Please Don't Remember Me

Chapter 7

“What happened that you ended up in the Duke’s arms and came here?”

“What do you mean, I came here in the Duke’s arms?”

The only Duke in the empire right now is me, Charlotte Afros…

Adrian, as if he wanted to make her situation even worse with the overload of confusion, started spouting words that she couldn’t understand.

He asked if she had finally seduced the Duke, who had been slaughtering monsters at the northern frontier, and even mentioned that he had thought the Duke’s expression toward her was so fierce that he believed they had become lovers.

Thinking it was a dream, Charlotte absentmindedly ignored him, but as the sensation became more vivid, she pinched her cheek hard.

“Ah!”

It hurts. It was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

“Charlotte, you won’t escape my interrogation with that kind of behavior.”

Adrian said, narrowing his eyes slightly. It seemed like he thought Charlotte was trying to deflect the situation with sudden actions.

Charlotte, ignoring him, wiped her sore cheek.

This must be a dream. Why does it hurt so much, then?

Adrian snapped her back to reality once more, as Charlotte was half-dazed.

“We’ll take this slowly later. For now, you should go inside quickly. You have to hear the Duke’s announcement, right?”

“…What? Noctem Afros? Is Noctem here?”

“Hm? ‘Noctem’?”

Adrian said the name so naturally. His eyes narrowed at seeing her for the first time like this.

Despite his reaction, Charlotte, still in shock, urgently asked,

“Noctem is alive?”

“Why is our Charlotte acting so strange today? Do you think the empire’s only sword master is dead or something?”

Adrian mixed a hint of mockery in his words and looked at Charlotte with an expression of confusion about her changed demeanor.

Charlotte, noticing how different Adrian was from what she knew, frowned slightly.

‘This must be a dream. A vivid dream that feels almost real.’

It wasn’t a novel, and there was no way her husband, who had been dead for a long time, could return to life.

Besides, Noctem looked entirely different. The Swordmaster Duke from the northern frontier slaying monsters.

Her husband was a reclusive great mage who never left the mansion.

“Hah.”

Charlotte sighed softly and began to walk toward the door.

No, in fact, it wasn’t entirely her will but rather an instinctive movement her body had learned.

The memory of ‘Charlotte’ implanted in her mind was pushing her to go to the banquet hall quickly.

“You didn’t even answer me. I’m really disappointed, Charlotte.”

Meanwhile, Adrian slipped his arm around Charlotte’s shoulder and complained.

“Disappointed, my foot.”

She retorted, smirking with one corner of her mouth. Of course, this wasn’t Charlotte’s will.

‘Why am I acting like this…?’

Was it because this was a dream? It was still difficult to control her body.

She managed to remove Adrian’s arm from her shoulder, but that was her limit.

At that moment, a red warning sound went off in Charlotte’s head. She had a strong premonition that if she wasn’t careful, her identity might be completely buried in this dream.

‘I need to think… think of the real me, not the one in this world.’

The real Charlotte Daphsine was not a person who dreamt of marrying the Duke while causing harm to the empire’s citizens.

She had struggled to avoid becoming a villain despite the constant contempt and mockery.

Even when Noctem’s persistent affection pushed her to the limit, she had tried to push him away, only to eventually drive her husband to his death.

‘Noctem…’

She recalled her husband with long hair, casting magic, and being infinitely kind to her. Strangely, she felt like the control of her body was slowly returning to her.

 

Charlotte rejected Adrian’s suggestion to rest further in the lounge and walked outside.

Was it because it was a dream? Her head was buzzing, and it was hard to regain her balance for a while.

“What’s the rush, Charlotte?”

When Charlotte wavered, Adrian quickly grabbed her arm, hooking it with his, and asked.

“…I need to see the Duke.”

“From the way you’re talking, it seems like there really is something between you two.”

Charlotte, you can tell me. Adrian leaned in closer to her, lowering his voice to a secretive tone.

Charlotte quickly broke free from Adrian’s arms, which were attempting to seduce her with tricks that only naive young ladies would fall for.

She pushed him away with a surprising amount of strength for a woman with no physical power.

Adrian raised his eyebrows, noticing Charlotte’s unusually keen perception today.

‘As expected, something’s off.’

Her walk, her tone, and her entire demeanor. Compared to when she entered the banquet hall, she seemed like a completely different person.

‘Has the news of the Duke’s engagement finally driven her crazy?’

Adrian Verche knew very well how much Charlotte had invested in her marriage to Noctem.

From early on, the lady who seemed like she was going to marry Noctem had pushed for a marriage with another nobleman using her family’s power and connections.

Not only that, she even discovered that a lady was sending a proposal to Noctem through Adrian and personally went to cause trouble.

Charlotte had sent letters to Noctem, who was slaying monsters at the northern border, multiple times just to make her presence known.

‘Although all those letters were intercepted by the assistant.’

In any case, Charlotte had shown an obsessive attachment to the Duke. So, it was understandable that she would lose her mind at the sudden news of his engagement…

‘But to call her crazy… hmm, when you think about it, this might actually be the more normal reaction.’

Of course, saying things like “Is the Duke still alive?” was still odd upon reflection.

But from her tone and actions, she overflowed with elegance compared to the way she was just a few days ago.

‘Could she have used dark magic? Can dark magic change a person’s personality?’

If that were the case, it would be a historic incident. Adrian squinted his eyes and once again probed Charlotte.

“…I’m really curious. When did Charlotte Daphsine and the Duke start seeing each other?”

Sigh.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, who had no idea about Adrian’s thoughts, sighed inwardly.

He really was persistent. She smiled wryly, unable to hide her displeasure at his more flirtatious tone, and replied calmly,

“It’s not like that. I just want to see him.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fascinating.”

“Fascinating?”

“Yeah. The fact that he’s holding a sword.”

Charlotte had never imagined him holding a sword.

He was a very gentle person.

He never participated in the inhumane experiments that most magicians did, and he couldn’t even pick flowers properly.

He was kind even to those who showed him hatred, so honestly, she couldn’t picture him holding a letter opener, let alone a large sword used to slaughter tough monsters.

Yet here he was, carrying a large sword strapped to his waist, something that looked as though it could cut through those creatures.

Everything that made him who he was seemed to have come from her words, and it made her heart ache.

But at the same time, a strange excitement blossomed at the thought of seeing Noctem wielding a sword.

‘If only I could wake up from this dream only after having fully captured his image in my eyes, to remember it for the rest of my life…’

No, I don’t even need that. I just hope that when I wake up from this dream, I’ll still vividly remember Noctem’s face.

Charlotte put strength into her toes and quickly walked out.

She soon arrived at the stage hall.

Contrary to her earlier resolve to speak to him at least once, Charlotte found herself unable to do anything.

‘Why did that woman come here?’

‘She must have come to try to coax His Excellency, or perhaps cause trouble, right?’

‘That face, I really hope I don’t see it in society. Why is she appearing like this?’

‘Hoho. But I’m in a good mood thinking about how she’ll probably be humiliated today.’

It had been a while since she had heard such malicious gossip about herself. But Charlotte paid no attention to those trivial matters.

She had seen enough nobles who had cursed her in reality only to kneel and apologize later.

Now, there was only one thing in her sight.

Her husband, Noctem Afros.

His neatly cut hair didn’t even reach the back of his neck. His bangs, which had once fallen over his eyes, were now neatly brushed above his eyebrows.

Below that was a tuxedo made to fit his body, with a badge indicating he was a knight.

Though weapons were forbidden in the hall, his large sword was clearly strapped to his waist, as if it were an exception.

Really, even if this is a dream, isn’t it too much?

Charlotte’s eyes reddened.

It felt like he was intentionally showing her what she didn’t want to see, as if he had appeared in her dream just for that purpose.

‘Is this what you wanted, Charlotte? How does it feel, seeing me appear the way you wanted?’

In front of her, Noctem spoke these words to her.

‘No, no. Noctem, this is not what I want. I love the real you.’

Thinking this in her mind, she found it harder to hold back. She wanted to express her feelings.

Yes, let’s do it. It’s a dream, so it doesn’t matter what anyone says.

Even if it’s just in a dream, she wanted to speak to him properly.

All the words she had said before were lies.

He might not believe it, but she had been cruel because she knew he was the male protagonist in the novel, and she, the villainess, would eventually be abandoned.

But in the end, she couldn’t hate him. After he died, she realized she had loved him all along.

‘Let’s say it, Charlotte Afros.’

She could do it.

Her hands clenched tightly without her even realizing. Her blunt nails dug into her soft palm.

Tap, tap.

Charlotte walked towards him. Just 50 steps more, 40 more, just a little more, a little more!

“Your Excellency!”

But just 10 steps away, a woman suddenly grabbed Noctem’s arm.

Charlotte stopped and stared at the woman.

She was a beautiful woman with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Charlotte knew her well. Lina Goldstein.

The Goldstein family had gained nobility several generations ago after their enormous merchant house earned a title.

Although they had once been commoners, they had married their only daughter off to a foreign land due to difficulties in finding a suitable match.

So why was such a woman by Noctem’s side? Had he ever shown affection for her?

Dreams were said to be based on subconscious thoughts, but Charlotte had never thought of this woman, not even in her subconscious.

As Charlotte stood there, staring blankly at him, people around her started to gossip.

A love triangle involving the infamous villainess, Charlotte Daphsine, Noctem Afros, and Lina Goldstein!

It was truly a delicious piece of gossip. As the noise in the hall grew louder, it almost drowned out the music, and Noctem frowned.

“It doesn’t seem like a good time to share good news.”

His voice was low and rough.

This too was something she had never imagined.

Charlotte blinked a couple of times to cool the heat in her eyes, and the tears that had been welling up hung precariously on the corners of her eyes.

His words quieted the hall.

Noctem, pleased with the silence, pulled Lina closer and said,

“Returning to the capital seems to bring only good things. Now I even have an engagement.”

“Engagement…?”

Her mind went blank.

An engagement? This was too much.

The thought escaped her lips before she could stop it.

Though the noise around them may have drowned it out, Noctem instantly made eye contact with Charlotte.

At that moment, his face twisted in a grimace.

“From now on, I will not accept any marriage proposals.”

A deep displeasure was evident on his face.

It wasn’t the gossip from the surrounding nobles, nor the exaggerated rumors spreading around, nor just a bad mood.

Charlotte knew.

He was upset because of her.

She was the one who had made him feel uncomfortable.

Unable to bear looking at him any longer, she fled the hall like she was running away. It was the worst dream.

 

Noctem stared persistently at Charlotte as she quickly disappeared from the hall.

Strangely, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

‘The rumors about dark magic were true.’

When he had first heard such ridiculous rumors in the northern frontier, he had mocked them.

But now, seeing her in person, he was certain the rumors were true.

‘If it weren’t for that… I wouldn’t have cried like a madman.’

Noctem recalled about an hour ago, when he had moved Charlotte, who had collapsed in the garden, to the guest bedroom.

At first, he had hesitated to leave the crying woman alone. He had felt no particular emotion until he placed her on the bed.

But just as he was about to leave, something unexpected happened.

‘Noctem. Please don’t go. I’m sorry. Please, don’t leave…’

With a voice full of tears, Charlotte had begged him. Her limp hand had groped and tightly clutched his pinky finger.

He had met her watery green eyes once again.

The blue-green gaze felt like it was suffocating him, and at the same moment, Noctem found himself helplessly crying.

“Ah…”

The tears kept flowing relentlessly. He wiped them away with one hand, but they wouldn’t stop.

…It would have been better if it had ended there.

Noctem thought, as he cried uncontrollably, not understanding why.

‘Why am I sad?’

It felt like someone was stabbing his heart with a sharp knife.

It was as if he wouldn’t be able to calm down unless he cried his heart out.

His chest ached.

In fact, Noctem had no idea why he was feeling these emotions.

The only reason he could pull himself out of the emotional swamp was thanks to Adrian Verche.

‘Though, it might be a stretch to call it a favor.’

It was just a coincidence that he had bumped into the Marquis coming into the lounge while looking for Charlotte.

Well, anyway, it was Adrian’s voice that helped him snap back to reality and leave the room.

‘She’s a strange woman.’

Noctem came to the conclusion, after belatedly staring at the now-empty spot where Charlotte had been.