Chapter 4

With eyes filled with fear, I lifted my head. I mean, I tried to. All I could do was look up.

“I-I am… the owner of this house…”

Even in the dark, I could make out the features of the man in front of me and felt his dominating presence.

“…The owner?”

“Yes… I’m the owner of this place…”

His hands that were grabbing my wrists loosened for a moment.

Knox, who was still trapping me, grabbed my head and turned it side to side. After observing my face, I noticed the discomfort in his face had returned. He frowned, and then applied strength to his once loosened grip. Seeing his face that had been lit by the moonlight, brought back my initial fear of him.

“Where… on earth… is this place?” 2

At that moment, we locked eyes.

‘No way, was this the first time he had ever woken up at night?’

I was not sure whether it was because he slept a lot or other reasons but now, Knox, who apparently only just became aware of his situation, seemed confused.

Come to think of it, he was too quiet during the night. If he had woken up at least once during the night, wouldn’t he have made some noise?

Then there’s the other thing. These past few days, Knox had been falling asleep in the evening. Once the door to his room was shut, he had never woken up until we fell asleep as well.

Even though I was supposed to make him go to sleep early on purpose, my sister was never suspicious because Knox was already unusually tired. Plus, in the morning, Knox would be the one running to wake us up. So, that means we had never seen him waking up before.

“Why don’t I remember anything…?”

The moment I heard that deep voice, I realised something.

‘Wait, so he doesn’t have any memories of being in his child form?’

Forgetting my fear, I opened my mouth.

“Y-you’ve been sleeping soundly this whole time. So I just came to check whether you were still sleeping well.”

The half-naked man in front of me was dazed. Being pinned down by him was quite embarrassing but, at that moment, I couldn’t care less about it.

The fear I had in the beginning hadn’t faded in the slightest but I believed thinking about what I should do in this situation came first.

His hand was still grabbing onto one of my arms and I didn’t think he believed me when I said I was the owner of this place.

“How about you let me go for now?…”

In the novel, Knox got caught in his adult form by the woman who saved him. Other than a few house staff and the knights, my sister had been the first stranger to find out about his curse.

Considering all the times he, who had not been loved before and didn’t understand love, first received love and learned to be considerate and understanding, I can only imagine how precious my sister must have been to Knox.

“You’re a person I don’t know. How can I believe you and let you go?”

It was no wonder that he, who hasn’t learned anything about love, would growl like a beast and act tough in front of others. Rather, since I already know all of the cruel things he had done before from the novel, the fact that this reaction was milder made me grateful.

“Where is this?”

“My house…”

“I’m talking about the exact location.”

My sister was supposed to be captured like this, but since I was the one being captured like this, it must mean the flag has transferred over to me.

With my trembling hands still held in his, I told myself to stay alert even if I was at the mouth of a tiger’s den. So, stay alert I did. I would have to carefully conduct myself from now on.

I looked up.

“This is the Night forest. The ‘Safety place’ in the eastern part of the Night forest.”

“What’s the Night forest?”

“…Do you not remember anything?”

“…No.”

The time had come. Carefully, I raised my head to look at Knox and grabbed his finger.

“I-I could tell. First, how about you release me? Knox, my arms hurt.”

Knox seemed to be grabbing me without much thought, but my arms were going numb because of his strength.

“…Knox?”

“It’s your name?”

He froze.

The boy I imagined to be in my head this whole time was like a thin birch tree, I did not know Know would turn into this large a man.

Most importantly, I felt like I was dying with my heartrate rapidly rising snd falling. At that moment, Knox released my hand.

The relief I got after he released me quickly disappeared as he grabbed my neck.

“Lies. I may not be able to remember anything… but I know that name is not mine.”

“I gave it to you.”

“…You gave it to me?”

While still grabbing my neck, his low rumbling voice came out. I gave Knox a nervous nod as an answer then finally, he loosened his grip on the hand that was gripping my neck.

Knox’s fingers brushed down my neck and past my collarbones.

It was a touch filled with wariness, like a wild animal observing its prey. As if he was trying to be careful not to push me.

I recalled the way child Knox treated my sister. I realised that this man was treating me like how child Knox treated my sister in the novel. It was amazing how these two completely different personalities belong to the same person.

“What did you mean when you said I slept soundly?”

“Huh? Ah… You don’t have to believe me but… please believe me?”

“Believe?”

“Yes. You’re actually…, a child during the day. Like about this big? You looked to be about 7 or 8 years old.”

He really didn’t remember anything, right?

Nervously looking at Knox, I explained to him why he couldn’t remember anything despite already being here for a few days.

Not being able to understand what I said, he frowned. I mean, it would have been strange if he had easily believed that he turned into a child during the day.

“…So you mean I have been staying here as a child? For the last few days?”

“Yes. Yes. You heard it right…”

“Bullshit.”

He gave me a cold but fierce look.

My hand was suddenly grabbed onto causing me goosebumps.

“It’s better if you stop having thoughts of running away.”

“…Yes sir.” 1

I looked at my wrist which was being tightly held by him and quickly nodded my head. I guess he leaned against my shoulders because it was more comfortable.

I held back the suddenly arising urge to touch his hair.

“…My legs are numb.”

Feeling his gaze, I flinched. He rolled his eyes but remained looking at me before raising his eyebrows.

“Just straighten your legs.”

“…The thing is I can’t…”

“…”

“…You’re a real piece of work.”

“Huh?”

Without me knowing, my back hit against the wall as he grabbed my leg with his hand suddenly. The hand, pulled and stretched my legs, slightly lifting my skirt as a result.

“I’m going to touch you, okay.”

Feeling awkward, I looked away from the man who grabbed my leg. His hands which held my leg for a while felt like handcuffs. I could feel shame creeping up my pale neck as my ankle continue to be held by him.

“…This will do.”

“Okay… Thank you…”

I was grateful for his help in straightening out my legs, but wasn’t it because of you that my legs were numb in the first place so why did your expression suggest that my gratitude was expected?

“What’s your name?”

“Amy… I don’t have a surname.”

I was getting nervous again because those big hands of his that were grabbing my arm could break my wrists any time. Before dawn comes, I should back to my sister’s side. If I had to remain stuck here until dawn…?

If only Knox could suddenly knock out or if my sister could remain deep asleep until morning comes. But I know the latter was impossible since no matter how much she drinks, my sister didn’t get hangovers.

While I was worrying, a sweet smell came from next to me. The refreshing scent of gardenias in a midsummer forest wafted from the man beside me. It smelled unfamiliar because it was different from the child Knox.

Does the male lead have a scent? The more I was conscious of it, the stronger the scent became…

At that moment, Knox murmured slowly.

“…The last thing I remember is a forest.”

The thick low voice that trickled out from the man next to me tickled my ear.

“Did you bring me here?”

“…”

After hearing his question, I hesitated to answer… To be exact, it was my sister that picked you up, not me.

Knox escaped into the forest after the Crown Prince’s raid. So the last thing he could remember in adult form was the forest. But seeing that he couldn’t remember that it was my sister that picked him up, I concluded that he did not have any memories of when he was in child form or of the past.

I was in the position my sister was supposed to be placed in. Suddenly, it occurred to me that as long as I conduct myself well, I could save my sister.

The next 1 year.

For the next 1 year, I can save my sister as long as I take her place and be nice to the male lead. Then when it was all over, we can run away to someplace far.

I just had to be nice to him and treat him gently until the Crown Prince catches up… One day, when we escape and Knox remembers everything, wouldn’t he have a better opinion of us?

“Yes. I was the one that brought you here.”

With my unblinking, unwavering eyes, I looked at Knox who was now wide awake and nodded. I felt sorry that I was lying to him when he trusted me so much.

“Yes, I… had been a very attentive caretaker.”

“…”

Yup, I went too far.

T/N:

I really hope they speak to each other more often because translating descriptions hurt my eyes ㅜㅜ