I Became the Villain’s Childhood Friend Chapter 50

 

Was my hand this cold?

 

I couldn’t figure out why Reynold’s hand felt so hot.

 

The gentle beating of his heart seemed to resonate to my fingertips.

 

I was the one who put my finger out first, but why did it feel like I was being held?

 

Although I tried to pull my finger away, Reynold didn’t let go.

 

My eyes met with Reynold’s, who had been staring at me for a while.

 

It was my finger that was being held, but for some reason, it felt like my whole body was being held.

 

“…Right.”

 

Reynold’s voice cracked miserably.

 

“…”

 

“It’s for the sake of both of us.”

 

With that, Reynold let me go.

 

I glanced at my reddened finger and then looked at him.

 

He also looked at his, then turned his gaze towards me as if he sensed my gaze.

 

Again.

 

It felt like my whole body was immersed in something again…

 

I hated this feeling. So I smiled.

 

“It’s a matter of the future, you know.”

 

“…It won’t be that later.”

 

He also tried to smile at my words.

 

My eyes shook involuntarily at Reynold’s words that followed.

 

Perhaps it wasn’t just because I heard his words.

 

At that moment, Gloria’s voice from the fountain struck my ears.

 

“Reynold!”

 

Gloria, who was running towards him, stopped running when she saw me.

 

It was the first time I saw her since the day we had a huge fight in the infirmary. She had become much more beautiful during the vacation.

 

My eyes were drawn to Gloria’s hair fluttering beautifully, but for a moment, I quickly opened my mouth to Reynold.

 

“I suddenly have something urgent to do. Then I’ll go first.”

 

I walked frantically fast, hoping Reynold would stop me.

 

Gloria was standing on the way back to the dormitory, so I had no choice but to pass by her.

 

The scent of jasmine blew from her along with the wind. The scent seemed to linger in my nose for a long time.

 

My heart kept feeling strange.

 

***

 

It seemed that Gloria and Reynold had grown closer rapidly during the vacation. I heard that she had also been staying at the dormitory during the vacation.

 

I met Reynold often during the vacation, yet he never talked about things that happened with the two of them because of his personality, so I didn’t know what happened between them.

 

‘Should I really keep my distance now?’

 

Gloria’s face, smiling brightly while looking at him, kept coming to mind.

 

I wanted Reynold to be happy.

 

However, I couldn’t imagine him loving someone.

 

I buried my face in the bed, holding my head.

 

I kept thinking about this, and it felt like I was a villain.

 

The role of the male lead’s girlfriend. I mean, the really-eating-sweet-potato kind of character. It felt like I was the master in that role.

 

(eating sweet potato: frustrating)

 

‘Ah, I’m that kind of role, am I not?’

 

I couldn’t help but laugh.

 

‘That means I should keep my distance, right?’

 

It might be a little sad to be growing apart from the guy I’d been hanging out with, but it was all good.

 

Besides, if Reynold and Gloria confirmed their feelings for each other before she became close to the other male leads, my fate might change.

 

Also, because Reynold seems so different from the original story.

 

Yeah, it was rather a relief.

 

I didn’t think I’d be alone with Reynold forever either.

 

When we were young, we were the only two in each other’s world. However, many things changed when I entered the Academy.

 

Many people began to enter the world that had been just the two of us.

 

I lifted my face from the pillow.

 

Then, I glanced at the door that was so quiet without realizing it.

 

‘By the way…’

 

It was very surprising that Julia hadn’t changed her dorm roommate even though the new semester had started.

 

Besides, one can only change their roommate when the semester starts.

 

Honestly, I thought Julia would share a room with Paige or one of the tea ceremony club members.

 

After packing up and leaving the dorm right away, today was the first time I saw Julia.

 

[Julia wrote you a leave of absence.]

 

Adele’s words were very unexpected.

 

Of course, I should have gotten a penalty point for not entering the dormitory without permission during the first semester…

 

Anyway, according to the Academy’s rule that all students must live in the dormitory, I had to move into the dormitory as soon as the semester started.

 

However, I only moved into the dormitory a week later.

 

And Julia wrote a leave of absence permit for me and submitted it instead. Thanks to her, I didn’t get a penalty point.

 

Ah, if Julia writing me a leave of absence, then her not changing roommates was even more so.

 

Since it was something I couldn’t figure out until I thought about it more, I went into the bathroom to collect my thoughts and took a bath.

 

When I came out of the bathroom wearing a robe, Julia, whom I didn’t know when she had come back, was sitting on the bed with a serious expression on her face/

 

…I thought it wouldn’t be this awkward, but it was much more awkward with her than I had thought.

 

Fortunately or unfortunately, it seemed that it wasn’t just my thoughts.

 

Julia and I exchanged awkward glances.

 

But that was only for a moment, then she quietly opened her mouth.

 

“…I thought you wouldn’t come back though, it seems that you felt bad about leaving?”

 

It was a very whiny tone, yet strangely enough, it didn’t feel that bad.

 

I opened my mouth while drying my hair with a towel.

 

“Why didn’t you change roommates?”

 

“…”

 

It was hard to answer my question, so Julia didn’t respond.

 

I didn’t want an answer either.

 

My eyes met Julia’s again, and we quickly avoided each other’s gaze.

 

However, soon after, I felt strangely uneasy, and asked her a similar but different question.

 

“A-And why on earth did you give me a leave of absence?”

 

“A-About the roommate thing, I missed the application period for a change, and I can’t stand seeing my roommate getting a bad grade.”

 

“…”

 

“That’s all. I still hate you. It’s true that you’re a nuisance to my brother.”

 

I glanced at Julia without realizing it, yet she avoided my gaze as if she felt something prick her.

 

However, since I was still looking at her, Julia hurriedly replied as if she had been pricked by something.

 

“B-But… I know you worked hard.”

 

“Hey.”

 

“What, why?!”

 

“…I haven’t said anything yet.”

 

Julia looked up at me with her lips pursed.

 

I narrowed my eyebrows and asked her.

 

“About your brother. Does he perhaps hate me?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then do you know why he does?”

 

Julia might know why.

 

She paused at my question.

 

Did she know something?

 

I felt a strange tension. As I waited quietly for Julia’s answer, she soon answered in a confident voice.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

Her answer was enough to make me lose my cool. And she went even further.

 

“Where on earth do you think there’s someone who likes you?”

 

Julia regained her original appearance and raised her head proudly.

 

Phew, indeed.

 

I let out a small sigh and roughly hung the towel on the chair. Then I laid down on the bed carelessly.

 

“…If you don’t dry your hair, you’ll look ugly tomorrow.”

 

Julia spoke as if she felt sorry for me. As we talked, the awkwardness seemed to have eased a lot. I glanced at her and called her.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Even if you call me, I won’t dry your hair.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Julia’s eyes wavered slightly as she heard me.

 

“You wrote me a leave of absence.”

 

“…I-I wasn’t trying to get a thank you. I just,”

 

I yawned and replied nonchalantly.

 

“I know. You hate me.”

 

“…You know that well.”

 

Julia shrugged her shoulders lightly and followed me to bed.

 

But that didn’t last long. Julia, who had been lying still, suddenly got up from her seat as if she had remembered something.

 

She then lightly kicked me with her foot covered by the blanket.

 

“Hey, hey, hey!”

 

“What is it…?”

 

I nervously lifted the blanket and looked up at Julia. She looked down at me with a look of displeasure before sighing deeply.

 

“You don’t have any friends, do you?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I?!”

 

When I was told that I had no friends, I sat up as if I had been burned. Then Julia snorted and said.

 

“Ah, the kid who entered a week after school started was your only friend, right?”

 

It’s not exactly wrong, but why am I so angry?

 

When I wiggled my eyebrows, Julia asked me in a haughty tone.

 

“Or even Reynold, which makes it two?”

 

“You…!”

 

Julia looked at me with a furious expression and made a face that said she won. Then she took two books out of the bookshelf and threw them at me.

 

Startled, I dodged the books. What if I get hit?!

 

I wondered what they were, but they were textbooks for a class that overlapped with the Magic Department. Those were books for Professor Urien’s class where I had a crappy group project.

 

“Copy the notes and return them to me the day before class. If you get anything weird on them, you’re dead!”

 

Does she feel bad for me? Why is she suddenly being so nice to me?

 

“What? Did you eat something weird?”

 

Julia frowned and said.

 

“Brother asked me to do it.”

 

“…What?”

 

“Those books, they’re Brother’s books.”

 

Now that I look at it, it was true.

 

I frowned.

 

***

 

There was another reason why that crazy guy was so kind to me.

 

Why?

 

It was because I was paired with him in Professor Urien’s mentoring class.

 

I wanted to scream and yell in the mountains, saying no, but since no one knew my situation, I just held my feelings in my hands.

 

Why did things get so complicated?

 

The elegant handwriting that resembled my master was so unpleasant to look at. However, I gritted my teeth and copied the handwriting.

 

In fact, at first, I had no intention of copying, but when I thought about it, it seemed like it would be beneficial to take whatever I could.

 

Who knows. It might be helpful to Adele.

 

‘Just act like a stranger as much as possible.’

 

I let out a deep sigh and looked at Adele sitting in front of me.

 

I heard that Adele was the top student in the Magic Engineering Department last semester.