“I… proposed to you?”

The ominous feeling I felt was not wrong, and Ilion, as if he couldn’t remember last night, gave a cruel answer.

I wondered if I was dreaming, so I pinched his cheek, and he flinched and backed away.

“What are you doing?”

Thanks to Ilion’s cheek, which was swollen red, and his contemptuous gaze, my head, which had been immersed in happiness until just now, seemed to cool down.

Klaus, you bastard. If you were going to die, you should have died quietly. I can’t believe you left after cursing me.

And you, Ilion. How could you completely forget that you proposed to me? Huh?

I glared at him in anger, and he looked like he had a lot to say himself.

Who is really the person who was wronged here… Annoyed to the tip of my head, I grabbed his shirt and kissed him.

“What are you doing now…?”

“Why? Are you flustered? I’m ten times more flustered than you, Duke.”

How could even his flustered expression be the same as when we first kissed? It felt as though not only the memory of the proposal but also much earlier memories had vanished all at once.

Watching his face turn red like a ripe tomato, I asked.

“Why are you acting like it’s your first kiss? This is the third time.”

“Th-third time?”

Swallowing my rising anger, I reluctantly pulled my lips back.

“Oh my, you’re so embarrassed. We’re not just a couple who only kissed.”

“That can’t be…”

“Can’t be? How can you be sure? You don’t even remember the curse being lifted.”

As I slightly lowered my eyes to look at his unbuttoned shirt, Ilion also lowered his head to check his body.

“Even now, can you still say it can’t be?”

Try to refute it if you want. You don’t remember anyway.

The last words I said were just a petty grudge towards him, who couldn’t remember me, but I had no intention of correcting them.

Ilion, flustered by his cursed-free body, couldn’t open his mouth.

“Well, if you really can’t remember, we can try again.”

As I leaned in and grinned, he, who had been quietly watching me, finally spoke.

I thought he was just sitting there like a tomato, but it seemed he was a tomato that could talk.

“Get out… immediately.”

It was an order I hadn’t heard in a long time.

“Oh my. Telling the partner you spent the night with to leave as soon as you wake up, isn’t that too shameless?”

At my words, Ilion rubbed his forehead with a face as if he had a terrible dream. Then he barely added a word.

“…I’m begging you.”

***

I had no choice but to leave the room because his request was so earnest, but no particular solution came to mind.

In the end, with a frustrated heart, I headed to the dining room with heavy steps, where the servants gathered at the entrance seemed a bit noisy.

“Is something wrong?”

I asked, seeing the chaotic atmosphere, and Sebastian turned around and replied,

“Well, everyone had a strange experience last night.”

“What kind of experience?”

The story Sebastian told me felt strangely familiar. Everyone had fallen asleep while working last night, and the place where they woke up was different for each person. Some were in the kitchen, others at the entrance.

However, no one could remember the events of the previous night. Let alone last night…

“Do you know what day it is today?”

“Wasn’t it June?”

“Isn’t it July?”

They didn’t even remember that the season had entered winter. They seemed more shocked by the snow piled up outside the window.

“Do you remember anything, Sebastian?”

“…Well.”

I asked just in case, and Sebastian also shook his head with a flustered face.

“I remember Miss coming to the mansion, but after that…”

It seemed Klaus, who claimed he would take something precious from me, erased not only Ilion’s memory but also the memories of the people in the mansion related to me.

Lily barely remembered the day she came to Celestine, and Sebastian also only had memories of the few days I stayed at the mansion.

The other servants, who had less contact with me, remembered up to the point where I was trapped in the Imperial Palace due to the Harvest Festival.

The point at which their memories were lost varied, but generally, the closer the person was to me, the more memories they seemed to have lost.

Whether they had many memories or few, it was the same that they couldn’t easily get out of the shock.

As the situation grew more frustrating, I let out deep sighs, and just then, Spinel came down to the entrance, yawning widely.

“What are you all doing here?”

“…Miss Spinel!”

Hearing the urgently calling voice, Spinel tilted her head and asked.

“What’s all the fuss about in the morning? Did Ilion cause some trouble?”

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?”

I asked, clinging to a glimmer of hope at Spinel’s usual appearance. Spinel blinked a couple of times and asked back.

“Are you talking about the snowball fight? Why, do you want to do it again?”

Fortunately, Spinel seemed to remember yesterday’s events. Feeling as if I had met someone I knew among strangers, I hugged her and whined.

“Everyone says they don’t remember me.”

“…Even Ilion?”

“Yes.”

After hearing my story, Spinel replied with an annoyed expression.

“I should have just let that guy die.”

Sebastian calmly sorted out the chaotic atmosphere. He must have been equally flustered by the disappearance of his memories, but his experience couldn’t be ignored. He even had the composure to comfort me.

“Do you have any guesses?”

Spinel asked, looking at the servants returning to their places.

If there was something I could guess… there was one thing.

Even in a world where magic and monsters run rampant, it didn’t make sense for not only Ilion but also all the people in the mansion to lose their memories. The dream I had last night wouldn’t be a coincidence either.

“There was something that kept bothering me.”

I began to explain what happened at the Imperial Palace. I went to see Klaus with Artia, and before he died, he got up from the bed and spoke to me.

“I thought I saw it wrong. It was clearly after sealing the mana, and he was in a situation where he couldn’t get up from the bed. And the Saintess who was with me said she didn’t see anything.”

But given the current situation, I couldn’t dismiss what happened that day as just a mistake.

“Are you saying he showed you an illusion?”

I nodded at Spinel’s question.

“If so, it means he used some method other than magic…”

Spinel glanced at me. I thought the same.

“Could it be dark magic?”

Dark magic could be used even without mana.

“Did he cast a curse on me before he died?”

I asked Spinel with a slightly complicated feeling.

“Well…”

She trailed off, seemingly unsure, and asked.

“More importantly, what are you going to do now?”

Whether it was a curse or not, I couldn’t just sit idly by because I lost my memory.

“First, I need to regain those memories.”

***

I dropped a pile of newspapers onto Ilion’s desk.

“What is this?”

“My achievements.”

Ilion looked up at me with slightly dubious eyes. Normally, he would have told me to stop doing useless things and get out, but even Ilion seemed not to have completely escaped the shock of losing his memory. He was just quietly looking at me.

“Are you going to pretend you don’t remember? What would people think if such a harmonious ducal couple suddenly pretended not to know each other?”

“This marriage is…”

“For showing off to others? Of course, I know. I’ve heard enough of you telling me not to expect to get along with me or for you to fulfill your role as a husband.”

I responded appropriately, recalling what he had told me.

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Because you loved me so much that you regretted saying those words, Duke.”

“……”

Ilion closed his mouth at my answer. I thought he would say no again, but perhaps because he had no memories, he seemed to be holding back his words.

“More than that, please tell me the most recent thing you remember. It might help in regaining your memory.”

Ilion carefully searched his thoughts and answered.

“You drinking with Sebastian in the kitchen.”

How long ago was that? After going back quite a bit, I sighed softly at the memory that came to mind. At that point, it was safe to say he had no memories of me at all.

I confidently declared that I would regain Ilion’s memories, saying such a thing might be a bit much, but at this point, it might be faster to start over from the beginning.

***

After a round of bickering with Ilion, I returned to my room.

“Any results?”

Spinel asked, and I replied with a wry smile. Perhaps I should visit the forbidden library again.

If not, I could dig up the grave of the dead. Even if I couldn’t solve it, I could shake the damn guy’s collar.

“It would be nice if there were magic to regain memories.”

As I muttered to myself, Spinel, resting her chin on the table, mumbled.

“There is.”

“Really?”

“Though not just anyone can use it.”

Does that mean there’s a specific person who can use it? Thinking it might be a clue, I hurriedly corrected my posture.

Spinel, seemingly burdened by my twinkling eyes, slightly leaned back. Then, as if there was no other choice, she began to speak.

“Dragons are each endowed with different attributes depending on where they are born. Red dragons have fire attributes, blue dragons have water attributes, and so on. Of course, they can use magic of different attributes, but they are mainly specialized in magic of the same type.”

I nodded, recalling that the magic Spinel often used was of the fire attribute.

“And white dragons are specialized in mental-type magic.”

“Mental-type?”

“Yes. However, unlike us, in the case of white dragons, each individual is specialized in different magic.”

Specialized in different magic? Not understanding, I tilted my head, and Spinel added an explanation.

“Even within mental types, the range is too vast, you see. Well, for example, there might be one who specializes in controlling others, while another might specialize in extracting truths.”

“Does that mean…”

“Yes. There is one who specializes in reading memories and materializing them.”