Chapter 1 - Prologue
***
The number of maids had increased to five in Seria’s bedroom. The chief butler hurriedly assigned more maids to serve Seria after all the incidents that happened. He looked like he had been tormented by Abigail.
Seria was looking outside the open window.
How much time had passed?
“Your Highness.”
“Your Highness.”
Seria looked back at the frozen voices of the maid. She naturally smiled.
“Lesche, are you finished washing?”
“Seria.”
His silver hair was wet. Seria’s bedroom did not have a separate bathroom. So Lesche went to another available bedroom on the third floor of the castle. It had a bathroom there. As a general rule, only immediate family members were allowed to stay on the third floor of the main castle, but in this world, that would be useless in front of a too high status.
Then, hoping that Lesche would sleep in the third floor bedroom, the butler cleaned up the room, but Lesche said he didn’t like it. And as Seria told him earlier, Lesche came to her bedroom.
After rechecking the candles and bedding, the maids went out quietly, and Seria approached Lesche. She could feel the hot water coming from him. Feeling strange, Seria took a few steps back again. Lesche looked at her suspiciously. But she pretended not to know and changed the subject.
“I heard that you drove Cassius’ head into the lake.”
“Rumors travel fast.”
“You should have seen the western aristocrat who drank all the champagne while enjoying the banquet, and then went away with a frozen face.”
“Didn’t you say it was a remembrance banquet?”
“That’s right.”
“It wasn’t that kind of mood. The atmosphere here is frivolous.”
The sarcastic Lesche looked at Seria.
“Is that why the Marquis of Hanetone came?”
Seria nodded slowly.
“Yes. The Marchioness doesn’t get along with me very well.”
She didn’t want to talk about it in detail, so Seria roughly glossed over it.
“Well, that’s okay. Bibi threw a handkerchief at the Marchioness.”
“You have to take Abigail Orrien wherever you go. Take Elliot with you too.”
“It’s a bit inconvenient to take knights everywhere.”
“Or you could just take me.” ( Lesche 😄)
“You do know that you’re a Grand Duke, right?”
“You do know that you are a Grand Duchess, right?”
Lesche laughed. Laughter can be made consistently like this, but the problem was that the mind was not unified into one emotion. Seria was still not familiar with this kind of emotion from Lesche. But she didn’t feel repulsed. That was the problem.
“Seria?”
Seria cleared her throat. Fortunately, there was a succession of topics that she could bring up.
“Well, Lesche. I got my father’s response to our marriage pledge.”
“That’s nice to hear.”
Lesche held out his hand to Seria. He walked her to the bed and laid her down. The bedding was perfectly arranged by the servants. Another pillow was added. Seria lay down with Lesche. The light swayed gently, creating enchanting shadows.
Seria blinked a few times and parted her lips.
“You avenged him for me, didn’t you? Cassius.”
“Avenge?”
Lesche said with an unpleasant voice. Seria turned her head to the side and looked at him.
“No?”
“At least, I wish I could tell you that you gave me permission and avenged him. You tend to look at me poorly.”
“When have I ever looked at you poorly?
‘Did he see it that way?’
Although sometimes Lesche would mumble inwardly that he would make her sign a slave contract under the guise of a wife contract. Seria slurred her words and let out a chuckle.
“Lesche.”
Seria turned her body completely to face Lesche. He had been looking at her in that position for some time now. Seria looked him straight in the eye as she held his cheek with her hand.
“Thank you.”
She felt like she was really going to die in front of Cassius at that time. The feeling of the whitish mist tightening around her neck was horrible, and the thought of Lesche’s voice still calling her made her tear up.
“I mean it.”
Lesche smiled softly at her added words. Seria’s heart pounded wildly for a moment.
Lesche’s smile wasn’t so unfamiliar anymore. He was a man who laughed more often than she expected. Of course, he was basically cold and expressionless.
What was it? Was it because Lesche laughed so close to her? Seria felt as if there was fish swimming in her heart.
It was a strange feeling. She averted her gaze from Lesche and lay down firmly. Pulling the blanket up to her neck, Seria whispered.
“We’ll leave early tomorrow, so go to bed early. Good night, Lesche.”
“You too.”
A low voice rang in her ear. She glanced back at Lesche a few more times. Each time, he still looked at her with the same red eyes. In the past, that gaze was scary, but now it was different.
Her heart fluttered and she closed her eyes.
***
The next morning, all of the Berg knights packed up early. Alliot was particularly famous, but the other knights were also Berg knights. In addition, the carriage was of the finest original quality, so even if they packed quietly, it was inevitably noticeable.
‘To be honest, the knights are noisy.’
It was loud enough to draw the gaze of the western nobles who were staying in this castle for the funeral of Lady Magrus. Plus there was the Berg pattern on the carriage.
The fact that they were leaving early spread throughout the castle.
As expected, the old butler tried to dissuade Seria several times. She burst out laughing, knowing that the Marchioness made him do it. And Seria succeeded in making the butler’s face turned pale
by telling him that she was leaving because she didn’t like the castle’s hospitality.
Knock. Knock.
“Father.”
Seria walked into the office. The Marquis of Kellyden, whose cheeks had turned blue in the course of the day, recommended a seat.
“Have a seat.”
As soon as she sat down, the servant poured her a cup of tea. She looked at the warm, steamy tea.
“Tell me honestly, Seria. What did Cassius do to you? I don’t want to be in a situation where I don’t know anything anymore and face unexpected events.”
“When I was very young, Cassius tried to kill me.”
The Marquis dropped the cup he was holding. The crackling sound of the cup rang the office.
The sound of clinking and cracking pottery made me weep in my office. She cast her eyes at that disaster hidden on the table for a while.
She didn’t have to mention Cassius, she could have just muddled along and then quietly returned to Berg. But wouldn’t it be very sad for the real Seria if she was so silent?
“Do you remember the night I went missing with Nissos? Cassius pushed my head into the lake so that I couldn’t get out. He hoped I would die just like that.”
“….”
Marquis Kellyden was speechless. His chin twitched slightly.
“That’s outrageous….”
“If you don’t believe me, ask the butler. He knows.”
“…What?”
The Marquis had an incredulous look on his face. The old butler served the Kellyden family for a very long time. Such a person had taken the liberty of hiding an important case from the head of the house, so it was only natural for the Marquis to react like that, almost fainting.
The Marquis, who had been silent for a while as if his mind was confused, gradually began to get angry.
“Seria. Why didn’t you say anything to father? If you had at least talked to me a few days ago, on the day you came back to Kellyden after a long absence, I wouldn’t have let you and Cassius dance. Why didn’t you talk to me?”
“May I be honest?”
“Yes. Please.”
“I lost more than half of my memory after I was badly injured during the wedding.”
“What?”
The Marquis jumped up quickly. Then he staggered.
“Father?”
The Marquis became more flustered as Seria stared at him in bewilderment.
“….. Where’s your doctor? I know there are many good doctors in Berg.”
“I didn’t call them. I didn’t tell His Highness either.”
“Why?
“Because the only memory I lost is about Kellyden.”
“…”
‘Seria’s memory actually wasn’t perfect….Everything else came from the original story, so I could trace it, but the problem was that the childhood of the villain who dies miserably wasn’t even narrated in the original story.
So the statement that the only memory I had lost was about Kellyden was consistent with the truth.’
Whether a series of bomb remarks were shocking. The Marquis, who had a strong impression and physique, was silent for a long time. Soon after, he rubbed his face and asked in a gloomy voice.
“Is that why you’ve changed that much?”
“Did I change a lot?”
“Yes. And…. Seria.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you telling me something so important? Amnesia is a weakness for a high-ranking noble. Isn’t it a big secret?”
Seria didn’t answer.
“I’d like to ask you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“When did I come to live in this castle?”
“…”
The Marquis’s forehead wrinkled. He seemed to be searching his thoughts for a while, and then he said in a strained voice.
“… I don’t remember exactly. You were traveling between the villa and the castle until you were three or four.”
“I see.”
Seria looked at the large family portrait that hung in the office. It was the same portrait she had seen the first day she came to the Kellyden’s residence so many years ago.
“All the family members are in it. From what you said, I feel like I was in the castle at that time.”
“Seria….”
‘The Marquis is the one who is nice to me at the castle. But that is my position. Wouldn’t the real Seria, not me, be most resentful of her father? Doesn’t she know that no one in her family truly loves her?’
“Father.”
What did Seria think when she saw all the family members laughing together in the portrait?
She pushed the Kellyden away that day when she almost died of strong pride.
“Father is just like the rest of your family. To me.”
“…!”
“I hope I will never see you again.”
“Seria!”
Seria walked straight out of the office. And as soon as she went outside and saw Lesche, she smiled.
“Why are you here, Lesche?”
Lesche, who was ready to leave this place, held out his hand to her. A bit of warmth seemed to be reflected in his red eyes.