The three of them started walking slowly, matching Larisa’s pace. Everyone at the academy began to stare at them as they passed by.

‘This would be uncomfortable even if Mother were here.’

It was good that no one approached them, but the attention was too much. William tried to hide his discomfort. Only Guinevere asked in a calm tone.

“What is that friend James doing?”

“James? Ah, that fellow must be playing the role of a festival knight too.”

William was tired from waking up early because his dormitory roommate James had been making a fuss about dressing up since morning.

That James fellow must be having the time of his life right now.

‘How about it? Is this enough to get a girlfriend?’

What girlfriend for a mere 14-year-old? William thought it was still too early. But all the festival knights were excited about the idea of finding girlfriends.

‘These kids who are still wet behind the ears… Why am I thinking like an old man?’

William pondered about himself for a moment.

‘Am I the strange one?’

“William, are you thinking strange thoughts?”

“Uh, what?”

“You were making a strange face. Don’t do that and just think about me. We’re going to buy my candy, aren’t we?”

“Right.”

William chuckled. Perhaps because of the festival, Larisa, who was all excited, looked even cuter today. And…

‘She’s really enjoying herself.’

Guinevere felt jealous.

*

Guinevere was experiencing a festival for the first time in her life. Her expressionless face was strangely flushed.

William, who sensitively noticed the change in her expression, couldn’t bring himself to stop her and just followed along.

Guinevere, who had stopped in front of a festival booth, asked.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a game where you throw darts to pop balloons.”

When William answered, Guinevere lifted her chin and said.

“I’ll do it.”

“What? Mother, wait. You can’t use magic.”

Guinevere glared at William as if to say, ‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ William flinched and stepped back.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Guinevere hit 9 out of 10 shots.

“Congratulations. Here’s your prize…”

“I’ll do it again.”

“Pardon?”

William paid the student who was coming out with the prize. Of course, Guinevere didn’t carry around petty cash.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Guinevere was only satisfied after hitting 10 out of 10 shots and put down the darts. Thanks to her perfectionism, William and Larisa had their arms full of stuffed animals and still didn’t have enough arms.

“Mother, surely…”

“I’ll do that too.”

This time it was ring toss.

“…Can I pay later?”

“Usually not, but… I’ll make an exception for you.”

“Thank you.”

William, who had run out of cash, asked to pay later. Guinevere tried the game until all five rings were hooked on the pegs.

“Mother, how about stopping now? Larisa looks burdened too…”

“Are you tired?”

“What? No. I’m fine.”

Larisa quickly shook her head. However, her face was barely visible as she was carrying so many stuffed animals. Only then did Guinevere realize her own rampage and stopped.

“Put them all down on the ground.”

“What? But…”

Larisa hesitated, but William threw the stuffed animals on the ground without hesitation. He was already embarrassed about carrying them around.

However, William soon regretted it. When Guinevere did a finger snap, the stuffed animals all stood up at once and began marching.

“Ah, Mother…”

The embarrassment was always William’s share.

“Let’s go.”

Behind the majestically walking Guinevere, a procession of stuffed animals began to follow. Seeing the toddling stuffed animals, Larisa said with blushing cheeks.

“Kyaa! They’re so cute!”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, I love it!”

‘Well, at least you’re happy…’

William swallowed his tears. Born as an outsider, William was unbearably embarrassed by the attention of people flocking towards them. It would have been a hundred times better to carry a mountain of stuffed animals.

Regardless, Larisa found the stuffed animals toddling behind them unbearably cute.

“Ma’am! That one fell down!”

“It’s alright. It will get up on its own.”

The magic department students who had come to see Guinevere Rodante were all astonished.

‘To cast a golem animation spell on mere cotton dolls. And on so many dolls without even an incantation…’

They had followed hoping to witness Guinevere’s magic, but no one expected to see such an amazing spell.

Leaving behind the students’ shock and exclamations, Guinevere enjoyed the festival majestically.

Before they knew it, it was nearly sunset.

“Today was fun.”

William was surprised to hear such words from his mother’s mouth.

“Ah, that’s… I’m glad.”

“I’ll come again next time.”

“What?”

“Have you made many friends?”

“What?”

“Friends, I mean. How many do you have?”

William looked at her as if she was talking nonsense and said.

“Why are you suddenly asking about that?”

“You said you didn’t have friends, so I’ve been doing some socializing lately, but you still don’t have any?”

“No, I do. I do have some, but…”

Guinevere let out a sigh of relief and said.

“That’s a relief.”

“Mother, you never cared about such things before.”

“I’m sorry.”

William didn’t know how to adapt to Guinevere who kept apologizing at the drop of a hat.

“I thought you were deliberately not making friends.”

‘Well, that’s also true…’

“I thought you didn’t have friends because there was no one up to your level.”

‘Whoa…’

That was definitely not the case. William, who had been blank for a moment, quickly denied it.

“I just don’t like noisy situations. And now that I need to socialize too, I’m not like I used to be…”

“I see.”

William found it very unfamiliar and awkward to make his mother worry like this. He didn’t know why she had suddenly changed, but…

“You don’t need to force yourself to socialize for my sake. I’ll take care of making friends on my own.”

“Why?”

“You don’t like that kind of thing, right? Don’t force yourself because of me.”

“If I don’t pay attention, won’t people misunderstand again? That I’m neglecting you.”

In fact, it wasn’t really a misunderstanding. From Guinevere’s perspective, she had practically neglected him during the 50 years she had disappeared. The problem was that she only now realized that it was neglect.

Not knowing Guinevere’s feelings, William said irritably.

“Anyway, I said I’ll handle it myself.”

To dare show irritation to his mother was a change he couldn’t have imagined before. However, William didn’t realize it at all.

“Please go now. The festival is over.”

“I heard the festival continues tomorrow?”

Guinevere already had plans, but she pretended not to know and tested William.

“The role of festival knight is only for today. Tomorrow I’ll be studying for exams all day.”

Although the exams were still far off, he planned to hole up in the dormitory and not come out no matter what. He absolutely hated crowded places.

“I see. Study hard.”

Guinevere decided to withdraw cleanly, having achieved her goal of checking William’s sociability.

“William, see you on the weekend!”

“Take care, Lala.”

As Guinevere holding Larisa disappeared with teleportation, William let out a sigh.

“Mother, you left the stuffed animals behind…”

However, it wasn’t as heavy a sigh as before.

As soon as Guinevere arrived at the mansion, she asked Larisa.

“What do you think?”

“Pardon?”

“About William.”

“Ah, William. He was cool.”

Guinevere chuckled. That’s not what she meant to ask.

“Does it seem like he’s doing well in school?”

“What?”

“Did he look gloomy or anything?”

“Not at all?”

Guinevere was relieved. She wasn’t confident in her own judgment. She had already experienced failure three times.

She had wasted 50 years without noticing her son’s unhappiness. That’s why she didn’t trust herself and asked Larisa. She thought if anyone would notice William’s unhappiness first, it would be Larisa, his destined partner.

“Are you worried?”

“No.”

Guinevere, who had denied it without realizing, spoke again as she put Larisa down.

“Actually, yes. I am worried.”

From what she saw today, he seemed to be managing social life reasonably well, but she worried if she had raised him too introverted, or if it was already too late to shape his personality.

But William was neither as gloomy as she had thought, nor as childish. He was mature enough to follow his mother around cleaning up after her as she rampaged through the festival grounds.

“William is strong. You don’t need to worry.”

It could have been dismissed as the naive words of a child, but Guinevere couldn’t take Larisa’s words lightly.

Apart from being mature for her age, Larisa was the person who had been closest to William during the lost 50 years that only Guinevere remembered.

Even if the memories were gone, the instincts might remain.

“Yes, that’s right. He is a strong child…”

To change his unfortunate fate, he had risked his life three times and even managed to turn back time. He had already done something that ordinary people couldn’t do, three times.

William was a child with a strong will. So the weak and anxious one was not William, but Guinevere herself.

“Larisa. Can you promise me one thing?”

“Yes?”

“Promise me that you, at least, will never abandon William. Then I think I can be at ease.”

“…I promise.”

It wasn’t because she liked William. Larisa promised for the sake of the anxious-looking Guinevere.

“And I’ll never abandon you either, Mother.”

“What?”

Guinevere burst into laughter.

“You little one.”

“I’m serious.”

Larisa mustered all her courage and said in a small voice.

“I hope you won’t be lonely, at least while I’m here.”

Guinevere was frozen for a moment, unable to react.

“I mean, while William is not around.”

‘Was I lonely?’

“Mother?”

“No.”

She was about to cry, even though she hadn’t recalled the moment of William’s death.

“I got dust in my eye.”

“What?”

“Anyway, don’t forget your promise.”

Guinevere disappeared without waiting for an answer, as if running away.