I ended up possessing a body 14 years before the original story began—the one of the empire's most powerful archmage, no less.

Please, protect...

That one line is all I remember. Was it asking me to protect the ending, since the novel was discontinued? It was a romance novel, so the ending was probably a happy one for the main characters anyway. Since the original story hasn’t even started yet, I decided I’d just live quietly in my territory. ...Until I ran into someone at the imperial palace. The main villain of the novel—the 4th prince, who becomes a tyrant due to his tragic childhood. He looked like a starving beast, a scrawny body with bones showing. I felt bad, but if I changed his story, the storyline might go awry.

The child had never had warm soup before.

…Feeding him should be fine at least, right? But then...

Your Highness, doesn’t it feel nice to be clean?

...

For the child, abuse and neglect were part of his everyday life. The moment I saw the child trembling silently as a servant splashed cold water on him in the middle of the night, I made up my mind.

Your Highness, would you like to become my disciple?

I’ll make sure you get your happy ending too.

Your Highness, if you keep watching like that, you’ll get caught by your guardian.

That’s good news, Viscountess.

Twelve years later, the now-grown 4th prince was still the archmage’s disciple.

I actually want to get caught.

Because he realized his feelings for his teacher were no longer innocent.