Thanks to this, the entire ceiling sparkled beautifully like stars.

His Highness seemed to have just snapped his fingers once from his seat.

How did that happen?

‘……Pretty.’

The woman’s body, captivated by the chandelier, was gradually calming its trembling.

“Oh? When I asked you to turn it on, you never did!”

Jerome, who reappeared in the dining room with food in both hands, spun around looking at the chandelier.

Then he placed a plate in front of Evan while chattering in an excited voice.

“The chandelier you see here was made by a legendary master of magic stone craftsmanship. He was an artisan from hundreds of years ago, so the method to turn it on is a bit old-fashioned.”

Since it’s a very old castle, the chandelier is also from hundreds of years ago.

Amazing.

The woman nodded with interest as she listened to Jerome’s words.

“Only those who know how to handle magical energy from nature can turn it on. That’s why I can’t do it. But Your Highness can light it with just a flick of your finger. I wish they made it like other modern magical tools that even people without magic power could use. It would be perfect if anyone could turn it on whenever needed!”

Jerome seemed quite excited, clearly fond of sparkling things.

In contrast, Evan appeared quite displeased with the food Jerome had placed before him. His brow was furrowed deeply.

This was the first time she’d seen him show such obvious distaste.

The woman, who had been tilting her head looking at Evan, immediately understood when Jerome set a plate in front of her as well.

‘What, what is this? Is this edible?’

She observed the strange, congealed dark-red liquid bubbling on the plate.

Or was it solid?

“Let’s eat! Today I’ve prepared a special pineapple soup. We still had one left from what Benjamin gave us last time. Eating tropical fruit here—days like this are truly blissful.”

“Pineapple…… isn’t it yellow? And is that even a fruit you’re supposed to boil into soup?”

Evan muttered with shadows under his eyes.

“Don’t even think about complaining again. How long has it been since the chef ran away because of the cold? This is precious food, so eat it all.”

Jerome, smiling brightly at Evan, had already picked up his spoon.

It seemed that simply dining under the chandelier’s light made him happy, regardless of what anyone said.

“Huh? Ugh. Blegh.”

But even Jerome himself was in that state after just one spoonful.

Soup dripped down between his smiling lips.

Seeing this, both Evan and the woman’s faces grew even more serious.

“Th-this is strange. I was sure it would be delicious this time.”

Jerome examined the bowl from different angles with flustered gestures, then began to cautiously glance at Evan.

“Hmm. I don’t remember anything, but somehow I feel like I might be good at cooking…… Should I try making something?”

The woman carefully pushed her bowl aside as she made this suggestion.

‘Honestly, even if this were my first time cooking in my life, I think I could make something better than this.’

That’s what she was thinking inside.

Evan nodded as if he also thought she would be better than Jerome.

“Then we’ll wait.”

※※※

“Sorry for the wait.”

Shortly after, this time the woman appeared with new plates.

When she first entered the kitchen, all Jerome had shown her were the locations of a simple recipe book, utensils, and ingredients.

Unlike during cleaning, Jerome didn’t interfere or nag at all.

He simply returned quietly to the dining room to wait with Evan.

“I found some meat, so I made a simple steak……”

The woman seemed slightly nervous as she set down the plates while explaining.

But contrary to her anxious appearance, the plates contained food with a visual presentation worthy of an upscale restaurant in the capital.

“……It looks impressive.”

Jerome looked at the woman with surprised eyes.

Evan also raised one eyebrow, not having expected much after seeing her cleaning skills.

Swish, Evan’s hand moved toward the fork.

He was already too hungry, and the aroma was irresistibly delicious.

However, Jerome quickly came to his senses and hurriedly reached out toward Evan.

“Your Highness, let me taste it first.”

He couldn’t let the suspicious woman’s cooking enter his master’s mouth first when they didn’t even know her name.

Watching Jerome, who seemed worried she might have added poison, the woman thought, ‘Even though he seems casual with the Grand Duke, he’s truly a devoted servant.’

Slice—Jerome’s knife entered the steak smoothly.

As warm meat juice began flowing abundantly onto the plate, Jerome swallowed hard.

Honestly, it looked delicious just by looking at it.

Jerome put a steaming piece of meat in his mouth and involuntarily closed his eyes the moment it touched his tongue.

The texture of perfectly cooked meat, just as it appeared.

Richly bursting savory juices.

A sensation that filled his mouth with delight.

It was the perfect compensation for the difficult day he’d had.

“This is so delicious……”

After savoring the food for a moment, Jerome realized that all the fatigue accumulated from the day’s extensive cleaning and training the newcomer had melted away in that instant.

“Now I can finally eat like a human being.”

Following Jerome’s admiration as he wiped away tears, Evan also muttered with satisfaction.

He too couldn’t resist and was already chewing a piece.

For once, Jerome nodded vigorously in agreement with Evan’s words.

“Thank goodness.”

The woman smiled happily at the much more positive evaluation than she had expected.

The two men naturally reassessed her as they looked at her beaming with a flushed face.

At least in this moment, she seemed like warm sunshine that had descended upon this gloomy, gray castle.

※※※

That night, the woman lay down in the clean room that Jerome had guided her to, emphasizing it was “the second-best guest room in this castle.”

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that during dinner?’

As she tossed and turned in the cream-colored blankets, she naturally recalled what had happened during dinner.

“Oh, by the way, about what I supposedly said before fainting. How do you know? The last thing I saw was just a silver beast…… Were you standing behind it?”

“Gack!”

“……”

Perhaps it had been a mistake to attempt conversation with the two men who were deeply focused on their meal.

Jerome suddenly choked on his food at the woman’s words.

His Highness also just looked away and gulped down water.

“No matter how I think about it, it looked like a fox. It was bigger than a dog but smaller than a wolf.”

“Ahem, ahem……! Th-there’s no way such a strange beast would be around our castle!”

“No, it really wasn’t a strange beast. It had more of a sacred and mysterious aura. It didn’t attack me, just watched over me. And…… it was kind of cute, I think?”

When the woman used the word “cute,” Evan suddenly put down his fork.

Jerome, who had been insisting there was no such thing, also developed a strange expression mixed with an odd smile.

“Whatever it is, I should avoid bringing up that topic next time.”

The woman’s curiosity remained unsatisfied, but she thought she should be careful with her questions in the future since it seemed like a subject they wanted to avoid.

She was an amnesiac patient who had suddenly taken up residence in this castle.

She was probably already an unwelcome presence, and if she continued asking inconsiderate questions that troubled or annoyed the castle’s owner, she might be thrown out into the snowstorm within a week.

“Sigh, I can’t sleep.”

The woman tried changing positions many times, lying this way and that, but finally got up as sleep completely eluded her.

Being alone made the frustration about her memory loss keep surging up.

She picked up the candlestick on the bedside table and stood in front of the vanity.

Drawn by her complicated feelings, the woman stood before the mirror and stared into it for a while.

But no matter how long she looked, the blonde stranger reflected in the mirror remained unfamiliar.

Though embarrassing to admit to herself, the woman in the mirror was beautiful.

That’s why she was so curious.

Why on earth had she been in that snowy field to begin with?

What kind of life had she lived until now?

“If only I could remember at least my name.”

The woman’s fingers continued to hover over the mirror, but the clear pink eyes within still held a gaze that knew nothing.

“Ugh!”

But at that moment, her head suddenly throbbed.

The same terrible headache she had felt just before collapsing in the snow.

〈……sha. My only……〉

It had returned.

The candlestick slipped from her hand involuntarily.

An unknown voice filled her mind completely.

〈……sha.〉

Thump, thump, thump.

Her heart began to race anxiously again.

Her head and chest became burning hot.

“I, I just…… wanted to remember my name. Why, why……”

The woman knelt down, muttering pleadingly in pain.

The fallen candle was starting to set fire to a nearby curtain, but the woman had no attention to spare for what was happening around her.

The extreme pain continued as if someone were repeatedly striking her head with force.

〈You should be forgotten now. Forever.〉

Whoosh, flames rose from the curtain and began to spread rapidly.

“S-stop. ……Stop.”