Chapter 12: The Wardrobe of Memories
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 12: The Wardrobe of Memories
The next day, Herdin summoned Blair to his study.
He was waiting for her there, along with a middle-aged man she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t hard to guess who he was.
The moment the man saw Blair, he bowed his head respectfully.
“I am the hypnotist, Marcel. It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness the Imperial Princess. No, I suppose I should call you Duchess now.”
He said, his gaze shifting from her eyes to her hand.
It was customary for a man to kiss the back of a lady’s hand as a sign of respect, especially when meeting a member of the imperial family or a high-ranking noble. Having lived as an Imperial Princess for twenty years, the gesture was second nature to her.
Realizing his intent, Blair offered him her hand.
But just then, Herdin, who had been leaning casually against his desk, pushed himself upright and stepped between them.
“We have another appointment, so let's begin immediately,” he said.
Blocked by the duke, the hypnotist awkwardly lowered his unclaimed hand and quickly began his preparations.
Seated in a rocking chair in a corner of the study, Blair watched Herdin anxiously. He seemed intent on observing the session, making no move to leave.
“Herdin. If you're busy, you don't have to stay. You can go attend to your work.”
“It is said that reliving painful memories can cause great suffering. As your husband, is it not my duty to stay by your side?”
Hearing this, the hypnotist thought the Duke must care for his wife a great deal, but Blair knew better.
His cool blue eyes, a stark contrast to his concerned words, told a different story.
‘How can I possibly trust you?’
Blair closed her eyes, trying to shut out the cold, unspoken question in his gaze. After a moment, she opened them again.
“I'm ready. Begin, Marcel.”
The lamps in the dim room were extinguished, and the pendulum in the hypnotist's hand began to swing.
Blair's eyes followed the pendulum's movement, blinking slowly before fluttering shut.
In the quiet room, only the hypnotist's low voice echoed.
“You are returning to that day ten years ago, the day of the fire at the Empress's Palace. You would have been about ten years old. Is that correct?”
“...Yes, that's right.”
Blair’s reply was a slow, sleepy mumble.
Herdin watched, his arms crossed as he leaned against the window.
“What are you doing?”
“I'm... going to the Empress's Palace. Without Mother knowing. Mother doesn't like it when I go there.”
“Then you must hurry. It should be about time for you to arrive. Have you arrived?”
“Yes... Her Majesty the Empress is welcoming me.”
“What are you doing there now?”
“We're talking while drinking hot cocoa. We're also playing cards with all the maids.”
“What do you do after that?”
“I think... I fell asleep.”
“Slowly, open your eyes. What do you see?”
At the hypnotist's question, the faint smile on Blair's peaceful face vanished.
“...It's dark.”
“It must be a very dark night. Do you see anything around you?”
“Nothing. Only dresses...”
“Dresses? Where are you?”
“...I think I'm inside a wardrobe.”
At Blair's words, Herdin's gaze sharpened.
At the time of the incident, Blair had been found collapsed in a hallway of the Empress's Palace. The knights who had come to rescue the Empress had discovered and saved her.
And in the Empress's room, Esmeralda and her maid were found dead, having hanged themselves.
No one knew what had happened there that day. The maids in the Empress's Palace had all drunk tea laced with a sleeping draught, entering an eternal rest as the palace was engulfed in flames.
The sole survivor of the incident was Blair.
Blair's memory was of waking up inside a wardrobe in the Empress's Palace. That was all. She had no memory of how she got from the wardrobe to the hallway where she was rescued. The real search for her memories was only just beginning.
The hypnotist, sensing this as well, leaned forward slightly.
“What are you doing in there?”
“I don't know. I just... woke up and I was in the wardrobe...”
“Then shall we try going outside now?”
Blair gasped at the hypnotist's suggestion, her terror palpable.
“...I can't go out.”
“Why not? Is the door locked? Or is there some other problem?”
“I don't, I don't know. I can't go out. I... I shouldn't go out.”
Watching her, Herdin’s brow furrowed. The truth of that day lay just beyond the wardrobe door she refused to open.
“Hmm, then how about just peeking through a crack in the door? Just to see what's happening outside.”
“I don't want to... I don't want to see. I'm scared...”
Blair shook her head, whimpering, as if she had truly returned to being a ten-year-old child.
“Whatever is out there, whatever is happening, nothing will harm you. Now, take a deep breath.”
“Fire... fire... Smoke is coming in.”
Blair began to cough, gasping for air as if she were truly inhaling smoke.
“Then let's go outside the wardrobe now. Open the door.”
“The door... the door won't open.”
Blair panted, her voice filled with terror. The hypnotist tried to calm her.
“You can open that door. It will open if you want it to.”
That day, Blair was discovered in the hallway. It was unknown whether someone had helped her or if she had gotten out on her own, but either way, the wardrobe door must have opened. Blair's belief that she couldn't leave was likely a barrier created by her own subconscious.
But Blair still couldn't open the door.
“Ugh... I don't want to. I don't want this... Help me. Please, help me. I can't breathe...”
Finally, she began to sob, her body twisting in distress as the color drained from her already pale face.
It was only then that Herdin realized why Blair had tried to send him away before the hypnosis began.
“...Stop.”
But the hypnotist, as if he hadn't heard, pressed on.
“You must open the door. You have to open it and come out!”
“Ugh... ugh... Gasp...”
Blair's breathing grew ragged, threatening to stop altogether. The slender woman trembled like an aspen leaf. At this rate, she looked as if she might actually die.
Seeing her like that, a knot of ice formed in his stomach.
If this was an act, the woman belonged in a theater troupe, not a ducal estate.
Herdin pushed himself away from the window and commanded the hypnotist.
“...Wake her up.”
“We're almost there. We have to get past this wall to awaken the memories buried in her subconscious.”
Absorbed in the hypnosis, the hypnotist ignored Herdin's command and continued to push Blair.
“Now, open the door. You have to open the door and get out to survive. Hurry—”
Herdin seized the hypnotist by the collar and hauled him to his feet.
“I said stop and wake her up!”
Meeting Herdin's murderous gaze, the hypnotist finally realized he had crossed a line and froze.
“M-My apologies, Your Grace.”
Herdin released him with a shove and approached Blair.
“Wake up, Blair.”
He gathered the still-gasping Blair into his arms, helping her sit up.
At his touch, Blair’s eyes snapped open. The tears that had welled there finally streamed down her face.
“Gasp... Hhh...”
But even awake, she couldn't seem to breathe, like someone still trapped in a burning room. Her eyes were open but unfocused, seeing nothing.
Herdin rubbed the back of the trembling woman, whose body was wracked with violent shudders, and whispered softly.
“Breathe. Slowly.”
Following the slow, steady rhythm of his hand, Blair's breathing began to even out. With each blink, the light slowly returned to her vacant eyes.
When his own reflection was finally captured fully in her tear-filled violet eyes, Herdin let out a shallow sigh.
Leaving the terrified hypnotist behind, he carried Blair to her bedroom.
After setting Blair down on the bed, Herdin checked her once more, making sure his reflection was still in her eyes. Confirming it, he stood up to leave.
“Herdin.”
As he turned to go, a faint voice urgently stopped him.
“Just now, in the memory, I faintly heard voices. Someone was talking outside the wardrobe. The sound was too faint to make out what they were saying, but...”
Herdin, who had been watching her, wondering how she could possibly be talking about this just moments after regaining her senses, let out a dry laugh.
She was talking about the hypnotic memory. She, who had just been willing to die in that wardrobe rather than face it.
“Maybe in the next hypnosis session, I'll be able to... get out of the wardrobe. The voices I heard today, I'd never heard them before.”
Hearing her soft voice already planning for ‘next time,’ a sudden, sharp anger surged through him.
Just moments ago, she had been sobbing as if she were dying, gasping for every breath. The fact that she would bring this up first, her red-rimmed eyes still wet with tears, was infuriating.
“Is that what's important right now?”
His voice was strained, tight with suppressed emotion, but the coldness in his eyes was unmistakable.
Then what's more important?
Seeing him angry, Blair blinked, unable to understand why.
“But the purpose of calling the hypnotist was to awaken my memories.”
After thinking for a moment, Blair came to a conclusion. He was angry because she had failed to endure the memory, waking up just as they were getting close to the truth.
“I'll try to endure it a little longer next time. There won't be any problems with the contract, so please don't worry too much.”
She spoke calmly, but the small hand resting on the blanket was still trembling—visibly so.