IDIBC Chapter 35

She’s My Fiancée

Surrounded by the heirs of the three great ducal families of the Dermeier Empire, I felt genuine dizziness and collapsed onto the sofa. Then I looked back and forth at the faces of the four men watching me.

In Resotia, some believed them to be incarnations of dragons from legends.

Walter Shaw Chaplin, who could move freely through space but lost a day’s worth of memories as the price.

Julian Bow Paquin, who could erase others’ memories but had to pay money as the price.

And lastly, Ricardo Gardarelli Rochester, who could discern others’ truths but had to reveal his own truth in return.

Plus an unidentified man in a wheelchair.

I felt like I had plunged into a novel with tremendous content that I thought had nothing to do with me.

Seeing me collapse, Ricardo began striding toward me. Walter’s back stiffened visibly at the sight of him. Before the two could face each other up close, I sprang up from the sofa and ran as if flying. Easily ignoring Walter’s widened eyes of surprise.

As Ricardo reached out his hand toward me, I grabbed it firmly and led him to a corner of the room. Though Ricardo looked puzzled, he obediently followed me.

Glancing back, people were watching him and me with interest. I was confident they couldn’t hear what we were saying from this distance, but I stood on my tiptoes, put my mouth to his ear, and whispered very quietly.

“My memory… are you going to erase it?”

At that, Ricardo’s eyes widened in disbelief and turned toward me. I pulled his arm and whispered again.

“Don’t erase my memory. Then there’ll be no way for you to know how I knew, right?”

Our eyes met, and he… smiled. It was closer to a scoffing laugh than one born of my threat.

Huh? But I must really be crazy.

Even in this situation, when our eyes met, my heart raced uncontrollably. His face was too close.

Even at this moment, when men who might be incarnations of dragon gods were sharply confronting each other over whether I was their guest or not, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his long-shadowed eyelashes.

Hopeless girl, a self-disgusted curse welled up inside me.

Then Ricardo reached out and wrapped his arm around my waist. At the sharply felt sensation, my chest naturally filled with breath.

“Keep going.”

I leaned my body back in the opposite direction from my pulled-in waist.

“Wh-what?”

“Threatening me with your mouth to my ear.”

“When did I ever threaten you…”

Just then, from behind us came the sound of someone clearing their throat—ahem, ahem. Only then did I recall that I was in a very strange and awkward situation.

Reflexively, I twisted my body slightly to escape from his arms. But instead, he wrapped his arm more fully around my waist and spun me around.

As if dancing, my body was completely embraced by him and then smoothly released. For a moment, I felt dizzy from an unknown scent coming from him. I barely escaped from his embrace, but the arm around my waist remained as it was.

The body heat transmitted hotly from his large hand, and the low vibration that resonated whenever he laughed.

“Let me introduce her—Lady Lienne Rowe Fennel, who will soon be engaged to me.”

For a moment, silence fell in the room, so quiet you could hear even a tiny ant passing by. The only one with composure to spare in this absurd situation was Ricardo.

“She’s my fiancée.”

He spoke somewhat politely to the blonde-haired man sitting in the wheelchair.

“I’m grateful that you invited us to sit together, but my fiancée is quite shocked right now.”

I was curious about who this person was that Ricardo treated so politely, so I couldn’t help but ask.

“Who… is that person?”

“Ah, His Highness the Crown Prince, full of curiosity and about to die soon.”

Could one really survive in this country after hearing such words? I was so shocked that I couldn’t even gauge what kind of reaction I should show. This time, Ricardo pulled me closer and whispered in my ear.

“Breathe.”

“Ha.”

With his permission, I exhaled short breaths and looked up at him. Huff, huff. As I breathed shortly and stared at him with trembling eyes, he averted his gaze from me and briefly looked at my lips. Then he soon said to the red-haired man:

“Erase it.”

Ah, so all of this will eventually disappear into the depths of my memory. He clearly said I was his fiancée, but isn’t there any way to keep at least this much in my memory?

Though melancholy thoughts arose, there was nothing I could do except glare at Ricardo resentfully.

But then, the red-haired man approached not me but the Crown Prince and Duke Chaplin. Watching him, Ricardo removed his hand from my waist without hesitation and strode forward.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“I said let’s go.”

“Ah, yes!”

I hurriedly followed after him. Inside the door that hadn’t fully closed, the situation seemed not yet resolved. There were sounds of something clashing—thud, thud—and soon a fierce man’s voice was heard.

“Julian, just erase my memory. I’ll use all the power of my house to bring down your family.”

“Sure, if you can remember what happened. Don’t you lose your memory quite frequently anyway?”

“You damned bastard, how much did Duke Rochester offer you! I’ll give you double that.”

“You know well it’s not about the money.”

“Ha! If you erase my memory, who will handle the Count Enehaz matter?”

“Don’t worry about that. Duke Rochester has already taken care of everything.”

Whether the power had already been exercised, Walter’s voice was heard no more. Soon another voice was heard.

“How dare you erase a member of the imperial family’s memory—do you think you’ll be safe after this!”

“If someone knew about it, I wouldn’t be safe. Besides, I’ve already erased one person’s memory…”

“Erasing even the memory of someone about to die—you and Ricardo truly have no mercy.”

“Yes, yes, please leave me out of it. That merciless man told me to erase even the Chaplin family butler’s memory, so I’m very busy right now.”

As I fell behind listening to the conversation, Ricardo strode toward me again. Then he whispered in my ear.

“Hurry, if anyone sees you and me, there won’t be a single person in this mansion left with today’s memories.”

When I pushed him away slightly at the ticklish feeling, Ricardo grinned. He seemed to have taken quite a liking to whispering.

“Come on.”

But I had no choice but to hurry when he called. Forever, whenever Ricardo called, I would stop, and when he reached out his hand, I would run to him.

“But what about Young Duke Paquin…?”

Is it okay to just leave him like that? When he saw everything?

“Why? Want me to kill him?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

I waved my hands in great embarrassment, denying it.

The man who told me to hurry because no one should see us laughed loudly enough to echo through the corridor without any hesitation. My hopeless heart thumped wildly in time with his laughter.

“But if he finds out later…”

Won’t there be problems? The rest of my words kept getting swallowed as I chased after his long legs.

“Don’t worry, they’re friends. They grew up together after all.”

“Ah…”

“And the gods aren’t that complacent, Lienne. Paquin can’t carelessly blabber about the power he’s exercised. The gods probably knew in advance how flippant Paquin is.”

For a moment, the core of his black pupils was tinged with yellow. It was instantaneous, but a definite light. Somehow, because he was pleased, my mood seemed to improve too.

I stared at Ricardo’s broad but lonely-looking back, then ran up and grabbed his hand. He flinched for a moment but didn’t let go of the hand I was holding.

Just like the nameless child in the East Wing from childhood.

****

Clop-clop, clop-clop. The sound of galloping horses and rolling carriage wheels created a regular rhythm in the quiet, dark streets.

What he brought was the Duchess’s carriage. After boarding the carriage, Ricardo said nothing, and I too was silent for a while, organizing the whirlwind of events in my mind.

As we moved away from the Chaplin estate, the carriage ran through the deep darkness, relying on lanterns. How long had we been riding? Tap-tap-tap—dense raindrops began drumming on the carriage.

Feeling like my head would burst, I shook it side to side. Then I met Ricardo’s eyes as he slowly looked me up and down.

“You must have many questions…”

Ricardo was the first to break the silence.

I ignored his disapproving gaze and turned my eyes to the carriage window. Staring at a place where nothing was visible made me feel awkward. Questions I wanted to ask but couldn’t organize just swirled around in my head.

Why did you come to get me in such a hurry?

Because Fennel would be in danger if my existence was exposed? Or because I’m a guest of your family? Or perhaps, as you said, because I’m supposed to be engaged to you?

I couldn’t properly utter even one sentence of what I really wanted to know.

“You just erased Young Duke Chaplin’s and His Highness the Crown Prince’s memories, right?”

“Yes.”

“And not mine?”

“I never intended to erase your memory from the start.”

“Why?”