Chapter 115

He'd frozen exactly where he was.

"Lyssel?"

"…Ah."

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Your memory… came back."

He didn't look glad about it, exactly.

Then again, there weren't any good memories to speak of.

The real Iberin's life had been nothing but pain and hardship.

Even after she'd married Lyssel, every part of it had been steeped in fury.

"L-Lady Iberin."

"Mm?"

Just then Rotte called her name, her voice trembling a little.

When Iberin turned to look at her, somehow she seemed faintly relieved.

"Ah, were you worried I'd go back to how I used to be, now that I've got my memory back?"

Iberin said it with a peal of laughter.

"…The thing is, we only got close after you lost your memory. Look — His Highness has gone white as a sheet too."

True enough.

Lyssel was still standing there pale, completely at a loss for what to do.

When Rotte called it out openly, he looked even more thrown.

"Pfft. That's not happening, so don't worry."

"That's a relief, then. But — what on earth did you see in those recovered memories that made you so sure Caliman was a hypnotist? You'd had a guess from the start, sure, but you sounded completely certain."

"Ah, I met Caliman before I ever met Lyssel. In my memories."

"What?"

"I think he tried to put me under right before I collapsed. But because I'd lost my memory, it didn't take — and instead it kicked my memories back."

"What kind of hypnosis did he put on you?"

Lyssel, who'd been standing stiff, cut in sharply.

"My personality, apparently."

"Your personality?"

"Before I married, I wasn't actually that sharp-tempered or violent. If anything, I was way too gentle and sweet."

"……So that was it."

Apparently he'd guessed this far too.

"Because Lecashe has to be miserable."

Her skin had crawled.

The reason the last Iberin had woken up screaming was the scene where she'd been abusing Ether.

She just couldn't bear it.

So she'd thrashed and clawed and shouted, and when she opened her eyes she was back in the bedroom.

"Just — what is the imperial family —!"

Lyssel gritted his teeth, shaking with anger.

He'd already been furious back when he'd only suspected Iberin might be a hypnosis victim — confirming it made it that much worse.

"So what did you do with the viscount's family and Caliman?"

"They tried to leave, so I had them locked up. They are your parents, so I gave them the best room available."

A grinding sound came from between Lyssel's teeth.

"……They're not my real parents. They adopted me, and from the start the whole point was to send me off as Lecashe's bride for a windfall. Even a name-only noble is still a noble. Apparently there are more people like them than you'd think."

"Hh."

A dry, incredulous laugh escaped Lyssel.

---

He wanted to know what memories had come back to her.

He'd never once spoken with the pre-memory-loss Iberin, so he had no idea what kind of life she'd lived before.

No — he hadn't even cared.

But watching her say it now with that self-mocking little smile, something in his chest felt like it was breaking apart.

Had Iberin felt this way watching him stay so unmoved by everything?

After a long silence, Lyssel hesitated, then asked,

"…What were the memories like?"

Just from the sound of it, he could tell they wouldn't be bright, and he wondered if he should even be asking.

"Should I step out? The children need to be told Lady Iberin's awake too…."

Iberin's mouth was halfway open when Rotte spoke up, cautious, as if wondering whether she should be hearing this.

Iberin let out a small laugh and answered.

"…It's fine, Rotte can hear it too."

The real Iberin had probably died, exactly as fate dictated, the day she'd taken over this body.

And her own body back in South Korea was surely long since dust.

She didn't know if her soul had crossed over because their deaths had happened to overlap, or for some other reason.

A lot of it still couldn't be explained, but one thing was clear — she had to keep living.

On and on, as Iberin.

"I already told you I was adopted, and then I was sent to the imperial palace, just like the couple had planned. The official reason was that Lecashe's bride had to be properly educated before she was sent off, and that's where I met Caliman. The truth is, back then, I was… exhausted. I'd always known I was adopted, so every day I was scrambling to be loved. But the feeling that I'd been completely thrown away had me out of my mind, and Caliman slipped right into that gap. The hypnosis took easily."

"……That's awful."

"After that I was married off to Lecashe and, as you know, I spent my days as the famously vicious Grand Duchess Lecashe. Because of the hypnosis."

What it came down to was that Iberin had been a victim from very young.

Rotte couldn't hold it in and broke into tears.

"And I had no idea Lady Iberin was acting that way because of hypnosis… hgh…."

"I didn't know either. Don't blame yourself."

"Cutting them limb from limb and throwing the pieces to the monsters as feed wouldn't even be enough!!"

An abrupt flare of pure rage.

"Oh, that's exactly what's going to happen."

She had no intention of letting the people who'd wrecked one girl's entire life walk away.

All for the sake of their own power and comfort.

---

Iberin getting her memory back didn't actually change anything.

Lyssel didn't say so, but he looked a little anxious — she figured if she just kept showing him by his side that she was the same person, he'd settle quickly enough.

"By the way, how long was I out?"

"Half a day."

"Not as long as I thought. The emperor won't be suspicious, then."

If it had dragged on much longer, with the viscount couple and Caliman not coming back, he'd have sensed something had gone wrong.

"Honestly, I want to do exactly what Rotte said — tear that man who put you through this apart limb by limb."

"For starters, the hypnosis on me doesn't have any pull anymore."

"Even with your memory back?"

"Yes. I'm not as fragile as I used to be."

Back then she'd been worn down mentally, which had made it take more easily.

And now that she wasn't actually Iberin but someone else, even sharing the body, hypnosis was a thing that gripped the mind — that made it different.

Going by Lyssel, hypnosis wasn't perfect either.

The moment a person started to question it and become conscious of it, it could at least be weakened.

"Anyway, let me meet Caliman."

She wanted to get a slow read on whether he was the kind of person she could actually talk to.

"It could be dangerous. You collapsed once already."

She'd been hit even though she'd seen it coming.

That was because she hadn't known how the hypnosis worked.

But if just locking eyes was enough to try to put her under, that was a problem.

"No."

But Iberin knew.

Caliman's hypnosis wouldn't work on her now.

If it could, she wouldn't be comfortable meeting him herself.

"I don't like it."

But no matter how she explained, Lyssel wasn't going to get it.

She understood why he was uneasy.

"You stay here, Iberin. I'll meet him separately."

"But…."

Iberin trailed off, but at the worried look in Lyssel's eyes, she reluctantly nodded.

---

Once they'd finished talking, Lyssel moved immediately.

First he sent people to Caliman's home to find proof he was a hypnotist.

He did the same with the Sherburn viscount estate.

Caliman had been operating under the emperor for so long that he'd put hypnosis on Iberin years ago.

If his base was in the capital, he'd have left traces somewhere.

"Here's his recent purchase records."

"He bought a huge amount of asquit weed from an itinerant herb-dealer."

"Yes."

"What's that weed used for?"

"It's a hallucinogen. Ordinary people can't even get hold of it. Buying it in bulk shouldn't be possible to begin with."

The man who'd dug up the evidence said it.

A weed that couldn't be bought in bulk, bought in bulk.

"Hallucinogen, huh. …Kal, what's wrong?"

Hypnotists were a cult-like organization operating underground, which made even gathering records on them difficult — they'd had no choice but to lean on Kal for help.

But Kal's body was shaking, hard.

Both Lyssel and Iberin turned, startled, to look at him.

Something seemed to have hit a raw nerve.

Iberin hurried over and gently patted him.

"I'm sorry, it's all right. Kal."

"…A-ah…."

Kal couldn't get a word out, just trembled and trembled and let fat tears spill down.

It felt like her heart was tearing, and Iberin pulled him in close.

She didn't know what it was, but for him to react this way, the herb had to be tied to hypnosis.

After shaking with fear for a long while, Kal shook his head back and forth, then said in a wavering voice,

"Th-that's, the thing is…."

"You don't have to talk if it's too hard."

"Hh, no. I think I can help."

Kal drew long, deliberate breaths in and out, trying to settle himself.

"Don't push yourself."

Iberin watched him, worried, but Kal was firm.

"It's a herb that's used as a basic component in hypnosis. Khm."

He'd made himself speak.

He couldn't quite hide the tremor in his voice, though.

"A basic component?"

"It means they're using someone, like with me. There's — there's a victim out there."

"What?"

Lyssel asked it back, startled, then his eyes went wide.

Kal had been a hypnotism doll.

If there was another victim like him, didn't that mean Caliman was running the same kind of operation Civelli had been?

"Hypnosis has to be tried for a really long time, repeatedly. The thing that pulls that timeline shorter is asquit hallucinogen weed."

"So if there's something like that, they could've used it on Lyssel, or on me?"

"No. Long-term use of it has guaranteed side effects, so they'd never have used it on His Highness. And you'd already been worn down mentally, Lady Iberin, so the hypnosis would have taken easily without it — no need."

"What kind of side effects? Do you have them? Why didn't you say anything?!"

Iberin's voice went loud and frantic as she ran her hands over Kal, checking him.

Blinking at her in faint confusion, Kal eventually mumbled,

"It's nice that you're worried about me."

"I'm angry right now, you know that?!"

"…The side effect is weakened eyesight."