Hiding the Fact That We Are Dating From the Amnesiac Villain - Chapter 36

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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 36
A dreary sky stretched overhead.
Tap.
Cold rainwater fell upon Freena’s cheek. Her startled lashes trembled delicately.
Yet the rain had only just begun to fall, and already my cheeks were damp with tears.
I was begging.
“Save me, save me, save me, please….”
Weeping to someone, with utmost earnestness.
My body hung suspended in the void. If he released this hand, I would plummet below and perish.
Then, I realized he was mocking me.
‘How could you do this to me? After all my effort….’
No matter how much my memory had been lost.
Even if it had all been an act.
At the very least, if you possessed even a shred of human compassion….
One should not reduce a person to such wretchedness.
“Freena Crowell, have you nothing to say to me?”
“What….”
“In other words, who you really are. I don’t care for people with too many secrets.”
Decklin Caesar’s grip on me gradually loosened.
As I stared at that hand in a daze.
“You’re not understanding me at all. Should I ask what scheme brought you to approach me before you’ll comprehend?”
My heart trembled.
Ah. I understood then.
I was going to die like this.
Revealing the truth to save myself would be utterly futile.
Struggling to win his heart would change nothing.
After all, my suffering, my pleas, my death—all of it would be mere amusement to him.
Despair consumed me.
So before death, I clawed at the sound within my throat with all my remaining strength.
“■■ ■■■ ■■”
Decklin smiled as though sympathetic.
“How unfortunate.”
* * *
I opened my eyes.
“Gasp!”
Moments ago, I had been suspended from a dizzying height, but now I sat leaning against a tree.
Despite being in the shade, cold sweat drenched my entire body.
My skin crawled.
What kind of future was this?
It could be no more than a month away.
‘…Am I going to die inside that?’
To Decklin?
“Freena Crowell, have you nothing to say to me?”
“So, who you really are. I don’t like people with too many secrets.”
“You’re not grasping what I’m saying. Should I ask you directly what scheme you used to approach me?”
…What exactly have I let slip to Decklin? How did this happen?
Was infiltrating this estate truly such a reckless plan?
No, no it wasn’t.
“Don’t use that sacred object.”
“Especially not you, Freena.”
Why had Decklin entrusted me with a sacred object that could glimpse the future?
And why had he left such a loaded warning?
Could it be that even now, in this very moment, he had been suspecting me?
‘Ah….’
Had he hired me not for my purity, but for something else?
…To keep me close and kill me whenever he wished?
“Gasp! The Grand Duke is passing by! Look over there!”
The Purifiers appeared where I had been alone.
Hidden behind a large tree where others couldn’t see, I merely peeked my head out slightly.
I watched Decklin pass through the corridor.
“He really is incredibly beautiful.”
Indeed.
The man who had once been my lover was still beautiful.
But what did that matter?
Now he was someone trying to kill me.
I sighed as I looked at the purified sacred object.
My rest time was over.
‘If I just sit here doing nothing, nothing will change.’
* * *
After seeing the future, I was deeply troubled.
It felt as though I had opened Pandora’s box—something I should never have seen.
For a moment, I even considered abandoning everything and fleeing into exile with my siblings.
“Kids, you’ve worked hard attending the Academy for years, earned scholarships, and lived as exemplary students. You have talent, and you’ve put in the effort. Even if you withdraw and all your records are erased, isn’t living more important? So even though all your efforts will be wasted, come into exile with me!”
My mind was running through simulations frantically.
If I were to say something like that.
“Are you insane, sister? Did you eat something bad?”
My tactless younger brother would respond.
“Sister, are you sick? I should earn a lot of money and get you treated!”
My kind-hearted but brutally honest younger sister would grow deeply concerned about my mental state.
So if I were to recklessly take my siblings and flee?
“Ahhh! The curse of the ring is spreading through my entire body! I’m going to die like this!”
“What’s wrong, sister? Why are you suddenly like this? Did you eat something bad?!”
“Sister! This is all my fault for being so absorbed in my studies that I haven’t been looking after you! Waaah!”
Someday the ring’s curse would claim my life, leaving only trauma for my siblings.
But I couldn’t simply discard the ring and flee—the future of the Empire and the lives of Freena’s friends there hung in the balance.
‘Calm yourself.’
The future could always be changed.
“Where is His Excellency? I need to find him—there’s a task he assigned me to report on.”
“One moment. His Excellency has just returned to the Estate…”
The purification was finished long ago, but I’d spent half the day deliberating.
By now, the sun was setting.
“Lady Freena. His Excellency has ordered you to come to his chamber.”
…His chamber?
‘He must be tired from his outing and resting.’
Following the Attendant’s guidance toward Decklin’s chamber, I offered a silent prayer—that he’d be exhausted from his activities, his cognitive abilities dulled accordingly.
He must never discover that I’d tampered with his rank.
‘I’ve weakened the sacred artifact’s power so it can only perceive the very near future. At most, he’ll only be able to see a week ahead.’
Sacred artifacts that revealed the future were extraordinarily rare, with almost no information about them circulating publicly.
It was remarkable that Decklin had acquired such a thing.
‘…So unless he’s a resonance user, it would be difficult for him to fully understand the artifact’s properties.’
I arrived at Decklin’s chamber door.
“Your Excellency, it’s Freena.”
Every time I met Decklin, I felt tense.
What had it been like when we were together long ago?
“…I’ve completed the purification task you assigned me, so I’ve come to deliver the sacred artifact.”
It was hard to believe there had been a time when I eagerly awaited our meetings like any other lover.
“Come in, Freena.”
Permission came from within.
I swallowed hard and opened the door, stepping inside.
And immediately regretted it.
He had just emerged from the bathroom, his entire form still glistening with moisture.
Water droplets fell from the ends of his wet hair, trailing down his neck. Instead of his uniform, his large, muscular frame was wrapped in nothing but a dark bathrobe.
Even that was tied so loosely at the waist that the knot seemed ready to come undone at any moment.
“…Your Excellency, if you’re busy, I can come back later. I shouldn’t have—”
“No.”
A slow, deep smile spread across Decklin’s lips.
“I couldn’t possibly make you wait.”
He slowly extended his hand toward me. In that instant, I felt a peculiar sense of wrongness.
The black leather gloves he never removed for even a moment were absent from his hands.
Long, firmly defined knuckles, pale skin on the back of his hand, and masculine blue veins prominently visible.
Freena stared blankly down at his defenseless, outstretched hand.
If I handed over the sacred object as things stood, our skin would inevitably touch.
“Miss Freena?”
As she continued to gaze blankly at his hand, Decklin Caesar called her name.
Freena snapped back to attention.
‘Is he planning to use the sacred object right now?’
…Decklin Caesar disliked physical contact with others, after all.
Freena carefully handed over the sacred object, taking pains to ensure her skin didn’t brush against his.
Perhaps noticing that Freena had taken considerable care for him.
Decklin Caesar regarded her with narrowed eyes.
“Well then, Your Excellency, I’ve delivered the sacred object, so I shall take my leave….”
“How was it?”
At that moment, a quiet yet weighty voice caught her ankle like a tether.
Huh?
Freena froze, blinking blankly.
…How was it?
“The purification process, you mean?”
Freena asked, feigning ignorance.
“Just as Your Excellency said, the sacred object pushed back the demonic energy. So I was as careful as possible…”
“Miss Freena.”
The man, his voice languid as he cut off her words, was smiling.
It was the same gentle smile as before, unchanged in the slightest.
Yet strangely, the moment Freena saw that smile, a chill ran down her spine like ice water.
“You’ve truly never used it before?”
“….”
“You couldn’t possibly have never used it, Miss Freena.”

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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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