I Became The Villain’s Master - Chapter 2.3

Isn’t it normal for children at this age to quickly become friends when they play together?

We headed to the vast sand garden.

Amidst the tamarisk trees and date palms with lush leaves scattered here and there, violet-flowered amaranth formed a dense maze.

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!”

Cream became “it” for the first round.

I entered the amaranth maze and crouched down low.

Sugar climbed up a tree, and Rory was at a loss, not knowing what to do.

“Six! Five! Four!”

I realized that Rory had never played hide-and-seek before.

I quickly ran over, grabbed Rory’s hand, and ducked behind a clump of amaranth.

“Ah, Miss.”

“Shh-.”

“Two! One! Ready or not, here I come!”

Cream’s eyes sparkled as he started moving.

Tap tap tap.

Cream, who had been circling the garden, approached our direction.

His clothes were visible through the amaranth leaves.

“!”

When I slightly raised my head, I made eye contact with Cream.

We were discovered too quickly.

As I was about to stand up, Cream swiftly passed by us.

“Oh, where could they be hiding? I, I can’t see them at all…”

“?”

Is he pretending not to see us now?

Because he found us too quickly?

As I was making a bewildered expression, I realized that the eye level of a three-year-old and an eight-year-old are very, very different.

From my perspective, with eyes close to the ground, the tall and lush amaranth seemed to completely hide me, but from Cream’s point of view, I must look like an innocent baby who thinks they’re fully hidden just by covering their head.

Rory, the tiny tot who actually fit the ‘innocent baby’ description, was fully engrossed in the hide-and-seek, curled up tightly and holding his breath.

His flushed cheeks and big round eyes darting around nervously, afraid of being found, were unbearably cute.

“Brother! I found you!”

“You’re slow.”

Sugar jumped down from the tree at Cream’s shout.

Cream circled around again, continuing to pretend he couldn’t see us.

Although it was embarrassing to be treated like a baby at twenty-two years old, I was deeply touched by the older brother’s act for the sake of his youngest sibling who would be upset if found too quickly.

“Brother, where could Merchen be? Is she here? Should I look over there?”

“She’s right there, dummy. Can’t you see?”

However, Sugar’s careless comment ruined Cream’s efforts.

I realized then that Cream had much better empathy skills than Sugar.

However, I still couldn’t shake off the shock I received when he pulled out a wooden sword from his pocket.

Sugar, on the other hand, had a very cool-headed personality, separate from his fondness and care for me.

“Ahaha… Oh, right. F-Found you! Merchen! Slave!”

“I told you to call him Rory. Don’t use ‘slave’ like it’s his name.”

I got up with a groan and briefly nagged.

Cream tilted his head and approached.

“Merchen, what’s a proper noun?”

“It means a name.”

Sugar explained concisely while patting my head.

When I nodded in agreement, he smiled, the corners of his mouth stretching wide.

“It’s my turn to be ‘it’ now, right? I’ll count to ten.”

The game started again, and Sugar found all three of us in just 5 seconds.

This time we were all scattered and I thought we had hidden quite well, but still.

When it was my turn to be ‘it’, I placed my hands on a tree and rested my forehead against them.

“One! Twoo!”

Hide-and-seek at this age.

As I earnestly counted under the desert sun, I felt like my mental age had lowered as much as my eye level.

“Is everyone hidden?”

I looked around and moved with my short legs.

Unlike the western sand desert where feet sink in, the Hauser mansion and territory had relatively firm ground where horses could run.

It felt somewhat like a Western movie with cowboys.

However, it was still a harsh environment for plants to grow, so I was amazed at how these plants could grow so tall on this barren land.

“Where are you hiding?”

So my short stature was entirely disadvantageous for playing hide-and-seek.

I thought children’s stamina was limitless, but why am I so out of shape?

As I was getting tired, I resorted to a trick.

“Ah! Cream!”

“Yes! What!”

As soon as I called his name, Cream popped out from the bushes.

“Found Cream.”

The second fox, who had been wagging his tail, realized we were in the middle of hide-and-seek and pouted sulkily.

“That’s cheating, Merchen.”

“Do you dislike it?”

“No! I still like it.”

Leaving Cream giggling behind, I plopped down on the spot.

“Ouch!”

As I grabbed my ankle and grimaced, Sugar appeared like the wind, startled.

I let out a short scream as he picked me up again.

“Merchen. Let me see. Did you sprain your ankle?”

“I found Sugar! Now let’s go find Rory.”

I smiled brightly, casually rotating my ankle to show him.

Sugar shook his head as if he’d been tricked and carefully set me down.

“Rory! Where are you hiding!”

As I shouted loudly, Cream raised his hand to point in one direction.

I could see Rory crouching between the shallow branches of a round-grown tree.

“I found Rory too!”

I pulled his arm with a cheerful voice.

But the child collapsed forward weakly, crushing me.

Unable to withstand the weight, I fell to the ground and momentarily lost my breath.

“Rory?”

The child’s breath touching my shoulder was hot.

His breathing was rapid.

Through the thin clothes, a fiery body temperature was transmitted.

“Ro…”

Thud!

Sugar’s frozen face entered my view just as Rory was shoved away.

It happened in an instant.

“Rory!”

I jumped up and ran to the sprawled child.

I cradled the head of Rory, who was breathing heavily with his eyes closed.

The child, pushed towards the bushes and then rolled on the ground, didn’t hit the ground directly, but might have been seriously injured due to being unconscious.

I sharply turned my head to glare at Sugar.

His brow twitched.

With a displeased expression, he extended his hand.

“Merchen. Come here.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

My tone came out sharp.

As if he didn’t expect such a fierce reaction from me, Sugar flinched and shifted his gaze to Rory.

“That slave crushed you first.”

He had a brazen look, as if he truly did nothing wrong.

His slowly blinking, round black eyes were filled with an aggrieved light, claiming innocence.

“You must be shocked, Merchen. He’s dangerous. He’s pretending to faint after failing to hurt you. Come to your big brother. Hurry.”

Ha.

So this was your intention from the start.

Anger rose from my core to the top of my head.