Albert’s kindness made me a little nervous.
He might be disappointed with me someday. He might even abandon me again.
“Is it okay to be so selfish and ask for so much?”
I had always kept a poker face, but now I couldn’t hide my uneasy expression. Maybe that was how desperate I was.
I knew I must never show my weakness. I had to be strong to be by Alicia’s side. I had to be strong to be there for Alicia, so I had to stand tall in any situation without being impatient or frightened.
This was something I learned from watching her.
Alicia always stood elegantly in the face of adversity. She looked happier (and lively) when she was going through hard times. Watching her made me believe so.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtI admired her, but sometimes I became timid.
Even though she was strong, she couldn’t help but notice other people’s expressions, and she was sensitive to even the smallest change in facial expression. Alicia was still Alicia, and I was still me.
I remained weak and small.
“Compared to Alicia’s selfishness in her childhood, you are cute. Besides, she’s special, and it’s my fault that Alicia doesn’t want to be spoiled by me anymore. At least Gilles can still behave like a child.”
He smiled in response to my question and said in a soft voice that he was sorry.
“Eh, Alicia is selfish?”
“Yeah. When she wanted something, she would often ask dozens of times every day until she got it.”
I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t imagine Alicia doing such a thing.
She was much more of a villainess in the past.
“But one day, for some reason, she suddenly changed. She started reading books and wanted to learn swordsmanship…. I still don’t know what made her like that.”
“Was there some big trigger?”
“I couldn’t think of anything in particular. It was really sudden. It happened when I almost wanted to give up on Alicia…. Maybe she suspected something about it.”
Albert said with a serious expression.
I thought Alicia was just being selfish, that she was just making up stories out of concern for me, but it seems to be true.
It was easy for her to want to change. But people do not change so easily. Unless someone had amnesia, their personality wouldn’t change.
“It’s one of those mysteries that we still haven’t figured out. Since there are no social debuts in this country, the only people who know that Alicia was selfish are the members of our family.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Alicia is the only daughter among the great nobility…. Maybe it was all an act from the beginning.”
“What do you mean?”
Albert tilted his head.
“If the saint had not appeared, Duke would have married Alicia. So maybe she was doing those things on purpose to make him hate her?”
“Then why did she suddenly stop acting then?”
Indeed, there was no reason to stop acting. If I had to say, maybe it was because she had sensed that Albert and the others were about to abandon her.
But I doubt she’ll change her plans because of this.
“Speaking of which, things were a little different the day before Alicia changed.”
Albert uttered, trying desperately to remember the old days.