I Favor the Villainess Chapter 145

"You're so thick-headed, Misha!"
"I think you need to calm down, Yuu-sama."

It was evening time when we heard a pair of unusually loud voices shouting at each other from the room next door.
Claire-sama, Mei, Alea and I were in the middle of having dinner when we instinctively glanced at one another.

"Are Yuu-sama and Mishoneesama fighting?"
"They both sound really scary."

Both Mei and Alea looked worried.
That was how loud their shouting was.
Misha in particular knew how to manipulate her magic in a way so that others wouldn't be able to hear anything.
Basically, right now, she had lost so much of her composure that it slipped her mind.

"Rei, could you please go and check up on them?"
"Ah, but what about cleaning up here?"
"Just leave that to us. We'll be fine, so just go."
"Okay, please excuse me."

I gave Mei and Alea a gentle pat on their heads and assured them that everything would be fine before heading out.
I rang the doorbell.
The shouting that had been going on non-stop suddenly came to a halt, and before long, it sounded like somebody was walking towards the door.

"…… Oh, Rei……"
"Good evening, Misha. Did something happen? It's rare to be able to hear you two fighting like this."
"You were able to hear us, huh. I'm sorry. It's not that big of a deal."

Misha smiled wryly in an attempt to fool me, but her eyes were bright red.
It seemed that she had been crying.

“Can you tell me what's going on? If that's too much of a bother, then I won't pry."
"……"
"This is perfect, isn't it, Misha? Let's tell Rei about it."

Yuu-sama, who seemed to be listening to our conversation, spoke from inside.

"…… Come in."
"Pardon the intrusion."

This was the first time I entered Yuu-sama and Misha's room since we arrived in the Empire.
The room was empty back then, but it had since transformed into a room full of furniture and it carried a scent of livelihood.
Since both of them were religious, there were a lot of things in here that had religious implications, but all in all, it was apparent that they were living a simple and modest life.

"I'll go make us some tea."
"Ah, don't worry about that."
"It's fine, since I want something to cool my head a little."

After saying that, Misha went to the kitchen and started brewing some black tea.
The argumentative atmosphere that filled the room earlier was slightly washed away by the scent of black tea.

"My bad, Rei. I didn't mean to be so loud that you could hear it all the way from your room."
"No, it's fine, but it really is rare to hear you both raise your voices like that."

Both Yuu-sama and Misha had such calm tempers, I had never expected that I would ever be able to hear them yell that loudly.

"You see…… We seem to have different opinions about my mother."
"Lishe-sama?"
"Yuu-sama seems to be incredibly suspicious of Lishe-sama, through and through."

Misha came into the living room while holding a tray with tea cups on it.
There was an obvious look of displeasure written on her face.

"Isn't it normal for me to be on my guard? There's a very high chance that my mother was involved in Salas' jailbreak. I think it's natural to want to be cautious of someone like that."
"She's your blood-related mother though? Even if Lishe-sama might be scheming something, I can't believe that even as her daughter, you have no faith in her."
"Do you really think I could place my faith in her? The same mother who has continuously been using me as a way to boost her own ego?"
"Even so――"

The two of them were about to get heated up again.

"Okay, stop. Let's stay calm, Yuu-sama, Misha."
"…… You're right. Sorry."
"…… I'm sorry."

When I intervened, both of them looked ashamed.
Whether it was flirting or fighting, these two frequently appeared to lose track of themselves in their own little world quite easily.

"So the gist of it is, Yuu-sama has no faith in Lishe-sama, while Misha wants to believe in her. Am I correct?"

They nodded their heads in response to my question.

"Wouldn't you agree with me, Rei? My mother's the type of person who can't think of anybody else but herself. It's the same for the current situation too."
"Putting Lishe-sama's personality aside, I'm sure she hasn't stopped thinking about what's best for you in her own way, Yuu-sama."
"So her idea of having me spend the rest of my life as a man was just in my best interest?"
"That's……"
"Okay, okay, stop."

Just as they were about to get riled up again for the third time, I tried to soothe them.
Geez, how troublesome.

"At this point in time, I can't say whether or not I believe in Lishe-sama. There's not a lot of information to go off of, after all."

In an attempt to calm them down, I continued.

"I'd say the case regarding Salas does seem a little bit sketchy, but for our current situation, don't you think we should put our judgment on hold? If you make any presumptions right from the get-go, it might come back to bite you in unexpected places."

The two of them fell silent as they took in my words.
Both of them were intelligent people, so they probably understood what I was saying.
It was just their emotions that were having troubles keeping up.

"I understand where your feelings are coming from, Yuu-sama. Lishe-sama's actions in the past have always made you feel uncomfortable, so you find it impossible to believe in her now."
"That's right."
"But!"
"On the other hand, what's gotten into you all of a sudden, Misha? It's not as if you liked Lishe-sama all that much before, right?"

After all, she also took part in helping us with restoring Yuu-sama's sex.

"I still feel uncomfortable around Lishe-sama. Even when we were back in the convent, she had indirectly expressed her distaste for me."

From what I've heard, Lishe-sama asked Yuu-sama to separate from Misha, and would nag them about it all the time.
Since then, Yuu-sama has been acting as a wall in order to protect Misha from Lishe-sama.

"However, don't you think it's a bit sad that, despite being blood-related, a mother and daughter are always at odds with each other? I value Yuu-sama above everything else, so that's why it'd make me sad to see her relationship with Lishe-sama go on like this."

Misha continued to let her inner feelings spill.

"It's not that I believe in the general idea that every child must get along with their parents. If this was a matter concerning another family, I would agree with everything that you've said, Yuu-sama. However, since this is something that directly involves and affects you, it's another story."

"I just want you to be happy, Yuu-sama," Misha added.

"Misha, do you firmly believe that repairing Yuu-sama's relationship with Lishe-sama is essential to her happiness?"
"I think that if those two are constantly at odds with each other, it'll make both of them unhappy."
"In other words, rather than wanting her to believe in Lishe-sama, all you wanted was for Yuu-sama to be happy, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."

I understood what Misha was getting at.
When I turned to face Yuu-sama,

"Yuu-sama."
"What's up?"
"I can understand where Misha's worries are coming from to an extent. Plus, Lishe-sama has a lot of authority, so if you're constantly butting heads with someone like her, it's easy to guess that she can cause a lot of trouble for you, Yuu-sama."
"……"
"On the other hand, Yuu-sama, why are you so wary of Lishe-sama anyway? I think it's understandable to feel remorseful over the incident about your body, but that case is over and done with already. Plus, didn't you say that ever since you forfeited your right to the throne, things have been getting better?"

I also didn't think it would hurt to be cautious of Lishe-sama, but seeing how she was vehemently opposing Misha, it felt like Yuu-sama was going too far.

"I mean…… I just can't forgive her after seeing her treat my Misha so coldly."
"You didn't like how Misha was being mistreated back when you were in the convent, right?"
"That's right. Misha is my everything. If anybody hurt Misha, I wouldn't be able to forgive them. Even if that person is my own mother."
"……"

I understood where Yuu-sama was coming from too.
I faced both of them and said:

"In the end, the reason why you were arguing was because you were both only thinking of each other, right?"
"……"
"……"

The two of them fell silent.
Both of them were blushing.
As for me?
This was what I was thinking.

Normies, go explode.

"Anyway, it's clear that both of you have each other in your best interests, so it's better to stay calm and have an honest conversation. If you try to act tough and put up a front, it'll only complicate things."
"…… You're right."
"…… I'll be more careful."

The two of them seemed dejected, but it looked like things were going to be fine now.

"Now then, I'll be going back to my room now, so don't get too heated up again, okay? Ahh, but I think it'd be great if you heated each other up in other ways though, if you know what I mean."
"Rei!"
"…… Hahaha."

Misha glared at me in response to my joke, while Yuu-sama gave me a wry smile before I made my way back to my room.

"How was it? Did something serious happen?"

Claire-sama's tone sounded worried as she asked, to which I responded with:

"Nothing happened. It was just your average lovers' quarrel."

Geez, and what a treat it was!

Chapter end