The Villainess Who Looks Like a Little Girl Is in the Arms of the Ice Prince (Who Is Sometimes Cute) - Chapter 4

I am Enzo, Lady Yuliana Logier’s personal attendant—that’s my life now.

Before coming here, I was what you’d call a dead-end salaryman. After graduating high school, I somehow got into a black company and was in my second year. At twenty years old, I already had the look of death about me, with deep black bags under my eyes as I stared at the display, endlessly clacking away at the keyboard inputting data every day.

I don’t know what triggered my “otherworldly transfer,” but before I knew it, I was in another world.

And I realized it was the world of a game I’d been obsessed with when I happened to spot eight-year-old Lady Yuliana in a corner of the royal capital while job hunting.

(Ah, don’t think it’s weird that a twenty-year-old guy was hooked on an otome game. I fell in love at first sight with the strong-willed villainess.)

The villagers in the first town were wary of this strangely dressed man who suddenly appeared and chased me off without even listening to me. With no other choice, I worked in the fields and washed horses in the clothes on my back, eventually getting a ride on a carriage that took five days to reach the royal capital.

Then when I saw the familiar streets and Lady Yuliana, I realized, “Ah, this is that event where the prince summons her with a fake letter!” and desperately chased after her.

This prince is a damn liar, I tell you.

His letter said something ridiculous like: “How can you claim to possess noble knowledge without understanding common life? Walk the streets alone. I always stroll around like that.”

Of course, the competitive Lady Yuliana immediately took action.

There was a thief targeting the young lady walking alone, trying to steal Lady Yuliana’s bag, which I prevented by suddenly speaking up. My heart was pounding like crazy!

Actually, that bag contained a brooch that was a keepsake from Lady Yuliana’s grandmother—an heirloom supposedly given by a king’s generation ago.

If she’d carelessly walked around town and lost a royal artifact, Lady Yuliana’s reputation in high society would have plummeted. Telling an eight-year-old duke’s daughter to walk around town alone? She could have died!

“That damn prince, is he an idiot?!”

I remembered shouting without thinking in a back alley of the royal capital.

Before me stood Lady Yuliana, her purple eyes wide open. Even at eight, she was strikingly beautiful. Her skin was smooth, dazzling to behold.

“Whoa! Did I commit lese-majesty?!”

“Hehe! Then I’m guilty too.”

“Huh?”

“I think the same about that prince! Fufufu.”

The villainess’s innocent laughter was utterly, completely adorable.

“So cute…”

“Fufu. You with your strange way of speaking are interesting. What’s your name?”

“Uh, En… Enzo. That’s my name.”

Since my Japanese name probably wouldn’t make sense here, I made this one up on the spot. I quite like it.

“Enzo. What brings you to the royal capital?”

“Ah, job hunting. Can’t make a living in the village.”

“Oh? Then why not become my attendant?”

If possible, right away! I thought, but I’m a suspicious otherworld transfer. With just the clothes on my back and no status or anything, it would be impossible, I became calm.

“I’m just a commoner. I probably can’t enter a duke’s household.”

“…Do you have any special skills? Magic, swordsmanship? If you have rare abilities, perhaps my recommendation alone could make it work.”

Even though I’d helped her against the thief, it felt odd that she’d want to employ someone she just met.

“Why me specifically?”

“Because you helped me.”

Lady Yuliana’s eyes darkened slightly.

“Everyone around me only says to do as the crown prince’s letter says.”

“Th-that’s…”

I remembered that this brilliant person was even seen as a threat by her own father and kept at a distance.

“No one helps me. So, I thought you might. This is troubling, I’m sorry.”

A duke’s daughter honestly apologizing to a commoner; that’s not normal thinking.

I understood just how cornered Lady Yuliana was.

“…Then, two years. Can you give me that?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll go train. You start attending palace tea parties at ten, right?”

“You know quite well!”

“By then, I’ll definitely be at your side as your attendant.”

Because of losing the brooch, this brilliant person would fully blossom as a villainess over those two years. All to prepare for the tea party. Who would choose to become a villain? While being cornered and protecting herself, she would only fall deeper.

The women’s battles at the palace, which she’d have to gradually participate in before her society debut, were the beginning of her villainess life. There, Lady Yuliana would compete with that fake marquis’s daughter for “the position of the crown prince’s fiancée.” Lady Yuliana of course didn’t care about the prince at all. She just wanted to become queen and govern this kingdom properly.

After running through the scenario in my mind, I knelt on one knee and looked up at Lady Yuliana.

I imitated the knight’s oath I’d seen in games, placing my right hand over my heart and bowing my head.

Lady Yuliana, catching her breath, gently touched my left shoulder—acceptance of the master-servant vow.

“Enzo… promise?”

“Yes!”

After seeing Lady Yuliana onto her carriage, I hurried out of the royal capital toward a certain destination.

I absolutely refuse to accept that fake marquis’s daughter as the protagonist. I totally don’t get why knights and ministers would dote on her. She’s just an idiot with big boobs. Lady Yuliana is far more intelligent, kind, and beautiful.

“I’ll protect my best girl with my own hands!”

I naturally knew the location of my destination—”the Witch of Time,” Castehelmi—since I’d already cleared that part. The forest was full of traps, and I got quite injured, but I managed to reach the house.

From there, I stood in front of the house shouting “Meet with me!” for three days straight. When she finally opened the door, I was covered in bug bites, starving with a headache—it was rough. I survived by drinking rainwater collected on leaves! Good thing I’d watched those desert island survival shows.

“Hmm. You don’t seem harmful. You who came from the outside world.”

As expected of the Witch of Time, she apparently immediately knew I wasn’t from this world.

“You can tell I’m from another world just by looking?!”

Castehelmi looked at my exhausted, surprised self with exasperation.

“Well, yes. Your name?”

“Enzo.”

“Enzo. Why have you come?”

“I want to save Lady Yuliana.”

“Why?”

“No big reason. She’s my best girl.”

“Best girl?”

I explained how pure and cute Lady Yuliana was, and how she possessed outstanding intelligence and abilities.

“…A commoner making the duke’s daughter his? That’s impossible.”

“Mak-ing her miiine?! No, no!”

I passionately explained that I didn’t want to touch or hold her. I just wanted to watch her become happy from beside her.

Then I told her about the scenario that would visit this kingdom in the future, and Lady Yuliana’s tragedy.

“I see. That’s mostly correct.”

“Correct?! Ah, right, ‘Witch of Time’…”

“Enzo. No one knows what’s truly right. Because of your actions from now on, the prince and Marquis daughter Ines will likely become unhappy.”

Gulp—I swallowed.

That might be true.

“Fine by me. They can resist that themselves if they want.”

I couldn’t care less about those who rely on the scenario to demean others. They have status and power too. They should be able to handle it.

“…Ahahahaha! Right, exactly! Fate is something you carve out yourself!”

After laughing heartily like that, Castehelmi removed her hood and face covering before me.

The face that appeared was unmistakably a Japanese man. Around thirty years old. He had intelligent, kind-looking eyes.

“Welcome to this world. Kenzō Endō-kun. So ‘Enzo’—cool name.”

“You were a guy?”

“Fufu. I also came here long ago. Probably similar to you.”

“No way!”

“The difference is that I was the game master. Died from overwork~. Glad we could release it.”

I was so stunned I thought my jaw might drop off.

“But we found bugs, and the world was about to break. As Castehelmi, I tried to somehow correct its course, but I guess I can’t manage it alone. So help me, Endō-kun.”

“Whoa, this is way too big!”

“Fufu. If Yuliana becomes happy, it should be fine. Probably.”

“Probably?!”

Castehelmi laughed heartily again.

“Now then, shall we start your training. But first, a bath and meal. You, way too stinky. Stinky.”

“Don’t say I stink. And don’t leave me out here for three days!”

“Well~, I thought it’d be bad if you had ill intentions~. I’m a shut-in, so other people scare me.”

“Just let me in already, it’s cold!”

Now that I knew he was Japanese too, no need to hold back.

I wanted under a roof quickly. Wanted a bath. Wanted to eat. Wanted to sleep.

“Whoa. Just barging right in, typical Kansai person.”

“That’s prejudice.”

I wondered if maybe I’d been summoned here because I responded to this guy’s help request? But I didn’t feel the slightest bit resentful.

No attachment to my previous world. I’ll save Lady Yuliana here.

—I’ve found my fate.

◆

After surviving two hellish years, I acquired magical power, learned various spells, and trained in swordsmanship.

As expected of the game master, he knew this world inside out. Honestly, I thought I’d die about a hundred times.

“If the duke family head seems about to refuse, just give him this.”

Castehelmi gave me a small pouch. Inside was something called the “Time Crystal Ball,” apparently.

“It can rewind time slightly, just once. This will serve as proof that you’re the ‘Witch of Time’s disciple.'”

“Understood.”

“Alright then, I’ll go back to being a shut-in until my next appearance~”

Fearing his impact on the world, he remains here alone.

“Right. Once this is resolved, let’s have some tea or something.”

“Ahaha! ‘Or something’!”

Waving to Castehelmi who saw me off with a smile, I headed for the royal capital.

And so, the lonely ten-year-old Lady Yuliana welcomed me with a smile, just as promised.