EDTATO 10

Chapter 10

How many more times are you going to do this before you finally stop?

When will you understand that we can never die?

You want to escape from me, don’t you? But I have no intention of letting you go.

Even if you lose your memory, you’ll come to love me.

Keep struggling. You look beautiful like that, too.

Either way, you’ll never be able to escape from me.

I bit my lip as several memories of him resurfaced.

It was true that many of my memories had returned thanks to Payden’s medicine.

But there was one thing.

I still couldn’t clearly remember his face or his name.

If you’re going to make medicine, at least make it properly.

I directed my irritation at Payden for failing to restore the most important part of my memories.

It had already been two weeks since I had gone from being Ian’s fake benefactor to his fake fiancée.

At first glance, my current life seemed comfortable and lacking nothing, but this period of peace was only temporary.

Even if the wager could be won by loving someone other than him, the conditions and timing were still vague.

Waiting around leisurely was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

“I’m thinking of visiting the temple today.”

Now that I had gone from being Heine to Heine Verdandi, I saw Ian off early in the morning as he prepared for his busy day and brought up the subject.

“The temple?”

Ian turned around from beside the carriage door and asked.

He was dressed in an obviously luxurious formal outfit, clearly on his way to the council.

“Yes. High… I mean, the High Priest sends medicine every day, doesn’t he?”

I nodded and recited the excuse I had prepared beforehand.

“I thought I’d ask him about the medicine, thank him personally, and offer a prayer while I’m there.”

There are things I need to hear directly from that crazy man.

“Don’t push yourself. If you contact my brother, he’ll come back to the mansion immediately.”

Ian gently took my hand, his expression worried.

His tenderness was so charming that Dant nudged Bonnie’s shoulder and twisted her lips into a pleased grin.

See? Didn’t I tell you? I told you the two of them were lovers.

Apparently, Dant had been convinced for quite some time that our relationship was more than it seemed.

Ever since my relationship with Ian had changed into that of “fiancées,” she had proudly raised her chin and gone around boasting that her prediction had been correct.

Even though our relationship was still nothing more than a fake.

I quietly shook my head and gently pulled my hand away.

“You can’t make the High Priest come and go for personal reasons.”

If someone happened to overhear our conversation in the mansion, like Bonnie had the other night, it would be disastrous.

“I’ll be careful, so please don’t worry.”

Ian lowered his blue eyes slightly.

He didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding how unbearable it was for him to let me go somewhere without him.

I was only going to visit a temple for a little while. It wasn’t even a crowded place.

Why was he so worried?

When I blinked at him, urging him to give me permission, Ian finally gave in and smiled brightly.

“If that’s what you want, then of course you should go.”

Then he gave Hubert, who had come to see him off with me, an instruction.

“Take good care of her while you’re out.”

“Of course.”

Hubert closed the carriage door with absolute confidence, as though telling Ian to leave everything to him.

There seemed to be a subtle exchange of glances between the two, but I didn’t think much of it.

It was probably just ordinary concern—telling Hubert to take especially good care of me or to report anything suspicious immediately.

Once Ian’s carriage disappeared from view, I quickly turned around and urged Hubert on.

“Shall we leave right away?”

I wanted to interrogate the esteemed High Priest until he gave me every answer I needed, if that was what it took to remember the face of him, the man who had dragged me into hell.

To be honest, I had underestimated the temple of the duchy, thinking, How impressive could a temple really be?

But as though mocking my arrogance, the Central Temple of Bonasea rose so majestically that it could rival even an imperial palace.

Massive, sturdy rounded pillars.

Marble floors so smooth I worried I might slip.

Sculptures harmonizing with the architecture, along with neat inscriptions praising the gods hanging throughout the temple.

Following the broad path, we soon reached a beautiful and profoundly sacred garden tended by the hands of apprentice priests.

“Goodness, why is no one around?”

Hubert deliberately muttered loudly.

He turned his head several times, checking to see if an apprentice priest might pass by, but eventually gave up and lowered his shoulders.

His expression suggested that his plan to escort me directly to the High Priest without making me wait had been disrupted.

“Would you please wait here for a moment? I’ll go inform the High Priest that you’ve arrived.”

Apparently, he had decided it would be faster to meet Payden himself.

After a few unnecessary coughs, he headed toward Payden’s office.

At least he calls him ‘High Priest’ here instead of ‘young master.’

I obediently nodded and sat down on one of the pristine white chairs arranged in the central garden.

Perhaps because I was strangely tense, my arms and legs ached.

My mind was filled with thoughts about what I should ask Payden first.

This is going to be a long conversation.

Among my countless memories, some scenes were so vivid they felt like they had happened yesterday.

Yet, strangely, I still couldn’t remember his face properly.

I also had no clear idea how this wager had begun or how I was supposed to prove that I had fallen in love with someone else.

The wager. The past. And…

I was quietly organizing my thoughts while waiting for Hubert to return when my attention was suddenly drawn to the fountain in the middle of the garden.

It had been carved with such care from pristine, high-quality white stone that it seemed almost wasteful for only a handful of people to enjoy.

Clear water flowed along several channels, making a soft, soothing sound.

Its tranquil, crystalline color was mesmerizing.

Listening to the peaceful sound that seemed to calm my heart, I walked toward the fountain as though entranced.

Up close, the fountain somehow made all the distracting thoughts in my mind disappear.

For a moment, I simply caught my breath.

And then—

“Die.”

Suddenly, someone pushed me from behind and forced my head downward.

My body was slammed into the fountain in an instant.

I had no time to resist.

No time to hold my breath.

What the—?!

I, who had once wished to escape from him even if it meant dying, flailed my arms desperately enough to make the situation almost laughable.

My body was fighting to live.

I struggled with all my strength, but not only could I not determine who was pressing my head down, I could barely even escape the immediate threat of drowning.

Should I use my power?

I desperately suppressed the golden glow that instinctively threatened to appear in my eyes and tried to think rationally.

Should I use my power to escape this situation?

Even if it meant risking someone discovering my secret?

My breathing grew increasingly labored.

The last of my breath escaped as bubbles amid my choking coughs.

No.

It would be even stranger if I died once and came back to life.

Just as my consciousness was beginning to fade into whiteness, I steeled myself.

I decided that even if I had to use his power, I would destroy whoever was trying to take my life.

And then, the moment I closed and opened my eyes—

The terrifying hand that had been pressing relentlessly against the back of my head and neck suddenly disappeared.

Even so, I had exhausted all my strength and could barely control my body.

Someone quickly hauled me out of the water.

“Haah!”

The sacred air of the temple struck my entire body with a cold chill.

I desperately inhaled air and immediately collapsed onto the ground, clutching the grass as I coughed repeatedly.

For a while, I couldn’t even open my eyes properly.

It took a long time of coughing and spluttering before I could finally breathe normally again.

Someone pushed me into the water?

To kill me?

Was that voice telling me to die real?

Or had I imagined it?

Before I could even organize my confused thoughts—

“Are you all right?”

A pleasant voice, ruined only by its strangely cold tone, asked after my well-being.

I repeatedly wiped the water running down my cheeks and belatedly raised my head toward the direction of the unfriendly voice.

A man was sitting across from me at a distance so close that the tips of our noses nearly touched.

He had icy golden hair and eyes as red as rubies.

The water dripping from his hair briefly obstructed my vision, but even through it, the man before me seemed to shine on his own.

Nobly flowing golden hair.

Brilliant red eyes like jewels passed down as treasures of the Empire.

And features so strikingly distinct that they made it impossible to think of anything else once seen.

His appearance was enough to make my thoughts stop.

“You’re in better shape than I expected.”

The deep voice lazily flowing from that elegant face was incredibly heartless—as though he were the one who had just shoved my head underwater.

“If you’d fainted, I was thinking of waking you up with a kiss.”

“Did you see anyone suspicious? Or…”

Or perhaps you were the one who pushed me into the water and are pretending otherwise.

I couldn’t bring myself to say the latter aloud, so my words abruptly trailed off.

But the man easily inferred what I had left unsaid and twisted an eyebrow.

“Ah. I should have just let you die.”

The inappropriately inhumane remark, delivered in such a gentlemanly tone, rang sharply in my ears.

“I’m rather hurt that you would suspect the person who saved you.”

His red eyes were so sinister that I couldn’t tell whether he had actually wanted to save me or wanted to kill me.

For some reason, I really don’t like him.

I concealed my honest feelings and lowered my gaze as meekly and pitifully as possible.

A frightened, fragile young lady.

It was the perfect mask for making someone who believed themselves to be superior let down their guard.

“I only meant to ask whether you had noticed anything suspicious. I’m sorry if it sounded as though I was accusing you.”

“……”

“Thank you for saving me.”

“Why do you think I saved you?”

“…Pardon?”

We had only just met. This was hardly the situation for exchanging pointless jokes.

I flinched, unable to discern his true intentions.

Then the man finally seemed to remember who I was.

His eyes curved gently, and he tilted his head slightly.

“Ah. You’re the rumored fiancée.”

“……”

“Heine Verdandi, was it?”

The man tapped his fingers idly and looked off into the distance for a moment.

“Perhaps it would have been better for Ian if I hadn’t saved you after all.”

His indifference was absolute.

The pitiful young lady trembling right in front of him was apparently of no concern to him whatsoever.