INDC 12

~Chapter 12~

I Only Need the Duke’s Child Episode 12. The Wardrobe of Memories

The next morning, Blair came to Heredin’s office after being summoned by him.

In the office, Heredin and a middle-aged man she had never seen before were waiting.

It was not difficult to guess who the man was.

The man bowed politely the moment he saw Blair.
“My name is Marcel, a hypnotist.

It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness the Princess.

Ah, no, I should call you Duchess now.”
As he said this, his gaze alternated between Blair’s hand and her eyes.

When men met a royal or a high-ranking noblewoman, it was customary to kiss the back of her hand as a sign of respect and courtesy.

Having lived as a princess for twenty years, it was something familiar and natural to her.

Blair noticed his intention and extended her hand.

But at that moment, Heredin, who had been leaning crookedly against the office desk, straightened and walked past them, speaking.
“We have another engagement afterward, so begin immediately.”
The hypnotist awkwardly lowered the hand that had lost its destination after being blocked by Heredin, then promptly began preparing for the hypnosis.

Blair sat in a rocking chair in one corner of the office and looked at Heredin with anxious eyes.

He seemed to intend to stay and watch the hypnosis take place.
“Heredin.

If you’re busy, it’s fine if you leave me here and go attend to your work.”
“I’ve heard that those who awaken memories that are difficult to recall sometimes suffer.

So shouldn’t I, as your husband, remain by your side?”
Hearing that, the hypnotist thought the Duke must care greatly for his wife, but Blair knew better.

Contrary to the concern in his words, his cold blue eyes staring at her were saying:
‘How could I possibly trust you?’
Blair closed her eyes as if erasing that cold voice in her mind, then slowly opened them again.
“I’m ready.

Let’s begin, Marcel.”
The lights illuminating the shadowed room were extinguished, and the pendulum hanging from the hypnotist’s hand began to sway.

Blair’s eyes blinked slowly following the pendulum’s movement, then gradually closed.

Only the hypnotist’s low voice echoed through the quiet room.
“You are returning to that day ten years ago, the day the fire broke out in the Empress Palace.

You must have been about ten years old.

Is that correct?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
Blair’s voice answering sounded like someone speaking in her sleep, muttering a beat slower.

Heredin watched the scene with his arms crossed, leaning against the window.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m… going to the Empress Palace.

Secretly, without Mother knowing.

Mother doesn’t like it when I go to the Empress Palace.”
“Then you must hurry.

It should be about time to arrive.

Have you arrived?”
“Yes…

Her Majesty the Empress is welcoming me.”
“What do you do there now?”
“We talk while drinking warm cocoa.

And we all play card games with the maids.”
“And after that?”
“I think I fell asleep.”
“Try slowly opening your eyes.

What do you see?”
At the hypnotist’s question, the faint smile that had remained on Blair’s calm face disappeared.
“…It’s dark.”
“It must be a very dark night.

Do you see anything around you?”
“No.

Only dresses…”
“Dresses?

Where are you?”
“…I think I’m inside a wardrobe.”
At Blair’s words, Heredin’s eyes sharpened.

At the time of the incident, Blair had been found collapsed in the corridor of the Empress Palace, discovered and rescued by the knights who had come to save the Empress.

Inside the Empress’s room, Esmeralda and her maid had been found dead, hanging.

No one knew what exactly had happened there that day.

The maids who had been staying in the Empress Palace that day had all fallen asleep after drinking tea laced with sleeping medicine and had died together with the palace when it was engulfed in flames.

Blair was the sole survivor of that incident.

Blair’s memory was only of waking up inside a wardrobe in the Empress Palace.

That was all.

She had no memory from leaving the wardrobe to being rescued in the corridor.

So the real search for her memories would begin now.

The hypnotist also sensed the significance and straightened his posture.
“What are you doing there?”
“I don’t know.

I just woke up and found myself inside the wardrobe…”
“Then shall we try going outside now?”
When the hypnotist suggested it, Blair sharply inhaled.

She seemed frightened.
“…I can’t go out.”
“Why not?

Is the door locked?

Or is there another problem?”
“I don’t know.

I can’t go out.

If I go out… I mustn’t.”
Heredin’s brow narrowed slightly as he watched Blair.

Beyond the wardrobe she could not see lay the truth of that day.
“Hmm, then how about just peeking outside through the crack of the door?

To see what’s happening outside.”
“I don’t want to see…

I don’t want to look.

I’m scared…”
Blair shook her head tearfully, as if she had returned to being the ten-year-old child she was at the time.
“Whatever is there, whatever happens, nothing will happen to you.

Now, take a deep breath.”
“Fire, fire…

Smoke is coming in.”
Blair began coughing and gasping as though she were truly inhaling smoke.
“Then let’s go outside the wardrobe now.

Open the door.”
“The door… the door won’t open.”
Blair gasped with a frightened voice.

The hypnotist then tried to calm her.
“You can open that door.

If you want to, it will open.”
That day Blair had been found in the corridor.

Whether someone had helped her or she had come out by herself was unknown, but in any case the wardrobe door must have opened.

The reason Blair believed she could not leave the wardrobe was most likely a barrier created by her subconscious.

But Blair still could not open the door.
“Ugh…

No.

I don’t like this…

Help me.

Please help me.

I can’t breathe…”
At last she burst into tears and twisted her body in distress.

The color had completely drained from her already pale face.

Only then did Heredin realize why Blair had tried to send him away before the hypnosis began.
“…Stop.”
But the hypnotist seemed not to hear him and continued urging Blair.
“You must open the door.

You have to open that door and come out!”
“Ugh…

Ugh…

Haa…”
Blair’s breathing became more and more labored.

As though she might truly stop breathing.

The fragile woman trembled violently like a quaking leaf.

At this rate, it seemed she might truly die.

Seeing that, his heart dropped.

If what he was seeing was an act, the woman should become a great actress.

Not some dull Duchess.

Heredin pushed himself away from the window and ordered the hypnotist.
“…Wake her.”
“We’re almost there.

You must cross this wall to awaken the memories buried in the subconscious.”
Immersed in the hypnosis, the hypnotist ignored Heredin’s command and continued pressing Blair.
“Now, open the door.

You must open the door and go out if you want to live.

Quickly—”
Heredin grabbed the hypnotist by the collar and lifted him.
“Stop and wake her up!”
Meeting Heredin’s murderous gaze, the hypnotist finally realized he had angered him and froze.
“M-my apologies, Your Grace.”
Heredin released him as though throwing him aside and approached Blair.
“Wake up, Blair.”
He lifted Blair, who was still gasping for breath as if suffocating.

Then Blair, who had been twisting and sobbing in distress, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

At the same time, the tears gathered at the corners of her eyes streamed down.
“Haa…

Haa…”
But even after waking from hypnosis, she still could not breathe properly, like someone trapped inside flames.

Her eyes were open, yet unfocused.

Heredin stroked her back as she trembled as though having a seizure and whispered softly.
“Breathe.

Slowly.”
Following the slow rhythm of his hand stroking her back, Blair’s breathing gradually steadied.

Her vacant eyes also slowly regained their light each time she blinked.

When at last her tear-filled violet eyes fully reflected his image, Heredin let out a quiet sigh.

Leaving the frightened hypnotist behind, he carried Blair to her bedroom.

After seating Blair on the bed, Heredin examined her once more.

Whether his image was reflected in her eyes.

After confirming it, he rose from his seat.
“Heredin.”
A thin voice urgently stopped him as he turned away.
“Just now, in the memory, I faintly heard a voice.

Someone was speaking outside the wardrobe.

The sound was too faint to hear what they were saying, but…”
Heredin looked at her for a moment, wondering what she was talking about immediately after regaining consciousness, then let out a dry laugh.

The woman was talking about the memory she had just seen under hypnosis.

Even though she had wanted to escape from that memory so badly that she had chosen to die inside the wardrobe.
“Maybe next time under hypnosis I’ll be able to come out of the wardrobe.

That voice I heard today—I hadn’t heard it before.”
At her calm voice speaking about “next time,” anger suddenly surged within him.

Just moments ago she had been crying as though dying, gasping for breath.

Yet with her eyes still red and wet with tears, that was the first thing she brought up.
“Is that really what matters right now?”
Though he tried to suppress his emotions in his voice, the coldness in his eyes was unmistakable.

Then what was more important?

Blair blinked in confusion at his anger.
“The reason we summoned the hypnotist was to awaken my memories.”
After thinking for a moment about why he was angry, Blair quickly guessed the reason.

He must be angry because she had awakened before enduring long enough to reach the truth of that day.
“Next time I’ll try to endure a little longer.

The contract won’t be affected, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
She spoke calmly, but the small hands resting atop the blanket were still trembling.

Enough for him to see.