My Husband Hates Me, But He Lost His Memories - Chapter 16.1
Chapter 16.1
Translator: Yonnee
—
Hessen spat out curse words one after another. He tried to get me on a horse, but instead let me stay on the ground and untied the rope on my wrist.
However, Theodore arrived just around the corner before Hessen could untie it completely. After jumping off his horse, Theodore ran straight over here, and the moment he saw my tied wrists, his expression became distorted.
“What’s going on here?”
“……”
Hessen ruffled his hair with annoyance painting his features. On the other hand, I was stiff as Theodore drew me into his arms.
He embraced me tightly and stroked my back with one hand, perhaps because he misunderstood my frozen frame as something like fear.
I was taken aback, and so I trembled all over. Then Theodore caressed my head and whispered into my ear with a gentle voice.
“Lily, it’s fine now. Don’t worry.”
“……”
No, the problem is that you’re doing this. …But this wasn’t the right time to bring this up. Hessen was still here.
Slowly taking in a deep breath, I looked back at Hessen. He was staring at us in this direction, frowning as though he couldn’t understand what he was seeing.
Theodore asked him again.
“Hessen Everett, what were you trying to do here? Speak only the truth.”
“……”
Hessen stared at Theodore, who enveloped me in his arms with a protective stance. Soon after, displeasure came over his expression. He barked out a sarcastic laugh.
“Duke Valentino. When did you start taking care of that wench?”
“What do you mean, wench…”
While Theodore was at a loss for words, he gripped my shoulder tighter. Hessen laughed like a madman, then he raised his hand to tap his head.
“Are you crazy? What happened to your head? Your Grace the Duke, that woman is Lily Everett, the one you despise so much. But what kind of farce is this. You’re acting, right?”
“……”
Theodore seemed to be choosing his words for a while. He couldn’t answer easily, right away. And there was nothing good about revealing that his memories were gone—even if those memories were only ones related to me.
‘My father and Owen are such wily men who wouldn’t miss a chance to use anything as a weakness against him, even if it’s trivial.’
As he was thinking, I removed what was tying my wrists on my own, then I turned towards Hessen.
“Hessen, regardless of whether you’re my younger brother, don’t play any jokes like this from now on. It’s not fun at all.”
He seemed to be surprised to see that I untied my wrists on my own. This wasn’t even anything big. Actually, I could solve something like this easily as long as I know the trick to it.
Then, I turned to Theodore.
“Duke, Hessen merely pulled a prank. He’s a mischievous child by nature. It’s not a big deal, so please don’t worry.”
As he listened to my words, Theodore looked at me with an incredulous expression. But I calmly looked back at him without changing my expression at all.
There would be nothing good about making a fuss and causing this incident to grow out of proportion. Anyway, I didn’t even feel that Hessen’s actions were threatening. And Hessen was a man who only had a trigger-like impulse while rarely ever planning anything.
Even if he had dragged me away like that, he wouldn’t be able to keep me for long. This was all nothing but a simple incident, so I wanted this to end just at this point.
“How…”
Theodore’s mouth opened. As he held my shoulder, his grasp started to sting painfully.
“How… is this not a big deal.”
“……”
I just witnessed Hessen Everett tying you up and dragging you away, so how can I not care? A prank? How can a prank go as far as this?”
Theodore spoke swiftly like an undeterred gun. His blue eyes were wide, and I could only stare back at him blankly with my mouth agape. He looked… really strange. It wasn’t ‘him’ that I knew.
Would Theodore, the one who hadn’t lost his memories, have also gotten angry like this? Would he have just let Hessen drag me away or not?
No. He wouldn’t even come after me in the first place.
…I think he’s become a different person ever since he lost his memories. I swallowed down a sigh. Then, I glanced towards Hessen.
…At this point, he was just staring at Theodore as though he was looking at something truly bizarre.
‘At this point… there’s no other way.’
I should at least faint.
The first priority here was to get away from Hessen. It would be fine to talk to Theodore later. It was imperative that Hessen wouldn’t notice that the duke’s condition was strange.
I hurriedly closed my eyes and held my breath. And, I imagined that I was drowning—in very deep, endlessly dark waters. When I was young, I almost drowned in a lake. We were out boating, but Hessen caught me and threw me into the lake.
I didn’t develop a phobia of water because of that, but I could vividly remember the sense of being trapped in that dark, suffocating abyss.
Since then, I learned that holding my breath for a long time would revive my fear of that time. And if I used my imagination to the extreme, I’d lose consciousness just as I did when I almost died in those waters.
The Everett household’s doctor said that it was a psychological trauma that must be resolved, but I thought differently. It was useful. When Hessen or someone else would harass me, or when my father would rebuke me, or when Owen would say something that sounded like a nightmare—so that I could escape, all I had to do was faint.
I often used this method back then. But since I came to the Valentino Castle, I haven’t used it at all, so I had no idea whether it would still work or not. Even so, it was worth a try.
“……”
I was ‘holding my breath’, but at some point, I felt ‘breathless’. As this happened, I couldn’t control my breathing any longer.
My throat clenched up. It felt like something was blocking my airways. As the fear of death rushed in, I soon lost consciousness.
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