Get Ahead of the Fallen Heroine and Make the Bull-Headed Man the Victim

68. Behind the Smile of the Suffering Asa

When Valentina returned to the city, it was still early, and she should consider how to handle Noah’s situation; after all, she couldn’t remain so passive forever.

However, as she walked and pondered how to make Noah look good, a familiar figure rushed toward her in a fluster.

It was her childhood friend, Clyde.

Clyde seemed to have been searching for her, running with sweat pouring down his face. The moment he spotted her from a distance, a gentle smile of relief immediately appeared on his face, but it quickly tightened again as he rushed over, concerned.

“Tina! Are you okay?”

That was a voice filled with care, the familiar Clyde she knew.

This was a perfectly normal reaction, but a flicker of disappointment crossed Valentina’s heart.

What a surprise, it’s the real Clyde; she thought it must be the evil god in disguise.

“Yeah, I’m fine. But what about you, Clyde? Why do you look so flustered?”

Though she felt a bit disappointed, Valentina certainly wouldn’t show it. She simply smiled normally and inquired in a friendly manner about what had happened.

Not involving Clyde was for his own good; after all, that was an evil god. She, as a member of the royal family, could endure the evil god’s reckless behavior, but an ordinary citizen like Clyde surely couldn’t.

Clyde, who had already been unfortunate enough to be kicked by the evil god last time, was someone Valentina didn’t want to see hurt.

“Actually, I heard a lot of people say this morning that you were with me yesterday, but that wasn’t me, Tina! I had other things to do yesterday, so I didn’t come to see you!”

Unlike the composed Valentina, Clyde was extremely anxious now, appearing very agitated.

It was understandable; hearing that his childhood friend had been with ‘him’ yesterday while he had actually been doing something else would naturally cause concern about her being deceived.

“…Ah, about that, it’s fine, Clyde. That was indeed a fake. I recognized it at first glance, so it’s okay.”

Thinking something significant had happened, Valentina smiled to reassure the boy before her, who was worried for her.

—

This is really not a big deal. After all, even though the evil god often takes pleasure in her, it shouldn’t do anything harmful to her… probably.

“Is that so? That’s great! I thought you, Tina, had been deceived.”

Clyde looked seriously at Valentina’s face, especially those beautiful, deep purple eyes. After confirming that Valentina wasn’t intentionally hiding or deceiving him, but was speaking the truth, he visibly relaxed.

The boy placed his hand over his heart and smiled gently.

He had heard many people say that Valentina looked happy when she was with another him, which made him a bit jealous.

After all, that was the treatment he should have enjoyed.

But it seemed to be a misunderstanding. Looking at Valentina’s current attitude, it must be that she was putting on a show to deceive the other person, merely playing along.

— Huh? So, does that mean Tina was actually happy at that time because of her relationship with me? That’s a bit embarrassing, ahaha.

Thinking of this, Clyde couldn’t help but feel a little smug inside.

“Sorry for worrying you, Clyde, but it’s really fine. I even managed to make that Lady Dilia behave, so I won’t be easily deceived!”

To put her childhood friend’s mind at ease, Valentina even brought up her impressive track record.

However, Clyde’s expression became somewhat subtle upon hearing this.

In fact, he was quite worried about this. After all, Princess Dilia had a very bad reputation among the people; she wasn’t someone who would just behave after being defeated once. Sooner or later, she would retaliate.

Clyde was actually considering whether he should find an opportunity to advise Valentina to apologize to Dilia. After all, having one less formidable enemy that couldn’t be completely defeated was definitely a good thing. They were sisters, after all; as long as she apologized, it shouldn’t go too far, right?

“Um, um, Tina.”

The naturally timid and cowardly Clyde was worried about Valentina and his own safety, so he planned to suggest that Valentina, who had already achieved a great victory, apologize to Dilia or even make amends.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Clyde?”

“…It’s nothing, I was just thinking you really need to be careful.”

But Clyde still didn’t say it out loud, as he understood that Valentina had a strong personality and would definitely not be pleased with his suggestion.

If he were to bring up this suggestion, he should choose an appropriate opportunity, or he could apologize to Dilia first and then talk about it.

Thus, with many concerns in mind, Clyde had to change his words on the spot, revealing a somewhat awkward smile.

“Yeah, thanks, Clyde. I’ll be careful.”

Unaware of what Clyde was thinking, Valentina assumed he was just genuinely worried about her, and she felt a warm current flow through her heart, her expression softening even more.

The gentle expression of the beautiful girl was pleasing to anyone who saw it.

Especially for Clyde, who had long harbored feelings for Valentina. The moment he saw that smile, his face turned red, and he shyly smiled back.

To outsiders, this must have looked like a beautiful scene.

Even Valentina thought it was wonderful that her childhood friend was Clyde; surely, there couldn’t be a gentler childhood friend than him.

She really wished the evil god could learn a thing or two about gentleness from her childhood friend…

Ah, never mind. She had already experienced the evil god being gentle, and it was simply terrible.

As long as the evil god could be a little less malicious, that would be enough.

From noble mtl dot com

—

Although the princess was looking at the boy in front of her, she couldn’t help but start thinking about a certain annoying evil god.

After that, the two naturally walked side by side, chatting and laughing.

They talked about interesting things that had happened to each other recently, made harmless jokes, and interacted as ordinary childhood friends, regardless of their status.

However, when they noticed a few adventurers at the entrance of the Adventurers’ Guild carrying back a whole low-level wyvern as a trophy, Valentina’s mood was not as enthusiastic as those around her.

Of course, she wouldn’t feel sad about the wyvern’s death; she just calmly watched everything, pondering the correct relationship between humans and dragons.

Clyde, on the other hand, had a completely different expression.

It was an expression filled with fear and disgust.

—Why haven’t these ugly and violent creatures gone extinct yet? Aren’t adventurers supposed to be strong? Hurry up and kill all the dragons!

The boy was completely influenced by the kingdom’s top-down belief that all dragons were evil creatures, harboring strong fear and hatred towards any dragon.

This wasn’t really his fault; it was just a problem with the country, or even the world itself.

However, when the boy noticed that his beloved childhood friend’s expression was not one of admiration or envy like those around them, he forced a gentle smile to please her and said:

“That wyvern is a bit pitiful, isn’t it, Tina?”

“…Huh? Ah, maybe.”

Valentina, whose thoughts had been interrupted, looked at her gentle childhood friend in front of her and subconsciously nodded in agreement.

…Huh? Something seems a bit off. Could it be that Tina didn’t want to hear this kind of response?

The boy was also somewhat confused as he looked at the princess in front of him. For the first time, he felt a slight doubt about his ability to observe others’ expressions.

But it was only slight, after all, Valentina didn’t show an angry expression, so Clyde let go of his doubts.

Although if Valentina were angry, even if he didn’t think so, he would immediately agree with her.

—