Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 85

[Translated By Divinity]

But the chanting gradually slowed down, then abruptly stopped with an ambiguous lingering tone. Soliel, instead of continuing the chant, tilted her head and focused more intently on the crystal ball.

Then she started chanting a different spell.

When Soliel uttered a few words, Lilliana frowned and her shoulders twitched.

“Ouch!”

At her reaction, Soliel quickly removed Lilliana’s hands from the crystal ball. Lilliana clutched her head, groaning as if in pain.

“Lilliana? Are you alright?”

Damian, not knowing what was happening to Lilliana, put his arm around her.

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just a headache.”

Lilliana still had a throbbing headache and winced. Soliel, observing her with a grim expression, said,

“As I said, reading memories isn’t difficult for me, Lilliana Carnell. It’s very easy to bring back lost memories. But your memories…”

Soliel continued with a worried expression,

“Those two years of memories you can’t recall aren’t simply due to amnesia from an accident. Well, it is amnesia. But it’s not from an accident; it seems like you locked those memories away yourself.”

“I locked them away myself? What do you mean?”

Lilliana asked, confused, and Soliel shrugged.

“It means you chose to forget those two years of memories.”

“What? Why?”

“I need to see your memories to know that, but you intentionally forgot them, right? I can forcefully peek into them. But I don’t know what kind of side effects you might experience in the process. It could be as mild as a headache, but it usually doesn’t end there. You might suffer a mental shock and lose consciousness for a while. And if those are terrible memories, you might be deeply hurt.”

Soliel’s explanation made Damian’s face pale, more so than Lilliana’s.

“Lilliana, I think it’s best if we stop here. I offered to help you regain your memories, but I’ve changed my mind. I don’t think it’s necessary to force them back.”

At Damian’s dissuasion, Lilliana looked back and forth between him and Soliel.

“But no matter what happened, I still want to regain my memories.”

“I think you chose to forget them because you thought those memories were irrelevant to you.”

Despite Damian’s dissuasion, Lilliana seemed unwilling to accept the situation.

Sensing her stubbornness, Soliel got up and put the crystal ball back in its place, as if she didn’t want to touch it anymore.

Then she tried to soothe Lilliana.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. Your memories might come back naturally once you’re mentally stable. It seems like they haven’t completely disappeared. They’re still in your mind, so you’ll be able to remember them when the time is right.”

“Can’t you just do it for me, Soliel?”

Lilliana complained, but Soliel shrugged.

“I don’t want to have nightmares. You have to regain those memories yourself.”

“But…! What if I say I’m okay with it?”

“It’s still a no. I don’t want to do it. I can’t stand seeing someone suffer because of my magic. If you want to regain your memories through magic, go find another wizard.”

“Who? Can you introduce me to another wizard?”

At Lilliana’s question, Soliel seemed to genuinely consider introducing her to another wizard and muttered,

“Lumiere is in hiding and doesn’t want to be found… Harrison isn’t taking any requests lately. And the others…”

Then Soliel shook her head and said,

“I’m sorry, but although I know many wizards, I don’t think any of them can help you regain your memories. And they’re all in hiding, so I can’t just give out their addresses or contact information.”

Lilliana’s shoulders slumped at her words. She had come here with high hopes of regaining her memories by meeting a wizard…

Damian, who had witnessed Lilliana’s anticipation, quickly tried to comfort her.

“Don’t be too disappointed, Lilliana. Ms. Soliel said you haven’t completely forgotten them. So they’ll come back someday.”

“But Damian, even you’ve changed your mind and are skeptical about me regaining my memories…”

Lilliana’s lips were smiling, but her eyes were filled with reproach. Damian knew the perfect magic words to use in this situation.

“We came all the way here, so how about we go to ‘Rabbit’s Garden’ and have some cream cake with peach topping when we get back?”

“Yes, I’ll have some.”

Lilliana’s eyes regained their sparkle. Damian inwardly sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“So you’re giving up on the memory-retrieval magic? Do you need any other spells?”

Lilliana and Damian pondered for a moment, then shook their heads. Soliel tossed the books on the tea table behind her. The golem skillfully caught them and carried them back to the room.

“Alright. It’ll take some time to complete the spells since there are quite a few. You can come back tomorrow to pick them up.”

“It can’t be done today?”

Damian’s question made Soliel frown.

“I told you, there are a lot of spells. It’s only because it’s me that it can be done in a day. It would have taken other wizards a few more days.”

“Is Ms. Soliel a great wizard?”

“Ha, what do you take me for? I’m Soliel. The great wizard Soliel.”

“Not just the wizard Soliel?”

“You punk? Do you think just any wizard can be friends with a Gnome? I’m wiser and more knowledgeable than any other wizard. Even other wizards acknowledge my superiority!”

“Wow…”

Damian couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. Pleased with his reaction, Soliel winked and continued,

“You’ve come to the right place. It’s rare for a great wizard like me to take individual requests. I’m making a special exception because you’re like family to Pascal Gnome.”

While Damian gaped in awe, Lilliana, snapping out of her daze, took out her wallet and asked,

“So how much will it be?”

“Hmm… Let’s see.”

Soliel tapped on the calculator, entering the numbers, then gave the final amount.

“I’ll give you a discount since you were referred by Pascal Gnome and it’s a bulk order. Thirty thousand Hirks should do it.”

Damian had to consciously stop his jaw from dropping.

But Lilliana said excitedly,

“Damian, we have money left over! I want to buy that potion I saw earlier!”

Damian unconsciously pressed his temples. He often couldn’t keep up with Lilliana’s spending habits.

They paid ten thousand Hirks as a deposit, and the rest would be paid when they came to pick up the spells.

They bowed repeatedly to Soliel and went outside. The apartment still looked like a haunted house.

“A wizard… I’m a bit skeptical. If the magic will actually work.”

“I haven’t met many wizards, but if my aunt recommended her, she must be trustworthy. She’s a great wizard, you know? Isn’t that amazing?”

Lilliana said, putting the syrup that turned all food into chocolate flavor into her pocket.

“But what about my memories? I thought I could easily solve it by going to a wizard.”

“Ms. Soliel said they might come back naturally even without forcing them back with magic, didn’t she? So how about we gather clues that might help you regain your memories, just like we’ve been doing?”

“That’s not working, so that’s why…”

“Well, I think it wouldn’t be bad to live without those memories, if necessary. From what Ms. Soliel said, they’re probably not very good memories…”

“No! I will regain my memories! You said you’d help me! Why are you changing your mind now?”

Lilliana shook her head desperately, and Damian frowned, looking confused.

“Why are you so fixated on your memories?”

“I had someone I liked! I want to know who they were!”

At those words, Damian looked even more confused.

“Just because of that?”

“Just because of that?! The person I liked is ‘just because of that’?”

***

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