Pristin looked at Claret with a look of surprise.
“Princess…”
“Follow me.”
Claret confidently walked ahead, and Pristin hurriedly followed her. Aruvina also joined in chasing after Pristin.
Pristin asked in a trembling voice,
“Your Highness, where are we going?”
“The grand hall.”
Claret maintained a brisk pace as she explained,
“I’ve gathered all the maids who resemble your sister in appearance. I hope Pristin’s sister is among them.”
The grand hall was located in the annex next to the castle. Pristin, unable to hide her tension, arrived at the grand hall as instructed.
As Claret said, women around Christine’s age, all with red hair, were gathered there.
Pristin checked all the faces of the people gathered with nervous expressions. Pristin believed that there must be her sister there.
However, even after checking the last maid’s face, she couldn’t find her younger sister.
Pristin was confused.
“Did I see it wrong?”
Observing Pristin’s serious face, Claret, with a bewildered expression, asked the head maid,
“Are you sure you gathered everyone? It seems like someone is missing.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I specifically mentioned that those with red hair and black eyes should gather…”
“No, let’s check again.”
“Your Highness.”
At that moment, Pristin quietly called Claret. Claret turned to look at Pristin. She had a resigned look and sad eyes.
“That’s fine. I must have been mistaken again.”
“No, Pristin, there must be a mistake.”
“After searching this hard, if she hasn’t shown up, she’s probably not here.”
Pristin smiled weakly, as if to say, “Let’s go,” and seeing her, Claret’s heart sank.
Really, this time, she hoped they would find her…
Claret sighed deeply inside, then nodded.
“Let’s go back. It’s a bit cold here…”
At that moment, someone came running toward them. Claret stopped Pristin with her brow narrowed.
“Pristin, wait a minute.”
“Yes?”
“Head maid, who is that kid?”
And before Claret could hear an answer, the woman Claret had referred to arrived at the place where the head maid was. The girl, with red hair and black eyes, gasped for breath and stopped.
“I’m sorry, Head Maid. I was briefly in the storage room… Did I come too late?”
“No, that’s fine. Countess Rosewell, is this child by any chance…”
But the maid turned to Pristin and couldn’t finish her speech properly. To be precise, she didn’t feel the need to finish her speech properly. Pristin’s expression already conveyed the unfinished question’s answer. Claret, too, looked at Pristin with astonished eyes, surprised by her shocked face.
“Chr…”
“…”
“Christine.”
Pristin approached the red-haired woman with an expression of disbelief in her eyes. It had to be Christine.
She looked at her front and back; it was undeniably Christine. Pristin stumbled toward Christine, as if her words were blocked.
“Christine, you…”
“…”
“Are you really Christine?”
Pristin, with eyes that seemed on the verge of tears, stared at Christine. Christine looked at Pristin with an expressionless face.
And a moment later, she spat out shocking words.
“…Why are you like this?”
“Christine.”
“By chance, do you know me?”
Christine squinted and looked at Pristin. Pristin was shocked by Christine’s attitude, as if facing a stranger for the first time. Christine shook her head as it couldn’t be the case.
“What’s wrong, Christine, it’s me, your sister…”
“…”
“Christine, don’t you recognize me?”
Pristin asked in a trembling voice, but Christine still looked puzzled. Claret, meanwhile, wore an expression of bewilderment, struggling to understand what was happening. At that moment, the head maid stepped forward.
“For now, Your Highness, Countess Rosewell, please come to the room.”
“But…!”
“I have something to tell you about this child. It’s chilly here in the hall, so let’s go back and have a conversation together.”
“Pristin, let’s go back for now. We’ve confirmed her face.”
Pristin, still wearing a shocked expression, nodded slowly, and along with Claret, left the hall. Although the other maids who had gathered there dispersed, one person remained in her place.
“Head Maid, why are Countess Rosewell and the princess treating me like this?”
It was the girl whom Pristin called Christine. The head maid looked at her with a serious expression and opened her mouth.
“Follow me, Iris.”
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
“It was definitely my sister.”
After returning to the room, Pristin muttered with a confused expression.
“Why can’t she recognize me?”
Pristin was shocked by Christine’s attitude of treating her like a stranger. Claret looked at Pristin pitifully and carefully opened her mouth.
“Wouldn’t there be a reason?”
However, even after voicing that thought, it was hard to be convinced that there could be a reason for not recognizing even one’s own blood relative.
Pristin, who had found her sister, looked more despairing than before, and Claret, seeing Pristin in such a state, anxiously awaited the arrival of the head maid with Christine.
“Your Highness the Princess.”
How long did they wait?
“The head maid has come.”
“Oh, tell her to come inside.”
Claret opened her mouth quickly, and soon the door opened, and the two of them came inside. The housekeeper, with an expressionless face, and Christine, trailing behind her. Pristin’s gaze wavered again at the sight of Christine.
“Sit down, and let’s talk. Head Maid, why can’t Pristin’s sister recognize her?”
“For now, it might be better to explain why this child is here.”
This was also a question that Pristin had been curious about. Why was Christine working as a maid here? And a surprising story unfolded a moment later.
“Initially, Iris was brought here by His Majesty, the current emperor.”
“My brother?”
“Who is Iris?”
“This is the name of this child whom the countess calls her younger sister.”
The maid looked at Christine and said,
“His Majesty gave it to me personally because there was no name.”
“Why on earth would His Majesty bring my sister here?”
“It was during the time when His Majesty was scheming here after losing his throne to the former emperor.”
The head maid began the tale in a calm voice.
“One day, His Majesty went on patrol towards the Vaylern coast. When he returned, he was with this child.”
“The coast…”
Christine disappeared on her way to the Perk Empire across the sea. Perhaps she encountered a storm or her ship ran aground, leading her to arrive here.
Pristin’s expression became serious.
“At that time, she was soaked, and her body temperature was dangerously low. She seemed on the verge of death.”
“Goodness.”
“Fortunately, she recovered safely with timely treatment. But after waking up, she couldn’t remember anything. She didn’t know her own name and had no memories. His Majesty took pity on her and allowed her to work as a maid here at the Vaylern Castle.”
“So, His Majesty saved my sister.”
Pristin murmured with a confused expression, then slowly turned her head and looked at Christine. She, too, closed her mouth with a heavy expression, as if she had heard from the head maid about the situation. Pristin became emotional at the sight of her younger sister.
“Christine, do you really not remember anything?”
“…”
Christine lowered her head with a dejected expression, and Pristin felt as if her world was crumbling. She maintained a shocked expression, silent for a long while. The room was filled with a heavy silence, and no one dared to speak, all waiting for Pristin to react.
“Well…”
The first to break the silence was Pristin.
“Thank you, Your Highness. Thanks to your help, I could find my sister.”
“What did I do? It’s because Pristin came with me that we found her, isn’t it?”
Claret smiled lightly and said soothingly to Pristin,
“Meetings are predestined, after all.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. And…”
“If you have something to say, don’t hesitate, Pristin.”
“Could I, if possible… return to the palace with my sister?”
“Of course! Did you plan on leaving your sister behind and going alone?”
Claret said with her eyes wide open, as if it were a really unexpected question.
“Even though she lost her memory, she’s still Pristin’s sister. If you spend time together in the palace, her memories will surely come back, unless she suffered a severe head injury.”
“The doctor who treated Iris at that time said it was just a momentary memory loss due to shock.”
Adding hope to the conversation, the quietly listening head maid interjected,
“If she stays with the countess, her memories will surely come back.”
“Yes. I’m hoping for that.”
Pristin, with a faint smile, nodded and cautiously sought everyone’s understanding.
“If it’s okay, could I have some time alone to talk with my sister?”
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
“…”
“…”
It was quite quiet in the room where the two of them were left alone. Christine still looked at Pristin with a grim look on her face.
‘Is this person really my long lost sister?’
She didn’t remember a single thing of the past, as if she’d erased it with an eraser.
If Countess Rosewell was indeed her lost sister, this situation should have been a heartwarming reunion, but without any memories, Christine felt no joy, making the situation quite melancholic. She felt sorry for her sister, who remembered everything.
‘But I really don’t remember.’
When she first woke up in Vaylern, she felt frustrated not knowing who she was or where she came from. However, her life here was satisfying and comfortable, making her not feel the need to search for a family that might not even exist. So Christine felt a little sorry for Pristin.
“Um, Christine.”
She had to get used to the name ‘Christine,’ discarding the name ‘Iris,’ which she’d used for a year. It felt awkward like a stranger’s name now. Christine slowly raised her head.
“If you want to stay here, you can. Vaylern is within Limburg anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you were satisfied with being a servant in Vaylern, that’s fine.”
Christine cautiously nodded. Pristin silently observed her sister’s face and then spoke again.
“I’m really happy to have found you, and I want to take you to the palace to help you regain your memories.”
“…”
“But if you want to stay here, I won’t force you.”
It was a difficult decision for Pristin. And she had her own reasons for making such a decision.
