19. Returned Memories

Something was definitely behind the furniture. The duke pushed the furniture to the side.

The hinge was fully revealed, and a hidden door appeared.

Just as Adeline had done in the past, the duke opened the door and began descending underground.

At the end of the long staircase was an iron door.

As he pushed open the basement door, dust enveloped his vision.

The duke quickly covered his mouth with the edge of his sleeve.

After the dust that had been scattered in the air for a while cleared, what he saw were paintings.

Canvases of various sizes, from larger than the duke’s body to medium and small.

Judging by the cool air that enveloped his entire body, it seemed to be a basement used as a storage room.

Though he couldn’t understand why the storage room was hidden behind furniture.

He moved his steps toward the center.

The most eye-catching was a large-sized canvas.

‘……Is that me?’

A portrait depicting a woman holding the duke as a child.

‘Then this woman is…… my mother?’

Strangely, the moment he saw that painting, the duke was surrounded by an inexplicable sense of discomfort.

“Ugh.”

The lost memories began to rush back all at once, swirling around him.

Unable to bear the headache tearing through his mind, the duke soon collapsed onto the cold basement floor.

This villa was where he had hidden memories of his mother that he couldn’t tell anyone about.

The woman called Del, who claimed to be his lover to his memory-lost self, did not exist as a lover anywhere in his memories.

‘A stranger.’

Yes, we were perfect strangers. Not intimate like lovers…….

‘Adeline Credion.’

The imperial debutante banquet held this spring.

All the young ladies undergoing their debut had to wear white dresses with white corsages on their chests.

At that banquet where everyone naturally wanted to stand out the most in the sea of white.

Ladies with flushed expressions showing themselves off using various patterns and decorations. Among them was a particularly noticeable young lady.

A woman with an indifferent expression, as if she had no interest in the debutante.

Rather, her appearance with a dress without any decorations and an unusually small corsage, harmonizing with her wheat-colored hair, was so pure and beautiful.

The duke instantly lost his gaze to her.

Adeline’s eyes turned toward him at his intense gaze.

‘I’ve lost my attention to a meaningless woman.’

The woman with grayish-blue eyes resembled Marquis Credion, who was in bitter opposition to his family.

The duke immediately realized she was Adeline Credion.

As the brief reminiscence ended, the duke opened his eyes.

Despite the headache that surged again, his mind was filled only with Adeline.

Now he felt like he might go mad from confusion.

‘Why……’

Why was the only daughter of the Marquis Credion family in his villa?

The injured duke’s escape to this villa was not a planned event.

Nevertheless, Adeline had been staying in this house even before he fled here.

‘What exactly is her scheme?’

If she were from the Credion family, she wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to kill the duke.

But she had treated and even saved him when he was about to die.

Also, she made up the ridiculous story about being lovers and stayed by his side…… Despite having a separate lover named Hailo.

“Adeline.”

He murmured her name in a low voice.

As he spoke her name aloud, countless memories flooded in.

That woman who had cared for him when he lost his memories.

Adeline, who had boldly claimed they were lovers when he asked if they were married.

Every time memories of being with her surfaced, the duke felt a heat like blood rushing backward.

His heart raced madly, picking up speed.

It was an indescribable feeling. He felt angry, betrayed, and at the same time, empty.

“Ha……”

The duke let out a sigh.

Due to his memory loss, he had been away from the duchy for far too long. There were mountains of tasks waiting for him. And among them were time-sensitive matters.

But.

“I need to know. What you wanted from me.”

His feet wouldn’t move away.

Adeline Credion. What her true intentions were.

Why she was in Torpeo’s hidden villa that no one else knew about.

No. Even setting all that aside, he needed to know the identity of the emotion that was making Casis boil over like mad.

⁕⁕⁕

The sound of the villa’s rusty door opening was heard. It seemed Adeline, who had left in anger, had returned.

Just as she was about to pass by without seeing Casis.

“Did you enjoy your walk?”

“Were you waiting for me? It’s hot today, I need to wash up.”

Adeline, who had run out after their quarrel, answered him curtly.

Not even dreaming that his memories had returned.

“I was sensitive because of my memory loss. I’m sorry.”

When he offered such a polite apology that made his previous anger seem ridiculous, Adeline’s heart softened.

“Ah…… alright! I’ll go wash up.”

Adeline, suddenly embarrassed, hurriedly entered the bathroom.

She failed to notice. That the temperature surrounding him was a little cooler than usual.

After finishing her shower, Adeline came out of the bathroom with wet hair as usual.

She walked comfortably in front of him as she always did.

Not realizing that her chemise, soaked with moisture, was revealing her naked body.

‘I guess she doesn’t even notice me. She’s been living with me so defenseless?’

A sneer gathered at the corner of Casis’s mouth.

It wasn’t behavior befitting the daughter of a marquis family. And that wasn’t all.

He couldn’t understand why this woman was in this villa with him, her family’s enemy.

And not only was she here, but she was pretending to be his lover.

‘Were you sincere?’

Were the actions she had shown him all this time sincere?

When his thoughts reached this point, he wanted to test Adeline.

The duke approached Adeline with a stride.

He took the towel clutched in Adeline’s hand and began drying her hair.

“Adeline.”

Adeline stopped breathing when she heard that name.

“What did you just……”

“That newspaper. It says the name of the Marquis Credion’s daughter is Adeline.”

[Breaking News! Beautiful Daughter of Marquis Credion Family. Missing]

The duke continued, pointing to the newspaper on the table in front of the sofa. It was part of the newspaper Adeline had brought.

The duke deliberately mentioned Adeline’s real name and observed her reaction.

“Ah……”

“I think the name Adeline is similar to your name.”

The duke pretended not to know and continued to probe Adeline.

“Not at all. My name is just one letter.”

Adeline just wanted this conversation to end.

“Del.”

The duke stopped drying her hair and turned Adeline around.

The hand that had been gently stroking Adeline’s still-damp hair now wrapped around her slender waist.

“Do you love me?”

Asking if she loved him was a kind of test.

The daughter of Marquis Credion who had diligently nursed and treated him when he was injured.

That woman had acted like a lover to him when he woke up with no memories. Quite affectionately.

Although it had been less than two months, the summer they spent together made Casis feel as if he had been intoxicated by a sweet dream.

So he asked.

Whether the emotions she had shown during the summer season they spent together were sincere.

Casis’s heated gaze became deeply entangled with Adeline.

Adeline’s lips, which had been staring blankly at him, trembled as they moved slightly.

“……”

Casis moved even closer to Adeline.

Whatever reason the Credion daughter had for approaching him, if she revealed the truth now, he felt he could forgive everything regardless.

It was because he had given her much affection without even realizing it.

Even now, at this moment, he was strongly tempted to steal the breath of this woman who was brazenly by his side after deceiving him.

‘I must be completely mad too.’

Was it that he wanted to destroy her out of a sense of betrayal?

Or that he wanted her to be completely his? Even the duke himself didn’t know his own heart.

The duke picked Adeline up and placed her down on the soft bedding.

Adeline, who was about to be laid on the bed so suddenly, made strenuous efforts not to lie down.

When she stretched both hands behind her to grip the bedspread to avoid lying down, he enveloped those hands and gradually approached her.

Adeline’s two hands were trapped in the duke’s large hands. He slowly lowered his head, getting closer to Adeline.

“I like you. I think I like Del.”

With the duke’s final words, their lips met.

Adeline, whose strength drained away in the dizzying feeling, found her entire body gradually wrapped in the bedspread.

Unable to withstand his weight, she slowly tilted backward.

When her back fully touched the bed, the duke slightly parted the gap between them that had been without even the slightest space, and opened his mouth.

“If I say I love you, will you never leave me?”