I’ll Become a Villainess That Will Go Down in History

Duke responded to Leon’s words and turned to look at him. There was a strange tension in the air, but after confirming that there was no mutual hostility, Duke answered.

“Yes. I’ve never been there before, but it was my mother’s hometown.”

“By your mother, do you mean Lady Amelia?”

Duke froze, not expecting to hear his mother’s name come out of Leon’s mouth. And Leon, noticing his reaction, added.

“Amelia-sama was a popular person in the Melvin Kingdom. I heard from my grandfather that she was a cheerful person who treated even the poor as equals.”

“…I see. I only have a faint memory of her, but my mother was a strong woman.”

Victor listened silently to Leon and Duke’s conversation, seemingly uninterested.

“Is that place a good country?” Leon chuckled at Duke’s question and responded.

“I don’t know.”

Duke made no further comment in response to Leon’s ambiguous response, and Leon turned his attention to Alicia, hoping to change the subject.

“A prince’s lady of the heart is far from being a princess, isn’t it? I still can’t believe that the Master is a young lady. Sure, she’s graceful and good-looking, but… she’s not like any typical princess I know of.”

“She’s the best princess, though, and she can never be compared to those princesses.”

At Leon’s words, Duke smiled and gently stroked Alicia’s hair.

Leon was glued to the sight of them, thinking what a beautiful pair they were, while Victor looked somewhat grimly ahead, never looking at Duke and Alicia.

“…Ahhh, it seems like there is no woman in the world who is better than Master.”

Leon said in a gentle voice as his face broke into a smile.

At that moment, something solid flew out of the trees toward Duke and Alicia.

“Look out!” Leon’s loud voice echoed through the forest.

***

The sound of something flying awakened me reflexively and I grabbed it with my bare hands before it hit Duke-sama in the face.

It must have been flying at quite a high speed, because I felt a tingling pain in my palm.

…Good thing I had trained for times like this.

“Jeez, you’re too manly,” Leon said before I could express my concern. I checked on Duke-sama to make sure he was not hurt.

“Are you hurt?”

“Not really, how about Alicia? Is your hand okay?”

“Hmm? I’m fine.”

I opened my hand to see what came flying at me.

“…a stone?”

It was just an ordinary stone. …What is this? Are there apes in this forest?

Victor stared warily in the direction from which the stone was thrown. I realized once again that there was nobody who knew everything about this forest.

I believe that the survival rate in this forest is lower than that of the Forest of Death. There was very little information about this place.

“It’s pretty barbaric of them to send stones flying at us.”

Duke-sama’s murderous voice sent a chill down my spine.