[Dash]You were always here. It’s easy to find you, so I like it.

During her time at Belfor Academy.

Odette always read books alone.

Since revealing her status would do no good, she always kept her distance from the other students, and thus it naturally became a habit.

The place under the shade of a tree in Epona Hall, casting a proper shadow, was Odette’s favorite spot.

And Regis naturally approached such Odette.

[Dash]Your appearance caught my eye, so I wanted to talk to you. It’s a face I’ve never seen before.

[Dash]I’m not good with words…… You’ll have more fun talking to others.

[Dash]They are too noisy. You’re quiet, so it’s good to be with you.

[Dash]……!

[Dash]You smell good. Are you wearing perfume?

Knowing well that she wouldn’t wear perfume, Regis leaned on Odette and deliberately asked that.

Whenever he looked up to her, Odette’s face would turn red, and he quite liked that.

A shy and pretty girl.

It must have been fun to tease her, and it was enjoyable to see her unable to hide her flustered reactions.

How much fun he must have had with her, oblivious to it all.

Even now, just thinking about it made Odette’s heart burn.

Suppressing the rising emotions, Odette coldly warned.

“I don’t want to talk to you at all. And don’t talk down to me. I may have let it pass before when I didn’t know, but I won’t allow it now.”

“……Allow? Are you really still angry?”

“I told you not to talk down to me.”

“You seem very angry. Well, you have every right to be. I understand. If I were in your place, I’d be angry too.”

At Regis’s smoothly changing tone, Odette’s brows furrowed.

He switched to a respectful tone as Odette had requested, but his audacity remained the same.

“I am truly sorry for having deceived you back then, Your Grace. But I want you to know that my feelings were sincere.”

“……There’s no value in hearing more. Don’t talk to me ever again.”

“Odette!”

But her arm was grabbed again.

Unlike before, the grip was firm.

Moreover, there were no people around.

“You have no idea how much I regretted letting you go, Your Grace. I went abroad to try and forget you, but I realized it was futile and came back.”

“It’s none of my business. Let go!”

“Just a moment. Give me time to explain what happened back then!”

As a drained Odette struggled to break free from Regis’s hand,

“I didn’t know Count Xavier was a rogue who would harass a woman in broad daylight.”

A sharp voice intervened, and the grip on her arm loosened.

She looked up to see a somewhat meek face, yet handsomely stern.

“What’s going on here? Care to explain?”
Louis Clovis.

He flashed a faint smile.

[This is a time separator.]

Regis seemed hesitant at Louis’ appearance.

“Lou, Louis?”

“Yes, long time no see.”

“Ah, ahh. Yes, long time. You’ve returned home not long ago. But your complexion is [dash].”

“I’ve been a bit ill recently. I’m fine now, so never mind about me. What are you doing now?”

Louis’ comment about his complexion was abruptly cut off by Regis.

“From what I know, the person here is the 4th Princess, so you wouldn’t dare to threaten the Princess, would you?”

“Threaten? What nonsense! Even a madman wouldn’t dare.”

“Well, that’s true? I know you, so I’m just saying it without any hard feelings. Weren’t you famous for being bold even in academy times?”

Regis’s face twisted at the subtle taunt that his behavior was rather unseemly.

‘Damn it…….’

He had thought he could talk to Odette since there were no people around, but he had to run into Louis here of all places?

‘Today, I heard that Odette came to the academy, so I came out on purpose.’

Odette had not been socializing since the tea party.

Since Balter’s bigger rumor had suppressed the original one, there was no need for Odette to explain herself.

So Regis had no choice but to chase after Odette based on information he had obtained by bribing a maid in 4th Princess’s palace.

[Dash] That girl went to Belfort Academy. Go and pretend to have a chance reunion. Who knows? They say nothing beats first love.

Yes, nothing beats first love.

And Regis was proud to be Odette’s first love.

So he believed that if they met again and he sweettalked her, she would quickly fall for him again.

‘She was a stupid girl who fell for flattery.’

In Regis’s memory, Odette was young and naive.

That was what made it fun.

It started at the request of the 3rd Princess, but as it went on, even he realized that he was enjoying it.

He liked her naive taste, and he liked the fleeting affection that he felt in her honeycolored eyes as they looked at him.

It was enough to regret the past for the first time when all the truth was revealed, and it ended in a mess.

‘If I hadn’t been found out, I could have played with her longer…….’

Of course, the regret was of this kind, but anyway.

There were no women left with lingering feelings for the philandering Regis.

Just one, except Odette.

‘It’s strange. I can’t get her out of my mind, no matter who I meet.’

Even going abroad and coming back home was because of Odette.

So this time, he was thinking of making her his, but then Louis suddenly appeared and interfered.

“Could it be…… are you involved with Count Clovis, Your Highness?”