Raoul headed to the training ground, unable to hide his anxiety.

“Don’t worry. I’ll arrange a separate room for Sebastian.”

Diana, who had woken up earlier than usual, rubbed her sleepy eyes as she saw Raoul off.

The faint sun gently illuminated the terrace.

Raoul, with his feet on the railing, turned to look at Diana one last time.

In her white lace pajamas, nodding off, she looked harmless and lovely.

After contemplating, Raoul turned back and approached Diana.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going?”

Touch. Her shoulder was grabbed, and a ticklish sensation brushed her cheek. Diana was startled and opened her half-closed eyes wide.

“…What?”

“…I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

The shy wolf had already thrown himself off the terrace.

Diana, overwhelmed with shock, blinked her eyes for a while, holding her cheek.

‘Twice in the same spot already…’

What on earth is this situation? Another repayment? Or… could it be… could it be?

Confused, Diana grabbed her head and sat down on the floor.

The spot where Raoul had been felt as if it had been branded with a hot iron.

Following that heat, the cells in her body began to recall memories they had ignored and passed by.

The lips that whispered shyly holding a cherry blossom branch, the eyes that sparkled with determination to protect, the warm embrace that was jealous of Sebastian – all came together like puzzle pieces forming a single shape.

‘No way… But…, Raoul has Ayla…’

The small signals that had been accumulating flashed bright red lights.

The flames that quickly struck her mind displayed a single warning message.

‘No… No…! It can’t be…!’

As Diana cried out, the gentle gray wolf wagged its tail.

Awooo!

‘Is it really…?’

Puppy love. If Diana wasn’t mistaken, Raoul was now in puppy love…!

[This is the timeline separator]

Raoul was already in his third duel today.

The right arm of the Vihar vice-captain rolled on the ground.

Raoul waited for the whistle to blow and then bowed politely.

Vincent smiled contentedly as he looked at the back of his well-trained disciple.

After sharing the training ground for two and a half years, the tide had turned.

Raoul, who had solidly built his fundamentals over a long time, could now match the knights even in human form.

“I look forward to your future growth.”

Vincent patted his returned disciple’s head, grinning from ear to ear.

“Using your small physique and quick speed to strike behind the knee. Excellent skill.”

Raoul nodded silently as he drank water.

There was no sense of achievement in his round head. Only impatience.

‘I want to go back quickly.’

He wondered what Diana might be doing now. Was she eating? Or had she already left to find mana?

He wanted to hurry back and secure his place beside Diana.

[This is the timeline separator]

Without time to worry, Diana roamed the forest with Sebastian.

“Isn’t it dangerous with just the two of us?”

“It’s okay because I’m here~! Monsters fear divine beasts!”

After encountering a first-class monster once, Diana’s courage had shrunk to the size of a bean.

As they entered the deep forest where people rarely ventured, the thick vegetation made the atmosphere eerie even in daylight.

As they advanced deeper into the forest, Sebastian suddenly stopped and put a finger to his lips.

“Who is it…?”

Peeking out from behind a tree, they saw a servant with purple hair emerge from the thick undergrowth, dusting off his shoulders.

He neatly tidied his clothes and then hurriedly left the forest, looking around.

At the same time, flap! A pigeon took flight.

The two hid behind a mulberry tree and waited until all signs of presence had completely disappeared.

“As expected, the prince’s appearance is dangerous… You have to hide even though you’ve done nothing wrong because your face is known!”

As Diana sighed in relief, clutching her chest, Sebastian suddenly grabbed her hand and stood up.

“Found it!”

“What?”

Led by Sebastian’s hand, they pushed through the undergrowth to find an old wooden door hidden by vines.

Sebastian kept pushing the door with his body, but it wouldn’t budge.

“It won’t open? It seems to be locked from the inside.”

“You might be able to open it!”

“What…? How could I?”

“I just know!”

Being the words of a divine beast, Diana grabbed the doorknob with half expectation and half doubt. The round iron handle felt somehow familiar.

‘Surely it won’t open?’

As they say, ‘never say never’, at that moment, creeak, the door swung open with an eerie sound.

“It really… opened?”

Diana, finally coming to her senses as her vision cleared, couldn’t close her mouth at the sight before her.

Because it was clearly a Joseon-era nobleman’s house!

“…Why is there such a place inside the castle?”

She entered through the gate in a daze, as if enchanted.

Immediately, the men’s quarters came into view, and passing through the middle gate, she saw the women’s quarters.

‘It feels like I’ve come to a different world.’

The long-abandoned women’s quarters felt devoid of human warmth.

The weeds sprouting in the yard were diverse in kind and beautiful in color, but they were entirely untamed wildflowers.

Stepping onto the wooden floor and opening the paper doors, she saw pottery and mother-of-pearl dressers from the Eastern Continent, along with silk bedding, amidst the acrid smell of dust.

By the bedside, there was also a small cradle prepared for a child.

“Could this be where mother stayed…?”

Her mother was the child of settlers from the Eastern Continent.

The Eastern Continent was an unknown land difficult to approach due to sea monsters, a world that never appeared in the original work.

However, it was very familiar to Diana.

Because before her regression, her father had tried to marry Diana off to a wealthy man from the Eastern Continent.

At the time, she didn’t notice her father’s dark intentions and gladly accepted, thinking it was just an interest in a second foreign language.

As the Empire was enthusiastic about maritime exploration at the time, she didn’t feel anything strange about it.

‘I really… was so naive….’

Surprisingly, the language of the Eastern Continent that she had learned from her mid-teens was Hangul, and the food and clothing culture of the Eastern Continent was everything she had seen, heard, and used in her previous life.

The Eastern Continent was a modified Joseon society based on the author’s imagination.

Of course, it differed greatly from reality in that gumihos and dragons actually existed and welcomed immigrants from the Western Continent, but it was similar in that people wore hanbok, lived in hanok, and enjoyed current trends and arts.

Diana looked around the unexpectedly appeared hanok carefully and called out for the missing Sebastian.

“Sebastian? Where are you?”

“Here!”

He was rolling around in the overgrown backyard.

Like a cat rubbing itself on a sunny blanket, he couldn’t contain his joy.

“I can feel an extremely cozy mana! Come lie down here too!”

“You can feel mana here…?”

“Yes! It’s very abundant!”

Diana swallowed hard and looked down at the dunkel. What a windfall! If dunkel were planted in this land, fruit could be harvested within 5 years.

Diana looked around anxiously and asked.

“I wonder who uses this space?”

“This abandoned house? How could anyone, when it won’t even open unless it’s you?”

“Did it really open because of me?”

“Of course! Didn’t you see that man couldn’t get in earlier~!”

“How do you know that?”

“I have good ears!”

Sebastian imitated the man, pouting his lips viciously.

“Tch! High-level magic. Maybe it’s a place only chosen people can enter.”

“Me… a chosen person?”

Diana recalled the cradle prepared in the women’s quarters.

‘If this was a space my mother used…, that cradle must have been for me?’

Suddenly, she remembered the title of the thick book she had found in her father’s room.

‘For M’ Could that M be for Merius? But the princess’s name is also Mirabelle… It’s hard to know for sure.

Diana swallowed as she looked at the vast backyard.

‘It’s clearly abandoned land. I don’t know what purpose it was built for, but if it’s a separate building that no one has used since mother passed away…, maybe I could use it.’

The hidden annex exuding mana seemed like a gift from heaven to help Diana.

[This is the timeline separator]

Diana spent the entire afternoon sweating as she pulled weeds and cleared stones.

Her small, thin body was not suitable for labor, so she had to take breaks every 10 minutes.

Fortunately, Sebastian could also transform into objects.

After much struggle using Sebastian transformed into a shovel, she managed to clear a patch of clean land in one corner of the backyard.

“Since it’s a tree that can grow even in the desert…, as long as there’s mana, the environment shouldn’t matter much, right?”

Diana wiped her grimy face and smiled with satisfaction.

Looking at the distant sky, the sun was already setting.

“Let’s head back now.”

“Okay!”

Sebastian, who had been doing mana therapy with his face buried in the ground, scurried to Diana’s side.

When leaving, the gate opened by itself as Diana stood in front.

As the two moved away, the hole in the undergrowth began to close up again.

She was concerned about the man who had targeted the annex, but decided to wait and see for now.

He could be a dangerous element, but he might also just be a servant drifting around looking for a hideout in the castle.

With the red sunset at her back, Diana quickly made her way towards the castle.

She didn’t want to stay in the dark forest for even a moment longer.

After bathing, Diana flopped onto the bed and surrendered to drowsiness.

“I’m tired… Feel like I’m dying.”

Even though it was before dinner, her eyes were already closing drowsily.

This morning, her head had been complicated with thoughts of Raoul, but now she didn’t have the energy to use her brain.

Diana fell into a deep sleep, skipping her meal, unaware that Raoul had spent all day searching for her in vain.

The next morning, she woke up with tears in her eyes from muscle pain.

‘It hurts…’

It had been a long time since she had skipped a meal and fallen into such a deep sleep.

Perhaps because she had gone to bed early, her eyes opened before dawn.

Instead of calling for Angela, she stretched and got out of bed to do some light stretching.

As she leaned over to stretch her side, a white piece of paper caught her eye at a low angle.

As soon as she saw the white paper that had slipped under the door, she remembered Raoul, whom she had forgotten about.

Could he have waited…?

Diana carefully picked up the paper and read the neat handwriting.

Shall we go for a walk together tonight? It’ll be less cold since it’s summer.

P.S. Thank you for moving the cat’s room. I was worried.

“Oh, what should I do…”

Diana lay back down on the bed and placed her hand on her forehead.

Cuteness overload. Worry overload.