Forgotten by Fiancée, Fake Engagement with Crown Prince Of Neighbouring Country - Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Leefe tilted her head at the sight of something she vaguely recognized from a past life.
“By the way, what are those boxes lined up on that shelf? I’ve always thought they were beautiful, but I’ve never asked what they were.”
“Collecting and displaying these boxes here is part of my duty as the Demon King. I receive requests for forbidden spells. As you know, Leefe, the price I demand for casting such spells is human memory.”
Leefe understood the significance behind the Demon King’s words.
(—In other words…)
“You’re involved in all those cases of memory loss, aren’t you!?”
“Yes. To put it simply, yes. But I never intended to cause such trouble for you, Leefe. I’m truly sorry. Please forgive me.”
“So… does that mean Prince Easton’s memories are in one of those boxes too?”
The Demon king shook his head, still looking dejected.
“No, that’s not the case. The memories in that box belong to the second son of the Smith family, a count’s household in the Kingdom of Distoria. Unfortunately, he wasn’t powerful enough, so I had to take all of his forty-five years’ worth of memories from birth.”
“Wait a minute, the second son of the Smith family is forty-five years old!?”
“Haha, you’re sharp, my lady,” Rene chimed in, but Leefe could only offer a weak smile in response.
She had assumed that “second son” implied someone relatively young.
The idea that her father had proposed a marriage between her and a man more than twice her age and with no memories of his life was too much to bear.
(My father in this life is… too much…)
Shaking her head, Leefe refocused and asked the Demon king, “So, what kind of forbidden spell did you cast that required taking the second son’s memories?”
“A spell that erased all memories Prince Easton had of his fiancée and her sister.”
“…Why?”
Just as she thought that, Oliver nodded as if he had figured something out.
“To erase the memories of royalty, the price was the forty-five years of the second son’s memories. It seems like a fair trade for the Demon King’s price.”
“Rene, Oliver-sama might get it, but I certainly don’t!”
Leefe couldn’t be compared to the perfect Crown Prince Oliver.
Unfortunately, her comprehension skills weren’t quite on par.
Sensing her confusion, Rene tried to explain it more clearly.
“In short, someone wanted to separate Prince Easton from you and your sister, so they offered the second son’s memories to make it happen.”
“For what purpose…?”
Leefe still couldn’t grasp the meaning behind it. Meanwhile, the Demon King took out a strange roulette wheel.
“When I receive requests like this, I use this roulette to decide. Spin it, and the name of the person whose memories are most suitable as the price appears, along with which memories are needed.”
(He treat humans like bugs!? For the first time, I feel like I’ve finally realized how scary a Demon King is!)
“I don’t like it either, but it’s been a tradition for ages.”
“No, you’ve done well.”
Leefe took the hand of the Demon King, who was bowing his head apologetically.
If he hadn’t erased Easton’s memories, she would have been stuck marrying a ridiculous man.
While she did want a lover, a man with many lovers was out of the question.
(I want a lover… but no cheaters, please.)
That’s when she realized something.
“Wait a second, isn’t it too cruel for the second son of the Smith family to lose all his memories from birth at the age of forty-five!?”
“The fact that his name came up in the roulette seems to mean that at least the people around him agreed to it… but, yes, it’s still unfortunate.”
The Demon King’s shoulders slumped as he looked more pitiful than ever.
He wasn’t the picture of how a demon king should be, hunched over and lacking energy. He stumbled over to the shelf and pulled out a pale green jewel-encrusted box.
The box was a soft green color with iridescent stones and glass beads on the lid, making it a work of art in its own right.
“This is the box containing the second son’s memories. If you break this box, his memories will be restored.”
“And in return?”
“The forbidden spell will also be undone. Prince Easton will remember both his fiancée and her sister.”
“Ugh.”
Wait a minute.
“I don’t want him to remember me…!”
Even after publicly humiliating her, Easton had said something like, “You don’t really want me to forget you either, do you?’”
She wished he would forget her forever.
As Leefe grimaced, Oliver took the box in his hands, looking far too pleased.
He seemed ready to smash it at any moment.
“I’d love to see that man remember everything and regret it.”
“No, it would only cause a lot of trouble! I’d be back to brewing potions for him every day.”
(Prince Easton never appreciated the potions I made for him. It wouldn’t bother me now, but if his great-grandmother from the neighboring kingdom asks for more potions, it will be a real pain.)
Easton’s great-grandmother, the Dowager Queen, had always been kind to Leefe, but now that Aria was by his side, he would surely forget all about Leefe.
In that case, it was better if Easton never regained his memories.
“So, we’re not going to break the box? The second son’s memories will stay lost?”
“No, that’s not right…”
Leefe shook her head at Oliver’s question.
She couldn’t just leave the second son without his memories.
Easton didn’t matter anymore, but she couldn’t abandon the second son, who had lost forty-five years of his life.
“Fine, we’ll break the box. But first, tell me—why was Prince Easton’s memory of me and Aria erased? Using a forbidden spell is no small matter.”
When Leefe asked, the Demon King slouched even more apologetically.
“I don’t know the details… The Demon King doesn’t get involved in the finer points. I take on forbidden spell requests, but I don’t interfere with the reasons behind them.”
“I see…”
There was a clear distinction between casting a forbidden spell and the sinister plot behind it.
She was grateful enough that he had shared this much information from the client.
“When Prince Easton regains his memory, we’ll figure out the scheme behind it. That’s my specialty. I can investigate through my network of spies.”
“That makes sense.”
“Alright, I’ll break it now.”
At Oliver’s confirmation, Leefe nodded, and the Demon Lord smiled faintly.
In that moment, the pale green jewel box was thrown into the air.
—With a sharp ‘crash’, the glass box shattered into countless fragments.
