing words, the final step of the letter, Reynold raised his head.

 

After writing the letter, Reynold’s expression looked somewhat relieved.

 

Of course, I was also relieved.

 

Well, there was still no guarantee that my future would be different.

 

But Reynold considers me a friend, and as proof of that, we wrote a pledge.

 

That alone put my mind at ease.

 

If I can see Reynold’s letter after the Academy graduation ceremony, it means that I have survived in this world safely.

 

And even if I die, if Reynold remembers me, he can find this place.

 

So I wrote down what I wanted to say to Reynold at that time.

 

“How do we block the entrance?”

 

Reynold asked, shaking the glass bottle lightly.

 

“Wouldn’t it be fine if we somehow shoved the heels’ toe tip in?”

 

We could have blocked it by finding a tree branch of the right size or tearing the hem of my skirt a little, but I didn’t want the rim to look like that, so I gave it a try.