Chapter : 80
He just looked at me with sad eyes.
I, too, faced him, and slowly opened my mouth.
“Did you hear everything?”
“…Yes.”
Of course.
Even though I had activated the sound-blocking barrier, Harton was the only man in the empire immune to magic.
So it seemed he had heard the entire conversation I had with the Nasel mother and daughter.
“Was there anything I shouldn’t have let Harton hear?”
I quickly reviewed the conversation in my mind.
After checking, I concluded there was nothing particularly dangerous for him to hear.
After all, I had shared most information with Harton, except for the fact that I had possessed someone.
“But then… why…”
Why did he have such a sad expression?
I slowly walked toward Harton.
And I reached out, gently caressing his cheek.
“What are you thinking about right now?”
Harton looked at me for a moment, then whispered softly.
“Eani, your family… they really are awful people.”
“!”
“They always treated you like you were beneath them. They compared you to others, mocked you, and used you as an outlet for their frustrations.”
“….”
“And when money became tight, they tried to marry you off to some awful man. That’s why I paid extra to ‘buy’ you. I… was that kind of man too.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
Harton’s eyes trembled helplessly as he spoke.
He took the hand that had been stroking him and gently put it down.
“You still loved your family despite knowing all this.”
At his whisper, my eyes widened on their own.
“They were partly right. Eani, you truly cared for and loved your family. That’s why… I… I’m not sure if this situation is right.”
“…Harton.”
“I expected it to some extent. I knew you were gathering information through the crow. I thought maybe you would investigate your past at least once.”
“….”
“Even so, you stayed by my side. So I thought that was enough—”
This time, Harton slowly stroked my cheek in return.
“Is this really enough?”
“….”
“Is it okay to leave you like this, without your memories? Later, when you regain them, will you deeply regret what happened today?”
“….”
“I don’t know, Eani. I really don’t know what path is best for you.”
He looked at me with a face full of confusion.
I, too, quietly gazed up at him.
In his gray eyes were deep sadness and conflict, and beyond that, pure affection directed entirely at me.
I stared at those gem-like eyes, mesmerized, and whispered softly.
“Harton, my ‘family’ right now… is you.”
“!”
“The family I truly care about, think about, and sometimes miss… is only you.”
Harton had said it earlier.
Eani Nasel’s family was terrible.
They always treated her as beneath them, mocked her, and used her as an outlet for frustration.
Hearing that, I recalled my own blood relatives from my life in the modern era.
‘I grew up being treated that way too.’
My blood relatives were no different from the Nasel mother and daughter.
Perhaps Eani Nasel and my childhood were quite similar in that sense.
Yet, a clear difference existed.
‘Eani Nasel tried to embrace even those things as family.’
I didn’t.
And this time, she and I made completely opposite choices.
The man Harton Saind, whom Eani Nasel had rejected to embrace her family, I had accepted as my family.
Yes, I must admit it now.
‘I consider Harton my family.’
Except for my very early childhood, I had never truly felt the need for family.
Without family, as long as I had enough money, life was not difficult.
‘But then—’
This man I met in this strange world had penetrated deeply into my life.
By now, having him by my side felt entirely natural.
‘People probably call this kind of relationship family.’
A family not bound only by blood, but by a deep bond, not using each other but supporting each other.
‘I never wanted this, never needed it…’
But that didn’t make me foolish enough to deny a bond that had already formed.
I chuckled softly and leaned into Harton’s embrace.
Feeling the warmth of his arms around my back, I spoke naturally.
“What you fear most is that I will regain my memories, isn’t it?”
“….”
“And what you’re worried about now will also be solved if I never regain them, right?”
“…Eani.”
I looked up at him and asked,
“Then will you put a curse on me?”
“What?”
“There is a formula left by the Sun Mage to seal specific memories forever.”
“!”
“Harton, if you’re that uneasy, I can let you curse me to completely seal my memories.”
“….”
“I even asked you to maintain the curse to calm my own anxieties, right? Then I think it would be only fair for me to do this much—”
Before I could finish speaking, Harton buried his face in my shoulder and hugged me tightly.
“…Harton?”
“….”
“Harton, what’s wrong?”
“….”
He didn’t answer.
I wanted to see his expression, but he didn’t lift his head.
He just kept holding me endlessly, endlessly.
In the end, Harton didn’t give me an answer that day.
I sighed lightly in frustration.
‘Actually, that suggestion was half right, half wrong.’
It was true that the Sun Mage had left a formula to seal specific memories.
Of course, it was a very difficult formula, but with practice, it seemed possible to at least imitate it.
But—!
‘He didn’t really intend to cast that curse on me.’
Naturally.
After all, there were no memories for me to regain, so why would he seal my memories unnecessarily?
Moreover, even the Sun Mage didn’t know the side effects of this curse.
‘He wouldn’t experiment with something so dangerous on my body, right?’
But I wanted to ease Harton’s anxiety.
I planned only to pretend to cast the curse, without actually doing anything.
I had thought of it on the spot, and it seemed like a decent idea.
‘I guess it still didn’t satisfy Harton’s heart.’
Even though I had added a little lie about its safety, he still looked uneasy.
I couldn’t explain to him that I wasn’t actually going to cast the curse.
‘Hmm— I’ll have to bring this up again later.’
I shrugged lightly and gently closed the book I had been reading.
Looking at Harton sitting beside me, I smiled.
“Do you enjoy looking at my face that much?”
“Hmm?! How could this happen…! I couldn’t help but be drawn to your side profile under the small carriage lantern—it was so beautiful and intelligent, I just…”
I smiled softly at Harton’s familiar flattery.
‘Still, it’s a relief to see him back to his usual self.’
Even if something serious or troubling happened, the moment he saw my face, he would forget it on his own.
I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or worried about that.
‘Well, I’ll be by his side from now on, so maybe it’s not a big concern~.’
Escorted by Harton, I got off the carriage and looked at the mansion before me.
A dilapidated two-story mansion, neglected for at least a year.
An unnamed knight who had followed us from the underground prison approached.
“This is the Nasel Baron’s mansion, passed down through generations.”
“Did you bring those two along properly?”
The knight nodded and opened the large carriage compartment.
Inside, the Nasel mother and daughter were lying asleep under a sleep spell that kept them unconscious all day.
“Good. Shall we go inside?”
Even terrible people, I liked extracting everything I could from them—it was my hobby.
With that, I entered the mansion with the Nasel mother and daughter, the place where Eani Nasel’s childhood memories were likely preserved.
