When the One-Sided Love Female Lead Loses Her Memory - Chapter 50

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“Gasp, y-yes, sir!”

The soldiers who had been prostrating themselves in apology scrambled away to search. Left alone in the dark forest path, Viern stared emptily at the nothingness before him. The longsword in his hand fell to the ground with a dull thud as it hit the dirt.

The moment he heard that possibility—the one he’d been avoiding—from another’s lips and then voiced it himself, it felt as if the precarious thread he’d been clinging to had finally snapped.

In truth, he knew. He knew the chance of Diana being alive was extremely slim.

The remnants of the Crown Prince’s faction, who had prepared so meticulously without his knowledge to invade the palace, had fled with nothing to show for it, too sloppy. In the process, they must have realized it. Reviving the bedridden King, using the puppet Princess to reclaim Rosenheir’s glory—it was all impossible. And so, perhaps Diana, now useless to them…

Crunch. He bit down hard on his lower lip until it split, the coppery taste of blood flooding his senses.

Their last conversation was just that. Him, mocking her to find another man, coldly pushing her away… and Diana, awkwardly congratulating him on his engagement…

That was the last.

No.

He couldn’t let that be the last.

His eyes flashed. He set out to find her again. Rushing around with the appearance of a madman, he heard the chirping of birds. Sparrows were pecking at something on the ground. About to walk past absently, Viern stopped and looked back.

‘Bread…?’

Viern’s expression went blank at the sight of the bread. A memory buried deep within surfaced.

It was from the time when she had just been brought from the tower and was staying at his estate. One day, the household was in an uproar because Diana had hidden, claiming she disliked people. He found her in front of a wardrobe in the small guest room connected to his own bedroom. Staring at the breadcrumbs scattered before it, Viern simply opened the wardrobe door. Inside, hiding, Diana beamed and waved at him.

‘Viern!’

‘What is the meaning of this? Using the food I gave you to eat for such naughty pranks.’

He pointed to the trail of breadcrumbs scattered from his bedroom to the wardrobe, and she pouted her lips.

‘Naughty pranks? This was to lure you in.’

‘To lure me?’

‘Uh-huh. When I was locked in the tower… if I scattered breadcrumbs like this, sparrows would come.’

Diana explained. When she was imprisoned in the tower, she had no one to talk to and was terribly bored. So even when she was hungry, she would share her portion of bread with the birds and became friends with them.

‘…Am I a sparrow to you?’

Even while feeling an oddly damp, sinking mood at her story of enduring her childhood alone in that tower, he hid it and asked as if astounded. Then he remembered Diana, who had laughed hehe, jumped out of the wardrobe, and thrown herself into his arms.

‘Surely not.’

Of course, after the fall and having her mind wiped clean like a blank slate, she no longer remembered her past. But if this was a habit left by her unconscious mind… If this could be a sign she left…

At the thought that this might be a marker she left, Viern swiftly turned his head to scan the ground. A bit farther away, he found another piece of bread. It looked bitten, not torn by hand. Perhaps her hands and feet were bound, restricting her movement. His steps quickened as he moved to find the next piece.

Following the intentionally scattered breadcrumbs led to a cave entrance hidden by dense thickets. Viern rushed into the cave. Deep inside, he found Diana, unconscious and collapsed.

“Your Highness!”

Viern immediately gathered her into his arms and began untying the rope binding her wrists. Her state was unspeakable. Her clothes were torn haphazardly, her hair was disheveled. This wretched appearance made palpable the hardship she must have endured while captured.

Seeing the Princess he had so carefully guarded and raised in such a pitiable state filled him with devastation. Seeing the angry rope marks on her wrists sparked a deep-seated rage. Viern clenched his trembling fingertips, struggling to contain the destructive emotions. For now, her safety was the priority.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?!”

Shaking her and calling out, her eyelids slowly lifted. Seeing her dazed, unfocused green eyes, Viern called out urgently.

“Your Highness! Come to your senses! Your Highness, Your Highness, Diana!”

“M-Moo…”

It was a muffled sound, but Viern understood she was asking for water. He pulled a canteen from his waist and brought it to her lips. However, still unconscious, she couldn’t drink properly, spilling the water from her mouth.

Growing desperate, he took a mouthful of water himself and pressed his lips to hers. Parting her lips, he covered her parched tongue, transferring the water into her mouth. She drank it gulp, gulp, sucking on his tongue as if finding water in a desert. Still seeming thirsty, she ran the tip of her tongue over her palate, searching for more, forcing him to repeat the action several more times.