Ricardo and I overcame many hardships.

-From now on, this is Ricardo's house.

-Wow...

-How is it? How is it?! How is it?!

-The house is...

-Yeah!

-Very cold.

-It's not that cold... It's warm if you cover yourself with a blanket!

-...

-Are you very cold?

-Yes, I think it's colder than the slums.

It was annoying because he complained a lot, but.

-I need to build a stove.

-There is one!! Look, it's huge, right?

-This is called a brazier. What I'm going to build is a fireplace.

-...A fireplace?

-Just watch. I'll fix everything from A to Z for you.

Ricardo, whom I had only thought of as a friend to play with my lonely self, adapted to our life so capably that he easily surpassed my father's and my expectations.

-Ta-da.

-Wow... it's huge.

He was skilled enough to build a fireplace and chimney himself at a young age, so much so that even my dad was surprised by Ricardo's handiwork and tilted his head in wonder.

-What have you been doing outside?

-I was begging.

-...You're not a runaway noble, are you?

-If I were a noble, I would have plundered instead of begging.

Ricardo, who had a different way of doing things, would cook for me when my dad was away for his adventurer work.

-Here, let's eat, Miss Yuria.

-Call me Yuria!

-Then, Yuria, eat up.

-Yep.

-Today, I boiled some leftover pork bones and meat to make gukbap.

-Can you eat bones?

-Hmm... it's not about eating the bones... Just try it. It'll be delicious.

When I complained of boredom, he would make toys from somewhere and often play with me.

-This is a cootie catcher.

-...A cootie catcher?

-Now, look at this state-of-the-art civilization. If you open this paper like this...

-Wow...!

Time with Ricardo was always fun, and because Ricardo was always by my side, protecting me wherever I went, I was able to endure life in the north without feeling lonely.

Ricardo.

-Snowball... EXPLOSION!!!

-Why are you throwing snow at a perfectly fine person?

-Speak casually to me!!

-Oh, really now.

He was my one and only friend.

Sometimes, even when I said harsh things.

-The soup is salty...

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-I'll make it again.

He would smile like an adult.

And when bad bandits came to our house.

-Hide for a moment...

-Ricardo, you hide too...

-Shh. Be quiet... okay? I'll give you the green grape candy I've been saving, so you have to hide in the closet without even making a sound.

Ricardo risked his life to protect me from the bandits who were trying to steal money.

The new family that came to us was like an angel that gifted me with laughter.

Thanks to Ricardo, I felt like I had learned many things and developed into a person who could talk about more stories.

Because I had a sturdy pillar to lean on even when I fell.

And so we grew older.

-Kyaaaaaaak!!

-I didn't know you were here. I was a bit sweaty today...

-You should have knocked!! Why did you come in while I was bathing!!!!

-You used to cry because I wouldn't bathe with you.

-That was a long time ago!

Passing the days of bathing together, we became a man and a woman.

-Don't peek today.

-Anyone who hears that would think I'm a pervert.

-You're not?

-...Probably not?

We cried together.

-James I died...

-You named a hamster that?

-Come bury him with me.

-...I'll get the shovel.

We laughed together.

-Ricardo, I got into the academy!

-Congratulations.

-What about you, Ricardo?

-Well, I...

-Well, I... you have to say what comes after. You idiot.

-I got in, of course.

We became adults.

After Ricardo and I became adults, my father decided to quit his adventurer work and open an inn.

-I'm going to do business with gukbap.

-...That's copyright infringement.

-That's not my problem.

-Give me 30% of the profits.

-You little brat...

Dad was also getting to the age where he should retire, and his knees were so bad that he couldn't do adventurer work anymore.

-If you need spending money, let me know.

-I will support Yuria, Father.

-Don't call me Father. It's creepy.

-Then, Father-in-law.

-Do you want to die? Even if I'm old, I can still beat you.

-There's no son-in-law in the world who can beat his father-in-law.

-This one... repays kindness with evil.

-Haha!

My father and Ricardo's relationship was good.

-What's with you two...

To the point where I got jealous, my father and Ricardo were like close friends, and at times, they seemed to have established themselves as beings who opened their hearts to each other, living without pretense like a real family.

-We're practicing in advance.

-You son of a bitch...

It might just be how it looked to me.

-Then let's eat. I've made gukbap.

-Great~ That's my son.

-Of course, Father-in-law.

-...Haa.

Every day was precious to me.

Life with Ricardo and Dad, to the point where my memories of the north were filled only with good things, felt like a single starlight, and I think I was enjoying this beautiful moment.

-Stop fighting and eat!!!

Before entering the academy.

"Yuria, today the men are going to drink together, so go play somewhere."

"Why?"

"Tsk... it's a serious conversation."

"Why are you acting so serious, it doesn't suit you."

I once eavesdropped on my dad and Ricardo talking over drinks.

-I'm worried... I wonder if it's the right thing to send Yuria to the capital...

-It'll be fine. Because I'm here.

-You punk...! You're the biggest problem!

-What do you think of me to say something like that? I've lived so diligently.

-If you couldn't even talk, I wouldn't know... phew.

The two of them were always talking with worries about me.

To take good care of me in the capital.

It was a little bittersweet, but also amusing, to hear my dad's request for Ricardo to handle any bad guys who might bother me.

-I'm counting on you, my son.

-Yes, Father-in-law.

-You're dead. Seriously.

-Haha!

Time made us closer, and the years created a more beautiful emotion called friendship. I thought this bond, which I believed would never be broken no matter what happened, would continue at the academy.

"Shall we go then? To the academy."

"Yeah!"

Ricardo was a special admission for swordsmanship.

I was a special admission for divine power, and we were able to finish our long life in the north and enter the academy.

Without knowing what would happen there.

The academy, which we arrived at in a carriage so hard that my butt was bruised.

"Wow..."

It was truly beautiful.

To the point where I wanted to cherish that feeling forever.

"It's really... pretty..."

The academy was full of large buildings, and this place, full of students our age, had a different feel from the capital that I had only visited briefly.

"It's a clock tower..."

"First time seeing one?"

"Yeah."

"I saw them a lot when I was begging in the past. If you beg here, the money is pretty good... but the guards would chase me away..."

"Not funny."

Ricardo, who used to speak formally, now spoke casually as time passed, but he would say strange things whenever he had the chance, which gave me a headache.

"You can't abandon me if you succeed."

"...There he goes again."

"I raised you on my back..."

"If you say that at the entrance ceremony, I'm really going to abandon you."

"That's mean..."

In particular, the thing Ricardo often said was that.

"You must never like someone with green hair."

To be careful of green hair.

I don't know why, but ever since I said I was going to the academy, Ricardo often worried about my boy problems. Saying that if I didn't sort things out properly, my life would become difficult, or something like that.

"What are you talking about."

"You must never like a prince either... You could get into big trouble for liking someone just because he's a prince."

"Aren't you the one who likes me?"

"That could be."

"What are you talking about..."

My relationship with Ricardo was that of friends.

The closest friends in the world, friends who couldn't be separated even if we tried.

If there was one strange thing,

It was the things Ricardo warned me about before entering the academy.

"You must never mess with Desmunt."

"Huh?"

"You have to be on good terms with them. No, you should just avoid them."

"Who's that...?"

"There is one. A villainess."

It was to distinguish between people I should be close to and people I shouldn't. I don't know what he was so worried about, as if he were my mother.

"Mind your own business."

"A mother has many worries."

"Puhaha!! What are you talking about."

-The academy entrance ceremony will now begin.

I was looking forward to my school life with him. What kind of friends I would make, what kind of things I would do with Ricardo.

"My nose is itchy."

"Be quiet...!"

"I'll get in trouble if I sneeze, right?"

"Don't..."

I was looking forward to it.

And so, one day, two days, three days passed, and when we were both focusing on our own school lives.

"Ricardo."

"Yeah?"

"My friend."

I had made my first friend.

"F*ck."

"...I told you not to swear."

"Fuu...!"

A friend who was a little strange.

"This is my new friend."

"A friend...?"

"Yeah. Say hi, Ricardo."

"This is a bit..."

Olivia.

"What are you looking at."

I was able to become friends with the girl from the Desmunt family, the one Ricardo had told me not to meet.

The reason was simple.

-Hi.

-Hmm?

-My name is Yuria. What's yours?

-...What are you looking at.

-Want some chocolate?

We became one through chocolate.

That day, when I was introducing my new friend, Ricardo wiped his forehead with a handkerchief dozens of times.

"I said, what are you looking at."

"...Ugh."

"How dare a commoner stare?"

"Yuria, you've made a strange friend."

"I am a little strange."

"...That wasn't a compliment."

"F*ck!"

However, the two of them, who I thought would never become friends, got close much faster than I had expected.

"You know, Yuria."

"Yeah?"

"That redhead."

"Ah~ Ricardo?"

"Yeah."

Olivia.

"I'm interested in him."

Because she had started to like Ricardo.

"He looks like he's good at cooking."

One day, Olivia called me aside to talk.

"Hey, Julia."

"Yeah?"

Olivia, who would normally be stuffing her face with steak and chewing away, for some reason, cut her steak with a knife and spoke with difficulty.

She was someone who never used a knife.

-Scrape... scrape...

"You know him."

"Who?"

"That red-haired guy."

"If you mean the red-haired guy..."

"Julia's servant."

"Oh... Ricardo?"

"Yeah."

"He's not a servant, he's a friend."

Olivia stopped cutting, forked a piece of steak, and placed it on my plate before asking her question. She was a friend who would never, ever share food... I thought Olivia must have come down with a fatal illness.

"Olivia...?"

"What's your relationship with him?"

For a moment, I tensed up, thinking Ricardo had done something wrong to Olivia. Coming to the capital, I had realized just how formidable the Desmunt family was.

The scroll business.

The magic stone business.

I knew that if Ricardo, or even I, got on the wrong side of the Desmunts, who managed all affairs in both the light and shadows, we could be made to disappear in an instant.

Frightened, I couldn't easily open my mouth to answer Olivia's question about our relationship.

"What's my relationship with Ricardo?"

"Yeah."

"...We're nothing."

"Really?"

"No! I mean... how should I put it? Friends who lived in the same house... yeah, like family! We lived together because of something that happened a long time ago."

"...Boyfriend?"

"No!"

My voice grew louder for no reason at Olivia's question, and I denied it with an awkward laugh.

Because Olivia was speaking with a serious expression, and it was a little scary.

"He's a friend, just a friend."

"A friend? Can a man and a woman be friends?"

"Of course...! Look. You probably have a butler, right, Olivia? How do you treat your butler?"

"...Don't have one."

"Huh? Don't all nobles have them?"

"He ran away."

The fear I held in my heart grew even larger at Olivia's story, spoken in a gloomy voice with such chilling words.

I wanted to ask why.

-Grrrr...!!! I'm hungry!

But knowing her usual behavior better than anyone, I couldn't easily bring myself to ask the reason. She was a good friend, but she was one of those people I would definitely want to avoid as a boss.

'Ricardo... what did you do...!'

Olivia, who was silently cutting her steak, once again placed a piece of meat on my plate and opened her lips with difficulty.

"So you're not his girlfriend, right?"

"Yeah. Ricardo and I are practically family. We've been attached at the hip since we were little."

"Really?"

"Of course."

That day, Olivia asked me an unimaginable question. Not about what Ricardo had done and what she was going to do about it, but.

"I'm interested in him."

She was telling me that she had fallen for the person named Ricardo.

"What...?"

Until then, I had never really thought about the charms of the person named Ricardo.

I had grown accustomed to his consideration.

I had grown used to his way of speaking.

Olivia, with a more serious expression than ever before, continued to talk about the charms of Ricardo that she had seen.

"He looks like he's good at cooking."

"Cooking...?"

"Yeah. I can tell at a glance... that guy definitely has the talent to satisfy me."

"...You can tell something like that?"

"Yeah...! I can."

She went on and on, without a pause, about Ricardo's charms that I hadn't known.

"He looks like he listens well, too."

"If you suddenly say something like that..."

"His voice is nice... and he seems to have a good body."

"..."

"His personality seems good too, and he seems really kind. Enough to put up with my personality..."

"..."

"His face is tolerable too... no, he's handsome."

"..."

"If it weren't for Julia, I'd want to make him my personal butler..."

"..."

"And besides..."

Olivia's eyes widened as if she found it amazing, and she put the fork in her mouth like a girl in love.

"He doesn't get scared of me."

"..."

"It was strange..."

She said, giving a strange reason.

"Are you serious...?"

"Yeah. I'm not usually this kind of person, but that guy seems special."

My first friend at the academy was coveting my childhood friend.

"Uh..."

A noble's love...

I had thought a noble's love would be different from a commoner's love, but I had never imagined that the high noble Olivia would fall for Ricardo. Because until now, I had never felt a feeling of love while looking at Ricardo.

-He seems handsome no matter how you look at him.

-What are you talking about... If you're handsome, a silverback is a pretty boy.

-I'm more handsome than a gorilla.

-...

-Aing.

He was just a friend, a family member, but I was a little surprised by Olivia's words, which described a different side of Ricardo to me. Because while I was happy that someone saw Ricardo that way, I also felt a strange sense of disappointment for some reason.

"Julia...?"

"..."

"Julia!"

"Huh...? Oh... sorry, I was just thinking."

Olivia flared her nostrils and asked me.

"So it's okay for me to have him, right?"

"Huh?"

"Hehet..."

She said with a beautiful smile, her jet-black hair fluttering.

"I'll treat him well. Since he's Julia's friend, I won't let him starve and I'll feed him well."

"..."

"If he and I get together, I'll build a big house in the capital... hmm. Should I build a mansion in the North..."

"No... you don't have to do that."

"That's how Desmunt is. If you don't accept, it's war."

"No... what kind of family is that."

"That's us. Hehet."

Olivia, having confirmed the relationship between Ricardo and me, ran without hesitation.

Looking only at Ricardo.

-Patter patter patter!!!

"Hmm?"

-Screeeech!

"Hey!"

"Yes?"

"...Eat with me!"

"Excuse me?"

"Damn it! I said eat with me!"

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"Why."

"Because I want to eat with you."

If she saw Ricardo in the hallway, she would run up without hesitation and try to persuade him to eat with her.

-Patter patter patter!!!!

"..."

-Screech!

"Why do you keep following me. It's scary."

"If a Duchess is chasing after you, you should say thank you. Why are you complaining so much?"

"Freedom of status is guaranteed at the academy, you know."

"I don't know anything about that."

"...Huh?"

"Here, take this."

"What is it?"

"Chocolate. It's that day today, isn't it? The day you give chocolate."

"That's next month."

"For me, every day is that day."

If Ricardo was alone, she would ditch class and run to him, holding out chocolate.

"Eat it!"

"I'll get diabetes."

"What's that?"

"..."

She was a girl who would rather die than give chocolate to others, a girl who would get serious even if I, her friend, asked for chocolate.

bWpnL1VNWWVlR0h2N0IyVWd5ZUJTOUd4eE1oWDlrWXlFT1hBSXNpVFI2YnFlMnEzREo2NnAyZ3ROSlpaVkY3Ng

"Eat it."

"...I don't really like sweets."

"Grrrr!!!"

Olivia, unfazed by Ricardo's cold rejection, showed her feelings without hiding them.

"Hehet... he took it."

"Are you that happy?"

"Yeah."

"I'll make you some next time. If you add almonds to the chocolate, you can enjoy a different flavor."

"Heeeeeeeek?!"

"You'll have to provide the ingredients, Duchess."

"Yeah!!!"

Olivia, who always had a sullen expression, would smile brightly whenever Ricardo was in front of her, her face looking like she had the whole world.

"Eat this too."

"It's too much."

"Still, eat it."

"I think you're trying to kill me."

Seeing Olivia like that, my heart ached for some reason.

-Ah... say ah.

-I don't want to.

-Grrrr!!! If I say I'll feed you, you should say thank you and eat!

-That's a bit...

Because I felt like my person was being taken away.

Ricardo always rejected Olivia, but.

"Excuse me, Duchess, if you're this nice to me, I'll misunderstand."

"Misunderstand?"

"Yes."

"I'm not misunderstanding."

Olivia showed that she didn't know the meaning of reverse, only knowing how to go straight ahead.

"Hah..."

"I like you."

"Excuse me?"

"You look like you're good at cooking."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

When I saw Ricardo laughing with Olivia, my heart would pound strangely for some reason. As if to say, 'Is this really okay?', my pounding heart would leave behind an inexplicable feeling of displeasure and disappear.

I gave Olivia relationship advice.

-I really like him.

-You've said that over thirty times... Olivia.

-He's really good at making chocolate... I think I chose well.

As Olivia and Ricardo's memories piled up, the feeling of displeasure grew even larger.

It was right to congratulate the most beautiful girl in the academy for liking Ricardo.

Even to me, a fellow woman, Olivia was dazzlingly beautiful, and a noble like Olivia loving a commoner like Ricardo was something that wouldn't even happen in a fairy tale.

It was proper to congratulate and applaud them, but the thought of the '13 years' we had spent together disappearing made my heart ache.

"Idiot."

So much so that I wanted to hate the blameless Ricardo.

Ricardo began to shine even more brightly.

As if trying to fill someone's empty space, Ricardo, who was working his hardest, took the top spot in the swordsmanship department.

"Hoo... I wonder if this is enough to fill the empty space."

He began to burn brightly, earning the nickname 'Hero' as the troubleshooter who solved all the incidents happening at the academy.

To the point where it would be a nuisance for me to be friends with Ricardo now.

-Isn't Ricardo amazing? They say he caught a heretic...

-Wow...

-I heard he saved Princess Shartia in the last fire.

-Really? If it weren't for Olivia, I would have tried something... seriously...

Ricardo's burning flame showed no signs of stopping and began to blaze intensely.

I could tell.

-I have to get stronger... until I can fill Mikhail's empty space.

The fact that Ricardo was getting impatient.

That Saturday night, as we were drifting apart.

"Ricardo, how about a drink?"

For the first time in a while, I had a drink with Ricardo.

For the first time in a while, we asked about each other's well-being and impressions of each other.

"How's academy life?"

"It's tough, I feel like I've become too popular..."

"Good is good. Look at me... I can barely breathe just trying to do one assignment."

"You say that, but you're a super popular person at the academy."

"Ricardo, am I as popular as you?"

"I'm just living diligently."

Under the moonlit night, filled with the warmth of alcohol.

We had a pleasant time, sharing stories about each other and our worries about what had been happening. So much so that I thought, 'This person is really the most comfortable.'

In the brightening atmosphere, Ricardo opened his lips with difficulty.

"You know, Julia."

"Yeah?"

That day, I think I misunderstood the words that came out of Ricardo's lips.

"About your father..."

"Dad? Why Dad all of a sudden?"

"I think we should tell him to come down from the North."

At that time, I heard it as if Ricardo was trying to cut ties with me.

Him, who was getting closer to Olivia.

Him, who was growing more distant from me.

Now, no longer.

"It seems dangerous. The mating season for monsters is approaching."

I think I heard it as him wanting to sever our memories together.

"What are you talking about?"

"I've been thinking about it for a long time. It's dangerous for your father to be in the North alone."

"It's been fine until now. But now you're suddenly telling him to move from the North to the capital?"

"..."

"How long has it been since he opened the inn, and you're telling him to come down?"

"..."

"You know it too. It was Dad's dream to open an inn in the North."

"Julia. Listen to me carefully. That's not what I meant..."

"Shut up. I'll pretend I didn't hear this."

"Julia... this isn't something to be taken lightly..."

I threw a tantrum at Ricardo.

Was it because of the alcohol?

Or was it because I was jealous of Ricardo?

"Why? Are you going to give him a spot if things work out with Olivia?"

"...That's not what I meant."

"What do you mean, it's not? It costs so much money to move to the capital, we don't have the money, how are we supposed to move Dad?"

"Actually, I've been saving up..."

"If you're thinking of repaying the grace of raising you by leeching off Olivia, don't even think about it."

"...That's not what I meant. Just listen to me until the end."

"...Ricardo."

I think I was scared.

That as Olivia and Ricardo got closer, my place would disappear.

"Absolutely not."

I think I was stubborn and didn't listen to Ricardo until the end. I even said mean things to him that I had never said before.

"I'm leaving first."

If I had listened to Ricardo until the end that day, would the future have changed?

"Julia..."

If I had looked at Ricardo's face a little more that day, would the story have changed?

What Ricardo's heart was like.

What kind of burden he was carrying on his shoulders.

Without knowing anything.

"You've been strange lately."

-Creeeeak.

Myself, on that day when I spoke so selfishly.

-Thud.

I hated myself so much.