I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

Editor: Daed

“That one is peach. If it’s pink, our Rin matches better with apricot or coral.”

Wasn’t it just a subtle difference between apricot color, peach color, or yellow color?

Neither of them were fashion designers and they weren’t even interested in their own clothes, so why were they so serious at this moment?

This conversation was really meaningless, but they made it seem very important.

If I didn’t hear the conversation, I would have mistaken this as a conversation about the importance of peace and how precious it was to live in this world.

If they devoted themselves in this profession, it looked like they would shine more brightly.

Just imagine, besides their beautiful faces, they were also proficient in fashion.

Of course, I didn’t quite like the pastel color that Claudia recommended. Maybe she thought that I matched that color because my hair was caramel and my eyes were gold.

At that time, the designer, who was conflicted on whether to sell her pride for money or not, intervened.

“You have sharp eyes. This color will look better on Lady Amber. What do you think? Doesn’t it feel like her face looks brighter?”

Felix blinked his eyes as if he didn’t understand what she meant. He said,

“Wouldn’t every color match Irene?”

“…”

Then Claudia agreed.

“Hmm, that’s right. When was Rin’s face not bright?”

“…”

The designer was silent at their puzzled responses. Somehow I felt sorry for her.

“The design of the gown that Orabeoni holds is the most meticulous. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a cherry-shaped lace hem. Who is the designer of this gown?”

“Mmm, it’s my design.”

The designer raised her hand while coughing a little.

“I’ll give you a bonus.”

Simultaneously, the eyes of the designer changed. Her eyes became like those of the sage who had laid their material desires down and stepped closer to the truth of the world.

“Lady Amber suits any color well. This peach color will suit perfectly too.”

In the end, you sold your pride to flatter me.

After all, money was the best. I sincerely congratulated the designer who had just learned the truth of this world.

Anyway, because I didn’t want to waste more time, I picked a gown and held it against my body.

“This one is beautiful. I’ll wear this.”

It was an evening gown with leaf-shaped embroidery on it in a green apple color.

With pearls embedded in various spots, the skirt lace gave it a lively and lovely image.

In fact, the hundreds of gowns scattered here were high quality, so it didn’t matter which one you wore.

However, these siblings seemed to have different ideas.

Claudia closed her mouth shut when she saw me. Then she admired me for a while before she muttered,

“Rin is so cute… What if someone kidnaps her?”

Such an unexpected response.

I had gotten used to receiving her affection, and I understood it all. But this was so wrong. Who would want to kidnap something like me?!

Where did that idea come from? That I was ‘so cute that people would kidnap me’? Such a creative thought.

“Hm, should we put on the tracking magic we developed to prevent lost children?”

“If Rin doesn’t mind.”

Then the two of them turned to look at me expectantly, as if waiting for my answer.

Their gleaming gaze filled with genuine concern seemed to implore me to give a positive answer.

You should use that magic on Claudia instead of me. Why would you use tracking magic on me when there were so many people out there targeting the heroine!

Although I lost my objectivity for a while, it seemed like they would still insist even if I expressed my opinion, so I simply replied,

“Should we walk together?”

I was also worried about being apart from Claudia and Felix. It would be nice if I could know their location right away.

And so, that was how we put on the tracking magic to know each other’s location.

***

A carriage with the crest of the Chamberlain stopped.

Felix got off the carriage and reached out to me like a guardian. Meanwhile, Claudia also jumped out of the carriage and reached out to me.

The height from the door to the floor was quite high, so I had to put a simple staircase on the door whenever I got on and off the carriage. But Claudia jumped down even in high heels.

I stared at her with my eyes wide open.

Since when did Claudia become so brave?

“I’ll hold you.”

Claudia said as she blinked her eyes softly.

Dressed in a pure white gown decorated with diamonds and platinum, she must be an angel who fell from heaven.

I couldn’t stop wondering, ‘Where did you hide your wings?’

“Tonight, the star is you.”

“Huh?”

I unconsciously hummed the song as I stared at Claudia while admiring her beauty, then she looked at me in bewilderment. Ah, nevermind.

I rolled my eyes and glanced over at Felix. He was also dressed in a pure white uniform with golden shoulder straps.

When he was clad in the sorcerer’s robes, he looked like a high-ranking priest. But when he wore this outfit, it looked like he was on a whole ‘nother level above the careless Crown Prince.

‘If the Crown Prince possessed half of the traits that Felix did, then this country wouldn’t be in such a concerning predicament.’

I have to change my previous belief that the ‘face’ completed fashion. The face and the body were actually only part of fashion; it was one’s humanity and character that completed it.

The two of them were even believed to be masterpieces of the God of Beauty.

They had their hands outstretched towards the inside of the carriage, as if asking me to grab them. So it was natural for everyone around to pay attention to us.

Just the crest of the Chamberlain engraved on the carriage itself was enough to attract attention.

Everyone would be paying attention to the lucky protagonist who got off the carriage. They must be curious how the rumored Lady Amber looked like in person.

It was the public execution that we had often heard of.

I had no choice but to take their hands.

A small, soft hand and a large,quite hard hand gripped my hands tightly.

As expected, disgruntled gossiping ensued. Before I could hear what they were saying, Felix whispered into my ear.

“Don’t listen. It’s not worth listening.”

I looked up at him.

Even when he donned on a uniform, the round gold-rimmed glasses that Felix always wore only added an intellectual demeanor rather than cover his beauty.

His sharp eyes were curved into crescent-moon shapes behind the lenses as he returned my gaze.

“Good girl.”

If you talked sweetly with such a voice and gaze, who would choose to listen to others?

On the other side, Claudia clicked her tongue and said.

“They are trying to bring others down.”

“Huh?”

“They are people who thrive on the misery of others; they don’t like it when others live happily. They think, ‘If I can’t go up, then I’ll try to pull people down somehow’.”

I stared at Claudia, who spoke quietly. She sported a picturesque smile on her face.

“If Rin is in trouble, they’ll be happy. So it’s better not to make that happen. If you just speculate without any evidence, then you won’t be any different from them.”

The crest of the Chamberlain had a daffodil symbolizing chivalry, respect, and sincere love.

And there were two dragons engraved around the daffodil, each of them emitting fire and ice respectively.

Everyone could tell just by looking at it. What the Chamberlain protected from generation to generation, and what they valued the most.

It wasn’t just the appearance. If you closely observed the Chamberlains, they had a unique atmosphere around them.

Words such as ‘elegance’, ‘virtue’, ‘dignity’, and ‘impeccable’ would come to our mind.

It was the same as if there was a pure white snowy landscape in front of us and we had the urge to trample on it. Maybe that was why the heroes of this novel lost their minds when they looked at Claudia.

They wanted to drag her down to where they were somehow.

‘If they didn’t bother her, she could shine like this.’

And Claudia’s low self-esteem before we met was probably influenced by those around her.

You could feel it when the interest of the nobles turned indirectly on you.

Sometimes you could laugh and act like nothing happened, but in the end you would start to get hurt again. They would endlessly criticize us and try to bring us down.

How did these saintly siblings endure all of this?

I guess they got through this through their experience, right? I didn’t want to make any speculation, because I wanted to be different from those people.

I stared at Claudia and tightened my grasp on her hand.

“Don’t say that. Chloe isn’t mean at all. You’re just a little clumsy.”

“……Well, I know.”

Claudia lightly pinched my cheek, laughing as if she knew I would say that.

It became hard for me to breathe when Claudia pulled my cheek up.

“Those people are really funny. Chloe is just Chloe. I don’t understand why they keep trying to judge others.”

What value did we had in life?’ That was how you should ask yourself before judging others.

As I cried out, Claudia gently massaged the cheek that she had previously pinched. She lamented,

“It seems that Rin also doesn’t know your own worth.”

Huh, my worth?

If you asked me about my worth, being someone who was not the main character and simply a one-time extra in the novel…Well, I didn’t know what she was talking about when I heard that.

Wait a minute, did I look down on myself more than others did? Wasn’t I on the side where my self-esteem was surprisingly high?

Claudia must have noticed that I was kind of hypocritical.

To her, I was a great person. And I was the one who told her that she was a great person, but now I looked down on myself.

No, I thought that my own objectification was going well. In the first place, Irene Amber wasn’t my body.

“Chloe is a much better person than me.”

“Rin is also a great person.”

“Uh….um, I guess so.”

Claudia seemed dissatisfied with my answer.

Then Felix chimed in as he tucked my caramel-colored hair that was being blown by the wind behind my ear.

“So we’ll keep telling you. How pretty and adorable Irene is.”

They were people who knew how to return as much as they were loved.

While I gazed back at the two of them, I mused, ‘Will I ever be able to shine like this someday?’