I thought I had tamed the villain - chapter 19

I thought I tamed a villain Chapter 19

“Were you crying?”

I asked, trying to pull Theo’s hand away from my face in a panic.

“How angry did you have to be to cry?

This was a completely unexpected turn of events. Guilt washed over me as I realized that I’d caused him pain.

He didn’t even try to stop me from pulling his hands away from his face.

But something was wrong. There wasn’t a single tear on his face.

“What was it?”

I stared at him, stunned.

I thought he was crying, but instead, he was laughing hysterically.

* * *

“You were sorry?”

“Never mind, I didn’t need it!”

I shook off Theo’s hand on my shoulder and turned my head away.

I felt like a thousand fires were burning inside me, and I couldn’t stand it.

“You can’t pretend to be angry, you know how rattled I am!”

“I was so sorry.”

“No? I didn’t even believe you’re sorry anymore. You’re not actually sorry at all, are you?”

Theo laughed again as he watched me roll my eyes.

It was been like this since earlier.

Theo had laughed more times today than he had from the first time I saw him until yesterday.

“Mee, I’m sorry.”

“Didn’t apologize when you were too busy laughing to talk.”

No matter how irritated I was, Theo was laughing like a man drowning in happiness at the sight of me.

I’d never seen him laugh out loud like that before, and I felt like I was going to burst out laughing so hard I couldn’t talk.

“Why the hell did you pretend to be angry, did you really want to make fun of me like that?”

“That was….”

“There were so many other ways to make fun of me, why did you have to pretend to be angry!”

“I need to talk.”

Theo patted my head to calm me down.

But it wasn’t enough.

I glared at Theo and slapped his hand away.

“I was really mad at you at first.”

“So, what the hell were you mad about?”

“That….”

There was a pause.

Theo pressed the corners of his mouth as if lost in thought.

“You were not going to told me you can’t tell me that, were you?”

“…….”

Theo’s brow furrowed for a moment, then he stammered.

“You know, I like being alone with you.”

“Were you sure that’s why?”

“……. Yeah.”

It was a questionable answer, but since Theo had said yes, I wasn’t likely to get a different answer if I probed any further.

I decided to let it go and motioned for him to continue.

“I was going to say that I was being too harsh at first, because I don’t think you even know why I was upset.”

“But?”

“But….”

Theo smiled, unable to hold back another bout of laughter.

He ran a hand over the corners of his mouth to try to hide it.

“You…. doing things to make me mad at you was so cute.”

“……. What?”

I blinked dumbly at Theo’s words.

“What did he just say, ears, what?

I twitched like a robot with a broken circuit, trying to decipher Theo’s words.

But no matter how many times I replayed it, Theo’s words were exactly as I understood them: perfectly simple language with no room for another interpretation.

“Cute…….”

I mumbled and quickly covered my lips with my hand.

I could feel my face heat up quickly and vigorously. It felt like all the blood in my body was rushing to my face.

“How old was I just told I was cute by a kid?

I counted in my mind.

Even if I had been short-lived in my previous life, the age difference between me and Theo was the difference between heaven and earth.

“I was so embarrassed, I can’t stand it.

I felt an overwhelming sense of shame.

Theo was looking at me with an indifferent face, as if he didn’t know what I was thinking.

“So, you did it because you wanted to see me whimper more?”

“That sounds a little….”

“Whatever!”

I snapped, intentionally trying to push away my embarrassment.

“You were spoiled, you were spoiled!

Yeah. This was never going to be a pleasant feeling.

“Because I was not really eleven.

Finished with the mind control, I took a deep breath and calmed my emotions.

“Do you feel like you can forgive me now?”

“Next time, I’ll be really mad at you.”

Theo muttered, “And I was still really mad at you.

After the dust settled, we returned to our barely restored routine.

Eventually, the subject of tutoring fell by the wayside, but…. I didn’t want to get into another fight with Theo by bringing it up.

“If he doesn’t want it, I can get it myself.

I felt bad that I was pushing him away and studying alone, but I knew I could just teach him what I had learned.

“That way, the review will be automatic, so it was efficient.

I nodded proudly at the plausible conclusion.

Finding Frey wasn’t difficult.

A casual wander through the nursery was all it took to find him standing there.

“Wasn’t being a priest actually a raw food job?

I narrowed my eyes and strode over to Frey’s side with deliberate footsteps.

“Hmph, I, uh, hello?”

Frey, who had been staring up at the sky and lost in thought, turned toward me at my call.

“You must be Iris.”

“……. Yeah.”

I thought I saw a halo shining from her face as she smiled up at me.

“No, was I mistaken?

Scratching my head in confusion, I briefly explained my reason for seeking him out.

“About what I said the other day, I thought it would be a good idea to set up an appointment to talk about it in more detail.”

“Oh, you mean studying?”

Frey nodded readily.

“I’ll fit it in with whatever days of the week you were okay with, twice or three times a week should be plenty….”

“Good. You’ll need time to review what you’ve learned, too. Oh, and I’ll see if I can find out what types of questions are on the Academy’s entrance exam so I can prepare.”

“…….”

I craned my neck at Frey’s aggressive demeanor.

“What, he was trying to help me more than I thought he would?

I asked, beginning to feel bad about my doubts about Frey.

‘It was just that he was really, really goddess-crazy, and that was why he gives me that look whenever he sees someone who looks like a goddess…. Why, it’s an occupational hazard of actors, they say, that they get mel-eyes without even trying.

It wasn’t completely out of the question.

‘No, maybe it was a ploy to make me think this. How dangerous it is to be a child in this harsh world.’

I pondered with a serious face. I had no way of knowing the man in front of me.

“Iris?”

Frey called out to me gently.

Frey looked at me, a little confused, as if he too was having trouble understanding me.

“Oh, it was nothing, I’d be grateful if you did.”

I replied with a forced smile, one that would never have shown on the outside.

“I know you were going to be suspicious of me for doing this again, Iris, but…. but I wanted to make sure I did the right thing when I agreed to help.”

“Write…….

Frey said, smiling shyly at me. I narrowed my eyes again at his smile.

“Did you believe him or not?

“I did!”

“I didn’t know, so let’s just laugh.

My invisible tightrope walk with Frey was getting tighter.

A few days later, the first day of my tutoring session with Frey arrived.

I gathered the books she had mentioned and headed to the break room.

The common room where Frey’s lesson was to take place was located in the main building of the nursery school, where there were many children passing by.

When I studied with Theo, I found the quietest spot, but with Frey on the other end, I was on edge.

“Priest…?”

I pushed open the door to the common room and was greeted by a sight that could only be described as a sight to behold.

“You’re here.”

A crowd of children swarmed around Frey, who was laughing nervously.

Young and old, mesmerized by his face, they were bombarding him with questions.

“…….”

“…….”

Our eyes met in the distance and we both giggled.

“Let’s go….”

“Yeah….”

So, Frey and I started walking towards the common room where I usually study with Theo.

I figured that since it wasn’t the time I was supposed to be studying with Theo yet, I might not run into him.

“Wait, why did I care about this?

I had a strange question, but…. I decided to let it go because it was just a coincidence.

“I wish I could teach you all the subjects perfectly, but I was afraid I might fall a little short in some of them, so what can I do?”

“No, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it now! And the last time I saw you, I could tell right away how good you were at teaching.”

“That’s nice of you to said.”

As we walked, exchanging unnecessary words with Frey, we soon reached the break room.

I pushed open the door, one step ahead of Frey, and looked up to see…….

“Theo?”

What? Something was wrong.

From the moment I opened the door and made eye contact with Theo, to the moment he spotted Frey, my ears were filled with the soundtrack to a steamy love triangle drama.

“Oh, no, that can’t be right, look what I’ve done.