Is he going to hit me? Just you wait! I’ll sue! I’m still someone who came here as part of the delegation! How could he lay a hand on m—!
Huh?
In the middle of cursing him out internally in every way she could think of, Camilla opened her eyes again. Duke Escra had taken hold of her chin and was lightly tipping it this way and that.
“...What are you doing?”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Hurt?
“You don’t look injured, at least.”
She felt a bit thrown. Wasn’t he mad at her? But her relief only lasted a moment before his face cooled again.
“Do you get threatened like this all the time over there?”
Over there? Ah, when I was in the Fable Empire?
“Isn’t it more likely over here than over there? This is Gracia.”
It made more sense that someone here had tried to kill her.
It was ridiculous to think someone all the way in the distant Fable Empire had sent people here just to kill her.
Who could it be? She hadn’t done anything in the Gracia Empire that would have earned her a grudge.
“Khan.”
Khan? What’s that supposed to be?
When Camilla gave him a puzzled look, Duke Escra clicked his tongue and lifted the arm of one of the corpses.
There, a tattoo of two black snakes coiled together was inked into the skin.
“They’re an assassination group that works in the Fable Empire. Quite infamous for being vicious.”
Camilla’s eyes widened. Wait, so that means they’ve been chasing me since the Fable Empire?
They were not here to kidnap her but to kill her outright. Someone who bore such intense hatred toward her...
Too many.
Even just the ones who came to mind right away numbered at least three.
Elisha, Petro’s younger sister, who still gnashed her teeth whenever she saw her. Marquess Gabuel, who she had thoroughly ruined, and his daughter Meriz.
And then there’s that weird organization too.
There was also a very strong possibility that the organization behind the fake Rania, who had used her to stage their plans, had come after her life.
“...Ha.”
As she nodded slowly, something like understanding settling in, Duke Escra gave a short laugh and swept a hand through his hair.
His expression grew even colder than before.
“This won’t do.”
Won’t do? What won’t?
“I can’t just send you back.”
She could not make any sense of the words Duke Escra spoke as he fixed his gaze on her.
What is he suddenly talking about?
“You’re just going to have to stay here.”
“Excuse me?”
“Live here.”
...What is he even saying?
Camilla could only stare, dumbfounded, her mouth hanging open.
Side Story. The One Who Lost His Memory
“Goodness!”
“This kid is incredibly smart.”
“He can already write?”
“A genius, a genius!”
When I was little, I believed it too. That I was a genius.
By the age of three, I could speak and read the continent’s common tongue, and I never forgot anything I saw even once. So when the adults fussed over me, I silently agreed with them.
But when I grew up, I learned the truth. That I was a frog in a well.
The Magic Tower, for one, and the sheer number of brilliant people around me.
“Ravi!”
It was when my fourth birthday was not far off. Mother came home carrying what looked like a corpse.
He was bleeding so much I honestly thought he was dead.
“Bring the healing tools!”
Mother was skilled in the healing arts.
From what I’d heard, my late grandfather had been quite a capable healer, and because she had grown up watching him from a young age, Mother’s knowledge of healing was unusually extensive as well.
“Mom, who is this man?”
Luckily, the man did not die.
“He was collapsed in an alley.”
But he did not wake up for a long time. And it was not as if we had the money to call another healer in.
Rustle.
Thankfully, about a week later, the man finally came to.
But...
“Who am I?”
He could not remember anything. Not even anything about himself.
Even so, Mother did not immediately kick him out. Because he turned out to be more helpful than expected.
“Let go of me!”
“Tia, stop playing hard to get. It’s hard raising a kid alone.”
Mother was very beautiful. That was not just a child’s bias; objectively speaking, her looks were exceptional.
Because of that, there were always men hovering around wherever she went. A woman raising a child alone must have looked like easy prey.
“That’s why you should just come to m— Ah! Aaaagh! My «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» arm! Aaaagh!”
The man was strong. Extremely.
He subdued the men bothering Mother in an instant, and with one murderous glare, he made sure they never showed their faces in front of us again.
“Th-thank you.”
And he was very handsome.
Even as a child, I could plainly tell that Mother was growing more and more fond of him.
The man did not seem to dislike Mother either. After a bit more time passed like that, he became part of our family.
“This is all I have to give you.”
“Bill...”
The name Mother gave him, Bill.
He gave her the only jewel he owned. As a wedding gift.
Mother was overjoyed with the red ruby ring she received. But that happiness did not last long.
“Why... why isn’t he coming back?”
About a year later, the man vanished. He had gone to a neighboring city to look for work and did not return, even after several days.
Mother kept waiting for him, but no word ever came.
She even went personally to the neighboring city and asked around, but no one had seen him.
The man who had appeared so suddenly disappeared from our lives just as abruptly.
After that, Mother and I waited about three more months for him in that house, then ended up moving to another village. We simply could not find work there anymore.
And then...
“He’s your younger brother, Ravi.”
“Waaah!”
“...Haah.”
When she looked at the baby, it was as if the man who had left came to mind; Mother always furrowed her brow.
Even I could see it. That Mother did not particularly like the child. I could clearly feel that she was raising him because she had no choice.
I was not much different. I did not really feel like he was my younger brother when I looked at him, and I did not feel any attachment to him either.
A few years later, Mother formed a new family, and I completely erased that man from my memory.
No, I tried to.
“Brother, what kind of person is our father?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean our birth father.”
“...Birth father?”
At least, I had—until Camilla asked me about him.
I barely held my expression in check as it tried to harden.
What was I supposed to say? The plain truth? That the man who had lived with Mother for about a year before suddenly leaving was her birth father?
“...I don’t remember either.”
“You don’t?”
“Yeah.”
In that moment, the ring on Camilla’s finger caught my eye. I could at least tell her one thing.
“That ring, your birth father gave it to Mother.”
I did not say anything more. Because if I told her about that man, I would have to tell her one more truth.
That you and I don’t share a father.
For some reason, I did not want to say that.
I don’t want to be an orphan again...
Maybe I feel the same way she does.
I might be hiding the truth out of fear that this child, who sees me as her only family, will leave me.
“Brother? What are you thinking about?”
“...Nothing.”
I just hope that child—my one and only family—never learns that truth for the rest of her life.
