I Became the Villain’s Childhood Friend – Chapter 22

Author: lipzoldyck

I faced Madam Collin’s face reflected in the mirror.

The Madam’s eyes met mine and she raised the corners of her lips neatly.

Then she pulled my hair back and started combing it one by one with a comb. She smiled brightly like a child and asked me gently.

“How is His Grace doing these days?”

“Um… I’m not sure. I’m not that interested in Father.”

“That won’t do, Danae. You have to take good care of your father.”

“But Father is an adult. I’m still a child.”

“That’s right.”

Then she added that a young child grows up quickly.

“Lotte too… As the duchy’s mistress, she should do her job. It’s a big problem for her to do nothing.”

“I’m sure Mother can take care of it on her own.”

“I wish Lotte would follow my example… If I were the mistress of Lerdonia, I would love you like my own daughter.”

She wants to be an example…?

Her words made me pause without even realizing it.

Madam Collin’s words always put me on edge, but regardless of the feeling, her touch was filled with genuine affection.

She looked as if she were really my mother.

Madam Collin muttered that and tied my hair into two pigtails.

She hummed, cheerfully opening a jewelry box.

Inside, there were so many red colors that it hurt my eyes.

Madam Collin took out a headband, a thin band with several small red gems embedded in it.

Then she fixed it on my head.

“How about it?”

She asked as she brought the mirror that was originally in front of me closer to the front.

I looked at my face and nodded roughly.

The woman standing behind me was reflected in the mirror.

She looked very happy when she saw herself reflected in the mirror.

She massaged my shoulders and whispered softly in my ear.

“Danae, if you were from my family, I would be very happy every day.”

The voice was as clear as jade beads rolling around.

At times like this, Madam Collin looked very childlike.

“By the way, Danae! I have something to show you.”

She woke me up.

Then she held my hand with an expression as if she was dreaming.

Soon after, she led me to the dressing room.

The dressing room was connected to the Madam’s room.

It was filled with dresses to her taste.

She hummed and pulled open the mirror hanging on the wall of the dressing room as if she were opening a door.

There was another door inside the mirror, and when she opened the door, the room we appeared in was filled with nothing but a bright red dress.

I tried to correct my expression, which almost crumpled at the sight of the bizarre appearance.

Fortunately, she didn’t notice my expression because she was happy to have me come into the room.

She held my shoulders with both hands and said.

“Is there anything you want here?”

“…I’m not sure.”

“You know, Danae, I really wanted to try this dress on you.”

The Madam hummed as she picked up a dress that was lying by the door and brought it to me.

I asked her hesitantly, looking at the revealing dress.

“…You seem to like red?”

“Very much.”

Her cheeks blushed and she led me away.

At that moment, something caught my eye.

There were small shoes lying there.

It was a memory I had already forgotten, so it took me some time to recognize it.

The shoes I wore when I first visited Duke Collin’s residence.

…At that time, I had fallen into the water, so I went home wearing the shoes the Madam had prepared for me.

But why are the shoes I wore that day here?

I wanted to ask her why on earth those shoes were here.

However, perhaps because this situation felt so strange, I couldn’t speak properly.

Moreover, Madam Collin was clearly observing my reaction closely.

It’s as if the shoes were deliberately caught by me.

Of course, all of this may be an illusion of my overly sensitive nature.

I took a deep breath and took my eyes off my shoes.

My heart was pounding like crazy, and all I could think about was wanting to get out of this space.

Can I ask Reynold if he knew those shoes were here?

I thought about all sorts of things, but fortunately my face was very well-trained for the social world.

I smiled brightly with a face that was no different from any other day, and Madam Collin also smiled along with me as if nothing had happened.

“Danae, you look so beautiful today.”

“…Thank you.”

This world was very distorted somewhere.

The fact that I fell into this world in the first place was incomprehensible to the average person.

But aside from her, the people living in this world were somehow strange.

It’s not just that there’s a screw or two missing, it’s as if the central circuit itself is completely different from that of ordinary people.

Among them, the one who seemed most unique was Madam Collin.

‘What does this person really want to do with me?’

She says she likes the color red.

She says she likes beautiful things.

She was someone who was at the center of social circles when she was young, and that fact still holds true.

That was all I knew about her.

‘The good thing… Is it that the Madam is friendly towards me?’

She treated me as if she were her own child.

Maybe even more than Reynold.

But that fact took my breath away. That’s why I couldn’t trust her.

I took my eyes off the shoes and fixed them on Madam Collin.

Looking at the Mam, who was smiling brightly, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Madam, may I ask why you sent Serik to Lenoir?”

Actually, I already knew the answer to the question.

However, I was curious about her reaction.

“Oh my… Baby!”

But she seemed to have already guessed that I knew about it.

The Madam responded that she was exaggerating.

“It was all for you. There is nothing good about being associated with such a groundless family.”

“Serik was my person. I judge my people.”

“You’re still young to judge that.”

The Madam continued her words without any hesitation.

“Serik Detwin was a fox. Do you think I don’t know that he caused a wedge between you and our son?”

How do you know that?

…I don’t think Reynold’s personality would have told such a story.

“Wear this.”

The dress the Madam was holding out had a red background with black circles that made it less painful for my eyes.

Thanks to this, the clothes reminded me of a ladybug, but they were much better than those ugly dresses that looked like they were about to burst into flames.

The Madam skillfully took off my dress.

Then, with her hands filled with affection, she began to dress me in the dress she had chosen.

It was never common for a noblewoman to personally serve someone.

And I’m not even her child, but a stranger.

I looked at the happy-looking woman and licked my lips.

…Should I just ask?

Indeed, maybe I’m overreacting?

I asked her in a usual voice.

“Now that I think about it, what are those shoes?”

“Shoes?”

The Madam who was helping me remove my hair that was trapped inside the dress answered casually.

“It’s yours.”

“Why do you have that?”

“Why, it’s because it’s cute.”

It was a normal answer with nothing strange about it.

Did she have it as a memory?

…Did I overreact?

The Madam smiled slightly and brought the shoes to me.

Maybe it’s because my feet are smaller than average, but even though they were the shoes I wore when I was eight years old, they were really small.

“Isn’t it cute?”

The shoes neatly placed on the Madam’s hand were honestly cute.

She handed me the shoes and opened her mouth.

“By the way, I bought some dresses because I thought you might like them.”

She hummed as she rummaged through the red-filled dresses. Honestly, they all looked the same to me, but I couldn’t figure out what she was picking.

I took my gaze away from her and turned it to my hand. For a shoe I wore as a child, it was in relatively good shape.

I can’t believe I’ve grown this much in the meantime.

As I was once again admiring my growth process, I saw something written on the inside of my right shoe.

[121-8-21]

If it had been any other time, I would have passed over the numbers without paying any attention to them, but since these were the shoes that Madam Collin had, something felt uncomfortable.

…Did she write down the date?’

However, 121 didn’t match the date to mean the year, month, and day. Because this year is the year 568 in the Orpedian calendar…

I need to look through history books.

Or is it the product number?

The ink was very smudged.

Or maybe these words have been on my shoes since they’re first bought.

But it was so long ago that it wasn’t easy to recall the memories. At that time, I didn’t carefully check my shoes before putting them on.

I looked to see what was written on my left shoe, but the numbers only existed on my right shoe.

Is it normal to have numbers like this written on shoes?

‘Now that we’ve brought this up, let’s just ask what this is.’

I went behind Madam Collin to ask her about the numbers.

The Madam, who was looking for a dress, had her eyes fixed on me for some time.