In the man’s cold and fervent voice, her heartbeat began to quicken.

‘I must have misheard.’

Certainly, she might be tired from nursing the Duke all night. Lina, who blinked slowly, as if denying reality, raised her head.

But.

“Lina.”

As if mocking her earnest wish for it to be a mistake, a name that should never have come out of the man’s mouth flowed out.

‘It can’t be.’

Her muscles froze, and she couldn’t move her body.

‘How on earth…? No, since when?’

The current appearance was too different from the Lina the Duke knew.

In case there were doubts because of her voice, she intentionally continued the conversation with a different voice than usual. But why?

‘Did he realize it from the first encounter? Or during the conversation?’

While Lina was talking, she tried to recall if she made any mistakes, but nothing came to mind.

When her brain seemed to malfunction, turning white.

“Is it the third time that we’ve faced each other in that appearance?”

Thud[Dash].

Although it was a spoken word without any emotional climax, it came to Lina as a shock as if shouting in her ear.

Feeling as if her heart was hitting the ground and rising, she took a breath.

“Just now, what did you say…”

As if someone who hadn’t drunk water for a long time, she barely opened her dry mouth.

“The first time was at the victory celebration party, the second time was on the carriage that day when you were caught by a human trafficker. The third time is right here, today.”

Ah.

He remembered everything. From the moment they first met to every moment until now.

Unknowingly, Lina let out a short sigh.

When she last saw the Duke, he seemed to know nothing. How did all the memories suddenly come back?

It was something that shouldn’t have happened and something she had never experienced.

‘What on earth is this…?’

Unlike her face full of tension, the Duke’s face was infinitely indifferent.

However, unlike his indifferent mouth, his two eyes were blazing like flames, tightly gripping Lina’s breath.

When Lina, with her lips tightly closed as if she were frozen, started to open her mouth, one assumption flashed in her mind.

‘Could it be, a side effect…?’

Yesterday afternoon, she saw the side effects of “Oblivio” in the library.

At that time, she got caught up in that word and rushed out of the library without reading what the side effects were.

‘It’s not certain, but nothing else explains this situation except for that.’

Oblivio is magic that controls a person’s mind. So, undoubtedly, side effects related to it were plausible. Why did she only realize this now?

She mentally scolded herself for her foolishness.

‘How did I hide it.’
To expose one’s identity so futilely. What kind of emotions and determination did she have when she left there at the edge of the cliff?

It felt like all the efforts she had made so far were crumbling in vain.

“Lina.”

Finally, breaking the silence once again, Lina raised her head at the sound. An inexplicable feeling of tension and tightly sealed lips.

What could that man be thinking as he looked at her?

‘He might feel betrayed, or maybe he resents me.’

Lina began to deduce the hidden feelings beneath the seemingly indifferent man’s face.

But what was the meaning of having such thoughts now?

Looking at Velige’s eyes that seemed to have surrendered, Lina, who had given up, opened her heavy lips.

“… How did you know? That I am Lina.”

“Is that important?”

No, it wasn’t important at all. He was just curious. Already spilled water cannot be contained.

Lina lightly laughed at Velige’s seemingly indifferent words.

“No, not at all.”

Then again, a heavy silence entered between them. Perhaps this is how one feels when committing a sin.

She couldn’t bring herself to look the man in the eyes due to the guilt pressing on her chest.

“That night. It was when I faced you, who was captured by human traffickers.”

He, who had kept silent, murmured softly.

“Although you were someone I saw for the first time, strangely, you felt familiar. Despite having different hair colors and different eyes, for some reason, I thought of you. At that moment, I suddenly remembered. I had a vague assumption that maybe these two different people might be the same person.”

At the Duke’s words, Lina recalled the Duke, who had hurriedly returned to the mansion that night.

‘So that’s why…’

That day was so chaotic that she didn’t think about the Duke’s strange behavior. It seems the truth began to reveal itself gradually from that time.

“Even though I checked you in the mansion with these two eyes, I felt strangely uneasy.”

Still vividly remembering that time, Velige furrowed his brows and continued speaking.

“But, with your words saying you’d stay by my side, I dismissed all doubts about you. I also decided not to ask about your past. Because I trusted you.”

What would he say next? No, even without hearing it, she already knew. He would probably shiver, accusing her of betraying his trust.

Maybe he would decide to confine himself somewhere, never letting her go again.