The moment Adele stepped into the swordsmanship department building, she had no choice but to spray the perfume Kairos had pressed into her hand.

“Is there no separate shower room here?”

She was normally accustomed to this level of strong body odor, but not having smelled it for a while made her nose suffer.

How long would it take to readjust? Come to think of it, there was not a single callus on her palms and they were perfectly smooth.

It might have been understandable when she had gone back to being six, but she was an adult now, and having soft hands was nothing short of shameful for a swordswoman.

Building connections and world conquest were of course important, but nothing was more important than self-management.

“I really must train hard. Right, Vincent?”

“I have been doing what you taught me every day.”

It was a shy remark hoping for praise. But Adele felt a pang of jealousy and shot him a sidelong glance.

‘Surely he has not become stronger than me? Tsk, to have a gap of fourteen years.’

Glancing at Vincent’s palms, they were full of calluses. The very palms Adele had always wanted. Adele was startled and grabbed Vincent’s hand, turning it this way and that to examine it.

He had not even been properly taught, and yet it was this perfect?

“A, Adele?”

“This will not do. I am going into intensive training every day from now on. The gap has been too long.”

“But you are still stronger.”

“Hmph, that goes without saying. No wait, that is beside the point. Where has the word ‘boss’ gone off to?”

Adele scolded him and let go of Vincent’s hand. But Vincent quickly grabbed the hand that was pulling away and held it firmly.

“Why? Are you nervous?”

‘My, my. To think he had grown up just as timid as he had been as a child.’

Adele puffed up with pride and lectured Vincent.

“You have only grown tall and are otherwise exactly the same as before, are you not? A swordswoman must know how to remain composed in any situation.”

Vincent gripped Adele’s hand even more tightly and nodded.

“Yes. Hold my hand.”

As the boss, it was only natural to look after a subordinate, so she should hold it. She had no idea why he still needed so much looking after even all grown up.

Adele let out a small laugh and patted him reassuringly.

Before long, the two had arrived in front of a professor’s office bearing the nameplate of Charles Theodore.

When they knocked on the door, a rich, deep voice she had not heard in a long time gave them permission to enter.

And the moment Adele entered the professor’s office, she sprayed the perfume ten times over. It was because the smell of sweat was so overpowering it filled the entire room.

Theodore tilted his head at that action.

“Hm? Is that not my dear friend Kairos’s?”

To recognize Kairos’s perfume at a single glance. Just how close had the two of them become in her absence?

For all his protests of disliking it, the sorcerer’s coyness was laughable.

“Are you students sent by Kairos? He has not been around lately, so I was wondering how he was getting on. But in any case, what brings you……. Wait?”

Charles Theodore was the same. The moment he saw Adele, he was so startled that he froze on the spot. Right in the middle of his workout, his muscular body and all.

A sweaty silence drifted through the professor’s office for a moment.

It was only after a long while that Charles was able to set down the exercise equipment he had been holding and speak.

“I had heard that the little cat had gone missing……”

“Who are you calling a cat?”

At Adele’s sharp retort, Charles laughed heartily.

‘It is her, it really is! That child has come back!’

He closed his eyes and recalled fourteen years ago.

One of his dear friends and the grey cat standing right before him had made a great fuss, saying a small red cat had gone missing.

Even when asked what had suddenly caused her to disappear, the two of them had been unable to give any answer.

Their visibly confused state had made it impossible to press them further.

Charles had been tormented by the fact that such a terrible thing had happened right here in the capital where he lived.

Whenever he heard rumors of a red-haired woman without a title anywhere, he had rushed there immediately, but they had all been ordinary people from whom he could not sense Adele’s energy.

If it had not been for those two little cats, could he have married Jane? Absolutely not, without a doubt.

And yet that precious child had disappeared and still had not appeared.

Charles had been disappointed every single time.

Charles had kept thinking of Adele even on his wedding day. On top of that, the force that came from that small body was not something easily forgotten.

Even just yesterday, there had been a false tip from someone after the reward money.

And now this woman had appeared with a perfectly nonchalant face, making all that long searching feel pointless. Her shamelessness was exactly the same as when she was a child.

Charles felt somewhat deflated, yet relieved at the same time.

“But what have you been doing all this time, appearing so suddenly?”

It was a question everyone had been curious about but had not dared to ask. Since Vincent was also very interested in the topic, he focused his attention on Adele.

But what could Adele say?

‘That she had been sucked into a hole and kept in a strange space? That she had been spying on Vincent from there?’

She would be lucky if they did not immediately suspect she was mentally ill and lock her up. On top of that, it would make her look slightly perverted.

While Adele was unable to say anything, Charles asked more of what he was curious about.

“Do you remember the circumstances when you disappeared? Even my dear friend Kairos said he could not quite recall.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

Adele had been unable to do anything because of the wind the marble had stirred up. The one who had been beside her working himself into a frenzy at the time had been Vincent, and the sorcerer had been the one trying to do something.

They had ultimately failed, but there was no way they could not remember that marble. They had even seen it not once but twice.

“Vincent. Do you really not remember the marble?”

Adele asked in shock, but Vincent appeared to have no idea what she was talking about. On the contrary, he asked back with a puzzled expression.

“A marble?”

“No, you saw that marble! Does the sorcerer not know either? You do not remember?”

Vincent nodded. At that response, Adele could not help but gape.

How could something like this happen? Forgetting a marble that large made no sense.

No, let us set that aside for now. Even if she tried to get to the bottom of what the author had done, there was nothing an extra like herself could find out.

What was more important right now was……

“Enroll me.”

“What?”

“Here. In the swordsmanship department.”

It was a brazen demand for preferential admission.

Charles seemed to grasp what Adele was getting at in an instant. It was quite different from his oblivious past self.

He deliberated briefly, then shook his head with a regretful expression.

“That would be difficult.”

“Why not?”

In truth, it was only normal and fair that it could not be done, but the corrupted Adele paid no mind to such rules.

She had thought he would naturally say yes, so to hear it was difficult was unexpected. Had he not said back at the clearing that he truly hoped she would come to the academy?

For him it would have been fourteen years ago, but for Adele it had been not long ago at all. To change his words when she remembered it this clearly!

Perhaps because Adele’s eyes were blazing, Charles immediately added more.

“It is because the other professors are rigid sticklers for principle.”

He was placing the blame on others, but in the end it amounted to saying it could not be done. What good was making excuses?

“So I have to apply a year from now?”

Vincent and Adele, both wearing bewildered expressions, looked at each other. This had been outside the range of their expectations.

Above all, from Vincent’s perspective, having passed purely on the basis of his title without any conditions or examinations, the situation of not being able to be with Adele was genuinely distressing.

“I will cancel mine and apply again next year.”

“You do not need to go that far.”

“No, I will do that.”

Adele could not help but let out a sigh. Of all the times to return, why had it been after the enrollment application period!

In any case, the marble had been utterly useless. Whether it was the author’s scheming or some great power at work, just let her find them. She would settle everything with her fists.

And on top of that, erasing even Vincent’s and the sorcerer’s memories! She felt she would only be satisfied after thoroughly correcting that insolent behavior.

While Adele was grinding her teeth thinking such thoughts, Charles opened his mouth again.

“I have a proposal.”