Adele slowly opened her eyes.

She had never dreamed this would happen to her twice……

Looking around, it was the very scene that had been inside the last marble she had grabbed.

A wide open space that could well be called a plaza was filled with people.

Young people with flushed, excited faces were gathered in groups of two and three, chattering as they moved somewhere.

At the end of the path they were heading toward were booths with the word ‘Registration’ written on them. Even though there were multiple booths, the lines at each were so long it was enough to take one’s breath away just looking at them.

It was only natural that there were this many people.

Pilonia National Academy was a place so renowned that students came from other countries to study there.

It was also an academy that every young person from a notable family, having just come of age, set their sights on.

Adele immediately checked her own body.

Her hands and feet were not chubby but long and slender.

The clothes she was wearing were also ordinary commoner’s clothes. The slightly rough texture was a little uncomfortable.

Closing her eyes and concentrating her strength, she was relieved to find it had not disappeared. However, it was unfortunately not much different from when she had been young Adele.

‘Well, this much I can bring back up quickly with a little training.’

Having already gotten the feel for it once, building up her strength would be easy.

The only concern was that training hard only to end up in that strange space again would be a problem.

Was there no way to deal with it?

Adele looked around again.

Her earliest memory was the war Vincent had started. The only other knowledge she had was the basic background of the novel in her head.

So Adele was not certain whether she had been a student at this academy or simply a passerby.

Given her clothes and everything else, it did not seem like she had the money to pay the academy’s tuition. If things had continued as they were, she would have enrolled comfortably with Vincent’s money, which was a shame.

‘Then should she just pass through?’

Rummaging through her pockets, not a single coin came out.

A pauper again this time.

What to do……

Adele’s mind was in turmoil. Even if she just passed through here, there was still the matter of how to eat and survive.

The luck of meeting another gullible sorcerer would not come so easily again. Would she have to go wandering around construction sites once more?

At that moment, the sound of people murmuring reached her ears.

At the noise, Adele stopped looking around and turned her head toward the center of the commotion.

There, the students who had gathered to submit their enrollment applications were stirring.

As everyone stepped back little by little to make way, Adele tilted her head in puzzlement.

Was royalty passing through or something? And then, mid-tilt, Adele’s body went still.

As the people all stepped back, a man became visible in the center.

A man with the same soft ash-grey hair as before, drifting as he walked slowly toward her.

The corners of his eyes were tinged red, and it looked as though he might burst into tears at any moment if spoken to.

Adele looked around at the students who had stepped back and asked.

“Did you do something bad again?”

But the one who looked like he was about to cry was Vincent, so perhaps not. She muttered to herself.

Fortunately, it did not seem like Vincent had committed any wrongdoing just yet.

Right now his eyes were not the dead-fish eyes she had seen before the regression, but sparkling and bright.

He had not looked this bright even when crying over Queen Layla.

While Adele was thinking such thoughts and feeling relieved, Vincent suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.

His body, now solid unlike the small frame of his childhood, wrapped around Adele, and she blinked in bewilderment.

Soon, a voice full of moisture reached her ear.

“I will never let you go again.”

Vincent was holding Adele firmly, as though he truly meant every word he had just said.

Adele’s entire body went rigid.

Why was it that she could not breathe properly? In truth, a force of this level would come apart if she pushed even a little.

The fact that he had buried his face in her neck kept tickling her.

‘This will not do. My head is getting stranger by the moment.’

While thinking such thoughts and standing there blankly, Adele raised her arm and patted Vincent’s back. It was meant to tell him to come to his senses quickly. She had barely managed to hold back the urge to shove him away.

Fortunately, Vincent seemed to understand right away.

He immediately startled and pulled away from Adele. As Vincent moved back, Adele’s ability to think gradually returned as well.

The way her body had gone rigid just now was surely because she had been flustered by the sudden situation.

The corners of Vincent’s eyes were still tinged red. Just like someone holding back tears.

He was the one who had embraced her, so why was he making a face like he was the one who had been wronged?

From Adele’s perspective, it had been a separation of less than thirty minutes, but Vincent seemed to have changed quite a bit in that time.

Unlike when he was seven and his emotions had been plain on his face, now she could not tell at all what he was thinking.

Well, it had been only about a month out of his long life. There was no way Adele could know everything about him.

Even so, Adele could tell well enough that the current Vincent Rogato was acting strangely.

In a way, she could be considered a long-time observer of Vincent.

‘Why does he look so unsettled?’

Adele looked around. People who appeared to be students were gathered at a considerable distance from the two of them, still whispering.

Could it be that the duke’s continued mistreatment had given him a fear of people?

‘That pervert Duke Rogato. Truly useless.’

A sigh escaped on its own. If it had not been for that marble, she could have raised him into a sunshine-like swordsman without any trouble.

Vincent hesitated for a long while before murmuring in a small voice.

“Do you…… remember me?”

Before Adele, who had not quite caught the question, could even ask him to repeat it, someone interjected between them at that very moment.

“I am honored to meet you, Young Viscount Rogato. Do you perhaps remember me?”

Vincent did not spare even a glance at the person who had suddenly spoken to him.

He still did not turn his head, and continued to stare only at Adele, which was gradually becoming embarrassing.

In the end, Adele looked properly at the lady who had spoken in Vincent’s place. She looked her over from various angles, wondering if she might be someone connected to herself.

She was someone she did not know at all.

Adele’s interest faded just as quickly. She turned her attention back to Vincent.

He had suddenly embraced her, then startled himself, and was now looking at her with a strange expression.

Had he grown into an unstable adult in her absence?

As Adele kept staring at him to figure out Vincent’s intentions, he bowed his head deeply this time.

Whatever this situation was, one thing was certain: he did not appear to be in a healthy state of mind.

Vincent murmured in a low voice.

“Do you really not know who I am?”

“What?”

Of course she knew. He had grown up looking exactly the same as he had as a child.

The reason Vincent had seemed unsettled was now revealed.

It seemed he thought Adele had forgotten him. How hurt he must have felt.

As if a boss could ever forget her subordinate. To think he had been sulking because of that. What an endearing fellow. Adele opened her mouth to clear up the misunderstanding.

“I……”

“There was a time when my handkerchief fell at the young viscount’s feet.”

But the persistence of the woman right beside them cut off Adele’s words.

She continued saying what she had to say regardless of whether Vincent responded or not.

“When you stepped on that handkerchief, it meant that since it was already soiled, I should not bother picking it up, did it not? I was so moved by that consideration that I wished to express my gratitude.”

Having heard that much, Adele forgot what she had been about to say.

Her head turned back toward the unnamed woman. The shock was great enough to make her momentarily forget Vincent standing right in front of her.

To think there was a person who could frame Vincent Rogato’s wrongdoing in such a way. Was she being sarcastic, or was she simply not well in the head?

Vincent’s complexion, on the other hand, had gone pale.

“No.”

“What?”

“I did not do anything wrong.”

Why the sudden defense? The situation was beginning to feel confusing.

Adele stepped away from them for a moment and took stock of her surroundings.

‘Right, let me catch my breath for a moment.’

The situation had been so abrupt that she had not had the space to properly see reality.

For now, the time she had landed in was the day of academy enrollment document submission.

People were gathered just like when she had first met young Vincent. And Vincent was anxious, wondering if she had forgotten him.

The brief assessment was complete. The most important thing had been missing from that list.

‘Right. I have not even greeted him yet.’

Adele nodded.

“Vincent. It has been a while.”