Don’t Remember Me

“It’s my honor to have you see me as an angel.”

 

She heard the man’s voice ringing in her ears.
He laughed momentarily and spoke to her again, slightly genuine.
But there was a hint in his voice that he was still happy at the situation unfolding, whereas she couldn’t lift her head due to her blushing face and shook her head without any valid reason too.

 

“Unfortunately, I am not an angel, I am just a passing traveler.
Ah! And I am not from any ‘village’ either.”

 

He answered the question she left a moment ago.
Then, she finally realized that it was impolite not to talk to him.
She raised her head carefully, risking the embarrassment engraved on her ears.

 

“… !”

 

If she had stood up, she would have met his face in front of her and fell on her butt once again.
She gazed at his face near her and wondered when he started sitting there.

 

‘Since when has he been sitting?’

 

She was somewhat embarrassed to be sitting close to him and tried to get up.
Then the man also stood up with his legs stretched out and extended his hand to Rosé.

 

‘… I can get up on my own though.’

 

She couldn’t blurt the words from her throat, hesitating if it was better unsaid or revealed, but she still reached out to the man’s outstretched hand.
But of course, she only held the tip of his finger out of curiosity.

 

“Th, thank you.”

 

As soon as Rose got up from his seat holding the man’s hand, she hurriedly took her hand from him and bowed her head to greet him.
Then the herb that was still on the floor caught her eyes.

 

“Ah! My herb!”

 

As if remembering what she had forgotten, she turned around.
And the man unconsciously turned his head, following what Rosé was doing.

 

“Ah…”

 

“Luke, no!”

 

It was the man who moved before Rosé, who had a dumbfounded expression on her face, when she witnessed what the horse had done.
He then hurriedly approached his horse.
But his words didn’t get to the horse’ ears, and the horse nonchalantly ate the left herbs from the overturned basket.

 

“Luke! this guy! Why did you eat all of these?! Before we left in the morning, you ate a lot of fodder..”

 

The man scolded his horse for his rude behavior and glanced back at Rosé.
He had a face of embarrassment and regret.

 

“Fufu!”

 

She burst out laughing who found it quite amusing to see an arrogant man and an angel at that to be clueless what to do.
And for some reason, the man’s heart was pounding crazily.

 

… It was later that when she found out that the man’s name was Haven.

 

* * *

The front gate was opened.
All of his servants, the Grand Duke, came out to greet him by standing in a line inside the main gate to wait for him, their master.
But Haven stopped his words as soon as he stepped inside his mansion.
He looked back at the horse behind him.

 

“What’s the matter, Your Grace?”

 

Fedwin, his knight in charge to be his escort, asked him in a polite manner.

 

“… … No, nothing.”

 

Haven shook his head at Fedwin’s question, then looked ahead of him.
As always, he had an indifferent and cool expression, but his mind was troubled as ever he had experienced.

 

It was because of one woman.

 

It was because the woman he had seen on the street a while ago was still popping in his head.

 

It was absurd.
It was an unbelievable story that everyone would laugh at him if they heard him.

 

No matter how beautiful a woman approaches him, acts coy and tries to get his attention, the man who has never given attention was him, Haven Guinters.

 

The noblest bloodline of the Guinters Kingdom.

 

The younger brother of the deceased previous king and one who currently holds the position of Grand Duke.

 

The man everyone thinks is the most likely candidate to sit on an empty throne.

 

But how could he, who holds such enormous title and status, think of a mere commoner woman, unable to get her out of his head? Who would believe his words? Nevertheless, it was an undeniable fact.

 

Haven remembered the woman who had been staring at him again.

 

She was a wretched woman.
Her old clothes were dusty, and her matted hair and face were also filthy.
She looked like she could even be called a beggar.

 

But why?

 

What stood out more in his memory than that shabby figure was the green eyes of the woman who was looking at him intently.

 

She felt like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

 

Perhaps because of the woman’s’ struggles she had to go through, her eyes were wide open, staring at him.
The shadows under her eyes were also thick, but her complexion wasn’t good, it was pale, implying that she was really sick.

 

She is the exact opposite of him.

 

‘She is a woman who must have lived in a humble place, but why…’

 

Haven narrowed his brows and his chest felt like aching.
Did he really feel compassion for such a woman? No, what nonsense!

 

No matter how prosperous she was, there was always a shadow somewhere in her midst.
Are there only one or two people living in such a place? But Haven never had sympathy for them.
At least so far it has been.

 

Haven scrambled through his complicated mind, stepping down from his horse.
Then he approached his caretaker coldly.

 

“It looks like his horse is in a bit of a bad shape.
Make sure she would be paid special attention.
Let’s check if there’s a problem with the horseshoe, too.”

 

“Yes, my lord.”

 

The caretaker bowed his head and grabbed the reins of his horse.
Then, as he was about to take his horse, a wrinkle formed on Haven’s forehead.

 

“Wait a minute.”

 

“Yes?”

 

At Haven’s words, the butler stopped.
Haven frowned and groped for something, thinking about it before he asked the question lingering in his mind.

 

“Luke… Where is Luke?”

 

“… Yes? Lu, Luke?”

 

“Yeah, Luke.
Come to think of it, how did I forget that guy? I should have gone on a trip with him.”

 

Haven muttered to himself as if in shock.
It has been his favorite since childhood.
He was a horse he loved enough to feed and wash dry grass himself, even though his employees were terrified.
But he had forgotten about it until now.

 

No matter how bad his memory is….

 

Purureung.

 

She could hear Luke’s cry in his ears.
No, would it even be better to call it like Luke was laughing? Although he was a beast, he was quick-witted and clever, so he was often a mischievous one.

 

Perhaps it was then as well.
Because Luke’s playfulness triggered something in him.
When Luke put his head into a woman’s basket…

 

At that moment, there was a headache that seemed to hit him with a blunt weapon.
Haven stumbled unknowingly.
Fedwin approached him, startled by his sudden movement.

 

“Your Grace, are you okay? I should call a doctor …”

 

“No need to call.
Don’t make a fuss out of this.”

 

After stopping my escort driver from calling the doctor out loud, Haven asked his butler again.

 

“Where is Luke?”

 

“Luke…?”

 

The butler rolled his eyes and put on a puzzled expression, bewildered at Haven’s insistence.
Then, the butler’s voice was heard.

 

“Luke is dead, Your Grace.”

 

“… He’s dead?”

 

Haven turned to the butler.
The butler bowed politely, then nodded his head.

 

“Yes, you might not know it.
But, when Your Grace had an ‘accident’, he didn’t come back with you.”

 

It was a word of loyalty.
Had he been alive, he would have definitely returned with his master.
But if he didn’t, he would be dead.
The butler’s guess was an acceptable story.
However, as Haven who does not have any memories of that time, he had no choice but to feel frustrated.

 

Besides, most of the people who brought him in at the time were the people of the Queen.

 

“… All right, Yanik.”

 

So now he couldn’t even ask them, “Didn’t you see what happened to him at that time?” Haven turned to the mansion, struggling to cover his grumpy insides.

 

As he walked towards the mansion, the butlers and employees followed him.

 

“Haven, here you are!”

 

As soon as Haven entered the mansion, a slender woman’s voice was heard from the other side.
He stopped walking after hearing the reports from the butler.
At the same time, the butler made a small report in an awkward tone.

 

“… The Queen, Her Majesty has come.”

 

“… Right.”

 

Haven’s face grew colder.
He looked at the old queen, Isabella Guinters, who was approaching him with her piercing blue eyes.

 

Red hair adorned with colorful jewels.

 

Golden eyes unique to her original family, the family of Durklen.

 

And the face is painted white enough to make it look bright.

 

A woman, whom most of the kingdom’s nobles admired as beautiful, approached him with a bright smile and spoke to him in a voice like a bird’s chirping.

 

“Why are you so late? Do you know how much I waited?”

 

“I wasn’t informed that you would visit me.
it would be nice if you had contacted me beforehand.”

 

Haven spoke to Isabella in a dry tone.
Then she smiled with her eyes as if Isabella would melt away, and she spoke again.

 

“I did it to surprise you.
What, do we have to formally visit and communicate?”

 

  

“Even if you are a family of mine, I think that the laws that are to be followed shouldn’t be violated.”

 

Despite Isabella’s smile, Haven didn’t even smile.
He only responded to her words with a cold attitude, as if giving her embarrassment again.
Isabella’s face hardened for a moment at that attitude, but she immediately smiled at him and tried to open her mouth again.

 

“Hey, Haven, let’s play together tonight…”

(TN: Gawd, I wanna punch this freaking woman right now!! Urgh! Get away!)

 

“Yanik, how about Flitta? I heard yesterday that she had a cold.”

 

Haven didn’t give Isabella a break to talk to him.
He turned his head away from her and asked the butler.
The butler was confused for a moment between the queen and his master, and then answered his question.

 

“Yes, fortunately, the fever has gone down, and she is feeling much better.
Even if she don’t, I’ll inform her that Your Grace is back..  Ah! She is over there.”

 

Haven’s eyes moved in the direction the butler was pointing.
All he could see was a nanny and a child hiding behind her and spying on him.

 

Flitta.

 

It was Haven’s  own daughter.