Perhaps because Theo had spoken on her behalf, the escort knight was able to return to the training grounds.
It seemed that escorting a young lady of such high status hadn’t been entirely comfortable for him either, as his expression looked somewhat relieved when he thanked her for everything until now.
She said goodbye and told him to train well until next time they met.
She also resumed her rehabilitation after a long time.
After the founding day, once she had reached the point where she could walk to some extent, she had been taking it easy, but if she was going to do it, she wanted to reach the point where she could walk continuously, not just for an hour or two.
Still, there was no need to focus on rehabilitation forever.
“Edith, is there anything you want to do?”
“Something I want to do?”
“Yes. I’m ready to support you in anything.”
“Asking suddenly like that… I do not know what to do…”
“Think about it seriously. Before that, you’ll need to study the things you couldn’t learn until now…”
“Eh, study?”
At the word study, Edith immediately made a face of disgust.
But now Edith was a lady from a Ducal House, and she needed to learn at least the basic knowledge expected of one.
There hadn’t been any problems so far, but if a ducal lady didn’t even know basic things, people could criticize her as ignorant.
“It won’t be difficult.”
The Duchess smiled and reassured Edith that it was nothing serious.
Even in her previous life, studying had never been her preference, but if she wanted to avoid bringing shame to House Capanteni, she had no choice.
“Alright.”
When Edith agreed, the Duchess smiled and said she would need to carefully consider which tutor to hire.
“Ah, right.”
“What is it? Is there something else?”
“No, it’s just that you said you were curious about your childhood memories. So while organizing things, I found something.”
As she said that, the Duchess placed a small toy on the table.
“This is…?”
It should have been something she was seeing for the first time, yet it felt strangely familiar, and Edith tilted her head slightly.
“It was a toy you used to play with often.”
What?
But as she continued looking at the toy, something faint flickered through her mind.
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing Edith’s strange reaction, the Duchess stood up abruptly and approached her, looking flustered.
“…Ugh.”
She definitely knew it.
It felt like she might remember, but at the same time, as if she didn’t want to remember. When she tried to recall it, her head felt like it was splitting apart.
As Edith let out a pained groan, the Duchess panicked even more.
“What’s wrong? Edith, are you in pain?”
For some reason, the Duchess’s voice began to sound more and more distant.
***
As Edith collapsed, the atmosphere in the ducal estate grew heavy.
It was only natural. Their daughter, who had woken up after twelve years, had collapsed for the second time.
“What on earth happened?”
The Duke and Ellos, who had immediately returned upon hearing the news, asked with serious expressions.
“The doctor says she seems to have been shocked by something…”
“Shocked? Then when will she wake up? Is there any other abnormality?”
Despite the barrage of questions, the Duchess calmly answered each one.
She understood how they felt, because she herself had panicked and pressed the physician for answers when Edith collapsed earlier.
“…He said not to worry about her waking up. He thinks he need to talk with her once she wakes to determine what shocked her, but there are no other abnormalities.”
“Ha…”
At least that was a relief. While the two were talking, Edith opened her eyes.
She had been unconscious for about one or two hours.
“Edith!”
“Are you awake?”
“…Ah.”
Seeing Edith regain consciousness, the Duchess’s tension finally broke, and she collapsed onto the floor.
“Thank goodness…”
Seeing the Duchess murmuring softly, Edith had to reassure her several times that she was fine.
“You are awake!”
At that moment, the physician, who had briefly stepped away, appeared looking as if he had aged years in an instant.
It seemed he had gone through quite an ordeal. His visible relief upon seeing Edith awake proved it.
“Does your head hurt, or do you feel any discomfort?”
“No. I am fine.”
He calmly examined Edith’s condition.
“Did you feel any symptoms before you collapsed?”
“…My head hurt. At that time.”
“Anything else?”
“Something… a strange memory surfaced.”
“A memory?”
“Yes. But I cannot remember it now.”
“It seems something may have triggered your forgotten memories. What exactly happened at that time?”
The physician paused briefly, then spoke seriously. He said it seemed she had collapsed because of memory loss.
The Duchess explained that part.
She had simply brought out a toy Edith used to play with when she was young.
“Was there some special memory connected to it?”
“…I am not sure…”
As far as the Duchess knew, it had been an ordinary toy.
It had just been one of Edith’s favorite toys when she was little.
“It may be that your memories were about to return.”
In this situation, the physician could only reach one conclusion.
“It might help to show you that toy again. However, that memory may be a bad one. The fact that you forgot it again could mean your mind is rejecting it.”
“…”
The atmosphere grew heavy.
It seemed it was related to that nanny who had already died.
She considered asking directly, but since House Capanteni clearly wanted to conceal the matter, Edith remained silent.
***
It seemed the family had decided to seal that toy away forever.
There was no need to dig up a memory that might be harmful.
Although Edith said she was fine, the Duchess blamed herself for bringing it out in the first place.
But Edith found it strange that memories she didn’t possess were returning. Could it be that because their wavelengths matched so perfectly, memories could also be shared?
Since she herself knew nothing, she thought she would have to visit Reminus, whom she hadn’t been able to meet, in order to find out something.
Even if not for that reason, she had intended to visit him at least once anyway.
It was just that she couldn’t move immediately because of House Capanteni’s excessive protectiveness and her leg condition.
“…Th-then, Madam?”
“She is busy.”
She knew that wasn’t true.
After all, the Duchess had collapsed from shock because of what happened this time.
Everyone tried to keep it quiet, but Edith had eyes and ears.
Moreover, the Duke also seemed to be in a bad mood, perhaps because he was still troubled by the fact that he had never fully resolved the nanny incident.
Thinking about it, the Duchess was a devout follower of the Sun Temple.
She had heard that when she first woke up, the Duchess had gone to the temple to offer prayers of gratitude to Reminus.
Since things had turned out this way, perhaps she could go together while she was at it.
“I’ll go see her.”
She was worried, after all.
“…See who?”
“Who else. Mom.”
“Excuse me?”
“What?”
“N-no, it is just… it is the first time I have heard the word ‘Mom’ come from your mouth, my Lady.”
“…Is that so?”
Now that she thought about it, she had never called her that even once.
As for her brothers, they were older than her, so calling them ‘Brother’ had come naturally.
But ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ felt a little different.
So without realizing it, she must have unconsciously avoided those words.
The funny thing was that no one had ever forced her to say Mom or Dad.
They must have been considerate because she had no memories.
They really were thoughtful people.
Edith let out a small chuckle without realizing it.
“Yes! That is right. I will go ask Madam right away!”
Verina, seemingly happy that the word ‘Mom’ had come from Edith’s mouth, ran off immediately with a bright expression, saying she would go ask.
She was probably going to deliver this happy news.
***
The Duchess appeared before Edith with a happy face.
Her face was full of vitality, not at all like someone who had been ill. Edith also liked seeing that expression.
“Edith, are you feeling alright?”
It felt like she should be the one asking that, not the Duchess.
“Yes. I am fine.”
It was to the point that it felt like a lie that she had collapsed—there was truly nowhere that seemed to hurt.
“I see… um, you said you wanted to go to the temple together…?”
“Yes. I thought it would be nice to go with Mom.”
“Gasp.”
It seemed she had clearly heard it from Verina, and when Edith said it aloud in response to her expectant gaze, the Duchess covered her mouth with a deeply moved expression.
“What is wrong?”
She knew exactly why, but pretended not to as she asked, and the Duchess shook her head repeatedly, saying it was nothing.
It was also the first time she was going out alone with the Duchess like this.
“Then shall we go?”
The Duchess, who seemed to have completely recovered and put the past behind her, held out her hand to Edith with a gentle voice.
***
Chatting warmly together, they arrived at the temple.
“Duchess Capanteni, it has been a while.”
The priest guarding the temple immediately recognized the Duchess and bowed deeply.
“It has indeed been a while. I came today with my daughter.”
“Greetings. I am Priest Albert, a servant who follows the God of the Sun.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Yes. Please come inside. I will inform the High Priest.”
“Thank you as always.”
“Not at all.”
It seemed the status of House Capanteni was truly remarkable.
The way the priest treated her with such deference, and how he seemed to take it for granted that the High Priest would come, made that clear.
Even when she was in the Valencia territory, priests had bowed deeply to her, but that was unavoidable since the Temple held no real power there.
However, the Capital was different.
In the Capital, the Temple still held considerable influence.
As they stepped inside the temple, what caught her eye first was the vast interior, completely unlike the small and narrow temple in Valencia.
There was even a large statue presumed to be the God Reminus inside, which made it feel even more grand and majestic.
