Countless bookshelves lined beneath a high ceiling. In a solemn silence where no one was present and not a single sound could be heard. This space alone felt as though the world had been separated and time had stopped.

The dust floating in the faint sunlight filtering through the blackout curtains proved that time was flowing properly in this space, but the thick layer of dust accumulated on the bookshelves and books was evidence that this place had been neglected for a long time.

A book that no one reads might as well be a place where time had stopped.

For a book only has meaning in its existence when there is someone to read it.

But the heavy door of the library creaked open, and a person appeared to break the silence.

The sound of footsteps slowly walking along the bookshelves echoed throughout the library. Life began to stir in the space that had been so still.

As though time that had stopped was flowing again, vitality slowly bloomed in the wake of each footstep.

At a gesture from the person who had come to the library, the dust that had accumulated to an extent that seemed impossible to clean slowly disappeared. The lights mounted high on the ceiling turned on, and the entire vast library grew bright.

Along with that, the face of the one who had breathed life into the library was also clearly revealed.

His identity was none other than the sorcerer who had abandoned Adele’s meals and fled. He felt not a shred of guilt as he hummed to himself and wandered here and there throughout the library. Well, Adele’s meals were not something of importance to him.

“I believe it was around here?”

The sorcerer picked up one book. The cover looked so worn that gripping it too firmly would crumble it. The title written on the cover was too faded to read. He gathered a few more books like this. With careless hands that showed no caution, the books became even more tattered.

Having gathered all the books he needed, the sorcerer immediately sat down at a wide desk. There was only a single chair. As though the entire space had been a place meant for the sorcerer alone.

The books appeared to have been written by hand, as the lettering was sometimes faint and sometimes dark. There were also smeared sections.

The sorcerer squinted and read through the faint sections haltingly, and sighed and turned past the smeared sections. Some pages were severely damaged.

They were all old books, and this was a place that had not been properly maintained against dust, so it was perhaps natural that the condition of the books was poor.

“Let us see, the laws of the world are…… hmm. Right. And to destroy a boundary……? Oh dear, what was written after this? What? Why is the next page missing?”

After muttering to himself for quite a long time, by the time the sorcerer had finished reading all the books he had gathered, the sun had already set.

A great deal of the content had been lost, but it may have been enough to satisfy his curiosity to some degree. Yet his expression looked neither refreshed nor frustrated.

The sorcerer stared blankly at the moonlight faintly filtering in through the curtains and organized his thoughts.

“She truly is no ordinary child.”

The marble that had appeared out of nowhere, seeming not to belong to this world. A boundary where the space itself had been separated.

And the child called Adele who had shattered it with physical force.

The sorcerer had lived a long time. That time was so long it was beyond counting, and he had reached the point of forgetting who he himself was.

Among the countless names that had passed through his life, where was his true name? He had forgotten it so completely that he could no longer find it.

Perhaps the title of ‘sorcerer’ that Adele had simply called him was the name closest to his true essence.

“Heh, to have ‘sorcerer’ as a name.”

He had lived a long time and studied the world while changing through many identities. Sometimes people looked to him like thoughtless wax figures, and sometimes the entire situation flowed differently from his intentions.

Some might say that was simply what life was, but something was different.

As he perceived it, this world seemed to have been born for a single purpose alone. Of course, if someone asked him what that purpose was, he could not answer. Because he had not yet seen that purpose before his own eyes.

He only had the thought that something might happen in the not-too-distant future. The recent movements of the world had been that unsettling.

The sorcerer suspected that the world’s purpose and the marble that had appeared before him this time were closely connected.

In that case, could Adele be the natural enemy of that purpose the world held? She had shattered to pieces the power held by the marble, which even he had been unable to do anything about. If it were her, she might be able to uncover what was happening in this place and grant the sorcerer his freedom.

“I suppose I must go back after all.”

Was this perhaps the first time he had returned to a place he had once left?

In an instant, the sorcerer’s body disappeared and the lights went out.

Silence returned to the library once more.

– – –

Today again, the eyes of the little lady beloved by all had grown moist.

Layla forcibly tucked in her protruding lips and put on the most ladylike appearance she could manage.

Of course, since age could not be deceived, there was nothing to be done about the people around her giggling as though they found her adorable.

The two of them tried hard to hide it, but the fact that Rohide and Layla did not get along well was something all the adults already knew.

However, Rohide would soon open his heart.

Who could possibly not be captivated by that beautiful child, who looked as though a god had taken great care in crafting her?

When Layla grew a little more and became a perfect lady, Rohide, having passed through adolescence, would gradually be drawn in as well. The number of young men eyeing her would only grow, so perhaps there would be reason to feel some tension.

That was why the adults paid no mind to the feelings of a mere ten-year-old child. The future was obvious enough anyway.

And surely the bickering attitude right now could not be genuine. No one took a quarrel between little children as a serious problem.

The two parties involved, however, did not see it that way.

Rohide forcibly ignored the countless eyes watching him and walked at a leisurely pace. His gaze was directed far away, toward the place where the gust of wind had once blown.

Even if his body was bound to this place, his heart was different. When this tedious schedule was over, he would go straight to that clearing.

He had already visited the clearing several times to watch Vincent’s training. He did not know why he kept going to such a childish place, but it put his heart at ease.

Layla’s voice trembled at the sight of her betrothed paying her no attention whatsoever.

“Are you really not going to tell me?”

“What have you been going on about?”

At Rohide’s indifferent reply, this time Layla’s face changed to one where tears looked as though they might truly stream down at any moment.

But Layla knew that her betrothed disliked it when she cried, so she forced herself to hold back by any means possible.

“At the very least, there should be no secrets between us.”

“Why is that?”

“Because we are betrothed.”

Whether even answering was too much trouble, not a single word came back from Rohide.

There was nothing to be done about the tears she had been holding back finally falling.

In the end, today too, Layla showed her tears, and Rohide let out a deep sigh.

“If, if you keep doing that, I will tell the adults.”

The childish words uttered in a trembling voice were the kind that might come from the mouth of a five-year-old.

But the prince did not think so.

“To say something like that. I cannot believe it came from the mouth of someone who is to become queen.”

Rohide spat the words out with contempt and a sharp tone. He had thought there was nothing left to lose his affection over, yet how could she be this immature?

He was genuinely worried about the future. Did the adults truly think this child was fit to be the next queen?

What was so important about that old promise, that everyone acted as though it must never be broken?

If he ever became king someday, he would never make such a terrible promise that staked his child’s future so rashly. Rohide made that resolution again today.

Layla’s expression, on the other hand, brightened in an instant.

Seeing that face, Rohide naturally grew uneasy. Could she possibly be foolish enough not to understand even when being spoken to harshly?

At that moment, Layla said in an enraptured voice.

“So you do think of me as the next queen?”

“Good grief.”

She was indeed foolish.

How could a mind be so utterly unclouded like that? Rohide shook his head with a fed-up expression.

‘That one was different.’

A flash of blazing red hair passed through Rohide’s mind.

The child called Adele, who had called herself a lady of the Grey family, was nothing like this foolish girl.

‘At least that child seemed to think deeply. Unusual as she was. Very much so.’

Adele, even with that small frame of hers, gave off an air of being far more of an adult than himself.

On top of that, strength greater than any adult. Rohide forgot about the motion sickness and marveled at the strength that had carried him as she ran.

If he ever became king someday, he would need someone like that by his side.

Rohide had not yet properly defined his feelings about that child, but there was nothing he could do about the fact that she kept coming to mind.

Meanwhile, Layla, whose mood had lifted and who was smiling cheerfully, said.

“Then would you not tell me now? I am the future queen and Your Highness the Crown Prince’s betrothed. I believe there should be no secrets between us.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Rohide asked back with a face that genuinely did not understand. As far as he was concerned, there was not a single thing worth telling Layla.

Having this forced walking time three or four times a week was already difficult enough, and now he was supposed to come up with topics of conversation as well. Was that not too cruel a form of t*rture?

When her betrothed showed no sign of understanding what she was saying at all, Layla tilted her head and carefully brought it up.

“But you have been going somewhere every day lately. Is there some secret there? Could you not take me along?”

At those words from Layla, Rohide showed a reaction for the first time. On his face was a look of bewilderment that even Layla had never seen before.

And so Layla, meeting that expression, was equally startled.

“How do you…… know about that?”

“Wh, what do you mean how do I know……”

“The adults? No, you said you would tell them, so they must not know yet.”

Rohide was now rambling and muttering to himself. Layla had never seen him like this either.

Her betrothed had always been composed and taciturn. Though he had his harsh moments, such a manner was natural for the next king.

That was why, even when she felt hurt, she had never once hated him. She did not know exactly what love was, but the adults had told her that those feelings of hers were love.

“Then where on earth was I found out? Layla, say something.”

But what was this?

It was far too out of place.

This was wrong. Was it not? ‘Rohide’ was not like this.

It was the very moment Layla was thinking that.

Roll, roll, roll.

A marble of a brilliant color rolled across the walking path made of black basalt.

Rohide, who was still flustered, and the adults watching them warmly from a distance did not notice.

But Layla saw it clearly.

The scene of a fist-sized golden marble, resembling the color of her own hair, suddenly rolling along and then quietly disappearing.

And so the marble was firmly imprinted in Layla’s eyes.