I sank to the floor.

My head was spinning.

Had I misunderstood the genre?

If not, I might have gone mad.

“What are you doing there?”

“I, Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel was looking down at me, having come in without me noticing.

His gaze lingered on me momentarily before shifting to the other things scattered messily around.

Then he abruptly reached out his hand.

“Where did you get hit? Your expression… why are you like that?”

“Hit, hit me? Someone hit me.”

I took his hand and got up, shaking my head.

I considered asking Nathaniel if he remembered Count Dmitri.

But if Nathaniel didn’t remember the count either, I wouldn’t be able to bear what came next.

I was either insane or possessed, it had to be one of the two.

Either way, I wouldn’t sleep well that night.

‘Actually, I don’t think I can sleep well in my current state anyway…’

In the end, I couldn’t contain my curiosity and decided to ask Nathaniel.

Somehow, I had the feeling he would know.

After all, he was slightly outside the range of normal humans.

“What’s taking you so long?”

“I, Nathaniel. Don’t think my words are strange, just answer yes or no.”

I took a deep breath.

It took a lot of resolve to ask.

“Count Dmitri, do you remember?”

He was silent for a moment at my question.

Impatient, I added an explanation.

“That, the one who danced with Teresa a few times.”

The thoughtful Nathaniel finally spoke.

“That frivolous man?”

“Yes, yes! That’s right.”

“If it’s the person who was pointlessly laughing beside your friend, I remember.”

I placed my hand over my chest and exhaled long.

Then I confirmed once more.

“You definitely remember?”

“Yes.”

“Thank goodness. I’m not crazy!”

“What?”

I hugged his neck in a rush.

A wave of relief washed over me.

The anxiety that had tormented me all day seemed to be washed away.

“Le, let go of this.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

I obediently let go of Nathaniel at his irritated response.

He retreated a few steps from me.

Thinking about it, Nathaniel had always been weak to physical touch.

He also greatly disliked people.

‘I forgot until now.’

Now that I looked, his face was a bit red, and his breath seemed heavy as if he was angry.

There was no need to provoke him unnecessarily, so I quickly smoothed over his mood.

“Were you uncomfortable?”

“What?”

“No, your face seemed a bit red.”

Nathaniel stared at me with a blank expression for a moment.

Then he sighed and sat down in a chair.

“Never mind. So why did you ask?”

“Oh. Well, that’s the thing.”

I explained to Nathaniel what had happened earlier in the day.

How Teresa and Casian did not remember Count Dmitri, and even records related to him had disappeared.

“Isn’t it scary? If Nathaniel didn’t remember, I might really have cried.”

“Hmmm.”

Nathaniel’s usually indifferent face turned serious.

He seemed to know something.

“There was a similar case before.”

“What?”

“Memory manipulation. There have been cases where I remember but others don’t.”

I looked at Nathaniel with astonished eyes.

This unbelievable thing didn’t happen just once.

“A noble who used to visit my late mother regularly was not remembered by anyone. Moreover, he wasn’t even in the noble registry.”

“So this isn’t the first time?”

He nodded coolly at my question.

Then he continued.

“I was too young back then to investigate properly, but I still gathered some information.”

He got up from his seat and went to a corner of the library.

From there, he took out an old notebook and handed it to me.

“All I know is their name and their purpose.”

The handwriting was all over the place, likely written by young Nathaniel.

I began to read the writing slowly.

“The D.S. Knight Order…?”

“It’s a secret society that operates on the idea that the world must be led only by human will, denying the power of God.”

It seemed to be an organization like the Freemasons or the Rosicrucians.

Of course, unlike those two groups, the Knights of Dieus appeared to have some mysterious power.

“Isn’t it too little work for such an ambitious purpose?”

“I believe my mother was poisoned by them.”

“Really? She definitely died of an incurable disease then…”

Thump, thump, something clicked in my head.

In the original work, Teresa died of an incurable disease.

I thought it was Maximilian’s fault for the unknown cause of the disease.

But what if it wasn’t?

Like Nathaniel’s deceased mother, they might have killed Teresa and disguised it as a soldier.

Thinking that way, it felt like my blood was freezing.

“Jaina?”

Nathaniel looked at me with a worried face.

I forced a smile, pretending to be fine.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little surprised. And scared.”

At my words, Nathaniel silently smiled.

Then he reached out and patted my head.

“Don’t worry. I couldn’t do anything back then because I was young, but it’s different now.”

Nathaniel showed a picturesque smile, curling the corners of his eyes.

“I will protect you.”

With that, he turned and left.