Hiding the Fact That We Are Dating From the Amnesiac Villain - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 26
Since I had no intention of pursuing romance anyway, I figured it would be perfect to politely decline while treating him to a meal.
‘Yes, I should see him now.’
“Ahem. Truth be told, I’ve had my eye on you for quite some time, Miss Freena.”
“My! My, what a surprise!”
“I’m honored that fate has allowed us to meet like this.”
Beside the knight whose ears were flushing red, Hanna bounced excitedly, adding her own enthusiastic remarks as if it were her own affair.
Hanna, why on earth are you so delighted about this?
‘But if he’s being this sincere… it feels cruel to reject him outright.’
I was just thinking I should take Hanna and the knight to a nearby restaurant when it happened.
Screech—
A carriage bearing the Caesar Family seal came to a halt directly in front of me.
The appearance of a Grand Duke’s carriage on a street where only workers passed was utterly surreal.
Everyone froze in place.
The carriage door opened, revealing a pair of black shoes, and from within emerged someone far too familiar.
“Have you been waiting long, Miss Freena?”
It was Decklin.
“But didn’t we promise to meet after today was over?”
Decklin’s crimson gaze, cold and settled, pierced toward Parvan standing beside me.
‘Did he really come to pick me up?’
And Decklin himself, no less?
Hanna, who had been glancing between Decklin and me, went pale the moment she saw the seal on the carriage.
Her eyes asked me: ‘Could that possibly be the Grand Duke himself?!’
“G-G-Grand Duke Caesar! We greet your grace!”
Parvan, who had been frozen, suddenly bowed so deeply he looked ready to prostrate himself on the ground. Hanna, beside him, turned ashen and hastily followed suit with a bow.
I too was about to bend my knees and lower myself in courtesy.
“Surely you didn’t make another appointment without telling me?”
The corner of Decklin’s mouth twisted slightly.
That was the habit Hugho displayed when he was jealous…!
Decklin was clearly in a foul mood.
“N-No, of course not! I just happened to finish my work, so I was waiting here for your grace.”
When I flashed a brazen smile, Decklin’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.
His gaze then turned toward Hanna and the knight.
“I apologize for the intrusion, but I’m afraid I must take Miss Freena with me today.”
“Y-Yes, yes, w-we understand, or rather, of course, your grace!”
“F-Freena, h-have a safe trip…!”
Hanna and the knight stood side by side, stammering as if something had broken.
Truth be told, I wanted to join their stuttering chorus.
“Let’s go.”
Decklin said nothing more.
As if she had any say in the matter.
‘…Wow.’
He was utterly, completely different from the Hugho I knew.
“Freena, the carriage step is quite high. Hold my hand and be careful as you board.”
Where had that man who used to care for me so tenderly during our courtship gone?
How could someone be such a masterful actor?
Yet I concealed my feelings and boarded the carriage with a feigned smile, stepping onto the footboard.
“Thank you for your consideration, Your Grace.”
“….”
If I let my discomfort show any further, I would only invite suspicion.
If I had decided to deceive him, I needed to do it convincingly to the end.
…It was finally time to undergo the Holy Verification.
* * *
The carriage raced forward swiftly.
Alone together in that narrow space.
Rather than meet the gaze of Decklin seated across from me, I deliberately fixed my eyes on the rapidly changing landscape beyond the window.
Yet I kept feeling a sharp, prickling sensation along one side of my cheek.
Just as I wondered if someone was stabbing me with an awl, I found Decklin staring at me with a piercing gaze, his arms crossed.
“Miss Freena, what is this?”
Soon Decklin spoke in a low, accusatory tone.
“How could you try to meet another man while you’re with me?”
Anyone listening would misunderstand.
We’re (now) nothing to each other.
“…It was a prior engagement.”
I averted my gaze and offered an excuse.
“Is that man the one you were desperately calling for, Miss Freena?”
Someone I was desperately calling for? When?
My eyes widened in bewilderment.
“Hwi?”
…Huh?
The words that followed from Decklin’s lips were even more confusing.
“Hwuri?”
Huh?
“No, wait? Then Hwi?”
Huh?
‘…Could it be.’
“Ah yes, Hugho.”
I flinched at the unexpected name that emerged from Decklin’s lips.
His cold, crimson gaze, which had been impassive, lingered for a moment on my startled shoulders before falling away.
“Seems I got it right.”
“….”
“The author is Hugho.”
That’s not right.
‘But how did Decklin know that name?
Could his memories be returning?
‘This can’t be happening!’
Cold sweat trickled down my face rapidly.
“Miss Freena clung to me and called out so desperately. Surely you remember?”
“Me?”
“At Leyton Bridge.”
…Ah.
Only then did Freena’s memory return to her.
Back then, I hadn’t even known that Hugho had lost his memories. The moment we reunited at our meeting place, I’d tried to return the ring to him.
Completely unaware of what was about to unfold.
“That’s a different person. Someone who dines at Daisy Hall….”
Freena stopped speaking there.
It didn’t seem like Decklin would be curious about such useless information.
“So there really is a man named Hugho who makes Miss Freena so desperate?”
Why had he suddenly reached such a conclusion?
“Who is Hugho?”
“….”
Hugho asks about Hugho.
‘His memories will return someday, won’t they?’
I couldn’t know when that would be, but I could only hope it would be after Freena and her siblings had left The Empire.
It wouldn’t take even a year until her siblings graduated.
“…Hugho is.”
Should I say we’re nothing to each other? Or that we’re finished?
Freena made her decision.
“Hugho is someone precious to me….”
“….”
I don’t know when Decklin’s memories will return.
If they do, it would be natural for him to interrogate me about why I pretended not to know him.
‘A situation might come where I need to make excuses then.’
So let me lay the groundwork now.
“Someone I love very much….”
Later, I might need to escape the crisis by saying, ‘Your station is too noble, and since you didn’t recognize me, I couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge you!’
To prepare for that moment in advance, Freena lowered her eyes sadly.
Look at me now!
“I see.”
Yet for some reason, Decklin seemed more displeased than before.
What did I do wrong?
Just then, the carriage came to a halt before the Temple.
The moment of measurement had finally arrived.
Freena glanced out the window and felt her stomach drop.
‘This is the Grand Temple?’
The scale was absolutely massive.
There were four Grand Temples throughout the Empire—one in the Capital, and one each in the Southern, Western, and Eastern Regions.
Among them, the most prestigious was the Grand Temple in the Capital, where the Pope himself resided.
‘…They’re going to verify my sanctity here?’
Even ordinary nobles didn’t undergo measurement here. Only high-ranking nobility did.
“Your Excellency, are we sure we came to the right place?”
“We came to the right place, Miss Freena.”
Something felt terribly off about this.
I’d assumed the measurement would take place at a regional temple…
‘Why is Decklin going to such lengths for me?’
He’d shown suspicious behavior at the banquet incident, but was it really worth all this?
“Shall we disembark?”
Decklin spoke to Freena, who was staring blankly out the window.
Though I was deeply reluctant, I stepped down from the carriage. There was no running away from this now.
‘I hope no one here recognizes me.’
I’d visited a few times during my stay in Orbannon. Though it had been more than a decade ago.
Still, one could never be too careful.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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