The Beginning Of The Lie

"Ugh..."

When I slowly opened my eyes, I was greeted by a painful brightness and I hurriedly closed them again. After blinking a few times, my eyes became acclimated to the light. Eventually, my vision cleared up, and I recognized the ceiling above me. I was lying on top of my bed in my room.

It felt like I had been asleep for a very long time. I chanced a look to the side and saw the teary face of one of my maids, Selma. In a quivering voice, she said, "I-I'll call Lord and Lady Westley," and then hurried out of the room. Right after, she came back with my parents in tow.

"Viola?! You're finally awake!" my mother cried.

"Ahh, I'm so relieved. I couldn't sleep a wink all week," my father exclaimed.

They grabbed my hands, tears streaming down their faces. What was wrong? My brain wasn't working very well, but as I pondered that question, my memories gradually returned.

Yes... I remembered now. I had been on my way home from House Lawrenson's mansion, thinking of a way to end my engagement with Lord Phillip, when the carriage had simply tipped over. If I had died right then and there, then my engagement would have been broken off in a rather crude way. I smiled sardonically at the thought and then turned my attention to my body. It felt heavy, but there was no pain.

Now that I thought about it, I was surprised that I had been asleep for a whole week. No wonder I was so hungry. In any case, my body was fine, so I should let my parents know. But right when I opened my mouth to say something, my mother leaned forward.

"Viola, are you all right? Do you remember who I am?" she asked.

She looked worried about the fact that I hadn't said a word the entire time since I woke up. That was when a stroke of genius came to me: if I pretended to have amnesia, then wouldn't I be able to break off my engagement with Lord Phillip?

I could say something like, "I don't remember anything, so I don't know what the heck is going on, hee hee!" and pretend to be an idiot. They'd surely deem me incapable of performing my duties as a lady of House Lawrenson. That way, we would be able to end things without arguments on either side.

I would feel bad for causing my parents such worry, but I would tell them the truth later and apologize until they forgave me. This was the only opportunity I had to get out of spending a lifetime worrying about the situation with Lord Phillip.

"To fool your enemy, you must first fool your friend" was a proverb for a reason. I decided to go through with my plan without telling anyone first. I took a deep breath, mentally encouraged myself that I was the greatest actress alive, and then opened my mouth.

***

"Milady, Lord Westley wishes to see you in the parlor."

"All right. Thank you for letting me know."

It had been three days since I woke up. Thanks to some desperate acting, I'd managed to convince everyone that I had lost my memories. As for the carriage, a part of a collapsing cliff had destroyed half of it. It was a miracle that I had come out of it with nothing more than superficial injuries. The coachman had broken all of his limbs, but he was thankfully in no danger of dying. That was a relief to hear.

When I'd told the doctor that I had amnesia, he'd concluded that though I didn't have any visible injuries, the shock of the impact must've damaged my brain. In truth, I was perfectly fine. The doctor had told my parents that there were precedents where the afflicted party never recovered their memories, and they'd looked incredibly shaken. Though it pained my heart to see them in that state, there was no going back. I was afraid the doctor would see through my lies, but to my relief, I'd managed to pull the wool over his eyes.

"I have to get it together," I murmured to myself. I gently slapped my hands against my cheeks, psyching myself up.

It was surprisingly difficult to pretend that I didn't have my memories. Even when performing tasks I'd known how to do all my life, I had to feign ignorance. Because of that, I was on guard at all hours of the day.

When I walked into the parlor, my father was already sitting on the sofa. He gestured at me to approach him with a gentle smile on his face. Even when I was a child, my father was soft on me. He'd really spoiled me. It felt like he'd gotten even worse after my accident. I sat down across from him, and the maids immediately placed my favorite snacks and tea before me.

My father chatted about this and that for a little while before he paused and then said with a serious expression, "To tell you the truth..."

Here it comes! I knew what he wanted to say.

"Viola, I want you to meet Lord Phillip," my father continued.

"Lord Phillip?"

"Yes. He's been your fiancé since birth. Ever since he heard about your accident, he's been terribly worried about you. He's even been personally delivering flowers to our doorstep."

"Huh?" I couldn't suppress the shocked noise, and I hurriedly covered my mouth with my hand.

My father apparently thought my surprise was from the revelation that I had a fiancé, because he gave me a lopsided smile and said, "Anyone would be surprised to suddenly hear about their betrothed."

Phew, that was a close one.

It seemed that the beautiful flowers brought to my room every day to be put on display were gifts that Lord Phillip brought himself. My surprise came from the fact that someone like him would do such a thing.

"He said that he'd be willing to wait until you're feeling better to see you. So, I thought it was about time that you met him and told him about your amnesia."

"I see. This Lord Phillip seems like a very kind gentleman. I would very much love to meet him."

"All right. Then we'll get right to scheduling that," my father said happily before he started issuing orders to the butlers.

I took a sip from my tea and steeled my resolve once more. It was finally time for the real show to start.

The next day, Lord Phillip came by. Considering he visited every day, it wasn't difficult to arrange a meeting. After the maids informed me of his arrival, I stood in front of the mirror and looked over myself one last time. In order to reinforce the fantasy that I'd lost my memories, I'd been wearing dresses that had never been my style. I'd always tied my hair up as well, but I started wearing it down. With these two changes, I thought I looked quite different from before.

I finally made my way to the parlor and saw my fiancé sitting there. As per usual, his face was so beautiful that it was almost eerie. The moment he noticed me, his usual stoic expression melted away. It was difficult to decipher his emotions; he looked relieved, yet also looked as if he was about to burst into tears at any second. Seeing him like that almost made me lose my composure at the surprise, but I managed to keep myself in check.

Incidentally, my father had told Lord Phillip about my amnesia before I arrived.

"Um, hello...?" I made sure to keep my tone nervous, as well as slightly embarrassed. In addition, I gave Lord Phillip a big smile. This was to keep with the running theme that my amnesiac self was a little bit of a ditz.

As soon as I greeted him, his sharp eyes widened in shock. "So you...really don't remember anything."

When I saw him murmur that to himself, with an expression slack in disbelief, I knew that my plan would succeed.