-Tick.

"Stop them from coming in...!"

"Yeah! Let's throw Flückner!!! Then we can buy some time, right?"

"Sa... save me!"

"Shut up! This started because of you, so you have to take responsibility!"

-Tick. Tock....

"We... no, I was wrong! I shouldn't have ignored the healing department."

"...Really?"

"My mana is all gone and I'm at my limit standing. If you give me a buff, I'll use bombardment magic to provide cover...."

"...Throw him."

"What...?"

"If you did something wrong, you have to pay for it with your body...! Throw him!!! We're dying of exhaustion too!!!"

"W... wait a minute!!!"

[Current time: 1:30 PM]

Looking at my wristwatch, I nodded slightly and spoke to Elysia. That we could probably stop after this much of a beating.

"Shall we stop here?"

"I think we should. The other students seem to have reached their limit too."

"Right."

As Elysia flicked her hand, the swarming undead horde stopped its advance and began to enter the huge gate.

-Keooo...

-Flesh...

-Hungry....

A personally operated army.

'I'm jealous.'

I let out an exclamation of admiration at Elysia's ability to operate everything from giant undead to heavily armored skeletons, and nodded my head in envy. It seemed like having a lot of troops would make housework easier.

'Still, a swordsman has romance.'

Shrugging my shoulders, I looked up at the sky and gave a bright smile to the fallen students. The ones who had been fighting separately were now sticking together as if they had never fought.

Even the healing and magic departments, which had been on thin ice.

"Heok... heok... I'm alive."

"Shut up, it's because of you."

"...I'm sorry."

Even Luin and Schuen.

"Shooting meteors was fun... I want to do it again."

"Don't say such scary things."

"Shut your algae head!"

"Haa..."

It was a good sight to see them looking at the same sky and letting out a sigh of relief.

Although the expressions of the students who were slowly approaching me weren't good. Still, I thought it was okay since we got a decent result. There had to be a villain wherever you go.

With a small smile, I spoke softly to the students. With the question of whether they would fight anymore.

"Do you understand now?"

"Heok... heok..."

"Joining forces is more effective in defeating a strong enemy than fighting."

"..."

"When you meet an opponent you can't beat, the 'pruning' strategy shown by the healing and magic department students is only possible through cooperation."

"...That's."

"Haha! Of course, it's fine when an individual's military power is overwhelmingly strong.... But it means that cooperation is that important."

I looked at the students, smiled brightly, and said.

"Then, we will conclude the second day's morning class here."

The moment the words that hell was over came out of my mouth, the students collapsed to the floor as if they were falling and clenched their fists.

"It's finally over..."

"I'm just going to sleep when I get back."

"I'm starving to death...."

I clapped my hands and continued my words to the students.

"After lunch, we will proceed with the afternoon class."

The day is long.

"Please..."

"Save me..."

"Mom..."

----------------------------------------

Desmond's ducal residence, peaceful as always.

"Hoooom..."

Olivia, lying on the floor, was enjoying all the leisure in the world and spending her time in idleness.

"Haaaam..,"

It had been three days since Ricardo had been away for work.

"I'm bored."

At first, when Ricardo left her in her father's care, she was happy that she could eat chocolate as she pleased, but as Ricardo's absence grew longer, boredom began to creep in.

"Eeeek..."

Because playing with Ricardo was the most fun.

-Growl...

"I'm hungry..."

Olivia, who was lying with Gomtang as a pillow, grabbed the beef jerky that Gomtang was holding and said in a low voice.

"Beef jerky."

-Gom?

"Give it to me."

-Gom gom.

"Eeeek..."

-Gooom...

"Let's share...."

At Gomtang's rebellion of wanting to eat the beef jerky given by his owner all by himself, Olivia clenched her fists.

"It's mine...!"

-Gom gom...

"Eeeek!!!"

The beef jerky that wouldn't come out of his mouth no matter how hard she pulled.

-Gom gom.

Gomtang chomped on the beef jerky as if to tease Olivia and let out a scoff.

"You're just a bear...!"

If she had her way, she would have wanted to turn him into beef jerky, but Olivia, who had decided to be a good person and endure it, grabbed Gomtang's face and shook it.

"Give it to meee!"

-Gom.

"Octopus!"

-Mung?

"Take that away."

-Munuuuung.

-Gom?

-Muun!

Tangtang, who had lost the power struggle, became dejected at Gomtang's cold gaze and went under the bed, which was labeled [Octopus Den].

"...Pig bear."

-Gom.

"Eat and become a pig."'

-Gom gom.

Olivia, who was panting heavily, let out a frustrated sigh once and then went back to her boring time.

"I'm bored..."

Because no one played with her. There was nothing to play with.

Reading books was no fun.

And her father didn't play with her, saying he was busy.

-Dad.

-Why do you call me, Olivia.

-I want to fly in the sky.

-Hmm... I don't think I can today.

-Why?

-The royal family said they have something to discuss about the authority of the East.

-I hate you, dad.

-I hate the emperor too.

"I'm bored..."

Olivia, who let out a lazy yawn, began to roll around on Gomtang and complain. She could endure other things well, but boredom was hard to endure.

"...He shouldn't work too much."

Olivia, who was worried about Ricardo who had been busy lately, let out a sigh and dragged her unmoving legs to sit under the drawer and opened her eyes wide.

"There are no toys here...."

Olivia, who had left all her toys at the mansion in Hamel, searched through the drawer with a glimmer of hope and began to excavate artifacts of unknown origin.

When she lived in the capital's mansion, she used to hide shiny stones or chocolate to eat without Ricardo's knowledge in the drawer.

-Rummage rummage.

Tangtang, who was intrigued by the sight of Olivia with her face buried in the drawer, poked his head out from under the bed and began to watch Olivia's bottom.

-Mung?

"Nothing..."

-Muuun...

"This is boring too..."

The most peculiar person I've ever met.

Tangtang, who had not met many people because he was stuck in the deep sea, was watching Olivia's back endlessly, as he was watching the most animal-like person he had ever met.

Olivia rummaging through the drawer looked like an octopus making its den.

-Mung...

"Eek..."

-...

"Hoik?! Found chocolate!

-Mung?

"Yum yum... ugh... tastes bad."

-Mung...

"What is this again."

Olivia, who had provided entertainment for Tangtang for a long time, took out a small notebook from the depths of the drawer and tilted her head.

"Oh..."

[Diary]

A diary she had written when she was very young.

-This is a diary.

-Writing in a diary is no fun.

-It might not be fun, but it'll be fun to read when you grow up.

-Fun...?

-I'll write with you.

Olivia, who saw the diary she had written in her childhood, smiled slightly and began to read the old entries. She was also someone who liked memories.

"Good."

Olivia rolled her body again, used Gomtang's body as a pillow, and began to read the diary.

-Gom...

"Don't bite!!!"

-Gom gom...

The first diary entry was, as expected.

[Title: Naming the beggar]

[Date: December 1, XXXX]

[Weather: Good]

It was an embarrassing story.

*

[Today, I picked up a new beggar from the street.]

14 years ago.

The time when Olivia's cheeks were chubby.

Olivia, who suited the nickname 'rascal' better than anyone else, stood confidently in front of the head of the Desmunt family with a shabby boy in front of her.

"Dad."

"...Marriage is not allowed."

"Hmph? I'm not getting married."

"That's a relief. But who is this little boy?"

The head of the Desmunt family looked at the little boy with a strange expression. At that time, he didn't know what purpose the boy had in coming to the mansion. From his emaciated body, which was not befitting of his age, to the bandages wrapped around his abdomen. There were so many suspicious elements that he couldn't help but be suspicious.

His daughter had told him.

"I'm going to raise him."

Not a puppy, but a child she had picked up.

He wanted to play along with his daughter's ridiculous joke, but he was about to refuse because there were too many enemies in Darbav. If he was sent to the orphanage run by the family, the boy's life would turn out well.

However.

"I'm going to raise him!"

"...Olivia."

"I'll give him food and water."

"He's not an animal."

"He's my friend."

Darvav lost to his daughter's request to bring a friend for the first time. There was no reason to coldly refuse his only daughter's request.

"Alright. I'll allow it."

"Thank you, dad!"

"I'll talk to Rosanna."

"Tell mom I said thank you too."

"Haha... I will."

[The beggar said he didn't have a name.]

Having received permission, I had to give a name to the nameless little boy. Because the beggar had asked me to give him a cool name.

Since I was giving him a name, he asked me to give him a strong-sounding name like 'Dark Leon', but the only names that came to my mind were names like 'Ugly' and 'Red'.

I said to the beggar.

"Red."

"That's a bit..."

"Why? Isn't it good since your hair is red?"

"...I think it'll be strange in many ways."

"Hmm... you're picky."

"It's a name I'll be called for the rest of my life. It would be nice if you could give me a plausible one."

"Then Scarlet."

"..."

It was fun.

Having this kind of conversation with this guy.

Other people would bow and scrape because I was a duchess, but it was the first time someone had talked back to me without losing a word, so it was fun.

So I said.

"Ricardo."

The most foolish-sounding name.

[January 14, XXXX]

[Weather: Rainy and annoying]

[Title: Playing with a beggar]

Olivia, looking at the numerous diaries, smiled faintly as she reminisced about the old days.

"Hehe..."

The diaries written in her carefree days were entertaining the bored Olivia.

"This is fun."

There were stories about going to the mountains with Ricardo to play when she was young.

[Title: Fresh meat is delicious.]

-Today, I went to the mountains with Ricardo and caught and ate a wild boar.

When I told Ricardo it was easier to buy and eat it, Ricardo put a piece of wild boar meat in my mouth and shut me up. It was the most delicious meat I had ever eaten.

I wanted to come again later.

There were also stories about fighting with Ricardo.

[Title: I want to abandon the beggar.]

-Ricardo stole my chocolate. I was annoyed.

Olivia, flipping through the diary, let out a faint sigh and smiled happily. The memories with Ricardo, though not as beautiful as the stars, were fun memories that could make her laugh out loud.

A thought sometimes comes to mind.

What kind of person would I have become if I hadn't picked up Ricardo?

A mischievous child who would grab hair first when angry.

A child who swore more than she spoke.

A child who tried to settle things with violence when words didn't work, changed after meeting Ricardo. She was suddenly curious what kind of person she would have become if that meeting hadn't happened.

Would she have become a wicked villainess?

Or a witch feared by people?

Of course, she couldn't say she was a good person even now, but she admitted that her personality was eccentric when she was young.

Olivia, with no excuses to make, smiled faintly and began to let out a drowsy yawn.

"Haaah..."

[Title: Learning manners from a beggar.]

-Today, I went to see my uncle. I didn't want to go, but my dad woke me up, so I had to follow. But...

"I even learned how to bow from Ricardo."

As the old memory came to mind, a smile bloomed on Olivia's lips. The image of Ricardo pressing down on her head, which she was holding up stiffly after seeing her uncle, and telling her to bow.

-Ricardo, say hello. This is my big daddy.

-...Who did you say he is?

-Big daddy.

-...??

"Puhaha..."

Olivia, who burst out laughing, wiped the tears that had formed in her smiling eyes and flipped the page of the diary. She didn't understand why Ricardo was like that back then, but looking back now, it was crazy.

"Puhahat!! Really... I was a fool."

-Hurry up and bow!!

-Whyyy!!! He's my daddy, so I'll do as I please!

-Isn't he your uncle?! We'll be in big trouble!

-It's okay because my daddy is the boss!!!

-Oh... my head.

"Haa... haa... uhihihihit!!"

I learned a lot.

From how to treat people, to how to control my anger.

I didn't know what Ricardo would think, but I thought I had changed a lot from before. It was the same in my childhood, and I was still learning a lot from Ricardo even after becoming an adult.

"Fool."

Though she didn't show it on the outside, she felt a lot of gratitude towards Ricardo. Ricardo, who had repaid her with an unpayable kindness, was too good for a villainess who couldn't walk.

He could shine brighter.

He could be more brilliant than anyone...

-Squeeze...

She wanted to give him a shy compliment.

Like how he would pat her head when she closed her eyes tightly and swallowed a paprika. Warmly. Sometimes, she wanted to compliment him gently.

"..."

The word 'thank you,' which she had said dozens of times in her heart but never came out of her mouth.

"Fool..."

There were about three diaries.

It wasn't a large amount for something she had written since she was a child. She would sometimes skip it when Ricardo wasn't working as a butler, and as she got older, she felt it was a hassle to write a diary.

"..."

The finger flipping through the diary hesitated out of disappointment. For some reason, it felt sad that the notebook of memories, which recorded the things she had laughed and cried about, was ending.

If she had known this, she would have written a lot when she was young, and she felt a sense of regret... and she also felt disappointed in her lazy childhood self.

[Title: The blockhead young lady passed the academy.

Don't write like that!

Didn't we agree that I would choose the title today?]

"...This was really fun."

Olivia, looking at the diary written when she had proudly passed the academy entrance exam, smiled bitterly and stopped her finger.

She couldn't say that she hadn't received help from her family, but after receiving the acceptance letter, which was the first time she had achieved something through her own efforts, she had laughed and talked with Ricardo to her heart's content.

-I told you I'd pass!!

-To be honest, I was hoping you'd fail... this is troublesome.

-Eeeeek?!

-Well, I passed too, so I'll just have to manage you well.

-I'm not a monster.

-Hahaha!!!

It's a memory.

A sad memory too.

A memory where trivial incidents that could be laughed off were written.

The diaries written after that.

[Title: I fell in love at first sight.]

...were only filled with things that couldn't be laughed at.

[Title: I fought with Ricardo.]

-Squeeze...

[Title: You fool. I wish you weren't at the academy.]

-Flip.

-Flip.

-Flip.

As the stories about the academy continued, the smile on her lips began to disappear.

[Title: I saw Ricardo crying secretly.]

Because her heart felt heavy and her breathing became difficult.

The diary, which was changing to become dark and cold as if the words written in it were reflecting her selfish inner self and telling her that she had always been this kind of person, was making Olivia's chest feel stuffy.

The image of Ricardo that she had turned away from came to mind.

The image of Ricardo forcing a smile as if he were being chased by something seemed to flicker before her eyes.

-Squeeze...

Olivia squeezed the end of the diary and closed her eyes tightly. There were still many pages left, but she hadn't written anything since that day.

[Title: A way to turn everything back.]

Olivia, who had closed her eyes tightly, didn't read the diary to the end and turned to the next page.

Even though she knew that there was nothing written from the next page, she didn't have the courage to look at her broken diary.

"...Coward."

Olivia flipped through the diary and moved her finger to change her gloomy mood.

And so.

1 page.

2 pages.

By the time 10 pages had passed.

-Flutter.

A white piece of paper fluttered out from between the pages of the diary and fell to the floor. A white piece of paper neatly folded in half.

"What's this?"

Olivia, holding the paper, tilted her head and picked up the paper that had fallen to the floor. She didn't remember putting a piece of paper in the diary.

Olivia, who was excited at the thought that it might be a drawing she had made when she was young, erased her gloomy mood and slowly unfolded the paper that had fallen to the floor.

However, the paper that had fallen contained a different story from what Olivia had expected.

[To the Young Lady.]

On the white paper, there was a letter written by a thief who had peeked at the diary.

"...Eek."

Olivia, seeing the familiar bad handwriting, glared at the letter with an annoyed look and let out a sigh. There was such a thing as privacy, and the butler who had peeked at her diary without permission was detestable.

Of course, she wouldn't have shown him the diary even if he had asked for permission, but still, Olivia, who thought it was bad of Ricardo to secretly look at her diary, snorted and opened her eyes wide.

"I'll have to scold him when he comes back..."

Olivia, with a "just you wait" attitude, began to read the letter written by the butler.

[The diary is fun.]

"Eeeeek..."

[I didn't think the young lady had a girlish heart, but I enjoyed reading the cute diary.]

"Eeeeeeeeek!!!"

She was angry, but a smile bloomed.

Ricardo's letter, full of mischief, was so welcome that she could almost hear his voice.

[Was the wild boar meat that delicious? I'll have to make it for you again later. I caught it that time, so this time, you will catch it, Young Lady.]

Olivia, reading Ricardo's letter that remembered their memories, smiled gently. She thought she was the only one who remembered, but it seemed to have become a good memory for Ricardo as well.

However.

Olivia's expression began to worsen as she continued to read the content.

[This will be the last letter I write from the mansion.]

Her expression began to harden at the thick handwriting written with force.

[I don't resent you.]

The fact that she could read Ricardo's horribly bad handwriting meant that Ricardo had rewritten it dozens, no, hundreds of times.

[Because I am the young lady's butler.]

Olivia, with her fists clenched, began to slowly read the letter. The letter from Ricardo that he had written before she used black magic.

She read it slowly.

----------------------------------------

"Come on, fighting...!!"

-Kyaaaaaak!!! I hate spiders!!!

-Ricardo. Save me.

-...Just kill me instead.

-Mom... I guess this is it for me.

-Butler, please save me!!!

Looking at the energetic Swordsmanship Department today, I smiled faintly and threw words of encouragement. No matter how hard it was, a handsome man's encouragement would give them strength.

"Just a little more. If we go down another 400m, today's class will end here!"

-We haven't even gone down 100m today...

-Just kill me!! I can't go any further!

"It's good to see you so energetic."

This was a dungeon that appeared as a side story in the novel. A place where a new weapon for Hanna was sleeping.

"Fighting!!!"