“Do you remember me?”
“Of course I do.”
Finally!
She had predicted misfortune for me last time, but now—she was the most welcome sight in the world.
However, the fortune-teller’s expression wasn’t reassuring.
“Please, young lady… stop coming here already.”
“…What?”
Before I could even process what she meant, the door to the tent burst open.
I turned to see the knights of my household. My escort knight and Anna had come with them.
How did they find me?
I had only said I was going to see a fortune-teller. That didn’t mean they could’ve known exactly where.
It’s not like there’s only one fortune-teller in town…
Speechless, I looked at Anna, who gave me a flustered expression.
“Young lady, how could you go off on your own like that?”
“How did you even know I was here?”
“Well, this is one of your favorite places.”
“…It is?”
I’ve never frequented this place before.
While I hesitated at her strange reply, the fortune-teller turned to Anna instead of me.
“Please talk some sense into her.”
Then she turned back to me, sighing as though I was hopeless.
“Either way, the man you like… there’s no future there. Just give up already.”
“…Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Apparently, the me they know has been here several times already. That’s probably how they knew exactly where to find me.
“You shouldn’t be outside in your condition, young lady.”
Anna spoke gently, as if trying to calm a child.
“I know it’s frustrating, but please, just rest at the estate for a few more days.”
Rest?
But I was told my body was fine, so what kind of rest do they mean?
They just want to keep me locked up until I stop “talking nonsense,” don’t they?
The hope I’d placed in this visit quickly faded. I climbed into the carriage with Anna, sighing deeply.
When we returned to the estate, Milan was waiting in my room.
“You went out dressed like that?”
He clicked his tongue upon seeing me in a light indoor dress hastily covered by a coat.
His perfectly groomed attire stood in stark contrast.
…Was that necessary?
Clicking his tongue at me? That wasn’t like him. I felt genuinely hurt.
“I heard you went to see that fortune-teller again?”
“I didn’t go for a reading, just to talk. That’s all.”
“Do I look like I’m in the mood for word games?”
Milan’s tone turned sharp, and I flinched.
“When are you going to give up on that ridiculous one-sided crush? You even drank a potion, and still, you’re not thinking straight?”
But I never drank the potion…
I kept silent. There was no point in defending myself.
This version of Milan, who showed no warmth toward me, was truly unfamiliar.
He asked again, his voice firm.
“You were trying to avoid our talk, weren’t you? How did you leave the estate?”
What do you think? Through the dog hole, obviously.
“I was told you didn’t go out the main gate. Did you use a teleport scroll?”
“You really don’t know how I got out?”
When I asked back, Milan frowned.
“I told you I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“I’ve never joked with you.”
That was true. And Milan knew about the dog hole—I was sure of it.
He’s the one who showed it to me as a child!
“I used the secret passage you showed me when we were kids.”
“When did I ever do that?”
Milan narrowed his eyes.
“You told me when we were little. We used to sneak out through it to play, remember?”
His memory was sharp—was he really forgetting something like that?
I explained anyway, just in case, but he scowled.
“What are you talking about? I never told you anything like that.”
“You really don’t remember?”
“It’s not that I don’t remember. I had no reason to tell someone as disobedient as you about a secret passage.”
“You really never showed me…?”
What on earth…?
I was completely lost. I remembered it so vividly, and yet he insisted it never happened?
“We were never close. Not even as kids.”
Again, he denied everything. He wasn’t saying it out of spite—he genuinely believed it.
“They said you’ve got memory issues, right? Is this one of your ‘confusions’ too?”
He looked at me with pity and disbelief.
“You’re not faking this, are you?”
“Faking what?”
There was deep suspicion in his eyes.
“You drank that ridiculous potion because you wanted the prince to fall for you. You stole our mother’s tiara and lost it. Are you pretending to have memory loss just to avoid getting scolded by Father?”
“I’m saying I really don’t remember because I don’t.”
“Not buying it.”
He reached out and lifted my chin, forcing me to look up at him.
His green eyes—just like mine—stared down coldly, without a shred of affection.
“If you’re planning to wait this out until Father lets it go, stop now. I’ll make sure the truth comes out. You’ll apologize for lying.”
With that, he let go and walked out of the room.
“…What did I ever do to deserve this?”
I grumbled under my breath.
That man wasn’t my brother. He wasn’t the warm, kind Milan I loved.
Of course he wasn’t. We didn’t even share the same memories.
And I’m not the girl they all remember, either. That much is clear now.
Otherwise, how could this situation make any sense?
It was like I’d fallen into a different world altogether.
____________.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓆰♕𓆪 ֶָ֢. _________
“Here, have some. You like walnut tarts, right?”
I set a plate of pastries on the table and offered it to her. Anna blinked, surprised.
“You know my preferences, miss?”
She looked puzzled as to how I’d know something like that.
“Of course. You’re my maid, aren’t you?”
When I smiled, Anna looked even more perplexed—like she was seeing this for the first time.
Trying to ignore her expression, I got to the point.
“I think something’s gone wrong with my memory. You know that, right?”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll ask you a few things. Can you answer honestly?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“When did things go wrong between me and my brother?”
Judging by how Milan spoke earlier, our relationship must’ve been strained for years.
“This doesn’t seem to be just about the tiara incident.”
I needed to figure out what parts of my memories still matched reality—and which didn’t. I was starting to accept that the people around me weren’t the same people I knew.
“You can be honest.”
“You and the young master… weren’t close, even when I first arrived at the estate.”
“Since five years ago?”
“Yes.”
She looked at me like she didn’t understand why I was asking.
So that much was the same as I remembered. The main difference seemed to be in my relationships with people.
But why?
Why was I the only one like this?
Everyone else seemed “normal”—which made me the odd one out.
I needed to find a way to adapt. Arguing would only make them think I’d lost my mind.
Especially with that physician already looking at me like I was a tragic case.
“Miss, you’ve liked the Second Prince for quite some time.”
Anna continued, explaining my supposed romance.
The more I heard, the more absurd it all sounded.
“I chased him around?”
“Well… you tried to see him often.”
“Don’t sugarcoat it. I was chasing him.”
Anna went quiet. That silence was answer enough.
I’d followed him to his vacation spots, pretended to “accidentally” run into him… that wasn’t just a crush. That was obsession.
“I even followed him to his retreat?”
“You tried to make it seem like a coincidence, but I don’t think His Highness believed that.”
Of course not. Once or twice might pass, but more than that?
“I’ll stop by Denise’s salon tomorrow… Maybe visit a few other places just in case.”
That cheerful line from my old diary now made my skin crawl.
“The potion. How did I even get my hands on it?”
“You went out alone that day, so I don’t know exactly where you got it.”
I left by myself to buy the potion?
Why would I do that?
The person they were describing didn’t feel like me at all.
“When you collapsed, the bottle was found on your desk—with the label ‘Love Potion’—along with your diary. That’s how His Grace and the young master figured it out.”
“Even Milan read my diary?”
Oh no. That diary had… some pretty harsh words in it.
“Yes, he read it too.”
So he saw the part where I called him a “lousy bastard”?
“Is that why he hates me even more now?”
“He hasn’t changed. He’s always been like this.”
So the diary didn’t make things worse. He was already that awful.
“At least no one outside knows what the potion was. All they heard is that you collapsed from taking something.”
Anna sounded relieved about that.
A love potion and “some unknown medicine” might seem like two different things… but weren’t they basically the same?
If word got out that I took a love potion right after getting rejected, people might think…
Did I try to take my own life?
That’s what it would look like.
