Chapter 1

“Ah, damn, I’m going to be late.”

Because of the dress and accessories I was clutching full in my arms, it was hard to see properly ahead.

I pressed down the lace that had risen thickly up to my face with my chin, then ran hard enough that my eyebrows seemed to fly off.

The blazing sun felt hot enough to scorch the top of my head, but I couldn’t stop.

“If we break up, we die. You and me. So don’t abandon me. Remember that.”

Of all things, I had to dream about that bastard.

Just when I start to forget, he shows up in my dreams without fail and stirs me up every single time.

A white wall wrapped in ivy came into view. Rather than passing through the main gate where the guards were standing firm, it would be much faster to crawl through the dog hole at the back gate.

I hurriedly changed direction and slipped into a side path thick with towering zelkova trees.

After quickly turning my head to make sure no one was around, I lowered my body. I pushed aside the grass that had once been piled there as a temporary cover and carefully shoved the box containing the dress inside.

Then, when I had pushed half my upper body in, smack!

“Ack—”

A sharp sound of impact rang out.

Still lying flat, I covered my mouth with both hands. Someone was very close by.

I rolled only my eyes and looked around.

In a remote corner of the estate where no one ever came, a man and a woman were meeting in secret. No, the atmosphere didn’t quite feel like a secret rendezvous.

“If you come looking for me like this again, it won’t end with just one slap.”

I could tell who the woman was from her voice alone.

It was ‘Arvina Odriann,’ the owner of the dress I was delivering.

Her thick, light sky-blue hair, which fell past her waist, swayed like rippling water.

“I’m looking forward to that.”

The man standing before her lifted the corners of his lips as if amused, despite Arvina’s warning tone.

He was tall, with a large, solid build that seemed capable of swallowing Arvina whole. Starting from the bridge of his brow, his high nose and well-defined jawline made him look like a painting even when he was simply standing still.

His black hair, as if absorbing all the surrounding light, was a color rarely seen.

He looked as noble and aloof as a flower on a cliff, yet his behavior was that of a rogue coaxing an innocent lady.

“Lord Castion!”

Gerard Castion.

Just hearing his name made the pit of my stomach tighten. I thought my dreams had felt ominous, and sure enough, I ended up running into the guy.

The second son of the Castion Grand Duchy, which held the empire’s political and financial worlds in its grasp. He was also a top-tier Awakened, a rank said to make up less than one percent of the entire population.

A man who could single-handedly subdue a colossal beast that even a legion couldn’t defeat. An imperial hero and symbol of hope who moved heaven and earth with telekinesis to protect the empire’s people from monsters.

If his family name was Castion, then at least he could have lacked ability, or if he was that capable, he could have at least not been handsome. In every way, he was the kind of man whose excellence made others sick with envy.

“Why not be honest already. You don’t dislike me either, do you. If you rushed to get ready and ran out to meet me even though I showed up early in the morning without warning—”

Tilting his head slightly, Gerard lightly brushed the brooch attached to Arvina’s chest with his fingertips.

“Were you perhaps waiting for me to come?”

Arvina’s exposed skin flushed red in an instant. She pushed Gerard’s body with all her strength.

But instead of him being pushed back, Arvina herself staggered. When Gerard reached out to steady her, Arvina sharply slapped his hand away.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m only observing proper courtesy. Lord Castion, you may certainly be a charming man, but not to me.”

“You take off your coat even for a vagrant on the street, yet you act cold only toward me. That must mean I’m special to you.”

“Not at all!”

“Then tell me why you refuse to purify only me every time.”

“If Your Lordship wishes, you can receive purification from anyone at any time. I want to use my ability for those who have difficulty finding a Purifier.”

“What a cold yet compassionate princess. I feel like my memories would return if you purified me just once. Am I not pitiful?”

“…I do feel sorry about that. But even the temple says there is no other method, and I don’t think my purification would help.”

“You won’t know unless you try. How about at least a light kiss?”

“You really are something… Please don’t send flowers or gifts anymore, and I hope we won’t have to meet like this again. Goodbye.”

After pouring out everything she wanted to say in a flushed voice, Arvina lifted her chin stiffly and left first.

Rejected harshly without a shred of hope, and even slapped across the face, Gerard placed one hand on his waist and let out a low sigh.

The smile that had been on his face was gone. He had acted relaxed and playful, but it seemed his true feelings weren’t so carefree.

“……”

They say the second son of House Castion has been searching all over the empire to recover his lost memories.

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mikan

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