Chapter 80

At that moment, the surrounding air seemed to freeze, and everyone was enveloped in silence.

“…”

“…”

No one could open their mouth.

They couldn’t even take a breath, let alone speak, and they looked at me with shocked eyes.

I was suffocating.

“…Nine?”

I called him by the name I usually used, but Nine glared at me with an extremely displeased expression.

Following that, it seemed like he said something, but I was so shocked that I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Everyone around was as confused as I was. Since the social season, no, until just before the subjugation, they had personally witnessed the loving relationship between me and Nine, so everyone could tell that the current situation was unusual.

Even Iris, who was watching us, couldn’t hide her surprised expression and alternated her gaze between me and Nine.

Even if she didn’t know what was going on, she couldn’t pretend not to notice the murderous atmosphere.

Iris, who didn’t understand the situation, quietly surveyed her surroundings, watched the others, and then nervously hid behind Nine.

‘Ah.’

My heart felt like it had dropped again.

But gathering what little bit of reason I had left, I realized that she hid herself behind him because of the gazes of the surrounding servants. Of course, that didn’t make me feel any better.

Just when no one could speak, Kroel stepped forward and asked Nine.

“Your Grace, who am I?”

Nine stared at Kroel as if he was seeing a strange person and said.

“Kroel Bihailnea.”

“Then who is this person?”

Kroel’s finger pointed at me. Nine looked at me with a sullen expression, but he answered obediently.

“She is Miss Chacha Blueberry, the Countess’s daughter.”

Everyone’s expression, except for Nine and Iris, instantly twisted in distress. And so did mine.

Kroel immediately knelt down to me. The Knights who saw him also all knelt down towards me.

Kroel spoke to me in a firm voice.

“I am deeply sorry. On the way back, we encountered monsters, and His Grace injured his head slightly while saving the lady standing here.”

“…”

“Since he didn’t show any cognitive impairment, we didn’t realize there was a problem with his memory.”

My hands and feet were trembling, and my heart was pounding so violently that it felt like it would pop out of my mouth, making it difficult to regain my composure.

But since I knew that Nine had a problem, I couldn’t act foolishly. I was the highest decision-maker here right now.

‘He must have temporarily forgotten due to shock.’

It must be so.

I reassured myself in this way and gave orders to Van, Norman, and Kroel respectively.

“Van, make sure this doesn’t leak out, and arrange for Nine to be examined by Tully immediately.”

“Yes, Lady Chacha.”

“And Norman, please continuously check to see if any vassals or Northern nobles cause trouble after hearing the rumors, and I will continue to handle the administrative work until the situation improves.”

“Understood.”

“Kroel, a banquet is prepared for the Knights, so please ensure that all the Knights enjoy and rest comfortably for today.”

“Yes!”

As my orders continued, Nine’s face, watching his vassals, grew increasingly rigid.

He couldn’t understand why I was giving them orders, but he would understand even less why these people, who had always followed Nine’s orders, were meekly listening to me.

When Van approached Nine and said he would escort him inside, he said fiercely.

“Has everyone gone mad?”

The atmosphere was about to become murderous again. At that moment, the one who blocked Nine’s path was his older sister, Roana.

Nine seemed very surprised that the person blocking him was Roana.

“Hey, shut up and go inside.”

Roana grabbed Nine’s wrist with her one remaining left arm and dragged him into the castle.

Then, she gestured to Van, who was approaching her, to call Tully, and then spoke loudly to me.

“Leave this place to me and go do your work!”

“…”

I was shaking enough to want to collapse. No, I was still shaking, but seeing them take care of me one by one gave me a little strength to stand up.

I was grateful that I could quickly sort out the situation thanks to them, and after standing blankly for a moment, I suddenly realized that Iris was still there.

“Laura, please guide that person to a guest room.”

“Um, I have something to say!”

The moment I gave the order to Laura, Iris abruptly spoke to me, disregarding etiquette.

She was just as described in the original story. Iris’s birth was noble, but she had never lived as a noble, so she was ignorant of etiquette.

The way she raised her hand and jumped up and down to get my attention was certainly an adorable sight, but not for me right now.

Feeling a surge of fatigue, I averted my gaze to avoid getting unnecessarily irritated with her and said concisely.

“Since His Grace rescued you, we will treat you as a guest. I don’t have the time right now, so I will hear your business tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

“Then, goodbye.”

Saying so, I turned around and entered the castle without even waiting for Iris’s reply.

***

I finished my work and went upstairs, standing in front of the door to Nine’s bedroom.

Despite taking several deep breaths, courage still eluded me.

Just imagining opening the door and walking in made me picture Nine looking at me coldly.

If merely imagining it caused such a scratch on my heart, facing that look in reality would surely make what little courage I had gathered completely vanish.

I wasn’t confident that I wouldn’t be hurt by him.

After lingering outside without being able to open the door for a long time, Tully eventually came out of Nine’s room first.

He glanced at the sleeping Nine through the closing gap of the door, completely closed the door, and reported the results of the examination to me.

“It seems that a strong impact was applied to his head, and the resulting wound was permeated by demonic energy, causing amnesia.”

“Is it temporary?”

“There is no way to know for now. Whether he regains his memory right now, tomorrow, or even a few years from now…”

Or if he will never find it.

Tully’s vague trailing words naturally led to the next assumption.

“I will do my best to investigate, but I have not yet seen a case like His Grace’s…”

“Then.”

“…”

“How much does Nine remember right now?”

Tully twitched his mouth a couple of times at my question and then said quietly.

“As far as I have confirmed, His Grace’s memory is stuck at a year ago.”

Ah. A shiver ran down my spine.

Nine’s memory had returned to exactly before this world, the original story, was twisted.

Was this really a coincidence?

Since I had taken him away from the original story, was the original story taking his memory back to proceed with the original plot?

Everything was confusing.

“Aside from the memory loss, the wound is not light, so he will need rest for the time being.”

“I see…”

“It seems there have been cases where he suddenly complained of pain and lost consciousness, so be sure to have a servant on standby nearby…”

In the midst of the confusion, all voices grew faint as if moving away from my ears.

But the words that Nine had lost consciousness suddenly became clear.

I looked at him with a startled expression and opened the door to Nine’s room, which I had hesitated so much to do.

Nine was lying in bed with his eyes closed, having lost consciousness.

I cautiously approached him so as not to wake him and checked his face.

‘His complexion is too bad.’

A thick black liquid mixed with blood and demonic energy stained the bandage wrapped around his head.

Worry took precedence at the sight, which was obviously not good.

I forgot my fear of his cold expression, pulled a stool over, and sat beside him.

I planned to stay by his side all night.

***

Nine woke up in the early morning of the next day.

I brought all the documents I needed to review into Nine’s room and stayed by his side all night.

As the night deepened, Nine sweated cold and was in pain. This must be due to the demonic energy still remaining in his body.

Hearing his small moans, I put down the documents I was looking at and continuously wiped his cold sweat with a cold wet towel and cooled his feverish cheek.

Just as I was about to wipe his cold sweat with a new towel, having put aside several used ones, Nine’s eyes snapped open.

‘Ah.’

Nine opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling with unfocused eyes. Then, realizing that his mind had returned, he looked around and frowned at me.

“…Why is the young lady in my room?”