Chapter 4: To You Who Have Forgotten Me (1)

“I’m sorry, Lady Lea. His Highness is… once again occupied with state affairs today…”

Lea looked up at Victor, who bowed his head in apology, his expression full of guilt. From where she stood, he seemed a world away.

Perhaps it was because of the dreams she’d been having lately, those old dreams from long ago, but the situation before her felt strangely unreal.

“…Lady Lea?”

It wasn’t until Victor called her name a second time that she blinked, her vacant gaze coming back into focus.

“Ah. I’m sorry.”

Taking a deep breath, she replayed Victor’s words in her mind. As she did, the reality she had momentarily set aside came crashing down all at once.

It had been a month since Caius returned. And two weeks ago, he had sent her notice of their broken engagement. Ever since, she had been turned away at his door time and time again.

Lea, hiding her pale, trembling fingers, slowly lifted her head. As their eyes met, Victor hesitated, then spoke with great care.

“Um, Lady Lea… I’ll inform you as soon as His Highness recovers, but for the time being…”

Lea understood what he couldn’t bring himself to say and nodded quietly.

“I understand. It’s probably best if I don’t come again for a while.”

Victor bowed his head again, as if he were the one at fault. To him, Lea responded with a calm, measured voice.

“If Caius ever asks for me, please make sure to tell me right away.”

“…Yes, I’ll be sure of it.”

Only after hearing his firm reply did Lea turn to leave. She tried her best to walk without faltering, but the trembling in her steps was impossible to hide.

[“One month. Our engagement will last only that much longer.”]

She had thought that if they looked each other in the eye, if they retraced their time together moment by moment, his memories might return. Because their time together hadn’t been so trivial as to disappear without a trace.

But contrary to that hope, there wasn’t even the smallest place for her in Caius’s new life. He was a completely different person now.

Caius, who had already decided to end their relationship alone, had not seen her once since the day he sent word of the broken engagement.

Lea swallowed hard and walked down the carpeted corridor.

Below the marble banister, the grand hall bustled with courtiers going about their duties. The Prince’s Palace, now filled with countless attendants, was proof enough of Caius’s elevated status.

Lea had known, long ago, that Caius, who had always seemed flawless, was in truth a tragic prince, living beneath constant threats.

[“My mother passed away when I was twelve.”]

Caius was not the son of the current Empress, but of the late, former Empress. After his mother’s death, Caius lost the solid footing he had once enjoyed.

Once the current Empress, formerly the Emperor’s official concubine, was elevated to her position, forces seeking to suppress him sprang up like weeds. It was said that behind the many enemies who constantly threatened Caius stood the Empress herself.

She already had a son of imperial blood and was hell-bent on eliminating Caius, the thorn in her side, to raise her own child to power. There was no doubt her influence played a role in sending Caius suddenly to the battlefield.

[“We’ve received a dispatch from the front. His Highness the First Imperial Prince has successfully conquered the southern region of Tarond.”]

But contrary to the Empress’s hopes, Caius returned again and again bearing victories for the empire. The Empress seethed in silence, and those who had sided with her in opposing Caius were wracked with unease.

After three years of war and a triumphant return, Caius had solidified himself as the undeniable successor to the throne. 

Even the Emperor, who had long weighed his two sons with a detached, ambiguous gaze, now recognized Caius as his rightful heir. It wouldn’t be long before the date of the coronation was set.

It was a fortunate outcome. Lea truly believed that.

And yet… she loathed herself for being unable to smile.

The despair she felt over him still not remembering her overwhelmed all else. Biting her lip hard, Lea turned the corner.

Just then, a man walking from the opposite direction spotted her and let out a whistle.

“Well, look who it is other than the princess herself.”

At the sound of the familiar, unpleasant voice, Lea looked up and her expression immediately turned cold and hard. The man approaching her with a smirk was Second Imperial Prince Diego.

“Were you just coming from seeing my brother?”

Diego, walking with a slow swagger, blocked her path and spoke in a playfully insincere tone. His sapphire-blue eyes, identical to Caius’s, curved lightly.

“Well, I suppose it makes sense. Your long-lost lover returns, and you can’t bear to be apart for even a moment, can you?”

Lea shot him a glare and turned her body without a word, trying to walk past him, but Diego threw out an arm, stopping her once more.

“What, not even going to acknowledge me now? That hurts, Princess.”

Lea looked up at him, eyes like ice, and said in a low voice, “Move.”

Since Caius’s departure, Diego had begun approaching her with increasingly bold behavior for reasons she couldn’t understand.

At first, she assumed it was mere curiosity, but it quickly became clear he was far more persistent than that. Like now, when he deliberately approached her far too closely, just to stir up scandal among the palace staff.

“Running into you after so long, and you treat me so coldly. How heartbreaking.”

With a snicker, Diego reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

Lea slapped his hand away and stepped back.

This was how he always was – smiling that sleazy smile, invading her space, mocking her.

Clenching her fists tightly, Lea glared at him, and Diego let out a loud laugh.

“Ha! Princess, if you look at me like that, you’ll get me into trouble.”

His laughing face bore a striking resemblance to the famously beautiful Empress. But to Lea, he looked like nothing more than a vile degenerate.

“You know, don’t you? That every time you look at me like that, I feel fantastic.”

Diego leaned lazily against the wall, staring down at her with an infuriating grin.

“So, what did you two do, hmm?”

“…”

“Oh, right. Did you even make it to the bed?”

Even seeing her turn pale, he prattled on without a hint of shame.

“I heard he didn’t have a chance to touch a woman during the war. He must’ve been so pent up, he was ready to explode. If it were me, I’d have ripped that prim dress to shreds the second we reunited.”

Unable to bear it anymore, Lea shoved him hard in the shoulder. Diego, raising his hands in mock surrender, let himself be pushed back easily, dimples flashing with a feigned smile of innocence.

Disgusting b*st*rd…

Lea swallowed the words burning at the back of her throat and stormed past him. She knew from experience that Diego only enjoyed her reactions. The best way to deal with him was to ignore him entirely.

“Do take care on your way back, Princess. I look forward to seeing you again very soon.”

His voice dripped with amusement, as if the whole thing had been just a game.

Lea quickened her pace, ignoring the way his eyes followed her retreating form. Her knuckles went white as she clenched the hem of her dress, doing her best to swallow the disgust.

Diego had long been infamous for his debauchery. Rumors of his drunken escapades, drug use, and tendency to share his bed with multiple women swirled throughout the palace.

Normally, she wouldn’t have cared what he did in private, but now that his depravity was directly affecting her, it was different.

For a while after Caius returned, Diego had seemed to keep his distance, but clearly, nothing had changed.

He had never cared about the Emperor’s or Empress’s opinion, so he certainly wasn’t going to care about Caius’s.

Biting her lip hard, Lea hurried out of the Imperial Prince’s Palace. The meeting had been entirely unwelcome, and her already heavy heart now sank even deeper.

* * *

“My Lord.”

Victor bowed respectfully as he approached the desk in the study.

Caius didn’t spare him so much as a glance. He simply turned a page in the document he was reading, his indifferent gaze skimming the densely written lines.

“The personnel assignments are complete, and the border reorganization is proceeding smoothly, isn’t it?”

Victor cleared his throat lightly and continued, carefully gauging Caius’s mood.

“Since things are relatively calm at the moment… perhaps you might consider spending some time with Lady Lea?”

Even that cautious suggestion was met with silence. But Victor persisted, refusing to give up so easily.

“She’s been coming by for several days now, just hoping to see Your Highness. I don’t believe continuing to ignore her like this paints a good picture…”

The fact that Caius had lost his memory had not been made public. If it were known that there were gaps in his recollection, there would undoubtedly be those eager to use it against him.

“…If you keep rejecting her like this, someone is bound to start asking questions.”

Caius finally lifted his shadowed eyes to meet Victor’s. His sharp gaze made Victor flinch instinctively. He knew it was a silent order to leave, yet he hesitated, letting out a small groan of frustration.

Caius had quickly adjusted to life at the imperial palace after his return. But even now, he could not remember Lea. It was a bitter, tragic truth.

“About that…”

Caius finally spoke, setting down the file with a sharp thud and raising his eyes.

“What exactly was the reason I got engaged to that woman?”

His steady gaze narrowed, laced with suspicion. He still couldn’t bring himself to believe the engagement was real.

Victor fumbled for a response, his eyes darting nervously.

Their engagement had been arranged just before Caius departed for war. It had only happened after the Emperor, who had staunchly opposed it, suddenly gave his consent.

But even before that, the two had been in a public romantic relationship, though not officially betrothed.

Their engagement hadn’t been politically motivated, nor had it been orchestrated by anyone. It had happened simply because they wanted each other. But telling that to the current Caius would only make him think Victor had lost his mind.