When I lifted my eyelids, eyes the color of sunset appeared. They were blurry and unfocused, blinking heavily a couple of times.

‘……Jade?’

The person in front of me was Jade. It wasn’t strange that he was here. After all, I had spent the night with him last night.

‘I gave you enough time to run away, Larien.’

The night that began like that ended in the early morning as the sun rose.

The last thing I remembered was falling asleep exhausted.

Usually after your first experience, your waist hurts, but strangely my head was hurting.

“Can you get up?”

Jade helped me sit up, supporting my back with a pillow.

“You hit your forehead when you fell down the stairs. It’s bleeding from a cut, so that’s why it hurts.”

Fell down the stairs?

‘Why did I?’

Unable to understand, I carefully retraced my memories in order.

I had rushed to the Rowe Viscounty residence after receiving Ayla’s letter saying Jade was ill.

When I entered his bedroom, I saw Jade looking perfectly fine.

‘It was a lie he made using Ayla to call me out.’

I glared at Jade, feeling annoyed.

Jade, confessing how much he had been holding back until now, devoured my lips.

After that, he skillfully removed my dress, undid my corset, and……

‘Stop. Stop thinking about it.’

There was no use recalling it, it only made me embarrassed.

Anyway, I didn’t remember falling down the stairs.

Why on earth did he say such a thing?

Is he planning to pretend last night didn’t happen?

‘Did I really fall down the stairs?’

He could be lying about falling down the stairs on purpose to divert my attention elsewhere.

He said he wouldn’t regret it, but it seems that wasn’t true. He regretted spending the night with me and wanted to act like it never happened.

“Jade. I’m going to return to the duke’s residence now, so please prepare the carriage I came in yesterday.”

If I snuck back through the back gate, Duke Belaste wouldn’t notice.

But instead of calling for a carriage, Jade looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“Larien. Why are you going to the Belaste Duke’s residence?”

“Well, because that’s my home.”

Even though I hate it. For now at least.

Jade froze up completely and didn’t continue speaking.

‘Why is he acting like that?’

Looking around, it was quite different from Jade’s bedroom I had been in last night.

The curtains and bedding I could see were different.

I thought maybe we had moved to a different bedroom, but then I noticed something strange.

Jade’s height was about a hand span taller.

Height doesn’t normally grow overnight, so how did this happen?

“Jade, did you take some kind of height growth medicine overnight?”

Looking closely, not just his height, but other things had subtly changed too.

His facial features seemed a bit sharper, you could say.

“Larien. What year is it now?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“Answer quickly.”

Jade’s voice turned forceful.

“It’s the year 722 of the Langrangsha Imperial calendar, isn’t it?”

I answered since he wanted a response.

“…The exact date?”

“Hmm. My coming-of-age ceremony was a week ago, so isn’t it December 13th?”

“How old are you now?”

Why is he asking my age after the date?

“Jade. What’s wrong with you since earlier?”

“Hurry.”

“I’m 20 years old. It hasn’t been long since my coming-of-age ceremony.”

I dutifully answered his continued strange questions.

Somehow it felt like I should.

“Don’t move and wait here.”

Jade gritted his teeth and immediately ran out of the bedroom.

‘I need to go back quickly so Duke Belaste won’t find out.’

Why on earth is he telling me not to leave?

For now, not understanding why he was acting this way, I silently waited for him to return.

When Jade came back shortly after, he wasn’t alone.

“Patient, you’re awake.”

He was with an elderly man who looked advanced in age and Ayla with her hair cut short.

“Sister, are you okay? Brother suddenly called for you.”

She somehow seemed more mature than yesterday.

‘What’s going on here…?’

I noticed the strangeness of the situation, looking at Jade and then Ayla.

“She says it’s December 13th, 722 of the Langrangsha Imperial calendar.”

Jade’s expression was quite serious as he informed the old man of the date I had mentioned.

I felt tense just watching, for no reason.

“That’s 5 years ago from now. It seems to be amnesia.”

Amnesia.

‘What is this nonsense.’

My heart pounded in shock at the old man’s words.

“You’re saying… I have amnesia?”

“It would be easier to understand if you think you’re currently stuck in the past.”

With that explanation, I understood what Jade had meant earlier.

So his words about falling down the stairs earlier were true.

‘He said 5 years ago, so that means I’m 25 years old now?’

Jade brushed up his bangs and asked the old man in a frustrated tone.

“Do you know when the memories will return?”

“That’s something we can’t be certain about. It could be temporary and recover quickly with memories returning, or it could potentially last a lifetime.”

Ayla burst into tears and hugged me tightly.

“Sister, what do we do…”

It felt awkward, like this wasn’t the Ayla I knew, but I couldn’t shake her off so I just stayed still.

“Trying to forcefully inject memories won’t do any good for the patient or those around them. At times like this, waiting is the answer. Ah, there’s nothing unusual with the child, so you don’t need to worry.”

Jade sighed and pulled Ayla away.

“Ayla. Larien is the most confused right now. So stop crying.”

“Brother, you’re so mean! How can you tell me to stop crying? If sister can’t remember the past 5 years, that means she’s forgotten Blanche too.”

Ayla sobbed, saying ‘Blanche’.

Saying I’ve forgotten Blanche too.

‘Blanche is the name of the previous Viscountess Rowe, what is this…’

Blanche.

As I repeated that name, something tugged at my heart and a faint sensation came over me.

“As if the child wasn’t already shocked because of you, brother, if she finds out her mom has forgotten her…”

Child? Mom?

So according to what Ayla was saying…

I was the mother of a child named ‘Blanche’.

‘Then who am I married to now and had a child with?’

I was confused about what could have happened in 5 years for me to have a child.

“Ayla Rowe. That’s enough. Go out for now. I’ll explain to Larien.”

“I’ll be taking my leave as well then.”

The old man looked around and left, taking the sniffling Ayla with him.

The surroundings fell silent. The heavy air that made it hard to breathe was uncomfortable.

“Jade.”

“…Ah, speak. Larien. I’m listening.”

I called out to Jade who was lost in thought and carefully asked.

“Who did I marry and have a child with? How old is the child?”

For now, filling in the blank spaces was the most urgent matter.

“…You’re not married. Blanche is 4 years old now. She’ll be 5 soon.”

I covered my mouth at Jade’s answer.

“What, so I had a child first without even being married?”

Just who could the child’s father be, to do such a thing.

“Jade. Can you tell me what happened in those 5 years?”

“I was also separated from you and only met you recently, so I don’t know what happened in those 5 years.”

“Ah…”

I see.

‘Well, if I’m not married it means I had the child in secret, so I probably didn’t keep in contact with Jade either.’

There was a high chance Jade didn’t know who the child’s father was either.

“What should I do. This is troubling. I feel like I suddenly have a 4-year-old child without even knowing who the father is.”

Honestly, I wondered if I’d be able to treat the child well even if we met, since it would be awkward.

The future me must have chosen to secretly give birth without getting married because the child was precious.

I didn’t want to hurt such a precious child needlessly.

‘When I became a mother to a child, I wanted to raise them giving the love I never received.’

I was curious if I had managed to keep that while raising the child.

‘I didn’t want to pass on the loneliness I experienced…’

At least I couldn’t have been a caring father.

‘I wonder if I was able to be a gentle mother?’

Jade parted his lips and then closed them before speaking.

“I’m the child’s father.”

“…Jade, what did you just say?”

“I said I’m the biological father of the child you gave birth to.”

Maybe it’s not me who’s lost their memories, but Jade.

Otherwise, how could he say something like he’s the child’s father?

“Jade. Do you want to joke around in this situation? Considering everything, you’re 5 years older than me now, so act a bit more mature. What do you mean you’re the child’s father, that’s nonsense.”

Even though I had relations with Jade last night, it didn’t make sense.

Jade was a wolf shifter, and I was a sparrow shifter.

How could Jade be the father of my child when we were different species?

In the first place, I spent the night with him knowing nothing would happen from accepting him.

“I couldn’t imagine it at all until that child shifted into a wolf.”

But Jade was serious. As if it wasn’t a lie or a joke.

“So really? A child was born between you and me?”

“Yes.”

Many different emotions came over me at the reaffirmation.

‘A child really came from Jade and me… How is this possible?’

To be honest, I still couldn’t believe it. So I wanted to see for myself.

“For now, Jade. Let me see that child called Blanche.”