This Three-Year-Old Is A Villainess - Chapter 144
I pulled out a piece of stationery from the drawer.
I pressed the letters firmly onto the pretty paper and sealed it well.
Then, I sent it off through Han Ji-hyuk to the Egret Training Facility.
* * *
Training Director Cali called Alexis over.
Alexis, who had been swinging a wooden sword, approached Cali.
Cali looked at Alexis with a pleased expression.
‘This kid, he really reminds me of myself when I was young.’
“You’re quite popular with the girls, aren’t you?”
Alexis frowned.
“Did you call me here just to say that?”
“How prickly. Here, a bouquet of flowers came from Astra.”
What Cali handed to Alexis was a letter.
Alexis’s eyes widened as he saw the letter Cali handed him.
The stationery was adorned with a drawing of a squirrel carrying an acorn.
As soon as they saw the stationery, the kids around swarmed in.
“That looks like it’s from a girl!”
“You know girls outside too? Huh?”
He pushed the noisy kids away with one hand and carefully opened the letter envelope.
Alexis’s eyes widened.
‘She woke up.’
Han Ji-hyuk had visited Egret once a month.
Since Erylotte woke up, the day for Han Ji-hyuk’s next visit hadn’t come around yet.
So, Alexis didn’t know that Erylotte had awakened.
Alexis threw the wooden sword aside and ran outside.
He looked around at the exit.
No one was in sight.
Then,
“Oveh hewe!”
A child with a hood flipped back jumped up and down from the bushes.
As Alexis hurried over, the child took off the hood.
“Your hair… you let it down.”
“If I put thwem in buns, the hood’s gunna stick out.”
“Yeah.”
“I wote you a lettuh.” (I wrote you a letter.)
Erylotte grinned and grabbed Alexis’s hand tightly.
Then they ran off, stumbling together.
Alexis’s eyes widened.
“Where are we going?”
“I hav-a gift fow yew. Come hewe!”
They arrived at an old, abandoned building together.
They climbed the external staircase of the building.
The staircase was so old that it creaked loudly with every step.
At the top floor, Erylotte spread her arms wide.
“Is a gwift to commemowate youw twaining staht.” (It’s a gift to commemorate your training start.)
Alexis looked up following Erylotte’s gaze to the night sky that seemed about to spill stars.
Alexis had always been running from pursuers, living a life on the run.
At night, he was always hidden deep in the dark, never able to go out.
During the day, he was used to walking with his head down, never thinking to look up at the sky.
“Ouw Astwa’s sky, I weally wuv it.” (Our Astra’s sky, I really love it.)
Alexis’s eyes sparkled like stars.
Erylotte walked with her hands clasped behind her back, stepping lightly.
This place was where the first-life Erylotte used to run to when life got too hard.
A place to receive comfort and gather the strength to barely hang on.
“Thwis is now ouw secwet spot.”
“Secret… spot?”
“Yeah. A hi-out.”
“A hideout.”
“If things get tough, come hewe. Even if you’we wooking at thwe stahs awone, it’s wuth it.” (If things get tough, come here. Even if you’re looking at the stars alone, it’s worth it.)
Alexis stared intently at Erylotte.
This strange and wondrous girl.
So small, yet sometimes she seemed as steadfast as a mountain, and though she seemed unaware of misfortune, her eyes were profoundly adult.
“Awesis.”
“Yeah.”
“I heawd that when woyals gwow up, thew eyes tuwn gowden.” (I heard that when royals grow up, their eyes turn golden.)
Right now, his eyes were blue.
Erylotte looked at Alexis with a withdrawn smile.
“When youw eyes tuwn gowd, let’s destwoy it.”
“…”
“All thwe things that made us unhappy.”
“…”
“It’s an alliance.”
Erylotte held out her fist.
Alexis, staring at her tiny hand, lightly bumped his fist against hers.
.
.
And so, time passed, and 7 years went by.
Erylotte, at the summer of her tenth year.
* * *
On a day when the roses were in full bloom.
At the Astra ducal castle, a debutante ball was held.
Children from direct lineage, branch families, and vassal noble families gathered in the Great Hall of the ducal castle.
The children entered with faces full of excitement.
The Great Hall, capable of accommodating a total of 100 people, was bustling with children.
Even the leaders of high society from the distant capital came to celebrate these children taking their first steps.
