Hiding the Fact That We Are Dating From the Amnesiac Villain - Chapter 7

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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 7
“Wait, just a moment!”
I stepped in front of Hugho, blocking his path. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs.
On the ground, the Workers lay gasping, their bodies consumed by a dark aura.
Was this man trying to kill them? What on earth for?
“Move aside.”
Hugho adjusted his grip on the sword hanging loosely at his side, a chill settling into his smile.
“I have no intention of harming the lady. Rest assured.”
“That’s obvious, but why would you kill innocent Workers….”
“Ah. Has the edict not been announced yet?”
An edict? What edict?
“An order from the Imperial Court. Those consumed by Magi are to be executed on sight.”
What?
Those consumed by Magi face death. But the true tragedy begins the moment their breath ceases.
There were cases where Magi, left within the corpse, seized control and transformed the body into a monster.
“They’ll die regardless if left alone. But if they die while consumed by Magi, the situation becomes far more troublesome.”
Hugho’s expression was ice-cold.
From that familiar face came a voice entirely foreign to me.
“So move aside. There’s no time to summon the Priests—we have no other choice.”
The Priests, those who wielded sacred power, were the ones who purified Magi.
And there was no time to bring them here. Nightfall was imminent, and by then the Workers would be dead, consumed by Magi.
His dry, crimson eyes fixed upon me.
I hesitated beneath that chilling gaze for a long moment before my lips finally parted.
“What if there’s another way?”
One of his eyebrows rose slightly.
“I possess sacred power. I can heal them.”
Interest flickered across Hugho’s eyes.
“And you said yourself—that edict hasn’t been formally proclaimed yet. Until it is, it has no legal force. Killing them now wouldn’t be following the Imperial Court’s orders; it would simply be murder.”
To circumvent procedure was not to follow the Imperial Court’s command.
I fixed my gaze on the cold blade in his hand and drove my point home.
“So lower your sword.”
* * *
A brilliant flash—
As light flowing from my palm touched the Worker’s chest, a black mist rose into the air.
The scent of Magi escaping was like burning ash.
‘…gasp.’
Once I convinced Hugho that I possessed sacred power, he obediently sheathed his sword.
Fortunately, Hugho didn’t appear to be a homicidal maniac.
The vivid image of him killing people before me had made me fear he might change his mind and attempt to kill me and the Workers as well.
But Hugho never once threatened any of us.
‘Self-defense, was it really?’
I glanced sideways at the man beside me.
In that moment, our eyes met—his burning crimson.
“You know the forest well, so the lady came here alone, I hear.”
“….”
“It seems you know more than just geography.”
Hugho murmured softly, watching me purify the Workers.
‘Does he think I deceived him?’
I had deliberately hidden it, but this situation didn’t warrant revealing everything to him.
I had always tried to avoid displaying my sacred power to others.
When I was young, it was shame—my sacred power was so meager.
As I grew older, it was for different reasons.
‘…I signed a clause when I left the Noble House.’
I was a bastard child of a great noble family.
That lineage, which had produced sacred power bloodlines for generations, despised their noble sacred power leaking out without control.
So even after leaving the family, I never revealed my sacred power.
It was the same with Hugho during our time together.
‘I never showed it to him then, and now I’m displaying it to someone who has become a complete stranger.’
But if I didn’t use my sacred power now, people would die—I had no choice.
‘…If the family discovers I’ve used my sacred power, it’s all over.’
But Hugho had known me only as a commoner even before losing his memory, so it should be fine.
And though sacred power users were rare, they existed everywhere, so this sight wasn’t particularly strange.
“I came because I know the geography. No one else has been to this forest.”
“Why have you been to the Black Forest before?”
“A few times when I was young, following my mother….”
“This isn’t a place a child should follow her mother to, is it?”
Suspicion flickered in Hugho’s voice.
But it was the truth.
Long ago, my mother, who was an herbalist, saved a noble who had collapsed on the mountain.
Because of that, she became his concubine and eventually bore me.
But for one who had lived breathing the scent of earth, life in the Grand Mansion felt like suffocating punishment. Whenever my mother could no longer breathe, she would take her young daughter to the forest.
This desolate Black Forest was one of those refuges.
Though for me, it wasn’t such a tender memory.
“Miasma has risen in this forest only in the last ten years. Long ago, people came and went here quite freely.”
It was something anyone from this region would know.
Hugho didn’t seem to be from around here.
“So you came for a leisurely stroll with your mother, then.”
“Well, something like that….”
I recalled a moment from when I was seven years old.
“Freena, doesn’t living hurt? Should we die together here?”
Hmm. Even thinking back on it now, it’s not a pleasant memory. Best to leave it buried.
“Would you ever consider working under me?”
At the sudden proposal, the sacred power flowing from Freena’s hands abruptly ceased. Her concentration had shattered.
What is this man saying?
“…I’m quite satisfied with my current position.”
“I could offer you more money than they do.”
…Did Hugho have that much money?
“If you search, you’ll find many who possess sacred power, and plenty who purify far better than I do. If… you truly only have money to offer.”
It was a clear refusal.
‘Have I lost my mind.’
It hadn’t even been hours since I’d watched him kill someone. I’d sooner work under the Landlord….
Fortunately, Hugho didn’t press the matter further.
“Mm….”
After finishing the purification, I was waiting for the Workers to awaken when someone began to stir, letting out a groan.
Freena quickly checked on the Worker.
“Are you awake?”
“W-water….”
“Ah… there’s no water. You’ll just have to get up.”
The Worker’s eyes slowly closed again.
No, I said get up!
After all the effort I’d put into purifying him, watching him drift back to sleep made me consider slapping him awake instead.
“I should be going now.”
Hugho, who had been sitting on a nearby rock, stood up.
…He’s leaving?
Freena looked at him with hopeful eyes, preparing to say goodbye.
“By the way, what’s your name, lady?”
…Why is he suddenly asking for my name?
The man who had forgotten both that she was his lover and her name waited for her response.
“I’m… L-Lenia.”
Perhaps it was an instinctive sense—a desire not to become further entangled with Hugho.
Without thinking, a lie slipped from her lips.
‘What if Hugho’s memory returns!’
But it was already too late.
“Lenia?”
It was a common enough name. Call it on the street and one in three would turn around.
“And your surname?”
“F-Felt.”
“Lenia Felt.”
Lenia Felt, was it….
Hugho rolled the false name across his tongue again and again.
Then, suddenly, an odd expression crossed his face—as though he’d swallowed something that didn’t sit right on his palate.
But it passed quickly.
And then he smiled faintly.
“Until next time, Miss Lenia.”
Next time…?
Yet Hugho offered no answer to my question, simply turning and vanishing into the distance.
I stood alone beside the unconscious Workers, left with nothing but an unsettling unease.
A strange chill seemed to creep across my entire body. And yet it felt familiar.
I’d experienced something similar when I was in love.

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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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