Becoming the Villain’s Family - Chapter 320
Chapter 320
‘I could just ignore it.’
But the fact that having normal friends would make it easier for Elaina to practice speaking was undeniable…
As he ruffled his hair in frustration, Luca suddenly turned to his side.
“Luca.”
Elaina was clutching at his coat, her eyes, fixed on the ground until now, sparkled with curiosity.
“My fwend.”
“…No, that one’s too old to be your friend.”
“No old, five year older.”
“That’s ancient.”
“Thousands years between us.”
“…”
“Luca, my fwend.”
Elaina asserted herself using brief words. Even her pronunciation has become clearer than ever. This was the same Elaina who preferred silence to speaking with her short tongue.
Luca looked up at the cloudy sky, then down at the ground, and with a deep sigh, he rubbed his face. He didn’t want to admit it, but the kid was right.
‘Let’s not monopolize Elaina’s cuteness.’.
He thought. Elaina is a human with free will. Her cuteness belongs to everyone…
‘…Yeah as if!’
Suddenly feeling protective, Luca flashed a fake smile and said.
“Go now.”
His tone was sweet, but the underlying message clearly meant ‘get lost’.
“We’re friends now, right?”
Who said that?
“See you tomorrow, Luca. Elaina.”
“Uh-huh.”
Elaina cheerfully waved her short arm vigorously after Brian, who was also waving. And after he left, she looked up at Luca as if making a request.
“Tomorrow too, Luca.”
“…”
“Brian.”
She meant they should meet Brian again tomorrow. Watching Elaina pronounce the new kid’s name so precisely, Luca felt both pride and irritation bubbling inside him.
“Ella, don’t you find him a bit annoying?”
“Annoying?”
“Yes, a bit. Unpleasant.”
“No.”
“Brother’s intuition is never wrong, right?”
Luca swiftly picked up Elaina and pulled her into his arms. Rubbing his cheek against hers as if coaxing her, he said,
“I’ll find you a proper friend.”
At that, Elaina’s expression soured.
If you had any conscience, you wouldn’t say things like that, Elaina’s face seemed to protest. It was the first time she had openly shown such a look, and Luca was taken aback, freezing like ice.
“I patient. Always.”
Luca had claimed he was finding suitable friends for her, but how many had he forcibly cut ties with?
It wasn’t just Luca. Lloyd and Vincent, among all the Valentines, had ensured that she had become an enforced loner. Elaina was desperate to meet and talk with someone her age, not adults!
“Brian.”
“…”
“Good.”
“How would you know? Did you read his mind? You haven’t even held hands!”
“I hold?”
“No, definitely not. That was a slip of the tongue from me.”
Elaina asserted firmly, her eyes intensifying.
“Tomorrow Brian.”
“Ella, are you glaring at me now?”
What to do. She’s too adorable…
Caught off guard, Luca murmured to himself and was promptly quiet because of Elaina’s soft punch. He found himself reluctantly promising to meet Brian again tomorrow.
Since then, Elaina had met Brian every day without fail.
“Look at this, Ella. I learned it from my nanny.”
Brian plucked wildflowers from the field, busily twisting and turning them and handed it to Elaina.
It’s a flower ring.
“Wow…”
Elaina was amazed.
She had seen countless jeweled rings crafted by master jewelers, but a ring made from twisted flowers was a novelty, especially impressive because Brian had crafted it himself.
As she stared in wonder, Brian slipped the ring onto her finger.
“…”
Watching silently, Luca clenched his fist, imagining setting the entire hillside ablaze—flowers, grass, and trees all engulfed in flames.
“Can I too?”
“Of course, Ella.”
Brian gently stroked her hair as she looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
“Hmm.”
Elaina glanced back at Luca, who was looking ominously, then tugged on Brian’s sleeve.
“Hmm?”
“A secret.”
Leaning closer, Brian listened as Elaina whispered.
“Luca birthday, give this.”
Luca’s birthday was approaching soon.
Elaina wanted to make a flower ring herself to give to Luca.
While she could buy a gift, it would just be with money from her mom and dad. Brian turned around, chuckled, and whispered in Elaina’s ear.
“So, shall we meet secretly without your brother knowing?”
Secretly, without Luca?
Elaina was rarely ever apart from Luca except when sleeping with her mom and dad. Now that years had passed and the remnants of Eden Faith had completely disappeared, Luca had no reason to go on purges.
Essentially, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Luca and Elaina were together 365 days a year.
As she hesitated, Brian said.
“It’s a secret, right? I can teach you, but if your brother watches us make the flower ring, he’ll know what you’re planning to give him.”
“Um…”
Brian was right. Elaina wanted to surprise Luca.
‘Luca said never to follow strangers, but Brian isn’t a stranger.’
More dangerous than strangers were people she only knew vaguely, but Elaina was too inexperienced to understand such subtleties. Raised more sheltered than the average child, she nodded in agreement.
“Okay, understand.”
“Can you come here secretly?”
“Um… no.”
The distance from their current residence in the Artis domain to the bustling town center was considerable.
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