HBDM 06

Chapter 06

Tremble.

Prina’s mind turned completely blank.

She couldn’t think at all.

What had the past two years with Hugo been like?

‘People around me disappeared…’

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

“No one ever comes here.”

“…”

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

There wasn’t a trace of emotion in those blood-red eyes.

How could someone remain so cold after killing a person?

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

Hugo’s lips twisted in annoyance as he grumbled.

His voice was still soft, but he clearly sounded irritated from boredom.

Her instincts screamed at her.

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

Hugo—no, that lunatic…

There was no predicting what he might do next.

Prina decided to pretend she didn’t know him.

“I-I don’t really know… Have we met somewhere before?”

Her voice shook pathetically.

She had thought she’d cured her stutter long ago.

But under overwhelming terror, her reason crumbled and her tongue betrayed her once again.

‘Whew. Calm down.’

Prina desperately clung to the last scraps of rationality before they vanished completely.

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

Clung to him?

So that was how he interpreted her effort to return the ring.

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

“What? So you really were drunk and clinging to strangers?”

Though he sounded disappointed, he didn’t seem convinced.

At the same time, he also looked like he had lost interest.

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

Hugo truly seemed unable to remember Prina at all.

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

“Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“I-I came to f-find missing people…”

“This bastard, maybe?”

Tap.

Hugo nudged the cold corpse with his foot.

The old Hugo used to gently carry collapsed strangers to the clinic himself…

He was far too different now.

…Could this unfamiliar face actually be the real Hugo?

And everything she had seen before had merely been a carefully crafted lie.

“No.”

Prina immediately answered seriously.

“Then?”

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

Good.

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

“Transporting goods through the Black Forest.”

Hugo’s expression shifted strangely.

“Were they smuggling illegal goods?”

“No. It’s just food ingredients…”

“Food? Then drugs?”

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

Despite her explanation, disbelief briefly crossed his face.

As if he couldn’t understand why anyone would transport ordinary food through the Black Forest.

Well, that was because of the hidden villain in the novel… and the roads being blocked because of the victory parade.

But there was no reason to explain all that to Hugo.

“Hm. So you came to find workers?”

“Yes.”

Hugo stroked his chin thoughtfully.

The black leather gloves on his hands caught her attention.

…The Hugo she knew had always worn gloves when meeting Prina.

‘…He said he had a cleanliness obsession.’

He had even apologized to her for it before.

And yet, despite that, he always held Prina’s hand barehanded.

…Though judging by the man before her, she seemed to be the only one who remembered that now.

“Come to think of it, I vaguely remember seeing a whole pile of people somewhere in the forest.”

…A pile?

…Was he talking about the workers?

It was not the kind of expression the Hugo she knew would ever use.

She was beginning to doubt whether they were even the same person.

“I guess those must’ve been your workers?”

“I-I think so.”

Technically they weren’t her workers, but she nodded anyway.

The exact details weren’t important.

The most important thing was—

‘Whether I can get out of here alive.’

She needed to avoid provoking this madman at all costs.

“But you came here alone, Lady?”

He seemed suspicious that she alone had come searching for missing workers in such a notorious place.

Prina felt the need to explain herself thoroughly.

“It was difficult to send a search party. And among everyone, I know the forest terrain best, so I came instead.”

“You work for a terrible employer.”

Well, it wasn’t exactly a great workplace.

There were awful customers everywhere.

But compared to the man before her, those difficult customers now seemed like angels.

“Still, what a strange coincidence. Meeting you again in a place like this.”

“…”

“And I was a little disappointed about how we parted last time.”

…Why disappointed?

“Shall I help you?”

No…?

She absolutely did not want that.

“I-I’m fine. And you seem busy…”

Prina glanced toward the corpse lying at Hugo’s feet.

I’ll pretend I saw nothing, so just continue whatever you were doing.

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

…How exactly does that sound like concern?

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

Prina desperately wanted to refuse.

But what came out instead was—

“W-wow… t-thank you…”

It was the pitiful voice of someone trying to survive.

Crack!

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

The dead man’s face from earlier kept flashing before her eyes.

Prina silently followed behind Hugo.

‘What exactly is Hugo thinking?’

If this was all part of a scheme to kill both her and the workers—

‘No. If that were the case, he wouldn’t bother guiding me anywhere.’

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

…Yet no matter how much she tried to reassure herself, the heavy footsteps of the man walking ahead crushed every shred of fragile comfort.

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

“When I see you hurting, I hurt too.”

The old Hugo 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.

But the man walking ahead now never once looked back.

‘Still… it really does seem like he doesn’t recognize me at all, doesn’t it?’

After Layton Bridge, she had wondered if he was deliberately pretending not to know her as some kind of breakup tactic.

But now it clearly wasn’t that.

‘Did he really lose his memory?’

What had happened to Hugo during the year they were apart?

Had something happened that caused him to lose his memories and become a murderous madman?

Back when they were dating, Hugo used to smile whenever Prina smiled.

He always watched her expression first, and only smiled after confirming she was alright.

The shock of seeing that same man smiling over a corpse still hadn’t faded.

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

A memory she had tried hard to forget surfaced once more.

Something similar had happened long ago while they were dating.

In a winter alleyway…

“Lady, isn’t there anything you want to ask me?”

“Huh?”

Hugo, walking ahead, suddenly asked a bewildering question.

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

“Ah, no…”

It felt like she absolutely shouldn’t ask.

“I killed someone. Aren’t you curious at all?”

…Was she supposed to be?

Truthfully, she was curious.

But as an ordinary person, she wanted no part in dangerous affairs like this.

“I-I’m sure you had your reasons…”

“You’re right. I did.”

“Ah… I thought so… I understand.”

“That bastard tried to kill me first.”

Prina, who had been staring at the ground while walking, looked up in shock.

All she could see was Hugo’s back.

She couldn’t tell what expression he wore.

…Someone tried to kill Hugo?

“So you could call it self-defense.”

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

Judging by his immaculate appearance, he certainly hadn’t been dragged there against his will.

His relaxed demeanor was far removed from someone under threat.

Prina simply pretended to accept it.

“Ah, there they are.”

Struggling to keep her expression calm, she followed behind Hugo until they reached the canyon entrance.

Then—

“!”

Chaos spread before her eyes.

Workers and horses crushed beneath demonic energy were tangled together unconscious.

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

This was bad.

She had to treat them quickly.

Prina hurried forward toward the workers—

Then froze and glanced at Hugo.

The story about medicinal herbs curing demonic energy in the forest had been a lie.

But she did have a way to save them.

With her divine power.

“Oh dear. Are they already dead?”

Though his voice sounded regretful, Hugo didn’t seem particularly interested in the workers at all.

He simply walked past them toward the wagon loaded with food supplies.

Pulling back the covering cloth, he inspected the contents inside.

Then he opened several nearby crates one after another.

All of them were filled with ordinary vegetables.

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

Apparently the reason Hugo brought Prina here was to inspect the wagon.

If the cargo had been illegal goods, what exactly had he planned to do with her and the workers…?

For someone who had casually murdered a person in the forest, he was strangely obsessed with illegal activity.

“You can inspect more if you want.”

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

Only then could she heal the workers.

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

“Then… are you leaving now?”

Please leave already.

“Yes. I was about to.”

Seeing Prina’s desperately hopeful expression, Hugo’s eyes curved gently.

“After one last thing.”

Shiiing—

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

The blade pointed toward the throats of the unconscious workers.