Chapter 27
Things Forgotten
Living a life pretending to be the Duke with all my strength.
Even in bed, trying hard not to let Louis, who sometimes visits, notice anything strange.
Before the solemn Emperor, I must not let my fear show even as I deliver cold rebukes; before the wizards, I must always be their mental pillar — a continuous act of lies.
To break free from that.
‘It was a bit too much for me.’
Here, I was just me.
Not Hilaria, but me.
“Next time, tell me your name.”
The effect of the system window was fading.
“Promise me. Got it?”
The hand I was holding slipped away, and a dizzying sensation, like mist scattering, came over me.
Looking at the fading figure, I realized a shocking truth.
The me from Korea.
A guide civil servant who had worked hard.
The Emperor in front of me was the male lead from the novel I enjoyed reading.
And everything else.
But…
My heart dropped.
‘I don’t remember.’
What Kaisis had asked.
‘My name.’
I couldn’t remember my original name, the one from Korea.
Magic for teleportation activated, and I opened my eyes in the Duke’s bedroom, just like usual.
“Welcome back, nya~! Louis isn’t here today, nya. The great cat Lucy blocked the door, nya!”
The cat’s thick tail tapped on the floor, as if demanding praise.
The cat looked rather cute, but none of that mattered right now.
Thwack.
“Kyah!”
I grabbed the blunt cat’s front paw and held on tight, and the chubby feline guide made a disgusted face.
“What’s wrong, nya? Let go, nya!”
“My name.”
“Kyah?”
“My name, I mean.”
“……”
“You knew, didn’t you?”
The guide, who had been flailing, fell silent.
I narrowed my eyes and glared.
Since this was a reward given by the system, the cat surely knew.
“I can’t remember my name.”
I said, gritting my teeth, and the cat annoyingly licked its paw caught in my grasp.
“When did you know, huh?”
“Oh, you only just realized, nya?”
Seeing the sly smile made my anger flare.
“Say it clearly. What do you mean?”
I was scared.
Memory was like a soul.
It was an essential foundation that made me who I was.
And yet I was losing it?
Could it be because of the quest?
Was it because of that mysterious ???? qualification, interfering with the original story?
“What happened? Am I really going to lose all my memories like this? Tell me!”
The cat quietly asked,
“What are you scared of, nya?”
“Well, scared, isn’t it?”
I had awakened in a strange world, forced to live as Duke Ariel by a barrage of quests.
What got me through it all was the memory of being me — the memories before death.
But now, I might lose them all?
I was so scared that my teeth chattered like I’d been thrown into the dead of winter.
“I hate it. I don’t want to lose it. Am I really going to forget everything like this?”
“Phew.”
“Speak! You can explain it, right? Tell me everything you know. Please.”
The cat, staring at my miserable state, sighed deeply, then pressed its soft jelly paw on my forehead.
“Pull yourself together, nya.”
Though gentle, I couldn’t even smile.
“Being mixed into the world means losing parts of yourself, nya. Didn’t I warn you? To choose carefully and think it through, nya.”
My vision blurred strangely.
Something, something was stirring in my head.
“Remember the important first quest, nya. You need to contact key people quickly, nya. Otherwise, you won’t obtain the ???? qualification—”
Or else what.
Ah, I couldn’t bear it anymore.
Something burst out…
My vision spun drowsily.
And then,
“Achoo! Achoo, achoo!”
A furious sneezing fit erupted.
After several sneezes, a shabby, ugly chubby cat gave me a disdainful look.
“What’s that?”
A player who seemed like they had just finished guiding the Emperor.
I blinked and scratched my head.
What had we been talking about?
It seemed important, but I couldn’t recall.
Then, as if telling me not to think about anything else, the system window suddenly popped up.
[Congratulations!
Points have been accumulated.
Current guiding points: 13
Keep close guiding to earn more guiding points.]
“Only 13?”
I sighed deeply in disappointment.
“Kissing isn’t easy, and 13 points is barely anything. How much more do I need?”
Pouting and grumbling, the status window seemed to answer, slowly changing the text.
Then a long list appeared:
[Guide to accumulating points faster:
Kissing — 13 points
Skin contact under clothes — 15 points
Tongue under collarbone…]**
Wait!
“S-stop.”
I covered my reddening face and quickly scrolled down to clear the list from my sight.
It seemed full of overly explicit and lewd content just by looking at it!
“This novel had an age restriction of 15+, right? This isn’t right! Sure, this isn’t the novel now, but still!”
“Tsk, tsk. What are you doing, nya?”
The cat clicked its tongue watching me have a fit.
For some reason, that chubby cat seemed extra annoying and irritating today, so I pulled its tail tight, and it hissed.
I held it gently like a leash.
“Well, I have no choice but to try hard. Kaisis is cruel, but maybe it’s a blessing in disguise that I’m not really being watched properly. Ugh, points. Those damn points!”
I vowed to fill the 99 points and unlock either teleportation or attack magic!
Though I felt like I was forgetting something important, maybe I’d remember later.
I lay my tired body on the bed and sighed deeply.
The cat Lucy yawned widely beside me.
“Sleep well, nya.”
Yeah, you too.
I surrendered to my heavy eyelids closing.
“Today was really a long day…”
In the novel world, living as the Emperor’s silent shadow, his hidden partner, Duke Ariel, was hard as ever.
The hunter silently stared at the magic stone in his palm, softly glowing.
He couldn’t say there were no side effects.
Still, the effect was sufficient.
‘The memory remains.’
A vivid memory, very different from the faint, broken ones before.
But his blurry vision that prevented him from recognizing the other remained.
‘Unfamiliar speech for palace life. Thick hair. Lives like a noble despite not being noble. Someone who deviates from the typical lifestyle of the Guide and the Awakened. A wizard, specifically to Duke Ariel… someone seen favorably.’
The combination of words forming his partner was an incomprehensible mix.
Who was this person really?
And…
His clumsy yet fresh demeanor, visibly flustered by the man’s active advances.
The willingness to be intimidated by the man despite being a skilled guide.
A smile spread like a well-fed beast.
As they properly recognized and even talked to the partner, it felt vividly real, not a dream.
That alone gave him an overwhelmingly blissful fullness.
An infinite goodwill towards a stranger whose face and identity were unknown was strange.
Was this the compatible relationship between Guide and Awakened?
The pleasure from the clash of joy and pain that spread each time the gentle hand touched was indescribable.
The woman in front of him was lovely, so very lovely.
The ruler of the Empire could freely whine like a child, and lean his face against that fingertip.
Like a beast hiding claws, he could smile wickedly and cunningly, begging for favor.
None of those actions mattered.
The woman was honey.
So sweet it was dizzying, as if she might suddenly sink the Awakened’s wicked fang into that white neck.
‘Dangerous and irresistible partner.’
The woman. His partner.
He would find her no matter what.
‘By my side.’
He would grasp her firmly.
And whatever was blocking her, he would tear it apart and free her.
And that lonely face.
‘Yes, the lonely one.’
The gaze so similar to his own.
Even in the mist, not clearly seen but clearly felt, he would erase that loneliness.
