Refuse Harem
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Prius
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 014 – Dear Tenma, I Am Also Familiar with Friendships Between Fellow Men
Tenma, Rio wanted to hear about the orphanage recently for some reason.
I can’t tell whether Rio is on good terms with Bart or not, but since he was often forced to talk with Bart, I think they are on good terms.
I am familiar with it, since I was a man in my past life. It was a conversation through our fists. It was probably something like that.
As expected, they didn’t go as far as committing violence, but they often argue a lot.
Oh, right. I also quarreled with you sometimes.
Well, most of the time, my anger was ignored though.
………Looking back now, we did have a big quarrel once. But while I remember that it was a big quarrel, I don’t remember why we did it to begin with.
However, Tenma, who was always calm, screamed out at that time… and had a sorrowful expression. I remember that much, yet I still can’t remember the reason for it.
At that time, why were we quarreling?
Did I forget something important?
The quill-pen stopped.
“My head hurts…”
Sophie unconsciously talked with Tasuku’s tone.
As she wrote, she tried to remember her previous life, only to be struck by a headache.
To change her mood, she sneaked out.
After taking a deep breath, she sat down on the second step of the outer stairs and absentmindedly looked off into the distance. The sky was blue and cloudless, but the air felt cold.
I’m glad I wore the coat that Otou-sama gave me.
More than a year has passed since Sophie remembered her past life, and the season was approaching winter.
Her mother’s physical condition has also improved to the point of being healthy, and along with that, the work ethics of the miscellaneous female servants who loved to gossip had also improved.
While the seasoning wasn’t considered completed yet, Sophie was doing trial and error experiments on her own. Recently, Eric from the orphanage had become interested in making seasoning and they often did the experiments together.
Steadily, Sophie was treading her life properly as “Sophie Linier.”
Despite it being a very happy thing, she sometimes remembered her past life and suddenly felt lonely.
“Even though I’m being loved by both Otou-sama and Okaa-sama… there should be a limit to being greedy.”
Tenma’s father, who helped Tasuku study, despite being busy with his work.
Tenma’s mother, who gave Tasuku a muffler with a different color from her son’s.
Tenma’s sister, who baked a big cake for Tasuku’s birthday.
And his best friend, who accompanied him in his life together, longer than anyone else.
As she remembered the life that already passed, there were times that she ended up in tears.
I am Sophie, a girl, so it should be okay to cry from reminiscing, right?
She tightly hugged herself for comfort.
She curled her body and covered her face to protect herself from the cold wind.
I should make more places to belong as Sophie Linier. If I look at the wider world, I’m sure my loneliness would disappear.
But just for now, she wished to sink into the feelings of Nakamura Tasuku.
As Sophie closed her eyes and calmed herself down, she heard the clopping of horse hooves and the squeaking of wheels.
“Sophie! What’s wrong?!”
As Sophie looked up, she saw Rio, who was looking at her anxiously.
“Oh, you’ve come to play. Thank you.”
Sophie was inwardly glad she managed to speak and smile like she usually did.
“Why are you outside of your room?”
“I just wanted a bit of fresh air. But I ended up feeling sleepy and fell asleep for a bit.”
“Hah? Don’t sleep outside… Really, you worry me.”
After Sophie apologized to Rio’s complaints, she noticed the usual talkative escort wasn’t there.
“What about Al?”
“Today is his holiday. That guy is my escort for today.”
Next to the carriage, a tall man with black clothes looked in their direction and bowed.
“As long as I stay within his sight, he won’t get too close.”
“Well, what a peculiar escort.”
“No… Al is the weird one for having zero sense of distance, though…”
“Then, would you like to have tea here instead of going to the orphanage today?”
“I already saw his ugly face. I don’t wanna see it again for some time.”
“You went there alone?”
“Yea.”
Since he actually went with his escort, he didn’t go alone, but since Al wasn’t there, she ended up saying it that way.
“…If Sophie doesn’t feel cold, then how about a walk?”
“Okay. I also want to move my body for a bit.”
It was just right to warm her cold body.
As Sophie lightly walked down the stairs, Rio began to walk beside her.
“Even though you told me not to go there, since you thought it was dangerous at first.”
“…It’s not like he wants to hurt me anyway. Nah, he did hurt my feelings, in a sense.”
“As expected, it’s good to see such relationships between boys. To think both of you ended up getting along well.”
“What part of it makes it look like we are on good terms?”
“Don’t friendships between boys always feel like that?”
As she nonchalantly answered, Rio put on an expression that seemed to say “What kind of feeling is that…?”
“I’ve heard you visited the orphanage without me knowing. It seems you gave them food and daily necessities. Sunny told me that.”
“Even though I told them to not speak about it! …It’s just hypocrisy.”
Rio said that as if he was spitting the words out. He said it in a way so as to not make a big deal of it.
“Oh, Rio sure said a cute thing. It’s better to show hypocrisy you have than kindness you don’t have. For those who receive it, they would be happy, regardless of why they got it. People will get hungry if they don’t eat. It’s not like food given out of hypocrisy will taste bad anyway. The important thing is to fill your stomach first.”
“You sure say such vulgar things, despite your cute face.”
“Oh, did I say anything wrong?”
“No… it’s just, that guy said, ‘Is this a blessing from an aristocrat?’”
“That’s just Bart’s go-to response. He also said that to me when I first gave things to them.”
“—That guy!”
Leaving aside being told off himself, Rio couldn’t forgive Sophie also being told off like that. Sophie smiled at Rio, who seemed indignant.
“But then I replied. ‘Isn’t it a fact that these breads and meat would help the hungry children? Just accept it obediently. Or would it be okay for your words to cause children to cry out of starvation today? They will get weakened and sick if they don’t get proper nutrition. For you, who are not even a doctor, can you take care of them? Or do you think bread brought by hypocrisy is rotten? What a fool.’ He shut up after that.”
“…That’s scary.”
“I just brought them bread and meat as souvenirs for visiting, yet he spoke out as if he was asking for a fight, so I just responded accordingly.”
“I just sympathized with him for the first time now.”
Perhaps for Bart, who had never seen aristocrats up close, he’d thought Sophie was an aristocratic young lady who came there out of volunteer spirit and pity, so he jabbered like that. Who would have thought that he would receive multiple degrees of sarcasm as a reply?
However, it could be said that it was very like Sophie.
Looking at the profile of the strong girl, Rio began to think that he was a weak person. He felt small as a person, to feel a little hurt by Bart’s words.
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She’s so cool…. Thanks for the chapter!
She’s so badass
indeed
this is the difference between a normal kid and a (kid who used to be a)n adult lmao
yeah, it shows in her attitude
No comments jello thx for the chap
Thanks for the username XD