Chapter 7
“W-Wait a second!”
Frina hurriedly stepped in front of Hugo, blocking his path. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest.
On the ground, the workers consumed by dark energy lay gasping for breath.
Is this man really trying to kill them? Why?
“Move.”
Hugo adjusted the sword hanging low at his side and smiled coldly.
“I have no intention of harming a lady, so don’t worry.”
“N-No, that’s not the point! Why would you kill innocent workers—”
“Ah. Has the decree not been announced yet?”
A decree? What decree?
“It’s an imperial order. Anyone corrupted by demonic energy is to be executed immediately.”
What?
Those consumed by demonic energy inevitably died. But the true tragedy began after their final breath.
Sometimes the demonic energy seized the corpse left behind and transformed it into a monster.
“Even if we leave them alone, they’ll die anyway. But if they die while corrupted, things become much more troublesome.”
Hugo’s face was completely emotionless.
A completely different voice came from the familiar face she remembered.
“So move. It’s too late to bring a priest now. There’s no other way.”
Priests possessed divine power capable of purifying demonic energy.
And it truly was too late to fetch one. Sunset would come soon, and by then the workers would already be dead from corruption.
His dry crimson eyes turned toward Frina.
After hesitating beneath that chilling gaze, she finally spoke.
“What if there is a way?”
One of the man’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
“I have divine power. I can heal them.”
Interest flickered in Hugo’s eyes.
“And besides, you said that decree hasn’t officially been proclaimed yet. Until then, it has no legal effect. If you kill them now, you wouldn’t be carrying out an imperial order—you’d just be murdering people.”
Breaking procedure was not the same as obeying the Empire.
Frina stared directly at the cold blade in his hand and added firmly,
“So put the sword away.”
* * *
Fwaaash—
As the light flowing from her palm touched the worker’s chest, a black mist-like substance rose into the air.
The smell of demonic energy leaving the body resembled burning ash.
“…Hah.”
Once Frina convinced him she possessed divine power, Hugo obediently sheathed his sword.
Thankfully, he didn’t seem to be some deranged murderer.
The image of him killing someone right in front of her remained vivid in her mind, and she had worried he might suddenly change his mind and kill both her and the workers too.
But Hugo never once threatened them.
Was what he said about self-defense… actually true?
Frina glanced sideways at the man standing nearby.
At that moment, their eyes met—his crimson gaze locking onto hers.
“So the lady who claimed she came here because she knew the forest well…”
“……”
“…apparently knows more than just the geography.”
Hugo murmured quietly as he watched her purify the workers.
Does he think I lied to him?
She had intentionally hidden it, but there had been no reason to reveal everything to him either.
Frina avoided showing others her divine power whenever possible.
When she was younger, it was because the amount she possessed was pitifully small and embarrassing.
As she grew older, it became for entirely different reasons.
…I signed that agreement when I left the family.
Frina was the illegitimate child of a great noble house.
That family had produced generations of divine-power bloodlines and absolutely despised the thought of their “noble” power leaking beyond their control.
So even after leaving the household, she never revealed her abilities.
The same had been true during her relationship with Hugo.
I never showed it to him when we were dating, yet now I’m using it in front of someone who’s basically become a stranger.
But if she didn’t use her divine power now, people would die.
…If my family finds out I used divine power, I’m finished.
Still, before losing his memories, Hugo had only ever believed she was an ordinary commoner, so it should be fine.
And while people with divine power were rare, they still existed everywhere. What she was doing wasn’t that unusual.
“It’s true that I came because I know the forest. No one except me has been here before.”
“Why had you come to the Black Forest before?”
“When I was little, I came a few times with my mother…”
“This isn’t exactly the kind of place a child follows her mother into.”
Suspicion laced Hugo’s voice.
But it was true.
Long ago, her mother had been a herbalist who saved an injured nobleman she found collapsed in the mountains.
As a result, she became his concubine and eventually gave birth to Frina.
But for someone who had lived breathing the scent of soil and herbs, life in a grand mansion felt like suffocation itself. Whenever her mother felt unable to breathe there any longer, she would bring her young daughter into the forest.
Even this barren Black Forest had been one of those places of escape.
Though for Frina, they weren’t exactly fond memories.
“The demonic energy only started spreading through this forest in the last ten years. A long time ago, people came here fairly often.”
Anyone from the area knew that.
Apparently, Hugo wasn’t from around here.
“So I suppose you and your mother came here for pleasant little strolls.”
“Well… something like that.”
For a moment, Frina remembered something from when she was seven years old.
“Frina, isn’t living hard? Should we die here together?”
…Yeah. Even thinking about it again, that definitely wasn’t a pleasant memory.
“Have you ever considered working under me?”
The sudden suggestion startled her so badly that the divine power flowing from her hand abruptly stopped. Her concentration had broken.
What is this man even talking about?
“…I’m very satisfied with my current workplace.”
“I could pay you more than they do.”
…Was Hugo rich?
“There are plenty of people with divine power if you look for them. And there are definitely people better at purification than me. Um… assuming you really do have that much money.”
It was an unmistakable rejection.
Like hell I would.
She had watched him kill someone only hours ago. She’d rather work for her landlord.
Fortunately, Hugo didn’t press the matter any further.
“Ugh…”
She had just finished purifying the workers and was waiting for them to wake when one of them groaned faintly.
Frina hurried over.
“Are you conscious?”
“W-Water…”
“Uh… I don’t have any water. I think you just need to get up.”
The worker slowly closed his eyes again.
No, wake up already!
After all the effort she’d put into purifying him, he’d gone right back to sleep. She was seriously considering slapping him awake.
“I should get going now.”
Hugo rose from where he’d been sitting on a nearby rock.
…He was leaving?
Frina looked at him with hopeful eyes, ready to say goodbye.
“Come to think of it, what’s your name, Lady?”
…Why was he suddenly asking her name?
The man who had forgotten both her identity as his lover and even her name now waited calmly for an answer.
“I’m… R-Renia.”
Maybe it was instinct—the instinctive feeling that she didn’t want to become entangled with Hugo ever again.
The lie slipped out before she could stop it.
What are you going to do if Hugo gets his memories back?!
But it was already too late.
“Renia?”
It was an extremely common name. If you shouted it on the street, three out of ten people would probably turn around.
“Your surname?”
“P-Pelt.”
“Renia Pelt.”
Renia Pelt…
Hugo rolled the fake name over his tongue several times.
Then suddenly, an odd expression crossed his face. Like he had swallowed something that didn’t suit his taste.
But it lasted only a moment.
Then he smiled brightly.
“I’ll see you again, Miss Renia.”
Again…?
But Hugo offered no explanation before turning away and disappearing.
Frina remained alone beside the unconscious workers, left only with a lingering sense of unease.
It felt as though invisible chills were crawling over her entire body.
But it was a familiar sensation.
Something similar had happened while they were dating, too.
