TWRO 45

Chapter 45

[…Having thoroughly confirmed the drug’s efficacy, we hereby propose a contract to Ms. Selena Rayon. The specific conditions are…]

I covered my mouth in shock as I read the letter.

“Ms. Selena?”

“I received a contract offer!”

At my answer, Eva’s eyes widened. She beamed and congratulated me.

“Congratulations! After all your hard work, you secured a contract so quickly!”

“I can’t believe it. A contract… I was actually looking for other options!”

Feeling elated, I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs, where I ran into Sir Aiden, who had just returned from his swordsmanship training. Even on weekends, though he didn’t attend classes, he never skipped sword practice.

“What’s going on? Why’s the teacher bouncing around like that?”

“I got a contract offer.”

“Really? That’s great news.”

“I’m planning to stop by the company after today’s counseling session. It’s a trading company, so I heard they work on weekends too.”

“You might be a bit late.”

“Yes, I think I’ll arrive in the evening.”

“Alright. Have a good session, teacher.”

“Thank you. You have a good day too, Sir Aiden.”

Waving goodbye to Sir Aiden, I headed to the counseling center.

The office, located at the edge of the downtown district, was a small, cozy space.

The counselor was a middle-aged woman with streaks of white in her hair.

‘Phew…’

Being my first session, I felt a little nervous.

As I sat down following her guidance, she introduced herself.

“I’m Gloria Humps. Please feel free to call me Gloria.”

“I’m Selena Rayon.”

“What a lovely name.”

“Thank you.”

“It must’ve taken a lot of courage to decide on counseling. Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, actually, I feel relieved. I’ve often felt the need for counseling.”

“What made you feel the need?”

“I don’t have any childhood memories. I also suffer from frequent nightmares and headaches. I think the answers lie in my lost memories. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember anything.”

It might sound ridiculous to say I lost my memories and was suffering nightmares and headaches because of them.

I glanced at Gloria, half-expecting her to laugh, but she listened with a very serious face.

“When you say childhood, what age are you referring to?”

“Ten years old. I have no memories from before then. I know it’s common for people not to remember early childhood clearly, but it’s rare to have such a clean slate like mine.”

“Then what is your very first memory?”

“My first memory is…”

It was the moment I ran, gasping for air as if my life depended on it. I only knew I had to escape.

“…Right after being rescued, my memories remained blurry for a while. I guess I couldn’t process things. When I came to my senses, I was already with my family.”

I didn’t tell Gloria that I lived with the Estarion Count family.

Mentioning the Count’s name felt uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure yet if she was someone I could trust.

So I kept things vague, making it seem like I was from a moderately wealthy family.

“Do you think recovering your memories will solve everything?”

“I think it will increase the chances. Knowing the cause of the problem is very important.”

“I see. Then, for you, memory recovery is crucial. Do you remember when the headaches and nightmares began?”

“Hmm…”

The nightmares had started a long time ago.

“They began right after I returned home. I don’t remember their exact content, but I remember waking up having seizures… and… asking him to hold me…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say “father,” so I mumbled.

Gloria either noticed and chose to ignore it or truly didn’t notice, continuing to listen attentively.

“But the headaches… I’m not sure when they started. They just began one day.”

“One day?”

“Yes, just suddenly one day…”

As I tried to recall, another sharp pain stabbed my head.

It’s always like this. Whenever I try to dig deeper, the headaches stop me as if something’s interfering.

“But I do remember the first day I took a pain-relieving potion for the headache.”

“When was that?”

“…That day was…”

It was the day I returned from meeting the Crown Prince, Philipso—who had been my fiancé at the time.

By the time I left the counseling office, my throat was hoarse.

My throat stung, but my mind was too tangled to care about the pain.

‘I don’t understand.’

That day after meeting the Crown Prince, I had such a severe headache that I needed a pain potion.

That meant I was under serious stress that day.

Given that, I should remember something about what happened with the Crown Prince… but I don’t remember a single thing.

When I regained awareness, I was back home, suffering from a headache.

‘It’s strange, but I didn’t even realize how strange it was.’

I must’ve been too distracted with work at the Estarion Count’s estate and my recurring headaches to properly reflect on it.

“Ugh…”

My head still throbbed, making me nauseous. But I couldn’t neglect business matters.

I headed straight to the company that had sent the contract offer.

“May I help you?”

I answered the staff member inside.

“Sorry for coming without an appointment. I’m Selena Rayon. I received a business proposal from your company, so I stopped by.”

“Please have a seat. I’ll call the president.”

“Thank you.”

The staff guided me to the reception room.

As I double-checked my checklist, the president who had made the proposal walked in.

“Ms. Selena Rayon?”

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Jim Litton. Did you happen to miss the express letter we sent this morning?”

“Oh… I left early, so I haven’t checked it yet.”

Since Eva had gone to work early, any mail that arrived later would’ve gone unseen.

A look of discomfort flickered across Mr. Litton’s face.

I instinctively sensed bad news was coming.

“We’ve sent notice to withdraw the offer.”

“…Pardon? May I ask why?”

“Late last night, a government directive came from the Imperial Administration. They warned against the rising use of new narcotic-based painkillers.”

“But my medicine doesn’t use any narcotics.”

“I know. But the government is being so strict… If there’s even a whiff of suspicion, they said they’d revoke all of our operating permits…”

“That’s an abuse of power!”

“For our company, it’s a risk we simply couldn’t bear.”

Mr. Litton was making excuses.

Because he couldn’t be 100% sure my drug was narcotic-free, he was scared of the government’s threats.

Trying to prove his innocence, he handed me the official notice.

It bore a line saying that Count Estarion, the Minister of Administration himself, had personally issued the warning.

‘It was targeted at me.’

I swallowed down my rising breath. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to calm myself.

Following Siena, now Count Estarion… My blood boiled with hostility toward them.

To interfere in this way… It was downright petty.

‘Try blocking a flowing river.’

That river can’t be dammed forever.

The same goes for people’s desire for pain relief.

As long as sickness exists, painkillers will always be needed.

If they interfere like this, I’ll just ignite that desire even more.

“Thank you for understanding.”

Returning the official letter, I replied,

“It’s alright. There are plenty of people who need this medicine.”

Amelia believed that after saying that much to Siena, the matter would be resolved.

But the letter she received today was not about her ship problem being settled.

“…A lawsuit over business rights…?”

What Selena sent her was a letter announcing legal action over the operation rights of the perfume workshop.

Amelia’s jaw dropped.

She knew Selena well.

Selena was gentle and kind but also incredibly stubborn.

And when it came to business, she was more thorough than anyone.

That’s probably why Count Estarion had left the household management to her.

“A lawsuit…?”

This would be a scandal for Amelia, but more importantly, it would undermine trust in her perfume production.

If sued, her parents would be deeply disappointed, and she’d be humiliated in high society.

She had to stop it at all costs.

“What the hell was Siena doing?!”

Amelia bit her nails.

Selena, who had stayed quiet all this time, suddenly coming at her like this… It was clearly because of Siena.

Something must have happened between them, but she had no way of knowing what.

And now Selena was using Amelia to pressure Siena.

‘Even so, I can’t just let Selena drag me around. This ends here.’

Amelia recalled the last time she saw Selena.

Watching her nearly die in the Inquisition, Amelia had enjoyed it.

If Selena still held a grudge over that, this wasn’t going to end easily.

“I need to send her a letter.”

Amelia immediately grabbed a pen and paper.

Selena was soft-hearted and naïve. If Amelia met her in person and persuaded her, maybe she wouldn’t forgive her, but she might at least stop this pressure.

If Amelia went, badmouthed Siena a lot, and sweet-talked Selena, she was sure Selena would fall for it.

With her mind made up, Amelia wrote a long letter asking to meet and talk.

At that very moment, a letter arrived for Aiden.

“Fred. What’s this?”

“It’s from the Estarion Count family. Please open it.”

“The Estarion family?”

It was an invitation to his upcoming birthday party.

With a strangely stiff expression, Aiden gave a command.

“Send them a reply saying I’ll attend. But don’t let the teacher know I’ve been invited or that I’m going.”

“Ms. Selena?”

“Yes. This stays between you and me. Understand?”

“Yes. I’ll be careful.”