I Possessed The Villain’s Childhood Friend

3 – The Ball – 2

Red blood splattered.

“Kyaaa!!”

Whose scream was that?

I had no idea.

“Ike! Move!”

My father’s command went down.

What am I supposed to do now?

To protect Reina and reduce damage no matter what.

It was the prince who shed blood. There was a long scar from his left shoulder to his chest.

He knelt down, clutching his chest with both hands.

Raina, covered in her blood, couldn’t move as her complexion turned pale.

The purpose was clear.

It was the beginning of the battle for succession to the throne.

It is true that the Crown Prince’s ability is so outstanding that he is the closest to the succession to the throne, but not everyone supports him.

Obviously there are factions within the nobility, and this is a raid for that purpose.

My father knew that too, so he must have told me to protect the crown prince.

The easiest way to discredit him is to make an accident at a party he hosts.

“A raid!”

Anyway, isn’t this too much?

Someone whose face is covered from all sides harms defenseless nobles.

Even if the succession to the throne is an important issue, it shouldn’t be something that needs to go this far.

“Ike! What are you doing!”

As I stayed still while looking around, my father’s unholy command fell again.

Yes. You must not stand still.

Move.

Raina decided to create a happy world.

Then move.

The incident has already occurred. All that’s left is how to solve it.

If you don’t know the answer right away, move and stop them.

Give her body so that not even a little bit of her can harm her.

By the way.

“… Why.”

Why aren’t you moving?

You’ve trained yourself to move no matter what happens.

You wielded your sword every day, refined your mana, and trained over and over again.

It was only less than a month, but you tried not to be ashamed.

But why are your legs shaking?

Move. In action. In action.

Move quickly and save people.

Run for Reina.

“Move!”

I tried punching her ball hard at her knee, but the trembling only intensified.

Why are you stopping?

Again, unknown blood flowed in front of her eyes.

Looking at the scene.

“… Scared.”

Inadvertently.

Suddenly.

That answer came out of my mouth.

Yes. To be honest, I was scared.

Even if I trained hard for a month.

No matter how much Raina longs for a world where she can be happy.

After all, I am not a person of this world.

Because I know everything about how the story goes.

I became conscious of the fact that no major problems would arise even if I didn’t move.

It can’t be helped.

He’s been lying in bed most of his life.

It doesn’t make much sense to tell such a person to swing a sword without hesitation.

“… Let’s run away.”

Yes. It is unavoidable.

Anyway, Ike Axus is a minor character.

If you run away and disappear here, the big story won’t change.

Then I’ll help Reina outside.

This is too much for me. It’s impossible.

Because this wasn’t the story I wanted.

At most, I was attacked by one or two people, and it was at the level of preventing it by noticing the incident in advance.

It wasn’t a story that splattered blood in all directions like this.

So there’s nothing you can do about it.

It’s impossible for a guy like me.

The moment I slowly lifted my head while comforting myself like that.

“Queup!”

Reina, holding a dagger for self-defense and facing the assailant, came into her eyes.

The beautiful dress was already stained with the prince’s blood, giving an eerie feeling, and several shallow but scars remained on her skin.

Raina already seemed to be at her limit. She

She was somehow blocking the attack of the assailant, but it seemed that it was getting out of her power, and she gasped for breath.

There was no one around to help.

The prince, who was barely able to draw his sword and fight back despite being seriously injured, didn’t have the energy to look around.

His father and other knights were doing everything they could to escort him or prevent other damage.

Only in this, only Reina was in an isolated situation.

“No, no.”

In the end, Reina’s dagger for self-defense was ricocheted off by the opponent’s attack.

The dagger flew in my direction quite by accident, and Rayna met my eyes as I stood still.

Ike.

I couldn’t hear her voice, but she whispered my current name.

“Don’t be ridiculous!!!”

The trembling of the body stopped, and the legs began to move.

Before I knew it, I was running towards her like crazy.

I put all my mana into my legs, and it was the fastest I could achieve.

“… !”

But it was too far.

It was impossible at this level of speed.

I couldn’t help but watch Reina being stabbed by the assailant’s knife.

Just like that, the moment a knife was about to be stabbed in her chest.

「I’ll help you just once.」

For some reason, I felt like I heard that kind of voice.

“Who the hell did this!”

All the assailants fell and the situation was finally settled.

The most seriously injured was the crown prince, and it was fortunate that there were no fatalities.

“Thank you earlier.”

Reina looked at me and lowered her head.

But that thanks didn’t really come into my head.

A previously unknown sensation.

That feeling that was not like my body.

A movement that was absolutely impossible on my own.

What was that?

And who was that voice?

I didn’t know a single thing, but if there’s anything that’s fortunate.

“I thought it was over, thank you so much.”

Maybe it was because he was able to save Reina.

Yes. For now, let’s just be grateful for that and move on.

Let’s be sincerely grateful that we prevented the future of losing everything and regretting it.

“… You remembered.”

“Huh?”

Reina seems to have said something quietly, so let’s ask.

“Ike!”

Suddenly, a roar like thunder was heard.

I turned my head in the direction the sound came from, and my father, frowning, was walking towards me.

Beside him, the prince, who had been cured with magic, was walking with him.

“… Father.”

“What the hell was that like? Carrying the name of the family, showing such ugliness! I know how hard you tried. I had no doubt that you would be able to shine without giving in to your talent! I’ve always been proud of you, but you… !”

There was nothing that even ten mouths could say.

“There is a difference between simple knowledge and practice, Ike. I know that, so I can understand why you were frightened and couldn’t move. But what the hell was that at the end?”

From the way my father looked at me with his teeth clenched and his eyes wide open, anyone could see that he was angry.

“A knight is someone who can lay down his life for his lord. How many times have I told you that when your lord’s life is in danger, he is the first to wield the sword! Did you forget that?!”

“No, Father. I remember.”

Actually, my father emphasized that fact whenever I trained.

So he couldn’t say that he had forgotten.

“Although you know that, do you prioritize affection at the end? I know that Miss Reina was dangerous. But His Highness is already mortally wounded! But you, who can barely move, prioritize affection!”

It wasn’t just a matter of venting your anger.

My father’s words were obviously mixed with a lot of emotions.

Knowing that, I had no excuses.

“Wait a minute, Duke Addos.”

Unexpectedly, the person who stopped his father’s reprimand, which seemed to continue endlessly, was the crown prince.

“I understand what the Duke’s story means. But he is still just an aspiring knight. He never swore a knight’s oath.”

“… That’s right.”

“And someone who can act in a frightened situation for his friend. I think that makes it more believable.”

“Even if you say so, this is a family scandal…. But thank you, Your Highness.”

My father slowly lowered his head, and I followed suit.

No matter what excuses I make, as the heir to a knight family and as an aspiring knight, my actions are wrong.

If I exaggerate a little, it would have been enough to be charged with treason.

However, the prince’s just remark meant that he would quietly submit it to Buddhist texts.

Just now, our family has clearly been favored by the Crown Prince.

“Good. Then Duke of Addos. I have one request for you.”

“Yes. Anything that is possible for me.”

“Can I talk to your son alone for a moment?”

The prince was quietly raising his lips.

★

Leon Aegis Astraia.

The crown prince who is the first in line to the throne of the Astraia Empire.

What kind of person is he?

In the worldview of ‘She heals the wounded world’, she is described as the greatest genius in history.

Brute force and intellect. His magic was also top-notch, and he was the most suitable person to become the next emperor with his innate charisma.

But if that’s the only downside to him.

That was the perfect genius.

Because he was so brilliant, he couldn’t understand ordinary people, and the prince was getting tired of everything. He closed his mind.

He is described as having a friendly demeanor on the outside, but not openly talking to anyone, even building a wall against his family.

The heroine is what makes such a crown prince change.

… Okay. To be honest, the setting was too obvious, and the story was too obvious.

“Young master Ike. If you’re 14, you’re the same age as me, so is it okay if I talk casually?”

So now, this was completely unexpected.

“Yes. Majesty.”

This man, who is of little interest to most people, asks me to talk.

“Ike. You can also speak comfortably. It might be impossible in front of other people, but I want you to be as comfortable as possible when the two of us talk like this.”

The prince, who said that, was smiling with a sense of ulterior motive.

“It’s okay, Your Highness.”

“Sorry. First of all, let me tell you the reason I called you directly.”

“Yes.”

“Ike. I want you to be my friend.”

“… Yes?”

My thoughts stopped for a moment.

In the original work, Ike and the prince had no relationship whatsoever.

There has never been any description of friendship or the relationship between a lord and a knight.

The character Ike was just a device to express Reina.

But why is the prince talking to me like this?

“What do you mean?”

“It’s literally. It means I want to be friends with you. By the way, this is a request, not an order. I swear on my name that even if you refuse, nothing will happen.”

What kind of answer should I give?

To what extent is the truth of the prince’s words now?

It was a completely unpredictable situation.

“Will it be difficult to understand the intention just by saying this? To put it simply, it means to be on my side.”

The prince smiled slightly and opened his mouth again.

“I have a talent. Overwhelming talent even among our brothers. I can assure you that leading the empire in the future will be the best…. But that doesn’t mean everyone will follow me. Nobles each have their own wants, and the people who support them differ accordingly. And with today’s incident, my faction is in the worst situation right now.”

It’s all true.

Still, the current crown prince is Leon Aegis Astraia.

The reason was his overwhelming talent.

“Of course, it doesn’t change that I am the crown prince. It’s not that my ability is lacking enough to be shaken by this incident. However, if most nobles support the other brothers until the end, I will be stripped of my position as crown prince. A ruler is not a position where only individual talent is important.”

“So you’re looking for someone you can conciliate?”

“Did I tell you earlier? People who can act for their friends are more trustworthy. When you became friends with me And if you become my knight in the future, I thought that you would become a more reliable ally than anyone else.”

… To be honest, I was a little offended.

What the prince wanted was not a friend.

He was an ally who could sacrifice for himself.

In the end, the only thing you can do now is find a way to increase your faction.

It’s a little bit, but at this time, I thought the same thing, maybe before he closed his mind.

But he was already the prince I knew.

Because the eyes weren’t smiling at all in the prince’s smile.

“… Sorry. Time to think a little.”

“Sorry. Well, i get it Then I will pray to see you later.”

When I answered while lowering my head, the prince withdrew meekly, as if he understood my meaning.

It seemed to be true that it was a request, not an order.

I bowed my head to the crown prince, then got up from the chair and left the room.

“Ah, I meant it when I said that a person who can act for a friend is more trustworthy. Really.”

I heard those words the moment the door closed, but I walked down the hallway without answering.