Taming The Villainesses-Chapter 393: Friend (4)

After running around for a long while, we took a break to cool off our sweat in the chilly breeze.

All of us sat together in the shade, drinking water or eating the sandwiches we had packed beforehand. Maybe because lunch had long passed, the food tasted especially good as it filled our hungry bodies.

Stella said,

“This reminds me of the old days. I can’t even calculate how many years it’s been anymore, but my heart feels like it’s gone back to that time. What should we play next?”

She was the oldest among us, with the most worldly experience, but perhaps because of that innate elven free-spiritedness, Stella still seemed to retain a childlike sense of wonder.

Meanwhile, Mirna, leaning against a wall, was busy trying to catch her breath.

“Having so much stamina really is something to be envied. Aren’t the rest of you tired? I’d prefer a nice cup of tea to running around like this.”

At that, Stella clicked her tongue.

“Kids these days don’t even know how to play outside. They just hole up at home with books or dolls. That’s not good for their health.”

As everyone continued to chatter and laugh, I looked over at Elga. She’d moved around quite a bit today, too.

“It’s hot, too hot. I thought summer was over.”

She wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand, so I pulled a towel out of my inventory and handed it to her.

“Please don’t overdo it.”

“This isn’t ‘overdoing it.’ When I was little, I could run around all day and still be fine. The more I moved, the sharper my mind became, and my body would blaze like a bonfire.”

They said that even as a child, Elga had such a fiery personality that even the boys her age couldn’t keep up with her. Apparently, she’d knocked down older boys, too.

“But still, I am a little tired. I don’t know how I used to run around without a care in the world back then. I feel like I could wash up and take a nap right about now.”

Streeetch—Elga let out a long yawn.

Beside her, Ayra was watching a butterfly perched on her fingertip. I wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but brightly colored butterflies sat on her fingers like rings.

Not just that—deer and rabbits, whose origins were unknown, lounged around her as if napping peacefully. That scene...

“She’s like a princess from a fairy tale.”

Was that Narmee who said it? I agreed with her.

I felt like I was catching a glimpse of the kind of princess Ayra once was—how she had drawn the hopes and attention of the entire royal court.

My gaze shifted to the imp, who was emptying out the sack of hardtack I’d brought. He was chewing the dry, crumbly rations like they were the best thing in the world.

“This is so good. I feel like I could eat this every day, forever!”

He looked so happy. Maybe that’s why, but his body had become even fainter—almost like a hologram, rather than a living person.

“......”

His legs had already faded past the ankles. Looking at him now, it was clear that he was no longer like us. Perhaps it was because his lingering regrets toward life were starting to fade.

I asked,

“How was it? Did you have fun today?”

“It was great! Let’s get up early again tomorrow and play together! Time flies by, and if we spend every day like this, then Master will come back soo—”

He trailed off mid-sentence.

He seemed to realize, just then, that his master—Isaiah Gospel—was no longer of this world.

The mood sank just a little.

Somewhere nearby, birds cawed as the sunset dimmed the sky. Was it four o’clock now? Maybe five?

By that time, after playing hard, we’d usually pack up our cards and toys and get ready to head home.

Kids would hold their mothers’ hands after a visit to the market and leave the playground one by one. And I... I used to watch them with envy.

The handfuls of folded paper cranes and game cards we’d clutched so tightly—once our friends disappeared, they lost all meaning in the empty playground.

Looking back, I guess even those things are memories now. But even those memories and feelings are beginning to blur with time. That’s when the imp spoke.

“Today was really, really fun! I hope tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that... are all just like today!”

He looked so happy. But at the same time... he looked lonely. Maybe he already knew that everyone would soon disappear into the dusk.

The young ladies who had been chatting nonstop now fell silent.

They simply glanced at each other, watching and reading the atmosphere. They must have sensed, too, that it was finally time to help the imp pass on—and destroy that jar.

“Miss Imp.”

That was when Mirna spoke.

“The truth is, there’s something we need to talk to you about...”

Just as she opened her lips to speak, the imp’s dim, pointed eyes and ears turned toward her. Was this the end?

“Wait.”

I spoke without thinking.

“Let’s do one more.”

I surprised even myself. Maybe it was a trace of my childhood innocence, not wanting to say goodbye just yet, that had slipped out unawares.

“The sun hasn’t fully set yet. I think we can squeeze in one more. Whatever it is, I’ll be ‘it’ this time.”

I looked at the imp.

His expression was radiant.

“Then let’s play hide-and-seek! We imps are the best at hiding! I hid more than twenty times through winter in this very fortress! No one ever found me, not even once!”

***

“Alright then, you all have five minutes to hide.”

I became the seeker for our final game. Once everyone had hidden during their five-minute window, I would open my eyes and begin the search.

It was a simple game.

And the imp had said this was the one he was most confident in.

“Hm.”

“Mm...”

Everyone looked like they wanted to say something, but just exchanged hesitant glances. I simply leaned against a pillar and slowly started counting.

“Ooooone.”

There’s a special rhythm to counting like this, drawn out in long breaths. Like that, I reached ten, then ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) a hundred, then eventually three hundred.

And then, I turned my head slowly and said,

“Ready or not, here I come!”

I opened my eyes. The training grounds looked completely desolate. It felt like a playground after everyone had gone home with their parents—quiet and lonely.

Of course, they hadn’t gone home—they were just hiding.

Somewhere in this large fortress, the people I needed to find were tucked away.

The fact that they all went along with this last-minute whim of mine filled me with a little emotion.

“Alright, I’m really going to find you all now.”

I started walking.

Footprints scattered here and there, but it was hard to tell when they’d been made.

Where could everyone be hiding? Now that the game had started, I was realizing how difficult it was to actually find someone in a place this big.

“...But why didn’t Elga-nim hide?”

I spotted her blond hair peeking out from behind the pillar I’d been leaning against. Was this that “right under the lamp is the darkest” strategy?

Flinch.

Elga, trembling, slowly stepped out from behind the pillar.

“...A lady of House Leones doesn’t run or hide.”

“You say that, but you ran around just fine during tag earlier.”

“That was different.”

She turned her head with a huff, sulking like she was annoyed that she’d been found so easily. Maybe I should’ve pretended not to see her?

No, that’s not it.

Elga wasn’t upset for that reason.

“Elga-nim, it seems like... you wanted me to find you first.”

“What?”

“You were hiding somewhere easy to find because you wanted me to come to you first. Though, even if you hadn’t done that, I probably would’ve found you first anyway.”

“Hmph, what are you saying? If I really wanted to hide, you’d never be able to find me.”

Elga scowled at me playfully. But she looked happy. Maybe it was because I’d seen through her unspoken wish.

Either way, I’d found one.

Six more to go.

Then Elga pointed toward a building near the training grounds.

“Hey, Mirna went that way earlier. Don’t tell her I told you.”

“......”

Isn’t giving hints against the rules? But well... it was just like Elga to not want to let Mirna get away with anything.

So I headed to the place Elga had pointed to and opened the old door. Inside, there were worn cross-shaped ornaments, shattered mosaic windows, and rows of chairs.

A chapel?

To think Gargarta Fortress had a chapel. Was Solomon more devout than I thought?

“Ahem.”

I cleared my throat and stepped inside. The quiet, dusty interior glimmered faintly with sunlight streaming through one of the still-intact stained glass windows.

Despite the shattered glass and decaying interior, the multicolored light falling on the floor was beautiful. This place—though old—felt strangely reverent.

If Mirna was hiding here...

My gaze drifted toward a strange, box-shaped structure tucked in a corner. A confessional? As I approached, I heard a rustling sound from inside.

“Lady Mirna, are you in there?”

From within came the startled sound of someone flinching.

━...How did you know?

How else? Elga told me. But remembering her request to keep it secret, I decided to play it cool.

“I already know where Lady Mirna would go, and what she’d do.”

Creak.

The old confessional door creaked open, and Mirna stepped out.

“Honestly, Sir Teo, I just can’t handle you. You know me so well...”

She said it like she was exasperated, but—

“Of course, you found me first, right?”

Her face looked quite pleased. So Elga and Mirna were both happy to be found first? Wasn’t the whole point of the game to feel frustrated when caught?

Maybe, to them, this game had become something like, “Whoever the half-fairy finds first gets the most attention and affection.”

Thinking I should find the other girls quickly too, I asked,

“Lady Mirna, do you happen to know where the others are?”

“I’m not sure. But if it’s Narmee...”

She looked toward the chapel’s back entrance. That was enough of a clue.

“Then, please head back to the training ground and wait by the bonfire. I still have to find the rest of the ladies.”

As I left the chapel, I found myself surrounded by tall gravestones.

A cemetery?

Come to think of it, Narmee and I had talked a lot in cemeteries before.

The memories came back. I used to think Narmee hated graveyards, but hiding in one now... maybe not as much as I thought.

So, where was she?

I looked around at the coffins scattered all over.

Creepy.

I could tell Narmee was hiding in one of the old, weathered, and decayed coffins—but there were nearly twenty of them. Opening each one would take time.

Just as I approached to lift the lid of one—

“Waaah!”

A different coffin burst open beside me, and something jumped out.

“Hiiieeek...!”

I screamed in surprise. My heart pounded as I turned and saw Narmee doubled over, laughing with her head down.

“Teo, I scared you, didn’t I? I win!”

“Lady Narmee, that’s not how this game works.”

“Really? I thought it was about hiding and then jumping out to scare people. I used to do it all the time with my uncles who were buried in the cemetery. Anyway, since I won, you have to grant me a wish!”

Narmee had completely rewritten the rules on her own. But that cheerful energy of hers was really endearing. Maybe her uncles had felt the same way.

“What wish would you like?”

“Kiss me.”

She tapped her lips with her finger. I glanced around, then quickly leaned in and pressed my lips lightly against hers.

Smooch.

We’d done way more than that in the past, but for some reason, this made me blush.

It felt like I’d reverted to a shy little boy again.

Anyway, now the ones left were Stella, Ayra... and the imp. Where had they gone?

Trying to guess where they would hide, what they would be thinking—was actually quite fun.