Get Ahead of the Fallen Heroine and Make the Bull-Headed Man the Victim

74.

Moreover, why not just talk to her directly? Why go around her?

Could it be that her sister Delia was still threatening her kingdom’s number one childhood friend, the gentle boy Clyde?

The thought of such a possibility almost made Valentina rush into Delia’s personal room this morning to confront her about what wicked scheme she was plotting again.

Fortunately, she held back and decided to see Clyde first.

As for how she knew?

Well, it was nothing much; it was actually her useless brother, Prince Mori, and Maid Martina who had seen it with their own eyes.

Then, under Martina’s encouragement, Prince Mori, looking awkward and scared, told her about Clyde.

Valentina never imagined that Prince Mori would be so afraid of her to this extent. Could it be that she was actually quite suited to being a sadist?

In any case, putting aside her foolish brother for now, Valentina had to clarify things with her childhood friend. She was very worried that Clyde might be under threat.

Her feelings for the evil god were quite complex, but her feelings for her childhood friend were pure.

That was trust.

No one else could bring her the same sense of calm as Clyde.

She didn’t know if this was what people referred to as affection; perhaps it was, but she didn’t quite understand it.

She just didn’t want her gentle childhood friend, who trusted her and whom she trusted in return, to get hurt.

So even when Valentina noticed Clyde talking to a beautiful woman she had never seen before, maintaining a very intimate distance, she felt no stirrings of jealousy. Instead, she actively hid in the shadows of a nearby building, so as not to interrupt Clyde’s conversation.

—Until snippets of their dialogue faintly reached her ears.

“…Miss Sha, my views on dragons? Ah, of course, they are all nothing but foolish and ugly creatures! There can’t possibly be any exceptions! So it would be better if they all just disappeared!”

The moment Valentina heard this, the caring and gentle expression on her face instantly froze.

In fact, the distance between the three of them was quite far, at least nearly ten meters.

But Clyde’s voice was so loud that it was impossible not to hear him.

Valentina wanted to suspect that the woman might be an incarnation of the evil god, aiming to amuse herself at Valentina’s expense.

But she would never mistake that voice.

Even if it was filled with malice and prejudice, it was still the voice of her childhood friend she had never heard before.

Even so, she would not mistake the person.

The one who said that all dragons should die was none other than Clyde, her childhood friend, who had once shyly smiled and gently told her, “Dragons can be good or bad.”

Valentina, who had never intended to disturb the two, now felt as if she had been petrified, her breath caught in her throat.

It wasn’t until their voices faded completely that she slowly lowered her head, a look of sadness crossing her face.

“…Clyde, you’ve been lying to me all along.”

The princess’s voice was filled with bitterness… and disappointment.

She had thought she knew her childhood friend completely, but it seemed that was not the case.

Her childhood friend was someone who could say things in front of others that were completely opposite to what he said in front of her.

She felt that the betrayal was not just about Clyde’s differing views on dragons.

It was that she had never known Clyde had such a radical side to him.

In other words, Clyde might have lied to her many times, but she had always been oblivious.

“…Ah, so does that mean that when you went to find Lady Dilia, it might not have been because you were threatened, but rather that you intended to threaten her? Clyde…”

Feeling as if she had lost all will to fight, the princess leaned against the wall for support, seemingly staring at the wall opposite her, but in reality, she was gazing at the image of her gentle and kind childhood friend, slowly parting her lips, filled with bitterness.

—

In her memories, Clyde would of course not react to her question, merely offering her the same gentle smile as always.

Yet, although the smile itself had not changed, this time Valentina, who had always found that smile warm, felt a wave of nausea rising from the depths of her heart.

She… perhaps had misjudged her childhood friend.

—