***
Adelaide looked like a stone, but as far as ‘loyalty’ was concerned, he thought of Aldebaran, who was the best among knights.
Aldebaran, who possessed both his skills and character, was also the first knight to swear to him.
“Did Leto send you?”
Leto, a childhood friend, took away such a knight. Although he was still a knight who vowed loyalty, Aldebaran risked his life for others other than himself.
A person who embraces a precious person becomes infinitely strong, but they also have weaknesses.
Edlade didn’t want his knight to have such a weakness.
But Aldebaran chose Leto.
‘It’s a waste to think about it again.’
Above all else, it was Leto.
His first knight risked his life for Leto.
It was a painful loss for Edlade.
“Leto said… My lady suffered a hardship, so Your Excellency has to hurry up and come.”
“Trouble?”
“Marchioness Rayburn and her young girl outspokenly humiliated My Lady.”
She was a really annoying woman.
Edlade wanted to leave like that, but he remembered Halbert holding his hands and begging him in the morning.
Halbert had begged him to dance, and asked him not to leave Lily’s side even for a moment even if he didn’t want to dance.
‘Why did he say that…’
It was all right to hear it with one ear and spill it.
He got married under the order of the emperor, and this was irreversible.
Even if he doesn’t remember her, it was she who kept her duchess post after all.
Aristocratic marriages without love were common. It was enough for her to just live her life as she is, and she should live like that too.
She didn’t lack the finances, so shouldn’t she just live while enjoying what she wants to do?
‘Damn it.’
Edlade kept thinking of the woman’s smile as she took a bunch of tulips from his hand.
In the end, his legs headed towards the ball.
Without asking, Aldebaran told Edlade every single word of what had happened in the ballroom.
‘Your wife was treated like a slave of the Rayburn family! There is no one who doesn’t know this. Whether aristocrats or commoners! even a passing ant will know what your wife’s position and position will be like in society.’
Halbert’s words kept bothering Edlade.
How dare he treat Edlade like an ant passing by.
He thought Halbert’s habits were getting worse, but he said at the end of each time, ‘You’ll regret it.’
Those words made his chest ache. He wasn’t even hurt, but he didn’t know why he was in so much pain.
Annoyed with the pain, he called Joanna to take care of him, but she also didn’t know how to heal the woundless place.
‘What the hell am I… for a woman who I can’t even remember?’
He felt swayed.
Edlade Philemon, the world’s best Duke, the head of the Philemon family.
It could be misunderstood that she was abandoned.
Why is she smiling brightly as if she is so happy?
She looked stupid.
‘Aren’t you supposed to do what you feel? Why are you smiling like that? Why are you looking at me with those eyes? I can’t remember you. Why are you…?’
He was also annoyed to see her with wavy black hair and accessories that went well with her.
Who thought it was, it was a pretty good accessory for the winding black hair.
He wondered if he had done something like this and gave it as a gift.
Come to think of it, Edlade remembered that Engel went to see him in the morning and asked him what to do with the gift.
‘Did I prepare it? Ha, that’s crazy.’
It was within reach if he stretched out his hand.
The woman looked at him from the distance she could even feel his breath. She looked up halfway with two silver, transparent eyes.
Just as what he sees in his eyes is his mission.
He seemed to have to answer the gaze, so he reached out.
It was good to say that he was out of his mind.
As he got closer, he felt like his mind was randomly mixed with her scent as if to seduce him.
Throbbing –
Again. his heartaches.
He only caressed the jewels.
‘I… do I want to touch this woman?’
He couldn’t figure it out
However, seeing her blushing cheeks and moistening her lips by sticking out her soft pink tongue, I wanted to covet her whole body right away.
His fingers twitched and her whole body was red, but he did not avoid his eyes.
She didn’t hide her feelings of longing for him in that gaze.
‘why?’
He kept asking why, over and over.
‘If you keep doing that, you will regret it when your memories come back.’
Halbert’s words may be true.
Perhaps he has lost and is losing memories that he should not lose.
He didn’t want to admit it, but to him, this woman might be a little different from others.
After thinking like that, the woman in front of him really started to look special.
The act of saying that it was okay because she was used to embarrassed and insulting remarks was annoying.
If she was really special to him, but he was forgetting her, he thought that the only moment he could give her was now.
‘Tomorrow, I will forget again.’
He said, handing over a flower that she had taken from him like a whim.
“I want to share the last spring flower with my wife.”
Lily’s eyes twinkled.
She seemed surprised, but reached out her trembling hand and took the flower.
Her cheeks were flushed, and the corners of her mouth were curled, clasping her hands as if the flowers were a glass that was about to break.
With her shy smile, it was as if he had heard compliments from somewhere in his heart, saying that he was good.
It’s just a very small interest.
It was a song he had been listening to, but it was the first time he was dancing.
He was nervous with her shy slender hands on his shoulders and his hand on her slender back that seemed to be only a handful.
She was so skinny that she could break with a single stroke, and he wondered if she was eating properly.
As they danced, he grabbed her waist and lifted her.
‘I can lift her with one hand.’
Even so, she was small.
She said she was abused, so her health probably isn’t that good.
He even thought of taking off her dress and looking at her every nook and cranny right away. Are there any scars, or are there any painful areas that are hidden?
He gritted his teeth.
He didn’t know why he was angry.
Even if he dances like this today and cares about the wounds she must have suffered, he will forget her tomorrow after midnight.
He had no idea that the amnesia he had thought as insignificant would annoy him in this way.
After finishing the last dance, he briefly greeted the nobles and then returned.
It was somewhat awkward in the carriage when her lips were twitching and holding back her laughter.
If she wants to laugh, she should laugh, but why is she holding back?
‘Because I’m uncomfortable? Or is there something she is hiding from me?’
It seemed that she was not very good at hiding.
She was trying not to laugh as much as possible, but as she relaxed, her eyes would occasionally arc, and the corners of her mouth raised.
Then she was surprised by herself, straightened her expression, and glanced at him.
It was funny that he had seen it all and pretended not to see her.
‘I’m going to hide that too.’
He doesn’t even know why they’re acting in the rhythm.
There were so many things he didn’t know.
“Edlade.”
Calling his name arrogantly and recklessly.
When he went to the ballroom, he was annoyed that someone he didn’t know called his name, but now he thought it was good to hear her call it.
“Thank you so much… for today.”
“Did I do something to be grateful for?”
“You danced with me.”
“I just felt like I wanted to.”
“I know.”
She said as she stood on the stairs leading up to the second floor, taking off her coat and handing it to her butler.
“Because you made me feel that way.”
“……”
“So thank you.”
why is that?
He watched her smile softly and turn her back.
Dylan said he should give a little bit of attention to her.
So it was.
He only paid attention for a brief moment, and he wondered if this woman was anything special to him.
What began with doubt made him feel close to the conviction that ‘maybe.’
That’s why.
That’s why he felt that way.
‘But why is she thankful? My feelings, my heart, why are you…?’
His fist was clenched.
His chest was stuffy and even though he had no wounds the area where the heart was aching. It seemed that even his soul had been hurt, and it kept hurting so badly.
He can’t help but be annoyed
He didn’t care about not being able to remember.
Bang.
The door to the office connected to the bedroom was opened harshly.
Halbert, who was carrying a lot of reports on what he had done while away, was surprised.
“Your Excellency…”
He shouldn’t have listened to Halbert, who knelt on his knees in the morning.
He wasn’t supposed to go to the ball. Then he wouldn’t feel like this.
“Why are you so angry? Did something happen at the ball?”
He was even angrier at the calm question.
“If I ever make another private offer to Dylan, I’m not going to let it go, Halbert.”
Halbert flinched at the harsh words.
“I always do things that are helpful to your excellency.”
“…. Do you know you’re overly cocky these days?”
“I know, but do you remember what Your Excellency said a long time ago?”
“……”
“If it helps you, if you are convinced that it will help you then you will forgive me for whatever I do.”
“Consequences? Do you believe that what you do has consequences?”
“There are.”
Halbert said, putting the documents down one by one on the desk.
“When your memories come back, that’s the result.”
“…….Ha.”
“When the memories come back, you will praise me for doing a good job.”
Lost memories.
A memory that will continue to lose in the future.
Halbert knew about Lily in his memory, which he didn’t know.
He hadn’t even asked because he wasn’t interested yet.
Halbert wouldn’t be the first to speak without asking.
I wouldn’t believe it if he told me.
Unfortunately, Edlade was like that.
“Then answer me.”
“…Say it.”
So, in the end, Edlade had no choice but to ask himself.
The reason his chest is tight.
The reason why it bothers him.
The reason why that woman becomes special without hesitation once he realizes it.
“What is that woman’s existence… to me?”
Halbert answered without hesitation.
“She is more precious than your life.”