The Childhood Friend of the Villainess in a Romance Fantasy

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: TempWane

━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━

“But I heard the one escorting Lady Delkis was the Grand Duke’s Daughter of Grattanmount. Did the roles of the ‘escorter’ and the ‘escorted’ get reversed outside of my knowledge?”

The Crown Prince posed this question in response to my words.

Uh… does it work that way?

Since both of us are women, I assumed that deciding who escorts whom would be entirely up to us. But now that I think about it, traditionally, men always escorted women, and women simply received the escort.

And reversing that relationship was unthinkable within the bounds of our common sense.

If I applied that logic to our current situation, the one being escorted was naturally only expected to accept it as a given.

Caught off guard by my thoughtless comment, I momentarily found myself unable to respond to the Crown Prince’s question.

“Your Royal Highness, Crown Prince.”

The one who came to my aid was Adele, who had been dragged into my comment.

“Lady Carlins.”

“May I be permitted to join this conversation?”

Adele’s expression looked as though she had resolved herself for something.

“Oh?”

The Crown Prince, who seemed to have picked up Delkis’ peculiar mannerisms in his own way, appeared quite pleased with Adele’s remark. Was he the type to find women who challenged him appealing? No, based on the original story’s descriptions, he seemed to favor strong-willed, independent women.

“This is a venue for socializing, and in such a place, a bit of discourtesy is generally tolerated. There’s no need for my permission, Lady Carlins.”

Was that why he was behaving so boldly now?

No, even if he said that, the Crown Prince clearly had no intention of observing proper etiquette in the first place.

Even so, the women around him continued to gaze at him with sparkling eyes. The Crown Prince, with his handsome features and wild allure. Honestly, of the two traits, the “handsome” part was undeniably critical. Anyway, as the protagonist of a romance fantasy novel, the Crown Prince was indeed breathtakingly good-looking. As long as he didn’t commit some truly horrendous misdeed, most of his actions would likely be forgiven.

Meanwhile, Amelia wore a rather complicated expression, likely trying hard to think of a way out of the tangled situation.

“Lady Hoover stated that I arrived ‘without an escort,’ but I believe that assertion is, strictly speaking, incorrect.”

Adele clenched her fists tightly as she stared directly at the Crown Prince, who now wore an amused smile. She gripped the hem of her elegant-yet-slightly-old-fashioned dress tightly, which might leave a few wrinkles later. Still, Adele seemed too preoccupied to care.

“Having received an invitation and attended this ball on my own means I did not come ‘without an escort’ but rather ‘without someone to escort me.’ Admittedly, it’s a slightly embarrassing situation.”

“……”

Silence descended once more over the gathering.

The orchestra in the distance appeared unsure whether they should resume playing or not. Nearly all the eyes in the ballroom were fixed on us. Even the King seated on the throne and the Queen beside him were watching intently. Prince Allen, too, although he feigned indifference, couldn’t stop sneaking glances our way.

Well, even if it wasn’t this particular situation, the fact that two women arrived together and debated who was escorting whom was bound to draw attention.

“So, what you’re saying is?”

“What I mean is, I did not come to receive dance invitations, but to give them.”

It probably wasn’t her plan from the start.

When Adele realized there would be no one to escort her, she must have despaired. But avoiding this social gathering—a potential opportunity to carve out a better future for herself—wasn’t an option.

If, by chance, she could form meaningful friendships with other women here, it would be a win. And in the rare event that a nobleman found Adele’s appearance appealing and invited her to dance, it would be even better.

In fact, in the original novel, this was how her connection with the Crown Prince began. Even before that, her relationship with Amelia had already started to improve her life.

As the daughter of a conservative knightly family, Adele was likely saying all this now to pull me out of trouble.

“And so…”

Adele took a deep breath and turned to me.

Then, she spoke.

“Lady Delkis, may I have the honor of this dance?”

What?

*

Things had taken a strange turn in many ways, and in the end, I found myself dancing with Adele.

Thanks to plenty of practice with Amelia, I had become somewhat comfortable dancing without making a fool of myself. But with Adele, that wasn’t the case.

Although ballroom dances were more or less the same, the styles varied slightly by region. We had diligently practiced the royal capital’s style of dancing, but when it came to Amelia, we didn’t bother adhering to it strictly and just danced in the Northern style.

But there was no way Adele would know the Northern style of dancing.

In the end, I awkwardly had to follow the royal capital’s steps, and Adele found herself in the position of having to lead me.

Moreover, Adele was also a woman.

Naturally, her dance lessons would have been based on the female role. Yet, here she was, suddenly taking on the unfamiliar male role. It was, of course, bound to feel incredibly awkward.

To top it off, Adele was shorter than me.

All these factors combined, making our dance significantly more clumsy and chaotic than when I danced with Amelia earlier.

“I’m sorry.”

As we danced awkwardly, I quietly muttered an apologized. Adele blinked in surprise.

“Sorry? For what?”

“Well, because of me, you’re caught up in this. If not for me, you wouldn’t be stuck here and could have been enjoying yourself.”

At my words, Adele briefly looked blank, then chuckled softly.

“If it weren’t for Lady Grattanmount and Lady Delkis, I wouldn’t have even been able to attend this ball.”

“Still—”

“And if you hadn’t intervened back there, Lady Hoover would have continued pestering me endlessly.”

That was true.

Even if it had been confirmed that her invitation was genuine, Diane would have kept clinging to Adele, trying to figure out how she got it. All the while, she would’ve continued to harass Adele as much as possible.

“So, helping you this much only balances things out, don’t you think?”

“……”

Seeing Adele speak with a smile, it felt pointless to argue further.

“Besides, I’m enjoying myself right now. I’m here, in a place I could only imagine as a child, dancing while being the center of attention.”

Well, she was certainly the center of attention…

But it’s not exactly the kind of attention one would dream about.

Of course, Adele probably knew that as well. If I were to point it out unnecessarily, it would only invalidate her effort to be considerate.

Both Adele and I, at least, had decent athletic abilities. Adele had trained diligently as the daughter of a knightly family, and I inherited the physicality of a Delkis.

As we adjusted our steps to the music, the initial awkwardness gradually gave way to something that resembled a passable dance.

Of course, it couldn’t be called perfect. It wasn’t as natural or worry-free as when I danced with Amelia.

But still, well…

At the very least, it felt like we had managed to get through this situation.

*

“This is quite something. The Lady Delkis is truly a challenging woman.”

“If you keep rushing forward so recklessly like that, you’ll never win a woman’s heart.”

“Of all the women I know, the most reckless personality belongs to Lady Delkis herself.”

“……”

Standing beside me, the Crown Prince observed the ballroom and made such comments. I found myself unable to refute him.

Elsie was someone with clear likes and dislikes. No matter how much she tried to hide her emotions, they always showed.

Even when dealing with the Crown Prince or the younger prince, her face would reveal her discomfort and annoyance. It seemed the Crown Prince didn’t particularly mind those expressions.

Could it be that he genuinely believed in the saying that persistence eventually wears down the hardest resistance?

“Your Highness,” I called out.

“What is it, Lady Grattanmount?”

“……Do you, by chance, have feelings for Lady Elsie?”

“Of course. Isn’t it obvious from my actions?”

“……”

The Crown Prince quietly watched Adele and Elsie dance. The two of them seemed to be moving more in sync now.

It wasn’t quite as seamless as when I had danced with Elsie, but…

It was clear that Elsie’s decision to dance with Adele was more about escaping the situation than a genuine desire to dance. Her visibly tense expression made that apparent.

“Are you afraid of losing a dear friend?”

The Crown Prince posed the question.

“Are you scared of being separated from someone you’ve spent your entire life alongside?”

“……”

“Well, if I were to take the Lady Delkis as my wife, the two of you would indeed be far apart. The Grattanmount territory in the northern Alwen Kingdom and the Empire to the south are on completely opposite sides.”

“How sincere are your feelings for Lady Elsie, Your Highness?”

“Hmm…”

The Crown Prince shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m still trying to figure that out myself.”

“…”

“Judging by the look on your face, you look like someone who’s thinking, ‘I absolutely cannot hand her over to this kind of man.’”

Looking down at me, the Crown Prince grinned.

“If that’s the case, let’s settle it fairly. Will Lady Delkis choose love, or will she prioritize friendship? Though, truthfully, even if she chooses friendship, staying together forever might be unrealistic.”

“…Is that so?”

When I subtly curled one side of my lips, the Crown Prince’s eyes widened slightly.

“Ho. Do you have some sort of plan?”

It wasn’t so much a plan as simply knowing Elsie’s preferences.

Black hair, blue eyes, and a petite stature… someone who fits those traits perfectly. I happen to know such a person.

And usually, people’s preferences weren’t so specific. Especially when they sound like a description of an actual person.

Those kinds of preferences typically developed after falling for someone.

And the person who fits Elsie’s so-called “preferences”—

—was none other than my younger brother.

“Interesting.”

The Crown Prince smiled as if he found the situation amusing.

He was someone who prioritized the desire to possess over feelings of love.

Though in the original novel, the Crown Prince’s feelings did evolve from intrigue and possessiveness into love. However, I have no intention of letting him have Elsie.

…After all, when it came to possessiveness, I’m not exactly someone to be trifled with either.