Summer had come to Plume Village.

When Lacey had first arrived in the village with only a modest amount of luggage and a staff, winter had been on the horizon. She had been a mixture of hopeful and nervous and had been too busy to savor the seasons. Before she knew it, Lacey had spent half a year in Plume Village.

It seemed both long and short at the same time. At least she could relax enough now to sit in her handmade chair and doze off while looking at her herb garden.

She hastily masked her embarrassment at having been caught sleeping. “Anyway, is that the time already? I didn’t realize it’d be so soon,” she noted with some confusion as she looked around and checked the position of the sun.

“Yeah. It’ll be hot out, so I figured I’d give myself a little more time than usual to reach the capital. I don’t want to put too much stress on my horse.”

Wayne held the status of former hero and spent all his time off going back and forth between the capital and Plume Village. His reason for returning so often was that he’d get worried about whether Lacey was still alive.

Lacey, nicknamed the “Dawn Witch,” had met Wayne when she traveled with him as a member of his party. He’d started looking after her before she’d had a chance to protest.

“Oh,” she replied. As she observed Wayne’s profile and his blond hair swaying in the breeze, she felt like she was on the verge of remembering something. She had listlessly closed her eyes under the shade of a tree, and in the dream she’d had—

That was as far as she thought before she tightly pulled down the brim of the same old hat she was currently wearing to block out the sun and hide her face.

“Hm? What’s up?” Seeing her strange b