Chapter 28

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕼𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓...? 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

"As far as I've conducted, they were fine, Milady. After they took the blue rose medicine, their condition became stable and they weren't having any nightmares or attacks... Although they would only gain consciousness after a few days..." Doctor Brian said.

I nodded slowly.

"But why did you suddenly talk about the loss of memories, Doctor Brian?" I asked

I heard him sigh before halting his hand on writing. Then he faced me with a dismayed look.

"I found a symptom from young master Henry, it was about his unconscious moves and every time he would twist his head to the right. They were the symptoms of someone who was about to lose their memories upon waking up..."

I couldn't help but widen my eyes.

My hands started shaking and before I knew it, I almost stumbled to the ground if it weren't for Anna on my side.

I looked at her and she was also looking at me with those eyes, nothing but concern written on them.

"Milady, I think you should also know this..."

"Know what, Doctor?" I asked as I faced him...

"It seemed that the Vellitas household isn't normal at all, seeing how young master Henry got these wounds and scars from his back..."

After our conversation, I walked alone dismissing Anna saying I had to go to the garden as she would do her duties.

I know she wanted to be with me and comfort me but right now, I don't think that being comforted would ease the heaviness I have in this small body of mine.

After coming back in here, I swore to protect them and yet, why did I feel like after knowing them, and becoming their friends, I would also be the one reason to put them in danger?

My thoughts corrupted my mind as I didn't know my feet already led me to the place where Henry gave me his coat. It was from that night as if enchanted by something, I took his hand without any question.

But right now, would I be able to let go of that hand and promise in this very same place?

I don't know.

I don't know what to do.

"I don't know what answer I would take.

From what I am certain of, Henry wasn't safe in his household either.

But a certain memory came flooding my mind. It was from that peaceful day when the crown prince invited me for tea.

"Be careful of the Vellitas household, especially their young master..."

I didn't know back then that he would mean it like this.

Shaking my head, Caliere and Verfeil almost made my mind go back to the past instead of doing something that would help Henry in the present.

As I was about to move away, flowers and petals rained on my vision and I remembered again, the day when Claudius came to our household and he did some flower crowns.

I almost forgot about it, if it weren't for the roses and flowers falling like pieces of a puzzle on the grasses.

After consuming my thoughts from the memories of this timeline, I move forward without any doubts to touch that nostalgic event once more. A scenario that I considered unreplaceable.

"Anna, here's for you..." After spending so much time in our garden, I only realized that the day turned dark. Anna accompanied me to my chambers ahead, but I gave her a flower crown.

As I smiled, she almost cried.

"Thank you, Milady," she said.

And I never forget to give Sir Francis' flower crown to her asking her to give it to him after the night. When I came to my room, I could see how the silver rays of the moon descended everywhere, but I also remembered the nights when I used to feel warm instead of cold.

I opened one of the huge windows from my room and leaned in closer to the window as I put the flower crowns that I made on the table beside me.

I felt like I was the moon, and I made a wish from a shooting star that passed. As I intertwined my hands, I wished for my friends to gain their previous standing and be healthy again.

I did nothing but wish for that to happen. But after I opened my eyes, my vision landed on the large tree in our garden near my room.

I didn't think that I could see a small figure of shadow there. When I blinked my eyes, the shadow disappeared, or was it just my petty hallucination?

Shaking my head, my vision shifted from the outside to the flower crowns and an idea popped into my head.

I only learned about this secret from our household, but it was useful whenever I went to the imperial household. It was a secret passage connecting our household to six different paths.

I was only lucky that the path I have chosen in the past was the middle and without any doubts it led me to the imperial household.

I didn't think twice about walking to where my memories served me. After going out of my room, I went to the lower part of our household, and it was already the basement.

I wanted to avert my gaze from it, but I couldn't since it reminded me of how I together with Claudius saw Henry that time covered with flaming liquids.

"It's cold," I whisper as I hug myself. I gulped but I managed to twist the candle handle in front of me then a door divided into two opened. I saw stairs downwards and lamps slowly lighting the way.

I looked firmly from it before finally landing my first step down. When I was already inside the door closed. But the lamps stayed the same.

I walked another step then proceeded to another until I could hear how my footsteps echo within the place. But it only took me a few more seconds before stopping because I could finally see those six passages, in front of me.

There were initials and when I chose the middle, I didn't think that the M there signifies the middle since the other direction had different letters.

What I thought back then was the M signifies the Mezore household, the imperial family's passage to their household, because I got blinded by his soul, I never thought I would make the wrong decision in my life.

It shattered my dreams and this time, it wouldn't not when I had to choose something when I didn't have a choice in the first place.

When I had taken note of the initials in my mind, I was about to walk away when my feet got lowered, and before I knew it another door opened this time, it didn't have any unlocked gate in front.

It was only a storage room when I looked closer. But because of curiosity, I went ahead, and the first thing that my eyes landed on was a book, an old book that wasn't of our empire's language.

And because of curiosity, I didn't think twice and claimed that book. After doing so, the door closed, making me feel that it was time to move out since I heard something different.

As I continued to pant while I trusted my feet from where they were taking me, my grip on the book tightened until I could finally breathe again.

I closed my door and leaned from it as I sat on the ground. I tried opening it but I halted when I looked at the cover.

It was the language of the Aserians. It was a legend because no one could prove its existence but there was this book that surprised me.

The language is from the Asserian people before the Mezor empire began. It was said that the Asserians were kind and sincere and the place was peaceful before the Mezor took the land from them and drove them away.

When that happened, kinds of calamities befell the Mezor empire, and there was a curse that had been passed down by the first princess of the Asserian empire, and the curse remained until now even if a thousand years had passed.

"I will read this next time," I said and put it in my drawer but before I go to sleep, I caressed the flower crowns that I've made, wishing for my friends' fast recovery.

Little did I know that the morning I woke up, Anna would immediately come to my room crying and saying that both Henry and Claudius already recovered and were conscious

"Doctor Brian are Henry and Claudius----"

"Vestia?" I heard that familiar voice, sincere and kind enough to make my heart ache when he was badly injured.

"Claudius!!!" I said and without any doubts, I ran to him and hugged him. I heard him chuckle as his shoulders vibrated.

He patted my back while I held him tight in my hug. I didn't know how long we were in that kind of position until I heard Henry cough.

"Wait, young lady but it's not like we have woken up from dying, right?" Henry said but when I looked at him saying those words, my vision got blurred.

"Henry?" I asked trying to test him if his memory would be lost.

"Silly, who would else be like that if it's not me, Vestia..." His voice, his moves, and his smile, I missed everything about him.

Not to mention that the first time we met was after seeing him badly injured but also seeing how he recovered.

"I'm glad you two are still the same..." I hugged them both and at that time, when I gave them the flower crowns, I never let them go again.

***

"Doctor Brian, did you say that Henry might have lost his memories before he could wake up?"

"I did, but I never thought that his determination would lead him to remember everything only after a second that passed when he asked me who he was..."

"Did he?"

"Yes, then Claudius smacked his head with a forceful laughter. After that happened, Claudius cried and said your name. After repeating it many times, Henry's eyes widened, and he looked at me with narrowed eyes... but smacked Claudius this time. At that time, he made some silly jokes... as if only to say that his words earlier were his jokes..."

"But is there a possibility that he will lose his memories in the future?"

"There is unless there's a thing from a person he regards well and loves that he would manage to gain his memories permanently..."