Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

Allen and Rachael enjoyed the intense weather, their cheeks shining red. They moved to a nearby table situated in the garden.

“Mister… Hm, you seem a bit different. You’ve never responded like this before…”

He glanced at her as she fanned her hand at her face to cool herself, with her rosy cheeks and sky blue eyes. Her sharp nose, pink lips, and soft, kind eyes. She had the subtle scent of May bells about her.

“Really? Could it be that you’ve just missed me?” she answered with a wide smile and looked at him.

“Mister.”

Her flushed cheeks had cooled, and she looked at him with suspicion in her eyes as she opened her mouth decidedly.

“Tell me honestly. Who is it?”

“What?”

What is she talking about? Who is she talking about? She said it as though she were convinced of something already.

“What kind of girl is she? I phrased it strangely. It just feels weird. This isn’t like you, Mister.”

As if she’d just now understood, she nodded her head. As if something had gone terribly wrong.

“Ah, that’s right. You said that you have new maids now, right? Could it be…?”

No, at what point in this conversation could she have come to that conclusion?

“If you tell me now, I’ll kill her—no, I won’t… Just tell me the truth. How far have you gone? Kissing? Oh, you can’t do this to me. Did you? No, did you—?!”

Kiss.

Her eyes burst wide open. Her mouth was slightly opened, and she looked bewildered, so he stole her lips a few more times.

Soft, gentle kisses.

The sound of his collar in the wind sounded particularly loud.

“No, there’s no other woman. I swear on mana. Do you believe me now?”

As he made his declaration, a wave of heat spread throughout his body. She knew what those words meant to a sorcerer. 

“O-Oh… No, I didn’t doubt it anymore, but…”

She couldn’t muster up a response, hiding her burning red cheeks. Her cerulean eyes darted here and there, avoiding her partner’s gaze.

“Well then, that’s that, isn’t it? You came to me so suddenly, hugged me, and cried to me… whispering sweet words… just like in ‘The 49 Symptoms of a Cheating Man’…”

What on earth was she reading?

Allen hid a sour expression to put on a small smile.

It would make sense for her to act that way, though. From her point of view, she had to think that way because of him, the man who couldn’t express his affection until only a few months ago.

‘She shouldn’t be reading such strange books, but…’

“Even so… it’s good that you came out at all, Mister.”

She smiled shyly, aiming her eyes down to the ground.

Allen cradled her hands in his, as if they would spill out otherwise. 

And as their faces moved closer and closer together…

“Sister! Hic… Sister… Sister… Waaaaah…!”

…An uninvited guest arrived.

As they’d been reunited, spending their precious time together, they were met with another familiar face. If it were anyone else, they would’ve been kicked out for their rudeness, but there was an exception.

“How… How could this happen to me? Hic…”

It was his brother’s fiancé, Cathleen Noblie, forced to tears by none other than his brother himself. Ruining their time alone together.

“He wants to call off the engagement, hic… How could this happen? Oh, what do I do…?”

Rachael also seemed to resent her sister for interrupting their moment, but she calmed down while listening to her.

“Julius called off the engagement?” Rachael said in an unbelieving tone, continuing to listen to her story.

“Yes, Sister, hic… He was being a total jerk and, hic, I just said to, hic, get a hold of himself, and he—hic—yelled at me and, hic, he was so mad…”

As she continued to cry, her hair and makeup that she’d worked on since dawn became more and more messed up.

“Even before we left, hic, he already, hic, decided it all on his own, hic…”

From her dress and shoes to the accessories that adorned her, her attire certainly wasn’t chosen in only a day or two. Allen couldn't even begin to guess what kind of effort went into the process of cultivating her charm as much as possible.

“And, and, hic, he even called me Catalina… Sniff.”

She cried in Rachael’s arms until she fell asleep, as if she’d fainted. Having heard Cathleen’s whole story, Rachael sadly stroked her cheeks. 

Her story was simple. She had told Julius to get a hold of himself which suddenly made him transform into his notorious scoundrel-self. She had heard the rumors that he turned into a scoundrel, but she wasn't sure, so she tested the waters.

And the result was the separation.

Even though they’d been on good terms since childhood, and that was the first time she’d ever tried to check on her fiancé’s temper…

“Separation…”

She already knew how it would end, but she couldn’t help but have mixed feelings on the inside.

“A sudden call-off. Mister, do you know what this could be about?”

Rachael also looked flustered. How long had it been since Cathleen was so excited to see her fiancé again? And now, she was crying, saying he called it off?

She seemed to be having a hard time understanding the course of events.

“No… Not at all.”

Allen was sorry for her, but he couldn’t tell her everything just yet. Coming to a conclusion without any evidence or proper preparation would only result in some useless assumptions like before.

‘There must be some way to find a reason behind it. Julius is no ordinary person.’

Not as to say that he was particularly different from other people, but literally to mean that he was not an ordinary person. He was just really weird.

‘It’s almost as if the world is in his favor…’

If Allen—who has watched him closely this whole time—thought like that, then what would people from afar who only heard rumors eventually think? Standard tactics wouldn’t be enough to take him down. So he had no intention of attracting the attention of others around him until he caught wind of at least a small hint.

‘But… I can’t not use what I have available to me.’

His eyes met with Cathleen’s for a moment. A woman left broken-hearted by the one she loved. She was close, in love with Julius, and sufficiently motivated. She may be filled to the brim with sadness at the moment, but…

If he could hone her skills…

‘She could become a true “dagger”.’

“Really, I shouldn’t say this to you, Mister, but Julius has… Is it too much to say that he’s really become a scoundrel? He was cute when he was young, but now… Phew.”

Rachael laughed as if it were ridiculous to even be thinking about it.

“I almost want to apologize in his place,” Allen replied with a bitter smile. Rachael shook her head as if he didn’t do that.

“Cathleen put a lot of work into her preparations to meet that ba—Julius. Mister, do you know why I came here all of a sudden?”

“I…”

Come to think of it, he didn’t even know the basics about her.

“…have no idea.”

She was supposed to be at the Academy right now anyway. That was why he didn’t think of looking for her sooner.

“I came by Cathleen’s request.”

“She asked you to come?”

She nodded.

“There are two ways to matriculate into my school, the Galshdin Academy. First, you can go in directly and take the entrance exam. Most of the normal students use this method, but… those students aren’t the ones with power.”

Because Allen never matriculated into the Academy even before his regression, he could do nothing but listen and nod. 

“If you get a recommendation from one of the eight top-ranked students and the permission of a faculty member, you can enter without taking the entrance exam.”

Looking at Cathleen, she also added that, of course, if you had no talent at all, you wouldn’t last even a semester. 

“Most of those who use this method are powerful enough to last, though, so the headmaster allows it. But the Noblie family…”

“The Noblie family isn’t exactly influential enough.”

If the scope was limited to only the western kingdom, the Noblie family would be considered to be very powerful. However, when considering the entire continent, their name didn’t quite stand out.

“Yes. That’s why she used her personal and familial connections as much as she could. I was able to attend by connecting with a top-ranked student from the western kingdom and bribing one of the professors.”

Allen slowly came to understand the context of the story.

“In order to enroll Julius?”

“Right!”

Her eyes blazed. She seemed to be genuinely enraged by Julius’s actions.

“Even though she put so much work into getting him in! She tried so hard, saying that, if he came to his senses, he’d return to his old self. And that if she succeeded, it would benefit our family! That bastard…!”

“Hold on, hold on. Why don’t you calm down, Rachael.”

Allen held her hand, interlocking their fingers. 

“Haaah… I just got so angry. It’s just that she worked so hard and prepared so much for their meeting today. All to get dumped…”

She sighed dejectedly and squeezed his fingers.

“I only came with her so I could see you again, Mister. The other students are staying in the Noblie territory.”

The Galshdin Academy…

Now that he still hadn’t found a way to rescue his little brother, maybe going there would be a good option for him.There were supposed to be lots of forbidden books and forgotten knowledge stored there.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“I’m not sure… Maybe, after doing all this, we can’t stop now…”

With a subtle glance, she asked him, “Would you like to try?”

“Me?”

He was interested, but not right now. He needed to finish his business in his own family’s territories, and the timing wasn’t quite right just yet.

“I would like to, but I don’t think now is the right time.”

“Well… it can’t be helped. Then shouldn’t Cathleen matriculate instead? It seems like the best option to benefit at least a little bit from all the work we’ve put in.”

She pouted her lips, thought of something, and then smiled again.

“So then you want to go, right?”

Her eyes lit up and sparkled like the stars.

“…That’s right.”

“Then that’s that. Couples at the academy are really annoying to watch anyway… This is good. I want to make fun of other people with you as soon as possible, too, so hurry up and come soon.”

She said this as if Allen had already decided to attend the Academy as well. 

“No, I—”

“Understood?”

“No…”

She was smiling, but with persuasion in her eyes, she pressed him to answer quickly.

“…Okay.”

Allen had no choice but to nod meekly.

“Well then, I’ll get up first. I want to stay with you a bit longer, Mister, but I feel I should stay with Cathleen instead since she isn’t doing so well.”

Cathleen was sweating and groaning, as if having a terrible nightmare. Rachael stood up, gazing at their clasped hands.

“Ah… I don’t want to say goodbye like this…”

She glanced back at Cathleen and gave a slight bow. Allen could smell her slight scent of May bells and her sweet breath.

“Oh, this is so embarrassing. You’ve become really weird, Mister.”

She wiggled her fingers around, pretending to be calm, and took a look at him.

“It’s not… too weird, right?”

“I guess?”

They laughed. He couldn’t wait until the next time he could see her again. 

As his eyes turned to Cathleen, Rachael shouted to him, “Don’t wait until the next time! But right now… we’re outside, and Cathleen is here, and there’s no time…”

Her voice died down until it became only a whisper.

“If you want to see me again… come to the Academy. I… I want you to go too.”

Allen’s lips spread into a smile.

“I’ll be there.”

And with that, their reunion came to an end.

As if she were ashamed of her request, she quickly took Cathleen out of the garden.

Allen quietly looked at the tower of stones and stood up. The day of the first incident wouldn’t be far off now.

‘The Academy… I need to think about it seriously.’

As he walked all the way back to the manor, he couldn’t shake the smile from his lips.