“……Don’t cry, Lina.”

Her green eyes, filled with moisture, trembled within the embrace.

“I’ll protect you.”

Lina.

Lina.

Yes. The pronunciation felt strangely familiar.

“Lord Illeon.”

Lina, who embraced me, shook her shoulders, sobbing.

Lina.

You said you wouldn’t leave me.

I will protect you forever.

I will protect you……

Blurry memories seemed to float above the surface of consciousness, vague yet clear.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

Lina has returned.

Everything else became insignificant.

Illeon, supporting the weakened woman, turned towards the mansion.

In the early dawn, the atmosphere in the mansion flipped.

“Wh-who is this?”

The steward, who had risen like the dawn to hear the owner’s situation, widened his eyes.

Illeon had returned to the mansion, holding the unfamiliar woman almost in his arms.

“She is Lina. More importantly, call a doctor.”

Moreover, Illeon brought the woman to the Duke’s room and laid her down.

Bernard was perplexed.

It was several times more shocking than when he saw Elysia the day before yesterday.

When Elysia worked as ‘Rona’ at the Duke’s residence, the steward who interviewed her knew that she had come here after wandering with no place to rely on due to losing her memory in an accident.

No matter where she wanted to work, she had to submit identification, but she claimed to have no memory of herself. So, she ended up coming here because the Duke’s residence hired people without any conditions.

“May the blessings of the Five and the Oder be with you.”

Elysia, who used to be like a priestess, wearing a hooded robe similar to what the priests wore, gave me a chill when she greeted me.

It felt strange when you know something well.

The inner core of the young lady, who had been intimately acquainted enough to share insults against the Crown Prince without reservation for half a year, seemed to have disappeared, replaced by something unfamiliar.

With Elysia, Illeon returned, not looking well. Despite hearing words like ‘go to the hospital if your eyes are wrong,’ Bernard was secretly cheering for his love. He was not worried about the usual concerns for the master’s condition.

The atmosphere in the house was so dull that even after the return of the former Duchess, the Grand Princess, Leve, who had been missing for several years, there was no welcoming banquet.

“To take her to the Duchess’s room.”

It was true that the room was neatly prepared for Elysia. And since the young lady who disappeared after spending time intimately with Illeon at the mansion returned as a ‘priest,’ she had been staying in the guest room since then.

However, Illeon, taking the unfamiliar lady to the Duke’s room among many rooms, seemed the strangest to Bernard’s eyes.
Knowing well felt more serious when it deviated from the track.

“The doctor?”

“Yes. I’ll call one right away.”

Bernard turned slightly to go call the messenger to fetch the doctor.

Illeon’s appearance, sitting beside the unknown woman and holding her hand, was incredibly strange.

“Karina!”

When Illeon appeared, carrying a woman who seemed either unconscious or asleep in his arms, Elysia was watching from the end of the second-floor corridor, below the railing.

And the fact that he didn’t hesitate to carry Karina and head to the Duke’s room.

Thump.

A burning pain surged in her chest.

The vision darkened momentarily, then resumed breathing.

Elysia barely made it back to the room.

After closing the door, she sat down in the same spot.

Thump, thump.

Her heart made an unsettling sound.

Elysia looked at herself, shocked as if she had been greatly affected.

“Why am I like this?”

It hadn’t been so long since she anxiously awaited Karina, who didn’t appear as in the original.

Struggling and striving because Karina didn’t come, and Illeon didn’t think of leaving the house without her, she made efforts to bring the heroine here.

However, Elysia couldn’t understand why Illeon bringing Karina to this house was so surprising.

It was clear that if she left, Illeon and Karina would be connected.

She knew it better than anyone, and yet, despite her hopes, it happened.

“Sigh.”

Elysia lifted her knees and buried her face between them.

It had been difficult to avoid Illeon and move around within the same house.

Every time he saw Elysia, he looked at her with an expression as if he would collapse at any moment.

Elysia had already escaped from Sabiel’s grasp. She didn’t know when the compulsion would activate and become dangerous.

Mariella presented a solution.

Staying with Oder’s descendant weakens the compulsion.

“Until you leave, Lady Leve has agreed to help.”

When Mariella said those words, she didn’t think the situation would turn out like this.

She understood it only to the extent that she would spend some time with Leve and the Duke.

“Uh, why do I have to stay at the Duke’s residence?”

After finding out that she would not be staying at Leve’s mansion but at Clement’s Duke’s residence, Elysia was puzzled.