***
“…Ugh.”
Delight regained consciousness with a jolt of pain.
“You’re awake?”
As soon as he opened his eyes, a familiar voice greeted him. It was Blueny’s face he saw.
“Do you recognize me?”
Blueny looked at him with a face full of concern.
“Delight, if you know who I am, can you nod your head?”
Her earnest voice helped clear Delight’s hazy consciousness.
“…Blueny.”
His throat was dry, making it difficult to produce a proper sound.
Delight barely managed to speak.
“Stop it. I feel dizzy.”
From the moment he opened his eyes, Blueny had been shaking his shoulders vigorously. It only made his head spin even more.
“S-Sorry.”
Blueny gently laid Delight’s head back down with care.
Seeing Blueny flustered made Delight chuckle softly. It was then he realized just how close he had come to death.
Although his head was still foggy, he cautiously propped himself up and asked.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“It took a whole week.”
“That long, huh.”
“I honestly thought I might have to order a coffin for you!”
Now that the tension had eased, Blueny blurted out in exasperation, as if she were ready to bring a coffin to his bedside at any moment.
“I’m taller than most people, so you’d have to make sure it’s the right size.”
“You think that’s funny?!”
Blueny, who had started the joke herself, suddenly became emotional and snapped at Delight. Her expression made it seem like she might burst into tears at any moment.
“I’m sorry.”
“To think you collapsed over something like that…”
Blueny muttered, sounding genuinely upset.
“But you’re alive, so that’s all that matters. Seeing you awake like this makes everything okay.”
Blueny let out a small chuckle, and Delight responded with a faint smile.
But still…
“This place… Is this Promian? How did I end up back here?”
His memories were still hazy from just waking up.
The last thing he remembered was losing control in Ilnord and collapsing.
‘What happened after that?’
There was no answer.
“What about Ollia? She must have been really scared.”
As he recalled the moment he had collapsed, a wave of anxiety hit him—he had shown that weak state to Ollia.
He lifted his head to look at Blueny and Zaire, but a splitting headache struck, making him clutch his throbbing head.
Then, like shattered glass coming back together, fragmented memories began to resurface.
‘I was certain I was going to die back there…’
Somewhere in the chaos, Ollia had appeared.
She had boldly stepped forward, unarmed, engaging in a confrontation with the Emperor of Ilnord. Even through his pain, Delight had been filled with fear—what if Ollia got hurt too?
At that moment—
“The Princess of Promian was said to have no talent for magic, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
The surprised voice of the Emperor of Ilnord echoed in his mind.
“…Ollia can use magic?”
But it wasn’t just magic.
It was far beyond that.
‘How is this possible?’
Still clutching his aching head, he tried to piece together the scattered fragments of his memory.
“You… don’t tell me…”
“You recognized it immediately, huh?”
And then, suddenly, a name surfaced in his mind—
‘Teacher.’
He couldn’t tell if it was a memory or a dream—it was all too confusing.
He recalled Ollia stepping in front of him, declaring herself as Archmage Sherina.
The scene was so bizarre.
Someone he had longed for had appeared… but it all felt like a ridiculous dream.
“Archmage Sherina. How are you here, looking like that?”
“What’s wrong? Are you scared I came back from the dead as a zombie or something?”
No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
It was definitely Ollia standing there.
And yet, at the same time, it was his Teacher.
Not just his Teacher—but someone exuding the grandeur of the legendary Archmage, someone he had never seen in that form before.
How could that be?
Ollia was real. His Teacher no longer existed in this world.
Then—
As if whispering directly into his ear, a voice—Ollia’s, yet eerily similar to his Teacher’s—spoke to him.
“How… can you be Sherina?”
“It’s exactly as you see.”
“……!”
“…The Princess of Promian was the reincarnation of Archmage Sherina. That’s all there is to it.”
Ollia… and his Teacher… reincarnation…
The same person…
If he pieced everything together, it led to only one conclusion.
“……..”
Delight’s face gradually turned pale.
“D-Delight, are you okay? You’re not going to collapse again, are you?”
He had just barely survived his near-death experience.
Now, seeing him lose all color and his soul seemingly leave his body, the others were naturally worried he might faint again and never wake up.
“No, I’m fine. Except for the part where I’m suddenly remembering that Ollia was actually my Teacher… which makes absolutely no sense…”
“…….”
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Aren’t you going to tell me I’m talking nonsense?”
“…….”
Delight’s voice trembled as he asked, his gaze desperately searching Blueny’s face. His eyes wavered endlessly, but no answer came.
That silence told him everything.
‘This is impossible. Something like this can’t happen…’
It shouldn’t happen!
Unable to accept reality, Delight fell backward.
To anyone watching, it might have looked as if he had fainted from shock.
But, whether fortunately or unfortunately, that was not the case.
Blueny, who had been worried about him just moments ago, now watched him calmly.
“…Well, looks like he’s finally come to his senses.”
There was a trace of pity in her voice, but mostly, it was an air of inevitability.
“He seems to have regained his memories.”
“That’s for certain.”
Blueny answered Zaire’s question firmly as she stood up.
Now that she had confirmed Delight was awake, that was enough.
“We should leave him alone for now. He needs time to process everything.”
Without hesitation, Blueny turned to leave.
“It’s going to take him a while to calm down.”
Zaire admitted.
“Honestly… I feel the same way. I’m still trying to make sense of all this.”
Blueny nodded at him with quiet understanding.
“Seems like we all need some time.”
After the life-threatening ordeal in Ilnord and their dramatic return to Promian, none of them had had a chance to rest.
“Don’t worry about things here. You should take some time for yourself too, Zaire.”
With that, Blueny left the room, Zaire following close behind.
Before closing the door, she glanced back at Delight one last time.
The moment the door shut—
“AAAAAHHHHH!”
A piercing scream erupted from inside the room.
Alone, Delight was drowning in the memories that kept surfacing, unable to escape them.
“This can’t be real.”
He remembered everything now. But he couldn’t believe it.
It made more sense for his memories to be wrong somehow.
But the harder he tried to deny it, the clearer his memories became—undeniable, unshakable.
“AAAHHHH! NO! THIS CAN’T BE REAL!”
His screams echoed through the halls, again and again.
But no one came to check on him.
Everyone simply pretended not to hear.
They held their breath.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”
Delight’s screams showed no sign of stopping.
His face had already lost all color.
“How could Ollia… our Ollia…?”
How could she be his scheming Teacher?!
The damn Teacher who abandoned me and died on their own terms!
…But if Ollia was really her—
Delight jolted upright in shock.
“What have I been saying about Teacher all this time?”
He began to slowly retrace his memories.
And as soon as he did, he realized something that he had nearly overlooked.
His body froze in place.
“No way. If she is my Teacher, then… how far back does she remember?”
Any normal child wouldn’t remember their time as a newborn.
But if it’s Teacher…
If she knew who she was from the very beginning…
“Then she must remember everything.”
Delight’s already pale face turned an earthy gray in an instant.
Calling her “our dear Ollia”…
Sucking on her fingers, clinging to her…
Even when she kicked him in the face, he’d smile like an idiot and say it felt nice…
He’d done all of that—and it was his Teacher the whole time?!
What the hell did I do in front of her?!
“Ughhh…”
He didn’t even have the strength to scream anymore.
He didn’t even have enough blood left in his face to blush.
‘…Wait!’
On top of that, he’d talked about her just recently!
Who did I go off rambling in detail to?
Every word I said, every stupid thing I did right in front of Ollia…
‘…This is mortifying.’
She definitely laughed at me on the inside. Probably a lot.
This is the kind of humiliation that sticks with you for life.
She’s probably waiting for me to come to my senses just so she can start teasing me.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine how mischievous Teacher would be now that her true identity was out—especially in front of him.
No—he didn’t want to imagine anything that horrifying.
Delight drooped his head in defeat.
It’s over. Completely, irreversibly ruined.
“…Well, there’s no helping it now.”
Staggering, Delight fell back onto the bed.
He gently pulled the blanket over himself.
“I really don’t think I can move right now.”
There was no one around to hear, but he still muttered an excuse and closed his eyes.
“My body feels awful. If I get up now, I’ll probably pass out again…”
In truth, he just wanted to put off facing his Teacher for as long as humanly possible.
“…Damn it.”
But no matter how much he wanted to, Delight couldn’t afford to pass out again.
