“Hey, kid.”

“Let’s have a look at that bag you’re carrying.”

“There’s a toll to pass through here.”

The eyes of the boy who seemed to be the leader swept sharply over Vincent. Lustrous hair, fair and smooth skin, soft hands that had never done a day of rough work.

To boys who lived day to day, Vincent was easy prey. A young noble with not a single adult accompanying him, whoever’s family he belonged to, they had struck lucky.

‘Lucky! We’ve been coming up empty lately, and now something good has rolled right in.’

That backpack he was carrying so carefully must surely contain precious jewels. What else would a naive young master like that think to bring when playing at running away from home?

“What do you want, you lot?”

Having never encountered anyone who treated him with violence other than his father, Vincent was not afraid of the riffraff before him. The leader boy seemed to find it absurd, watching Vincent boldly lift his chin, and laughed.

“Grab him.”

At that command, the two boys flanking the leader immediately seized both of Vincent’s arms. Suddenly restrained, Vincent’s eyes went wide with surprise and he tried to pull his arms free, but there was no way he could overpower boys who were nearly the size of adults.

“Ugh! Let go! Do you know who I am?”

“Yeah, I do.”

The leader boy said this as he skillfully undid the tightly fastened backpack with practiced hands.

“A little brat whose only claim to anything is his family name.”

At the mocking words, Vincent’s expression hardened.

“What? Does that sting? You nobles are all the same, a bunch of useless……”

The leader boy, who had been rattling on with a satisfied smirk at that expression, checked the contents of the backpack and froze.

“What is this?”

It was at that moment.

Whoooosh——.

A sudden fierce gust of wind swept through the alleyway without warning. Everyone surrounding Vincent, including Vincent himself, staggered at the abrupt blast.

Naturally, Vincent’s arms were freed as well.

“Ugh! What was that?”

“What’s with this wind!”

By the time the gust died down.

“I told you that if you did something bad, you’d be punished, didn’t I?”

A small voice came from the direction the gust had blown in from. A dry and familiar voice, as though every drop of warmth had been thoroughly wrung out of it.

The owner of that voice was none other than Adele, who stood with her fist raised, glaring straight ahead.

Adele narrowed her sharp eyes and assessed the figures before her. Four opponents. No, she had to subtract Vincent, so three. Looking over the boys who were far bigger than herself, Adele tightened her fist.

At that moment, Vincent, who had been fidgeting anxiously at the thought of experiencing that fist again, shouted out loud.

“This time, I’m not the one who did something bad!”

Adele gave a small nod at Vincent’s earnest cry.

“I know.”

Vincent felt relief at the composed reply. He had thought for a moment that something frightening was about to happen to him again.

In contrast, the boys who had been tormenting Vincent just moments before were trembling.

Among them, the leader boy bravely stepped forward and spoke to Adele.

“There was nothing in the backpack but a pillow and a blanket! There was nothing worth taking anyway!”

“But you did try to take it.”

“Ugh……”

What on earth was this situation. Boys who were two heads taller than her, cowering before that tiny child.

Vincent, bewildered by the incomprehensible situation, quietly observed the scene. When the child had first reappeared, his body had frozen with instinctive fear, but now that he knew she would not harm him, the tension had left him.

“Then you deserve to be punished.”

“……Boss, let’s run.”

One of the boys said this as he stepped backward. The leader boy ground his teeth as he looked at his thoroughly frightened subordinates.

A small figure who had appeared out of nowhere one day and had been going around routing troublemakers. To look at her, she seemed like a perfectly calm child.

A little girl with red curly hair tied on both sides and light green eyes. Her frame was so small it made one worry whether she could even walk properly, but her actions were completely at odds with her appearance.

Especially that small clenched fist.

When that fist was thr*st into the air, an enormous pressure of wind came flying along with it. Having already witnessed it demolish several building walls, the leader boy had not been able to find any opportunity to approach her.

“Three. Two……”

The child’s cute voice echoed through the alleyway.

“Ha……”

Just as she was about to count the last number, the leader boy shouted urgently.

“H, hey. We’re going! Let’s go, everyone.”

The three boys vanished from the alleyway in an instant. Even as they fled, the three who had been glaring at Vincent immediately dropped their eyes and ran even faster the moment their gazes met Adele’s.

Now, only Adele and Vincent remained in the dark alleyway.

Vincent looked at Adele with sparkling eyes, as though gazing at a hero who had defeated villains. Admiration and curiosity, and astonishment that a young girl could be this strong.

Adele did her best to ignore that gaze and asked.

“Why are you here alone?”

“I came to find you.”

“……Me?”

Was there any reason for Vincent to be looking for her? If he had come for revenge, she was perfectly willing to oblige.

But judging by that expression, it did not seem like he had sought her out with any malicious intent.

“Why?”

Vincent could not readily answer Adele’s question. It seemed he did not quite know the reason himself.

‘Is it because he hasn’t met the female lead yet…… His personality is quite different from what I knew.’

The Vincent she had known showed almost no change in expression. A blunt person who spoke very little. On top of that, his face was always shadowed, giving off a gloomy air.

Except for when he was with Queen Layla.

Even then, she had only ever seen him from a distance while escorting the queen when she secretly went to persuade Vincent.

‘Ah, right, I did get a proper look at him just before I died.’

At Queen Layla’s order to kill him with her sword, Vincent’s expression had crumbled utterly.

At the time, she had thought that even in such a situation, Vincent’s tearful face was truly beautiful.

So a person could cry like that. His reddened eyes and trembling lips had even stirred a protective instinct in her. The sight of him, as though bearing all the despair in the world, was enough to make even Adele feel a momentary pang of sympathy.

Even as Adele had wavered like that, the queen had been merciless.

No, perhaps merciless was not the right word.

‘Because Vincent had committed crimes.’

To speak of all his misdeeds, not even three months of sleepless nights would be enough.

To name only the most significant offenses: he had assaulted a prince at the academy and, after being suspended, had slaughtered the people of his own family. After that, he had defected to an enemy nation and led the charge in invading the kingdom.

He had seized the throne of the enemy nation and launched a sudden attack, bringing a sorcerer along with him.

Far too many people had been sacrificed because of him.

Adele had no knowledge whatsoever of the emotional rift that had existed between King Rohide, Queen Layla, and Vincent.

It was common knowledge that the three had attended the same academy at the same time, but there were so many baseless rumors swirling around that none of it could be trusted.

Adele was curious. How had this child ended up the way he did.

‘If I had known it would come to this, I would have looked more carefully at the marbles.’

“Why are you so strong?”

The Vincent of now was no different from any other child. This child surely had not the faintest dream that such a future was waiting for him.

“There’s just something like that.”

Adele answered indifferently and leaned her back against the wall. After days of this continuing situation, she was quite exhausted.

‘What now.’

When she had first entered the glass marble, she had assumed she would be able to leave again soon. It was after the sun had set that she sensed something was wrong.

Even as time passed, she did not return to where she had originally been, and no matter how thoroughly she searched the city, she could not find the glass marble.

And the future had truly changed.

Vincent’s personal maidservant, who should have lost the sight in one eye, had been spared from that unfortunate accident because Adele had intervened.

“Can I become strong too? There’s a bad person I need to punish.”

Undeterred by Adele’s indifferent reaction, Vincent continued to stick close to her.

Adele’s head throbbed at the sight of the child’s bright, eager eyes.

To think this was neither a dream nor an illusion. Those eyes would later turn into the dead, rotten-fish gaze of his adolescent years, after passing through a rough period filled with nothing but rage……

‘He’ll become a traitor. And then he’ll die by my hand again.’

The thought of having to go through all of that once more was far from welcome.

She had no desire to witness the terrible end of this child, either.

Adele stared quietly at Vincent, who was standing tensely beside her.

Vincent, finally receiving Adele’s attention, broke into a bright smile. It was a pure smile, nothing like a villain’s.

‘Will I be able to keep protecting that smile……’