Chapter 83
“The magic that alters memories definitely exists. So, your theory isn’t impossible.”
Baron Illin finally looked away from Bangu-ma and turned his eyes to me.
“But depending on the method used, it may be impossible to recover the original memory. So if your guess is true, we have to find out exactly what kind of magic was used on the two of them.”
“How can we find that out?”
“If the memories were altered, there would be something that feels ‘off.’ It wouldn’t match the flow of normal memories.”
I was really lucky that Winter came with us today.
Because I knew nothing about magic.
“For example, someone might have six fingers… or a flower could have a mouse’s face instead of petals.”
Winter suddenly snapped his fingers.
Then he pointed out the window… and the world outside looked strange.
“We start by finding those little things that feel ‘off.’”
There were shoes growing on the trees.
Yes, shoes! Not apples or grapes—actual shoes were hanging like fruit.
Snap!
Winter snapped his fingers again.
Now the people walking on the street looked odd. A child selling flowers was handing out rainbow-colored flowers.
Snap!
Buildings were made of candy, and chocolate flowed from the fountain.
But nobody was eating the buildings—they were still paying money to buy snacks.
Snap!
Winter kicked the door of the carriage open and reached out as if to grab something.
Was it a flower? That would’ve been sweet.
But what he handed to me was… a sweet potato.
As big as my forearm.
Snap!
“Huh… what just happened?”
I suddenly snapped out of it like I had been dozing off.
Winter lowered his hand and explained.
“I made everything look exaggerated on purpose so it would be easier to understand. But in reality, the distortions in memory are much smaller and harder to notice. They’re influenced by the person’s subconscious.”
I looked out the window again—it was the normal world I knew.
The buildings were made of bricks, there were no shoes on the trees, and the child’s flowers were just regular yellow wildflowers.
Oh!
Wait, no—it wasn’t completely normal.
I held up the huge sweet potato that was still in my hand and smiled.
“This still isn’t real, is it?”
“That’s just a steamed sweet potato.”
Winter pointed to a picnic basket by his feet.
“The Emperor of the Western Empire said not to let you eat anything from Rohia. So he packed separate meals and snacks for you. Would you like some orange juice?”
Right then, the carriage came to a stop.
We had arrived at the house.
Looking out the window, I saw Yudis waiting for us with a few servants.
But the carriage door didn’t open.
“You can’t get out until you finish eating.”
I made eye contact with Yudis through the window.
As I peeled the giant sweet potato with a miserable face, the gentle smile on Yudis’s face twitched a little.
Then she noticed Winter—and her eyes went wide in shock.
Winter gave her a small nod, then pulled out a cup and juice from the basket and poured it for me.
“Eat slowly. Don’t choke.”
So, with at least five pairs of eyes watching me, I began eating the giant sweet potato.
‘Is this really happening?’
The carriage wouldn’t open until I finished eating, and there was no fast-forward button.
Yudis had to just stand there and wait silently until I was done eating it all.
“I guess… we don’t need to prepare another meal.”
Yudis looked down at my stuffed belly and forced a smile.
“Sorry for visiting so suddenly in the morning. But I won’t stay long, so please don’t worry too much.”
At my words, her eyebrows twitched. She looked suspicious of my sudden visit.
And it made sense. She definitely knew who was standing behind me.
“Why is the Duke of Orshus—”
“Baron Illin.”
Winter cut her off with a polite smile.
“I am Baron Illin, Lady Monica’s escort knight.”
Baron Illin?
Yudis’s eyes flickered with surprise.
‘Escort knight? Igrio is acting as her escort knight?’
She had many questions, but couldn’t ask them out loud.
Even if he was calling himself ‘Baron Illin,’ she could clearly see that he was Igrio.
His smiling eyes and lips may have looked playful, but everyone knew he wasn’t someone to mess with.
In fact, the smile made him even more unreadable, and Yudis felt a chill of fear.
She turned away and spoke kindly to me.
“There’s no need to rush. Since you’ve returned home after so long, why not stay a day and rest?”
“I came today to see Boris. But thank you for the thought.”
At the mention of Boris, Yudis’s eyes sharpened again.
“…I heard what happened at the palace.”
She turned and began walking ahead.
“You seem to be close with Oscar Tradi. Maybe you could talk some sense into him?”
“Excuse me?”
“That whole thing was just a childish mistake. It’s not worth blowing up over one little dog. But the Tradi boy is too petty and can’t make rational decisions. Honestly, he’s not fit to lead a family as large as Tradi.”
Her reaction didn’t surprise me.
My mother was always like this.
If she had even a little empathy for Oscar, who lost a dog he saw as his own brother, she would’ve raised me differently.
“Well, since it was His Majesty’s decision, I’ll just deliver your opinion to him directly. Why bother with Oscar?”
Yudis came to a full stop.
I nearly bumped into her back.
“You really don’t know your place.”
“…Is that so?”
“But enjoy it while you can. The more you do, the worse it’ll feel when it’s all taken away.”
I was standing in her shadow.
Looking up at her stiff back, I said,
“…If you said that while looking me in the face, it would be much more satisfying for you. You’d enjoy my expression right now.”
“……”
Maybe she wasn’t wrong.
After all, it was Boris who was the Emperor’s child—not me.
But instead of answering, Yudis started walking again.
This time, she led me not inside, but out into the open courtyard.
There, Boris was training alone—shirtless and swinging his sword with focus.
I turned to Winter and said,
“I’ll go alone. If you come with me, he’ll just be on guard.”
Winter nodded and pointed to a small gazebo not far away.
“Then I’ll be over there having tea with Lady Yudis.”
At the word tea, Yudis couldn’t hide her shocked face.
But ‘Baron Illin’ acted completely at ease and walked over to the outdoor table for tea.
I turned my back to them and headed toward Boris.
He was so focused on swinging his sword that he didn’t even notice me.
‘Boris really was obsessed with sword training.’
Actually, it wasn’t just that he trained hard—he did nothing else but train.
You could tell how much he practiced just by looking at the muscles on his twelve-year-old body.
“Bori— Aack!”
I was about to call his name from a distance, but froze in shock.
The moment was tense.
Boris clicked his tongue and snapped,
“What the hell? Don’t bother me. Get lost!”
He looked like he was about to explode.
He was always intense when training, but now that a duel with Oscar was coming up, he looked borderline crazy.
Boris didn’t care why I came. He swung his sword threateningly.
“…Didn’t you hear me? You’re in the way. Get lost!”
“Sorry for bothering you, but I don’t want to see you for long either. I just need to ask you something, so come to the rooftop—no, to the garden maze.”
There was a maze-shaped area in the rose garden behind the house.
I didn’t want Yudis to overhear, so I pointed to the garden.
Boris’s eyes widened with fury.
“Oh, you think you’re so bold now? Do I need to remind you whether you even have the right to tell me what to do?”
The angrier he got, the more I smiled.
“Are you scared? You can only act tough when Mom’s around. When she’s not, you can’t even be alone with me? Do you know the word mama’s boy?”
Boris blinked like he couldn’t believe what he just heard.
Then he gritted his teeth so hard I thought they might break and slammed his sword down on the ground.
“You just wait.”
He then rubbed his sweaty hair in frustration and stormed off toward the entrance of the maze.
See? I told you—he’s a muscle-brain.
Too easy.
I’ve waited ten years for this moment!
I chuckled to myself and stepped lightly into the maze.
That is going to be a tense teatime.