Siegren tensed at my words. I gently poked at his furrowed brows, hoping they would smooth out. Instead, he backed away from me looking stiffer than before.

“Don’t do that...” he said.

But I must have been more fond of my protagonist than I thought because I found him cuter than ever. Abel suddenly pushed my head down. “You little brat. I told you, you’re way too young for this.”

“He’s just a boy— Aah!” I yelled, for Abel had picked me up before I could finish my words. These days, more often than not, he would carry me around in his arms like this.

The servants would smile as they passed by, saying we looked just like a father and daughter pair. I suppose it wasn’t a completely unreasonable thing to say, for Abel and I both had shining silver hair.

“Can stay until he gets better?” I asked, sitting comfortably in Abel’s arms.

Abel looked at me curiously. “I don’t think you’ve ever asked me for something before.”

“Really? Hmm, I guess I didn’t really need anything else,” I said with a tilt of my head. This was a place where I got to eat as much as I wanted every day, and I even had a comfortable room to sleep at night. What more could I need? I didn’t mind going to the battlefield either. I understood that my staying here was conditional on this.

“While I don’t appreciate your request... I will grant it. He may stay, but only until his wounds heal,” Abel said testily.

“Oh! Are you going to give him his own room?” I asked, raising both my arms up in a cheer. Honestly, this response was better than what I had been expecting.

“Were you planning on sharing your room with him?” asked Abel incredulously. I turned around to look at Siegren and spotted the slightest hint of red in his cheeks.

“Who do you think you are?” Siegren asked. “How naive and spoiled could you be?”

My shoulders slumped. He really did not seem to like me. He was wrong about my being spoiled though. But I wasn’t about to tell him my entire life story. There wasn’t any need to get more involved with him than necessary. His only job was to grow up, fall in love with the female protagonist, and eventually save the world.

My role would be to look after him from afar like a loving mother.

“Thank you anyway,” I said. “I’ll work harder from now on.”

Abel clicked his tongue. “That’s fine. You’re doing enough as you are.”

I cocked my head curiously. Though Abel was as arrogant as ever, he had become a lot softer around the edges recently. Still, I couldn’t tell if he was favoring me or not. I just hoped that he wouldn’t send me away.

Feeling conflicted, I let out a small sigh.

“What are you sighing about, kid?” Abel said.

Come on. I have problems too, you know.

Why did everything have to be so complicated?

* * *

Khalia had worried constantly over her son’s future, even up to the last moments of her life.

“You must live, Siegren,” she’d gasped out with her dying breath.

These words had stuck to young Siegren like a curse.

Following his mother’s wish, he had escaped the clutches of the people who wanted to kill him. But life wasn’t easy. Alone in this world, he now had to worry about making a living.

Fortunately, he found a group of mercenaries who were willing to take him in. Running errands for them had saved him from starving to death at least. But food and shelter were not enough to guarantee a good life. The majority of the mercenaries were violent men, and they would beat up small Siegren and burn cigarettes into his skin. It wasn’t because he had done anything to deserve their cruelty. He was simply an easy target. Never having received proper care in his life, Siegren’s body became littered with wounds.

Yet the boy endured, remembering his mother’s dying wishes.

However, as his pain and loneliness continued, he began to ask another question… I must live. But why?

Siegren was so lonely. His heart’s greatest desire was to find someone who would need him—to find a reason to continue living this worthless life. Many careless words, uttered without a thought, left deep scars on his heart.

“You vermin. We picked you up because you had nowhere to go. But here you are being useless.”

Life was cruel to Siegren. As an orphan boy, he was no more than a toy to the mercenaries. No one bothered to help him either, for it was easier not to get involved.

Such was Siegren’s life, devoid of any sympathy.

He became covered with scars, both physical and emotional, and hardened his heart toward everyone. Then one day, a small unit of mercenaries was assigned to defend Heylon Castle. While fighting the demonic beasts was dangerous, it was a job that paid well.

Siegren, having never been given a proper weapon, managed to survive by using a sword he had picked up from the battleground. Though the endless battles took a toll on him, one good thing came out of it all. Constantly fighting for life and death had made him stronger. But his newfound strength was useless in his final moments among the mercenaries. They had been running away from a rush of demonic beasts when someone suddenly pushed him down.

“Hah! If you can’t be of any use, you can become a human shield at least!” a man had shouted, taunting Siegren one last time before running away.

Of course, Siegren did his best to survive. However, as skilled as he was, the fight had been too much for a fourteen-year-old boy. In the end, one of the demonic beasts had slashed his stomach, and Siegren had fallen to the ground.

Am I going to die...? It was freeing in a way, to think that everything was finally over. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that he was dying for the sake of such a detestable man. If I had to die for someone, I wanted it to be for someone who was worth it...

The mercenary who had pushed Siegren was, quite frankly, a low life. Siegren didn’t want to die for someone like him. He would rather sacrifice his life for someone who truly needed his help.

He wanted to be the one to save them.

Even if I die, that way I get to help someone at least. Siegren knew it was silly to live only for the hope of saving someone else.

After all, one had to take advantage of other people to survive in this world. If he didn’t have such weak thoughts, he wouldn’t have lived his life abused like an animal—abandoned in the end to die an utterly meaningless death. Still, his wish had provided his life with some meaning. He had always held onto the hope that somewhere, there was light. Or perhaps he could have become that light for someone else.

Not that I can do that anymore. He rested his hands on the gash on his stomach and closed his eyes.

In the darkness, he felt someone stroke his hair gently. No one had touched him like this in a long while, and the soft touch nearly brought him to tears. When Siegren opened his eyes, he saw a girl slumped over his bed, steadily breathing in and out while fast asleep in a sun-filled room.

Her soft silver hair, sprawled across the edge of the bed, sparkling under the sunlight. It was the most beautiful image he had ever seen in his pained life.

* * *

The demonic beast attacks were becoming rarer. Perhaps it was because Siegren had shown up. Thanks to the break in the attacks, I got to spend more time with him.

“How’s your wound?” I asked.

We weren’t friendly by any means. So far, he hadn’t shared anything about himself other than his name, and that was something I had already known. I had been the one to give it to him after all. When I reached out my hand, he slapped it away as usual and snapped at me.

“I told you not to touch.”

His coldness caused me to slowly draw my arm back. Siegren still would not let his guard down around me. Maybe it was impossible for us to become friends. After all, I was always meant to become the villain in this world.

“If something’s wrong, tell the healer at least. Even if you don’t tell me...” I said.

Siegren looked at me with another strange expression. Seeing this particular look on his face was a common appearance these days. Did he not like the way I looked...?

“You’re weird,” he said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Why do you care so much about me? Am I interesting to you because I’m so pitiful? I guess for a sheltered lady like you, helping someone like me is like picking up a pathetic animal abandoned in the rain,” he said.

“It’s not like that,” I said. I had picked up on the fact that Siegren believed I was related to the duke. In other words, he thought I was a regular noble girl who had lived a pampered life here in this castle. The way the servants called me “Lady Fiona” likely fed into this belief.

Was he frustrated that he had to rely on a naive girl like this? Someone who had never known pain in her life? Perhaps it hurt his pride.

“I don’t know what you think of me, but I didn’t take you in for such trivial reasons,” I said.

“Then why did you do it?”

Well, my main desire was to end up in his good graces for the sake of my future. But it was also true that I held genuine affection for him. He was my male lead, so, of course, I would care about him. However, with our current circumstances, I would consider it lucky if I didn’t end up as his archenemy. It would be a cause worthy of celebration if he merely tolerated me.

“Can’t I just say I wanted to save you?”

“When you haven’t even met me before? When you had no reason to save me at all?”

“Yes, exactly that,” I answered. “But Siegren, wouldn’t you have done the same?”