CHGD 04

Chapter 04

“That sounds…….”

It sounded like he meant to erase her original home and family entirely.

To leave her with no place to escape, so she would only look at him, to erase all other options.

There were many things Valos wondered—why he was so obsessed with a mere human, whether he’d even considered her wishes—but he kept his mouth firmly shut.

Regardless, a subordinate couldn’t question what their master did.

*The lady isn’t an ordinary person either.*

The fact that she remained composed even after seeing his true form was unusual. An ordinary human would have screamed or run away, calling him a monster.

What especially bothered him was that meaningful look she’d given when she chose to keep Haster’s secret.

*It sent a chill down my spine.*

It was the first time he’d felt such an emotion toward a human. It was like being targeted by a cunning beast.

A doting monster smiling as he declared he’d be her only family, and a human lady with unknowable intentions…

It seemed their newlywed life wouldn’t be peaceful.

I became aware of my past life when I was young, just learning to read.

It was a time when I was interested in the old fairy tales in the mansion. One day, I lost consciousness from an intense headache and high fever—the first I’d ever experienced. When I opened my eyes, I felt the fusion of two minds.

If I had to say, my past life’s personality seemed stronger than Deliana’s… but at the time, there wasn’t a single adult in my family who paid me any attention, so no one noticed.

What was actually harder to adapt to than others’ gazes were the strange aftereffects I experienced after the two minds merged.

After collapsing from fever and headache, I opened my eyes not in my own home, but in an unidentified place.

Even now, I don’t know where it was.

Musty darkness, someone’s unpleasant breath, heavy air, and endless tiny points of light…

I don’t clearly remember what I did there or how I spent my time. It’s certain I spent a considerable amount of time there, but like a midsummer nightmare, the shape of the memory was faint.

After a long while, when I came to my senses again, I was back in my bed in my room.

Whether this was a simple dream or an aftereffect of the fused minds, I couldn’t tell.

When I tried to look into the situation at the time, my parents wouldn’t allow it. They just intimidated me, saying nothing had happened.

After that, I was plagued by residual memories for a while.

Feeling gazes between the gaps of furniture, hearing signs of life under the bed whenever I tried to sleep… private aftereffects I couldn’t confide in anyone.

Now that I’m an adult, I can brush it off as something that happened, but when I recall the past like this, I sometimes remember what the being in that dream said to me.

*’Baek□□, you see, this is—’*

*’Call it a changeling.’*

Even as everything else fades, those words remain clear to this day.

And I lifted my stiff eyelids to face the unwelcome morning.

“……My head hurts.”

Perhaps because I wasn’t in my usual place, I woke up with a headache and feeling unwell.

The bed I lay in was dozens of times more expensive than the one at my home, but as expected, the unfamiliarity made it uncomfortable—that couldn’t be helped.

I held my head and slowly rose from the bed.

*Someone came by while I was asleep.*

On the table by my head was a small bowl of water for washing my face, warm morning tea, and a towel.

The tea, in particular, seemed to have been placed just before I woke up, with warm steam still rising gently.

I’m a light sleeper, so if someone had entered the room, I would have woken up immediately. Whoever the attendant was, they were remarkably skilled.

“……It’s delicious.”

As expected of a Count’s household, the tea was of excellent quality. Its refreshing scent and smoothness cleared the morning’s stale taste from my mouth.

At my home, I’d have had to wash at the well next to the house, and rinse my mouth with cold water instead of tea… I could truly feel the luxury of being a Countess.

After washing up, I opened the wardrobe and was momentarily stunned by the parade of splendid clothes I’d never seen before.

Looking at the jewels hanging from them, a single dress seemed worth more than my entire fortune.

I took out the most understated, neutral-colored dress and put it on.

*Knock, knock—*

As I was adjusting my appearance in front of the mirror, someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Deliana, it’s me.”

It was the Count’s voice.

“I thought you’d be waking up soon. I’ve prepared breakfast—would you like to join me? I also have something to discuss.”

“……Of course.”

At his excessive thoughtfulness, I answered with an unavoidably hesitant voice.

He could have just sent an attendant to call me to breakfast, but I hadn’t expected the Count to come himself.

I slowly opened the door and faced the Count.

*He really is handsome.*

His beautiful face, enough to momentarily cloud all my doubts and anxieties about the Archeim household, was waiting for me. It was a face I’d never tire of, even if I saw it every day.

“This way. I’ve prepared it in the garden by the lake. You like lakes, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. But how did you know that?”

“……I heard it, from Deliana’s parents.”

Were my parents kind enough to pass along such information?

I found it odd, but the Count urged me to hurry along, so I couldn’t ask again.

“Here, please sit.”

The lake we arrived at was as beautiful as the Count was proud of.

The lake was in the middle of a vast flower field, glittering like a jewel in the morning sunlight.

‘……What’s that?’

On one side of the beautiful lake, broken wooden planks were floating around. It was so messy it looked like a house or two had been destroyed.

Deciding it wasn’t my concern, I approached where the Count gestured.

In the middle of the garden overlooking the lake, there was a table with bread and fruit, and two white chairs.

Sitting in the chair the Count pulled out for me, I glanced at him, still radiating an aura of happiness.

‘I should ask him.’

I had a mountain of questions I hadn’t been able to ask last night due to the confusion.

What were Blacky and Valos? Why had the room been filled with darkness? And……

‘Whether you’re human. And whether you’ll let me go back home.’

The last question was the most important.

I swallowed hard to suppress my tension.

“Now, Deliana, please enjoy. I’ll cut the fruit for you, so start with the bread…….”

“I’ll serve us. I can’t have you doing such things for me.”

“I want to do it.”

The Count gently but firmly pushed away my dissuading hand. And calmly sliced the fruit, placing it on my plate.

I felt awkward but tried to accept his favor.

*It would be ungrateful to complain about feeling burdened.*

When you receive kindness you don’t understand, you inevitably start to feel pathetic for resisting it.

I averted my eyes from the overly kind Count.

Perhaps noticing my silence, the Count carefully spoke up.

“Did you sleep well last night? You must have been tired from the long journey.”

“Oh, yes. The room was so wonderful that I rested well.”

“You still look tired, though.”

At his worried words, I touched my cheek.

I could feel that my facial muscles were stiffer than usual.

In truth, it was because I’d been troubled by his identity, but I couldn’t say that and evaded the question.

“I had…… a bad dream. It wasn’t because of the room.”

“What kind of dream?”

I swallowed a piece of the fruit the Count had given me, and vaguely explained the nightmare.

“It’s about when I was young. I was frail, so I had to recuperate for a long time.”

It was closer to being abandoned in bed than recuperation… but I didn’t elaborate.

I briefly described the dream I’d had last night.

Being trapped in a dark space, someone I met there whose name I couldn’t remember.

And what he had said……

‘……What had he said?’

That’s strange. I clearly remembered the word when I woke up this morning, but now I couldn’t even guess what it was.

When I paused my explanation, the Count took my stiff hand and spoke.

“What’s wrong, Deliana? Can’t you remember the dream clearly?”

“Yes, it’s strange. I definitely woke up after hearing that word…….”

“Can you remember who said it, or what was said—nothing at all?”

“……No.”

At that, the Count smiled again.

But it was a markedly different smile from the bright one I’d seen before.

His eyes curved like crescent moons, and a strange yellow light flickered in his red irises……

“It’s okay, though.”

“……?”

“Don’t try to force yourself to remember. It’s a memory worth forgetting, isn’t it?”

“But…….”

No matter how you looked at it, it was strange that a memory so clear had vanished within hours.

As I tried to refute his words, the hand holding mine tightened.

And somehow, his voice began to resonate not in my ears, but inside my head.

“Deliana,”

[There is nothing]

“wrong. So, don’t worry.”

[Dreams are just]

“dreams.”

Was that really true?

As he said, it might not have been a significant memory.

What mattered was that I lived here,

[in Archeim.]

What memories I had in the past didn’t matter.

‘Yes, my parents also said it was just a dream. So……’

It was beneficial to listen to the Count.

Thinking that, I was about to nod.

[Will I be able to return to this place?]

As if struck by lightning, my senses returned.

It wasn’t some unknown person, nor the Count before me, but my past self that had awakened me.

As if afraid of losing my memories, the young me kept holding onto me.

I did not ignore that call.

“No. I can’t do that.”

“……?”

The Count’s eyes widened, as if he hadn’t expected me to answer this way.

“I don’t want to forget. Whatever that memory is, it’s precious to me. So…….”

I slowly pushed away the Count’s hand.

Despite how firmly he’d held it, it pushed away easily.

“You don’t need to convince me.”

Whether that was persuasion or hypnosis, I didn’t know.

This encounter only deepened my suspicions of him.

“…….”

Was it the same for him?

By now, his smile had vanished, and he was staring at me.

His crimson eyes were now completely tinted with yellow…….