I Favor the Villainess Chapter 152

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※ This is seen from The Pope, Claris Répète III’s perspective .

“Miss Pope, what’s wrong?”
“Do we have something on our faces?”

The young twins―― whose names were Mei and Alea―― looked at me dubiously .
Although, “dubious” was probably not the most appropriate word to use .
There was no look of skepticism on their faces, and if anything, it felt like they were simply just asking me a question .

We were currently in Claire and Rei’s dormitory room, which was also where I was being housed for the time being .
Since Claire was currently out, I was housesitting along with Mei and Alea .
Unfortunately, because I was unable to do any sort of housework at all, I was quietly passing the time with Mei and Alea .
Perhaps it was more accurate to say that they were the ones taking care of me in the meantime .

“It’s nothing . I was only thinking about how cute you two are . ”

I said very frankly .
To me, this was a very valuable experience .
As the Pope, I rarely ever had any opportunities to express my feelings freely .
My speech habits, expressions, and even my thoughts were representative of the large organization known as the Church .
I did not consider it as a heavy burden, though .
I was raised like that ever since I was born, and that was how I had always lived .
Living as a symbol for the Church was just my life .
That was what my existence was created for, after all .

“Was that a compliment? Miss Pope, were you praising us?”
“Yes . ”

When I nodded, Mei smiled happily .
However, Alea looked somewhat dissatisfied .

“Miss Pope, when you look at cute things, you should be smiling, you know?”
“Smiling?”
“Yes . Otherwise, even if you say that we are cute, with that face, I cannot tell if you really mean it or not . ”

“If anything, I was kind of scared,” she added, which made me feel a bit troubled .

“Alea, when you say that I should smile, how am I supposed to do that?’
“Eh?”

When I asked her that simple question, Alea’s face looked like she hadn’t expected me to say that .

“Miss Pope, do you not know how to smile?”
“I don’t . ”
“Has anything ever made you smile?”
“I don’t think so . ”
“Well, this is tough . Mei, what do you think we should do?”

Alea sought advice from Mei .
Smiling was probably something really difficult to do .

“Just leave it to Mei! It’s simple! All I need to do is this!”

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Mei gave me a hug and tried to tickle me from behind .

“Huh? Miss Pope, are you not ticklish?”
“I am ticklish . ”
“But you aren’t laughing?”
“So it seems . ”
“Alea, come help me out! If both of us try to tickle her at the same time, maybe she’ll start laughing!”
“Understood . ”

Alea came over to hug me as well, and together, the two of them tried to tickle me .
However,

“She still isn’t laughing?”
“That’s strange . ”

I could not laugh .
Even though I was being tickled, it did not lead to me laughing .

After that, Mei and Alea tried various things out in order to try and make me laugh, but in the end, I was unable to do it .

“I’m sorry, Mei, Alea . Even though you went to such great lengths to help me . ”
“Don’t worry about it, Miss Pope . But it seems like somebody that’s unable to laugh is a really tough person to fight . ”
“Especially since we like to laugh every hour and every second of every day . ”

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” The twins exchanged glances .

“But Miss Pope, when you looked at us, you thought we were cute, right?”
“Yes . ”
“In that case, one day, you will be able to smile too . As Rei-okaasama once said, ‘Cute is justice’ . ”

Cute is justice .
I wasn’t exactly sure how smiling and justice were related .
It seemed that smiling was something profound .

In the end, Claire returned not long afterward, and our conversation ended without being settled .
However, the fact that I couldn’t smile somehow made my heart feel a little bit hazy .

The next day, Claire and I visited a convent in the Empire .
Originally, because there was somebody targeting my life, I wasn’t supposed to leave the house much, but staying indoors all the time was not like Rei at all .
Because of that, I asked Claire to take me to a convent .

The purpose of coming here was,

“Ah, it’s Claire-sama and Rei-sama!”
“Mei and Alea are here too~”
“Hello, everybody . Have you been well?”
“““Yes!”””

I’d heard before that there were a lot of kids around here .
Apparently, Claire and the others had been visiting convents, donating to them and doing all sorts of charitable work back when they were still in Bauer .
It seemed that they continued doing these activities even when they arrived to the Empire, so their faces were quite well-known at this convent .

“Everybody, please try your best to not cause trouble for Claire-sama, okay? Welcome, Claire-sama, Rei-sama . ”

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“We have come by again, Carya . Are we imposing on you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous . The kids here are always excited to see you . ”
“If that’s the case, then it’s fine . Here, I brought some candy for you all . Please share it among everybody . ”
“““Yay!”””

When Claire lowered the basket and handed it to them, the kids cheered .
The nun by the name of Carya appeared troubled as she furrowed her eyebrows .

“Come on, be sure to express your gratitude properly, okay? What do we say?”
“““Claire-sama, Rei-sama, thank you very much!”””
“You’re welcome . Mei, Alea, feel free to play with everyone else . ”
“Okaaay!”
“Understood . ”

The children took the basket and ran out to the convent’s garden .
They sat down next to a flowerbed and immediately began to portion the sweets .

“Rei-sama, is there anything wrong?”
“?”

A voice called out to me, which made me feel bewildered in return .
Have I done something strange?

“You don’t seem that energetic today . Normally, you’d be joining the kids and playing with them, but today, it somehow feels like…… actually, I don’t really know how to put this . ”

As expected, the people that really knew Rei could tell that something was oddly different .
Even if our faces were completely the same, we were still different people .
Well, that was obvious .
However, to begin with, this body belonged to her .

“Do I usually play with the kids?”
“Eh? Yes…… That’s right?”
“That’s because Rei is quite like a child herself, right? That’s why she fits in well with the other children . ”
“……”

So that was it .

“When I play with the kids, do I laugh with them?”
“That’s a given! You look like you’re having a ton of fun as you’re laughing with them . ”
“I see……”

After separating myself from Carya and Claire, I went over to where the circle of kids were .
As I approached them, the kids, who were sitting down, looked up at me .

“What’s wrong, Rei-sama?”
“Did you want to eat some sweets too?”
“We’ve got some sweets for you, Rei-okaasama!”
“But first, please take a seat . ”

Alea took my hand and allowed me to join their circle .

“We’re playing house right now with the snacks . ”
“Mei is the eldest sister!”

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“I’m the mother!”
“I’ll play the father . ”
“I don’t wanna play house, I’d rather play tag . ”
“Why don’t we play tag afterward, then? Since we still have some sweets left, we want to play house with them . Will you join us?”

I listened to the conversation that was taking place among the children before me with deep interest .
Even though these children were so young, they were establishing all sorts of communication among themselves .
The things they were discussing were surprisingly complicated . The words they used, the different intonation and all of the facial expressions they could utilize were endless in numbers .
Learning all of these things was slightly dizzying, but it was not painful at all .
If anything, I thought it was something quite good .

Initially, I thought that since Mei and Alea were so cute, by coming to a place like this, I would be able to see all sorts of other adorable children .
However, seeing all of these kids holding an assembly together seemed far more complicated than I had imagined .
“They’re more than just cute,” I thought to myself as I had a new perception of them .

“Rei-sama, will you eat this?”

A young girl handed me some baked goods .
She appeared to be shy from every angle from what I noticed and had been wavering and gazing at me up until now, but I didn’t know how to react anyway .

“Well, this is an unusual sight, Julia . Usually, you’re afraid of Rei-sama . ”
“Rei-sama doesn’t seem that scary today . ”

The child named Julia said as she took a seat next to me with a smile on her face .
Ever since we swapped roles, every comparison between Rei and myself had been nothing but negatives, so what Julia said gave me what you could call a warm feeling in my heart .
However, that feeling did not last very long .
That was because I couldn’t let it stay .

Even so, before I noticed it myself, I was stroking the girl’s head .
Her hair had a thin and soft feeling to the touch, which was something unique to children .
Julia squinted like she was being tickled .

“Why don’t you have a taste, Rei-okaasama?”

Alea asked me, even though I had never eaten such snacks before .
Today’s sweets were apparently made by Alea .
They were supposedly not as good as Rei’s, but from what I’ve seen, they seemed to be quite well made .

“…… It’s delicious . ”

When I took a bite, the soft spongey texture mixed with the sweetness of the sugar and the rich flavor from the butter spread throughout my mouth .
Not long after, a citrusy scent tickled my nose .
From the standpoint of somebody who has never eaten sweets before, this was a very new experience for me .

“Did that suit your tastes?”
“Alea’s sweets are delicious, aren’t they?”
“Wait, did you make these, Alea?”
“That’s amazing . ”
“Isn’t that just like Rei-sama?”

It seemed that the children found something like this delicious .
I felt a bit excited at being able to share the same feelings as everybody else .

After that, I enjoyed doing various activities with the children .
Since I wasn’t able to keep up given how weak my body was, the children ended up making fun of me by saying: “Rei-sama is soooo weak today” among other things .
However, no matter how many times the feeling of what you would call “having fun” came up, I had to kill those feelings each time .

“Well then, Carya, everyone else . We’ll come to visit again soon . ”
“Okay . We’ll be happy to have you again . ”
“““Bye-bye!”””

After we were being seen off by Carya and the kids, we left the convent .

“How was it, Your Holiness? Usually, you wouldn’t visit these places, right?”
“That’s right . ”

Because of my position, I was often contacted by senior officials from different nations and royal aristocrats .
Of course, there were many opportunities to visit convents and monasteries and people in unfortunate situations, but those were all strongly politically oriented .
Up until now, there were zero opportunities to play with children up close like that .
Any pope would be amazed to hear of such a thing .

“It was a valuable experience that is very hard to come by . ”

That was what I truly thought .
If I hadn’t received this opportunity, I might’ve just gone my entire life not learning the things that I was able to learn today .
I felt a lot of emotions that I never knew I was able to feel before as well .

“Oh my . Look over there, Your Holiness . ”

Claire giggled as she pointed over towards a small figure, who was waving at us, standing by the convent’s gate .
It was Julia .
With her small hand, she was earnestly waving at us to see us off .
I waved at her in return .
When she saw my response, she excitedly shook her hand around even more .

“Your Holiness, do you know what sort of face you are making right now?”
“No, is it not the same as always?”
“Fufu…… . You are smiling . ”
“……!”

I poked around my face .
It did seem like the corners of my eyes were lowered, while the corners of my mouth and my cheeks were both raised .
So this was what it meant to smile .

“Let’s come again sometime . ”
“Yes, definitely . ”

I was probably never going to be able to visit as Rei anymore .
However, I decided that I would stop by again .

“Thank you very much for today, Claire . ”
“No, it was nothing . I only wanted to come just to have fun . ”

Claire smiled gently .
“She probably smiles a lot more whenever she is with Rei,” I thought to myself .
As I stared at Claire’s gentle smile, I had another thought .
Aware that this was something unacceptable, I made a wish anyway .

Please, don’t let these girls, who know of their own happiness, lose against the truth behind this world .

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Chapter end