I observed Lionel’s expression.

He seemed to have grasped Lewis’ real intention, too, and wisely chose his words.

“No… There’s no need to thank me. It’s not a big deal. Besides, I haven’t even spoken to Father about this. I’m troubled by this gratitude of yours, which I don’t deserve.”

Lewis appeared to be touched by Lionel’s words.

“Aah… Lionel-sama, what an earnest person you are! I, Lewis, on behalf of my Master, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Lewis bowed his head yet again, inciting Lionel’s bafflement.

“Mr. Lewis, I’m very troubled, so please raise your head…”

“It’s ‘Lewis’.”

“Huh?”

When Lewis slowly lifted his face, in place of his previous intimidating expression—was gentleness.

“You can refer to me as ‘Lewis’, Lionel-sama.” He chuckled.

—!!

Said smile startled my heart. …what a friendly smile. What was the need of him showing that to Lionel? What the hell was this guy planning?

Lionel’s words got jammed again.

“—”

—ah.

That appearance of his …I recall it.

Indeed … this is déjà vu, isn’t it?

This conversation was similar to the one I had with Lionel before—as if it was a reenactment. Our statures differ, though…

Perhaps, Lionel too, realized the same thing. After muttering something, he lifted his face—a warm light swayed in his eyes.

He opened his mouth.

“Be it Amelia or Lewis, both of you sure are special…—Lewis, I promise you this; I’ll not speak a word to anyone about this matter.” Lionel smiled and continued.

“However, if there’s anything you need from me—as long as it’s within my power, I’ll help you. So, be sure to let me know, alright?”

Towards such words, Lewis widened his eyes, as if surprised—he muttered.

“Thank you very much for your consideration, Lionel-sama. Whenever there’s something, I’ll be sure to depend on you.”

Lewis smiled at Lionel—this time, it reached his eyes. Making him appear both beautiful—and evil.

My suspicion of him couldn’t help but strengthen.

---

The brightness of early summer shone through the window. In one hour from now, the city’s bell would toll to announce the daytime.

“…who would’ve thought that you’d lose your voice…?”

Lewis sighed, gazing at something outside.

Lionel went out saying he had something to do. He also didn’t forget to remind me that I was supposed to be resting today.

Hence, Lewis and I returned to the room which I previously slept in.

“For once, let me confirm this—it isn’t a charade, right?” Lewis asked me, while staring outside the window. His tone was completely different from when Lionel was still present—all the gentleness, crumbled.

Well, it can’t be helped, can’t it?

After all, Lewis knew of my nature—and my ‘unique’ memories…

I took a pen.

“Why would I lie about such a thing? Besides, it doesn’t really matter whether or not I can speak, does it?”

Towards my words, Lewis frowned in suspicion.

“Oh, but I know that doing so will bring forth some advantages—which might as well be your reason for doing it.” He sat in a chair across the round table. Lewis glared at me and said;

“Any other problems besides the inability to speak? Anything physical?”

I shook my head. I still had some headaches, but I was recovering. In short, nothing to worry about.

“Is that so? Well, you really should be happy just for staying alive.”

—what is this guy unsatisfied about?

—moreover…

“Are you really glad that I’m alive?”

In my mind, somehow—somewhere, this question kept nagging.

“—huh, well, of course. What’s so strange about it?”

Lewis leaned on the chair, both of his legs crossed. Those black pupils of his bore into my face.

“—”

His lackluster attitude kept distracting me…

…well, of course. In front of your Master’s fiancé, this is how you behave?

I stole a glance at Lewis.

—then, Lewis burst in laughter. “Don’t look at me like that! Is your impression of me that bad?”

…how brash.

“I see. In front of William, too, you behave like this. He must’ve had it rough.”

“Haha! Do tell me if I’m giving you a hard time, okay? Well, right now, I’m certainly having a good time.”

“…”

Lewis stared out the window again.

“To be honest, I’m surprised that I’m able to be alone with you in such a short amount of time… Other than that, what else do you expect me to say? —‘I’m glad you fell into the river’?” He laughed at me, and continued.

“Yesterday, I’m sure Arthur-sama had told you plenty of things about me—so, anything you want to ask me?”

“…”

“Please, ask me anything. As long as I know the answer, I’ll respond properly.”

“…”

I stared at Lewis’ profile. He didn’t seem to be lying—but I wouldn’t trust him, anyway.

—well, it’s not like I have any other choices…

I lifted my pen again.

While Lewis watched me write, the window stayed open. The warm breeze brushed my cheeks, and at the same time—a white owl flew straight towards us.

Said owl then perched on Lewis’ left arm.

“Good boy…” Lewis gently said that to the owl, while stroking its wings with the back of his right hand.

—owl…

When I stared at the owl, Lewis noticed my gaze and turned towards me.

“This owl? He’s my minion—his name is Benet. The one who informed me of your whereabouts was Benet.”

Lewis then stuck a small, crumpled paper to Benet’ foot.

“To William-sama.”

At Lewis’ words, Benet flew out of the window.

I was honestly impressed by the scene unfolding in front of me—a well-trained owl that could fly in the daytime…

At the same time, I was convinced. In this era, nobody would had thought about sending a letter via an owl. Nowadays, there was no big war—it was peaceful.

—hence, an owl post was wholly unneeded. Yet, Lewis trained one, and even named it.

In other words, it could be that he had a long time of memories, too…

When he saw my current expression, he sat back on the chair and smiled.

“It seems that you do have questions —well, write them down, then.”

I presented him the notebook—there were five questions inside.

“Let’s see—question one: ‘who are you?’ ; question two: ‘how much do you know about me?’; question three: ‘why were you looking for me?’ ; question four: ‘what is Arthur’s power?’ ; and lastly—question five: ‘did you do anything to William?’”

Lewis was surprised at the fifth question. “Why would I do something to William-sama—?” His face looked genuinely concerned.

To be honest, I wrote the fifth question on a whim. I wondered if I could take Lewis’ reaction as a lead—however,

“Intuition.”

When I added that to the notebook, he laughed boisterously.

“Hahaha—!! Well, well, time is aplenty, so let me start by answering the first question—”

Then, he told me a tale of which I couldn’t confirm whether was truth or lie.

---

**T/N: *thump ok. Lionel won. Attentive, optimistic, always cheerful, thoughtful–what’s not to love!?

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