Surprised by the Duke’s proposal, I took a sharp breath and looked at his hand.

A large and elegant hand was extended towards me.

With his handsome face proposing a dance to me, I felt my face heating up without realizing it.

But there was one problem.

“B-But I don’t know how to dance.”

Unfortunately, the only dance I knew was the one villagers did during festivals.

What Duke Berzel was talking about was surely the kind of dance nobles would do in a ballroom.

But I was a maid.

There’s no way I would have had the opportunity to learn such dances…

“It’s alright. Even if you’ve forgotten your memories, it should be ingrained in your body.”

“In me?”

As I asked with wide eyes, the Duke nodded as if it was obvious.

It seemed that I had learned to dance while living as the Duchess of Berzel.

If that was true, as he said, it should be ingrained in my body, so I decided to give it a try.

I carefully placed my hand on his.

Then the Duke took my hand, stood close to me, and assumed the position.

I raised my other hand and placed it on his arm that was supporting my waist.

Soon, Duke Berzel started moving slowly.

And surprisingly, I was also naturally taking steps in sync with his lead, as if flowing like water.

“…I really can dance.”

I exclaimed in a small voice, and the Duke nodded with a smile.

“Didn’t I tell you so?”

“It’s amazing. That so many things happened to me.”

In terms of time, it was at most two years.

It seems that in that short time, whatever I went through, I had perfectly become the Duchess of Berzel.

The Duke and I danced slowly, with the sound of insects chirping as our background music.

Was it because of the environment, or because of the atmosphere?

Every time I looked at him, I felt my heart pounding.

At this rate, I felt like I might fall for him.

No. That’s not right.

What’s wrong with falling for him?

After all, before I lost my memories, I was his wife.

So it wasn’t strange for me to feel fluttery towards him.

But perhaps because I had no memories, I couldn’t focus due to the constant tickling feeling in my chest.

Finally, the long dance came to an end.

“You didn’t step on my feet this time either. See, I told you your body remembers.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the Duke’s playful words.

Then suddenly, I felt like we had a similar conversation before.

“Duke, did you say something similar before?”

“Yes, I did.”

“I knew it!”

It seemed that the brief sense of déjà vu I felt wasn’t just my imagination.

As I clapped my hands in amazement, he looked down at me with expectant eyes.

Knowing what that expectation was about, I smiled awkwardly.

“I don’t remember everything. It just felt like it might have happened.”

“I see. That’s enough.”

Even as he said it was fine, a faint disappointment was visible on his face.

For some reason, I felt a bit upset by his disappointment.

I couldn’t understand why, even when I asked myself.

It was natural for him to feel that way.

Worried that he might notice my feelings, I turned around and slowly started to look around the greenhouse.

The greenhouse was so large that I couldn’t see it all in one day with my stamina.

After briefly looking around the interior of the greenhouse, I came out with him.

“By the way, did you know that there used to be a maze made of hedges in the garden?”

“In the garden? Not at all. I don’t think I saw anything like that earlier.”

As I said with wide eyes, Duke Berzel smiled with his eyes.

“It’s not there now. You got lost in there once, so I ordered all the hedges to be moved elsewhere.”

“I did?”

It’s true that I’m not good at finding my way around.

But to the point of getting lost?

Ah, right. He said it was a maze.

Since it was a maze, I couldn’t help but get lost.

Even so, I couldn’t help but find the Duke’s story about redecorating the entire garden just because I got lost once to be absurd.

“Wait, you completely redid the garden because of me?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…”

What should I say?

I felt a bit touched, but also sorry for the people who had to do unnecessary work because of me.

After all, as a maid, I couldn’t help but think about the feelings of the people who do the work.

We started to slowly walk through the back garden while having small talk.

All the while, I didn’t forget to look around.

Thinking that this place had been completely redone because of me, it felt different from when I first saw it.

“Somehow, I feel sorry for the employees of the Duke’s household.”

“Hmm?”

It was meant as just a talk, but it came out as a mutter.

Fortunately, Duke Berzel didn’t seem to have heard me properly.

I shook my head with a smile to indicate it was nothing, and the Duke didn’t ask further.

Finally, we arrived at the entrance of the back garden where we first came out.

When I was about to take a step to go inside, Duke Berzel stopped in his tracks.

Curious, I turned around to check on him.

He was standing still, looking down at me.

“It seemed like you remembered something while we were dancing earlier. How was it?”

“I don’t think I can say I remembered. It’s just, how should I put it… I felt a sense of déjà vu. Like I had heard similar words before.”

“Maybe you’re recalling memories by having experiences similar to before.”

“I guess so, right?”

As I nodded slightly, Duke Berzel took a step closer to me.

I felt my heart beating wildly at the suddenly shortened distance.

However, to hide these feelings, I kept my mouth shut and rolled my eyes around, thinking of ways to escape from here.

“Then, if we do something similar to what happened here, do you think you might fully regain your memories?”

“Pardon?”

What happened ‘here’?

All I had heard about was getting lost and wandering in the back garden.

But the Duke looked at me with a gentle smile, as if there was something else I didn’t know about.

“W-What kind of thing?”

Even though I tried hard not to show my nervousness, I couldn’t hide the stammering in my words.

“Do you really not remember?”

“…No.”

Even when asked like that, I had no memories, so I could only answer that I didn’t know.

Meanwhile, Duke Berzel carefully placed his hand on my cheek.

I could clearly feel his large, warm hand cupping my cheek.

It was a bit rough due to calluses, but because his touch was extremely careful, it didn’t feel prickly or bothersome.

“…Duke?”

Curious about his touch, I looked up and met his eyes.

Clear blue eyes like an autumn sky were directed at me.

The atmosphere felt like it was flowing in a strange direction.

I swallowed dry saliva, anticipating what might happen next.

Soon, Duke Berzel’s face slowly started to approach mine.

If I wanted to escape, I could probably do so.

But I didn’t want to do that.

As I confirmed the approaching Duke, I gently closed my eyes.

My shoulders stiffened due to nervousness, but whether this state of mine was conveyed to him was unknown.

Not long after, I felt a soft and tender sensation gently touching my lips.

And then it moved away from me again, leaving a long lingering feeling.

The warmth left on my lips was vivid.

I slowly opened my eyes, just as I had closed them, and looked up at Duke Berzel.

Only then did I realize what he and I had done, and I quickly raised my hand to cover my mouth.

My eyelids trembled finely, as much as I was surprised.

“D-D-Duke, this is…!”

“Didn’t I tell you? We’re reenacting what you and I did here before.”

Unlike me who was surprised, the Duke’s expression was calm.

My heart was beating fast.

It was beating so roughly and quickly that I felt like it might jump out of my mouth.

“Ah, I…”

I thought I should say something, but nothing particular came to mind.

The only thing filling my head was the kiss I had just shared with him.

“…I think I’ll go in now!”

“Claire?”

I heard the Duke calling me from behind, but I fled from the back garden as quickly as possible.