“Nope.”

Seeing him slightly shake his head made me feel both relieved and a little sorry. Losing your memories was like cutting out a piece or an entirety of your life.

They may have been unpleasant, difficult, and painful, but there must have been good memories within them.

Even at this moment, I was sure that there were still loyal people searching for him.

“It would be nice if your memories had come back. I mean, you have to go back.”

Hearing that, Knox froze.

“Go back?”

“Yes. Back to where you came from.”

“Where was I from?”

“Huh? Of course, that’ll be your Duke… I mean, how would I know?”


I nearly said his Dukedom.

“But don’t you have a place to go back to? It’s not like you fell from the sky…”

His face hardened. Looking into his eyes, I recalled the first day we met. His purple eyes had been as cold as frost.

“How are you so sure? Why are you so certain that I have a place to go back to?”

Gulp.

I held my breath.

Before I knew it, Knox was holding my hand, looking down at me. I couldn’t say anything. If I said something wrong, he looked like he would eat me up.

“Knox, the thing is… You probably have a home, right?”

“Probably?”

“Yes. Probably. If you have a place to go back to.”

“I see. What if I don’t have a place to go back to?”

With a thump, my back hit the soft mattress. Knox who crawled atop me, persistently stared at me. His lips slowly parted before my eyes.5

“What if I want to stay here?”3

I blankly stared back at him, without replying whether he could stay or not. Beneath the moonlight, his eyes sparkled. It occurred to me that the answer never mattered to Knox. He wouldn’t care.

“That’s…”

I shook off his hand and jumped up. At the same time, a loud noise came from behind the door.

Kuang!

Knox and I turned towards each other.

“It’s coming from the front door.”

“Let’s check it out.”

“L-let’s go together.”

Our house was small, so it wasn’t long before we reached the front door.

“Knox, you hide here for a while. If it’s a suspicious person, you come and help me. That person could be caught off guard, thinking that a girl lived alone.”

“…Alright.”

A stranger was visiting the house at dawn. Since living here for the past 10 years, this has never happened to me.

Breaking out into cold sweat, I opened the front door.

Creak.

The door opened with a chilling sound…

Flop.

Someone collapsed at the door.

“Diana?”

Looking at the collapsed person, my eyes widened. I propped up my panting sister.

“What happened?”

“Hello, Amy. It’s nothing. I just ran here.”

My sister was breathing sharply.

“You ran? This early in the morning?”

“Yup. I don’t have enough time to explain. Listen up, Amy. First, get Knox and hide in the basement. You know how to do that, right?”

“D-Diana?”

“I’ll take care of something and leave you alone for a while.”1

“You’re taking care of something? With whom?”

“It’ll take a while to explain, but there was a group of people I got into a quarrel with in the village. They seem to be following me. I was worried about you, so I ran here…”1

My sister had never come home at dawn before. As I scanned her body, I noticed the hardened blood on my sister’s shoulders.

My sister spoke as she unsheathed her sword.

“There’s an intruder in the forest now.”

An intruder? The first thing that came to mind were the Imperial knights.

To be exact, the Knights of the Crown Prince known as the Knighthood of the Red Dragon.

Unlike its childish name, they were famous for their cruelty and leaving destruction upon their wake. Were they here?

“D-Diana, who’s here? Who are the ones coming after you?”

This can’t be happening… Knox was meant to spend at least 1 year with the woman who saved him. In the novel he described it as ‘the year with the most nostalgic memories’ word for word. Though I was living in that same ‘year’ with him right now, I didn’t have the same sentiments.

But it hasn’t even been a month since he got here?

“Mercenaries.”

“Mercenaries?”

“Yup. A guild of mercenaries had been staying at that village for a while now. But I never knew they were monster-hunting mercenaries… Anyways, I have no time to explain. Take Knox and hide.”

My sister jumped to her feet.

“D-Diana, be careful.”

I grabbed her clothes and cautioned her. My sister looked at me and smirked.

“Do you not believe in me? Think about who has been raising you these past 10 years. Amy? People aren’t scarier than monsters.”

“… You mean, at least in this forest?”

“Yup.”

After patting my head gently, my sister turned around. Passing the fences, my sister’s silhouette gradually disappeared. This wasn’t my first or second time seeing her leave; I couldn’t help but worry whenever she does. I bit my lips.1

“Knox.”

My sister was a very sensitive person. Her senses had been honed over the past 10 years by raising me and living in this forest. But she was in a hurry.

In so much of a hurry that she didn’t notice Knox, who was hiding, despite acting as if she was fine.

Or maybe she knew but she pretended not to notice. What was more important was that she went out to beat them up.

“My sister said ‘they’. That means there must be a lot of them.”

“It looks like it.”

“Huh?”

Knox came over and held my shoulders. Just then, he looked into the distance narrowing his eyes like a hawk.

“It looks like they’re heading here.”

“Huh? You can tell? No, no, I meant. Do you know how many there are?”1

“… I’m not so sure. But there’s at least 3 people.”

My sister must have gone to fight the intruders. My face turned stiff and serious.

My sister who knew the topography of the forest well wouldn’t fail to beat them.

But the fact that at least 3 got past her meant that there were more intruders than my sister expected. Without a moment to think, I grabbed Knox’s hand.

“Knox, go. There’s no time for you stay here mumbling.”

“Go? Go where?”

“Didn’t you hear what my sister said? We have to hide.”

I pulled Knox’s hand but his body wouldn’t budge. He looked at me hurrying with an unknown expression.

“You’re not going to fight them, are you?”

“Can I not do that?”

“No! Knox, do you know what you’re trying to do? You’re still sick from Tethes!”

“I’m not sick anymore.”

“Do not look down on that poison.”

I spoke bitterly as I grabbed his hand.

“You may look fine now, but it’s only because you’re numb to pain!”

Because he did not feel pain he couldn’t tell, but I knew well how scary the poison could be.

The poison was not easy to cure. My sister was sick for an entire month, and the Knox during the day was still suffering from a fever because of it.

Even if he looked fine now, he might have another fever. So, he shouldn’t be moving too much.

“But If you move too much, you’ll get a fever. Are you listening to me, huh?”

“Amy.”

“If your wound opens again, you’ll be more exposed to the remaining poison and be poisoned indirectly. It’s a poison that causes paralysis just by the spread of blood or saliva. Worst case, you may faint and die. Don’t you know that?”

“Amy!”

He grabbed my other hand. Only then did I realise that I had turned pale and was anxiously grabbing my hair.

“… I understand that it’s a dangerous poison. But aren’t you worried about your sister? She’s fighting with a lot of people alone.”

“… I’m worried.”

I bit my lips harshly. How could I not be worried about her? But.

“But I’m not worried because I know that my sister is strong.”

Seeing my sister all these years, I knew that my sister would come back safely. The problem now was Knox who has yet to recover.

“I believe that my sister will be safe. The problem now is you and me. Just like my sister said, there’s a space to hide in the house. Let’s go there for now.”

“But your sister was referring to the me during the day, was she not? Is the space big enough for me to enter?”

“…”

I watched as Knox slowly grabbed his sword.

“No matter how I look at it, there’s no space in this small house for me to hide in.”

At that moment, I heard a loud noise coming from the fence. He let go of my hand and reached for his sword.

“Besides, I think it’s already too late for that.”

Crash.

I saw the intruders break through the fence. I frowned as I saw the rugged men.

Seeing them, a wave of dismay came over me.

“If we could go into the forest to avoid them…”

“You mean the forest filled with monsters?”

“If they had come this far, it means that they dealt with them already.”

But his eyes stubbornly avoided mine. Because the men have seen us, and I knew that they have too. It was impossible to completely run away from 5 men.

I looked away. It would be nice if Knox could use half of his original skills, but…

“Over there. Is anyone there?”

“Look at that, there’s a little girl in that house, isn’t there? She’s different from the one we’re after, right?”

“I think it’s her sister. They look similar. But I think the girl we’re chasing is prettier.”

Unpleasant smiles occupied the garden. Their skills must have been quite noteworthy, as they have made it all the way to the depths of the Night Forest.

“Whatever you do, you’ll have to pay for humiliating our mercenary guild.”

I may not know their reason for coming here, but I knew that they were upset. They looked at me in ridicule. They seemed to be confident in their skills and abilities.

“Macarthur, that son of a bitch got beaten up and gave us more things to deal with.”

“Was it just Macarthur though? All the guys that chased after her were beaten up. Our boss can never live to be looked down upon by a girl.”

“Weren’t you also dumped by that female knight a long time ago? Whatever, all this is bothering me like crazy. Well, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to play with that little girl for a while.” He cackled.

“You sound like a dick when you speak like that.”3

As they continued mocking, they seemed to completely ignore Knox.

Shifting my eyes silently, I noticed a sack at the edge of the garden. The white powder may not be effective on monsters but it was very effective on humans. I whispered to Knox.

“Knox, could you distract them for a bit? See that powder over there. I’m planning on throwing it at them. That’ll paralyse them for a while.”

“… How long do you need?”

I calmly told him how much time I needed. One of the men who was cackling at us raised one of his fingers.

“Hey, how long are you going to stay there, scared?”

That man who has a wild look on his face, grinned. If we were in my former world, that gesture would be considered an offensive curse.2

“Watch me, I’m going to strip that bitch naked.”5

Tuk.

My other hand that had been holding on to Knox’s was forcefully shaken off.

All I could see was his broad back, but an unknown feeling welled up inside me.

“Amy, did you say that they would be paralysed when hit with the powder?”

“Huh? What? That’s right. That’s why I just need 5 minutes. 5 minutes is all I need…”

“I don’t need to keep them alive right?”

“Huh? W-wait, Knox!”

I called out to him, after he stormed off with his sword in hand. I stood there, unable to tear my eyes away from his back for a while before walking towards the sack.

Under his condition, he wouldn’t be able to move for long. So, I’ll have to hurry and throw the powder.

‘Powder. Which one of these is the Late powder?”

As I was sniffing the powders to figure out which one caused paralysis, I heard an unusual sound form my right.

Shing.

I had never heard the sound of wind being cut before, but now I clearly have. As I turned away from the sack, my mouth slackened.

“…”

I looked on silently at the bloody scene.

Knox was the Grand Duke. From a young age, he was appointed commander and fought battle after battle on the battlefield. The amount of blood staining his back was never little.

Having survived all those times, he was strong. That’s right, this novel’s male lead was stronger than everybody else.

I knew that Knox was strong because he was the strongest in the novel.

However, he was not perfect as he had lost his memories in the novel. I wondered if it was too much of a handicap since he couldn’t even use half of his original skills?

If it was too difficult to escape, I was planning on paralysing them to make it easier…

But he was able to ‘take care’ of these men easily, even with his amnesia and imperfect body.

Looks like I misjudged him.3

“Amy.”

After cutting down the last man, Knox raised his head. Under the moonlight, his eyes were shimmered like a beast.

“I-I’m listening.”

“What do we do now?”

“T-to the men? Ah…”

I shook my head in order to regain my sanity.

“It’s better if we tie them up or bury their bodies. Until my sister comes back.”

My sister would think that this was strange, but I just said anything I could.

Drip drop.

I stared blankly at the blood dripping from the tip of his sword. My lips began to twitch.

“… I’ve taken care of monster’s corpses before with my sister, down to their fur. There’s an area to take care of this in the backyard.”

It wasn’t difficult to drag the powerless bodies to the back of the house.

I tried not to tremble as Knox silently lifted the men and brought them to the back.

How do I explain this to my sister when she comes back? No, or maybe we could hide them for a while? Because when you think about something desperately, something else can be forgotten.

But then, Knox grabbed my hand, and I froze as he spoke.

“You’re shaking.”

“What? Huh… Ah, yes. Am I? That’s strange? Why… was I… shaking?”

He was right. This man was this novel’s male lead and he could cut down 5 men with ease. He may have lost his memories but he was still essentially the duke.

I awkwardly laughed. But with his beast-like senses, he read me quickly.


“Are you afraid of me?”

“…What?”

“Something came to me just now. …When I took the sword, there was someone who looked at me just like you did. That person even cursed at me.”1

I didn’t realise that I hadn’t let go of his hand, which had been holding mine so tightly. He must have noticed my trembling hand. Despite my tremors, I clasped his hand tightly then raised my head.

“I’m not the type to be afraid of the person who protected me.”1

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“…”

I knew that Knox was a cruel and heartless man. So, I had shaken in fear that I could end up like those men someday.

I bit my lips. But the people he was pointing his sword to where his enemies, not me.

“So, I’m not scared of you.”

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