My Childhood Friends Are Trying To Kill Me

***

“You don’t like it?”

Griffith asked as if he knew everything about Romeo. Romeo was speechless.

Romeo, who hesitated to answer, soon made up his mind and nodded.

“Okay, I don’t want to. I… I don’t want to force her to do something like that. Unless it’s what Lellia wants.”

“Lelia… will eventually want it.”

Griffith said meaningfully. His tone was very confident.

“What are you talking about?”

“Lelia doesn’t want us to point swords at each other, so it’s going to end up like that. She can’t throw away any of us.”

“…”

“Last time, I failed because I was in a hurry and I was too excited… I’m going to wait now. Even if I don’t force it right away, it’ll happen someday.”

It was a voice full of beliefs. At that moment, it seemed like a new priest reading the Bible believing it was true.

Romeo turned his head, feeling goosebumps on his skin.

Crazy guy.

Crazy guy!

Crazy guy!!

A gloomy guy!

A perv**t!!

…

He muttered abusive language out of his mouth as if for Griffith to listen openly, and soon sat in a comfortable position.

Griffith looked at him in doubt. Romeo spoke like he wanted to pick a fight.

“What are you looking at? What do you think a stalker like you would do to Lelia? I’m going to keep an eye on you here.”

“…Whatever.”

Griffith didn’t care. Rather, he seemed to like it, saying he had a companion.

Romeo seemed to be boiling.

Griffith looked out the window feeling relaxed.

When he thought of Lelia, who was sleeping peacefully there, he smiled. He patted his chin lightly.

“So… Oscar, when do you want to come?”

There must have been something.

The reason why Oscar can’t come to Lelia’s side with ease.

Whatever the reason was, he would soon find out.

Even the waiting was sweet.

He never tried to drive a wedge, but somehow he thought it would be fun.

***

A few days later, late at night.

Lelia couldn’t fall asleep easily again today, and was sitting with her back leaning against the bedside.

Since the emperor’s return, unstable but peaceful days have continued.

Lelia has now put her mind down enough to put off worrying about the emperor for a while.

The guilt did not completely disappear, but the emperor had a family to comfort him anyway.

Empress, Cedric, Damien, and Julianna. It was rather fortunate that they were next to the emperor.

Now she deserves to enjoy some peace, but the anxiety did not disappear from Lelia’s mind.

Oscar was not coming back.

It’s been days since she waited without any promise.

In fact, each passing day felt like a few years.

Lelia was eating peacefully and talking happily with other friends.

They were now fully adapted to the territory and stayed with Lelia’s family without hesitation.

In particular, her uncle liked to take Kalix to train the Knights, but he seemed to like Kalix’s tireless physical strength.

“As expected, Kalix, my eyes that recognized you were not wrong. Men’s physical strength is the best, right, Lelia?”

Her uncle complimented Kalix at every meal and forced Lelia to answer.

Lelia felt sorry for the knights, who were overworked by her uncle and Kalix every day.

Even her uncle, who said that, looked very tired.

Only Kalix looked fine. But her uncle looked so happy that Lelia just nodded.

And Aunt Atias… Whenever she had a break, she came to Lelia and said, “Lelia, marry Romeo. Your aunt has been betrayed by a man once, and it’s rare for a man to be that good.”

“…”

“There is no man in the world who is so delicate, handsome, and has such a good body. And he is rich too.”

Lelia seemed to know how Romeo coaxed her tricky aunt.

Romeo had a lot of common sense in various fields, especially in the jewelry field that Aunt Atias liked.

“I heard they send people to the Roseberry Empire to bring a lot of jewelry. But he doesn’t want to go back home. How can there be a better husband than this?”

“…”

Above all, Romeo seemed to be stuck with the fact that he had no intention of returning to his home country.

Romeo enjoyed various conveniences as a royal family, but he had no right to succeed. That seemed to be what her aunt liked.

And Griffith… She didn’t understand anything about him.

Kalix and Romeo still had a lot of time to eat together or drink tea and face each other, but Griffith had been particularly busy recently.

She found out through the servant that Griffith’s daily routine was very tight. It must have been difficult to see his face.

Griffith takes a walk with his grandmother and grandfather as soon as he wakes up in the morning.

After that, he stays in her grandfather’s office and has lunch with her mother. She didn’t know what he was doing in her grandfather’s office.

In the afternoon, he helped her grandmother and mother recover, but he had free time only in the late evening.

Lelia felt grateful and sorry for Griffith.

After returning from the temple, Lelia had always paid attention to Griffith and decided to talk to him first, unlike when she was young. However, it was Griffith who was busy.

In the end, she was uncomfortable with the fact that she couldn’t talk to Griffith properly after that.

She wanted to thank him…

And as such a peaceful day went by, Lelia missed Oscar.

What would Oscar have been like if he had stayed together in this territory?

‘Who do I become the closest to?’

Lelia somehow thought Oscar would stick close to her.

Whenever the three friends drank tea with Lelia, they would show off how close they had become to their families.

Of course, unlike Kalix and Romeo, Griffith laughed at the two and showed them only in action.

The way grandmother, grandfather, and mother looked at Griffith was enough. Their eyes were full of trust.

Lelia imagined Oscar to be there.

As always, Oscar… seemed to look only at her without thinking about getting close to anyone.

Like he doesn’t care about anything else.

To be honest, she missed Oscar’s blind attention and affection.

Tired of longing, she even dreamed of Oscar coming out, when she heard the news.

It was news that a new emperor was crowned to the Hraesvelg Empire.

Oscar was not the new emperor.

He was the young son of a lord who had a small land very far from the imperial city of Hraesvelg.

The child, who was a young master of rural land, became an emperor overnight.

Everyone in the world was wondering, but Lelia instinctively felt that Oscar would be back soon.

I’ll be back, by your side…

I’ll be by your side forever.

She still heard it clearly in my ears.

The low voice that penetrated her ears asking for permission and the touch of the lips that were sitting on the shoulders.

When Lelia was alone, she looked out the window every day and waited for Oscar.

Because she was sure that he would come through the window.

But someone else was convinced of it.

Like a hunter waiting with a trap, someone sat on a bench in the garden every night and stared at the window.

“Hey, aren’t you tired?”

Romeo asked in a disgusting tone.

It was the same tonight.

Romeo was sick and tired of Griffith sitting on the bench in the same posture every night with the same expression.

It was really creepy and annoying.

He didn’t even have sleep. Romeo couldn’t stop swearing. It seemed to control the fatigue of the body with sacred power, but Romeo had a hard time.

Romeo was a person who loved the sweet mood when he woke up after sleeping late.

He can control his sleep with magic, but… It was also a day or two.

It was difficult to maintain his magic without enough rest.

But he couldn’t even leave that crazy jerk alone.

He talked about surveillance… To be honest, Griffith was the one to lock up and monitor.

So Romeo camped across the bench where Griffith sat every night.

He slept there with a thick mat and a blanket. The alarm was set with a magic tool so that you could wake up and check every 5 minutes. There was no torture.

Now Romeo knew who Griffith was waiting for.

It was clearly Oscar.

This was because Griffith’s gaze became sharper after hearing the news of the Hraesvelg Empire.

Romeo was sick and tired of this situation. Oscar and Griffith, who shed their eyes at each other every time they met, were annoying.

“Oh, so annoying. You guys are crazy. Really.”

“Let’s get along well. Silly guys.”

Romeo felt a rush of irritation with drowsiness. He lay down covering his shoulders with a thick blanket.

‘Should I go to Lellia’s room and ask her to put him to sleep? Rather, it would be safer and warmer.’

It was time for Romeo to think that it was so fruitless.

Crunch

Romeo and Griffith’s eyes were on the window felt from one side.

Someone was coming this way. It must have been heading toward the window of Lelia’s room.

However, it was Kalix who appeared among the bushes.

“…?”

When he saw the two, Kalix opened his eyes wide as if it was unexpected to see them here.

He stared alternately at Griffith and Romeo. When he saw Romeo covered in a blanket, he looked especially like he was looking at a crazy man.

Romeo resented the gaze.

He couldn’t believe he was looking at him like that! His pride was very hurt.

“What are you doing? Are you camping? Why?”

Kalix, who asked like that, sounded and looked like he was going to see all the stupid people.

“What are you doing here?”

When Romeo asked annoyingly, Kalix showed him a basket full of things.

There were foods in a large basket.

“I’m hungry. I’m going to eat it with the captain.”

“What? Why are you hungry at this hour?”

“I had a little dinner.”

If Romeo’s memory was correct, Kalix has emptied several plates of steak.

However, Kalix turned around with a calm face. He was about to climb the window right away.

It was then.

“Wait a minute.”

Griffith said as if to stop quietly.

At that moment, Romeo, as well as Kalix, who was about to climb the window, stopped.

This was because two people also felt someone’s footsteps at the same time as Griffith.

Soon, someone appeared in the dark.

It was Oscar.

***