IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 6

At the words about spitting them back out, Roxana judged that things had gone far enough and hurriedly covered Thaleia's mouth. Roxana had momentarily forgotten that when Thaleia's mood soured, she became a disaster with a sharp tongue.

'She takes after Julian, definitely.'

Making people speechless with cold expressions and words—she was exactly like Julian. Perhaps displeased that her mouth had been covered, Thaleia stuck out her tongue and licked her palm. But for Roxana, a hand covered in spit wasn't a problem.

"Tilly."

Purple eyes full of spite glanced at Roxana, then turned away with a sharp hmph. Roxana didn't know why she was angry, but her reaction when sulking was exactly the same as Julian's too.

'Who would doubt she's Julian's daughter?'

"You can't say things like that to a friend."

"Mmph, mm mmph mmph!"

Her pronunciation was muffled with her mouth covered, but Roxana could tell what Thaleia was saying. Why is he my friend?

'Is this another failure?'

She remembered Thaleia saying this would be the last time. In truth, she'd tried various methods to make friends for Thaleia, but Thaleia kept running away, resulting in repeated failures. Roxana couldn't understand why she so hated playing with children her own age.

Her reaction when she first saw Aegis hadn't been bad, so Roxana thought this time might work. When Aegis smiled, she'd seen Thaleia's mouth fall open, completely distracted. Roxana kept Thaleia's mouth covered while checking on Aegis. Aegis was staring at Thaleia with round eyes. He seemed quite shocked by her cutting words.

'Well, there wouldn't be anyone around him with that kind of attitude, using words like that.'

"Tilly, let's go talk with Mommy for a bit. Please excuse us for a moment."

Before Charlotte and Aegis could react, Roxana tucked Thaleia under her arm and hurriedly left. Once they'd gotten some distance away, Thaleia flailed her arms and legs wildly, and Roxana sighed and set Thaleia down.

"Tilly, why are you angry again?"

"I'm not angry."

"Then are you annoyed?"

"..."

When Thaleia gave no answer and just puffed out her cheeks, Roxana smiled faintly and matched eye level with her young daughter.

"Mommy won't make you marry anyone, even if it's His Highness the Prince, if you say you don't want to."

"I know that."

"You know that well, so why are you being contrary? His Highness the Prince doesn't really want to marry Tilly—he just wants to be close to you."

"...He's kind of weird. We shouldn't have come to the palace."

At that honest answer, Roxana closed her mouth. As the silence grew longer, Thaleia scrunched up her face and tugged roughly on the rabbit doll's ears, tormenting it.

"Unlike our house, the imperial palace has many people."

"...Yeah."

"His Highness the Prince doesn't know yet what to accept and what to filter out. But people only treat him as His Highness the Prince, not as a child named Aegis. He has many friends but no real friends. That's why Her Majesty the Empress, Mommy, and Daddy arranged for you two to meet. Because neither of you has real friends."

At those words, Thaleia let out a deep sigh. Thaleia knew that in the original work, the only person who could be called the sub-male lead Asher's real friend was the male lead.

'That's why he gave up on Royna and risked his own life to save Yan.'

The one and only friend in the world, Aegis who loved the male lead protagonist as much as the female lead did.

"Do you think we can be friends because we're children of the three families with special abilities?"

"..."

"Or do you think we should be friends?"

When Roxana showed a momentarily flustered expression at the second question, Thaleia's face scrunched up faintly before she let out a hollow laugh and spoke coldly.

"Mom, I'm not a clueless little kid."

At those words, fear spread through Roxana's light green eyes.

'Again.'

Sometimes—just sometimes—Thaleia wore an unfamiliar face. It was like something she usually kept hidden would squirm and seep out, making her seem like she wanted to struggle free and escape somewhere far away. Roxana was terrified of that. From the moment Thaleia first called her "Mom," that anxiety had continued to follow Roxana.

Thaleia had called everyone else by their names, but was especially late in saying Mommy or Daddy. When she finally first said "Mom," she'd made it obvious she was calling her that reluctantly. Under the purple gaze watching her intently, Roxana hid her fear and called out to Thaleia.

"...Tilly."

"What?"

"Holding a rabbit doll and saying things like that just makes you seem like a real little kid anyway."

"...Well, I am a little kid."

"You just said you weren't a little kid."

"I said I wasn't a clueless little kid. I didn't say I wasn't a little kid."

When she pretended like this—pretending to know nothing, just acting like a willful child who needed soothing—Thaleia always stepped back and returned to her usual self.

"So, do you not want to be friends with His Highness the Prince?"

"..."

"Tilly, if you don't want to, I can't force you. You said this would be the last time, so I won't try to force you to make friends anymore. If you don't want to, let's just go home."

"I'm not lonely without friends."

'Because no matter how good my friends are, they can never be real to me.'

The words "I want to go home right now" stuck in my throat, but I couldn't go home anyway. So I thought maybe playing with the friendless sub-male lead for a bit wouldn't be so bad. I smiled brightly and reassured Roxana.

"But if Asher is lonely, I can be his friend."

When I finished talking with Roxana and returned, Asher had a dejected face with his mouth stuffed full of strawberries. Julian and Charlotte were offering Asher more strawberries while trying to comfort him. When our eyes met, Asher hurriedly wiped the strawberry juice from his mouth and hands. Then he held out a basket full of strawberries and apologized to me first.

"I'm sorry, Thaleia."

"For what?"

"For saying let's get married because I gave you strawberries. Even if you don't want to marry me, friends are okay, right?"

"..."

'What the heck, he's super cute.'

Who knew the sub-male lead's childhood would be this adorable? I picked up the most appetizing strawberry from the basket.

"Say ah."

When I fed it to him directly, Asher smiled shyly but obediently accepted it. His munching mouth was so cute that I kept feeding him strawberries, and Asher couldn't even say "that's enough"—he just earnestly ate whatever I gave him.

When Asher's cheeks puffed out completely, I stopped feeding him strawberries and giggled. Starting with my laughter, everyone who'd been watching us began to laugh. It was because Asher's doll-like face turning as red as a strawberry was incredibly cute. Not even knowing he was causing laughter, Asher chewed his strawberries earnestly and showed me a smile.

"Um, if it's not rude, can I call you Tilly?"

"...Huh?"

Using nicknames was something you didn't easily allow unless you were really close friends. Asking if he could call me by a nickname right after meeting for the first time was technically rude. But that wasn't what surprised me. I couldn't believe a five-year-old was using the word "rude" and showing such manners.

The polite and kind sub-male lead—confirming the character I'd created gave me a strange feeling. But I didn't have time to think deeply about it. My silence was growing longer, and I could see Asher trying to hide his dejected expression. I felt bad about refusing since I'd already been calling him by his nickname in my head anyway.

"But then I want to call you Asher too."

"Yeah, okay!"

Seeing Asher's face brighten instantly at my permission, I smiled a mom-smile and held out my hand to him. Asher seemed unsure what to do with the strawberry basket he was holding with both hands, fumbled for a moment, then handed it to an attendant before taking my hand. Asher, whose birthday was a few months before mine, was taller than me, but his hand was also slightly bigger than mine. But no matter what, it was still a five-year-old's hand that couldn't compare to adults'.

"..."

"What's wrong?"

"Hand is small."

"Yeah. Tilly's hands are small and cute."

I'd meant Asher's hand was small, but Asher seemed to take it as my hand being small and agreed while squeezing my hand tight. Feeling the adults' eyes watching us warmly, I cleared my throat to hide my embarrassment.

I'd seen doting parents more than once or twice, but watching doting parents pleased about their child making a first friend made me strangely shy. To escape the adults' gazes, I suggested to Asher that we go play. Charlotte, who'd been wearing a happy smile, clapped her hands and agreed with my words.

"Yes. Will you show Tilly around the garden, Asher?"

"Yes, Mother."

Asher answered Charlotte obediently and took my hand, leading me somewhere. Looking at Julian and Roxana waving "have a good time," I strangled the rabbit dangling from one arm. The goal of breaking off the engagement had been achieved without any chance to torment the sub-male lead, thanks to the adults' appropriate handling, and all I had left in my hand was the tiny sub-male lead.

Asher seemed so pleased that every time our eyes met, he smiled brightly. Though Aegis was originally a character whose default was a fresh smile, the smile Asher was wearing now looked less fresh and more like a puppy wagging its tail and drooling everywhere.

Every time I saw that smile, my conscience jabbed me for the wickedness of trying to bully such an innocent little kid. I gazed at the garden beautifully colored purple and lamented the peacefulness.

'I want to go home.'