The sound of “Ah” involuntarily escaped me for a moment. Then my head quickly turned.

Should I say it? That your memory loss isn’t natural; someone made you lose your memories.

Seeing the shocked look on the child’s face, I hesitated. I thought Ruedello, if it were him, might want to know the truth.

“I’ll tell you honestly. Your memory loss isn’t just a coincidence. Someone intentionally hid your memories. The gradual recollection is also being forced by someone.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yeah. That’s why you felt confused.”

“That… can really happen…”

Ruedello’s astonished expression and voice looked particularly sad.

“So, I’m asking. If you want, you can just stay in this state. Probably, the Ruedello in novels had to live like this because of such situations. The person who sealed his memories must have used Ruedello like that.

He might have been repeatedly brainwashed by people closely monitoring him since a very young age.

This time, I will do my best to prevent that from happening. The best choice is probably for Ruedello to retrieve all his memories and not be subjected to brainwashing by them.

“Hwanghu Mama.”

“Yeah.”

“Hwanghu Mama… won’t abandon me, right? Under any circumstances… Will you completely like and love me, just like you do to Shasha?”

“Yeah, I will never abandon you. You are my only Crown Prince, and I will live as your mother.”

“Abandonment… I hate it, no matter the reason… because it causes so much emotional pain.”

Ruedello stammered and bowed his head deeply.

“I didn’t go to the orphanage because I lost my mom or anything like that. My mom personally took me to the orphanage. She forced me in when I said I didn’t want to go.”

Perhaps that’s the memory Ruedello doesn’t want to talk about.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah… actually, I didn’t remember it well at first. But why did it suddenly come back now? If someone is really forcing memories to come back… why did they make the memory of my mom abandoning me come back? Is it to tell me that I can be abandoned again, that I’m an abandoned child? Why would they want to inform me that I can be abandoned again?”

I couldn’t say anything in response to Ruedello’s poignant question.

Perhaps that’s true. It seemed like Ruedello’s mother wanted to give him the experience of loss. That he would be left with no one by his side.

Just like an abandoned child, just like me. Although I don’t know it well, that’s the feeling I got.

Maybe by doing that, we can eventually instill the idea that we will also abandon Ruedello.
“The past Ruedello must have been tormented like this. Even the mother who gave birth abandoned the child, and the people around must have continued to brainwash that even the emperor would abandon you. And then, claiming there were inevitable reasons, the mother appeared, and the child seemed to lean on the mother due to loneliness.”

I couldn’t possibly know the details, but judging by the current situation, it seemed likely. Ruedello, too, was probably trying to create a puppet that moved extremely according to his will.

“I can’t know the exact reason, but still, I won’t abandon you.”

“Really…?”

The child was still trembling with anxiety. Despite numerous inquiries, I answered the same way, understanding all those feelings.

“Yeah, even if Ruedello hates me, I’ll persist in staying by your side.”

So don’t be afraid anymore. Don’t worry anymore.

Having said that with such feelings, Ruedello twisted his body.

“Okay.”

“Yeah…?”

“Persist… please.”

“Huh…?”

“Hwanghu Mama… I hope you… will persist in me. Love me more than Shasha and cling to me more… I hope that.”

It was a comforting statement, but Ruedello, on the contrary, seemed to like it. During that moment of doubt, seeing Ruedello smiling happily, I found myself smiling too.

“Yeah. I’ll persist.”

“Okay…? And… Mom.”

“Yeah?”

“What I said earlier… I just hope all my memories come back.”

A sparkle shone in the eyes of the child that gleamed as if embedded with gold.

“Really? Unwanted memories might come back. Won’t it be difficult?”

“Now, Mom and Shasha are by my side. Oh, Dad too. So, I think it’ll be okay.”

“Then that’s fortunate, but…”

“I’m actually scared. Like Mom said, what if things I don’t remember come back later and make everyone difficult? I’m more afraid of that. That the people I love will have a hard time because of me.”

“Is that so?”

Ruedello’s round head nodded up and down like a full moon.

“So I hope everything comes back! So that I won’t cause any difficulties for everyone, and I can overcome it! If I overcome it all, get strong… I also… like Shasha…”

Ruedello murmured with his head deeply bowed.

“Yeah?”

“I also want to be held like Shasha… Ah, it won’t be possible. I… also…”

“No, I’ll definitely hold you.”

I embraced Ruedello tightly.

“I love you. A lot.”

“Hehe…”

“What are you two doing? Unni is mine!”

In the meantime, Shasha, who had just finished washing, rushed over and hugged me tightly.

“Unni is mine!”

“No. Hwanghu… No, Mom is mine!”

“No way! I’ve known her longer!”