In Place of Losing My Memory, I Remembered That I Was the Fiancée of the Capture Target - Chapter 4.7
“Xia…”
As I wake up, I see Theodore’s anxious face.
“I’m sorry… for arguing with the prince even though you have a fever.”
Something cool touches my face.
“You’re sweating so much… I’m really sorry.”
Theodore wipes my face with a damp towel as he speaks.
The fever… oh, right.
With everything that happened… the shock… the fever spiked…
“…Where’s His Highness?”
“He left. He wanted to stay by your side, but he had to leave because he was summoned from the palace.”
“I see…”
I sighed.
“Are you concerned about His Highness?”
Theodore’s voice lowers.
If I were to worry about it, it would be…
“Theo… did you… know about… the relationship between His Highness and me?”
Theodore’s way of addressing the prince suggested he did.
“The other day, when I said I wanted to marry you, father told me why Xia’s engagement was decided by royal decree.”
Theodore paused wiping the sweat, then answered.
“When I came to this family as an adopted son, you always had a sad expression. I thought it was because Xia was forced into an unwanted engagement… but that wasn’t it, was it?”
“…It seems so…”
Did I really love the prince?
Even if I peer into my heart, I can’t find the answer.
Certainly, there were times when being with the prince made me feel something akin to pain.
But whether that could be called love… I feel it’s something different.
———Really…
“Why…”
“Xia?”
“Why… did I forget?”
My memories.
My feelings for the His Highness.
“…If your memories return, will you fall in love with His Highness again?”
Theodore caressed my cheek.
“…I don’t know…”
To love the prince again?
If that happens… what will become of the feelings I have for Patrick?
If they disappear… I don’t want that.
“———Maybe I’ve failed.”
Theodore muttered.
“Huh?”
“I should have made Xia, who lost her memory, fall in love with me before you fell in love with that guy.”
”That…that…is…”
I wonder.
But… regardless, I can’t turn back time.
I don’t want to lose these feelings I have now… my feelings for him.
“Xia. Am I not enough?”
Theodore squeezed my hand.
“I was… an unwanted child.”
“Huh…?”
“My family is much smaller than the Bertini family, even though we’re both counts. Being the third son of such a small family… I’m an unnecessary existence.”
“…There’s no such thing as an unnecessary existence.”
“When I first met Xia, you said that to me.”
Theodore looked at me with a nostalgic gaze.
“From the moment you held my hand and said ‘You’re my precious cousin,’ ——Since then, you’ve been important to me, Xia. A special existence.”
“…Is that so…”
I didn’t know something like that happened.
“When I was adopted into this family, I was happy to become a family with Xia. But gradually, I started to feel regret. Why is it that even though I love Xia so much, Xia has to marry someone she doesn’t love?”
“Theo…”
“If the purpose is to separate you from the prince, then it should be me who marries you, shouldn’t it?”
The hand holding mine tightened.
“Hey, Xia. Choose me. I only have you, Xia.”
With his longing gaze, I couldn’t respond.