"Tell me right away, what were you doing with Attar Hanan in the flower garden yesterday!"
With Dietrich's shout, options appeared over Presepe's swollen face.
[◆ Denying knowledge.]
[◆ Retorts, asking what it has to do with you.]
[◆ I’ll be honest.]
This time, all three options shone in gold.
With the clearly buggy options right in front of her, Presepe wore a blank expression.
'They're all ordinary options... unlike last time.'
She couldn't figure out what was going on this time.
“Answer me!”
[Notice]: A penalty will be applied if you fail to select an option within the allotted time. If you fail to answer within 3 seconds, the game will be completely reset.
And she saw a notification window that she already knew.
Presepe was no unaware, either. She knew that if she couldn't come up with an answer within three seconds, the game would reset to the beginning.
But unless there is at least one option that isn't a bug, what on earth am I supposed to choose from there?
...It’s not that I didn’t think about it, but that doesn’t mean there is a clever solution.
In the end, Presepe decided to tell everything honestly.
It was a relief that the options were at least relatively normal.
"I—I went to the flower garden for a moment to get some fresh air, but Noah grabbed me."
"..."
"So we exchanged greetings... but Prince Attar appeared and drove Lord Noah away."
Dietrich's brow furrowed subtly, as if he disliked Noah, Attar, or both.
"But Prince Attar tried to do something strange to me... so I slapped him, and of course I know I shouldn't have, but..."
“...Something weird?”
Dietrich asked back with a face dripping with coldness.
"What does that mean? Tell me straight."
"... It was the shackle that was strangling the corpse. He tried to put it on my wrist, so I ran away."
"..."
"But then someone suddenly shouted that Prince Attar was dead, so I was so flustered that I went back to check, and... that is what happened."
Dietrich did not answer. He simply repeated the cycle of staring at Presepe with a distorted face and looking down at the small, trembling hand.
"...It's true."
Presepe looked at Dietrich while muttering in a trembling voice.
To be precise, through the affection status window floating above his head.
Just as it was with Attar, Dietrich's affection status window began to darken...
[Dietrich Ateloia/Affection???]
It turned into an unknown question mark.
As expected, just as it was during the time of Attar.
'It's been like they've been pressuring me since last time to choose some kind of bug...'
From now on, choices will not appear in Dietrich's dialogue. It was the same with Attar.
From now on, they would be able to talk comfortably without any choice, but she couldn't tell if that was a good thing.
...Then, will Dietrich also regain all the memories from the previous episodes?
So, things like the incident where they killed me.
Presepe's expression turned miserable as she stared at Dietrich.
"..."
Dietrich, looking down at Presepe, paused briefly as he was about to say something.
Presepe in front of Dietrich had a face he had never seen before.
Even when shouted at or mocked, Presepe showed no expression. It was as if she were a person incapable of feeling emotions.
But not today.
Presepe, staring at him, looked somehow sad and angry. So many emotions were evident in her. Dietrich could not help but be flustered by her unfamiliar appearance.
"There is no lie in what you just said, Presepe."
So Dietrich asked, changing the subject.
"If you made this up, you won't be in for a moment. I intend to hear the full story from Noah DeVern once again!"
'Even when I tell you, you still act like a jerk...'
If you don't believe me, don't ask, or just follow Noah around.
Although she had that thought, Presepe was not yet out of her mind to say it out loud, so she just nodded with a gloomy expression.
"..."
Dietrich glared at Presepe in silence for a moment, then slowly rose from his seat.
Then, holding the doorknob, he looked back at Presepe again.
"But I didn't know you had the personality to slap a man like that."
"...Yes?"
"Always so obedient in front of me... even though you just spout clichéd lines like a doll."
"Even so... I can't slap His Majesty's cheek... No, I'm sorry."
Anyway, she has a loose tongue. Once she starts, she babbles on like a madman. Of course, it couldn't be helped, considering she's had to keep her mouth shut as if glued shut until now...
"In any case, there is not a single lie in what I just told you. Please believe me, Your Majesty."
"It seems like asking me to trust you is a really easy thing for you."
"..."
"It makes me feel that way even more when I see you acting so fearlessly every time towards the person who is the most difficult person in the world."
That was the last thing Dietrich said. He strode out of the restaurant, and soon only Presepe was left alone in the tower.
"Why are you acting like you're sulking..."
Are you actually talking? How annoying.
Presepe wore a slightly bewildered expression, then lightly slapped both cheeks as if trying to snap out of it.
It was because she remembered that she had just woken up from a dream. A chilling dream where she couldn't even remember her own name.
“Yoon Ju-yeon.”
So she said her real name out loud.
Yoon Ju-yeon, Yoon Ju-yeon, Yoon Ju-yeon.
Unlike in his dream, Presepe ruminated on her name over and over again, as if she were someone who would never forget it.
However...
[Confirm... I need to check...]
What did you really want to confirm?
What on earth?
"..."
Presepe's eyes, which had been staring into the void, went blank.
And not long after, Presepe realized.
The fact that she was gradually losing her memories of the real world without even realizing it
"I can't think of anything..."
[I'm not playing this shitty game because it's disgusting and unfair.]
The only thing she could remember was the moment she flopped down on the bed, which was just as cramped in the room, and cursed.
So, right before possession.
...Could it be called a miracle that I even thought of the name?
"..."
Presepe clutched her left chest tightly as a habit. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again.
"Right... Whether Dietrich regains his memory or not... that’s not important..."
I am actually losing my real memory, so feeling depressed over such trivial reasons is nothing but a luxury.
Furthermore, couldn't we use it to our advantage? It might be even more helpful if we could communicate and perform actions not included in the plot.
In any case, Presepe had to do something important right now. I mean, finding the real male protagonist. Even the slightest clue.
"I wish I could go outside..."
Throughout the game, the space Presepe could move was very limited.
This tower was the only place where one could live freely before the main storyline began.
Once the story began, she could at least follow the plot, but the only places she had visited in the Imperial Palace were Dietrich's quarters, the banquet hall, the ice prison, and so on... There were no places that could have contained any information.
"Still, since Presepe was born a Princess, there might be more information in the imperial palace."
Presepe, standing in front of the window, looked down at the scenery in the distance.
"...But now that Attar is dead, it might be a bit difficult to wander around freely."
Now that she can speak with Dietrich, she might be able to ask him to let her look around the Imperial Palace. However, it doesn't seem like there would be any particular benefit in saying so right now.
In the end, Presepe decided to do what she could do now.
"Looking back on all the characters' past memories, show me the album."
[Note: We look back on the past memories of all the characters.]
Along with a notification window, something resembling an album appeared before Presepe's eyes.
...Although the presence of Attar, who had been cut out of every illustration, and Dietrich, whose face had suddenly been painted pitch black, weighed on her mind a little—no, very much—Presepe pretended not to notice them and began to meticulously check to see if she had missed anything.
***
Noah DeVern was the Duke of the North, but he actually spent very little time in the North.
Unlike other capable Dukes, Noah rarely looked after his estate. Nor did he look after his parents. He simply entrusted the arduous work to clever servants and spent his time in luxury, chasing pleasures in a townhouse he had prepared separately in the capital.
It was the same today.
Noah was spending a somewhat boring evening in an incredibly luxurious townhouse with nothing in particular to do.
... That was the case until an unexpected visitor appeared.
"I didn't expect you to visit like this."
Noah greeted the stranger with a slightly flustered expression and said.
"Grand Duke Fenrir."
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