Chapter 16. What’s This Memory?

Jacques carefully asked, sensing the unusual atmosphere emanating from his Master.

“Did you meet the person you were looking for?”

“……”

There was no response, but he somehow understood the answer hidden in the silence.

“Don’t tell me… she doesn’t remember you, Master?”

Bull’s eye.

Crack.

Cyril’s hand holding the glass tightened. Broken glass shards and rum spilled onto the floor.

Seeing this, Jacques gaped in disbelief. Having served him for a long time, he knew well how much Cyril had searched for Seraphina.

And yet, she doesn’t even remember him…

Shocked despite it not being his own affair, Jacques soon collected himself and started thinking rationally.

Right.

How long has it been since they parted?

Since they separated as children, it’s possible she couldn’t recognize him as an adult. Come to think of it, it was remarkable that Cyril recognized her at a glance.

Regaining his composure, he offered words of comfort.

“You parted when you were so young, so it’s possible she couldn’t recognize you. Both of you have changed a lot in appearance, haven’t you?”

“I recognized her.”

And that’s what’s amazing.

Jacques, who was about to retort, barely managed to close his mouth and began to persuade with more gentle words.

“Why don’t you try explaining it to her properly when you meet again? Honestly ask her if she doesn’t remember the time you spent together at the orphanage.”

“Forget it.”

But Jacques’ comfort didn’t reach Cyril.

Cyril lowered his gaze quietly, his expression coldly hardened. His eyes fell on the broken glass.

The shattered pieces looked just like his heart.

* * *

I frowned at the sunlight breaking through the bars and striking in.

Ah.

My head hurts.

“What happened… ugh…”

A voice like scraping metal flowed from my mouth.

I barely opened my eyes, cradling my throbbing forehead with one hand. A familiar space formed on my retina. It was my home that I had returned to after a month.

“Huh…?”

What is this?

How did I get home?

I was bewildered.

Moreover, I was even more perplexed because it seemed like I had slept well, neatly tucked under the blanket on the bed.

Is returning home an instinct?

If so, it was fortunate that I didn’t go to the Imperial Palace. The palace where I had stayed for the past month was so comfortable that it felt like home. Except during training, of course.

Anyway, I rolled my eyes in a daze. It felt like I had suddenly teleported. I was clearly having a delicious dinner…

<Ahh. …I feel sho good.>

<…Are you already drunk?>

<You know what… today’s my first day off.>

<Oh? Where do you work…>

<I’ve been working like a dog for a month…>

<I see the Emperor worked you hard…>

What’s this?

What’s this memory?

I became serious as memories flashed by like a revolving lantern.

<No. But Johann is… He annoys me sometimes… That kind of thing.>

<…I see. Calling him by his name and all.>

<Hehehe. If you’re jealous, I’ll call you by your name too…>

I clutched my head with both hands as fragments of memory came flooding back intermittently.

Oh my god!

What did I do yesterday?! Did I casually call the Emperor’s name in front of a stranger? And that gentleman’s name…

“Name…”

I rolled that word around in my mouth once more.

How should I put it…

“I feel like I heard it, but I can’t remember.”

Or not.

Did he just tell me to call him ‘sir’?

Hmm. I think that’s what happened.

Feeling unsettled, I pondered for a moment before dismissing the thought. This wasn’t the important part. Another terrible memory came rushing in.

<Is this where you live… Ugh!>

<Hehehehe! Sir! Run, run! Faster!>

<Why am I… Ack! It hurts!>

<Yahoo! This is fun! I feel so gooood…! Giddy up, giddy up!>

“Good heavens… What is this…?”

I covered my face with both hands in the empty room, overwhelmed by such embarrassing memories. My cheeks burned with shame.

“I was so rude to the gentleman…”

I had been piggybacking on him, gripping his red hair with both hands like pulling weeds, yanking it this way and that. As if controlling him.

Someone please tell me it was a dream.

I felt so sorry, but at the same time, I prayed that I would never meet the gentleman again. Because it was too embarrassing.

Knock knock knock!

Just then, someone knocked on the front door.

I turned my head quickly. Could it be the gentleman coming to visit? That was my first thought.

“Seraphina, are you home?”

“Marc?”

I felt relieved that it wasn’t the gentleman, but I was puzzled about how Marc knew I was on leave and came to visit.

“What? How did you know I was home?”

I asked as I opened the door.

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and mumbled.

“Ah, well… you see…”

“Hmm?”

Seeing him fumble for words without answering, my eyes narrowed slightly.

“Why can’t you answer? It’s suspicious.”

“S-suspicious…!”

“You weren’t stalking me, were you?”

“Absolutely not! I swear! How could a lowly mercenary like me follow you when you’re in the Imperial Palace?”

“……”

That was true.

But that aside, one thing Marc said bothered me. A ‘lowly’ mercenary…

His tone oddly conveyed a sense of distance from me.

He was almost the only person Seraphina had been close to in her lonely life, but it seemed he was feeling some kind of class difference now that I had become a purifier.

There’s no need for that.

The fact that I’m a commoner hasn’t changed! I wanted to say, but I thought it would be better to show through actions that I hadn’t changed.

I deliberately treated him more casually.

“Come in for now. How did you know I got time off?”

“Oh, so you got time off.”

Marc nodded, closing the door behind him.

“What? You came without even knowing if I was on leave? What if I wasn’t here?”

“The mailbox downstairs was empty, so…”

“Huh?”

Mailbox?

At those words, I reflexively turned my head somewhere. There were a few pieces of mail piled on the dining table. I could see one from the Imperial Treasury Department.

Alright, you guys.

I’ll pay my taxes, okay?

But who… Ah. It must have been the gentleman.

I wondered how he knew my home address, but I thought I might have told him while drunk. There was no other explanation.

Anyway.

He came, took care of the mail, and even tucked me in warmly. Even the shopping bags I bought yesterday were neatly placed in one spot.

He really is a gentleman.

I felt even more ashamed for acting like a nuisance, grabbing his hair.

“But then, did you check the mailbox every day?”

“No! Not every day, just about once every two days…”

“……”

“There was no way to contact you. It’s just on my way by. Of course, I couldn’t come last week because I was on a mercenary job.”

“Marc…”

This guy is worrying about me.

“I’ve been doing well in the Imperial Palace. Don’t worry.”

“It’s not so much worry as missing… I mean, just wanting to see your face once.”

“I’ll contact you when I get leave. It must be such a hassle and trouble to come every day.”

“Not at all! I did it because I wanted to.”

Marc waved his hand saying it was fine, but I couldn’t let him come to my house every day. Only after promising to find him first thing on my next leave, pinky swearing and sealing it with a stamp, did Marc nod and say he understood.

Anyway, today is the last day of my leave.

I couldn’t waste it.

“Want to go to the bustling area?”

“Sure!”

He answered immediately, as if there was nothing else to consider.

* * *

The street was filled with bustling energy.

I swung the shopping bag I bought yesterday in one hand as I looked around here and there with Marc. Window shopping is fun too, you know.

Following Marc, who showed interest in the weapon shop, we looked at various weapons, excitedly browsed meaningless things in the general store, and then bought apples from the fruit shop and took a bite each.

It was fun.

Enjoying a time like this with a friend…

‘Have I never done this before?’

Yoon Ji-ah was always short on money, and even buying spicy tteokbokki on the way home from school required a long deliberation before making a decision. Yes, it was a decision.

A few thousand-won bills in the wallet.

Meals at the orphanage were free.

Still, in her young heart, she had eaten at snack shops with friends a few times. Each time, she had to quickly calculate the amounts written on the menu with her eyes.

Nothing made Yoon Ji-ah as nervous as splitting the bill.

Since it was food shared in the middle, if someone thoughtlessly suggested ordering more jjolmyeon, she had to put on all sorts of acts to hide her already thin wallet situation.

<I’m not really into jjolmyeon. And I’m not that hungry anyway.>

<But it’s so good when we eat it together! Try it, try it.>

<It’s okay. Let’s eat it next time. I don’t think I can eat anymore today.>

<Alright. If Ji-ah says so, let’s eat it next time.>

And that next time never came.

But now it’s different.

“Marc, this looks delicious too.”

“Hey, owner! Add some tender boiled pork shoulder here!”

“I’ll pay, so Marc, order whatever you want to your heart’s content.”

“What are you talking about? We should split it like we always have!”

“I got my first paycheck.”

I grinned and pulled out a few silver shillings from my pocket.

For some reason, I wanted to treat him. That’s just how I felt.