A Third-Rate Villain Tries Her Best Today 27

Chapter 27

Fortunately, Leo wasn’t oblivious. He forced down the mocking smile that threatened to spread across his face as he watched Sue smile awkwardly. Then, as if toying with her, he paused for a moment before speaking in a calm tone.

“That day, you were very kind to me.”

That day?

“The day of the accident, a month ago.”

Leo elaborated, catching her mumble.

Sue reflexively rolled her eyes and tried to recall the day of the accident. She desperately searched her memories, but she couldn’t recall treating Leo in any special way. She had just been scared.

“I didn’t do anything.”

It wasn’t modesty. It was common practice for any noble to take care of the aftermath after causing an accident. No, it was something anyone would do, noble or not. It was ‘Sue’ who had been the strange one for not doing so.

But Leo shook his head as if Sue had said something wrong.

“You’re being modest, Lady.”

“…?”

“You’re the first person who has been this kind to me since I came here.”

For some reason, a shadow fell over Leo’s face as he spoke sincerely. Sue unconsciously gulped. Her body stiffened.

“Actually, I haven’t met anyone as kind as you since I entered the inner canal. That’s why it stuck with me. I understand if you don’t quite get it.”

As she watched Leo take a sip of his tea with a bitter smile, Sue’s mind was flooded with negative thoughts.

‘So he didn’t receive good treatment because he came from outside the canal.’

But something didn’t add up. While the people of Löhn looked down on those who came from outside the canal, she didn’t think it was common to openly discriminate or mistreat them, unless they had personalities like Enzhe or Sue. Of course, Sue, who had lived her entire life as a Skia, wouldn’t know how people from the borderlands were actually treated.

‘The atmosphere at the academy wasn’t hostile…’

But that might be because there were far more non-Skia students than Skia students at the academy.

Or maybe, after spending so much time with the most malicious person in the world, she had become unable to discern the petty malice of others.

“How long has it been since you came here, Sir?”

“I arrived around last winter, so it’s been about half a year.”

Half a year. Had he spent half a year in the capital and only felt true kindness from someone like Sue? Even after she had broken his arm?

Suddenly, she felt sorry for him. Sue looked at Leo with pity in her eyes, then, remembering Noel’s face, she asked him again.

“Sir, you said you were close to Sir Raines, right?”

On the day of the accident, at the hospital, Leo had expressed concern for Noel. It was Noel who had approached even Sue, wanting to be friends. She didn’t think he would mistreat Leo just because he was a borderlander. Moreover, Leo even called him by his nickname, ‘Raines’, so Sue couldn’t imagine Noel treating him poorly.

“Being close and being kind are two different things.”

It was a statement that made sense, yet didn’t.

“We have a master-servant relationship, so there’s a line. Besides, he’s been coming home less and less lately, and he often ignores me when I try to talk to him… He’s a good person, but it’s become difficult.”

Leo smiled wryly and fell silent. So Noel still wasn’t going home? And as she had suspected, Leo seemed to be working as Noel’s servant in exchange for staying at the Noel residence.

After hearing all this, Sue thought she understood Leo’s feelings.

He’s basically saying he hasn’t been treated properly for the past six months. So he was grateful to me for compensating him generously.

“I see. I haven’t had much interaction with people from outside the capital, so I apologize if I was insensitive. Sir Leo.”

Sue’s voice softened considerably. She had let go of her guard against Leo, and she felt obligated to be considerate towards him.

“No, it’s an honor just to have you listen to me, Lady Byron.”

He said he wanted to meet me and talk. Then let’s do that. It’s something even I can do.

“Sir, I’ll be your conversation partner if you’d like.”

Sue smiled like a sheltered young lady raised in a noble family. Leo blinked his droopy eyes in surprise, then smiled back wryly.

***

Sue and Leo chatted for a while. Or rather, Sue mostly listened as Leo poured out his heart to her.

Leo was nineteen years old and from a remote province called ‘Raiha’, located at the edge of the empire. He was a member of a branch family of the Noel count family, but his bloodline was diluted, so he hadn’t grown up in a particularly wealthy environment. He had trained as a knight under a local lord in Raiha, but it seemed he hadn’t even been recognized as a squire.

“The training I received at that small training ground was far below the standards of the Royal Knights. Probably. Then, whether it was good luck or bad luck, I ended up coming to the capital, practically kicked out.”

Leo’s expression darkened considerably whenever he talked about his life in Raiha. Despite his sturdy physique, he seemed to have very low self-esteem.

“They call themselves a branch family of the Skias, but as I said, our bloodline is diluted, so we’ve never received any benefits. Which is understandable. But in the end, my family went to great lengths to send me here. But reality wasn’t so kind.”

“….”

The more she listened to Leo’s story, the more Sue’s mind conjured up images of his miserable life outside the capital. It seemed he had never received kindness from anyone, not even in Raiha.

This made her understand why Leo considered her ‘kind’, even though they had no connection other than the accident.

“…It would have been nice if I had always lived in the capital.”

He even had an inferiority complex about his origins. His self-introduction had seemed so casual at first. Sue smiled awkwardly, unable to respond properly to his self-deprecating words, wondering when the atmosphere had become so heavy.

“…Ah, I apologize. Lady Byron. I didn’t mean to… I seem to have only told you unpleasant stories.”

Leo’s gaze, which had been unfocused, returned to Sue. He seemed to snap out of his thoughts and apologized profusely, unable to hide his embarrassment.

‘How could someone like this even think of meeting a Skia one-on-one?’

Leo was completely different from the impression Sue had initially had of him. She had thought he was a mature man, but that wasn’t the case.

He was polite but rude, ambitious but servile. Perhaps inviting her was his last act of courage, born out of extreme loneliness.

‘He must have wanted to talk to someone.’

The thought made her chuckle. The more she listened to Leo’s story, the more she felt a strange sense of kinship with him.

“It’s alright. Everyone has times when they want to confide in someone.”

“….”

Sue didn’t wait for his reply and took a sip of her tea. The lukewarm tea went down smoothly.

“But I had no idea that people in the capital treated borderlanders so coldly.”

“….”

“I’m so preoccupied with just attending Full Bloom… Sir?”

Sue wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked up. She could finally see Leo’s dumbfounded expression. His brown eyes, filled with surprise, or rather, a different emotion, were staring at her blankly.

“…Ah. Yes. Yes.”

Leo quickly composed himself, his eyes meeting hers. He cleared his throat and forced a smile, his facial muscles stiff.

“It’s nothing. I was just lost in thought… I apologize. Lady… Byron.”

Sue tilted her head at his awkward reaction.

Well, he must have remembered something unpleasant.

“What were you saying? Ah, were you talking about the atmosphere of coldness towards borderlanders?”

“Yes, yes, that’s what I was saying.”

“An atmosphere of coldness… An atmosphere of coldness…”

Leo repeated her words several times, his gaze averted. Then, as if he had organized his thoughts, he composed himself and continued.

“…Actually, as you said, maybe the atmosphere isn’t that cold towards borderlanders.”

“Huh?”

“But people change, don’t they? So maybe the culture of the capital has changed as well.”

“Change… So the culture has changed?”

Sue agreed with him, staring into her empty teacup.

“People and cultures change. I’ve changed, and so have you, Lady.”

Leo probably hadn’t meant it that way, but it was a pointed remark.

‘I have changed. My soul has.’

Do people really change? Then what about Enzhe? But Sue shook her head inwardly. She had a baseless conviction that Enzhe wouldn’t change, not even in a hundred or two hundred years.

“By the way, Lady Byron, do you like the tea here?”

Leo asked.

“Yes, I don’t come to the outskirts of the capital very often, so I didn’t know there was a place that served such fragrant tea. Thank you for showing me this nice place.”

“Haha, I’m glad you like it. And in this area…”

Their conversation continued in this manner, the atmosphere gradually shifting. And it went on for a while. It wasn’t a particularly meaningful conversation, but the more meaningless words they exchanged, the more Sue felt at ease.

As the sky turned orange, Sue boarded the Byron family carriage. And just before the carriage door closed, Leo smiled wryly and said,

“Esteemed Lady Byron, if it pleases you, would you grant me the opportunity to see you again?”

Sue stared down at Leo blankly. His playful expression reminded her of Noel. She recalled their conversation from that day.

‘It wasn’t particularly exciting, but…’

I think we could be friends.

During their conversation, Sue couldn’t help but feel a sense of kinship with Leo, who seemed to have never received affection from anyone. And rudely, she even felt a sense of closeness.

She was happy to see him so pleased just from her listening to his story.

Guilt, obligation, sympathy, kinship, closeness.

Whatever the emotion, there was no reason to refuse his request.

Sue smiled faintly, looking at Leo’s freely moving left arm.

“Yes, I would be happy to, if it’s not too much trouble for you.”