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Chapter: 18
“Rosha’s ideal type is a tall guy with a nice smile.”
How do you even know that?!
I had to admit, it was kind of sweet that Erden knew my type.
But to Adrian, this was a TMI of epic proportions.
“Judging by your height, you seem tall enough… but judging by your looks… I doubt you smile all that much.”
Of course.
From now on, Adrian would never smile again.
If he ever smiled in front of me, I might fall for him, so he’d lost his smile forever.
I silently mourned the thought of Adrian’s charming smile, which he might have once shown to Lexia.
“…Utel.”
Adrian’s well-defined eyebrows twitched, betraying his discomfort.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Why does that guy call you Rosha?”
“Ah… Rosha is…”
“Rosha is a nickname for Rohesia.”
When Erden answered for me, Adrian’s expression noticeably turned cold.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
…Was he upset about that?
No wonder Adrian’s gaze was intense—like he had been genuinely hurt.
Caught between two boys taller than me, I carefully asked Adrian the question I was curious about.
“If you knew, would you have called me by the nickname?”
“No.”
What the heck, this guy.
“Okay, okay.”
I quickly tried to get both boys’ attention.
If things went on like this, it could spiral out of control, and Adrian might just leave.
“First, explain, Erden. You said you’d help.”
“…There are many ways to make someone lose their memory, but only one way to recover it.”
Erden reluctantly began to explain, but his expression was serious.
“What’s that?”
“By recalling the memories yourself.”
I’d heard the explanation yesterday as well—the method to regain lost memories was frustratingly simple.
“….”
Adrian looked incredulous but could do nothing.
“You could try using recovery magic or potions to reconnect the lost links. But to bring back accurate memories, it requires the effort of the person who lost them.”
Surprisingly, Adrian listened seriously.
Even an expert in alchemy would say there’s no potion for this, so he had no choice but to accept it.
Taking advantage of the moment, I spoke up.
“I can provide something to trigger the memory.”
“…A trigger?”
“Yes. Something like music or a scent they used to like works best.”
I explained to Erden what I had heard yesterday as if it were my own knowledge.
“Melodies or scents rarely fade completely; they lie dormant in the mind.”
Exactly.
This was why I had called Adrian into the city.
“Look carefully, Adrian. There are a lot of things here, so surely there’s something that will help the butler recall his memories.”
Actually, there would be more traces of the butler at the mansion, but right now, searching freely in the Velas mansion was impossible.
Melisandre’s servants were prowling around with sharp eyes.
Meanwhile, Adrian seemed lost in thought.
We held our breath and watched him silently.
After a while, he walked without a word.
Following him, we came to the sheet music section of a large bookstore.
“Sheet music section? Are we looking for something here?”
“He used to sing me lullabies sometimes.”
“Oh!”
I nodded excitedly.
This was it!
Even a butler who had lost his memory and become like a washing machine would surely cry and recover his memory upon hearing the lullabies he had sung Adrian in the past.
Erden, as if he had anticipated this, nodded with his arms crossed.
I excitedly gathered all the lullaby books from the sheet music section.
Then it happened.
As always, a ‘ding’ of electronic sound rang, and a burst of bright white light exploded in front of me.
[QUEST: Unexpected Quest Triggered!]
[QUEST: Find and play the lullaby that Adrian’s butler used to sing.]
[TIME LIMIT: 04:59]
Wait, hold on!
Play it? The only instrument I had was my voice.
And, unfortunately, my musical skill in both my past and current life had plateaued at “airplane level.”
At least I could read musical notes, but that was it.
Being asked to sing a lullaby with that skill?
Even passing babies would have nightmares instead of sleeping peacefully.
Doing this in a sacred bookstore could get me kicked out immediately.
But…
The golden time limit sparkled in my field of vision.
And, on top of that, the first page of sheet music glowed before me.
Fine, fine, I get it!
“Ahem, ahem.”
“…?”
I cleared my throat, and the two boys looked at me in confusion.
“I…”
“Rohesia?”
“I’ll try singing it once, Adrian…”
With what felt like a declaration of my last will, I began singing the lullaby on the first page.
A lullaby is humanity’s shared heritage.
The melody I sang would be familiar to anyone from the empire.
So it should have sounded fine… but…
“Why is she like that…”
Erden’s merciless critique started.
“Oh my, goodness.”
A passerby shook their head in disbelief.
“Don’t listen, sweetie.”
A guardian showing a picture book covered a child’s ears.
By this point, it was certain I was being a nuisance to everyone around.
But I couldn’t stop.
[Quest Completion Provides Special Affection and Darkness Rate Rewards!]
The cruel system message shone brightly right before my eyes.
‘Sorry, citizens of Balalaika.’
I swallowed my tears.
‘Think of it as saving one person.’
The first song ended, then the second, and third.
Pages of sheet music kept turning.
By the time all the songs finished, the bookstore, which had been filled with ambient noise, fell into an uncomfortable, dead silence.
Glancing at Adrian, he still didn’t seem to recognize the song in his memory, shaking his head expressionlessly.
“…I’m sorry.”
Erden spoke in the quiet.
“My little sister recently hit her head on the desk really hard.”
Now was not the time.
Even if it was embarrassing, the quest had to be completed, so I sang the first line of the fourth lullaby through tears.
Perhaps unable to watch my self-destruction any longer, Erden lifted me up and ran outside the bookstore.
“No….”
I looked at the system window sadly. It looked like I was going to fail.
[TIME LIMIT: 01:23]
Then Adrian spoke, finally breaking his silence.
“That’s right, Rohesia.”
“…Huh?”
“The last one you sang.”
Really…?
[QUEST: Quest Completed!]
Adrian’s mischievous, rotten smile appeared in the background as a soft golden reward window exploded.
[SYSTEM: Completing this unexpected quest increases Adrian’s affection.]
[SYSTEM: Completing this unexpected quest decreases Adrian’s darkness rate.]
The reward I’d wanted so badly.
But I wasn’t happy at all.
“Just like that last lame-joke quest.”
Sometimes, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the system was teasing me.
[ADMIN: Haha, I never imagined you’d sing something so… unusual.]
Well, at least it’s not like words can annoy me.
I glared at the administrator’s message window, which had popped up like a ghost.
Actually, there were other ways to complete the quest without singing in the bookstore.
[ADMIN: Same goes for this quest.]
What are you implying…?
[ADMIN: I never imagined you’d sing it that way.]
Fight me, you little—
I shivered, and the message window trembled as if reflecting the admin’s laughter.
If only I could punch the system administrator once, I’d be satisfied.
[ADMIN: Well, the result was excellent, so it doesn’t matter.]
Excellent?
This…?
I guess Adrian is funny too—his affection rose and darkness rate dropped after hearing such a ridiculous song.
“….”
Fine, fine.
While Adrian and Erden went to buy the perfume the butler used to wear, I sat on a bench outside the bookstore.
Alone, I quietly reviewed the situation.
First, the quests:
[QUEST: Rescue the Velas mansion’s butler before the banquet. (0/1)]
[QUEST: Complete the subquest to lower the male lead Adrian’s darkness rate to 70% within 3 days.]
[QUEST: Failure Penalty: “The petals of the Poison Rose will fall eight times.”]
The quest period had shrunk from seven days to three.
It was unexpected that the butler lost his memory, but fortunately, there was a solution.
With Erden helping to find a memory trigger, the butler would likely recover his memories soon.
After all, even if the admin was mischievous, they wouldn’t give an impossible quest.
Melisandre, persuaded by me, would hold the banquet within three days.
The butler, upon regaining his memory, would expose Melisandre’s crimes in front of everyone with Adrian.
“Hm.”
On paper, the plan seemed solid.
But something felt off.
Something was missing, though I couldn’t quite recall what it was.
Top Floor of the Magic Tower
“Elioes!”
A wizard in white arrived.
Elioes, lying as usual surrounded by golden mana particles, got up.
The wizard bowed.
“Sorry to disturb your work.”
By now, the wizards of the tower knew that the tower master was busy using the system embedded in the crystal orb to handle his duties.
“It’s fine.”
Elioes answered calmly, but his radiant face carried an unusual shadow.
‘Rohesia.’
Fortunately, she had been cheerful for several days.
He had even given her the unexpected quest to help her focus on reality.
Recalling the ridiculous song, Elioes smiled briefly.
Rohesia, glaring at the message window as if outraged, seemed to have forgotten her worries from that night.
But…
