There was something strange about his words, like he was talking to himself, and Alice was returned by a smile of disbelief.
Somehow, Nocton Edgar’s mouth twisted with a face full of displeasure.
“Suddenly engaged, that means she’s not in love with Sir Claymore.”
“I’m not sure, until now—”
“The lady is quite close with Valrose. You must have heard something about Aaron Claymore.”
“Did Roa really tell you nothing?”
“Unfortunately, that’s the case. So, I want to know what she told you.”
Isn’t it a little too far?
Alice sweetened her lips.
As she knew that the Duke Edgar and Roa were childhood friends, she invited him to her drawing room comfortably. She even brought up the story of Roa without much thought.
But the Duke’s leisurely smiling words seemed rather tenacious.
Perhaps there is a special reason why Roa didn’t tell him about her engagement.
She didn’t hear much from her about the Duke, but she didn’t tell Roa about everything either.
Anyone can have unspeakable circumstances. It’s a mistake to talk to this person now.
In that thought, Alice tried to close the conversation with a proper excuse. It hasn’t been long since she invited him, but she thought she should end their meeting right now.
As she was just opening her mouth, their eyes met.
“If my request is troubling you, you don’t have to tell me. I didn’t mean to push you, Lady.”
The moment she looked into his eyes, Alice felt that she had just gone too far.
“Ah … No. It’s not a big story.”
“If so, can I hear the story?”
“As much as you want.”
Everyone knows that the Duke of Edgar is a friend of Roa, and she herself called him a friend.
Just a little talk about her won’t cause any trouble.
Alice’s mouth opened without resistance. She felt it would be fine, Alice felt obliged to speak.
“Roa said she didn’t love Sir Claymore. She just accepted the marriage because she liked the external conditions.”
“What external conditions?
“Things like appearance, voice, and personality. The family, there’s nothing wrong with him, so it’s not a matter of liking or not.”
“Is that so, I don’t think it was that big of a deal.”
The opponent’s eyes sank. Alice was staring blankly at the figure.
“Thank you for telling me. Next time, if Valrose says something else, please let me know immediately.”
“Anytime … I get it, you can go ahead.”
“Thanks for that. Just one more thing. Are you the friend who sent letters to Valrose since she was young?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“I thought the lady’s condition wasn’t well so you need to recuperate in the secluded place. I wonder how did you get acquainted with Valrose.”
“That’s….”
She didn’t want to talk about Ernhardt.
A sense of defiance rose up and shook Alice’s heart. Unlike a little while ago, her mouth was not open.
She didn’t mean to reject it. Nocton Edgar’s eyes narrowed a little.
Soon afterward, he said soothingly, as if he was genuinely curious.
“It’s all right, Lady Alice. I already know that you are a dear friend of Valrose, and there’s no way I asked something to harm her. You shouldn’t doubt how much I care for Valrose. If I have bad intention, I would have asked someone to investigate it instead of asking it directly to the lady. But you still don’t believe me?”
“It’s just like what you said, Your Grace. I met Roa when—”
By the time Alice continued her words, she was stopped by a knock.
It was Alice’s brother, Arhan Limorand, who rushed into the drawing room without a word of permission.
“I’m sorry I interrupted your conversation, Duke. There was an urgent situation, so I had to be rude. Alice has a place to go.”
Hearing the familiar voice, the light returned to Alice’s dimmed eyes.
What, what just happened?
Despite what she was doing, Alice’s face hardened without understanding the course of her emotions.
Nocton laughed like a sigh as he glanced through her brother’s face, sliced with embarrassment.
“It’s been a long time, Lord Limorand. What’s the reason behind you came in here so suddenly?”
“I apologized. I can’t tell you because it’s a family affair. I know I’m being rude, but I’d like you to make a promise to meet me next time.”
“I can’t, I don’t think it’s a situation where we can talk.”
At the end of his words, he stared at Alice and smiled softly.
“Because we have a lot of time. I wish I could see you again next time, young lady.”
It was from that day that the precognition dream of Duke Edgar mingled with Alice’s dream.
Dreaming in Duke Edgar’s perspective, not of the eyes of Roa, she vividly realized how different the Duke was from the Duke in Roa’s eyes.
***
The light purple liquid moved slowly, sticking to the side whenever I tilted the glass bottle.
It must be a little viscous, but just looking at it was giving me unpleasant feeling.
The Memoria’s Seal. A rare potion that restores a vague memory and corrects twisted memory.
The thing that costed half of my fortune was right in front of me.
I asked Duvel for help, but I didn’t expect to see him in a day. I thought it would be difficult to obtain as much as it was expensive.
Perhaps they have a lot of stock or the demand for the liquid have dropped.
Even though I got the potion quickly, I felt more nervous than happy when I actually face it.
I wondered if it would have a side effect, and the words Duvel left behind while giving the potion was disturbing.
Passing the Memoria’s Seal, he told me; depending on how much memory you have, you may lose consciousness for hours or weeks.
Usually it’s about nap time, but once you drink the potion, you can’t do anything about it if the effect is stronger.
I lifted and let go of the bottle several times, until I finally took a deep breath and opened the lid.
I am not sure either way.
Whether Nocton Edgar is a good or bad, whether he’s a villain or a hero as I remember him, or what is the actual role of Aaron Claymore.
I was not even sure if I could believe the results, if I could get the truth, or anything, even if my memory gave me a definite answer.
Hopefully, I wanted to make sure that Nocton Edgar wasn’t that kind of person.
I wanted to be sure that even if I didn’t believe the result that the man who I had seen for decades was only a little bit bad and twisted.
The bottle lid was set aside and the glass bottle was tilted.
Liquid flowed into my mouth. It feels like drinking sticky water.
Soon after such an impression, the world began to spin.
The whole world is drawn into a circle. I feel nauseous and dizzy as if I’m drunk.
And the next moment, my memories began to flow upside down.
The feeling of my memory being settled was strange. It felt like I was suddenly awakened from my dream, like I was suddenly sober.
To bring out something in common, the mind became painfully clear.
Starting with what happened most recently, my memory set up the disordered things straight as it reversed time.
Even the moment I was just born. Even before I was born again. Even before I died in my previous life.
It was a good thing because I was worried that it would not have any effect on the memories of my previous life, but I was fortunate that the potion could recognize it.
As if I was being swept away by a tidal wave, I had no choice but to look at it.
Finally, the potion reached the original novel, which I wanted to know the most.
The title was He and Alice, a novel that I read three years before my death.
In a three-volume novel, I read up to two books, and the cover is the main characters.
I managed to match only somebody’s hair color.
Instead of embracing the brown haired woman, the black-haired man stood on his back watching her.
His long hair almost covered his face, but his side eyes that looked at the woman glowed red.
The brunette woman, even though it was depicted as a picture, was quite similar to the real Alice.
This is why it was easy for me to recognize her.
The story begins with the revelation of Alice’s birth.
She headed to capital as the youngest daughter of Limorand and she met Nocton Edgar and Aaron Claymore on several occasions.
As she makes her debut in the society, wears good clothes she has never worn, makes friends and enemies, Alice keeps encountering these two men.
She didn’t fall in love with them.
Because Alice already had someone she loved.
When she was in Ernhardt, it was about a year after she became an adult.
Baron Momont was eager to somehow sell Alice at a high price.
A sick lunatic, an old man who seeks beauty , someone who likes to enjoy abusing women. None of the marriage candidates was normal.
In the case of the first marriage, it is a tradition of the empire for the couple to remain engaged for two years and then marry.
No matter how good she was, there was no one who could save Alice from the pit.
Tha’s why she sought a way to escape from Momont.
After being punished and locked up in the room, Alice dressed up in a way to kill her beautiful appearance and began to walk outside the castle.
She can sneak out and sell her family’s jewelry. Thanks to Alice’s good behavior, she has never been suspected. She also made money by helping small job.
She couldn’t save a lot of money, but if she collected little by little, she was able to raise money for her escape plan.
In the meantime, Alice met a knight.
A young man with dark hair and a strangely blurred impression that he must have used a magic item.
Strictly speaking, he wasn’t a knight yet, because it seemed he was on training, but it was obvious that he would soon become a knight.
Although he didn’t say it himself, Alice was sure because of his accent and manner.
Even the alias was a common name for a young man whose face and voice could not be remembered at all after parting.
His name was Ed.
She only stumbled across him, but they will spend a long time together afterwards.
Only
Their personality clicked and both of them enjoyed being together.
As Alice, who had never made friends, had no choice but to love the kind and precious young man.
Because it was Alice’s point of view, Ed’s inner voice did not come out, but it was clear that he felt the same way.
The two, who had met each other under disguise, fell in love, but they were not able to meet again when Alice went up to the capital.
The shocking truth that the knight who loved the duchess stole the baby, if it was revealed, it can hurt Alice and Limorand’s honor.
Beyond losing their reputations, it was clear that all kinds of scandalous rumors would be tagged along.
For Alice looks so much like her mother that rumors will be more vicious.
Still, she can’t just abandon Ed, so Alice decided to trust him and tilt the whole truth.
Comments