Since I Don't Know Anything About It, Shall We Break Up, Your Majesty? - Chapter 46

A power similar to hypnosis, but with much stronger control.

A power that no one can grasp the true nature of, and is difficult to break, but also a dangerous ability that cannot be used carelessly.

In fact, it was Tamia’s first attempt, but perhaps due to Lumiere’s desperate heart, the spell was perfectly executed.

‘I didn’t think it would really work…’

She had heard that no one had succeeded for nearly 70 years.

Tamia touched the black spell mark engraved on her neck as if strangling her, and laughed helplessly.

It was said that if successful, it could cast an incredibly powerful suggestion, but it was also a power dangerous to the caster.

Strange powers always harbor ominousness.

That’s why one must be careful, and that’s why more stringent and powerful ‘conditions’ were needed.

‘…It’s okay if it fails, Tamia.’

Tamia recalled the thin hand that had grasped her.

‘Please. Help me.’

Fingernails caked with fresh, unclotted red blood.

‘Any method is fine. Please help me protect him… Help me protect myself.’

There were blood and wounds all over her thighs and chest, showing how much she had scratched herself.

Just seeing that, Tamia could tell how desperate Lumiere had been.

Karma.

She must help her.

She must help her little miss whom she had abandoned and left her family for.

It must be that heaven sent her here to help her.

In an era where gods have left.

Now, when phenomena that cannot be explained by science are ridiculed.

She remembered a spell that would seem bizarre and suspicious to some.

‘If this method succeeds, Miss Lumiere, you will forget her past related to that person. Is that still okay with you?’

‘It’s fine, Tamia. I need to do something now.’

‘This… is just a means to stop the progression of addiction. It will take over a year to detoxify naturally without an antidote or neutralizer. If by any chance the spell is broken within a year, your body will return to its addicted state.’

In other words, even this wasn’t a perfect method.

But at that time, Lumiere was in a situation where she had to grasp at straws.

‘…It’s okay. He’ll come soon. He will surely notice. I’ll make it so he has to notice.’

Lumiere was desperate.

Her haggard complexion and sunken eyes were pitiful.

‘I’m sorry for the unreasonable request. And… thank you.’

…For holding my hand.

In exchange for controlling Lumiere’s memories, Tamia lost her ‘words’.

Words related to Lumiere’s memories.

Words about the spell currently cast on Lumiere.

And words about how this all came to happen.

If by any chance Tamia were to reveal it and the spell were to break or be forcibly shattered, the black line drawn on her neck would strangle her.

The spell was like a living organism.

The moment certain materials and a covenant were executed, it came to life and entwined Lumiere and Tamia.

It binds their tongues and memories of its own judgment, and watches over them until the promised period is over.

Tamia couldn’t explain how such a wondrous thing happened.

It was just a spell technique passed down from very ancient ancestors.

‘But I don’t necessarily need to reveal the truth with my own mouth.’

“Tamia?”

Tamia looked down at Lumiere, who was calling her with a stiff face.

Her wet face looked so pitiful, as if it might break at any moment.

Our poor Miss.

Tamia felt deeply sorry for the unusually harsh life Lumiere had to endure.

“…Hypnosis is very dangerous, Miss.”

Tamia smiled casually as she washed Lumiere’s hair.

With gentle hands, she lathered up the soap and carefully untangled the beautiful red hair to prevent it from knotting.

“Still, I want to recover my memories. But I just don’t know any other way.”

“You want to recover your memories now?”

“Yes. I’m frustrated by the situations I don’t know about.”

“I see.”

Tamia sighed with a slightly darkened expression.

Fortunately, Lumiere had her eyes closed and was entrusting her head to Tamia, so she didn’t seem to notice anything.

“…I’ll try harder.”

“Hm? What kind of effort?”

“Effort to help you, Miss.”

Lumiere smiled softly at Tamia’s words and said,

“Just having Tamia by my side now is already a great help. If hypnosis is difficult, you don’t have to force yourself.”

The Miss hadn’t changed from when she was young.

She gives unlimited trust to those she believes in.

Tamia smiled bitterly as she poured warm water to rinse off the soap.

“Miss, do you remember the day I left?”

Lumiere, who had been letting her body relax in the flowing water, was silent for a moment before speaking.

“I remember.”

“…Then, you must also remember how I shook off the Miss who was clinging to me crying, and disappeared as if running away.”

Lumiere nodded silently with a smile.

“I clung to you terribly, begging you not to go, to stay by my side.”

Back then, Lumiere often had nightmares, and whenever she did, she would run to Tamia’s room.

If she fell asleep clinging to Tamia’s embrace like a young child, miraculously, she could sleep peacefully as if the bad energy had disappeared.

For Tamia, it must have been really bothersome and annoying.

Yet, without ever showing any displeasure, she hugged and comforted her every time.

Without Tamia, Lumiere’s childhood days would have undoubtedly been much sadder and much more frightening.

“Do you remember how you clung to my skirt as I was leaving and pressed your treasures into my hands?”

Tamia rinsed all the soap from Lumiere’s hair, wrung out the water tightly, and then wrapped it in a towel, placing it on top of her head.

The wet face looking up at Tamia was clear and lovely to the point of transparency.

So lovely that it made her feel pitiful.

“Treasures… they were just a few necklaces and rings I received as birthday gifts.”

Lumiere waved her hand with an embarrassed face, as if to say why bring that up now.

“No. In fact, it was almost like a midnight escape… Even after leaving your side, my heart was always heavy. Who would protect our beautiful Miss from nightmares if I wasn’t there…”

“…Tamia.”

“I prayed and prayed every night that you would be able to sleep comfortably.”

Tamia had sent her son for adoption to another relative.

It was a very distant place that could only be reached by crossing the border, far from Levania.

But then a letter came saying that he had been seriously injured after joining the army.

The letter said if she didn’t come quickly, he might die, so Tamia immediately packed her bags.

She felt sorry for the people of the Lashantia family who had employed her out of kindness despite her unclear origins.

Moreover, in the future she had vaguely read, Lashantia reached an unfavorable end.

Perhaps if she had stayed, she could have prevented at least a little of the Lashantia family’s misfortune.

But she couldn’t, and when she returned to the Lashantia mansion with a heavy heart after several years of wandering, they had already gone bankrupt and disappeared.

Tamia couldn’t save her son.

By the time she arrived, his injuries were already severe, beyond what she could handle.

But fortunately, since she arrived quickly, she was able to say a final goodbye to her son.

To get to her son quickly, she sold the necklace Lumiere had given her to buy a high-class carriage.

That carriage was so sturdy and fast that it took her to her son in one breath, as if it reflected Tamia’s anxious heart.

So Tamia owed a great debt to Lumiere.

A debt of having to turn away from the heart that truly loved and followed her.

A debt of leaving behind only promises that couldn’t be kept.

At that time, although Lumiere had clung to Tamia, after hearing about her circumstances, she swallowed her sorrowful tears.

‘…Then go. Family is something that can’t be exchanged for anything else.’

The girl wiped her tears and handed over all her precious possessions to Tamia.

‘You said you need to go quickly. You need to ride horses and carriages, right? Father said crossing borders costs a lot of money.’

Even with a sorrowful and sad face, Lumiere stuffed expensive items into Tamia’s pockets, which had frozen in bewilderment.

The necklace and rings she had received as birthday gifts recently, the coins she had been collecting in a glass bottle to buy a gift for her mother, and even small jewels.

‘Miss, you don’t have to do this. If you do this… I, I…’

‘It’s okay. It’s okay, so hurry and go.’

The young Lumiere pushed her away even while crying.

She hugged Tamia’s waist tightly as she turned away, even offering mature comfort, saying that Tamia’s child would be safe.

Tamia’s aching finger.

A grateful and pitiful connection.

She met that Miss again here.

Lumiere with a face full of illness and distorted with pain.