13 Chapter 13

Above the port city of Tawarr, the two purple moons were hiding behind the thin layer of clouds tonight, like it responded to the feeling of a young girl who was sitting on the bed, like a broken doll. Her brown hair covering her face, her gaze was dark and empty, there was no trace of her liveliness from before. A tray of food next to the bed was left untouched.

There was another person in the room, but they were like two different entities sharing the same space, they didn't communicate with each other. The guy was standing next to the window, looking outside. His short silver hair was glowing even under the dark of the night. His head moved slightly when he saw a carriage appeared and stopped in front of the inn.

When he heard a knock on the door, he walked to the door and open it. The person he had waiting for had arrived.

"Good night, Senka. Sorry for being a little late. Is everything alright here?"

The guy didn't say anything, only turning his head to the direction of the bed, hinting to the other guy to look at the motionless girl. Following Senka's gaze, Frei looked at the lifeless girl who was sitting still. He walked to the girl direction and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He said.

There was no response.

That day, after Mirra brought the unconscious Rena to the outskirt of the villa, she met with Senka. Senka had seen the unconscious girl before with his master and Sebastian. He carried the girl to Tawarr with the yellow giant bird who served as a transportation, Mirra was accompanying them, holding Rena not to fall. As soon as they arrived in Tawarr, Frei arrived and Rena had been taken care of, she insisted to go back to her village. It was dangerous to travel during the night, so Frei told Senka to accompany her.

When the dawn came, they noticed the kingdom's cavalry soldiers went to the direction of the village. Mirra thought the help finally arrived, but Senka suddenly pulled her from the road, hiding between the tree shades. After the troops had passed, they followed them from behind. She didn't understand why he was doing this. But her question was soon answered, from the hidden spot, she watched they slaughtered all the surviving villagers. Mirra wanted to scream, she wanted to run there but was held by Senka. She fell unconscious and when she woke up, she had returned to Tawarr. She hadn't moved at all since then.

"Are you going to stay like this forever? Doing nothing until you die?"

"If it were me, I would revenge them." Frei said.

Mirra's body twitched.

"Oh, are you interested now?"

There was a long silence and then a slow hoarse voice could be heard.

"What... can I... do..."

"You know the substance they were smuggling, right? The strictly regulated drug that had been banned from trading in the seven kingdoms. I was chasing the tail of the guy who funded the activities. If I could catch his tail, there will be a huge scandal in both countries. Haffa Kingdom couldn't deal the matter just like this time, cleaning all the traces to avoid disgracing themselves."

"It is your choice. Succumbing to your despair and die like this or help me and get revenge."

She didn't respond right away, but when Frei was about to stand up. Her weak body slowly moved, clenching her fists so hard, they crumpled the sheet. Mirra had made a decision.

Her eyes staring at Frei did not contain despair anymore, replaced by a cold steel resolved.

"That's more like it." He smiled.

---

It was dinner time, but Rena didn't feel like wanting to eat at all. The reason was on the table, there were seven different kinds of potions waiting for her. Rena was amazed he could prepare them with just a short amount of time, even if he bought them from somewhere, it was still fast.

Three of them were recovery potion, skin regeneration potion, and the Silphium Brew, she drank earlier. The rest were those memory related potions.

"What's the matter? You don't like the food?" He asked.

"!" Rena startled.

"No, no... The food is good! I, I just want to savor it!"

She knew that Jean wanted to help her, but she just couldn't feel happy about this. Besides having to drink weird stuff she had no idea of, she was scared of having someone casting a spell on her... No, she didn't like this idea at all. And the person in front of her had emphasized the process would be uncomfortable. There wasn't even a guarantee for her that it would be successful.

"Umm, is... is it possible to delay dealing with my memory?" She timidly asked.

Jen stopped moving his tablewares, glaring at her.

(Eek!)

"Don't you want to get your memory back?"

Being asked such question made her think. Rena wanted to know about her life before that night, but she was okay without not knowing it too. After all, she had her memory completely intact as "Aoki Rena."

"But... There isn't any guarantee that I will get my memory back even if you do this for me. How about we're leaving it to nature and time?" She held her spoon tightly, as if it could slip any moment.

"How about if you never get it back?"

"I... I just need to start over my life!"

"Huh, is it that easy for you to throw everything away? How about your family or friends? Maybe they were looking for you somewhere."

Rena glanced down at her plate. Certainly, there was that possibility, it didn't cross her mind before that she had a family in this world, then she remembered about the village when she first woke up in this world. Suddenly, she realized one thing.

"It still couldn't be helped." She lifted her face, looking at Jean.

"What do you mean?" He blinked, confused by her statement.

"Right now, I am just a slave, bound by contract with Frei. Even though he promised me that someday he would release me, I still don't know how long it will take. So, I don't feel any rush to remember about my past. It's more convenient this way."

"Hmm..."

Jean was quiet, his index finger tapped rhythmically on the knife he held, showing that he was thinking. When he was quiet, he was really beautiful. Rena wondered, how many men had been mistaking him for a woman and fell in love with him.

"Alright then, I won't cast any spell on you."

Rena sighed, feeling relieved...

"But you should at least drink those potions."

Not.

(Uweee!!)

She finally finished her dinner, with some real effort. Now, it was time for her unavoidable fate a.k.a [punishment]. Like a jailer, he was watching her with a serious intimidating expression.

"Do you need any help?" He asked.

"No, no! I'm fine! I can do it myself!" She shook her head vigorously.

Rena grabbed the flask that contained the pain reliever, Silphium Brew. She knew the taste already, so she pulled the cap and drank it fast.

*cough!* *cough!*

(Still strong as ever, I think he also mixed ginger here.)

And then she took the glass bottle next to the Silphium Brew, it was the red recovery potion. The red color was like of wine, giving a mysterious allure to be drunk.

(Hopefully, it's good. It looks good though...)

She pulled the cap, a fruity aroma leaked from the bottle, and soon she took a sip.

"Bleargh!"

Rena almost spilled it.

"H-horrible..."

(Taste like rotten grape mixed with chili!)

(Oh, god! There are five more to go! Can my stomach endure this?!)

Rena's face was pale even though she felt energy surging through her body.

Seeing her expression, Jean spoke again, "Most potions generally don't have a good taste, but they carried a healing property. Please keep drinking it."

Rena cried in her heart, but she didn't dare to protest. She took a deep breath and finished the red potion. The potions's effect was immediately, her body was filled with energy.

Next, with a sour expression, she picked the transparent liquid that was put in a small perfume-like bottle, the cap was decorated with imitation of pearl. Since it was small, it was easy to finish it in one gulp. She pulled the cap and sniffing the inside, it didn't have any particular smell. And she drank it.

(This one is not bad! I could drink more of this.)

It tasted like cherry flavored infusion water.

"That one is the skin regeneration potion, made of the saliva of fire salamander."

Rena dropped, getting her hands on the floor. "'OTL

She wanted to throw up now.

(T-this... this guy!! Is he purposely torturing me?!)

"Uuww...." Her lips quivering.

(Four more to go...)

She took the bottle with yellow liquid, a streak of green swirling in it. She thought it couldn't be worse than drinking the saliva of fire salamander, so she just drank it.

*shiver*

For a second, her brain was hurt. She didn't feel anything else after that. Taste a little weird, like drinking a cup of peppermint tea.

(Three more to go, you can do it, Rena!)

This time it was a colorful rainbow liquid. It was the size of a coke bottle, the biggest one of all those potions.

(This one looks pretty, but... oh well.)

"!!!" Just like it has seven colors, the rainbow liquid has seven flavors mixed together. She swore she could taste grass was among the flavor.

Rena got dizzy, she needed a minute before she emptied the bottle.

(My stomach...)

Having endured seven flavors in one go, her brain and stomach needed sometime to adjust. She felt a rush of emotions, joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, shame, and suddenly all of the emotions were gone, and she didn't feel anything at all.

There were two more bottles left, one had a jet black color and the other one had a phosphorus purple color which kept bubbling. Honestly, neither of them looked save to be consumed.

She stole a glance at Jean who was sitting on the chair, putting his long fingers on his cheek. His sharp eyes were watching her.

(What did that guy gain by doing this?)

"Haaah...."

She inhaled a deep breath before drinking the jet black liquid.

(Here I go!)

She forced the jet black liquid down her throat, it didn't have any taste nor feeling of drinking the liquid, it was like swallowing air.

"!!!"

In the next second, Rena was hit by sudden flashbacks of her memories. The memories kept going further, digging to the deepest part of her memories, three years old, two years old, one year old, and finally to the very beginning when it was dark and warm.

Rena almost fainted.

(I... I can't take this anymore...)

"How is it? Did you recall something?" That beautiful sadist guy asked her with a probing look.

"Nnnn... no, not really..." Rena replied while supporting herself on the table, trying not to fall.

"Hmm..." He tapped the finger on his cheek, pondering over something.

There was only one bottle left, the one that screamed the most dangerous.

"What is this purple potion for...?"

She didn't want to hear the answer but her curiosity won over her. The jet black liquid was terrible, she couldn't take anymore of that.

"Oh, that one is just a digestive potion. It will comfort your stomach." Jean answered her.

(It looks like a poison!)

Rena mustered her courage, only this one left and she could be free. Seriously, she didn't want to deal with Jean anymore. She pulled the cork, and in one big gulp, drinking the last potion.

Her eyes widened and then she kept gulping the potion until its last drop.

Miraculously, it tasted like unicorn frappucino.

"Ah, that one was made of ur..."

"Stop! I don't want to hear it!" Rena closed her ears, shaking her head violently.

"I've drunk all the potions, now I'm tired. Please, you get rest as well. Good night!"

Nope, she didn't care about being impolite anymore, pushing Jean out of the door and slammed it.

(He really is messing with me!)

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