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Chapter 01
A Midsummer Night’s Commotion
‘Why is this so big and hard?’
Fumble, fumble. Adeline moved both hands.
The texture was different from usual. Had it always felt like this? This time she pressed down firmly. Why was it damp?
“Mm…”
A faint, strange moan slipped from Adeline’s lips. She tried to ignore the pounding headache, but her mind filled with question marks.
Adeline stopped the hand that had been wandering around.
“Haa…”
This time she exhaled deeply. The headache was unbearable.
“Well, I was overwhelmed from rushing to move to the capital to prepare for the business.”
Whether then or now, evading her family’s watchful eyes back in her hometown was exhausting.
She pushed thoughts of her family—the source of her headaches—aside.
Once she did, the sensation beneath her fingertips became unfamiliar again. She recalled the sofa she had recently purchased. Other than its color, she didn’t remember much about it.
‘I should buy a softer sofa next time. The dampness is probably just my sweat.’
Adeline wiped her forehead.
Still seated on the sofa, she remembered the volcano-like heat beneath the blankets that had tormented her moments ago. The weather across the Odsensian Empire had been oppressively hot for days.
When she’d tried pushing away the heat in bed, she had felt some inexplicable firmness. But at the time, she hadn’t had the chance to figure out what her hands were touching. Only after kicking away whatever surrounded her had she escaped the heat.
Thinking back to that warmth wrapping around her in bed, she fanned herself with her hand.
“At least it’s cooler than before.”
When had she last spent a day eating, drinking, and enjoying herself as freely as yesterday? She couldn’t remember. She’d worked herself to death for so long.
‘I probably didn’t do anything embarrassing. I made it home safely too.’
Adeline opened her eyes on a soft bed. Her vision was blurry from just waking up, but naturally, she assumed she’d returned home.
“There’s no way I’d leave this nice house and sleep somewhere else. Right, obviously.”
Adeline Primrose.
At last, she had survived and succeeded in running away—no, becoming independent.
Her own sweet home in the capital, purchased during her fifth life after regression. This house was a symbol of triumph and pride, proof she’d escaped her dreadful family while hiding a secret no one knew.
Then a tingling pain spread throughout her body.
‘I didn’t roll around on the floor just because I drank some wine, did I? Why does everything hurt?’
Her waist throbbed sharply. Her shoulders were stiff. Even the insides of her thighs ached.
Leaning against the sofa, Adeline tilted her head back.
Then she spotted a pitifully torn red dress.
‘My goodness… How did it end up in rags?’
It had been prepared personally by Ian, her lawyer and attendant.
The dress, resembling a boldly blooming red poppy, had been more extravagant than any dress she’d seen yesterday.
“Boss Adeline, you need to wear something like this if you want to stand out.”
“Ian, do we really have to go this far?”
“But this reunion banquet is being held at the Grand Blacktree Hotel!”
“So?”
“You need to look properly elegant and catch clients—I mean, attract them.”
“Ugh…”
“There’ll be lots of distinguished young nobles there.”
“Distinguished nobles, my foot.”
“You’re not planning to run your business at a loss, are you? Lady Lime’s son nearly died…”
“Enough! Enough! I get it, so hand over that ridiculous dress already.”
“Ridiculous? It suits you perfectly.”
“I seriously hate it…”
Remembering Ian’s usual line—‘You look beautiful in anything’—made a small laugh escape her.
“I must’ve gotten annoyed while taking it off and ripped it.”
She’d disliked the dress from the moment she saw it.
Maybe because of that, despite normally being observant, she failed to notice something strange.
Around then, Adeline sensed something else was wrong.
Her neck felt too bare.
‘I didn’t lose my necklace outside, did I?’
Confident she wasn’t careless enough for that, she shrugged.
She’d find it while cleaning.
She gulped down cold water repeatedly, hoping her hazy mind would clear faster.
“……!”
Clink.
When she opened her eyes again, the glass slipped from her hand.
The glass rolled quietly over a velvet rug.
Her pink eyes followed it downward.
A white velvet rug?
She’d never bought something like that. White rugs looked pretty but stained too easily.
“……Where am I?”
Adeline’s eyes widened.
Turning her head, she saw an unfamiliar mirror and approached it.
The reflection staring back wasn’t what she expected.
She wasn’t wearing her usual sleepwear.
Worse—her current clothes looked tattered.
Why?
A dreadful premonition crawled down her spine.
Like a creaking broken door, she stiffly turned toward the bed she’d escaped from earlier.
Someone unfamiliar lay there.
“……!”
This alumni banquet was the first in all five of her regressions.
Even before reincarnation, she’d never attended reunions.
The prestigious Central Academy reunion was far more extravagant than she imagined.
‘No way…’
The summer atmosphere had been intoxicating.
As if devils tempted while angels tried to stop them.
Adeline wasn’t usually one for parties.
She attended only because her newly opened atelier needed more customers.
She remembered greeting people she hadn’t seen in years.
“……Ah!”
Suddenly memories surged over her like a massive wave.
Her breath caught.
Entangled memories burned with overwhelming heat, like being painted over with red roses.
Blue eyes staring up at her while buried between her thighs.
Teeth biting down hard on her shoulder.
A sweet voice whispering near her ear.
Even herself, twisting helplessly at unfamiliar sensations.
What on earth were these impossible memories?
‘Are these really my memories?’
Even her ears turned bright red.
She grabbed another glass from the table and pressed it to her burning skin.
Only the stranger’s feet were visible from the bed.
He was still asleep.
‘Run.’
Her eyes darted around quickly.
A perfectly intact pale yellow dress hung on the wall.
She sighed in relief.
Changing clothes faster than ever before, she placed 50,000 Semis on the table.
‘This is all the cash I have. Still… if I leave money, it’s not stealing.’
Without looking back, she fled.
Panting heavily, she finally exited the building and looked up.
The sign clearly read:
Grand Blacktree Hotel
Adeline turned away and walked calmly.
‘It was only one night.’
The reunion banquet at Grand Blacktree Hotel had ended at midnight yesterday.
The necklace she wore yesterday was gone too.
Still, Adeline pretended it wasn’t a big deal.
‘I’ll just act like it never happened.’
She had only just succeeded in becoming independent in this life.
She really wanted to stop dying.
But Adeline didn’t know.
After this day, the happiness she dreamed of would shatter into pieces.
That summer guests could be scarier than ghosts…
***
Ding.
With a cheerful bell, the glass door of Blueciel Atelier opened.
The place functioned as both workshop and coffee house—the shop Adeline owned.
“Boss, wouldn’t it be better to rest on a day like today?”
Ian appeared first.
His voice, carried by the cool breeze, sounded fresher than usual.
“I’m the owner here. Even if the sky splits apart, I still have to come to work.”
“Hm.”
“Ian, why are you making that face?”
Unlike usual, Ian frowned and reached out a hand.
Adeline flinched instinctively, like a guilty thief.
“Why? What?”
“Boss… did you happen to make some kind of mistake last night?”
“……What mistake?”
At the word mistake, the man sleeping in bed flashed through her mind.
‘We were both drunk… There’s no way he remembers me, right?’
Maybe because of how intensely things had gone until dawn—
The man had remained asleep even while she pushed him away with all her strength.
Adeline hoped he was the type with terrible memory.
“Any kind of mistake.”
“Do I seem like someone who makes mistakes wherever I go?”
“Yes. Judging by your expression, I’d say so.”
“What’s wrong with my expression?”
“Should I bring you a mirror?”
“My expression is perfectly normal.”
“Then why are you wearing a scarf around your neck? In the middle of summer?”
She couldn’t say it.
That traces left by a strange man remained all over her body.
No matter how close they were, a boss couldn’t let employees notice signs she’d spent a passionate night with someone.
She needed scarves. Bandages too.
“…I think I’m coming down with a cold.”
“Just a cold?”
“O-of course. Yesterday’s dress was too thin.”
“I don’t think that’s it. Right now, boss, you look like someone carrying guilt.”
Ian’s eyebrows twitched as his eyes sharpened.
As if telling her to confess immediately.
“Boss… surely you didn’t…”
