Unnamed Memories - Chapter 9.3

When he became aware, he was standing in front of an unfamiliar building.

 

It was a large white estate with a double door. Turning around, he saw a forest shrouded in mist behind him.

 

Oscar was about the call out to the person he had just been with, but he realized he couldn’t recall that person’s name. He tried shaking his head lightly, but it didn’t work well, as if there was a gauze.

 

“What…? What am I…?”

 

At that moment, he felt like he was being called, and he placed both hands on the door. He just touched it lightly, but the door soundlessly opened. As if being invited, he took one step inside.

 

Like the exterior, it seemed to be an all-white mansion. It was beautiful, but there were no signs of humans, and felt like there was no one living in it.

 

But he remembered this place. ―Yes, he was sure he came here every night.

 

Oscar walked up the main stairs and down a hallway that extended to the inner part. He knew the partner who had called him earlier was ahead.

 

At the end of the long, long hallway, he saw a white door. He opened it, and came into a large room. Deep inside the white room was a bed, hidden behind silk curtains. He slowly walked towards it, pushing the curtains aside.

 

As if noticing his presence, the woman who was sitting on the bed with her back towards him turned around.

 

Beautiful long black hair that spread over the bed.

 

Skin so fair that it was melting into the scenery, hidden behind a thin nightgown of the same color.

 

Deep dark eyes.

 

A beauty that looked like a human, but wasn’t one.

 

“Oscar…”

 

Noticing him, she smiled bewitchingly and stretched out her arms, which were so thin that they looked about to break. He reached out and embraced her delicate body.

 

“Tinassha.”

 

He embraced her gently as if he was handling something fragile.

 

Just then, he suddenly heard a murmur full of disgust: ‘What a bad taste…’

 

He loosened his embrace and looked at the woman in front of him. She was still smiling, her head slightly tilted to the side in confusion. Her big dark eyes were filled with a tempting light. Oscar held her face with both of his hands, and she half closed her eyes happily.

 

He inspected her soft skin.

 

He let his left hand glide and feel her slender neck. He could feel her warm blood beating under the soft fair skin. He was about to kiss her neck when he suddenly felt his hand increasing strength.

 

“Oscar?”

 

She looked up at him in bewilderment.

 

In the next moment, Oscar, who had been feeling strange himself, widened his eyes in astonishment.

 

His left hand had begun to tighten around her throat by itself. Then his right hand joined in.

 

“My hands…!”

 

No matter how fiercely he willed them, he couldn’t make them let go; it was as if they weren’t his own hands. They squeezed her throat with a clear intention to kill.

 

Her beautiful face distorted, and she gasped in pain.

 

“Oscar… Stop… Help…”

 

She placed her small pale hands on his as if to struggle.

 

Seeing her like that, Oscar could feel sweats dripping down his spine.

 

He broke into an indescribable shudder.

 

His fingers curled up, and his nails bit into her thin neck.

 

“Please… help…”

 

Her feeble voice hit his ears. There were tears in her dark eyes.

 

The situation was out of his control; he bit his lips so hard that blood came out.

 

― He felt dizzy.

 

His body wouldn’t move, as if it had been frozen.

 

In his hands was her slender neck.

 

He knew what would happen next, and his thoughts were crushed by dread.

 

“…Stop… Stop!!”

 

The shout echoed in the pure white room, but it brought no mercy or impact.

 

When he instinctively closed his eyes, there was the dull sound of bone breaking, and her head hung limply.

 

His hands finally became free, and her body fell out of them.

 

Oscar held her limp body up in his shaking arms. Her dark eyes had lost their brilliance and were dully reflecting the surroundings like two glass orbs. Her lips, slightly parted, didn’t move anymore.

 

“…Tinassha?”

 

It was unbelievable. He embraced her slender body, which had become an inanimate object.

 

Then, the world finally collapsed.

 

He sprang up, his whole body drenched in sweats. Looking sideway, he saw the witch in black clothing. She was looking at him sadly.

 

The fear that wouldn’t abate and relief swirled inside his body. The sensation of her neck breaking still remained vividly in his hands, he clenched them hard to get rid of that feeling.

 

“Thank you for your hard work. The stolen life force has also been returned properly.”

 

The cold voice came from somewhere. It was the same as the sweet voice of the woman in his dream, yet different.

 

Oscar slowly took in a breath, then exhaled. He brushed his bangs up with both hands. The words spilled out spontaneously:

 

“Do not… let me kill you…”

 

“That was not me.”

 

“Still.”

 

Oscar’s blue eyes met her dark ones.

 

Both corners of her mouth lifted, and she smiled a cruel smile.

 

“What is it? As long as you are the owner of that sword and I am a witch, you will have to kill me for real some day.”

 

The moonlight illuminated them with its pale light.

 

Oscar had the illusion that the temperature was slowly dropping, and everything was being frozen.

 

“Are you serious?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Tinassha closed her eyes and smiled.

 

It was the smile of a witch. Oscar couldn’t help but feel that the girl who was always by his side and laughed brightly was very far away at this moment.

 

He reached out to touch her, but she floated into the air just a moment before he could.

 

“I’m going to complain to Lucresia. I’ll return tomorrow.”

 

“Wait!”

 

“Sleep well tonight.”

 

“Tinassha!”

 

Her figure vanished from the room.

 

In a room stagnant with fretfulness and loneliness, only the moon and the shadows it cast remained.

 

※　※　※　※

 

Lucresia was mixing a potion while drinking some wine; she chuckled when a familiar presence trespassed her barrier. The sound of the door being opened violently came immediately after.

 

“Lucresia!”

 

“Long time no see, Tinassha. Oh, you grew?”

 

She greeted her with an expression like that of a child who had successfully pulled a prank. Her longtime friend kept her sullen expression and smiled only with her lips.

 

“What was that? There must be a limit even to bad taste pranks.”

 

“I thought you’d break it sooner, but seemed like they didn’t tell you about me. It’s good that I added a scent.”

 

In contrast to Tinassha’s unhappiness, Lucresia seemed to be in so good a mood that she was practically bouncing. She offered her guest some grape wine.

 

“Isn’t the thing with a bad taste your solution? I didn’t expect you to make him break your neck.”

 

“It was quicker, and lifted my mood too.”

 

“I expected a more erotic solution…”

 

“Who would want to use bedroom arts for it?!”

 

At Tinassha’s shout, the Locked Forest Witch lightly stuck her tongue out.

 

Instead of sighing, Tinassha took a sip of the wine poured into the small china for her.

 

She normally didn’t drink alcohol as she hated how it weakened her reasoning ability, but it was an exception when she was with this friend.

 

The sullen witch glared at the one sitting opposite her.

 

“No matter how you look at it, you must have known that he’s my contractor, but what the hell did you do?”

 

“It’s an amazing barrier. I was really intimidated. Well, it’s been a long time, so I thought I’d give you a greeting.”

 

“Your greeting starts with murder?”

 

Lucresia laughed happily. She took out various types of handmade pastries from the cupboard and placed them on the table.

 

“So? What’s with that contractor of yours?”

 

“He was angry at me. About the neck-breaking matter.”

 

“That was quite infuriating… Left a bad aftertaste.”

 

“No need to be sweet to the owner of Akasshia.”

 

Lucresia shrugged at Tinassha’s harsh words.

 

Every magician knew that when the world wanted to subjugate the witches, the name of Akasshia’s owner would come up as the top candidate for the subjugation. And Tinassha knew very well that Oscar could actually subdue a witch with his bare arms.

 

That was all the more reason why she believed he shouldn’t be friendly with witches more than necessary. Marriage was of course out of the question.

 

“But he’s a good man, isn’t he? More than Regius, I think.”

 

“There are many reasons to not compare him with Reg, please.”

 

“What a waste. Can I have him?”

 

“Take him, take him.”

 

Tinassha waved her hand eagerly, then she remembered something.

 

“It’s probably impossible though.”

 

As she told this her friend, she rested her chin in her hand and grimaced.

 

“What? Regret it?”

 

She shook her head at her grinning friend to deny.

 

“No, it’s impossible to involve the blood of witches.”

 

“Ah, seems like it’s quite a troublesome thing.”

 

It looked like Lucresia had also noticed Oscar’s curse. Or maybe even more.

 

His curse, which even witches wouldn’t notice if they didn’t look carefully, was cast by the

Silent Witch, who was overwhelmingly skilled in blessings and curses.

 

Tinassha picked up a piece of baked sweets and casually asked her friend about the curse as if she was asking how to bake the treat:

 

“Can you break it?”

 

“It’s complicated… Probably not. Is it the Silent Witch?”

 

“Yes. I’m just analyzing it for the time being, but it feels like a dead end.”

 

The treat was moderately sweet, and was actually quite delicious; Tinassha pondered if she should really ask how to make it. Lucresia, who was excellent in making magic potions, was also extremely skilled in cooking.

 

The Locked Forest Witch asked while refilling her and Tinassha’s cups:

 

“What are you analyzing?”

 

“Hair and nails. And the words.”

 

“For bodily samples, blood and semen will do be better. They’re probably the most affected.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

Lucresia went to the workshop at the back of the room and brought out two small vials. She casually gave them to Tinassha by throwing them at her.

 

“Take these. As apology for this time.”

 

Tinassha caught them and, upon realizing they contained the samples in question, was dumbfounded. She reflexively dropped the half-eaten sweets.

 

“You collected them… Please do something about that gross collecting method of yours.”

 

“I’m considering creating artificial life.”

 

“Are you thinking about becoming someone’s contractor? It can’t be anything else, right?”

 

“Only this much, okay?”

 

Lucresia cooed good-humoredly, and Tinassha accepted the vials while thinking how suspicious she was. She sent them both to a safe place.

 

Looking at her grumbling friend, Lucresia touched the bottle to her wine-reddened cheeks.

 

In contrast to the cool-and-pure beauty Tinassha, she was a cheerful, sensual beauty. Many men had been charmed by her friendly smiles, and she had actually had quite a few lovers until now.

 

She poked at Tinassha with a finger, her nails beautifully painted in red.

 

“When you come back, apologize honestly, alright? I believe he treats you with care, and yet… I did create that kind of dream, but I didn’t present you. The ‘you’ in there was as a reflection of his own wishes.”

 

“And you think whose fault is it that we’re fighting?”

 

“You-being-stubborn’s fault.”

 

Half of it was bull’s-eye. Tinassha gave up on objecting and just took a mouthful of wine.

 

While her anger had cooled down, the feelings of guilt still remained. Even though that was the truth, there might have been a better way to phrase it. The slight regret throbbed like the pierce of a thorn.

 

She suddenly looked up at the moon outside the window.

 

She thought about her contractor, who was probably being illuminated by the same moon right now, and wondered what she would say when she returned.

 

※　※　※　※

 

When Oscar woke up the next morning, he clicked his tongue at the strange heaviness his body was feeling.

 

Both his mind and body didn’t feel refreshed; maybe it was the reaction to Lucresia’s spell, or maybe it was the unpleasant memory from last night. He was sitting on the bed, wondering if he should take a bath when light knocks came from the balcony’s window.

 

There was only one person who knocked at that place. Oscar called out ‘Come in’ while putting on a coat.

 

In response, a witch in black clothes came in.

 

But she didn’t approach him, and stayed by the window. Seeing her, Oscar smiled wryly. Awkwardness was painted on her face; she looked just like a child.

 

“Come here.”

 

At his beckoning, the witch hesitantly walked to right in front of him. Her lips parted slightly as if to say something, but in the end she didn’t.

 

Oscar looked at her and reached out to embrace her slender body and pull her towards him.

 

The witch was standing higher than Oscar, and she looked down at him awkwardly. He softly caressed her cheeks and her pale neck as if to ascertain something.

 

“Sorry.”

 

His honest feelings became words.

 

Her eyes widened slightly as if Oscar’s apology was unexpected to her. But immediately after, she shyly cast her eyes down and muttered ‘I’m sorry, as well’.

 

He patted her back lightly.

 

Even when he became Farsas’ King and she continued to be the witch in the tower, he wished that the day they became enemies would not come.