She looked at Jeffrey in confusion. At that moment, a strange scene flashed through her mind.

‘I’ll furnish it.’

‘I don’t want that. It’s my house, so I’ll decorate it as I please.’

‘Well, if you insist, I’ll just buy the bed.’

‘…Why the bed?’

‘Because we’ll use it together. It should be sturdy… It’s annoying if it creaks in the middle. Don’t you agree, Lumiere?’

Lumiere clutched her forehead and sank to the ground.

Whose voice is this?

No matter how hard she tried to recall, nothing came to mind. Only the pain, as if someone were hitting her head with a hammer from all directions, surged.

“Miss? Are you alright?”

“Ugh…”

“Miss? Oh my god, it seems you have a headache. Cindy! Hey, Cindy!”

As soon as Jeffrey loudly called Cindy’s name, the mansion door burst open, and an unexpected person rushed out.

“Miss!”

Turning her head towards the voice, Lumiere was startled and her eyes widened.

‘Tamia…?’

The person approaching had slightly tanned skin, delicate eyes, and an exotic appearance that made it hard to guess her age—a familiar face.

It was Tamia Moom, the nurse who had taken care of Lumiere when she was young.

“Miss! Are you alright? You’re not seriously hurt, are you?”

The nurse looked exactly as Lumiere remembered from her childhood. With her unusually deep brown eyes, she carefully examined Lumiere and pulled her into a warm embrace.

“Thank goodness, really thank goodness you’re not seriously hurt…”

Tamia’s warmth enveloped Lumiere.

As she stood there in a daze, the familiar herbal scent of Tamia brought her back to her senses. Lumiere quickly grabbed Tamia’s shoulders and asked,

“Tamia? Is it really you, Tamia? How are you here?”

Tamia’s eyes widened slightly at Lumiere’s confused words.

She stared at Lumiere for a moment before suddenly cupping her cheeks and pulling her close. Pressing her forehead against Lumiere’s, Tamia whispered softly.

“We ran into each other by chance in front of the cathedral ten days ago. You grabbed me and asked me to stay with you. Don’t you remember?”

When Lumiere was anxious as a child, Tamia would often press their foreheads together and whisper to her. It always calmed her quickly, and it worked now too.

Strangely, as soon as Tamia finished speaking, the memory of grabbing her came back to Lumiere.

‘Tamia!’

‘…Miss Lumiere?’

‘Tamia! Is it really you, Tamia? How… No, never mind that. Tamia, please. I beg you, help me. Please!’

Lumiere’s eyes widened like the full moon.

‘That’s right, I did that. I grabbed Tamia…’

Tamia had taken care of Lumiere from when she was 11 until she was 15. When she left the mansion due to personal reasons, Lumiere remembered crying a lot.

She had missed Tamia dearly. Even as an adult, she would occasionally think of her and wonder where she was and how she was doing.

She had met Tamia again ten days ago and desperately asked for her help.

‘Help… What did I ask her to help with? If I’m going to remember, I should remember everything. Why is this so jumbled?’

Lumiere felt confused once again by her patchy memory. But unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of the surprises for her today.

* * *

“Oh my, Miss! Are you alright? Let me see! What did the hospital say?”

As she held her throbbing forehead, Cindy, who had run out late, supported Lumiere with a pale face.

As Cindy arrived, Tamia quickly ran into the mansion to fetch some warm tea for Lumiere.

“Oh my goodness! There’s a cut on your cheek! And your dress is torn. What on earth happened!”

Cindy fussed around Lumiere like a mother bird circling a fallen chick.

Holding her aching forehead, Lumiere glanced at Cindy and inwardly sighed in relief.

‘Thank goodness. Cindy is the same.’

There was nothing shiny or greatly changed about her; she was the same lovable Cindy Chase that Lumiere knew.

Realizing that she was more shocked by her current state than she had thought, Lumiere sighed inwardly.

‘Well, losing chunks of memory isn’t a minor issue.’

People often laugh when they’re too shocked, and Lumiere was in exactly that state. She let out a hollow laugh and called Cindy.

“Cindy.”

“Yes, yes? What is it, Miss? Does your head hurt? Should we go back to the hospital? Or should I call a doctor?”

Her small, warm hands gently caressed Lumiere’s cheek and forehead.

“Ah! Let’s go inside first, Miss. Here, hold onto my arm. Can you walk?”

Lumiere resisted Cindy’s attempts to drag her into the mansion, standing firm on her toes.

“Miss?”

When Cindy looked back at her, puzzled, Lumiere smiled with genuine curiosity and asked,

“Cindy, don’t be alarmed. Is this really my house?”

Cindy’s eyes widened as if wondering why she would ask such a thing.

“Why is the house so big? Was it expanded?”

“No. We completely tore it down and rebuilt it last year.”

“Rebuilt? Why?”

Oh, Cindy’s eyes grew even larger.

Whenever Cindy widened her eyes like that, Lumiere always worried that her eyeballs might pop out. Cindy’s eyes were that large and round.

“…Um, Miss?”

At Cindy’s anxious call, Lumiere casually added,

“Sorry. I must seem strange, right? The doctor said I lost some memory when I fell out of the carriage.”

“…What? What did you just say?”

Someone once said that the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Looking at Cindy, Lumiere deeply agreed with that statement. She could see the confusion in Cindy’s constantly blinking eyes.

“So, um, I seem to have lost about 2 or 3 years of memory.”

“What? Whaaat…?!”

Realizing the meaning of her words, Cindy grabbed Lumiere’s shoulders and shouted.

“No, but how can you say something like that so calmly, Miss!”

Lumiere, who had been flinching at Cindy’s raised voice, suddenly found the situation amusing. She didn’t know why, but laughter kept bubbling up.

“You’re laughing, Miss?!”

What else can I do, Cindy? What choice do I have?

Lumiere shrugged and smiled again at Cindy, who looked like she might faint.

* * *

“Oh, Miss! Oh, our Miss…!”

The mansion was in an uproar.

Behind the wailing Cindy, Jeffrey, who had arrived late, stomped his feet in anger.

“They said it was a noble family’s carriage, but how could it be so poorly made!”

Amazingly, the carriage Lumiere had been riding in when the accident occurred belonged to Tartien.

According to Cindy, this is what happened.

About a month and a half ago.

Lumiere had received a commission from Tartien to paint a portrait. The time was tight, but the owner of the portrait had insisted that Lumiere be the one to paint it.

The offered amount was enormous due to the urgency. However, regardless of the amount, Lumiere was reluctant.

Tartien had used every means to forcefully push the commission on her.

‘…Used every means?’

She wanted to ask what that meant, but it was hardly the time for questions.

As mentioned, it was a sea of tears right now…

Anyway, the portrait was completed safely on time, and Tartien invited her as a token of gratitude. Apparently, today was the day she had accepted that invitation.

Lumiere chuckled dryly and muttered,

“…I received a portrait commission from Tartien and was formally invited?”

It was absurd, to say the least.

The Tartien, who could bring down even the birds from the sky, had commissioned her for a painting. And they offered an enormous amount of money. That alone was outrageous, but what was even more baffling was that she had no memory of it.

‘I really don’t understand anything.’

The only relief was that the commission had been completed.

That was the only thing.

“Tartien or whatever! How can they not come to clean up after an accident?”

“There was nothing to clean up. I was too flustered and just left.”

“Still, that’s not right!”

“Exactly! It’s definitely Tartien’s fault! You got hurt, Miss!”

“…Both of you, please calm down.”

Tamia sighed as if exasperated by the fiery Cindy and Jeffrey, and handed over some lukewarm herbal tea.

“Th-thank you, Tamia.”

Cindy sniffled as she slowly drank her tea, while Jeffrey, unable to contain his anger, gulped it down and started coughing violently.

“Oh dear, you’ll choke if you drink like that, calm down, Jeffrey.”

“Ugh, cough, cough! Gah!”

“Dad! Are you okay? Kids, help Dad, pat his back!”

At Cindy’s shout, the twins, who had been whispering anxiously in the corner, quickly rushed forward.