|I'M THE OP VILLAINESS| {Yuri}

CHAPTER 24『THE SOUTH GATE』

I slowly awoke from my deep slumber. We didn't have school these days, so I might as well get some sleep. A woman entered the room to get some of my clothes that needed drenching.

I raised my head from my pillow, but she was already gone from my room. She's probably roaming the house now, careful not to wake up anyone as she satisfies her workaholic self.

My bare feet touch the ground. I open the wooden doors of my window; my nostrils are getting assaulted by the aroma of fresh bread and water, which flows right below me.

Wherever I look, I see Imperial banners everywhere, waving at the quiet bursts of wind. Pedestrians look at them once in a while, to see the event displayed on them. Footsteps were heard above me, beyond the ceiling of my room. It seems our neighbours have woken up, to our misfortune.

They always make so much noise. Nobody in the house is able to get at any other time of the day a normal rest.

"Philip! Your armour!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

My mother's shouts from downstairs  reached my ears. I wore a simple cloth, and descended the stairs of my house.

It's my turn today.

The living room table, was rowdy, as always. My father, who's playfully talking to his daughters on the table, my significantly younger brother that somehow eats always a lot but always stays fit, and my mother who rushes to satisfy the needs of everyone in the room.

"Oh, morning Philip!"

My father's voice was hoarse and deep, sometimes striking the impression that he's either angry at you, or he has a chronic disease of some sort. Neither of the statements are correct. It's just his natural way of talking. It's probably why he is viewed as intimidating to other people. Well, that is mainly because of his gargantuan and muscular physique, but that's another story.

He's at heart a gentle soul, and he'll sacrifice anything, even himself, for his family. If there's anything that i took after him, it's that mindset.

My sister's and a half-hearted brother's voice greeted me, as Mother handed me my armour, helping me wear it.

I put around my torso my chainmail and on top, I put a hardened linothorax armour piece. A helmet was placed on my face, and I wore my bronze greaves. I took my father's spear, as my mother handed me my shield.

I looked from top to bottom like a proper garrison infantryman. Like a border guard, but with better equipment, just like the standard infantrymen. I took my sword, my father's spatha, which was the cherry on top for other's to distinguish me apart from the normal Guards of the Gate.

"Oh, brother, is it your turn again?"

The youngest of my two sisters, Ariadne, 5 at the time but with exceptional intellect, asked me this relatively easy question.

"Of course it is. I need to go there to keep mother and father and all of you safe. It is my duty as a citizen of the Empire."

I answered with a relative sweet tone on my voice. She came right to me and hugged my two legs; she's so tiny. Adorable.

The whole family smiled at her, with the older sister, Maria, two years apart from Ariadne, and Constantine, a decade younger than me, all came for a group hug. My mother came last to engulf us all for a family hug.

Father waited at his seat and gave us some breathing room. He looked at my mother, and she took my siblings away, giving us a moment together. We walked to the front of the house, at the garden, hearing the water flow just next to us, all the way down at the underground aqueduct.