A wide plaza filled with the chirping of birds. Beneath the clear, sunny sky, the faces of everyone passing through seemed happy.

Then, in that moment.

“What is this supposed to be! Do you want to die?”

A noise completely out of place with the peaceful plaza rang out.

A young boy, perhaps just turned seven, was unable to contain his rage, screaming and stomping his feet. For a boy, he had a rather pretty face.

Before him, a woman dressed in a maid’s uniform was on her knees, begging for forgiveness, yet not a single person stepped forward to intervene.

The commotion continued, and those who had been taking a stroll stopped to watch.

“Oh dear, what should be done about that? Shouldn’t someone stop him?”

A woman with a warm, gentle face said with concern, but who would dare step in?

The boy was clearly a child of noble birth, raised in comfort. Anyone could see it.

It was evident from the fabric of his suspenders and shirt, and from the way he raised his voice in a public place like the plaza.

That arrogant, unapologetic attitude was the kind that someone raised to be cautious and watchful of others could never possess.

From what could be gathered, it seemed something had gotten on his clothes, but it was hard to believe he was acting this way over a stain that was barely even visible. Yet no one said anything, and everyone was busy looking away.

“That’s the young son of Duke Rogato. What could we possibly do to stop him?”

Duke Rogato. The moment that name was mentioned, even those who had been sympathetic fell silent all at once.

Duke Rogato was counted among the nobles in the capital whom one must never provoke.

In the end, everyone present turned their backs on the maid.

“I, I’m sorry. Young Master Vincent, I’ll clean it up right away.”

The maid sniffled and carefully opened her mouth, but Vincent’s anger did not subside. The boy finally raised his small fist.

Small as it was, a fist clenched that tightly would surely leave a bruise. If it hit the eye, it could be dangerous.

But all the maid could do was squeeze her eyes shut and wait for the young master’s fist that was about to come flying.

It was then.

The sound of bold, confident footsteps echoed through the plaza.

Click. Click. Click.

The steps were so unhesitating that even Vincent, fist raised, was startled enough to turn toward the direction of the sound.

“……What?”

There stood a little girl, about the same age as Vincent.

From her primly pressed lips, one could sense a certain stubbornness. As he looked into those yellow-green eyes staring straight at him, he found himself instinctively reading the atmosphere, his body shrinking back.

This was not the kind of presence that should come from someone his own age. It was more like that of a great elder of a household……

Vincent felt humiliated by this. Who did this little thing think she was!

“Who are you! Get lost!”

Vincent shoved the girl to get her out of his sight, but her body was remarkably solid. His own hand stung from the impact instead. It seemed to have made quite a dull thud as well.

‘What in the world?’

Just as he was struggling to hide his momentary flustered state, unable to decide where to look, the girl’s mouth opened.

“That’s not allowed.”

“What?”

The girl seemed to think for a moment, then raised her fist exactly as the boy had done moments before. It was a fist far smaller than Vincent’s.

Vincent snickered and was about to say something mocking, when

”CRASH!!”

The fist the girl threw flew toward the wall behind where Vincent stood, and the wall, struck dead-on by that small fist, was utterly destroyed.

“Do bad things, and I’ll punish you.”

Vincent fainted on the spot.

The little girl calmly walked away from the scene.

“Regression isn’t so bad after all.”

She muttered, just like that.

—

Everything had begun before Adele’s regression.

‘Even in death, I will curse you.’

There had been a man who had said those words, glaring with bloodshot eyes. His name was Vincent Rogato, a traitor who had joined hands with a foreign nation to bring his own country to ruin.

And the one who had driven a sword into the neck of the man whom everyone hated and despised was none other than Adele, respected by all.

She was someone who had never known anything of curses, yet perhaps she had truly been cursed at that moment. Adele had continued to think so ever since Vincent’s death.

Otherwise, why would that situation alone keep resurfacing among the countless deaths she had witnessed, even though she and Vincent had not been particularly close?

While Adele was lost in thoughts of Vincent, someone stepped before her and saluted. It was one of her subordinates.

‘What was his name again……?’

As she struggled to recall the name of the subordinate whose face was already blurry in her memory, he spoke to her with an excited expression.

“Commander! I heard the news that you’re to be granted a territory today.”

“……So I am.”

“Wow, I envy you.”

What on earth was there to envy. Even as she looked at those eyes sparkling with admiration, Adele’s heart remained still.

It was more like, even if she received something, it didn’t seem like it would be of much use.

“Want me to give it to you?”

“Pardon? You have such a great sense of humor!”

‘I’m not joking.’

“Have you decided on the family name you’ll take with the grant?”

At that moment, for some reason, the color of Vincent’s hair flashed through her mind.

“……Grey.”

“Adele Grey? Isn’t that a bit too carelessly chosen?”

She left her snickering subordinate behind and headed to the audience chamber to see the king.

Today marked exactly one year since the war had ended. Adele had rendered the greatest service in the war, but the delay in recognizing her contributions was all because of the late Vincent.

The war had dragged on for two years, which was why the recovery had been slow.

But the will of the people was remarkable. As of yesterday, the last dam had been fully restored. Now, if only the heavens cooperated, farming would proceed without difficulty, and everyone would be able to live a comfortable life.

‘A comfortable life. What would that even feel like?’

When she arrived at the audience chamber, the king and queen were seated together. Even to Adele, who paid little attention to the appearances of others, the two were a strikingly well-matched, beautiful couple.

If life were a novel, surely those two would be the protagonists.

The queen, with her cascading golden hair, blue eyes that seemed to hold all the light of the world, and rosy cheeks reminiscent of rose petals, had been one year ago the first and only love of Vincent, who had died by Adele’s hand.

‘Oh no, thinking of Vincent again……’

At that moment, the king, who had long been Vincent’s rival in love, opened his mouth.

“Why that expression? You know why I’ve summoned you, don’t you?”

His charming smile that captivated people had, ironically, earned him Vincent’s hatred.

‘Please. No more thoughts of Vincent……’

Adele gave a small shake of her head to clear her thoughts and answered the king’s question.

“I am aware.”

“Good. Now that you’ve been granted that vast territory, what do you plan to do with it?”

“I plan to retire and rest in the territory.”

The sudden mention of retirement sent a hush through the hall. It was the queen who broke the silence.

Her eyes glistening, she rose from her seat and took Adele’s hands. Her skin was delicate and soft, unlike Adele’s rough hands, always gripping a sword.

“No, my dear proud friend. Please don’t leave me behind.”

At her plea, Adele began to wonder when exactly she and the queen had become friends. She had no memory of it, but thinking back, it did seem to have been the case.

‘Something feels off……’

“Whatever would I do without Dame Adele? The fact that this country has found such stability is all thanks to Dame Adele!”

“Now that there is no one left to threaten the peace, I believe I am no longer needed.”

“That simply won’t do. A bright future awaits our dear friend. How can you throw that away?”

When had she become friends with the king? Adele tried to recall, but she and these two had never been particularly close.

‘Or had they? Were we… close?’

In the end, unable to win against the two who insisted they were her close friends, Adele had to leave the audience chamber without ever having produced her letter of resignation.

—

Vincent’s specter continued to torment Adele even a full year after that.

Why did Vincent Rogato keep coming to mind?

Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Adele finally made her way to the noble records room inside the royal library.

Surely there would be some record of Vincent’s life there. Perhaps she could even find out whether he had truly been capable of casting a curse. Once she found a solution, she planned to ensure that insufferable wretch would never cross her mind again.

“Oh my, Dame! It’s an honor to see you.”

The library’s librarian recognized Adele and greeted her with delight. She had grown accustomed to this kind of welcome everywhere she went lately.

“I’d like to look at materials on Vincent Rogato.”

Vincent Rogato. At that name, the librarian’s expression went pale.

She seemed curious as to why someone would be looking into the man who had sown seeds of disaster in the nation.

“It’s classified.”

Too lazy to explain, Adele whispered in a low voice. At that, the librarian’s face flushed slightly, and she nodded repeatedly with wide eyes.

Following the librarian’s guidance, Adele arrived at a bookshelf organized with documents on the Rogato ducal family.

“You can check through these. Well then, Dame Grey, good luck!”

Adele left the librarian’s small words of encouragement behind and began searching through the materials frantically.

She continued until the sun had set and all the lights inside the library had been lit, and then again until the sun rose and the lights were extinguished.

Yet even after reading through all of this, she could find nothing particularly noteworthy. It was because the king had wished to erase all traces of him.

From the remaining records, Vincent appeared to have followed the typical noble path and successfully enrolled in the academy, an ordinary person with a bad personality. Though he never graduated.

For the past of a villain, there was nothing particularly unusual.

However, his upbringing was somewhat out of the ordinary.

‘He was abused……’

It was a society where a certain degree of discipline toward children was permitted. But the Rogato ducal household had gone far beyond that.

He wasn’t even a prisoner of war. How could they have done such things to their own son?

The contents were so horrific they were difficult to even read.

Naturally, Adele’s expression twisted as she read through the materials. She had thought that having experienced war, she would be numb to violent situations.

But the terrible *buse the child had suffered made her stomach turn. The wounds that had been visible through his torn clothing had not been from the war.

‘Was it during those times, while enduring such a childhood, that he met the queen?’

Only then did Adele feel as though she could understand, at least a little, the way Vincent’s heart had become so twisted. He had fallen in love with a kind young countess, but she was already the prince’s fiancée.

Vincent had erupted, assaulting the prince and being suspended from the academy. From there, he had gone to the enemy nation and then invaded the kingdom.

Everything from that point on was what Adele remembered clearly. War, and then more war.

‘So in the end, love was the cause of a long war. It really does read like cheap popular fiction.’

Thinking that life was surprisingly trivial, Adele left the library.

—