A quiet afternoon. A man and a woman are taking a stroll in a garden bathed in gentle sunlight. The woman wore a fresh smile, like the fully bloomed flowers of the garden.

Her long golden hair swayed in the breeze and shimmered in the sunlight, making the scene look like a painting in itself.

“Fufu, it has been a while since we’ve met like this. Have you been well? Was the journey here not too difficult?”

Her name was Layla Camel.

Her voice was so beautiful that anyone who heard her soft and warm tone would find their mood lifting involuntarily.

Except for one person.

“I heard you enrolled in the Magic Department.”

Unlike when he was young, Rohide walked with long, brisk strides without any consideration for Layla’s pace. As if he wished this walk would end as soon as possible.

“My, it has been a while since you’ve shown any interest in me.”

Yet Layla responded as though it didn’t bother her in the slightest. As if accustomed to the situation, she was practically jogging to keep up with Rohide’s pace.

Until now, her behavior had moved those around her. Layla had grown up receiving the pity and affection of everyone except Rohide.

Layla no longer begged for Rohide’s love. Instead, she paid attention to the pitiful image of herself that others could see.

“You have no idea how hard I studied because of the early enrollment. Everyone tried to stop me, but I wanted to be by the prince’s side as soon as possible.”

“You’re quite good at lying.”

“My, why would you say that? I am always sincere.”

“Why did you choose that department of all places?”

For a moment, Layla’s chattering mouth snapped shut. She gave a meaningful smile before speaking again with an unbothered expression.

“Because magic looked interesting.”

“Another lie.”

The Layla Rohide knew was not someone who would choose a department without any benefit to herself.

The moment he saw right through her, Layla changed her words without missing a beat, her face perfectly composed.

“I am the future queen, so wouldn’t it be advantageous to learn? For example, I could find new handmaidens. No, I could also make friends.”

“Friends…”

He thought that Layla was probably the only person who would call friends handmaidens. He wondered what scheme she was already cooking up to manipulate people over there.

Rohide was frowning with instinctive repulsion when Layla continued.

“And there’s war, perhaps? I care for everyone’s well-being, after all.”

“It sounds more like you’re hoping a war breaks out.”

“Goodness, no.”

Soon, Layla’s expression shifted to one of irritation. Not a trace of a smile could be found on her face anymore.

“Huu, is this all you came here to say?”

Rohide said nothing.

Ever since he had lost sight of that red-haired little girl long ago, he had completely closed his heart to Layla. At the top of the hill he had barely managed to climb belatedly, there was a crying Vincent and an adult he had never seen before.

Rohide had started to approach Vincent but stopped. An invisible wall in his heart had blocked his steps.

If he had spoken to Vincent back then… if he had gathered the courage not to leave Vincent alone, would his situation now be even slightly better?

This fate of being bound to Layla for his entire life, that is.

Layla, who had once been nothing more than a whiny child, changed at some point. If asked exactly what had changed and how, he couldn’t say precisely.

But he could say with certainty that she had become far more cunning.

She constantly talked of love, yet he knew better than anyone that she did not love him. He could only think that she was intoxicated by the image of herself as someone overflowing with love.

And Layla knew very well what Rohide’s weakness was.

Her eyes gleamed as they always did as she threatened him.

“If you keep this up, I will have no choice but to speak to His Majesty. That would be a nuisance for you, wouldn’t it.”

He no longer even wanted to respond. Rohide, whose head was throbbing, furrowed his brow.

In the midst of that, Layla drew close to Rohide and sniffed around him.

“What are you doing right now…”

“Your Highness. Don’t tell me you’ve been drinking again?”

Layla caught the smell of alcohol coming from the prince and let out a snicker.

“I knew it. You’re gradually becoming the real Rohide.”

“Am I not myself if I don’t drink?”

“That’s not what I mean, but somehow it suits you. The image of you with a bottle of whiskey in one hand.”

He had never shown her such a sight, so he couldn’t understand why she kept saying such strange things. Sometimes he even suspected that Layla was projecting herself onto some other person.

He was already struggling with a headache, and Layla was only making it worse.

If he had to keep facing someone like this, this headache might never be resolved for the rest of his life.

Rohide let out a deep sigh and said,

“Let us try not to run into each other at the academy as much as possible. Please.”

“…People will gossip. Everyone knows about our relationship.”

“Either way, won’t we be seeing each other to death once we graduate?”

He was right. But Layla was not someone who would be satisfied with that.

“Did you not hear me? Everyone knows who my fiancé is, so wouldn’t it be strange not to show it?”

The academy was attended by most children of nobility, wealthy individuals, and a small number of highly capable elites. Many people came from abroad to study there as well.

It meant that it was not a restricted place like the royal palace.

“We must make it widely known. The affection between us. What would you do if rumors spread that the prince does not like me?”

Layla was right. Recently, even the king seemed greatly troubled that nothing had changed between the two despite them both having come of age.

“Now, imagine it. The sight of us walking hand in hand across the school grounds. Someone would surely be jealous, don’t you think?”

The expression on Layla’s face as she said so was one of rapture. She looked happy simply from imagining the sight of everyone envying her.

But Rohide could not understand why he should care about such gazes.

Even without feelings, they were going to get married anyway. Regardless of the wishes of those involved.

He no longer wanted to continue this fruitless conversation.

Feeling exhausted, Rohide turned his body toward the main gate and said,

“I shall be on my way.”

“What? Are you aware that you haven’t even been here for 20 minutes?”

As always, Layla held him back in a perfunctory manner. Not that she particularly cared whether he stayed or left. She was satisfied simply by the fact that Rohide had visited. For the sake of those watching around her.

Rohide, who understood her intentions, gave a faint smirk and looked outside.

It was at that moment.

Beyond the gate, through which the outside was clearly visible, someone was passing by.

The ash-gray hair he had forgotten. And next to it was…

“Stand by for a moment.”

“Your Highness?”

Rohide said that to the knights following him and stepped outside the gate.

Time seemed to flow slowly. It even felt like a dream. Yet his heart, beating with uncanny speed, kept reminding him that this was reality.

There were many people passing by outside the gate.

But thanks to a familiar gray head that stood out prominently, taller than he remembered, it was easy to spot him.

The companion who should have been beside him was not visible through the crowd, but.

His thoughts went numb. Rohide, filled with doubt, slowly approached the man who appeared to be Vincent.

He was increasingly jostled by the crowd. If he stayed like this, he would lose him.

Rohide’s steps gradually quickened until they became a hurried pace. Before he knew it, he was running.

Afraid of losing him even for a moment, he did not stop even as his heart felt like it would burst.

If he had known it would come to this, he should have properly listened when that red-haired little girl talked about stamina all those years ago.

He was ashamed of his own physical condition, his heart feeling like it would explode after running for only a few minutes.

He was only able to catch up to Vincent after rounding a corner into an alley.

Fortunately, there were no people in the alley.

There was only one person walking in the distance.

“I, I definitely saw…”

A startled Rohide looked around in every direction, but aside from Vincent Rogato himself, there was no one else.

Even in such a narrow alley where anyone would be impossible to miss.

“Was it my imagination?”

“Haa, haa… Where on earth were you rushing off to like that?”

At some point, Layla had appeared right beside him, catching her breath. Along with the knights Rohide had told to stand by.

“His Majesty told you not to leave your post carelessly. Is the alcohol still not out of your system?”

Rohide gave no answer. His eyes remained fixed on Vincent’s retreating figure growing farther and farther away.

“My, isn’t that young Viscount Rogato?”

“Do you know him?”

“Fufu, not yet.”

Another meaningful answer. But Rohide had no time to pay attention to such words.

“But where could he be going alone?”

No. He was clearly with someone…

Rohide bit down hard on his lip.

He was certain there had been a woman with long red hair tied up tightly.