Chapter 92
“…You want me to wear this?”
“It was the Young Master’s order. We’ll do our very best.”
What I meant was that I didn’t want to wear it, but the maids pretended not to understand and only gave their mechanical reply before beginning to dress me in the gown. Four of them surrounded me, decorating me from head to toe like a machine at work.
It was almost lunchtime. I had taken Ian’s request to “dress nicely” lightly, but the moment I saw my reflection in the mirror, my face turned pale. The dress revealed my long, white neckline and shoulders, adorned with jewels, as if white petals were wrapping around my body.
Even my hair—done up in an immaculate chignon after an hour of effort—didn’t let a single strand escape. Tucked into it was a transparent pin overloaded with flower ornaments, far too excessive.
The problem was that this was the Kan Federation’s fortress, located right in the middle of a monster zone. And with my hair up and my shoulders bare, the marks Ian had left by biting my nape were too blatantly visible.
“Wouldn’t it be better to cover my shoulders?”
This level of dress would draw attention even at a high-society party. No matter how I thought about it, it felt wrong. But when I asked, the maids ignored me.
Still, they hadn’t been lying when they said they’d do their best. The woman in the mirror truly looked beautiful. My skin was pale to the point of translucence, my glossy blonde hair shining with rose oil, coiled into a crown like a halo.
If only the white dress didn’t look so much like a bridal gown—or at least if the shoulders were covered—I might have been satisfied with the transformation.
Thankfully, the maids draped a white lace-edged shawl over my shoulders, which allowed me to hide my neck somewhat. But up close, the red spots beneath showed through the semi-transparent fabric like a watercolor painting.
When I rose, the skirt of the gown swayed from the waist down, blooming around me like the petals of a flower.
This is basically a wedding dress, isn’t it?
Feeling weighed down by the excessive volume, I lifted the hem and walked down the corridor. Just who was this “special guest”?
Deon?
The man’s face flashed through my mind, and my heart thudded violently in my chest. But if it was Deon, Ian would hardly be pleased. Still, it was about time Deon reached the Kan Federation. Outwardly, he and Ian were enemies, but since they’d had dealings in Drace Prison, it wouldn’t be unlike Ian to cheekily invite him to dinner.
If that’s the case, then why dress me up like this? To show him I’m living happily by Ian’s side?
“Lady Lemoni Christina is entering.”
I arrived at the door, stumbling slightly over the uneven floor in my high heels. At the maid’s knock, the door opened. The first thing I saw was a grand chandelier and a twelve-seat marble dining table that didn’t belong in a fortress.
Perhaps this was the residence reserved for the leaders. The chairs and table were enormous, scaled for monsters, making me feel like a tiny guest in a land of giants.
While awkwardly scanning the room for an empty seat, I spotted Deon. Even at the vast table, his presence stood out—his broad, bandaged shoulders, his broken armor revealing glimpses of a black tunic stretched over firm muscle.
“Lemoni’s here too.”
At Ian’s words, Deon finally turned his gaze toward me.
“…Lemoni?”
His handsome brows furrowed slightly. Rather than happy, he looked… surprised. No wonder—I looked like a noblewoman dressed for a glittering banquet.
“Ian made me wear this. I didn’t have a choice.”
With Ian casually dressed in just a shirt and Deon looking like he had just come from battle, I felt ridiculous in comparison and flushed as I slipped into a seat—right beside Deon.
“Anyone would think you were getting married.”
Only then did he seem to take in the gown. His cool, calloused palm brushed gently against my cheek, and heat surged to my ears. I quickly lowered my gaze.
“If anything, I look more like a runaway bride.”
At my muttered attempt at humor, he gave a faint laugh.
“…Your health.”
Deon asked after me in his usual flat tone. But my heart pounded harder than it ever should have at such simple words.
I’ll be back.
The day we parted. Those short, rough words of his—how much sincerity had been buried in them, I realized only now. If no one else had been present, I might have leapt into his arms right then. That was how much I had waited for him. Even if I hadn’t shown it outwardly, he had always lingered in my thoughts.
Suppressing the urge to fidget, I answered with dignity.
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t fine. But right now, I truly was.
What was he thinking? Had he noticed the marks hidden beneath my shawl? If it was Deon, he surely had. Could that be why Ian had forced me to wear a gown that exposed my shoulders—to flaunt his claim to Deon?
It was an ugly thought, but part of me welcomed it. To be honest, I wanted this impossibly handsome man to feel jealous because of me.
I even hoped he would demand, What are these marks? and pick a fight with Ian.
“…Why are you asking that?”
Of course, clumsy as I was with emotions, I couldn’t reveal my true feelings. Instead, I pouted and glared at him.
But he didn’t react. He neither grew angry nor showed any emotion. His eyes lingered briefly on my neck, then calmly shifted to the other side of the table.
“…So in the future, I’m still getting along with you?”
It was a woman’s voice—unfamiliar, and startling.
I froze and followed Deon’s gaze. Sitting beside Ian was a breathtakingly beautiful woman I hadn’t noticed until now.
Her features were striking, yet her presence was strangely faint, as if veiled in mist or projected like a hologram. The more I looked, the clearer it became: she wasn’t human. And yet… she looked far too much like me.
The future me?
Even the way she spoke was strange. I instinctively sought Deon’s help, but his gaze was fixed on the woman, his broad back tensing ever so slightly. He seemed almost wary of her.
Resting his chin on his hand, Ian cut in with amusement.
“Ah, Lemoni. Let me introduce today’s special guest.”
So Deon wasn’t the special guest?
“Remember how your friends recalled things you couldn’t? Like a past you’d forgotten?”
At his words, Kais came to mind. He had once said my soul had been swapped before I turned five.
“How do you know that…?”
“This woman is the embodiment of your lost memories.”
“…What?”
“In other words, the person that bastard was so obsessed with was actually her.”
My thoughts went blank.
It was all so sudden. And it was just as unsettling to see Deon responding with faint smiles to everything the woman said.
Summarized, her story was this: Railia’s diary hadn’t been written by her at all, but planted to deceive us. According to her, she truly had regressed in time and had once been Lemoni Christina. But after her regression, she awoke not as Lemoni but as Railia—a worthless prisoner. Seeking revenge on Deon, she approached the current Lemoni to steal her body.
But something had gone wrong during the black magic ritual. Lemoni’s soul had been torn apart. As a compromise, she locked all of Lemoni’s memories into a forbidden tome and banished the remainder of her soul to another world. That, she claimed, was how things stood now.
“So basically… I lost my memories, and those missing memories became a soul—that woman over there?”
Could such a thing even be possible? The sudden flood of information left me speechless for a long while. Finally, I frowned.
“…Is there no way to restore it?”
“We’re looking into it now.”
“So you mean… there hasn’t been any way to merge us until now?”
“Our Lemoni—so blunt, yet so perceptive.”
Ian chuckled awkwardly.
“Then what do we do?”
“For now, we’ll keep searching for a way. If worst comes to worst, we’ll hold Railia accountable.”
At that, the woman herself joined the conversation, her serene smile meant to soothe me.
“The simplest solution would be for me to enter Railia’s body. Then the two of us would become one person.”
