“Hmph!”

Grazio didn’t even spare him a glance and looked away with his head held high.

“Why would I believe the words of magicless trash like you?”

“…!”

“You…! Wait…? Eh…?”

Zoemi went silent but Miriette clenched her fists and trembled in anger – before suddenly flinching and looking around in utter confusion.

Both the black-haired boy and the red-haired one were young, they were literal children!

“…”

Miriette bit her lips and hurriedly looked at her own hands…

They were tiny…

She checked her hair and it was properly so dark green that it seemed black.

With that it was certain…

Miriette somehow made it to the past.

…or worse – the previous timeline got messed up and the presence started the next one…

That left a question – why did she, a copy of the presence, retain her memories even though it never happened before…?

While the dark-haired girl was clenching the sides of her skirt so strong that she was about to start wearing the fabric down, the completely unaffected Grazio just started to stroll around the garden.

“My lady…? Are you feeling alright?”

“Eh….?”

With her like that there was no possible way that the black-haired boy who always observed her cautiously ready to help and protect her at the sight of the slightest inconvenience asked, making her gasp and blush when leaning in.

He was so cute when he was young that Miriette almost fainted from being close!

“Ah… um… ummm… we should, go after that jerk… I guess…?”

Miriette remembered that originally she would stomp her foot and demand whenever something like that would happen. Even though she was unsure about the circumstances, she didn’t want to mess up the timeline…

“…”

…even though she recognized the setting – in the previous timeline it was the day when Grazio used the fireball spell on Zoemi and created the ugly scar on his face.

“Zoemi, we need to go after him! But… you just stay by my side, okay? Don’t get provoked no matter what he will do!”𝓞𝗏𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t

Miriette grabbed the black-haired boy’s hand and squeezed it, looking into his eyes to push the message through.

“A… o… okay… my lady…”

Zoemi opened his mouth and blushed heavily, lowering his gaze too bashful to meet the intense gaze of the emotional Miriette.

|If I know what will happen, I can protect him – even if I will be the one to get the scar!|

The dark-haired girl thought to herself.

After all, at that moment in time, she didn’t have proper control over her spells and couldn’t access the time attribute either – actually, she couldn’t be sure that she had the time attribute in this new timeline, to begin with.

But even with all things considered – she was not going to let harm befell her beloved!

——

Young Miriette and young Zoemi were walking together holding hands, which honestly was something that the dark-haired girl always wanted to happen in her original timeline.

|Why haven’t I tried it back then? He looks so shy but so happy~!|

Miriette thought to herself after peeking at the expression the black-haired was making and feeling her heart skipping a beat over the adorableness next to her.

Meanwhile, the red-haired Grazio stopped his stroll only after reaching the training grounds of the castle’s guards, empty since the morning practice ended a while ago.

“Hmmmm…”

Grazio was carefully observing the stone shed that was locked away by a big lock.

“Where’s the key?”

The red-haired boy asked arrogantly – but got no answer.

“Hey! You two! Where’s the key?!”

Being ignored didn’t seem to match with the likes of the young fire magician, so he got slightly red in the face and called out angrily.

“…hmm? Eh? Oh, right, you are here too. We don’t have it. If you want it, you need to get back to the castle or something. Shoo.”

Miriette furrowed her brows reluctantly looking away from the timid black-haired boy and scoffed in annoyance at the red-haired one and shooed him off with a dismissive gesture.

“You…! Who do you think you are, you…! You weak wind! There are training swords inside, right? We have a similar thing behind our house.”

Young Grazio who must have never been talked to like that got even redder in the face from anger and embarrassment and responded hastily.

“Lord Grazio…! Watch your word! You are in the Espine Estate, do you think that you can just try and bully young lady Espine here?! Do you think that we are surrounded by Victureo servants?”

“…!”

Miriette thought that Zoemi will not act out of line unless Grazio will push a few more of his buttons, but instead she got pleasantly surprised when the black-haired boy proudly puffed out his chest and stepped forward immediately to protect her honor.

Honestly – she almost started clapping in awe.

“…tsk…! You there!”

Grazio bit his lips and trembled from anger, glaring at Zoemi as if he was gravely offended – but after a quick glance and confirmation of seeing only unknown adults, the red-haired boy started calling all the maids and knights that were watching them and started sending them to bring various things.

“Sir Helke. You stay.”

“…?!”

When the very last knight was about to run to fulfill some unnecessary task for the young red-haired guest, it was the young Zoemi who reached out his hand and stopped him from leaving – interestingly enough, that was exactly what Miriette herself wanted to do too!

“Zoemi, this is an important guest and…”

“Sir Helke, do you really want to not listen to me for a second time? Only now my father isn’t here to make the right call.”

“!!!”

The knight glanced over at the grumpy-looking Grazio and leaned down to whisper to Zoemi, but the black-haired boy then climbed on his tiptoes and whispered back with an extremely serious expression, causing Miriette who overheard him say that perk up in amazement.

“…ghh… listening to a slums-raised brat…”

The knight muttered under his breath but ended up straightening his back and turning right around.

“Lord Grazio, I will comply with your request as soon as someone will return.”

Helke took a deep breath and declared in a loud voice.

“Wh-what?! You’ve got to be kidding me! I will tell my father to fire you!”

Seeing yet another thing go not along with his wishes, the red-haired Grazio threw a tantrum like a splendid spoiled brat, making himself look even more childish than his age would lead others to believe he was.

“Go ahead – I will tell my father to not listen to your father. Helke is employed by the Espine family, not Victureos.”

Miriette scoffed, shrugging her shoulders dismissively before turning around theatrically – like a spoiled brat but on the good-guys team.

“I…! Wha…! You…!”

Young Grazio looked like he was about to boil over from the inside – and honestly, it was one of the funniest things Miriette saw.

“Helke, it looks like sir Victureo isn’t willing to play with us. Zoemi and I will return to the castle while you play around with him until he is done. It is not an Espine’s duty to babysit literal toddlers that can’t read the air.”

Miriette declared with a splendid villainess-like scoff and offered her hand to the black-haired boy by her side.

“Zoemi, babysitting isn’t your duty either. Escort me back to the castle instead.”

“My lady…! It will be an honor!”

At the girl’s words Zoemi’s face brightened up with pride over the maturity of his young lady and he hurriedly took the girl’s hand like a proper gentleman and they both went on the way back, leaving the flabbergasted knight and the red-faced Grazio who looked so angry that he could erupt at any moment.

“WAIT! WHO ALLOWED YOU TO LEAVE?!”

The red-haired boy moved forward, stomping his feet in rage.

“It’s my home, I do whatever I want here, stupid.”

“!!!”

Miriette glanced over her shoulder with an annoyed expression and scoffed dismissively, causing Grazio to be lost for words.

“You…! who are you calling stupid, you weakling! FIREBALL!”

“!!!”

Unfortunately, that was a step too far – Grazio sapped and howled in anger, skipping a lot of steps from the previous timeline in favor of going straight to the spell that seriously wounded Zoemi in the past.

Miriette tensed up – it was her time – Helke was too shocked seeing a son of a high noble family attack another child to react, and Zoemi was already gearing up to push her to safety.

She could try to block the spell with her own, but honestly, in some twisted way she was really curious about how things would turn out if she was the one with the scar.

The engagement with the first prince Horeo would surely be called off on the behalf of the wound, her status would suffer a major hit – her pride… her pride would not change no matter what.

On the other hand, Zoemi would turn even more doting for sure… who knows, maybe she could be even needier with the scar as an excuse?

With a deformed face, probably the only person who would consider marrying her would be the very same person who would love her so much that he would be willing to die for her – Zoemi.

Wouldn’t that be a perfect set…

*huuug*

…up…?!

“Eh…?!”

While Miriette was about to confidently step forward to face the fire spell and get away from Zoemi trying to sacrifice himself, the boy didn’t go for a saving push.

What he did instead was to grab Miriette in a protective embrace and reach out his right hand.

*WHOOOOO*

The fireball hit Zoemi’s palm and crackled furiously attempting to burn the boy’s hand.

“Law of Aries!”

*TSSSSSS*

“EEEEEEHHHHHH?!”

Zoemi called out, clenching his fist, extinguishing the fireball and causing Miriette to gasp out loud in utter disbelief.