“Vincent. It has been a while.”

In truth, it had only been thirty minutes.

Vincent’s eyes began to sparkle and come alive. Seeing the corners of his eyes growing moist again, she could tell he had grown up exactly the same as the timid, fearful child he had been.

“You really do remember me?”

And his trembling voice on top of that.

Come to think of it, wrongdoing at the level of stepping on a handkerchief was almost too mild to even call villainy.

Adele had only acted as Vincent’s boss for about a month, but it seemed to have had a great impact on his life.

There was no way someone with such a tender heart could be a villain.

As expected, she had been an excellent instructor.

Adele smiled with great satisfaction.

“I am the boss, after all. Have you been well in the meantime? You have not been doing anything bad, have you?”

Vincent was a full-grown adult now, but if she said he still looked like a child to her eyes, others would laugh.

But with those eyes that looked ready to let a tear drop at any moment, she had no choice but to speak to him gently.

The boss’s thoughtfulness seemed to have been more than enough to move her subordinate.

The corners of Vincent’s lips trembled. As though clearing a throat choked full with tears.

“Adele, I……”

“J, just who are you to call the Young Viscount Rogato by his given name so freely?”

At that, the woman interjected again.

Was it his imagination, or had Vincent’s expression gone cold for just a moment?

Adele closed her eyes briefly and opened them again. There was only Vincent in front of her, eyes brimming.

‘Right, our Vincent would never do something like that.’ Adele shook her head.

It was not the kind of face that such an emotional young man would make.

Vincent looked down at Adele and steadied his breathing. Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“Adele, I have so much I want to say.”

“I see. This is not exactly a good place for conversation.”

With this many people around, what kind of conversation could they have? The woman who kept hovering right beside them was particularly a problem.

Adele looked around. There were no out-of-place walls that looked like setting errors.

It was a shame, but a light threat to stop being a nuisance would probably do.

“Vincent, do you remember what we used to do?”

When Adele clenched her fist, Vincent let out a small laugh and nodded.

The fist headed straight toward the woman who was bothering them.

‘Come to think of it, it is too harsh to use this against a powerless woman. She has not done anything particularly wrong either. That was too violent a thought.’

Adele praised herself for her good self-censorship. At the same time, the trajectory of the fist veered sharply to the side.

But no matter the change in direction, it was still a threatening fist.

The woman who saw Adele’s fist right before her eyes was startled and sat down hard on the ground. She wore a dazed expression.

Was this going to get her arrested for assaulting a noble? She did not want to end up in prison the moment she returned to the real world.

Adele thought for a moment and said.

“There was a hornet. I was protecting you.”

“Pfft!”

Adele glared at her subordinate’s laughter with irritation. How could he laugh like that when his boss might get arrested?

Her glare seemed to be funny as well, because Vincent was now clutching his stomach. Had he always had this kind of personality?

In any case, it was time to leave. Vincent had grown too large to be carried on her side or slung over her shoulder as in childhood. His long legs would surely drag along the ground.

After a brief deliberation, Adele grabbed Vincent’s arm.

“Let’s run.”

– – –

The plaza in front of the academy, from which Adele and Vincent had disappeared.

People crowded toward the woman who was still on the ground.

“Oh my, oh my! What on earth happened! Are you all right?”

“My lady, take my hand. To think such an uncouth person would appear out of nowhere. The world is truly going to ruin.”

“And was that not just a kidnapping of the young Rogato heir?”

Everyone was busy cursing the red-haired woman who had swept through the plaza. But the woman still on the ground shook her head.

“No……”

At the quiet murmur, everyone’s gaze turned toward the fallen woman.

“She was worried about me. There was a fearsome hornet right in front of me.”

The woman’s cheeks were flushed rosy red. She murmured in an enraptured voice.

“Ah, what is her name, I wonder. How can someone be so brave? And…… will I be able to meet her again?”

– – –

Adele did not stop walking until she had fled deep into a secluded alley. Even then, Vincent had done nothing but laugh without voicing a single complaint.

Adele stuck her head out to check whether anyone had followed them, and felt relieved upon confirming there was no one nearby.

To think she had nearly been dragged off to prison the very moment she returned to this world. She could only resolve to be careful, and careful again, going forward.

Having finally sorted her thoughts, Adele turned sharply to look at Vincent.

She herself was of ordinary female height, but Vincent had grown so tall that it would clearly be difficult to carry him on her side or over her shoulder as before.

For Adele, having an unremarkable height even before the regression was only natural, but actually confirming in person that the child who had been no bigger than a chestnut had shot up like this made her feel strangely indignant.

Could this be a privilege given only to the main characters? Something like that? She truly did not like whoever this author was.

Adele shot a glare at the towering Vincent and asked.

“Has anything happened in the meantime?”

It was the kind of ordinary question that people who had been briefly separated might exchange upon meeting again.

Vincent seemed momentarily overcome with some surging emotion, but he composed himself and nodded.

“Are you entering the academy now?”

Seeing Vincent nod again without answering, Adele fell into thought.

Putting together what she had grasped of the situation, this was right after the scene she had seen in that strange space.

Right after all that business about Duke Usder Rogato’s concubine having borne a son.

Adele considered pretending to know about the ducal family’s circumstances but stopped herself. It might needlessly pick at old wounds.

Instead, recalling more of the marble’s contents, she remembered that the young Lady Camel, that is, Layla, was also said to be enrolling this year.

‘But Vincent and Layla are two years apart in age?’

So had Vincent been held back? Or had Layla skipped ahead? Or was it simply a matter of the setting?

While Adele was deep in serious contemplation, Vincent opened his mouth.

“There were circumstances.”

“Hm?”

“The duke kept opposing it.”

Vincent explaining the situation looked embarrassed. He seemed ashamed of the fact that he was entering the academy later than his peers.

“Are you still being childish about it?”

“Ch, childish?”

Really, what a thing to fuss over. Adele let out a small laugh and tried to pat Vincent’s head…… but he was too tall to reach, so she patted his shoulder instead.

“What about the others? Does the sorcerer not go around with you? What happened to Sir Theodore? Does the prince still pick fights with you?”

With the biggest question resolved, Adele fired off questions about the others in rapid succession. Vincent answered her with a somewhat displeased expression.

“Sir Theodore is doing well. The sorcerer is doing well too.”

Adele shook her head at the brief answers. She thought she would need to teach him the proper way to report to his boss as well.

When she sent him an intense look demanding more explanation, Vincent let out a sigh and spoke at length.

To summarize Vincent’s explanation, it went like this.

Sir Theodore had apparently ended up getting married to the academy librarian. This was a part that had changed significantly from the past Adele knew. Before the regression, Theodore had died unmarried.

As for the prince, there had been no contact whatsoever since then. Adele had no particular interest in him either, and Vincent did not seem to want to talk about it, so she did not ask further.

And the most surprising news among what Vincent had told her was……

“The sorcerer became a professor in the magic department?”

At Adele’s outburst, Vincent nodded. As Vincent, who had been the villain, changed, had the sorcerer who had been his right-hand man completely lost any desire to invade the kingdom?

Originally, he had been someone who had stuck by Vincent’s side and done all manner of things in order to bring down the kingdom. The fact that he was now working as a professor for the kingdom’s future was amusing.

‘Just what scheme is he cooking up, I wonder.’