The temporary lodging Vincent had secured for Adele was located on a street lined with noble residences.

Adele had been walking along the street with Vincent when she announced she would check whether the window security was adequate and shot up into the air.

Vincent, seeing her peculiar behavior for the first time in a long while, forcibly swallowed the surge of tears rising within him. It finally felt real that the true Adele had returned.

He smiled as he heard her shout through the window that the security was a mess as she entered the house, and took his leave.

Adele watched until Vincent disappeared from view outside the window before closing it.

There were only a few days left until the enrollment date. Because of that, Adele did not care where she stayed as long as there was a roof to keep out the rain.

But the house Vincent had found made her wonder if it was really all right to stay somewhere this nice.

It felt like a space that would make her mentally lax if she stayed too long.

Of course, even if she thought about this and that, there was nothing she could change. And honestly, once she threw herself onto the bed, she no longer felt like changing anything.

Adele immediately fell into a deep sleep on the soft bed in the second-floor bedroom. It was a sound sleep she had not had in a long while.

She opened her eyes several hours later.

Knock, knock.

It was because of the small, quick knocking sound coming from the front door.

Adele, who had been alert to her surroundings even in her sleep, opened her eyes immediately. And she looked at the window.

The sun had just risen and the alley was still dim. Since it was obvious who would be knocking at the door at this hour, Adele let out a deep sigh.

It seemed her disciple Vincent had not learned enough common sense.

To think she would have to explain to him one by one that no one would welcome a visitor at such an early hour in the morning.

Adele straightened her clothes roughly and came out of the bedroom. And she fell into deep contemplation about how best to educate Vincent going forward.

It would be a problem if he kept this up even after enrolling at the academy. The dormitories were separated by gender, so surely he would not keep following her around.

If a man kept coming and going from the women’s dormitory, he could get expelled. How embarrassing would it be to be suspended for being treated as a pervert, rather than for punching a prince?

When she recalled how Vincent had gripped her hand tightly the day before, like a lost child refusing to let go, such worries were more than justified.

‘Social education is absolutely essential.’

Without adequate sleep, fatigue would accumulate, and in the end, problems would arise with the great undertaking of world domination.

Fostering Vincent’s independence was the priority.

Adele arrived at the front door with those thoughts in mind.

She flung the door open, and standing before her was…

“Hello, my benefactor!”

Some strange woman was standing there.

Adele calmly closed the door for the time being. If she was a peddler, the answer was no. She had no money either.

She immediately locked the door and turned to head back upstairs. She wanted to sleep more.

When the sound of the lock clicking reached her, the woman outside called out in apparent flustered surprise.

“D, don’t you remember me?”

Could she be a con artist? Adele was even more taken aback.

It had only been a day since she returned to this world, so there was no way she could know anyone here.

Adele, who had been about to go back upstairs, paused to think for a moment. She needed to get back to sleep, but with all that shouting, sleep was out of the question.

Should she call the guards? But to call the guards, she would have to go outside. That was quite a bother.

Just as Adele was pondering how to drive the person away, the woman outside spoke urgently.

“You caught a bee for me yesterday!”

At those words, Adele opened the door again.

“Ah, you should have said so from the start.”

Looking the woman over carefully, she had a face that, while not exactly familiar, she had seen somewhere before. Including those violet eyes that gave off a certain sense of madness.

The woman let out a long sigh of relief when Adele opened the door.

“But what brings you here?”

Could it be revenge? Adele was perfectly willing to receive her if the other party had come to challenge her to a duel.

Perhaps because Adele’s voice was stiff, the woman’s face was filled with tension. She took a brief deep breath and said,

“I came to express my gratitude.”

“Gratitude?”

Adele looked around. It was gradually getting lighter, but still quite dark.

Coming to pay a visit at this hour?

It was one of two things.

Either she was immensely grateful, or it was a terrible trap.

Adele was eyeing her with suspicion when the woman suddenly grabbed her hand and shook it.

“I’m Nelly Jeffney. I am absolutely terrified of insects. So you are practically the savior of my life.”

The eyes of the woman who had introduced herself as Nelly sparkled brilliantly.

“To think that dreadful bee was right in front of me. Even thinking about it now, I feel like I could faint on the spot.”

“Hmm, is that so.”

“Ever since you saved me yesterday afternoon, I kept wondering how I could convey this feeling.”

As Adele’s arm was shaken back and forth, Nelly’s purple hair fluttered along with it.

Adele gazed at that hair and fell briefly into thought.

‘Purple hair…’

It feels familiar somehow. Is it because I saw her yesterday?

Nelly seemed not to care in the least whether Adele responded or not.

Whether it was simply because Adele had opened the door for her, she kept on talking with apparent delight.

“So I came to the conclusion that a kindness like yesterday’s must be repaid steadily, over and over again.”

And those words were more than enough to capture Adele’s interest.

“Indeed, that’s how it should be.”

Nelly nodded her head repeatedly at Adele’s words.

Her reaction was so enthusiastic that Adele’s mood, which had been poor at such an ungodly hour, gradually began to lift.

Nelly’s behavior reminded Adele of the time before her regression, when she had been a national hero.

That was right. Vincent, who never treated her like a commander, the ill-mannered Rohide, the mage who did not even properly feed her. They were the problem.

She had briefly forgotten, but this was the treatment she truly deserved.

What had it been like before the regression?

Wherever she went, cheers rang out, and everyone was kind to her. They acted as though Adele were someone the world could not do without.

“May I ask for your name, benefactor?”

Adele squared her shoulders and declared proudly,

“Adele Grey.”

“Lady Grey…”

Nelly smiled shyly and murmured Adele’s surname over and over. That gloomy manner briefly reminded her of Vincent, though she felt Vincent was not quite that extreme.

They seemed to be of a similar type, but Nelly was somehow more intense.

‘What a peculiar one. She might actually get along well with Vincent.’

She had been planning to work on Vincent’s social training anyway, so having a candidate for a friend would be good.

Like an owner casually arranging a friend for their pet dog, Adele naturally connected Vincent and Nelly in her mind.

Nelly, apparently having memorized Adele’s surname at last, smiled shyly and asked,

“Would it be all right if I called you Lady Adele? Is that too familiar?”

Lady? Adele immediately retracted her assessment that Nelly was similar to Vincent.

No matter how many times she had asked him to call her commander, he never treated her as one and just called her ‘Adele’ without a second thought.

But the woman before her was calling her ‘Lady.’

“Of course.”

Adele answered readily, feeling a great deal of warmth toward Nelly.

Nelly beamed with joy at her words.

“Then, to celebrate us getting closer, shall we head out to the cultural district? We can shop for clothes and have a meal there.”

At Nelly’s words, Adele looked down at what she was wearing.

Vincent had taken care of the house and meals, but not clothing. There was some money in the house, but buying clothes would mean she would have to go hungry right away.

Because of that, aside from the gown she had on, she was still wearing the shabby clothes she had arrived in when she entered this world.

Having proper clothing would make it easier to move around. If she kept wearing the same outfit, she would start to smell.

The thought of a future where rumors spread that the person who had conquered the world had once been someone who smelled terrible was horrifying.

“All right. I’ll go if you’re paying.”

“Oh my, of course! You are my benefactor, Lady Adele.”

What a relief. There would be no strange rumors about a foul odor in the future.

“Shall we head out right away then?”

“Ah, just a moment.”

Vincent would still worry, so she should at least leave a note.

Adele left a note on the table where Vincent would easily see it, and departed the mansion with Nelly.