People recognized Frederick and bowed in greeting. He raised his hand in casual acknowledgment as he walked, then fixed his gaze on a fruit stall. More precisely, he stopped when he saw a mother and daughter examining fruit in front of the stall.

‘……Who is that?’

She was a very ordinary woman with brown hair. The girl who appeared to be her child, about four or five years old, had a pure face typical for that age.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, the woman turned around. And at her suddenly changing expression, Frederick realized.

‘She knows me.’

An expression that couldn’t hide her surprise. Clear fear showed in the woman’s trembling eyes.

She hid the child in her arms and moved quickly. However, a woman with a child couldn’t possibly outrun a knight. Frederick easily blocked her path.

“Sir Frederick……”

The woman called his name. He was now certain that she was one of the people from his forgotten memories. He asked her.

“Who are you? How do you know me?”

The woman, unaware that Frederick had lost his memories, looked puzzled at his question. There were many watching eyes. Frederick led her to a secluded area behind a harbor warehouse. He entrusted the woman’s child to a subordinate and ordered them to keep some distance.

“Do you really not…… remember? Not even me?”

“That’s right.”

“I see. So such a thing……”

Frederick briefly explained his condition to the woman. She looked very surprised when he said he lost his memory but soon gathered her courage and spoke.

“Sir, may I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“The princess…… I mean, does Her Majesty the Empress also have lost her memories like you?”

At Jane’s question, Frederick couldn’t hide his momentary surprise. The empress’s true past and lost memories were top secret, known to very few. How could an ordinary commoner before him know about it?

“You…… What’s your identity?”

“Ah…… Since you’ve lost your memories, you would have forgotten what I did.”

Seeing Frederick’s sharp wariness, the woman hesitated before murmuring softly. Then she explained in detail who she had been in Frederick’s forgotten memories and what she had done.

Frederick somewhat accepted the woman’s claim that she had once been the empress’s maid. However, questions still remained.

“The princess was reported dead. After you left the palace.”

“I couldn’t believe it. I saw how His Majesty the Emperor looked at Her Majesty the Empress as closely as you did. So when I heard that the emperor welcomed the empress after his ascension, I guessed. That the lady I served…… Yerena had become the empress.”

“What about the empress’s memory? You phrased it as a question, but your face showed certainty.”

“……If Lady Yerena, if the princess had her memories, she wouldn’t be there.”

The woman spoke with a bitter voice toward Frederick, who was probing with a cold face. He couldn’t say anything more. His reason still told him the woman was suspicious. But her face in his eyes looked too sincere.

“I don’t care how you knew that fact. This matter is top secret. So you’d better keep your mouth shut. If your life is precious, that is.”

So Frederick continued with a threatening tone, thinking he would investigate and monitor the woman. She looked up at him and murmured.

“You’re still the same even with your memories gone.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“You said exactly the same thing when you sent me away from the palace. To keep my mouth shut if my life was precious.”

Missing memories. Frederick bit his lip. It was always unpleasant to hear about himself from others when he didn’t know himself.

While Frederick frowned in silence, the sea breeze blew, and the woman turned her head toward the sea and said.

“Still, it’s fortunate. That Lady Yerena, I mean Her Majesty the Empress, is happy somehow.”

“……How can you be so sure the empress is happy?”

In that moment, Frederick unconsciously asked the woman. She seemed surprised by his question, her eyes widening briefly before looking at her child in the distance with his subordinate and answering.

“Even commoners like me hear rumors. They say His Majesty the Emperor loves Her Majesty the Empress very much. And I heard that after the two princes, another royal child is expected to be born soon.”

“……”

“The empress I knew valued family greatly. So if she weren’t happy, she wouldn’t have even considered children. So she must be happy now.”

“……”

“……I’m glad. Really.”

The woman sighed as she said she was glad. But Frederick could read complex emotions rather than relief on her face.

Her eyes, full of bitterness, were clouded with conflict. Would the empress, having lost her memories and believing an altered past to be true, truly be happy? Even if she were happy, would it be genuine happiness?

Having lost his memories, Frederick couldn’t answer that question within himself.

* * *

The woman and child disappeared into the distance. Frederick’s subordinate cautiously followed his lord, whose mood had suddenly worsened.

Frederick didn’t go straight to the mansion. He walked aimlessly until his subordinates were exhausted before returning home. The old chief butler, who had been waiting anxiously for his master’s return, ran out to greet him.

“Master. Where have you been? It’s late, and this old man was very worried when you didn’t return.”

Old butler William was one of the few people in the territory who could scold Frederick. Having cared for him since he was a baby, William had become lame while trying to save Frederick when he was caught up in his sister’s rebellion. Therefore, Frederick was lenient with him. That was also why he could bring potential brides for Frederick as he pleased.

“William. I heard. Please stop doing useless things.”

But today Frederick was in a very poor mood. He reproached William with sharp eyes for allowing in Viscount Nympha and his daughter.

William bowed once and followed Frederick, signaling to his subordinates with his eyes. What’s wrong with the master? The subordinates only put their fingers to their lips, whispering to be careful.

“Master.”

“I want to rest alone. If you’ve let someone in without my permission again, send them away. Or bring them tomorrow.”

“But……”

After all the subordinates had withdrawn, only William remained following Frederick. Frederick quickened his pace, clearly showing his annoyance. William wanted to say something, but his lord’s steps were too fast for him.

Eventually, William couldn’t keep up due to his age and began panting. Only then did Frederick turn around. William tried to speak, but someone else beat him to it. From the bottom of the stairs, someone called out to Frederick cheerfully.

“Frederick. Just getting back?”

“Hayden?”

Frederick turned completely at the unexpected appearance of his friend. At the bottom of the stairs stood the tall Hayden.

At the welcome sight, Frederick started to descend the stairs again. But halfway down, a tremendous shock suddenly struck his head.

Frederick stood frozen in place as if broken. Puzzled by his friend’s sudden reaction, Hayden called out with a confused face.

“Frederick?”

“Ugh……”

“Frederick, what’s wrong?”

Something seemed off. Hayden moved to approach his staggering friend. But before he could properly climb the stairs, Frederick collapsed.

“Master!”

“Frederick!”

The man’s body rolled down the stairs. Alarmed, Hayden and William rushed to Frederick.

Frederick, collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, showed no visible wounds but remained motionless. Yet his breathing had quickened, and his temperature began rising at an impossible rate. Hayden lifted Frederick onto his back and shouted to William.

“A physician! Call a physician quickly!”

* * *

“Frederick?”

At dawn, five or six bottles of strong liquor rolled around the lord’s room. And sitting there as if collapsed among them was Frederick. Hayden, who had come to Frederick’s room at William’s request, was shocked at his friend’s appearance.

“What are you doing, drinking right after waking up? Have you lost your mind?”

Hayden was about to shout and approach his friend but hesitated. In the bluish light of dawn, his friend’s face looked no different than before he collapsed, yet strangely seemed to have aged.

“……I remember everything.”

“What?”

“I said I remember it all.”

Without even looking at Hayden, Frederick covered his eyes with a limp hand and said, cackling. Though his slurred speech might have sounded like the nonsense of a drunk person, Hayden immediately understood Frederick’s words and turned pale.

“You…… remember? Are you talking about your lost memories?”

“Yes.”

For the past seven years, his friend hadn’t recovered even the tiniest fragment of his lost memories. But now he claimed to remember everything. It was astonishing.

“D*mn it!”

While Hayden stood dazed, Frederick lowered his hand, cursing. His emerald eyes looked dull. Hayden barely managed to calm his increasingly white mind and trembling hands, clenching his fists.

‘……No medicine or poison is perfect. Some people might experience side effects. So it’ll be fine. Her Majesty the Empress won’t recover her memories.’

Thinking this first, Hayden slowly approached Frederick. He needed to calm his seemingly unstable friend. Lowering himself, he placed a hand on Frederick’s shoulder and spoke in the most composed voice he could muster.

“……It’s good that you’ve recovered your memories. But why are you like this? How many bottles have you drunk?”

“That’s what I’m wondering too. These were memories I vaguely knew from what you told me……”

“……”

“I don’t know either. Why I’m acting like this.”

Frederick chuckled and grabbed a nearby bottle. The liquid made a sloshing sound in the bottle that still contained some alcohol.

Hayden grabbed Frederick’s wrist as he tried to drink again. But Frederick roughly shook him off and gulped down the remaining liquor.

His already dizzy vision blurred further. Yet his anguish only became clearer. Feeling suffocated, Frederick grabbed his collar and tore off the buttons. Then he called to his friend with a voice boiling with guilt.