Liam looked surprised. His ash-grey eyes widened for a mont before settling into a heavy, sombre gaze.
“Is there a magic that transfers mories?” I asked.
“There is,” he replied.
“Can I choose which mories to give?” I inquired further.
Liam nodded, his eyes filled with concern for , but also with respect. I knew he wouldn’t forcibly drag away. Though he might want to, he was patiently waiting for to speak.
When I requested the use of magic, Owen glanced at Liam anxiously, but Liam ignored his look and extended his hand to .
“Your hand, please, Jane.”
A familiar, comforting snap sound echoed. Liam’s eyes briefly turned a clear, pale lavender. Light emanated from his palm, and I placed my hand on it, smiling.
“…Please, don’t hate too much.”
Why are we always afraid of being hated before we reveal our secrets? I found it curious even as I spoke.
Liam whispered, “I won’t,” but I was still anxious. I feared he would feel betrayed, that he would rage at for deceiving him while wearing Jane’s shell.
‘So, that’s it.’
Finally, my emotions crystallised.
‘Yes, I truly…’
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see Liam’s expression. I was scared. At the sa ti, mories flashed across my mind.
The mories I shared with him were nothing significant. Scenarios I had imagined while waiting for him, hypotheses that hadn’t occurred yet. Images of muttering to myself about how to save , explaining exactly what he needed to do.
‘Even if I escape this place, it won’t matter. Clara uses magic too. It seems like her magic is binding here, probably spread across the entire area. You’ll need to break it. I’ll stall for ti here. Focus on breaking the magic rather than saving . And…’
The mory of myself was murmuring into the void.
What if he sees as a monster who stole Jane’s body? These thoughts had cluttered my mind while speaking. But Liam Moore ‘needed’ to know.
‘…I’m sorry. I’m not the Jane you knew.’
Liam’s hand trembled as he held mine. But since the mory transfer was still ongoing, he couldn’t pull away.
I transferred all my mories of Clara’s actions to subdue , the absurd demands she made in the na of ‘that person,’ and everything that had happened since I was kidnapped. When I slowly opened my eyes, a pale Liam was staring at with a twisted expression.
Liam Moore bit his trembling lips and looked at with wavering eyes, as if demanding an explanation. His thick eyebrows were furrowed deeply.
When I pulled my hand away in fear, he grasped it again. I didn’t have the courage to et his eyes, so I bowed my head. Yet, he still held my hand firmly, as if deciding to leave the confusion behind.
“How many tis has that woman…?”
Ah. I felt my strength draining away.
If blind faith could kill a person, Liam Moore would have been buried six feet under long ago. Instead of reacting with anger, bla, or even leaving behind, he was inquiring about Clara Barnum’s tortures.
Even though I had risked revealing the notebook’s function to show him I wasn’t ordinary, he didn’t seem to care.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
Liam carefully examined my wrist. His gaze lingered on my neck. Once he confird there were no scars on my body, he sighed in relief and cautiously spoke.
“What will you do after breaking the magic?”
“I have to confront Clara. At least in one way, I have the upper hand.”
“…The notebook.”
Liam now recognized the notebook.
Previously, NPCs didn’t notice using the notebook. The monts I used it were blank, as if they never happened. But sotis, they retained the awareness that ‘sothing was about to happen.’
“I’m sorry.”
When I mumbled in a small voice, Liam blinked. He seed montarily puzzled by what I was apologising for.
“For what?”
“Because, I…”
“I knew.”
A jolt ran through . My words caught in my throat. Since when? How? Why? The words lted in my mouth, unable to form sentences.
His words were both cruel and gentle. It was paradoxical how the sharpest weapon a person has is their tongue.
“I never resented you, not even once.”
“But, how…”
How did you know?
I had all of Jane’s mories intact and had adapted perfectly to life in London within a few days. No one noticed my change, except Clara Barnum!
So how did you notice?
“You always said you’d tell next ti.”
Next ti.
Recalling those words sent chills down my spine. It felt like soone had poured cold Thas water down my back. I didn’t know if it was fear or shock, but my body trembled.
“How did you, why…”
Liam gave a sorrowful smile. Was this the sa man who had ruthlessly interrogated on the train? Or had we co to know each other too well in such a short ti? I couldn’t tell. His fingers rested on my cheek.
“I thought it was a hallucination, but the mories you gave made everything clear.”
Silence followed. I opened my mouth in shock, closed it again, and repeated the cycle. Liam waited for patiently, full of understanding. Only Owen watched us uneasily and then raised his voice.
“Hey, what the hell are you two talking about? Next ti? What next ti? Aren’t you taking her out of here?”
“I will take her out,” Liam replied.
“But not this ti,” I interjected, cutting him off.
“What is this…”
But there was no ti to explain to Owen. Clara would co. I hadn’t escaped, and too much ti had passed.
‘If Clara kills in this state?’
Everything I planned, everything I told Liam, would fall into Clara’s hands.
I can’t let that happen. Not after coming this far.
“I can endure it.”
I whispered. Liam’s eyes widened. I firmly drove the nail in again. Using goodwill and trust to inflict pain. But Liam Moore was the kind of person who could embrace pain as a friend. I demanded.
“Erase my mories. Everything I gave you and our conversation now.”
“…”
“Trust . Can you do it?”
Liam Moore silently stared at . His pale eyes, under sharply defined eyebrows, seed ready to shed tears but slowly nodded.
Owen Cassfire grabbed Liam’s shoulder in shock.
“You know it’s forbidden, right?”
“…Of course.”
Owen watched in stunned silence as Liam Moore reached out to . He looked desolate. Who would be happy to see their friend break a taboo? But it would be okay. Soon, all of this would be as if it never happened.
His large hand touched my forehead. I closed my eyes.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Jane.” The voice calling made open my eyes.
It was Liam Moore. Ah. We et again. The excitent was less this ti. We’ve t twice more since then. Liam always greets anew. There was even a ti when I got shot while escaping with him. Huh? Did I doze off? Strangely, my mory was hazy.
Liam Moore looked unusually troubled, not hiding it as he spoke to .
“I did as you asked.”
What?
Hearing that, my expression fell apart. My dumbfounded face was reflected in his eyes. Liam’s hand naturally brushed my cheek and then fell away.
I hadn’t given him any instructions during our two etings.
My head spun. What? Have we t more tis? Did I lose my mind? But I couldn’t grasp it.
I slowly retraced the parts I rembered. For so reason, it seed I had sothing to do whenever I t him. But I couldn’t recall it. All my mories after Clara’s departure were gone, as if soone had deliberately erased that part.
My mind concluded that through this unnatural blank, I had accomplished sothing, though I didn’t know what.
‘Ah, I see. I did it.’
Finally, I relaxed.
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