“Do you perhaps…… like adventures?”

“……Ah.”

At the somewhat deflating question, Raviel unconsciously answered with disappointment.

“I don’t really like them.”

“……”

“Does it cause you trouble if I say this?”

“……Very much so.”

Seeing Shailyn unable to hide her flustered expression, Raviel laughed as if deflated and eventually took a step back.

“What’s the matter?”

“……Actually, I happened to find out that my mother’s keepsake is hidden in the temple’s basement. Could you help me find it?”

Glass-like transparent eyes looked up at him while holding a sparkling light.

Raviel, feeling somewhat mischievous, grinned and countered.

“If I help you, what will you do for me?”

Wow, how petty. Shailyn, speaking with her expression for a moment, soon came to her senses, thought it over, and answered.

“I’ll grant you one wish.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but you have to say something I can fulfill. Otherwise, I can’t grant it either.”

“Good.”

The negotiation was concluded like that.

While Shailyn was cheering inwardly, Raviel, having been thinking about something, asked.

“But do you know how to get into the temple’s basement?”

“No.”

A rather shameless answer popped out immediately. Shailyn smiled with her eyes while gauging the other person’s reaction.

“But I thought you might know.”

Although he wasn’t the head priest of this place, since he came down from the Central Temple as an auditor, she estimated he would have some knowledge.

Wouldn’t he? It was a guess she threw out.

And her guess was correct.

“……You chose your companion very wisely.”

Raviel let out a laugh like a sigh and shook his head.

In the end, finding out how to get to the temple’s basement became his responsibility, and the two promised to meet again tomorrow night.

***

Before going to the temple’s basement with the head priest, I tried my best to solve the second hint.

Since nothing came out even if I wracked my memory-lost brain, I questioned people around me.

Though it was only Mandy.

“Mandy, do you know if I was in a carriage accident when I was young?”

“When? You haven’t had such an accident since I entered the count’s house.”

Mandy showed the same bewildered reaction as me. Since she was the person who had been with me the longest currently, I was disappointed as I had secretly hoped.

No, if even Mandy doesn’t know, when exactly did I have the accident?

“When did you come in?”

“When you were fourteen years old, Miss.”

“Hmm, are there any servants from before who are still remaining in the territory? Those who worked from before you came in.”

“I’ll look into it.”

“Please do it as quickly as possible.”

Fortunately, Mandy found and brought the only former head chef of the count’s house who was staying in the county within a few hours.

When I asked him, I had the carriage accident when I was about nine years old.

‘You went out alone and the incident happened, and you probably got up after being sick for quite a long time, Miss. I heard later that you couldn’t remember the accident itself well.’

No wonder, the accident itself was news I was hearing for the first time.

It seemed I had an accident when I was too young and lost all related memories from the shock.

‘I feel like I need to revive that memory……’

I called the only memory-loss person around me, confessed the situation, and asked for advice.

“How should I go about recovering lost memories?”

“Well, I’m not sure……”

Carl gave an unhelpful answer and trailed off.

I didn’t give up and asked.

“Then what efforts have you made to find your memories?”

“I didn’t make any efforts.”

“……?”

When I looked at him bewildered by his nonchalant reply, he stared back at me without avoiding my gaze.

Well, what. This leaves me with nothing to say.

Actually, Carl hadn’t really wanted to find his memories from before, so in a way, I had come to the wrong person.

In the end, I gave up on getting advice and muttered seriously.

“If I hit my head hard, would the memories come back……?”

“That only works for recently lost memories, doesn’t it?”

“How about recreating the carriage accident?”

“What if you die doing that? Even if just your neck bone breaks wrong, it’s instant death.”

“Right, it would be too dangerous after all……”

Sigh, I let out a sigh of resignation.

The lost memory was definitely like a very big hint, but the problem was there was no way to make it return manually.

There are no magic potions that treat memory loss either.

‘It can’t be helped, I’ll just have to give up on the memory and search the basement thoroughly.’

Anyway, I just need to find mom’s keepsake with the head priest.

Having changed my mind, that night I secretly left the count’s residence and headed to the temple without anyone knowing.

The reason I didn’t even tell Carl and left him behind was one.

‘Please leave your bondservant behind.’

Because of the head priest’s request.

I don’t know why beautiful and handsome people don’t get along so well with each other.

Come to think of it, they had been growling at each other from the first time they met. Then at some point, both started keeping each other in check.

It didn’t feel like it was simply because of their feelings for me.

‘It seems like there’s something I don’t know existing between the two of them.’

While thinking various thoughts, I had already arrived at the temple.

When I went to the promised place, the head priest was waiting for me, showing off his sacred beauty even in the middle of the night.

“You came alone, right?”

“Yes, Carl is probably fast asleep by now. Did you find the passage to go underground?”

“Yes, just follow me.”

Smiling gently, he took the first step. I also followed behind him into the temple.

After walking straight north of the temple, he stopped in front of the fourth pillar in the corridor connected to the cloister.

Click.

When he pressed a specific part of the pillar, vibrations suddenly rang out and the floor began to open.

Rumble.

“……?!”

I opened my eyes wide seeing an entrance leading downward being created.

A real secret passage?

“We can go down here.”

The head priest lit the candle he had brought and led the way. We carefully went down the steep stairs.

The temple basement was dark and damp. One candlestick only illuminated right in front of us, so we had to walk close together.

“But why did they hide your mother’s keepsake in the temple’s basement of all places?”

The head priest’s question echoed back. I answered awkwardly.

“I don’t know since I wasn’t the one who hid it. I just received a tip that mom’s keepsake was here.”

“Who gave you the tip?”

“……One of the servants who used to work for our family.”

When I made up something roughly, fortunately he didn’t suspect and moved on.

But the ordeal didn’t end there.

“Looking at the records of temple budget usage, there were some strange points.”

“……Oh my, really?”

I tried to answer as shamelessly as possible to the sudden remark, but the head priest mercilessly hit the mark.

“There were traces of hastily filling empty amounts. As if someone embezzled and then cleaned up because I was dispatched.”

“……If I honestly explain here, will you take it into consideration?”

At the earnest question, the head priest smiled with the most honest and firm expression in the world.

“I’ll listen and judge.”

……As expected, he’s not an easy man.

“The previous count, my stepmother, did some petty things several times. I found out when I inherited the family this time, so I returned it belatedly. But I absolutely won’t do the same things as my stepmother.”

“Everyone says that at first. That they absolutely won’t do bad things.”

“For real.”

“Everyone says it’s for real. It’s just that their hearts change when profit is placed right in front of them.”

I flinched at the somewhat cynical voice. Somehow it didn’t seem like he was talking to me, but rather a statement aimed at someone else.

‘Did someone say they wouldn’t do bad things and then do bad things to him?’

While I was tilting my head while gauging the situation, he spoke awkwardly with a gentle smile.

“I guess I was too serious and dampened the atmosphere.”

“No.”

“I’ll take note of what you said. Do you have anything you’re curious about regarding me? I’ll answer everything.”

At the statement that showed effort to lighten the mood, the conversation at the boutique suddenly came to mind.

When I asked if he had that kind of relationship with Lady Celsior, he said absolutely not because he had a first love.

Suddenly curious, I spoke like a mischievous student teasing a student teacher.

“Then tell me about your first love.”