Chapter 6

Shiver.

Her mind went completely blank, drained of all thought.

What had the past two years with Hugo been like?

‘The people around me disappeared one by one…’

Over the face of the cold corpse lying in the Black Forest, countless other faces overlapped.

“This place is somewhere nobody comes.”

“……”

“Surely you didn’t come here to see me?”

Not a trace of emotion lingered in his crimson eyes.
How could someone who had just killed a person look so cold?

“Are you really going to make me do all the talking? I seriously hate this kind of thing.”

The corners of Hugo’s lips twisted irritably as he grumbled.

His voice was still gentle, yet his expression clearly showed boredom and annoyance.

Her instincts screamed at her.

‘…If I stay still like this, I’ll die.’

Hugo—no, that lunatic—was completely unpredictable. There was no telling what he might do.

Prina decided to pretend she didn’t know him.

“I-I-I’m not sure… Have we met somewhere before?”

Her voice trembled miserably.

She had thought she’d completely overcome her stutter. But now, under overwhelming terror, her reason had collapsed, and her tongue betrayed her again.

‘Whew. Calm down.’

Prina desperately clung to the fragment of rationality threatening to evaporate.

“You don’t remember? Even though you clung to me like that before?”

Clung to him?

Twisting all her efforts to give him the ring into that interpretation…

“When I’m drunk, I-I tend to cling to just anyone… D-Did I happen to grab onto you?”

“What? So you really were just drunk?”

Though he spoke as if disappointed, he didn’t seem convinced. At the same time, he also looked like his interest had faded.

‘…What is this? Something’s definitely strange.’

Hugo truly didn’t seem to remember Prina at all.

It was as though he considered their meeting at Layton Bridge to be their first encounter.

“So what brings you here?”

“I-I came to look for some m-missing people…”

“Don’t tell me you mean this bastard?”

Tap.

Hugo nudged the cold corpse with his foot.

The Hugo she remembered had once kindly carried a collapsed stranger to the clinic himself.

…He was completely different now.

…Could this unfamiliar face be the real Hugo?

And had the person she knew all this time merely been a carefully fabricated lie?

“No.”

Prina immediately hardened her expression.

“Then?”

“The people I’m looking for are just ordinary workers. They disappeared while transporting goods.”

Good. Her voice had trembled a little, but at least the stuttering had stopped.

“Transporting goods into the Black Forest?”

But Hugo’s expression was strange.

“They were trying to smuggle illegal items in?”

“No. It’s just food supplies…”

“Ah, food? Then drugs?”

“No. Just ordinary sacks of wheat, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers…”

Even after her explanation, disbelief flickered across his face, as if asking why anyone would transport normal food ingredients into the Black Forest.

Well, that was because of the hidden mastermind in the novel… and because the roads had been blocked for the celebration ceremony. What else were they supposed to do?

Of course, there was no reason to explain all that to Hugo.

“Hm. So you came looking for workers?”

“Yes.”

Hugo stroked the tip of his chin as if recalling something.
Her gaze drifted to the black leather gloves covering his hands.

…The Hugo she knew had always worn gloves whenever he met Prina.

‘…He said he had mysophobia.’

He had even apologized to her about it once, asking for her understanding.

And yet, despite that, he had always held her hand barehanded.

…Though judging by the man standing before her now, he had forgotten all of that completely. She alone seemed to remember.

“Now that I think about it, I did see a whole pile of something in the forest.”

…A pile?

…Surely he meant the workers?

It wasn’t an expression the Hugo she knew would ever use. It was enough to make her question whether they were truly the same person.

“So those were your workers?”

“I-I think so.”

Technically, they weren’t her workers, but she agreed anyway. The exact details weren’t important.

What mattered most was—

‘Can I leave this place alive?’

She had to avoid provoking this madman as much as possible.

“But you came alone, my lady?”

He seemed suspicious that she had come by herself to search for workers missing in a land notorious for danger.

Prina felt the need to explain herself.

“It was difficult to dispatch a search party. I know the forest terrain better than most, so I came instead.”

“You work for a terrible employer.”

Well, it wasn’t exactly a great workplace. It was crawling with awful people.

But after seeing the man before her, those awful people seemed like angels.

“Still, what a curious coincidence. Meeting you here again.”

“……”

“I was rather disappointed by how things ended last time.”

…Why disappointed?

“Shall I help you?”

No…?

She truly did not want that.

“I-I’ll be fine. And you seem busy…”

Prina glanced at the corpse collapsed at Hugo’s feet.

I’ll pretend I never saw anything, so just go back to whatever you were doing.

“You’re worried about me? How delightful.”

…Which part of that looked like concern?

“But I’m more worried about you, my lady, so I should help. Follow me.”

Prina desperately wanted to refuse.

But what came out of her mouth instead was—

“W-Wow… th-thank you…”

A pitiful voice struggling to survive.

* * *

Crack!

The sound of a dry branch snapping beneath her foot made her heart leap.

The face of the corpse she had seen earlier flickered before her eyes.

Prina walked silently behind him, barely breathing.

‘What on earth is Hugo thinking?’

If he planned to kill both her and the workers…

‘No. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have bothered offering to guide me.’

He could have simply killed Prina on the spot and disposed of the workers afterward.

…Yet even as she tried to reassure herself, the heavy sound of his footsteps ahead crushed every fragile ounce of comfort she managed to gather.

“My love, Prina, if something’s troubling you, you can always tell me.”

“When I see you hurting, Prina, I hurt too.”

The old Hugo had always matched his pace to hers when they walked together.

If she lagged behind, he would stop and wait for her. Sometimes he even draped his coat over her shoulders.

The man walking ahead of her now never once looked back.

‘But… it really does seem like he doesn’t recognize me.’

After they parted at Layton Bridge, she had wondered if he was merely pretending not to know her to force a breakup.

…but seeing him now, that definitely didn’t seem to be the case.

‘Did he really lose his memory?’

What had happened to Hugo during that year apart?

Could that be why he lost his memories… and became a murderous madman?

Back when they dated, Hugo used to smile whenever Prina smiled. He always checked her expression first and only smiled once he confirmed she was okay.

Seeing that same man smiling over a corpse still left her shaken.

The moment she remembered it again, her heart pounded wildly.

A memory she had tried desperately to bury surfaced once more.

Long ago, when she was dating Hugo, something similar had happened. In a winter alleyway…

“My lady, is there anything you’re curious about?”

“Huh?”

Hugo, walking ahead of her, suddenly asked the bewildering question.

“For example, why I’m in this forest. Something like that.”

“O-Oh, no…”

It felt like something she absolutely should not ask.

“I killed someone, and you’re really not curious?”

…Was she supposed to be?

To be honest, it wasn’t that she felt no curiosity at all. But as an ordinary person, she wanted no deep involvement in these circumstances.

“I-I’m sure you had a reason…”

“That’s right. I had a reason.”

“Ah… I thought so… I understand.”

“That man tried to kill me first.”

Prina, who had been staring at the ground while walking, jerked her head up in surprise.
All she could see was Hugo’s back.

She couldn’t tell what expression he wore.

…Someone had tried to kill Hugo?

“So this counts as self-defense.”

…Then why had Hugo entered the Black Forest in the first place?

Judging by his neat appearance, he didn’t seem to have been dragged here against his will. His relaxed demeanor felt far removed from someone under threat.

Prina simply pretended to accept his explanation.

“Ah, there they are.”

After forcing her expression back under control and following Hugo to the mouth of a ravine—

“……!”

What greeted her was utter chaos.

The workers and horses lay collapsed together, overwhelmed by demonic energy.

‘As expected, they’ve been corrupted by demonic energy!’

This was bad.

She needed to treat them immediately.

Prina hurried forward toward the workers, then abruptly stopped and glanced at Hugo.

The story about medicinal herbs in the forest that could detoxify demonic energy had been a lie.

But it was true that she had a way to save them.

With her holy power.

“Oh dear. Are they already dead?”

Though his voice sounded regretful, Hugo himself seemed utterly uninterested in the workers.

He strode right past them toward the wagon carrying the food supplies. Pulling back the covering tarp, he checked inside.

Hugo pulled out a nearby crate and opened several more.

All of them contained nothing but ordinary vegetables.

“Hm. So it really is just food supplies?”

It seemed the reason Hugo had brought Prina here was to inspect the wagon.

If the cargo had turned out to be illegal goods… what had he intended to do with her and the workers?

It felt bizarre for someone who casually killed people in the forest to act so sensitive about illegal activity.

“If you’d like, you can inspect more of it.”

Prina hoped to ease Hugo’s suspicions and send him away.

Only then could she heal the workers.

“No. I don’t think that’ll be necessary anymore.”

“Then… are you leaving now?”

Please leave already.

“Yeah, I was about to.”

Seeing the desperate look on Prina’s face, Hugo’s eyes curved gently.

“After I do one last thing.”

Shiiing—

The moment Hugo drew his sword from its sheath, Prina’s eyes widened in horror.

The tip of the blade pointed toward the unconscious workers’ throats.