Memories

"What!? Failed, you say?!" Feliciel shouted.

"I-I'm sorry! Please forgive us! We didn't know there was someone that strong besides the hero," the person answered, trembling on their knees in front of Feliciel.

Feliciel's anger subsided, and then she asked, "Someone else?"

"Yes, that's right, someone else. He... he is powerful, he could even pass through our magic-blocking devices," the person replied.

"Pass through, you say? Who is this person?" Feliciel asked.

"I-I'm sorry, my lady. We didn't successful to find out his identity. We beg for your forgiveness," the person answered, prostrating themselves before her.

"No need to apologize..." Feliciel said.

The face of her subordinate regained its spirited expression. But as he looked at Feliciel's face, his expression changed again. He saw Feliciel with a sense of fear because, "Because you will die right now, you failures."

Feliciel exploded one by one the subordinates who failed in the mission to kidnap Michelle, curious in her heart about the "someone" they mentioned.

"Tck! Gota still hasn't arrived. Where is that child?!" she regretted.

"I'm here, my lady," someone answered while standing in front of the door.

"Finally!" Feliciel exclaimed.

Feliciel approached Gota, pressed her body against Gota's chest, and said, "I want you to investigate someone, my pawn~"

Gota's face suddenly burned due to Feliciel's body pressed against him.

"Investigate someone who thwarted our mission to abduct the test subject, you probably know, right~?" Feliciel asked teasingly.

"Y-yes! I-I will do my best!" he replied.

"Good... I expect success from you, Gota~" Feliciel responded, gazing provocatively into his eyes.

...

Back to Evan's side...

After what happened, Evan was taken to the academy's medical facility. Inside, Michelle was sitting alone next to Evan's bed, still unconscious. She stared at Evan all day long just to make sure he was okay. She even slept in the treatment room until the next day.

Evan opened his eyes, looked at the ceiling, and said, "an unknown ceiling..."

He remembered something, his eyes widened, and he immediately sat up. At the same time, he felt a severe headache, and he saw Michelle holding his hand while still fast asleep.

He heard Michelle yawn and slowly open her eyes. As soon as Michelle saw Evan, she hugged him without hesitation, purely out of reflex.

"Miss Michelle, what--" Evan began, feeling uneasy.

Michelle let go of the hug and said, "Thank goodness... Thank goodness you're safe," while wiping tears from her eyes.

"N-no, I should be saying that, Miss, you were finally safe and--" Evan continued, feeling uncomfortable.

"No no no no, you're the one who save me, Evan, truly appreciate your help, thank you so much!" she said.

Shortly after, Evan heard a woman's voice saying, "Oh, you're awake."

Evan turned his head, looking behind Michelle, and saw someone standing at the room's entrance. It was Rina, who had just entered to check on Evan, but Michelle had beaten her to it.

"Well... Yeah," Evan said with a worried expression.

Rina entered, approached Evan's bed, and said, "What's with that expression on your face? I'm here not to beat you up," then crossed her arms in front of Evan.

"So, how did you manage to fight off three demons on your own?" Rina asked.

"W-what do you mean? I don't understand..." Evan answered.

"Huh? You don't remember? At that time, you were trying to save Michelle from being kidnapped. How did you defeat them all by yourself? They were demons, you know," explained Rina.

Evan thought for a moment and remembered. He then said, "Oh, you mean the incident back then? Well..."

"Tell us, Evan. I'm also curious about what really happened to you at that time," Michelle said, smiling sweetly at Evan.

"Ughh... Alright, I'll tell you," he said.

Evan recounted everything from the beginning to the end, including the part where he saw someone smiling without knowing the person's true face. He also thought that the person he saw was a middle-aged woman whom, for some reason... he felt like... he knew who she is.

"Perhaps it's part of your memories, right? Many cases involve near-death experiences where people see glimpses of their past," Rina explained.

"Eh? What do you mean, Lady Rina?" Michelle asked.

"This child, Evan, has lost his memories since the first time we met. I don't know how it happened, but at least he's not stupid," Rina replied, placing her hand on her waist.

Hearing the fact that Evan had no memories made Michelle feel a bit sympathetic and empathetic towards his current condition. She felt... her choice was not wrong.

"So, about the sword you mentioned," Rina continued the conversation.

"Oh, that sword? I remember it was quite big, maybe slightly larger than the average sword. Its blade shone brightly like stainless steel, and... at the tip of the sword's hilt, there was a golden engraving, I don't know what it meant, something like that," he explained.

"I see..." said Rina.

"Is there anything else you want to ask?" Evan inquired.

"No, that's all. Rest now, tomorrow you'll have to attend classes again, so don't be lazy," Rina said, turning around and about to leave the room.

"Alright, alright, you're quite a nag, late-rising hero," Evan quipped.

"What?" Rina immediately turned her head back.

"N-no, no! I was joking!" Evan said.

"I'll forgive you this time, but next time, who knows," she said, gesturing cutting her throat and then walked out of the room.

Evan's hair stood on end in fear and shivered at Rina's warning.

Michelle chuckled softly, noticing Evan's reaction, and then Evan asked, "What's up? What's so funny? That was terrifying, you know..."

"Hehe, you two are quite close, aren't you? No wonder you can get along well with the royal family," she said, smiling sweetly.

"You call that close? She could be serious," Evan said, getting even more creeped out.

"I don't think so. Did you know my father is a duke of the kingdom?" Michelle asked.

"Really?! I didn't realize... I-I'm sorry if I was too presumptuous," Evan replied awkwardly, trying to be as polite as possible.

"No, no, it's okay. Besides, we've known each other for a long time, right?" Michelle said.

"Y-yeah haha..." he replied nervously.

"From what I see, the young lady isn't that bad. In fact, she's quite nice, you know. Even though I'm a year older than her, she's very protective. Since my family has a close relationship with the royal family, we often relax in the park and enjoy warm tea together," Michelle explained.

"Really? Does that also apply to her male friends? Well, I don't even know if I'm considered her friend or not..." Evan grumbled.

"I think so! If you and I are friends, then it means she's your friend too!" Michelle affirmed.

"Well... I hope so," Evan replied, becoming enthusiastic again.

While they were talking, someone had been eavesdropping the whole time, hearing everything about Evan. It's not hard to guess who that person was. He stood against the wall, listening to everything from the beginning of their conversation about Evan. It was undoubtedly crucial information for him. How did he manage to escape when Rina left? He just needed to act like someone who had just passed by, fully prepared. He even managed to hide his true character at that moment, which allowed him to escape. Truly a troublesome demon...

However, Rina was not completely oblivious. When she saw Gota, she felt something uneasy about him. Nothing special, just a girl's instinct.

The next day, Evan was able to go about his activities as usual, living his daily life as a student at the academy. Of course, what made it different today was... Michelle went with him.

Evan felt awkward at that moment, especially since other students seemed to see them as being very close. Although not many had frowning or even angry faces towards him.

Indeed, right after he finished at the academy and was about to return to the dormitory, he was confronted by several troublemakers who were of noble status.

Evan tried to avoid them by walking past them, but they had no intention of letting him through.

"Sorry, I have homework that I need to do," he said, trying to pass through again.

"You stubborn fool!" one of them said, grabbing Evan's uniform collar tightly until he fell.

The boy did indeed seem to have a noble status, judging by his choice of hairstyle... How tacky...

"We heard you're really close to Michelle," he said in an intimidating tone.

Evan stood up and answered, "So what if I am?"

The boy became furious upon hearing that Evan was indeed close to Michelle. His face looked very angry as he said, "Don't get ahead of yourself, commoner! I am the one who deserves to be by her side! I am Juliet, her fiancé! You are nothing compared to me!"

Evan was slightly surprised to learn that Michelle had a future husband.

"Fiancé?" Evan asked.

"Yes, that's right! We will get married after graduating from the academy, or maybe even sooner," he replied with a cynical smile.

"In that case, what does it have to do with me?" Evan asked again.

"You're not allowed to get close to her anymore! If it happens again, I will make sure your legs are twisted with my own hands," he answered.

Evan had no other choice but...

"I refuse," Evan said arrogantly.

Juliet's eyes widened with anger, and he said, "I'll finish you right now!"

After he yelled at Evan, his two friends surrounded Evan from the right and left, trapping him and forcing him to fight against all three of them at once.

At that moment, Evan felt something stirring within him, not mentally, but like a surge of powerful energy flowing freely within him, making him feel like he could do anything at that moment.

They struck Evan with wooden sticks from both sides simultaneously, but Evan easily caught both sticks. However, Evan did not expect them to embrace him from both sides, locking his hands and leaving a wide opening for Juliet to strike.

Unexpectedly, Juliet pulled out a knife from behind his pants. This left Evan with no choice but to use violence to resolve the situation. Juliet slowly approached, intending to stab Evan in the stomach.

Evan took a deep breath, intending to use magic, "Juliet!"

Someone called his name. Juliet looked in the direction of the voice and was surprised to see Michelle. He quickly hid her knife and signaled his two friends to release Evan.

"H-hi, Michelle. Long time no see," He said nervously.

"What are you doing!?" Michelle said.

Juliet started to sweat and replied, "O-oh, this? Hahaha, nothing, we were just getting to know each other."

Michelle forcibly grabbed the knife Juliet had hidden behind him and said, "This? This is what you call getting to know each other?"

Michelle paused for a moment, took a deep breath. Her sigh felt like that of someone who was extremely tired.

"You know, Juliet... Let's end our engagement..." she said.

"B-but--!"

Before He could finish her sentence, Michelle immediately said, "I thought you were the person I had been searching for all this time, but I was wrong."

Those words shattered the hearts of anyone who heard them, especially Juliet, who had been completely convinced that they were going to get married.

"Please, go away," Michelle said.

With a heavy heart, Juliet left Michelle.

...

"I'm sorry, Evan. You've been in a situation like that," she said, giving a small smile.

"It's fine for me, but are you sure about letting him go like that?" Evan asked.

Michelle lifted her head, looked at Evan, and answered, "It's fine, I've encountered guys like him before," then she smiled warmly.

That evening, the two of them returned to their respective dormitories together, leaving a deep sadness in Michelle's heart about Juliet. She thought... Juliet was a good person, warm, and easy to socialize with others, but it turned out she was wrong.

Michelle then fell asleep with a feeling upset. All she can do is, let him go.