episode_0002

Whistling, ‘whee-whee-whee~’

Humming and whistling, I walked down the street.

This strong, powerful energy filling my entire body—youth truly is the best.

Ras Etgard, a handsome young man in the prime of his twenty-first year.

A wealthy and promising man, the son of a rather prominent merchant family.

And, a regressor.

I don’t know why, but I returned to the day I suffered the first great betrayal of my life, right at the threshold of death.

So, in this second life, there is no naive, wet-behind-the-ears rookie.

Only a man who has tumbled through all sorts of rough pits and survived until the world’s end.

What was I like ten years ago, when I was broken by betrayal?

Strolling through a spring day from the past after a long time, I indulged in a brief recollection.

*

A young man with a healthy complexion was rushing down a spring street.

His clothes were a bit excessively well-dressed, and his hair was neatly styled with product.

The sight of his soft, youthful face paired with a bright smile was quite pleasant to behold.

On that spring day, quite a few girls strolling the city streets near Leone Academy, where the flower festival was in full swing, fluttered at the young man’s appearance and face.

Could he possibly be out to enjoy the flower festival alone?

The girls who were out by themselves subtly blushed as they saw the young man, striking shy or intentionally demure poses.

Moving their bodies gently, not excessively, or casually tucking their hair behind their ears.

‘If you don’t have a partner, talk to me. Let’s go see the flowers together.’

They were performing a silent dance with such meaning.

However, the young man, who hadn’t quite shed his boyishness, walked with firm steps, without a single glance elsewhere.

As if searching for someone, his darting eyes were filled with fervent eagerness.

Like a man out on a date, he was clearly saying, ‘I’m taken!’

The girls who saw the dreamy young man’s face soon shook their heads and passed him by.

“Lizley…!”

The young man, having spotted the person he was looking for, scurried forward like a black dog greeting its owner.

Lizley, the woman whose name was called, put the small book she was reading into her handbag and greeted the young man.

Her golden hair was brighter than the sun, her skin fair, her eyes blue like the sea, her lips red like roses, and her delicate features perfectly matched them.

With her long, gracefully extended limbs and slender figure, she was impressive in every aspect.

Dressed lightly, perfect for an outing, she was truly dazzlingly beautiful.

So much so that she would not be out of place being called the most beautiful among all the girls filling the street.

“Ras. You’re a little late, aren’t you?”

Ras, the young man with a healthy complexion, grinned awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

“Well, it’s been a really long time since I’ve been to a flower viewing. I tried to get a little more dressed up and ended up slightly late… I’m sorry!”

Ras naturally took Lizley’s bag and escorted her.

Ras’s eyes, as he looked at the beautiful woman, were filled with admiration, joy, and affection.

Lizley, seeing his transparent delight, like a child’s, chuckled lightly and began to walk.

“Even though you’re showing off your effort a bit too much, it’s charming to see such sincerity. You’ve dressed up nicely, Ras.”

People around them looked enviously at the attractive young couple as they walked.

Lizley, walking elegantly and gracefully like a rose, and Ras, following her, unsure what to do with his overflowing affection for her.

As he walked, Ras suddenly halted with an “Oh!” expression, quickly pulling something from his pocket and calling Lizley to a stop.

“What is this?”

When he opened the small box, inside lay a golden bracelet elegantly inlaid with emeralds and rubies.

The green, red, and gold colors harmonized beautifully, yet it was never ostentatious, but subtly elegant.

This bracelet, boasting a considerable price, was a piece crafted by a rather promising master artisan in the capital, an accessory fashionable among young ladies of count families or higher.

At the same time, for Lizley, a young lady of a count family, the Gracia family, whose financial situation was not affluent, it was an accessory she could never afford.

Ras, worried that Lizley might be offended, carefully spoke as he fastened the bracelet onto her.

“You mentioned the bracelet Princess Valencia was wearing last time, remember? I spoke to Father and got one.”

“….. Thank you so much…. But I didn’t specifically ask for a gift…”

Gently stroking the beautiful craftsmanship, Lizley expressed her gratitude in a slightly wistful voice.

“But, I wanted to give it to you as a gift. The green, the red, the gold… they blend together beautifully like a rose, don’t they? Just like you, Lizley…”

His carefully prepared words were clumsy, but full of sincerity.

Lizley smiled slightly and gave Ras a very light kiss on the cheek.

With a soft peck, Ras’s face turned beet red like a radish.

“I’ll wear it well. Thank you so much, Ras. Still, you don’t have to go to such lengths next time. It must have been quite difficult to acquire, regardless of the price…”

“Hehe..! It wasn’t hard at all. Really!! So, shall we go to dinner first? I’ve reserved a nice restaurant…”

Ras, with his simple smile, looked genuinely happy.

The difficult hours he spent acquiring the bracelet had completely vanished from his memory.

*

In my pocket was the box containing the bracelet, carefully buried in the depths of my memory.

I had gone through quite a bit of trouble to acquire it.

Putting aside the price, that master artisan who made the bracelet wouldn’t even accept commissions from non-nobles.

Etgard was a promising and reputable merchant family, but they were by no means nobles, so it took several times the money and time to commission and receive the item.

To maximize his appeal to the master artisan, he personally visited the capital several times, and paid extra for the commission…

In truth, it would have been simple to just give Lizley the money and tell her to buy it herself, but then it wouldn’t have been a gift.

Moreover, it could have hurt Lizley’s pride, as she was from a count family but lacked money, and more importantly, it wouldn’t have been a surprise, which is why that method was ruled out.

It was half affection for his half-crazy fiancée, and half pandering to her, who would coldly erupt in anger if her wishes weren’t implicitly fulfilled.

Lizley was always indirectly hinting at what she wanted, and even the oblivious me back then wasn’t unaware of it.

In fact, initially, I truly didn’t understand Lizley’s personality, and being a straightforward person who took A as A and B as B, I sometimes upset Lizley.

It was only after experiencing her somewhat chilly and cold demeanor several times and seeking dating advice from others that I realized why my fiancée was angry.

Looking back now, I was utterly foolish.

That I couldn’t understand things on my own?

No.

It meant that I, the person, was an idiot for being so obsessed with a woman who was only half-decent looking but rotten inside.

That Lizley cheated on me and, moreover, threw my life into ruin?

I’m not talking about that, as I’m no prophet and had no way of knowing it.

I simply should have been a bit wiser and thought and acted with myself at the center.

‘Those who cannot be honest about their desires and speak indirectly are the scariest. If you have such a person around you, the answer is to cut ties quickly.’

Those were the words of my master, the Great Arch-Witch, who had possessed my body and soul until recently.

They were certainly words without a single flaw.

A person who insidiously hints at what they want and takes out their frustration on others if their wishes aren’t fulfilled.

Regardless of gender, such a person is the most terrifying and difficult to deal with.

In truth, anyone subjected to such foolish behavior, no matter how stupid they are, instinctively realizes that it’s wrong.

Yet, they can’t let go of that rotten tie simply because they are foolish, and because they fear losing, they cannot make a proper judgment.

When Lizley subtly showed her terrible spite towards me, I should have ended our relationship.

No, even if I couldn’t cut ties cleanly, I shouldn’t have resorted to the pathetic act of twisting myself to appease her.

Because every single one of those small words and actions turned me into a fool in their eyes.

A foolish bastard, a pushover, a pathetic idiot who trembled at my every word and action and watched my every move.

How much did Lizley look down on me behind that elegant and beautiful face?

Our engagement was a collaboration between the Gracia count family, who needed money, and the Etgard family, who coveted a noble name, yet I was jumping for joy there.

Trying to inject love into a debtor-creditor relationship truly made the game dirty.

“Why would I give you the bracelet? I wouldn’t give it to you even if I boiled it into soup.”

Snickering, I walked with an even more leisurely pace.

Should I give the bracelet to someone else, or sell it to the noble young ladies whose eyes are red from wanting to acquire it?

But actually, since it has Lizley’s initials engraved on it, melting it down and selling it seemed like the best option.

Well, that’s not what’s important.

After all, I had more than enough money in this era.

Reveling in my rejuvenated body and the relaxed attire that suited it, I happily surveyed myself.

Ten years ago, I dressed like someone going to a noble’s party, applying pomade and other hair products I barely understood, and dressing up ridiculously.

A naive, wet-behind-the-ears kid who knew nothing of the world, a rookie who mistakenly believed women would be impressed by his efforts.

Ugh, how tacky.

Even if I walk with a ridiculous dance, girls still flirt with me — that’s who I am now.

Why did I act like such an idiot with this handsome face and wealth?

I continued forward, taking spirited steps as if walking on the moon.

“Ha-!”

“Oh, look at him. How cute.”

See? Handsome men and beautiful women are the kind of people who get away with swaying oddly and making strange exclamations on the street.

‘Do what you want. Don’t worry about what others think, be like a wild dog. That’s your charm, Ras.’

My former master, the expert in bad boy coaching, came to mind again.

Following her active coaching, I became more than just a bad boy; I became a dog.

Of course, only I knew the open secret that my master was just well-versed in theory and had actually lived and died a virgin her entire life, but that didn’t matter.

Anyway, it seemed like it would be fine to be a consistently moderately bad boy in this life.

Because in my last life, I swung too wildly between being a pushover and a dog…

“Ras…? What are you doing? And what are you wearing…?”

At the end of my dancing walk, Lizley stood there, just as she had in my previous life ten years ago.

However, in this life, she wasn’t the elegant and graceful woman who pretended to read a book, casually turning pages she couldn’t even properly read.

Lizley, sporting a flustered expression as she watched her fiancé, who had inexplicably become an eccentric, was quite a sight.

And to top it all off, my outfit?

My academy uniform, the same one I had worn yesterday.

After all, to bring out that fresh, student-like feeling, nothing beats an academy uniform.

On April 7th, with cherry blossoms fluttering, I exchanged my first greetings with my former fiancée.

“Hello, Lizley?”

The spring breeze was wonderfully refreshing.