I thought I had tamed the villain

EPISODE 3

I thought I tamed the Villain Chapter 4

Simply put, I won’t treat you guys nicely.

[Iris] “Ahhh!!!”

I shouted as I pushed William and the children away with all my might using my arms.

[Iris] “If you point fingers at Theo or haras him again, I won’t let you went!”

I said as I put my hands on my hips.

[William] “Iris got weird!”

As William said that and fled, the other children rumbled after him and disappeared.

[Iris] “I know how to scold you!”

I shouted in the air and turned around. I saw Theo looking at my back, as opposed to before.

The leaves swayed in the cool breeze that dried off the sweat that had been dripping unpleasantly, and Theo’s and my hair fluttered.

He was staring at me in silence. I didn’t know what he was thinking at that moment.

[Iris] “I was sorry.”

I approached Theo and apologized. I didn’t want to make any remarks about driving William and his group. After all, Theo would have easily sent the children away on his own. Maybe it was hypocrisy for me to stand up to them, perhaps to get rid of guilt.

[Iris] “I was sorry I didn’t look at you properly. I was scared.”

Before I could contemplate his future self, I should have looked at Theo as a child. A child who has been hurt countless times only because of his appearance.

[Iris] “I want to be friend of you.”

I meant it. Now that I was looking directly at Theo. Not for my life, but because I just wanted to be close to a kid named Theo.

I smiled and held out my hand to Theo. He was still expressionless, but somehow he seemed to be less cold than before.

Theo said, looking down at my hand.

[Theo] “You were right, I told you to be scared. So knock it off.”

His voice was cold, like a knife.

[Iris]”…..Huh?”

Oh? Shouldn’t it went like this? Wasn’t it time for an emotional handshake? It was as if a large stone had fallen on my head. Either that or I’m stoned.

But Theo, who saw me with a dumbfounded expression, suddenly disappeared.

I stiffened as I reached out, and I couldn’t move for a long time. The wind, which felt cool, was messing up my hair.

‘Wasn’t the timing perfect? So…….No we are true friends! It was just the right timing.’

Was the floor spinning, or my head?

I was rejected outright. But I can’t give up like this!

I wasn’t scared of Theo anymore.

Well, I was a little scared at first, to be honest, but I tried to avoid thinking about the future as much as possible. From the day I was rejected by Theo, I began to look for him and wander around him at every chance I get.

It started ten steps away.

I took a step by Theo’s side, reading a book.

[Iris] “Wow!! Joseph and Philip too! Best friendship ever! It was so exciting!”

[Theo] “…….”

[Iris] “Sorry, I like to read aloud.”

Deliberately taking another step in front of him, eating a delicious snack.

[Iris] “These macarons are so~delicious! It was a taste I want to share with my friends, but who can I ate with right now?

[Theo] “….”

[Iris] “Ha…I had to eat alone.”

I fell in front of him and approached one step at a time.

[Iris] “Aigu Aigu*, my knee! I want someone to raise me up!”

[Theo] “……”

[Iris] “Right……A child with a sprain should stand up on her own.”

Although I flinched at Theo’s cold gaze, who seemed to despise me every time, still it wasn’t without use.

‘One step now!’

Little by little, the distance between me and Theo was only about a step. Now, even at such a close distance, Theo didn’t tell me anything bloody about skinning or grinning bones.

I could now exist near Theo.

Today was a refreshing summer. The sweltering heat was coming, but the shade and trees of the abandoned building were cool in their own way.

If there was even a ray of wind in it, it would be as refreshing as drinking sweet, cool water in the desert.

When I first saw it, it seemed very scary, but after getting used to this, it was now a cozy place where I can just relax.

[Iris] “How did Theo know about this? It was a great place for a hideout.”

[Theo] “It was a place where people who have no reason to hide won’t look.”

But contrary to my expectations that he would ignore me as he does normally, Theo answered quietly.

I lay on the floor of the building, looking at Theo, who was sitting near me. Why hide? The injustice in those words made my heart ache.

[Iris] “But I think it was ridiculous. It was just a color, wasn’t it?”

Theo was no different from other children. Except for the colors that others have named and set in a peculiar way.

[Theo] “Did you really think so?”

Theo’s gaze landed on me. His gaze wasn’t reprimanding as usual. I guess he was really wondering what I thought.

Theo wasn’t even sure of himself. Whether he was really the devil as people say, or was he just Theo himself?

[Iris] “Yes, it was all just a standard that people set for themselves. No one can be sure about others. You decide who you were.”

I pause for a moment.

[Iris] “I just don’t believe in the standards that people have created.”

[Theo] “…….”

Theo furrowed his brow, speechless. He didn’t seem to understand what I was talking about.

[Iris] “I mean, no matter what others said, what you think was who you were matters.”

Theo’s gaze faltered.

In the Empire of Latras, where I was born, the power of the High Priestess was comparable to that of the Emperor. The founding myth of the empire was also about the goddess who saved the world and the demon who perished at her hands.

For this reason, almost everyone believed in the existence of goddesses and demons, and there were bound to be many myths about how to find demons mixed among ordinary people.

And one of them was black hair and red eyes.

With such a catch-a-glance rule in the empire, Theo would have been persecuted by countless people by now.

[Iris] “Even if everyone else tells you you were a demon, didn’t believe them. Didn’t be shaken.”

No matter how strong a person was, if he was told that he was wrong, he will doubt his own ideas.

He had been accused as the child of a demon by everyone in the world, so maybe it was just suspicion now, but later he would admit that he was really a demon.

I later thought that it was that acknowledgment that tainted Theo with malice.

As the saying goes, you grow up by your name.

Theo was brainwashed.

Under the name of that damn devil.

[Theo] “How were you so sure?”

Theo, who had been looking at me all along, asked me.

[Theo] “How can you believe that standard was wrong?”

[Iris] “That was…….”

Just as I opened my mouth to answer him, the door of the abandoned building slammed open.

[Iris] “What was it?”

The sound of several children’s footsteps and their voices was heard.

“Stay still,” Theo spoke dryly, as if commanding me to hide. He pulled himself up and headed towards the sound.

I disobeyed him and quietly followed, maintaining a short distance from him.