The woman’s body, which had been gasping, collapsed weakly amid the acrid smoke.

Everything was about to fade away again, just like in the snow.

〈You should be forgotten now. Forever.〉

“……Pl, please stop……”

Just then, something burst through the door as if breaking it down.

Whoosh.

A stream of cold air seeped through the hot, suffocating atmosphere.

The wind enveloped everything in an instant, accompanied by small cracking sounds of ice splitting.

Somehow, the room was now filled with white powder snow instead of gray smoke, as if by magic.

The room that had been engulfed in flames became chillingly cool within seconds.

In the whitish, cold mist, the silhouette of a four-legged beast wavered.

The eyes of the being that brought this coldness could be seen glowing a deep blue.

Like beautiful and noble sapphires.

“Your…… Highness?”

But suddenly, Evan’s large, firm hands appeared from somewhere and lifted her up.

That blue light swirled beneath his long eyelashes.

How did this happen?

She was sure that just a moment ago, the beautiful silver fox she had seen before was there.

The woman finally lost consciousness while feeling that Evan’s embrace was strangely cold.

※※※

The crackling sound of the fireplace and occasional page-turning sounds could be heard.

The woman blinked her eyes open to that peaceful noise and the morning sunlight.

“……”

Glancing to the side, she saw a silver-haired man sitting at the far end of a sofa away from the fireplace.

She seemed to have awakened in the Grand Duke’s room again.

He was completely absorbed in his book and didn’t realize she had woken up.

Flip, Evan turned another page.

‘His eye color is black like black pearls again. ……I’m sure they had changed to blue, cold eyes.’

Looking at his picture-perfect appearance, the woman seriously wondered if the fire in the room had been just a dream, but she quickly shook her head and sat up.

“Um, Your Highness.”

Evan turned his head at her voice.

“Yesterday there was a fire, and you saved me, right?”

“I happened to be passing by and saw smoke.”

“I’m so sorry…… really.”

The woman hung her head low, not knowing what to do at the Grand Duke’s words.

To cause a fire when she was already imposing on them.

She had no idea how she could possibly make up for it.

The glimpse of the room she saw before fainting was completely ruined after being burned and then suddenly frozen…

“……Wait, then are you alright, Your Highness? What about the fox? Is it not hurt?”

The woman looked at Evan with concern in her rosy pink eyes.

She worried whether the precious Grand Duke’s body was unharmed after entering that chaotic room to save her, and whether that beautiful fox was alright.

But Evan paused his hand that had been turning the page, and then.

“F. ox? What. F. ox?”

He asked in an extremely unnatural tone.

“……”

What, what’s with that unbearable stiffness?

The woman stared at Evan with a bewildered expression as he performed this seriously awkward act, then realized her mistake and closed her mouth.

Come to think of it, they had been uncomfortable when she brought up the fox during dinner yesterday too, which was why she’d decided not to bring it up.

‘But why on earth……?’

While the woman was struggling to find something to say, the door opened and Jerome appeared carrying a small tray.

“Oh? You’re awake?”

Jerome asked with half delight, half concern as soon as he saw her, and the woman couldn’t bear to meet his eyes.

After all her terrible cleaning, Jerome must have worked so hard to clean up that room……

“Ah, yes…… I’m sorry. Because of my carelessness, the second-best guest room in the castle……”

“What happened?”

“I was holding a candle and looking in the mirror, trying to recall my memories, specifically my name…… When suddenly my head and chest started pounding painfully, like they were about to burst. I could barely breathe. And I kept hearing strange voices in my head.”

“And then you dropped the candle and the fire started?”

“Yes…… I’m sorry.”

As she explained, she hated herself so much that tears threatened to well up, but she forcibly bit her lip to hold them back.

She felt like she was burning inside.

If only she could quickly recover her memories and leave the castle, she wouldn’t cause any more trouble like this. It felt as though someone was deliberately preventing her from remembering.

Even though such a thing was impossible.

“For now, just rest here today. His Highness said so.”

When Jerome pointed toward Evan as he said this, Evan nodded while closing his book.

“N-no. I’m fine. Really, I’m in pain at all.”

When the woman tried to get out of bed, Jerome shook his head.

“I read in a book once that some amnesia patients erase their own memories due to trauma after experiencing a great shock. So don’t try to force yourself to remember too hastily.”

Trauma.

Could that ghost-like voice be related to that?

Whatever it was, the thought that the terrible pain might return made her afraid to even attempt recalling her memories.

“Trauma……”

As the woman murmured softly with troubled eyes, Jerome hurriedly added:

“Well, it could simply be that your body was weakened. Even though your wounds healed quickly, it’s only been a few days since you nearly died in that snowfield.”

“Ah, yes. That’s true…… Thank you, Jerome.”

The woman forced a smile at Jerome’s words.

“Anyway, it’s good that you’re awake. I’ve made a nourishing soup that’s good for your body. Drink it while it’s warm.”

“……”

No wonder an unpleasant smell had started since Jerome entered.

Click, thud.

“Huh? Your Highness! Where are you going? I brought some for you too! You need to eat as well!”

The woman watched Evan’s retreating back as he hurriedly slipped out with his book in hand.

She felt like screaming not to leave her alone.

※※※

After being bedridden due to Jerome’s soup, the woman finally got up a few hours later when she felt it had digested, rubbing her stomach.

She didn’t want to rest any longer anyway, since she had nightmares whenever she fell asleep, even briefly.

‘I have these unpleasant dreams, but I can’t remember any of them when I wake up……’

Sighing deeply as she went downstairs, the woman suddenly felt that the indoor atmosphere was different from yesterday.

‘All the curtains have been drawn back?’

Afternoon light was filtering in everywhere.

Even in this winter-like weather, such sunshine could enter when the snow stopped falling.

The surroundings, tinged with warm colors, soothed her dejected mood at least a little.

“Elizabeth!”

Jerome, who was tying back and arranging the curtains in the living room, called out abruptly when he saw the woman appear.

His eyes were clearly directed at her, but the woman turned around in confusion.

Was there someone named Elizabeth behind her……?

“How about it? As a temporary name, Elizabeth.”

Jerome approached her with a casual gesture.

“Eli…… zabeth?”

As the woman stood there blinking her pink eyes, a momentary silence fell.

The only sound was Evan turning pages, still focused on the book he’d been reading earlier.

‘A temporary name? Did he think of this because I got a headache trying to recall my name yesterday?’

Just as the woman was thinking that having even a temporary name would be nice, the impatient Jerome spun around.

“Forget it if you don’t like it.”

“No, no! Not at all! I love it!”

She hurriedly flapped her arms to stop Jerome.

Jerome sniffed and turned to Evan, who was reading his book.

“See? I told you she’d like it.”

“……”

Evan frowned as if he didn’t particularly like the name, but he didn’t object.

“We’re going to be living together for a while, and it’s uncomfortable for us to keep saying ‘you’ and ‘her.’ I thought it would be better to have a name, even temporarily.”

The woman nodded enthusiastically, delighted.

“That’s right. Thank you so much, Jerome!”

“If I’d known you’d be this happy, I would have suggested it much earlier. From now on, I’ll call you Elizabeth, or Ellie for short. Let us know if you remember your real name. We’ll call you that from then on.”

“Yes!”

Beaming at the name Ellie, she suddenly asked with a curious expression:

“But why Elizabeth?”

Jerome proudly squared his shoulders as he answered.

“It’s the most popular name in the Empire right now.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, the protagonist of that book.”

Jerome gestured toward the book Evan was reading.

Now that she looked, it seemed like the same book Jerome had been holding when she first woke up in this castle.

She tilted her head to match the angle of the book in Evan’s hands and read the title on the cover.

“That…… Villainess’s Seduction, Volume 1?”

She scanned the title again, wondering if she’d misread.

With its fancy gold script title on a provocative red cover, the book looked like a trashy romance novel to anyone.

Even the author’s pen name below the title was rather strange.

〈That Villainess’s Seduction Volume 1: A Novel by Fiery Woman〉

Ellie’s expression froze in disbelief.

“D-don’t tell me Elizabeth is the villainess?”

Evan let out a snicker when he saw her eyes begin to waver slightly.

“See, I told you she wouldn’t like it.”