“Goodness gracious, what on earth happened to you while you were out? You’re covered in dust!”
Laila exclaimed in shock.
“Yes, yes?”
“And why the expression on your face?”
“Well, why am I here…”
“Why are you here? You must have returned after completing the mission assigned by the master!”
“Mission? What mission?”
Melos asked, scratching his cheek in confusion.
His hair was all messy as if he’d been struck by lightning, the buttons on his jacket looked like they could fall off any moment, and the fabric seemed torn and tattered.
Laila furrowed her brows in frustration.
“What’s going on? Have you lost your memory?”
“It seems so.”
“What?”
I hesitated for a moment before speaking, infusing a small amount of magic into one of my eyes as I said,
“Well… I think you’ve been affected by a memory deletion spell.”
It showed.
Someone cleverly erased traces from Melos, dispelled the teleportation magic, a cunning trick by someone skilled.
“Go see the Grand Duke immediately. I’m not skilled enough to break such taboo magic.”
***
Melos Elcruta.
It was during dinner time that I learned he was the butler of this place and Kalion’s aide.
Melos greeted me with a cheerful smile despite being strangers.
“I owe a great debt to the mistress. I nearly made a fool of myself! Hahaha!”
“No, it’s not… a debt…”
“It’s a bragging right. Against a tracking mage.”
Kalion replied sternly.
After the meeting in the garden, Melos immediately approached him and was released from the mental magic.
It’s said that he narrowly avoided a big problem. Even though the caster of the spell was unknown, it was enchanted strongly, making it difficult to unravel unless touched by an external magical presence. Of course, a grand mage could possibly do it, but I was nothing but a mere junior mage, neither an external magical presence nor a grand mage. I could only offer a few words with a little insight.
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Oh, please spare me the pleasantries! It’s quite humiliating for a butler to be so openly scolded by the mistress of the house!”
‘But I’m not the mistress…’
Judging by the extravagant food laid out before me, the fine wine, and the servants hovering around to attend to every need, it would seem only natural that I was treated as the mistress. I rolled my eyes like marbles and struggled to poke at my steak with a fork.
“Unfamiliar food, unfamiliar atmosphere.”
Under the dazzling light of the never-before-seen luxurious chandelier,
The top-notch foods that sparkle and shine were definitely the best, making me feel instinctively repulsed.
While Kalion on my right and Dante on the left started their meal by cutting into their meat, Melos across from me kept blabbering away, Making a lot of noise.
Constantly looking at me, shaking his head as if touched, his lips quivered as he spoke, leaving me wondering what on earth he wanted me to do.
“Well, um, even though I failed to track down the village, I did manage to gather some information.”
“Get to the point quickly.”
Kalion interjected again.
Although Melos’s gaze had been solely on me all this time, Kalion spoke as if it were obvious.
“If there were two, it must be the doing of ‘them.'”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It means that if you have memory loss, there must be accomplices.”
“But I don’t have any friends…”
“I know. But don’t admit it so sadly.”
‘How can I deny something that doesn’t exist? What should I say?’
“Mistress… How…”
Somehow, Melos’s complexion in front of me turned serious to the point of contemplation.
“No friends?! How can you say such harsh words in front of me!”
“Were we friends?”
“She’s suffering from memory loss. Just eat your food.”
Melos sighed, covering his mouth with one hand, but I followed Kalion’s advice and quietly chewed on the meat he had sliced for me.
It was cut into perfect bite-sized pieces.
I didn’t know who Kalion was married to, but there was a moment when I sincerely envied a lady who had such a loving husband.
Everything about him was skillful.
Warm. Somehow, I felt a longing for something I hadn’t had in a long time.
I glanced at Dante with a somewhat smug feeling.
“But he’s awfully quiet.”
Dante had been silently focusing on cutting his meat the whole time.
Even though he did well in human form today, for some reason, he kept munching on pieces of meat, as if his throat was blocked.
There wasn’t even a stew next to him, so I asked the unfamiliar question.
“Dante, would you like some chicken stew?”
“What’s that you say?”
Dante looked up in surprise.
It wasn’t a difficult question to answer.
“If you want, I’ll feed you.”
“Okay, then.”
With admiration for Dante’s unexpectedly eloquent voice, I spooned half stew and half chicken onto the large spoon.
Dante obediently opened his mouth wide and slurped up the stew.
And then it happened.
In the silence, Kalion and Melos, who had been conversing so well until now, suddenly looked astonished and turned their gaze towards me.
Specifically, towards me.
“Just a moment…”
“Ah…?”
“Yes?”
It was too late to turn back.
Gulp!
At that moment when Dante’s throat swallowed the food he had passed to me…
“…”
A heavy silence ensued. Simultaneously, they both exclaimed in shock and contemplation.
“What if he swallows that…!”
“M-My lord has a severe allergy to chicken meat!”
‘What, what did you say?’
***
In an instant, I became a perpetrator of a serious offense. As it turned out, I had unknowingly fed poison to a child with a severe chicken meat allergy. ‘Why didn’t anyone tell me about foods he couldn’t eat?’
“Quick, get some antidote!”
“No, let’s just lift him up?!”
Chaos ensued. After Dante swallowed the stew and collapsed, his throat swollen and voice lost, the servants who were hovering around began to panic, running around frantically. They seemed to debate whether to call the resident physician or how to carry Dante away. I held the collapsed Dante in my arms, blinking in confusion.
‘What have I done?’
Just then, as Dante writhed weakly in my arms, the transformation from human to his true form became visible.
His feeble movements choked me up, making me hold my breath. Despite his pain, he had eaten the stew because I said I would feed him.
“It’s because he wanted to eat it.”
I just wanted to feed him, so He hid his allergy to avoid any awkwardness.
I remembered Kalion’s words: “We should always eat together as a family.” The meal was for Dante.
“He’ve been lonely all this time.”
…Mother’s absence was significant.
As a mere guest, it was already odd enough that only Dante didn’t have stew. But I hadn’t thought deeply enough to consider the reasons for it to be different.
It was my fault. Entirely my mistake.
“I’m just being punished for being too arrogant and self-righteous.”
Anxiously, I bit my lip and infused a small amount of magic into Dante’s forehead.
“What are you doing? Stop putting spells on him.”
“Just a moment. I’m just relieving his pain.”
“…You know how to use pain relief magic?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Now that it’s done, I’ll carry him for now.”
While the attendants called for the physician and brought medicine, it was better for Dante to lie in bed and wait. And in every crisis, there’s always a golden hour. If we can administer the medicine or use healing magic within the limited time, he should be fine.
“Are we going to the room?”
“Yes, we’ll move to the room.”
Kalion replied solemnly and lifted Dante from me. I seemed to have many questions to ask judging by my expression, but he quickly hardened his face, probably deciding it was not the time, as we were busy. I shrugged and hurriedly followed behind Kalion and Melos.
During this, Melos whispered from the side.
“Pain relief magic is the master-level magic that only wizards know, my lady.”
“What?”
