“Let go of this!”

“I really will tell the adults!”

Rohide could not push Layla away and could only get angry.

If he pushed aside this small child, even a prince would find things getting a little complicated, no matter who he was.

That calculating thought placed a constraint on his actions.

Today’s Layla was more persistent than usual.

As though she knew exactly where Rohide wanted to go.

“Your Highness should not do this! I know everything!”

“What on earth do I!”

Rohide felt suffocated.

Looking up at the sky, the atmosphere was indeed unsettling. A fierce wind was blowing without pause, and its source was none other than the very hillside where Adele trained.

‘So that wind from before was also……’

If he went there now, he would be able to find out what had happened that day.

Rohide could not understand why he himself had become so fixated on that phenomenon.

What was certain was that Adele was there, the one who could change all of this tedious situation.

Yes. Now he no longer cared about strange phenomena or anything of the sort. Rohide finally looked properly into his own heart.

“Your Highness absolutely must be on my side. You must only look at me! So please do not go!”

Layla’s obsession gave Rohide goosebumps. Something about her seemed different from usual. And that made his heart feel even heavier.

“Can we not have a tea time when I return?”

“No. Right now. You cannot go.”

The strange feeling of a different existence being inside this small body. Rohide had no way of knowing why his betrothed was suddenly acting like this.

From where had she been following him to suddenly appear and obstruct him like this?

The road to Adele was thus long and arduous. That child was like a dream to him.

But in reality, Layla had a firm grip on his arm.

It was a simple action, yet it felt as though fate were whispering that there was nowhere he could escape to.

At that, his stomach suddenly churned and a wave of nausea came over him.

Smack!

It was at that moment that he struck Layla’s hand away.

A brief silence fell between the two of them.

Layla wore an expression of utter disbelief at what Rohide had just done to her. Tears welled up in her eyes.

The lady-in-waiting attending her was equally startled. She was at a loss, taken aback by the prince’s sudden action.

How could he behave that way toward such a small and delicate young lady?

Was this the kind of behavior befitting the sole heir to the Kingdom of Pilonia, who was said to be the most gentlemanly of gentlemen?

Whatever the circumstances, he absolutely should not treat her young lady that way. It was unthinkable.

It was at that very moment that the storm enveloping the kingdom grew even fiercer.

“Eek!”

“Young lady, it is dangerous!”

A gust of wind swept past Layla, and as she staggered, the lady-in-waiting immediately rushed over and caught her.

Layla leaned against the lady-in-waiting, gasping pitifully for breath, and looked up at Rohide.

But Rohide turned around immediately as though this were his chance and ran.

“Your Highness! I mean it! I will tell everyone everything!”

He left the sharpened cry behind and kept running and running. Straight to that hill.

The breath of the prince climbing the steep hill rose to the very tip of his chin. His legs were so heavy, as though someone were holding them back, that they barely moved.

But the storm blowing in was too unsettling for him to stop his legs.

A chilling sensation was running down his spine.

Those slow and desperate feet stopped only after the storm had ceased.

The sky that had been covered in dark storm clouds turned blue in an instant, as though nothing had happened.

“Ha, ha……”

Rohide looked up blankly at the completely clear sky.

He could tell instinctively.

That he was completely too late.

***

They say the world is full of things one cannot understand, but was this not going too far?

Adele had ended up here again.

The room filled with glass marbles of unknown identity.

No, calling it a room was not quite right, as the end of it was nowhere in sight. This place, surrounded on all sides by light, had no boundary between floor and wall.

She simply assumed that the place she was standing on was roughly the floor.

“This will not disappear from under me again, will it?”

Adele stomped her feet a few times and struck the ground. But she felt no sensation whatsoever in her feet.

It was a truly bizarre phenomenon.

“Ha…… but of all the timing.”

She had disappeared in front of Vincent, so how startled must that little one have been.

She had wanted to raise that child into an upright young man, but it seemed that was now out of the question.

Adele recalled the expression on Vincent’s face the last time she had seen him and squeezed her eyes shut.

It seemed she had given the child a new wound.

As for the sorcerer who had been beside him…… that was none of her concern. He would manage on his own.

Setting that aside, had she truly had an influence on the story?

Adele held that question in mind and looked around at the glass marbles.

If this was the same place as before, the marbles would contain information about the story.

Adele carefully picked up a random marble.

Just as before, the contents within the marble made themselves felt.

〈Don’t you think the young master has been acting strange lately? Why does he look so gloomy?〉

〈I know. He is not even throwing tantrums anymore.〉

〈He has not been going outside recently either.〉

It was a scene of the servants gossiping about Vincent, who had become more subdued than usual.

Judging from their conversation, it seemed only a few days had passed since Adele had disappeared.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the things Adele had done while inside the glass marble had not been undone.

In another one, Vincent could be seen running to the clearing every day. It seemed he had pulled himself together.

She picked up another glass marble and scenes flowed into her mind in the same way.

〈I wish to go to the academy.〉

〈What do you think someone like you could possibly accomplish?〉

〈……Would it not be better for you as well, Father, if I were not around?〉

The vast scenes contained within the marble caused an intense headache.

Vincent was in a far more grown-up state than in the marble she had just picked up.

Given that he was talking about the academy, he was likely of age by now. He could be twenty, or perhaps nineteen and preparing to enroll.

In the meantime, it seemed Vincent had taken Adele’s advice to eat and get around well to heart, as he had grown up splendidly.

It was a relief that he looked healthier than the version she had originally known.

His body also appeared well-balanced overall, suggesting that he had not put down his sword even in her absence.

Adele felt a sense of relief she could not quite explain and picked up another marble.

〈Is there anyone worth noting among this year’s academy applicants?〉

〈There would be the young Lady Camel, who is betrothed to the prince. Ah, there is also a Vincent, the young son of the Rogato ducal family, but……〉

〈But?〉

〈Rumor has it that the duke’s concubine has borne a son. Succession may be difficult due to the kingdom’s laws, but since the young Viscount Rogato has been cast out of the house, it is unclear how things will turn out.〉

〈Hmm. Either way, even if the young viscount becomes duke, if he cannot inherit the estate, it amounts to nothing.〉

“A concubine?”

Adele held her throbbing head and thought.

Had there been such content when she had investigated the Rogato ducal family at the library long ago?

Perhaps because it was a family that had produced a traitor, there had not been detailed information.

The content regarding Duke Usder Rogato’s licentiousness had apparently not even been worth recording.

To spend an entire lifetime being tormented by family and then be pushed aside even by the concubine’s son.

As Adele sorted through the situation, her chest ached strangely.

It had been only a month, but it seemed she had grown quite attached during their time as teacher and student.

This was not good. Feeling sympathy for a villain.

Adele kept thinking that he had had his reasons. But wrongdoing should never have justification.

It was dangerous.

She shook her head vigorously and cast the thoughts away.

The image of Vincent Rogato slowly receded.

“Then what am I supposed to do now?”

What could Adele do in this space filled with nothing but glass marbles?

Other than peeking into the story, nothing else came to mind.

But spying on Vincent Rogato’s entire life like this felt somehow a little perverse.

Being treated the same as Vincent’s perverted father was something Adele wished to decline.

She could not understand why the scenes the marbles showed were centered on Vincent rather than the true protagonists of the story, Rohide and Layla.

Adele was curious about the two of them as well, but immediately shook her head.

Thinking about watching them declare their love and do cringe-worthy things the whole time, it seemed better for her mental health not to watch.

She found herself newly grateful to the marble for not showing her such things.

But there was one thing she had been curious about both before and now.

“Why is something like this happening to a mere supporting character like me?”

Changing the story in some grand fashion was something the protagonists were supposed to do, was it not?

Adele wondered what lay beyond this luminous space.

Was there an author who had written this work? Would it be possible to hit that author?

It was at that moment.

Boom!

A thunderous roar struck her ears. With her already throbbing head now ringing as well, she cried out in pain and dropped the glass marble.

At the familiar sensation of the ground giving way, Adele struggled. But there was nowhere for her to escape to.

The remaining glass marbles fell in a cascade as the floor gave out beneath them. Adele was no exception.

“You do this the moment I curse the author!”

She instinctively grabbed one of the falling glass marbles.

Inside it, Vincent could be seen submitting his enrollment documents in front of the academy.