His eyelids trembled slightly before suddenly opening wide, and blue eyes stared at me.

“No, don’t move. You won’t get away this time!”

I thrust the poker under his chin, and the startled man struggled, but it was useless.

This time, all four limbs were tied.

“Well, have you remembered your name by now?”

I asked, tapping the man’s shoulder with the poker.

But honestly, I wanted to poke my own leg with it.

Here I was in a flowing velvet dress, threatening a handsome man tied to a bed with a poker, spouting dialogue like a movie villain.

Was this dopamine-flooded situation really not a dream?

“No.”

But the man’s answer instantly cooled my excited heart.

“What?”

“I really can’t remember anything.”

The man sighed.

He didn’t seem as flustered as before, but he didn’t appear to be lying.

“Don’t lie!”

“If you’re suspicious, go ahead and stab me with that.”

“What?”

“Yes, maybe if you poke me lightly with that, I might remember.”

The dejected man looked at the poker, and his blue eyes suddenly lit up.

What is this? Is he crazy? Or did something happen when he hit his head earlier?

I slowly backed away.

I had boasted that it would be fine to be alone with him now that his limbs were securely tied, but now it seemed I shouldn’t be so confident.

After all the trouble finding this sanctuary, to have a madman enter my castle……

As I was considering knocking him out again and throwing him outside, Marina entered, panting.

“Huff, huff! There’s nothing by the pond, Miss. I checked thoroughly from the castle gate to the pond.”

“I searched outside the wall too, but found nothing. I couldn’t go far though.”

Hubert followed, carrying a lamp.

“There’s not even a bag, let alone the scraps of the shirt he was wearing.”

They had searched the castle and pond area thoroughly but found nothing that could reveal the man’s identity.

All they found was a piece of paper from his pants pocket.

Soaked, with ink smeared and torn, only the faint letters ‘rian’ were legible.

“Then that note must be his name…… Oh! He’s awake?”

Marina exclaimed in surprise when she saw the blue eyes gleaming on the bed.

“How is it? Did he confess?”

“He says he doesn’t know. He can’t remember anything.”

I glared at the man while slowly moving closer to Marina.

“It’s all an act. Just look at how he tried to infiltrate this castle without leaving a trace—he’s definitely not an ordinary traveler. You! Tell us who hired you!”

Hubert shouted.

“Was it Feldwell? Huh?”

Marina chimed in.

The man didn’t answer.

Instead, he looked perplexed, shifting his deep blue eyes to me before slightly furrowing his brow.

At the same time, blood began to seep through the bandage wrapped around his head.

Come to think of it, the man’s head wound was quite deep.

It looked less like he had slipped and fallen, and more like someone had beaten him severely.

Whether he was crazy or hired by someone, it seemed unlikely he could have deliberately created such a wound.

“Then what’s the last thing you remember?”

“Well, that’s……”

Our eyes met again. His blue eyes blinked slowly, almost like a wink.

In that moment, no more words were necessary.

A light clicked on in my head too, and my face flushed hot.

The breath that had scattered my hair, the firm sensation of a heavy, hot body pressing down.

“Look, I didn’t mean to. I’m really sorry about earlier……”

“No, no! Not that. Before you came here!”

I raised my voice, cutting off the man who was speaking quite politely, and Marina glanced at me suspiciously.

“Don’t you have any old memories coming back?”

“Hmm……”

The man, who had been deeply furrowing his brow, opened his mouth.

“Horse.”

“Horse?”

“And the smell of hay.”

“The smell of hay?”

“Did he work in a stable or something?”

Hubert muttered.

“Maybe he’s a thief who secretly slept in someone’s barn on his way here?”

Marina sneered, her voice still full of distrust.

“And…… a tavern.”

“A tavern?”

Hubert repeated.

“Ah, is it in this village? There’s one in the lower town called ‘The Blue Crow’……”

“I’m…… not sure about that.”

Why is he being so polite to Hubert?

“It seemed very crowded and noisy…… And something golden…… a key?”

The man muttered, bringing his hand to his neck and stroking it as if habitually searching for something.

“A key? We didn’t see anything like that. There wasn’t even a bag or any other luggage.”

The man seemed to be trying hard to remember something, but it appeared to be too difficult.

“Perhaps he was a coachman or stable hand working in another region?”

Hubert said in a somewhat more generous tone.

“Isn’t the village festival coming up soon? It’s not what it used to be, but travelers still come from far away to see it. Some come looking for temporary work. Places like Feldwell Farm hire apple pickers around this time every year. So if he came here, got thoroughly drunk at a tavern, and was robbed while intoxicated……”

“Hmm.”

Marina narrowed her eyes and looked the man over.

“But his speech is too refined to be a laborer, and his hands……”

We all looked at the man’s hands.

His masculine hands with prominent tendons were covered in fresh wounds, but his nails were neatly trimmed.

“But people need jobs for various reasons.”

Hubert cleared his throat.

“Even if you didn’t do hard labor yesterday, life can force you to struggle starting tomorrow.”

At Hubert’s words, Marina and I looked at each other.

Indeed, we ourselves were living examples of such a life—living in this grand castle yet worrying about tonight’s dinner.

“If he really wasn’t trying to steal something and hurt his head falling from the wall…… he might have come here looking for work.”

Marina said, her voice slightly softened.

“But what kind of madman comes looking for work n*ked?”

The man flinched at my words.

“I was n*ked? Me? From the beginning? You didn’t undress me?”

“Who do you think I am, a pervert? Why would I randomly undress a crazy man?”

Ah, so that’s why he panicked and pinned me down earlier? Did he think I might do something terrible to him?

“That’s the strangest part, but if he was robbed, I suppose it’s possible.”

Marina tilted her head.

“Hmm, what if someone hit him on the back of the head to knock him out, then took his clothes and bag?”

Hubert said with a serious expression.

“Yes, it could have happened on his way here. Perhaps he was coming to greet the Baron and look for work at the castle……”

“Baron?”

The man looked at each of us with confused eyes.

As he looked around and finally turned to Hubert, I felt anger rising inside me.

A man with no memory and no manners.

“Hey! Not him—this person is the owner of this castle.”

Thankfully, the sharp-witted Marina stepped forward and pointed at me, causing the man to stare with a dumbfounded expression.

“You?”

Yes, me! Is there a problem?

“This person right here is Baron Philoraine, the lord of Clairfield Castle! So you’ve committed a crime deserving of execution! Surely you’re not going to claim you don’t remember what happened earlier too?”

“Oh, dear……”

As Marina raised her voice, the man’s face turned pale.

“Well, I…… certainly didn’t mean to……”

Just then.

Crash!

Suddenly, a window shattered loudly and something flew into the room.

“Kyaaaah!”

Marina screamed, covering her head and crouching down.

“Miss!”

Hubert grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me down.

While we flattened ourselves and held our breath, the man on the bed also squirmed in panic, but with his limbs tied, it was useless.

“What in the……”

As I opened my mouth, something else flew in and landed some distance away.

It was a stone as big as a child’s head.

“Aaaahh!”

Just as Marina screamed again, shouts could be heard from outside.

“Hey! Philoraine witch! Still hiding in the castle? Bad luck follows you, so get out of here!”

“Do we need to burn this place down to make you leave?”

Men with slurred voices were shouting and cackling beneath the window, near the castle entrance.

“Give back the excessive tenant fees your father collected, you useless wench!”

Excessive tenant fees?

The loud shouting snapped me to attention.

“What day is it today? Huh? What date did you say it was?”

I asked Hubert urgently, grabbing his arm while staying flat on the floor.

“Uh, February…… 25th.”

[February 25th, 18xx

Those people finally forced their way into the castle!

I nearly fainted when I saw them standing there with flushed faces, holding burning branches, probably drunk on cheap alcohol.

They shouted obscenities, demanding the return of the excessive tenant fees.

I tried telling them I didn’t have a penny, but they wouldn’t listen.

They pushed Marina aside and hit me with a stone…]