Acid was better at begging than anyone else.
But what other abilities did he have?
When Sien was taken to a place called the “death zone” by Matthias, Acid couldn’t do anything.
In fact, Acid didn’t even know what the “death zone” Leonhart had mentioned was.
He was just a clueless street beggar, an idiot.
He was in a position where he could only quietly observe without knowing anything.
But…
‘I want to protect Lady Sien too.’
He still had nothing.
He wasn’t an adult, and he didn’t have holy power like his older brother who was a holy knight.
Should he try to build up his physical strength?
But no matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t think he could ever match the strength of the muscular maids who attended to Sien. Just remembering their bulging muscles made him feel discouraged.
If he had any advantage, it was…
Only one – his older brother Ted, the holy knight.
‘Come to think of it, I heard that holy power is hereditary.’
Since his brother was a holy knight, maybe he had the potential for holy power too.
Of course, holy power is a force that manifests early.
If it hadn’t manifested by now, it would be right to assume there was no holy power in his body.
Acid’s nails dug deep into his palm, leaving a scratch.
Still, just in case, should he try to meet Ted, the brother who abandoned him?
It was then.
A fresh touch landed on Acid’s shoulder as he stayed still with his head buried to the ground.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
It was Sien.
Acid quickly lifted his head and stared at Sien. An innocent yet affectionate gaze was directed at him.
“I… Well, you see.”
He didn’t want to be the baby that Sien took care of. Although he was small and from the slums…
He wanted to protect her.
So that Sien could live.
Then he had no choice but to become strong to protect Sien who had saved him.
Like his brother Ted, who had abandoned him and become a holy knight.
If necessary, even borrowing his help.
“I, I want to become strong!”
…For the first time, he felt he needed to face his brother.
Along with Sien’s puzzled expression, he heard a voice conducting meditation reach his ears.
“All things in the world depend on your mindset.”
“Think about all of creation.”
“There’s no need to forcibly become strong. Even weakness has its own beauty.”
Acid shook his head inwardly.
No.
He would definitely become strong.
He would become even stronger than Sir Matthias over there, and protect Sien from the things that threatened her.
And hearing Acid’s words, Sien’s eyes grew round.
“Baby!”
The timid boy was momentarily frightened.
Sien, who was as warm as sunshine, might be afraid of talk of becoming strong.
However…
“Wanting to become strong, that’s truly a genius idea!”
Sien, who usually had a smiling face, was now smiling almost happily.
Behind her, he could see Matthias staring at him with an expressionless face. It was a look whose intentions couldn’t be gauged.
So Acid just stared at Sien with a fixed gaze.
He took in Sien’s chubby cheeks, her large sparkling eyes like marbles, her small front teeth.
And the warm smile that seemed to show her kind heart.
It was the first time he had decided to become strong.
But since Sien liked it…
‘It’s the best choice.’
Acid’s heart filled with happiness.
***
I inwardly rejoiced.
I could see that Acid’s shadow had become much lighter.
Once again, I became convinced that feeding him well, washing him clean, and showing him affection was the right thing to do.
‘If I heal his emotional wounds, I think I can let him meet Ted soon. Then both Acid and Ted will be happy, and Ted will become my knight!’
I smiled as wide as a basin.
But as they say, life is one mountain after another.
It was good that Acid, who had been nodding off, suddenly awakened like lightning!
But this damned Sunshine Academy course never ends.
Dad’s special measure to prevent his whitening was useless. Unable to do anything, I had my soul purified until lunchtime.
Today, they say we’ll have vegetarian food in a place full of holy power…
“Dad.”
“Yes, Sien. You like vegetarian food, don’t you?”
Saliva pooled in my mouth. But if I said I liked it, I felt my mind, which had been tainted by evil, would be perfectly purified. I cleared my throat, ahem, and continued speaking.
“Wait before eating, Dad! I need some time just for the babies!”
“…Huh?”
Dad’s eyes wavered for a moment.
He was hurt.
“What about Dad?”
It pains my heart, but… I can’t give in here.
I insisted on having time just for the children, away from close supervision.
“Dad can’t be there.”
Dad said with a shocked expression, ‘Already keeping secrets from Dad…’, but… it can’t be helped.
What’s important now is not scratching Dad’s tender heart.
“Wait here! It’ll only take ten minutes!”
I tightly held Leonhart and Acid’s hands and slipped away.
I couldn’t help but sigh, wondering how to show Dad how harsh the world really is.
“How do you like this academy course?”
“I was too sleepy to hear it.”
After Leonhart’s honest words, Acid scratched the back of his head while avoiding my gaze. Seeing his reddened ears, it seemed he had the same thought as Leonhart.
I clenched both fists and spoke as if giving a speech.
“Friends.”
“Yes?”
“As you know, I think we need to reform our Dad.”
If Dad tries to make me good by sending me to an academy, even though I’ve come into an villain family and could be in a life-threatening situation, there’s no choice.
It pains my heart, but I had no choice but to reform Dad more strongly to make him act like a villain.
I narrowed my eyes, lifted my chin, and spoke threateningly.
“What should we do?”
“Chestnut…”
“Hmm?”
Leonhart nodded his head dejectedly. As if he understood all my feelings.
“You really are trying hard to survive.”
“…Mm! I’m trying very hard!”
“I’ll help too.”
Leonhart nodded his head.
As expected of Leonhart. He had an expression that showed he knew this villain family very well.
Acid, who had been staring at me, cautiously opened his mouth.
“Reforming him, I, I’ll help too.”
“Hmm?”
“We might be able to use holy power if we develop it.”
“Holy power has that kind of ability?”
“…I’ll try to find out.”
‘I should talk to Ted.’
Anyway, it was truly an unexpected result that both Acid and Leonhart would help with our Dad’s villainization.
From now on, rather than directly demanding action, I was planning to constantly brainwash him indirectly by showing him villains and praising them as cool, saying that being evil and bad is good.
If I brainwash him every day that good things will happen if he does bad things, Dad might momentarily act like a villain.
I clapped my hands brightly.
“Good, thank you very much!”
Not to be outdone, Leonhart continued speaking.
“I…”
“Hmm?”
“Beyond reforming Sir Matthias, I’ll become a villain surpassing everyone.”
I cautiously spoke to Leonhart.
“You… you’ll become a villain on my side, right…? We, we’re friends!”
I clearly reminded him of the facts.
Leonhart shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
“Of course, Chestnut. And you’re a genius, aren’t you?”
“…Huh?”
He looked at me as if stating the obvious and said.
“I can’t surpass you. Besides, I’ll be a righteous villain who doesn’t bully friends.”
In the original story, Leonhart was a villain among villains who massacred indiscriminately, regardless of whose side they were on.
But I was going to trust him just this once.
Because everything Leonhart had shown me so far seemed to be 100% sincere.
I clenched my fist tightly and thrust it out towards them.
“Then, come on, fist bump!”
“What…?”
“Why?”
“A promise that we’ll do the ‘Reform Our Dad’ project together!”
We tightly clenched our fists and bumped them together in the middle.
I already felt reassured.
I’m still just a kid with a weak presence, but I already felt like I had my own inner circle.
“Hee.”
I hummed a tune as I pulled my fist away.
We looked at each other with determined gazes and nodded our heads firmly.
But right then, Leonhart lowered his voice and said.
“Chestnut.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m already sensing a strange energy around us.”
“What…?!”
I tilted my head and looked around. Come to think of it, there was a strange sense of discomfort…
“…What’s that sinister-looking bird?”
…The source of that discomfort was a small bird hiding near the grass. A bird with one eye and a bright yellow beak.
“Something seems strange…”
I rolled my suspicious eyes. Then Leonhart furrowed his brow and said.
“It’s not an ordinary bird, I can sense a powerful force from it.”
I stepped back hesitantly.
A bird with a powerful force? Seeing how sinister it looked, I wanted to tame it.
I clenched my fist tightly and stared at the bird.
It was a bird that would suit a villain like me very well.
Better than a tiny sparrow-like bird, a bird that looks more threatening than an eagle is better!
“Should we try to catch it?”
“It could be dangerous…”
I agree with Leonhart’s words, but if that bird was going to attack us, it would have done so already.
I tried to move towards the bird, swinging my dough-like legs. But no matter how much I tried to move my legs, I couldn’t walk.
“…Huh?”
After meaninglessly moving my feet for a while, I realized.
…That someone’s thick hand was holding my body.
“Sien.”
I turned my head.
It was Dad.
“Dad!”
I called him “Dad,” but Dad’s expression didn’t soften. That dry and indifferent expression, unlike the usual sunny Dad, was…
‘That’s Dad’s expression when bad guys took his money!’
Is he like that because he’s scared of that sinister bird? I tried to pat Dad comfortingly.
But Dad’s muttering came first.
“It’s gone.”
As expected, it seems Dad saw the bird too.
Only a faint soot remained in the center where the bird had been.
I opened my lips slightly at the sight and closed them again.
Dad quietly opened his mouth and muttered.
“Sien, we need to go home now.”
“Hmm?”
Dad smiled warmly like sunshine and said.
“The practice is over now.”
“Hmm?”
“If they provoke us like this, it seems we’ll have to face them properly.”
It was incomprehensible.
I thought I heard Leonhart muttering to himself from afar, ‘Has he already noticed our plan…?’, ‘As expected of a villain among villains,’ but I dismissed it as an auditory hallucination.
***
What Matthias noticed, but Sien didn’t, was this:
That bird was actually a messenger construct created by Delphia’s illusion magic.
The messenger construct was an entity born from Delphia’s magical power.
It was a precious existence that acted as her eyes, allowing her to move around here and there without affecting her main body.
Although she couldn’t see clearly because Matthias quickly blocked the approach−
“I think I see holy power from one of those three.”
Delphia furrowed her brow.
The Mirmod family was generally hostile to the temple. However, there was one person in the Mirmod family who had an ability most incompatible with holy power, and that was Delphia Mirmod.
The ability of illusion summoning that she possessed was directly opposed to holy power.
Thanks to this, Delphia could weakly discern those who possessed holy power.
With an unpleasant expression, Delphia slightly furrowed her brow.
“Strangely, it seems like ability users are gathering around that kid.”
Hearing Delphia’s muttering, a close aide carefully expressed their opinion.
“That’s right. Sien Mirmod, that child. It seems we shouldn’t underestimate her.”
Until now, Delphia’s life had been driven by interest.
Even her desire to become the family heir and seize the title of duke was for such a reason.
But now it seems something more interesting than becoming a duke has appeared.
“I want to get close to her.”
Observing the suddenly appeared little one, Sien Mirmod.
She grinned.
“Before Axel comes and ends everything in a month.”
“Ah…”
“If she’s a child who’s going to wither anyway, I want to have fun with her before that.”
Her heart was pounding.
Could it be that kid has seduced me even before our first meeting?
This is a bit troublesome.
Delphia maintained the smile on her lips as she brushed back her white hair.
______
In This Life, I Won’t Be Foolish To Lose You Again (Female-dominant)
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]