“Compensate this old man appropriately and send him away.”

“Where are you going? I’ll follow you.”

“Don’t follow.”

“But…”

Raising his hand on Lawrence’s shoulder, Philip raised his head. Seeing Philip like that, Lawrence said firmly.

“Philip, go after the duke right now! Especially in a situation where we don’t know when the empress might target him, it’s not right to let the duke go alone!”

“You brought a sword with you, so you’ll be fine. The duke needs time to organize his thoughts. Lawrence.”

But they hadn’t noticed. Bellige, walking away, staggered slightly.

“Nothing here either.”
After hastily finishing her work, Lena rushed to the ‘Pestenon’ Library in the central part of the capital.

Considering its reputation as a renowned library across the entire continent, one would think she could find the book she desired here.

Three hours had passed since she arrived, but she hadn’t yet discovered a book on magic related to manipulating memories.

“It should be here somewhere…”

This place boasted a diverse collection of magical books to the extent that saying a magic book was not present here was equivalent to saying it didn’t exist on the entire continent.

However, what they had were only books related to basic magical knowledge. As Lena strolled through the library corridor, dragging her fingertips along her lips, it happened.

“Oh? Here.”

Peering through the open door, she saw numerous books. However, unlike elsewhere, there was a guard stationed in front of the door.

“Maybe here.”

Observing the few people entering, and judging by the fact that they checked something like identification tags each time, it seemed not just anyone could enter.

Watching the situation for a moment, Lena approached the guard.

“Excuse me, is this a place where ordinary people can’t enter?”

The guard, who glanced at Lena, replied, “This area can only be used by registered mages or nobles.”

“This is it.”

Hearing those words, Lena became convinced that the book she wanted was here.

“Then, can commoners who are not mages use it at all?”

“Nobles can prove their status and enter, but…”

The man, who blatantly sent a glance that said, ‘Do you even have such connections?’, mumbled the end of his sentence.

“It seems challenging to enter here through regular means…”

What to do? While she was pondering, at that moment, a familiar voice she had heard somewhere echoed.

“I’ll vouch for this person’s identity.”

“Oh, Ariana…!”

The guard, who saw the suddenly appearing woman, hastily showed respect and stumbled over his words. Puzzled by this, when Lena turned around, her eyes widened.

“Huh? This person is…”

Still with the sweet-looking pink hair and bright sky-blue eyes. And even the impression of looking thin.

“Wait, isn’t she the woman from the store back then?”

Lena stared at her with a slightly bewildered expression.

“It’s nice to meet again like this.”

“Oh, yes…”

The woman who smiled sweetly at Lena approached the guard.

“Then, can we go in?”

“Y-yes!”

Then, she also apologized politely to Lena.

“I didn’t realize you were a friend of Lady Ariana. I acted rudely. Please forgive me.”

‘Ariana, huh?’

With a puzzled expression, when Lena looked at her, the woman grinned and curtsied.

“Just for a moment, do you mean the saint?”

“Oh my, do you know me?”
Knowledge of Pestius. Would there be anyone on the Ser Continent who doesn’t know the saint, the only one? Lena hurriedly greeted her.

“I haven’t seen you before, Your Highness.”

Before becoming a saint, she was the princess of Pestius. She wasn’t someone Lena could walk alongside.

“Suddenly calling us friends. She said we’re still being watched from behind.”

As she spoke, guards behind them were attentively watching the two. In response, Lena, who straightened her waist again, cautiously asked.

“But why suddenly call us friends?”

“Because that way, you can enter here, right?”

“Yes? Why would you go to such lengths?”

“It’s my personality to incur debts I can’t repay.”

Lena recalled the words of the woman who said she would help if Lena ever had something to do before leaving the store.

“Of course, I didn’t know if I could help so quickly.”

With a mischievous smile, she playfully said, “More importantly, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I’m Ariana. And you?”

“I’m Le…na. Teo.”

“Okay, Teo. Nice to meet you. It seems you’re looking for a book; feel free to look around. Pestion is a great pride of our kingdom.”

“Yes, thanks to you, I could come in. Thank you.”

“Then, have a pleasant time.”

Ariana also had business here, apparently, as she turned her footsteps in a different direction from Lena. Lena, who watched her, also began to wander around the library to find the desired book.

“Let’s see… magic that erases memories… ah, here it is.”

And not long after, she found the book she wanted. She sat down with a repentant smile and carefully flipped through the pages.

“Oblivio is a magic that erases memories… you can’t use the same magic more than once on the same person?”

It seemed that manipulating people’s memories was risky enough to be limited to a single use.

“Hmm, I thought it was strange.”

Then, the fact that the Duke’s memory wasn’t erased was explained. Taking a short breath, she began to read the book in earnest. However.

“Oh?”

“Side effects…?”

Dash.

Startled, she couldn’t control her trembling hands and dropped the book. At that moment, Ariana approached, saying she had something to ask, and seeing Lena’s expression, she asked worriedly.

“Teo, I have something to ask… what’s wrong? Your complexion is very dark.”

Without answering Ariana’s question, Lena, who hadn’t answered, suddenly stood up and started running out of the room.

“Teo!”

Although Ariana’s shout could be heard behind her, nothing else could be heard.

Because all that occupied her mind was worry about the Duke.

‘Your Grace.’

But she couldn’t get past the word “side effect.”
“[예전에 지웠던 기억들까지 돌아올 수 있다.]”

This is a very important sentence that says, “Even memories that were erased before can come back.”