As we were walking towards the garden Edgar probably noticed i wasn't feeling too well
My chest hurt so bad, and I kept and squeezed it, I couldn't see myself but I think I turned pale
"Are you okay? You look sick." he said worried
I took a breath and looked at him: "I don't feel well since this morning don't worry, i will feel better soon"
I looked at him intently
"Just to talk a little, why did you come to visit us?"
He looked a little embarrassed and began to play with his fingers, looking at me from time to time
"It looks like my parents ... they've come to talk about marriage," he said with a red face
'Marriage? Shina and Edgar were only officially engaged when they were 12 so it is not possible for us to be engaged now'
Thinking about it, it was most likely my father who delayed the engagement, only after realizing that Edgar was a good and quiet person did he decide to entrust Shina to Edgar, even if in the end it turned out to be a fatal mistake. Shina scarred her face and was eventually executed. Just thinking about it, the pain I feel only gets more intense
But what does Edgar think of all this? Does he agree?
"And do you like me? what would you think if we were engaged?" I then asked him directly
'Why did you do all this to Shina? He could have canceled the engagement peacefully, maybe waiting for Shina to enter the academy and meet someone else she might like, he instead canceled the engagement in front of everyone, destroying the little self-esteem that Shina had
"I don't know" he said, lowering his head with a red face
I looked at him for a second and then looked away
'What the hell am I asking him? He's only 6 years old, he still doesn't know anything '
But I can't help but think that this gentle and feminine looking boy will destroy Shina's life.
Ever since I entered this world it has always almost seemed like a dream, something not real, and even if I became Shina I never had the awareness of being the character of a game, this seemed like my second life.
But now the emotions I am feeling are strong and intense, this pain in my chest I have right now, is surely the emotions of the original Shina.
I don't think I've ever felt so close to the original Shina as I do right now
"Okay let's play with the ball a little" i said trying to appear as gentle as possible
*********
While we were playing, a strange thing happened. I had a sense of deja-vu as if I had already experienced what we were doing , and suddenly strange memories or hallucinations appeared before my eyes, they weren't real memories they were more comparable to fragments, almost like photos.
I saw Shina and Edgar playing ball, chasing each other in this spacious garden, reading in Shina's room and I saw in these photos those two children growing slowly and it was clear that while they were growing the relationship between the two was going beyond the simple friendship.
The photos completely disappeared and even some time later they did not reappear again
I gritted my teeth
'Why did he do it?'
I watched the thin, innocent-looking child that was sending the ball into the air
At first I didn't want to do anything to him, but looking at that face an indescribable irritation assaulted me
"Ice," I said in a whisper
In this year my magic has made a lot of improvements, I can't do spells that are too complicated but I can use them perfectly at the basic level
A small patch of ground at Edgar's feet became frozen and as i passed him the ball he slipped backward over it
"Edgar are you okay? You suddenly slipped," I said falsely,pretending to be worried
"Yeah, i'm ok, I only slipped," he said embarrassed
I nodded
He stood up and we resumed playing
After a while I decided to act again
"Water"
A snake-like water tentacle formed behind Edgar, the tentacle following my instructions grabbed his leg causing him to fall violently with his face on the mud
"Oh my, Edgar how clumsy you are, now your face is all dirty"
I laughed a bit maliciously
It almost feels like I'm the villainess but I don't care, at least I'll take a little revenge for Shina
He didn't say anything but his face assumed a slightly red colour
"Air"
A gust of wind blew hard, the wind blowing brought with it small rocks that hit Edgar all over his body quite strongly
"Egar you are all bruised! But how is it possible that you were hurted like that ?they were only a few rocks!" I said letting myself escape a laugh on purpose
I still made this kind of joke, paying attention not to be discovered.
I honestly don't care about hurting him, Shina has suffered much more than this, just the thought that Shina has attempted suicide because of this little sh*t and that in this way she became Selena's follower makes my blood boil
This thought probably got me too upset, in fact while I just wanted to send some air to Edgar to annoy him, the spell occurred stronger than expected becoming almost like a small blade
if it hit Edgar he would be hurt pretty badly
It was too late to make it disappear, so I made it take a deviation, trying to avoid Edgar, but with this the blade ripped through Edgar's pants
Edgar was now left without pants, his underwear was completely visible
His face which was already red with embarrassment, took on a scarlet color, not making it anymore he burst into tears and he ran away
I watched Edgar run away
'He deserves it'
this is what i thought, but after some time the pain in the chest was finally gone and i reasoned coldly about my actions
'Edagar is still a child and as much as he may be a bastard when he grows up, he is not yet. Obviously when he is older I will make him pay dearly, but now taking it out on a child makes me feel awful'
In a way, I almost began to regret
'Maybe I exaggerated a little, better go to find him'
I looked all over the garden but could not find him at all
'Where did he go?'
I looked more closely and noticed that a part of the fence in my garden was pierced due to a violent storm caused a few days before, the magical barrier has been broken in few places and the royal wizards will come in a few days to repair it
a bad feeling came over me when I saw a piece of white fabric attached to the fence
' Edgar was wearing a shirt of the same colour'
So I ran in that direction, with all my strength
My house is bordering a forest full of magical creatures "The cursed forest" or at least this is how it is called. As my father is "The sword of the empire" he has the task to supervise and to keep under control the number of magical beasts in the forest, sending soldiers trained by himself to deal with it.
And Edgar has infiltrated this very place, he's just crazy
"Edgar! Edgar!" I yelled his name with all the voice in my body
Screaming might attract magical beasts but I don't care, I have to find him before anything happens to him
'No! He can't die !, what would happen to the plot if one of the main characters were missing? Would The world implode?'
With this thought i ran even faster, until I heard a child's voice screaming
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
I ran in the direction of the sound, I also used magic, creating air under my feet making me almost flying
There I saw Edgar completely frozen in fear with a terrified expression
A couple of meters ahead of him, a kind of wolf with a purple gem on his forehead looked at him ready to attack at any moment
The strange wolf suddenly snapped and jumped to attack Edgar
Edgar has never been good with magic and swords, he has no way to defend himself expecially now that he's a child
I used air magic again to go faster and get there before the wolf
Someway I managed to take Edgar in my arms
The wolf that was attacking missed us by a hair, tearing apart a sleeve of my dress with its claws
I took Edgar's hand trying to escape back home, but the wolf was too fast and with Edgar I can't use air magic
'I have to attack it's the only way if we want to survive'
We turned a couple of trees to confuse the wolf and when he was approaching .....
"Ice lance"
I make a large ice spear appear and shot it in the direction of the wolf
Not expecting an attack, the wolf was hit violently in one of his paws
It seemed to be in pain and had suffered a critical hit, but he suddenly stood up again trying to attack us.
"Water Shield"
As expected it was not a normal wolf, it was very fast and its claws seemed to be made of titanium hitting the barrier with extreme force
I tried to make an excuse but this is too complex a spell for me now. The shield is very patchy and not very stable
The wolf made several attacks, while I tried to concentrate as much as possible to keep my shield intact
'If we continue like this we will die, I have to find an opening'
I waited a little while examining the wolf's movements until it stopped for a moment due to exhaustion
'Now!'
"Ice sword"
This time I created an ice sword suitable for my size
I took the sword and hit him in the stomach
red blood fell from the wound I caused him, the wolf seems very wounded this time and luckily it decided to escape.
I took a sigh of delight, in the end everything went well
I turned to Edgar whom I had left behind to attack the wolf
"Are you okay Edgar?"
"You were really cool right now"
Edgar looks at me with adoring eyes.
I felt embarrassed
"No, I..... I just wanted to save you"
I think I've turned red
What I did could have us both killed
"Look, I'm sorry for before ....I-"
My hands are still shaking with fright. Although I have practiced a lot, this is the first time I have seriously faced an enemy.
"What are you talking about? You saved me, if you hadn't arrived i would have died"
While saying this sentence Edgar's eyes were glittering and looking closely at his eyes they were even a little wet, it seems that what just happened has shaken him deeply
It seems that he has not noticed what I have done before and thinks that everything that has happened before is just an accident
The sense of guilt became even stronger, but now we don't have to stand here talking we are still in the middle of the forest and another creature could attack us
"Let's go home okay?" I said taking his hand trying to smile to calm him down
Taking his hand Edgar seems to have recovered, he looked at me intently but he only ended up nodding
We quickly went home, and shortly after returning my parents and Edgar's parents came looking for us.
"Ah, you were here, but what happened to your clothes? Did you have a fight?" My father said worried
"No, we were playing with mud and we all got dirty, while we were playing Edgar without doing it on purpose pulled my dress that ended up tearing it, i was quite angry and i did the same with Edgar's pant, that's how it went, didn't it Edgar?" i said blinking at him
He looked at me and his face turned a little red
"Yes it's true, it went as Shina said," he said innocently
"Ah, oh well, never mind, both of you go to wash and change your clothes"
I went to wash in my room's bathroom and Egar in the guest room
Edgar was given some of my clothes which I usually use for training even though they fit a little big on him
After we washed Edar came to play in my room, there we read books or played with some toys I have
After Edgar was nearly killed, I no longer feel so much resentment towards him and that i didn't feel that painful feeling anymore, so there is no reason to hate him, in the end he is just a child.
As for Edgar he didn't talk to me much
He was just staring at me with a red face and when I looked up to meet his gaze, he lowered his face pretending to be interested in the game
I almost find his demeanor cute
*********
At six Count Miller and his wife were due to go
When I thought it was all over, Mrs.Miller came out saying:
"So Edgar what do you think of Shina? Would you like to be engaged to her?"
Edgar's face became all red
'He really blush a lot'
He started playing his fingers and then he looked at me hesitating: "Well, I-I would like-"
Before Edgar could finish the sentence I interrupted him and looking at Mrs. Miller i directly said: "I'm sorry but it wouldn't work."
My parents and Edgar's parents looked at me in amazement
"And why are you saying this Shina?" asked Mrs. Miller
"he's too short," I replied
Edgar turned pale at these words, and an air of embarrassment arose between my parents and Edgar's parents
'..........'
'Well it's not like i told a lie right?'
'............'
'Huff, better explain it well'
So I said calmly to avoid misunderstanding:
"Edgar is a kind and caring guy and I'm sure he would also make a great husband but I think it is obvious that I will become a very tall woman, just look at how tall I am now and how tall my parents are, I will certainly become at least as tall as mine mother if not more and a nobleman cannot have a woman taller than him, his honor is at stake "
With these words my parents and his parents became more understanding, but surprisingly it was Edgar who spoke
"I don't care if you are taller than me in the future!" Edgar said with tears in his eyes
I looked at him, I'm sorry to cut him off like that, but I don't want the future to repeat itself
"Edgar, I'm sure you will be a wonderful husband but you better choose a shorter woman (like the heroine), now you say so, but you don't know if you will react the same way in the future"
In fact, you won't react the same way and you'll be a bastard, but that's another story
"Can I visit you in the future?" he said with a puppy face
'........'
'Do all the targets use the puppy face or what? even Niver did the same thing'
We are in front of my parents can't tell him no even if i really want to
"Of course, you can come whenever you want," I told him with a smile
Eventually they left, I don't think I will see Edgar again, so happily i went to my room
I never thought I'd be so wrong
It appears that Edgar begged his parents to study with me from time to time
My tutor is one of the best in the empire, if Edgar study with him it's actually a good thing for him so they obviously agreed. My parents thinking that a companion would keep me company accepted Count Miller's offer and now Edgar will come to our house 3-4 times a week to take lessons with me.
'..........'
I don't hate him but WTF? i just wanted to study and live a lonely comfortable life and now i have to meet him almost everyday.
Well whatever,
Okay, in the end I met another target, but I had to meet him, he Shina's future boyfriend after all, I don't think it will change the plot much......... right?