Hiding the Fact That We Are Dating From the Amnesiac Villain - Chapter 9

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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 9
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Several days had passed since I met Hugho, yet the incident in the Black Forest still haunted me.
Especially the words he’d left behind before departing weighed heavily on my mind.
“Let’s meet again.”
Such a terrifying thing to say!
I forced myself to redirect my attention to today’s newspaper.
‘…Seriously?’
[Imperial Decree: Immediate Execution of Those Tainted by Demonic Energy]
The newspaper displayed the very edict Hugho had mentioned.
‘But how could Hugho possibly have known about this beforehand?’
…Could he be a noble?
To know of such decrees, one would need to be either a noble attending the council or perhaps their aide.
Though he could also be an Imperial Palace bureaucrat…
I recalled the image of Hugho wielding his blade before my eyes. He was certainly no bureaucrat.
‘Just who is Hugho, really?’
Black hair and crimson eyes.
In novels, an appearance like that belonged to only one type of being…
The hidden mastermind of the story itself—Decklin Caesar.
‘But Hugho isn’t Decklin Caesar.’
His appearance simply bore some resemblance.
If he truly were Decklin, he would never have spared me in the Black Forest. The mere thought sent shivers down my spine.
Who would survive facing such a person?
Now that I thought about it, the triumphal procession was coming soon.
Decklin would finally be entering the Imperial Palace.
…’That incident’ would unfold.
The assassination of Decklin Caesar.
‘But that has nothing to do with me.’
I work at Daisy Hall.
My immediate concerns were rent and exile funds, not palace intrigue.
‘At least the rent problem is solved for now.’
I’d been handsomely compensated for safely rescuing the workers from the Black Forest.
“Hey, Freena!”
As I was reflecting on what lay ahead, Knights entered Daisy Hall.
They were pouring in after their training had ended.
“Give us the usual! You know what we mean?”
It was the ordering method most despised by Daisy Hall’s staff.
‘There are hundreds of Knights eating here regularly.’
“Um, sir Knight, I’m not certain which menu you’re referring to…”
“You know, the usual stuff we always eat. The stuff!”
So what exactly are you saying?
“Surely you haven’t forgotten who we are, Freena?”
“Of course not.”
That much was true. I could vaguely recall their faces.
‘What you ate, though—that I don’t remember.’
“Well then. Would bread and soup suffice?”
It was the standard fare the Knights typically ordered.
“What? Are you telling us to starve to death? That’s too much, Freena!”
“Then what would you prefer…?”
“How could you possibly forget what we eat!”
To reiterate, hundreds of Knights dined at Daisy Hall daily.
In any case, the situation had become thoroughly awkward.
That was when it happened.
“Bread and soup—is that not correct?”
“Wh-what?!”
“You squandered your entire fortune gambling, and declared you would subsist on bread and soup for the foreseeable future, did you not?”
A cool, impassive voice fell from behind the Knight who had been making a scene before Freena.
The man who appeared possessed an almost surreal beauty.
Hair as brilliantly white as untrodden snow, and eyes as luminous and violet as amethyst.
When I first laid eyes on Hugho, my vision had felt devastated by his presence—and now I experienced that sensation anew.
“You, you…! Who said anything about gambling!”
“Sir Birsen, I have already placed your order in your stead. Please return to your seat. How embarrassing.”
“What did I do to be embarrassed! You, you, you insolent…!”
Birsen’s face flushed crimson as he shouted, but soon, as if overcome with shame, he vanished from his seat with haste.
One troublesome nuisance had departed.
And then….
I fixed my gaze upon the man who had come to my aid.
A far more difficult adversary had arrived than the one before.
“It’s been a while, Havel.”
I forced a smile, attempting to conceal my conflicted emotions.
“…Yes, Sister. It truly has been ages.”
A faint smile bloomed across his previously expressionless face. His devastatingly handsome features grew even more refined.
I could feel the Workers at Daisy Hall stealing glances at Havel, their lips curved in contented smiles.
Yet I alone could not smile.
Because….
‘…Havelion Valencia.’
He was the protagonist of this infinite regression fantasy novel.
The firstborn son of the Valencia Duchy, a man of many circumstances who now concealed his identity and served as a common Knight in the Imperial Palace.
But protagonist or not, to my eyes, he was merely….
‘A child not yet of age.’
Havel was nineteen years old.
In a few months, he would come of age.
Perhaps because Freena had younger siblings of a similar age, he seemed remarkably young to her.
“…I’ve been occupied with duties. That’s why I haven’t been able to visit for some time.”
“I see.”
“…Have you been well, Sister?”
“Yes. I’ve been doing well….”
In that moment, everything that had transpired flashed through my mind.
‘Have I really been well?’
My ex-boyfriend had ghosted me, then suddenly treated me like a stranger, I’d heard threats about cutting off my arm, and not long after returning, I’d witnessed him commit murder.
Yes. In the end, I’m unharmed, so….
“Um… yes, I’ve been well.”
“…Your complexion doesn’t look good. Has something happened?”
Something had happened, certainly, but it wasn’t something to tell a child about.
“No, Havel. Nothing serious….”
“Nothing serious? Well, our Freena recently had this strange boyfriend, and—oof!”
When Freena’s colleague from Daisy Hall interjected into the conversation, Freena was startled and clamped her hand over the colleague’s mouth.
“A strange boyfriend?”
But Havel’s expression had already darkened upon hearing this.
“No, Havel. I had nothing serious happen,”
“But just now….”
“Marie, you really do say the most ridiculous things in front of children.”
Freena chided her colleague. This wasn’t something to boast about, after all.
“…I am not a child.”
Havel’s voice had taken on a subtle coldness.
“I am not a child, Sister.”
He emphasized the point by repeating himself.
“Especially… I dislike it when you treat me like one….”
“Oh, oh….”
Yes. I’m sorry. I think I misspoke.
Freena’s sibling, Liam, also hated being treated like a child in the same way.
‘Who are you calling a child!’ he would cry out.
‘But to my eyes, you’re both still children….’
“Right. Havel, what would you like to eat? Your usual?”
Unlike the awkwardness from moments before, I still remembered the menu Havel usually ordered.
“Yes. I would appreciate the usual, please.”
…Just one soup, then.
“Really, just that? You’re still at an age where you should be growing….”
“It’s fine.”
His answer was curt.
I returned to the kitchen, my thoughts turning inward.
I would add plenty of meat to Havel’s soup.
‘A child must be fed well.’
Of course, there was another reason.
‘Because he’ll need his strength for what’s to come.’
Something truly, truly momentous.
Something genuinely, genuinely significant.
The moment I stepped into the kitchen, my coworkers gathered around me.
Perfect timing.
“Listen up, I’ve got an order—”
“Freena, it seems like Havel really likes you?”
“Ugh, ah!”
Caught off guard by my coworker’s remark, I bit my own tongue.
“This is great, Freena! Forget that weird ex of yours and just go out with him!”
What a terrifying thing to say.
“Yeah. Havel’s a bit young, sure, but he’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.”
“Just wait for him to age a few more years while you’re dating.”
Wait for what, exactly?
“Don’t you dare say things like that in front of Havel.”
What were they even talking about, gossiping over a child who hadn’t even reached adulthood?
Of course, I was the only one in this world who thought such things.
‘In this insane world where they marry off seven-year-olds.’
In any case, I was terrified my foolish coworkers would embarrass themselves in front of the boy.
“But Havel really is incredibly handsome.”
That much was true.
He’s the protagonist, after all. The narrative bias is absurd.
A pristine halo seemed to encircle him.
“Freena, don’t you find Havel appealing?”
Not in the slightest.
‘In a few months, Havel won’t even remember us.’
Because he would…
soon experience ‘regression’.
He would become trapped in an inescapable cycle.
Those pristinely clear eyes would soon be clouded with a terrible, murky light.
Perhaps that’s why, lately, I found it difficult to meet his gaze directly.
Because there was nothing I could do to prevent it.
In the blood-soaked future that awaited.
Even knowing that all these coworkers laughing and chattering now would eventually perish.
…there was nothing I could do.

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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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