My Childhood Friends Are Trying To Kill Me

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“It’s worse than the busy streets of our Roseberry Empire.”

“I don’t have anything particular to see… It’s troublesome.”

“But it’s pretty neat…”

Lelia listened to the other three talking. She looked as if she had never been downtown.

“I heard you were sick, but have you ever been outside the castle?”

Romeo specifically looked at Leria, who looked excited.

At that moment, Leria stopped in front of a shop.

Thanks to her, the rest of the children, who were walking under the eyes of the knights, stopped there and turned their heads.

“What, this is a toy shop, isn’t it?”

“It’s also a doll shop.”

Lelia looked at a large rabbit doll reflected in the show window.

“Hey… you’re not only a daddy’s boy, but you sleep with a doll in your arms, too?”

Kalix asked, frowning.

“No… No way… Really? Captain?

Romeo was also giving a look saying ‘This is a bit too much…’

“Be quiet a little,”

Lelia yelled at her subordinates and entered the doll shop.

Thanks to her, the three boys and the Knights were huddled up in a small shop.

“Sigh…”

The shopkeeper looked surprised when children dressed in monastic clothes and the Holy Knights rushed in. Children dressed in monastic attire might look like little priests, but ordinary little priests would not have these many Holy Knights.

‘It is clear that they are members of the Imperial family.’

The shopkeeper’s eyes glistened. It was an opportunity to boost the sales. Neutral areas were not populated with children. It wasn’t that the business was not bad, but the ones who visited the shop were from the royal families. It was an opportunity to sell expensive toys, and inventories, that had not sold very well before. 

But contrary to the owner’s expectations, what Lelia chose was a very small doll.

“Ugh, a stuffed rabbit…” Calix condemned Leria’s choice.

“…”

Lelia was usually angry, but she was lost in her thoughts for a while.

She suddenly remembered the original scene.

There were two episodes about dolls…

One was the scene in which the heroine, Juliana, handed a doll to Oscar Fresberg. Like a fish in her fishery, he was also in love with her.

Upon hearing that Juliana is marrying the hero, Oscar immediately uses teleport to visit her. He confesses his love a little too late, and… Juliana gives him a friendly but firm refusal. 

And she gave Oscar a little doll and said, “This is one of the dolls my father and brothers bought me but isn’t it cute? I feel strange receiving a doll even though I have grown up. But I’m happy… I feel like it is going to protect me for the rest of my life. I’ll give it to you as a present. Instead, keep it a secret from my brothers! My brothers said Oscar-sama is a little… uncomfortable to be with.”

As she was talking, Juliana kept on smiling sweetly and cutely. At that time, she received so many dolls from her father and elder brothers, that she was in the process of donating them. It was not enough to give dolls to all the children in the capital city, but to everyone she met. Thanks to her kind heart, it was a warm episode where laughter bloomed in the faces of the children of the capital city.

[Of course, Emperor Perseus and his sons got angry when they found out about it.]

Oscar then returns to his home country with the doll. It was like any other doll that Juliana gave to the people she met, but it was especially meaningful to him. 

Oscar, who came back after being refused, mocked himself looking at the doll. He was the one who took the throne by killing his father. Juliana was not afraid of him at all. She even gave him such a sweet gift. 

If it had been someone else who was not afraid of him, he would have slit their throat and let them know the feeling of fear. For some reason, it was comforting for him that Juliana was not afraid of him. A ‘red-eyed demon’, who killed his father. It seemed to erase the words that bothered him for a long time. He was thinking about kidnapping Juliana and locking her in his castle, but he felt calm when he saw the small doll. 

After that day, Oscar was able to move away from the nightmares that haunted him all his life. 

[Will it be okay if I give him a doll now?]

[This is all I could think of that would help young Oscar.]

[the heroine won’t be able to give it to him… will it be okay?]

Still…

Lelia wanted to help Oscar with anything. She wanted the young and weak to escape the pain and fear a little. 

He is still young, so if he sleeps with a doll in his arms, he might feel a little bit relieved. 

“Are you sure you want to buy this? Do you like dolls in general? They are for girls…”

“Hey, is there a rule that only women can like dolls?” Lelia was stabbed in the back by Romeo’s words and refuted it. 

[Anyways…]

“…Do you have money?” Lelia asked carefully, but the tone of the words she spoke was like of a gangster. 

[Come to think of it, I didn’t have money…]

In the first place, she did not need money, and the emperor could not even send someone to give her money. 

“Me? I don’t have any.”

“…I certainly did bring some. Where did it go?

Neither Kalix nor Romeo seemed to have any money in their pockets. Lelia looked at Romeo pathetically. Why did the person who brought them out didn’t take any money with him?

Lelia looked away and looked at Griffith, her last hope. 

“Griffith, do you have any? You are a smart guy, so I’m sure you have…”

“Yes, I do.”

“I’m glad, you are the only one who can help! Lend some to me, I’ll pay you back later.”

“What do you need to pay me back for? How much money do you need?”

“As expected, you are a good boy. Then… can i buy another doll?” Lelia patted Griffith on the back and asked. Griffith’s face crumbled as if ‘good boy’ was offensive.

“Do as you please.” He answered.

Lelia began to pick another doll with a happy look on her face. 

“You are going to give the first one to Oscar, right?”

“Right. You are very quick-witted.” When asked by Griffith, Lelia smiled and answered. 

“What, is it like that? Can I get one, then?”

“Not you.”

“Hey! That’s rude.” Kalix huffed and grumbled. 

Romeo, who was listening, blinked and smiled and asked, “Then what about me? I can get one, right?”

“You can’t either.”

“…A sc*mbag.”

Despite criticism, Griffith did not budge an eye. 

“…Just pick one.”

[T/N: GRIFFITH IS SO ADORABLE!]

But soon he said this. He pretended to be cold, but he was much weaker than he looked. At his words, both Kalix and Romeo began to choose a doll with a serious face.

“Hmm…”

Lelia observed the doll carefully, with keen eyes like a hawk. For some reason, her heart fluttered like a child. 

If the reason for choosing stuffed toys for Oscar was an episode about stuffed toys, Lelia suddenly wanted one because of the story about stuffed toys.

After Perseus, the real emperor of the Aurora Empire regained the throne in the story. There was an episode about Perseus, who was cold and famous, opening his heart to Juliana, who became his daughter. 

[Yeah…]

Lelia recalled what she had read in the book. 

Unlike her father who abused her, Juliana liked her step father, Perseus. He was strong enough to scold her devilish biological father. In addition, she always looked scared, but it was good that she secretly took care of her mother and herself. 

When Perseus became the emperor, Juliana naturally became the only princess of the Auraria Empire, which seemed like a dream. 

One day, right after Perseus became the emperor, she had a dreamy day. Juliana gently grabbed his hand, hoping to get closer to her father. 

She was envious of the other children, who held hands with their father. Her biological father was a bad person, who abused her, but she hoped her step father would be different. 

However, Perseus, who is sensitive to contact with someone, unknowingly lets go of the child’s hand. 

Juliana, who was only ten years old, was hurt. 

So after that day, she felt depressed when she stood in front of Perseus. 

Perseus got confused when he noticed that the child, who used to smile brightly, was walking into the wall every time. In the end, he seeks advice from the Empress, who is the mother of Juliana and his colleague in the contractual marriage. 

“She likes dolls. As soon Your Majesty gives her a stuffed toy as a present, her anger will subside and she will be happy.”

The emperor, then, took her to the biggest toy store downtown to soothe Juliana’s heart. Then, after buying the doll (although the whole shop was transferred to her name), he carefully grabbed her little hand. Juliana finally laughed and her cute smile melted all of Perseus’ heart. 

“It was the beginning of him becoming a fool for his daughter.”

Since then, she had never been sad anymore.

Juliana liked the doll so much that she held it every day. Her new brothers thought that it was so cute that they had also started buying her dolls.

Since then, Juliana has had a doll storehouse.

[And after that, I met her…]

At that time, Lelia returned to the castle and lived the same life as before. The emperor and crown prince, who disguised her as a boy and sent her to the neutral area, died, and the new emperor ascended the throne. It was also when the subjects were having a meeting on what to do with Lelia.

“The traitor who dared to take over the throne took care of her! He brought her to his home and served her a sumptuous meal…We must kill the seeds of the rebellion in order to put them to rest.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, we must kill him!”

However, there were also objections. Though it wasn’t a good idea for her.

“But isn’t she just ten years old? She is her Majesty’s sister, and she is also the daughter of the deceased prince. I’d be better off using her for a national marriage… .”

“Or wouldn’t it be good if you gave it to the meritorious retainer for this time? How about letting her marry Marquis Tevelli when he becomes an adult?”

In many ways, Leria’s presence was a source of concern.

Perseus gritted his teeth when he saw Lelia.

His younger sister, who was Lelia’s mother, picked on his wife whenever she saw her and bullied her. 

She told her behind the scenes that she made it so that their marriage would cause her to get hurt more than once.