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“Did you think I was going to hit you? What do you think I am? How can I hit a skinny, small, helpless child?!”

Allen, who was gushing and spewing out words, stared at me as if he was going to kill me, but soon tried to walk past me.

And I… “What, what!” With some courage, I grabbed Allen.

It wasn’t even for a day or two, and I didn’t feel comfortable seeing a face resembling Diana glaring at me.

‘Besides, it’s also my fault now.’

Lia said with a gulp, “It’s not because I think you’re going to hit me. It’s not because of Young Master… It’s because I got scared when I saw you raise your hand.”

Even in my previous life, when a hand was raised in front of my eyes, I would cringe at the thought of, “That’s just right!”

It got a little better with age, but when I returned to the age of 8, it started again.

If I prepare my mind in advance, I don’t know if something would change, but in a sudden situation, my body moves by itself.

And I was nervous because it was the first time in my previous life that I had said such a story out of my mouth.

‘If Allen is still angry, I feel like it’s tiring to keep facing him…’

As I looked up with anticipation and fear, I saw Allen with a distorted expression.

For a moment, my heart seemed to be pounding with pain.

Then, she said, as Allen flinched her hand and hid behind her.

Then, Allen’s hand flinched as he hid it behind, and said, “You have chocolate on your lips.”

Oh, my!! I quickly covered my mouth with my hand and touched the tip of my lips.

The chocolate had hardened as it smeared while eating the cookie earlier.

Allen burst into laughter as Lia’s face was stained with embarrassment.

Even with his slightly opened eyes despite his annoying heart, it was when Allen started laughing louder and tried to say a word.

“Lia?”

I turned my head to the familiar voice calling my name and saw a boy just getting off the carriage.

“Jack!”

I ran to Jack in a hurry happily and said, “Are you okay? It doesn’t hurt at all now, is it? Thank you for coming!”

I checked him and asked questions, and Jack looked at me puzzledly.

Well, Jack and I aren’t that close.

‘It’s ridiculous to pretend that we’re close all of a sudden.’

But when I think of Jack, who was unconscious, I restrained myself a lot already.

“Is that your friend?”

Then Allen’s voice was heard right behind us. His voice was much closer than I thought, so I raised my head in surprise.

Then, Allen grabbed my shoulder as I’m about to fall.

“You almost fell.”

Allen clicked his tongue and immediately removed his hand from my shoulders.

It still seems unpleasant to touch me, and so am I! Turning my head with my lips pouting, I felt something strange.

Jack must have learned all about what happened to us while he was being treated.

So, Jack must have come all the way here to join the Duke’s Knights.

He would have known that Diana, who was with us at the orphanage, was the youngest princess of the duke of Elrad, and he would have noticed that this silver-haired boy who looked like her was one of the two brothers Diana had talked about before.

But why is he staring at Allen with such a hostile gaze?

Perhaps because of Jack’s gaze, Allen’s attitude was also unusual.

It was absurd that the two who would become best friends in the future created a harsh atmosphere to the point of making me tremble.

‘It’s okay… It’ll be okay, right?’

Hopefully, the relationship won’t change because of me.

‘Because, in the first place, children are supposed to grow up fighting.’

When I tried to ignore the brutal atmosphere and turned my head, I saw Taze with a darkened expression.

Standing by the carriage, he must have brought Jack himself.

‘As expected, it’s not an ordinary fate.’

I wanted to shake off this growing anxiety and believed Jack and Allen’s relationship would eventually get better like before.

“Oh, I can’t believe it.”

Allen’s face crumpled as he looked at Taze.

“He hasn’t been able to escort Diana properly, but I can’t believe he’s thinking of joining the Duke’s Knights again.”

“…”

“Even if Diana comes back safely if he has a conscience, shouldn’t he leave on his own? As the Master said, commoners are blatantly shameless, and that is also true.” 

Allen snapped back at Taze as if he had a knife in his mouth.

Even the surrounding air seemed to sink coldly.

Allen, who turned around and finished what he had to say, looked at me in surprise.

Seeing his red face, he seemed so angry that he forgot about my existence for a moment.

To be honest, his words were harsh, but I knew how much he cared about his sister Diana, and I bowed my head because Taze did something wrong on his part.

Not to do anything stupid that makes an angry person angrier.

Fortunately, I could feel Allen going back with a thud of footsteps.

‘Well, I’m a little worried about Jack.’