The Amnesia Ploy
Right now? I was flustered by Ares's sudden weird reaction. I'd just asked what it was, that's all? While I was panicking without knowing the reason, Sibylius was looking at me oddly too.
"What kind of nonsense is that? Black Pain is something your family has guarded for generations—only the family head and heir know its location, don't they?"
I'd never heard of that! Black Pain? It never appeared or was even mentioned once in the original story. I wondered if they were joking, but their expressions said otherwise.
"Cut the crap. As the heir of Huferion, there's no way you wouldn't know. Just now, Ares herself said it's in a place only she and you know about."
Damn it all! So the real Seres before I possessed him knew? And Ares was aware of that fact? But since I didn't know and asked, of course they'd find it suspicious. Even if I claimed ignorance, it was a fatal slip-up.
"Seres, you...?"
Ares looked at me in shock. I tried to make an excuse in a hurry.
"Actually, that's—!"
"Don't tell me your memories still aren't fully back?!"
"...Pardon?"
Before I could say anything, Ares blurted out something bizarre, leaving me stunned.
"My memories are perfectly fine, though?"
"The fact that you're even asking that is proof your memories are jumbled. Have you forgotten? You fell down the stairs and hit your head!"
This out-of-nowhere backstory I'd never heard of left not just me, but the two nearby, completely thrown.
"Seres hit his head?"
Arios asked with a baffled look.
"What are you talking about? I've never seen Seres with a head injury even once."
"Of course you wouldn't have. It happened a few days before you met him."
What?
"After the accident on the stairs where he injured his head, Seres was in a daze for days. Then, on the very day he met you, he suddenly snapped out of it and started talking normally."
Was there something like that in the original? I racked my brain and recalled something relevant. It was Seres's inner monologue explaining how frail he was. He'd said that for the past few days, he'd been in so much pain he couldn't even remember what had happened. So that was because he'd hit his head and couldn't recall properly? Which meant I'd possessed him right at the moment he fully recovered?
"Hold on."
I wanted more details on the situation.
"Why did I fall down the stairs? Normally, I'd have a servant helping me."
"...So you don't remember that either."
Ares hesitated for a long moment before answering my question.
"We had an argument."
"About what?"
"...If you've forgotten, there's no need to know. I must've done something wrong that made you mad. You refused my help and tried to go down the stairs alone."
For some reason, Ares refused to give specifics and murmured the rest like a monologue.
"You overdid it trying to walk alone and slipped on the stairs. Even after urgent treatment, the aftereffects lingered, leaving you dazed for a while."
"I did that?"
"Yes. And whether it was subconscious resentment from our fight, you talked to the servants but avoided me."
Ares's eyes filled with worry as she grabbed my shoulders.
"Then, on the day Arios arrived, you suddenly came to. It was hard to ask if you remembered that day, so I just assumed you'd recovered."
"Well, yeah, sort of..."
"Why didn't you say your memories have been messed up this whole time?"
Perfect—this was the crucial moment. If I played my cards right, I wouldn't get suspected anymore. I made my excuse.
"I didn't want to worry you if you knew my memories weren't complete, Mom."
Hey, if they handed me this convenient memory loss setup on a platter, all the better for me. I could just roll with it.
"Actually, some parts are still missing. Things I should obviously know just aren't coming back."
"Then we need to treat you right now!"
"It'd probably be pointless. I've tested healing on myself a few times, but nothing changed."
"Why?"
"Maybe because it's not a physical wound—it's psychological."
Ares flinched and shuddered at my made-up reason.
"Psychological...?"
"Looks like mental issues can't be fixed with holy power or anything. We'll just have to wait for it to heal naturally."
"...I guess there's no helping it."
Ares backed off reluctantly, and then the other two approached.
"Seres, why didn't you tell us?!"
"You just sat there during treatments?!"
Arios was flustered, Sibylius exasperated. I brushed them off vaguely too.
"You both know noble society well. I couldn't just blab that the count family's sole heir has memory loss."
"It'd be a massive scandal, yeah."
Arios, being a noble herself, nodded right away at the noble angle.
"Tch, noble pride, huh."
Sibylius, not a noble but having lived long enough to see their nonsense, agreed too.
I'd turned the initial shock into a crisis averted thanks to the memory loss setup.
And this could be useful.
"What?"
"Mom, just tell Emperor Viol to let me go first."
A brilliant idea hit me, and I announced it to the three.
After discussing with the group, we all headed straight to the Imperial Palace.
"Seres, you're finally back!"
Viol was thrilled to see me return, but
"Ares, Sibylius, why the hell are you two in the palace?"
she shot the two following me a glare like they were nightmares come to life.
"Sibylius, did you forget you can't enter the palace without my permission? Ares, you waltz in without a word of notice—has your gall grown that much?"
She scolded them, especially wary of Ares. She probably thought they'd come to take me back.
"Please return Seres."
Her suspicion was spot-on, and Viol's face twisted viciously.
"Why should I?"
"Seres isn't in a normal state right now. He's suffering partial memory loss."
"...What."
Viol blanked out at the unexpected curveball. Then she stared at me in sudden alarm.
"Don't tell me your health's gotten worse again!"
"No. Actually, something happened before I met you."
I gave a polished version of the stairs fall and head injury messing up my memories.
"I've been hiding it till now, but I can't keep doing that. I need to recuperate at home."
"...".
Viol eyed me suspiciously.
"Suspicious. You trying to trick me with lies?"
"I'll show you proof."
I signaled Ares with my eyes. Suddenly, a black sword emerged from her empty right arm.
"Black Pain!"
Viol recognized it instantly.
"Ares, have you lost your mind?! Black Pain was sealed in your family by the founding emperor's order. Why did you take it out without the imperial family's command?"
"To save Seres from the wicked half-demon."
Viol's expression turned strange.
"What did you do?"
"I heard by chance that Seres had been taken by the half-demon Sibylius. Thinking she'd harm my son, I had no choice but to retrieve it and confront her."
"What nonsense? She was acting on my orders to heal Seres."
"How was I supposed to know? Your Majesty never told me."
Viol shut her mouth. It was true, so she had nothing to say.
"Not knowing the truth, I took Black Pain to fight Sibylius. But midway, Seres heard and rushed over."
"And?"
"Thanks to Seres, we cleared up the misunderstanding, but the real issue came after. Seres saw Black Pain and asked what it was."
Ares pointed at Sibylius, noting others had witnessed it too.
"Yes, I saw it. He didn't even recognize an item his own family was keeping—pathetic."
Sibylius sighed but played along as we'd rehearsed.
This was my clever plan: Use the memory loss fact to create an atmosphere where she had to let me go! Of course, omitting the sensitive part about Ares plotting rebellion against Viol.
"He doesn't even know things the heir must know—his condition is that bad. He needs to recuperate at home for a while, so please let him go."
Ares pressed hard using memory loss as leverage, and Viol wavered.
"Can't he recuperate here?"
"Does that mean you refuse to let him go?"
Ares's face hardened at the persistent pushback. Then aura rose over the Black Pain she held.
"What the—?!"
I yelped in genuine shock. Since when was she a Sword Master? I was stunned, Viol's eyes bulged, but the other two were unfazed, like they'd known.
Arios spoke to Ares as if she'd expected it.
"So you really became a Sword Master."
"I hurriedly suppressed my aura when you arrived, but you saw?"
"I don't need to see it. As a fellow Sword Master, I can tell from the leaking presence. You're not proficient yet, so be careful."
"...Noted."
They chatted in Sword Master lingo I couldn't follow, and I grew anxious. Becoming a Sword Master—unachieved in the original—was praiseworthy, but this wasn't in my plans. I glanced at Viol; her face wasn't pleased.
"Why show your aura? Planning to stab me if I don't hand over Seres?"
"I'm just asking for a gift."
"A gift?"
"A Sword Master's birth is a national blessing. Rulers always give gifts in celebration."
"So you're saying return Seres as the gift?"
"You gave one to Lady Arios when she became a Sword Master, even if grudgingly."
Ares said she wasn't asking for much. Just forgive her son's rudeness and let him recuperate at home. A plea for mercy.
"Th-this..."
Viol struggled to refuse. She rolled her eyes, then looked at me.
"Seres, what about your will...?"
"Obviously I'm going home. Just let me go already. Call me back later if you miss me."
"...Fine."
With my resolve clear, she finally relented like she had no choice.
"Go home and rest properly for a while."
"Was gonna anyway. You rest too—sorry for the Sibylius hassle."
With Viol's permission, I could finally head home. And true to the emperor's orders, I did absolutely nothing and rested thoroughly for a while.
"Lady Arios, you rest too and don't come for a while."
"Why?!"
"My son needs to recuperate, and you'd just be a distraction."
Even Arios, who visited daily, was blocked by Ares—no meddlers around. I lay in bed all day like when I was sick. Took walks with my recovered body. Prepared for upcoming original plot events. I spent the vacation productively.
"Seres."
One day, Ares entered my room with a reluctant face.
"A guy named Ayran showed up with priests, saying he wants to meet you."
Right now?