The Heroine Feels More Like the Villainess to Me - Chapter 3

I, truthfully, wasn't sure what to do. No one really taught you how to 'make friends' other than the unhelpful platitudes of 'be yourself' and 'just put yourself out there'. The Count did the 'putting out there' for me, and now I had a supposed 'friend' standing in front of me. Now, my mind was blank.

The Count tugged at my hand, pulling my attention from the sunshine-bright smile in front of me. Clearly, he'd noticed something was wrong. "Why don't you show Clara around the manor, dear."

I nodded, detaching myself from the Count and instead offering a hand to the girl in front of me. Her smile only seemed to widen as she took hold of my hand. She gave the briefest of giggles as a warning before running off towards the garden doors, dragging me along with her.

"See you later, Papa!" she tossed over her shoulder with a grin at the same time I turned to shoot the Count a look that probably read as utter terror given the guffaw of a laugh Count Fairchild let out.

The early spring breeze still carried a bit of winter's chill as Clara pulled me out into the gardens. She let out a loud gasp at the sudden shift in temperature from the warm manor.

"Ah, so cold!" she shouted, though it sounded like she was excited by the idea. She turned to me, eyes shining. "Elizaveta?"

"Ah! Yes?" I could feel my cheeks heat up at the squeaky sound of my own surprise.

"It's still cold even in spring here," Clara said. "So that means you get a lot of snow, right?"

The question surprised me. The Chernovs ruled over a series of interconnected mountain valleys that butted up against the mountainous northern border of the nation. But I had no idea where the Fairchild family were from, as there was no major character from the game with that name.

"Ah, yes," I answered. "Sometimes we'll get snow even in spring or early autumn. And there's snow on the mountains all year."

Clara took on a dreamy expression. "Ahhh, I've never seen snow before. My family's domain is at the very south of Delphae, where the beaches and islands are."

A switch flipped in my brain, two sets of memories activating simultaneously. Elizaveta's memories of visiting the warm, golden sands of the nation's southern coast with her family during a vacation just two years previously clashed with my memories of a Japan-exclusive drama CD that the fandom went nuts over because it contained a track for each love interest on a different vacation. One of them had been to the southern islands, though I couldn't remember which love interest the episode was for.

I was pulled from my thoughts by Clara taking my other hand in hers, her face so bright and beautiful it was if she had flowers blooming in her eyes. "Elizaveta! Please invite me to visit the next time it snows!"

Her fascination was too cute. I flashed her a smile of my own, probably the first one I'd shown her since she arrived. "Of course. I'll send you a letter the moment I see flurries."

Clara stared at me, her smile having vanished only to be replaced with a rather slack-jawed expression. Her hands still held mine, meaning I couldn't really go anywhere. I felt heat rising in my cheeks as she continued to stare.

"Um...Miss Clara?"

Arms suddenly wrapped around my neck, my vision full of sunshine blonde hair.

"AAAHHHHH! You're so cute!" Clara cried in something akin to elation. "I always wanted to be friends with a cute girl. When father showed me your portrait, I knew I had to meet you. And now that I've seen your smile, I just know I was right! We're going to be best friends, Elizaveta!"

"M-Miss Clara?!" I sputtered, uncertain how to process what was happening.

Clara let me go, though only somewhat as she went back to holding my hands. Her face was dreadfully sincere as she looked me in the eyes. "You have a wonderful smile, Elizaveta. I do hope you'll use it more often."

Suddenly feeling terribly shy, I lowered my gaze and duck my head. No one had ever called me cute, not in any way that mattered. Strangers might have called me 'cute' as a child in the same way they might call a sweater at the store they didn't particularly want to buy 'nice'. Grandmothers and distant relatives that only saw me every couple of years at best would call me cute before telling me all the ways I could improve (lose weight, gain weight, cut my hair, grow my hair out).

To have someone like Clara, someone so bright and shiny and legitimately cute call me such a thing was beyond anything I'd ever experienced. I wasn't sure if I wanted to jump for joy or cry.

"Do you mean it?" I ended up muttering before I could stop myself from saying it out loud.

Clara's hands squeezed mine a little bit tighter. "Every word."

I looked up at her once more, smiling brightly despite the tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. "That's very kind, Clara. You're also very cute."

I didn't think Clara could smile any brighter, but she managed it.

"Come on," I said, taking the lead this time. "There's way more to the manor than this."

"This is the library," I said, pushing open one of the large double doors. "It's one of my favorite places."

Clara's eyes wandered the space, taking in the towering bookshelves and the ceiling-high windows, the sturdy desks and the luxurious armchairs and chaise lounges. Sunlight passed through a few crystals that dangled from chandeliers, casting arcs of color over the walls. Even if I wasn't Elizaveta, I think this space would still be my favorite.

"Do you like books, Elizaveta?" Clara asked.

I nodded. "I do. What about you, Clara? Do you like reading?"

Clara hummed. "Sometimes. It depends on the book. I like stories about daring heroines having adventures with dashing scoundrels."

The dashing scoundrel part felt like that might be from a book that belonged to her mother, but I kept that to myself. "We have a few novels, but not nearly as many as I would like. It's mostly textbooks in here, but the history ones are interesting."

"I'll bring you some of my favorite books when I visit next time!" Clara insisted. "And you can lend me some of yours. And when we meet again, we'll know more about each other."

The idea reminded me of when my friend and I would exchange games or fanfics, the memory making me smile. I simply nodded in agreement, which was enough to make Clara's smile brighten once more.

"What do you like to do then?" I asked. "If not reading."

"Horseback riding!" Clara exclaimed without hesitation. "My family will go on rides along the beach all the time and we have lots of horses at our manor. Nothing is better than racing my brothers and winning."

Her eyes sparkled. "Do you ride, Elizaveta?"

I paused before answering, parsing Elizaveta's scattered memories. "Not yet. Father is going to hire a tutor for me before I debut, but he hasn't found one yet."

"Ah, Papa didn't hire me a tutor," Clara said, plopping down on a nearby chaise lounge, seemingly deciding that we were going to be here a while. "My eldest brother taught me. He's part of the Second Army, but Papa says he'll be retiring before I debut so that he can start teaching him how to run the domain."

"How old is your brother?" I asked, sitting across from her in a leather armchair.

"He's twenty," Clara said. "I'm the youngest, and there's two more in between us, my sister and then another brother." She rolled over onto her stomach, kicking her legs up behind her as she stared at me with her chin in her hands. "What about you?"

"It's just me and my brother," I answered. "He's a year older than I am. You'll see him sooner or later, I'm sure."

"Only one year?" Clara blinked owlishly, her smile falling for the first time into a curious frown. "I can't imagine. My big brother who's closest to me is four years older than I am. He'll be out of the Academy before I even start." She lowered her head, her chin still pillowed on her arms. "Are you close?"

I kicked my legs as they dangled a few inches off the ground. "I like to think so."

Clara hummed, closing her eyes. "I wish I was closer with my siblings." Her eyes opened once more, sparkling with mischievous humor. "Can we be siblings, Elizaveta?"

"I don't think your father will let us adopt you," I said, a little sarcasm leaking into my tone. "You'd have to marry my brother."

Clara pushed herself up on her elbows, tapping her chin. "I suppose I could."

"Don't get your hopes up," I warned her playfully. "You haven't even met him yet."

"Well, I really like you," Clara stated plainly. "So, I'm sure I'll like him, too."

I paused, taking the conversation in. These were the plans of children, simple and carefree. But I had to remember where we were, the sort of world we lived in. Marriage between noble families were economic transactions, or military alliances. The king of Delphae married a Calimeris daughter because their domain took up the western seaboard, securing them control of the busiest trade ports. They were a powerful and extremely rich ducal family, one the royal family married into to keep control of.

But such realities were still several years away. Clara and I wouldn't have to worry about those kinds of things until our debut.

I simply smiled, closing my eyes as I savored this moment of innocence. "That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

I stood at the manor gates with the Count as Clara's coachman helped her up into the carriage. It seemed silly for them to come all this way just for a day, but the Count couldn't have assumed I would have gotten along well with Clara, so having them spend the night was likely out of the question until he could be sure there wouldn't be cat fights in the middle of the night.

"Bye-bye, Elizaveta!" Clara shouted from the carriage window. "Next time I'll visit for a lot longer, I promise!"

"I look forward to it," I responded, waving politely.

The Count and I watched the carriage until it passed over a hill and out of sight. The Count then took my hand in his, leading me back to the manor.

"So," he said, a question in his tone.

I squeezed his hand. "I like her."

I could see the Count nod in approval out of the corner of my eye. "Good. Then we shall invite them to visit again."

"When it snows," I said. "Clara wants to see snow."

The Count nodded again. "When it snows."