Yuuta stared at the blue ink staining his bloodied palm before slowly looking toward Erza. His mind remained foggy, and he still couldn’t remember what had happened during the missing part of their conversation, but as he stared at the broken pen in his hand, another memory suddenly surfaced.
Elena’s innocent voice echoed inside his head.
"Papa is silly," she had declared confidently. "How will Papa know? Mama removed Papa’s memory."
Those words hurt far more now than when Elena had first said them.
At the time, Yuuta hadn’t wanted to believe her. Elena was still a child, and there had been countless explanations he could use to convince himself she had misunderstood something. More importantly, believing Elena meant accepting that Erza had deliberately entered his mind and removed something from him without his knowledge.
Now...
The evidence was sitting inside his palm.
A tear slowly slipped from the corner of Yuuta’s eye.
"...It was true."
Erza froze.
Yuuta’s trembling fingers slowly closed around the shattered remains of the pen as he looked at her. There was no anger in his expression yet. He simply looked hurt, confused, and almost frightened by the realization that the person standing before him possessed the ability to take something from his mind without leaving him aware that anything was missing.
"You..."
His voice cracked.
"...you erased my memory."
Yuuta looked down at his palm again.
The blue ink had mixed with his blood, staining nearly his entire hand. Several pieces of shattered plastic were embedded between his fingers, and even the refill inside the pen had broken under whatever tremendous force he had unknowingly used.
He hadn’t expected this.
In truth, Yuuta hadn’t even known whether his little plan would work.
Because fifteen minutes earlier...
Before confronting Erza...
Yuuta had already prepared for this possibility.
Fifteen Minutes Earlier
Yuuta sat beside Elena with a pen turning slowly between his fingers. Her words refused to leave his mind.
Mama removed Papa’s memory.
If Erza truly could erase memories, confronting her created one terrifying problem. He could learn the truth, lose it moments later, and never even realize something had been taken from him.
His gaze dropped toward the pen.
"Then I’ll leave myself proof."
He opened his palm. A simple mark would be enough. If he later found ink on his hand without remembering making it, he would know something had been erased.
For some reason, preparing against Erza made him uncomfortable. He loved her. He wanted to trust her more than anyone else, yet Elena’s words had planted a doubt inside him that he could no longer ignore.
Yuuta quietly touched the pen through his pocket.
"Hopefully..."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"...I won’t need it."
The memory ended.
Yuuta’s crimson eyes slowly focused upon his palm again.
His original plan had been nothing more than a tiny mark.
Maybe an X.
Maybe a single line.
Yet what he saw now wasn’t anything close to what he had planned.
His entire palm was smeared with blue ink and blood. The pen itself had been crushed so violently that its plastic body had shattered, while the broken refill had spilled ink across his skin. Several fresh cuts covered his palm, evidence that at some point he had gripped the pen with enough force to destroy it without caring about the pieces cutting into his flesh.
Yuuta didn’t know why.
He didn’t know what Erza had told him.
He didn’t know why his head hurt so badly, why his entire body felt exhausted, or why there had been enough force in his hand to completely crush the pen.
Those memories were gone.
But that was precisely the point.
Yuuta slowly raised his eyes toward Erza.
She had erased something.
And whatever had happened before she erased it...
His past self had desperately held onto the one piece of evidence he had prepared.
The broken pen.
Yuuta’s lips trembled as another tear rolled down his cheek.
His little plan had worked.
But instead of feeling victorious, Yuuta felt his heart sink. Proving himself right should have brought some kind of satisfaction, yet there was none. The shattered pen in his hand didn’t feel like evidence of a successful plan anymore. It felt like proof that the one possibility he had desperately hoped was wrong had actually happened.
Because there was only one person standing before him who could have done it.
"...Erza."
His bloody fingers tightened around the shattered pen as his trembling lips slowly curved upward. It wasn’t a happy smile, nor was there any amusement behind it.
Something about it looked wrong, almost frightening, as Yuuta lowered his head and allowed his messy hair to fall over his eyes, hiding most of his expression from Erza.
Erza immediately noticed the change.
She had been so consumed by relief after seeing Yuuta regain consciousness that she hadn’t yet realized what he was holding or why he was staring at his palm.
Hearing her name from his lips only made her believe he was finally becoming aware of his surroundings.
"Yuuta...?"
Her voice carried unmistakable relief as she took a step toward him.
She wanted to check his eyes again, make sure his mind had properly recovered, and confirm that the Crown Seal was no longer reacting.
But before she could reach him, a strange sound escaped Yuuta’s mouth.
He laughed.
At first, it was barely more than a breathy chuckle, so quiet that Erza almost wondered whether she had heard correctly. Then another followed, slightly louder and shakier than the first. Yuuta’s shoulders began trembling as the laughter gradually became increasingly unstable, somewhere between nervous disbelief and something much darker.
"Heh..."
Another laugh escaped him as tears continued sliding silently down his cheeks.
"Hehehe..."
Erza stopped walking.
There was nothing joyful about that sound. Yuuta laughed like someone who had finally discovered that the horrible possibility he had been afraid to believe was true. Every laugh sounded more broken than the previous one, until Yuuta suddenly tilted his head downward and covered part of his face with his bloodied hand.
"Hahaha... I really was a fool."
His voice trembled beneath the laughter.
"A complete fool."
The laughter abruptly stopped.
Silence replaced it so suddenly that Erza felt more unsettled by the silence than she had by the laughter itself. Yuuta remained seated against the sofa with his head lowered, the broken pen clenched between his fingers while tears continued dripping from beneath the strands of hair covering his face.
Erza’s relief immediately turned into concern.
"Yuuta?"
She quickly rushed toward him before kneeling directly in front of him. Seeing the tears running down his face made her heart tighten, and after what had happened only moments earlier, Erza immediately assumed the strange behavior had to be another consequence of the Crown Seal.
"Yuuta, look at me. Are you alright?"
Yuuta gave no response.
Erza leaned closer, carefully studying his face while panic gradually returned to her eyes. She had healed the physical damage, but perhaps there was something inside his mind she hadn’t noticed. Perhaps the pain hadn’t completely disappeared after all.
"Tell me where it hurts," Erza said anxiously. "Your head? Your eyes? Is the pain coming back?"
Still, Yuuta said nothing.
Then Erza’s gaze dropped toward his hand.
Her expression froze.
Blood covered Yuuta’s palm.
Blue ink was mixed between the crimson stains, while pieces of the shattered pen remained trapped between his fingers. Erza couldn’t understand where those wounds had come from. She had healed him completely only moments ago, so why was his palm still bleeding?
"Your hand..."
Her fear immediately overcame everything else. Erza reached toward him without hesitation, intending to take his injured hand and heal the wounds before they could worsen.
Yuuta slapped her hand away.
The sharp sound echoed through the apartment.
Erza froze.
Her arm remained suspended between them as she stared at the place where Yuuta had just struck her hand away. The force itself had meant nothing to her. Yuuta couldn’t physically hurt her even if he tried.
But the rejection did.
"Don’t touch me."
Yuuta’s voice was low.
There was no laughter anymore.
Erza slowly looked back toward him, confusion appearing across her face. Her own hand was still trembling slightly from the terror she had experienced only moments earlier, yet now Yuuta was behaving in a way she had never seen before.
"What...?"
She couldn’t understand.
"Yuuta, what happened?"
Yuuta didn’t answer. His head remained lowered while his bloodied fingers continued gripping the shattered pen as though releasing it would somehow make the proof disappear.
Erza’s anxiety increased.
She couldn’t see his expression properly because of the hair covering his eyes, but she could see the tears falling from his face.
To Erza, there was only one explanation. Yuuta had just suffered unimaginable pain because of the Crown Seal, awakened confused with his memories altered, and was now experiencing some kind of emotional shock from the aftermath.
Erza slowly moved closer again.
"It’s alright."
Her voice softened instinctively.
"I’m here."
She reached toward him carefully, this time intending to wrap her arms around him. If Yuuta couldn’t explain what was happening, then she would simply hold him until he calmed down. She had done it before, and somewhere inside her frightened mind, she believed perhaps feeling her beside him would reassure him.
Her arms had barely begun moving around him when Yuuta’s head suddenly lifted.
"I SAID DON’T TOUCH ME!"
His scream exploded through the apartment.
Erza stopped completely.
Her arms remained halfway around him, but she couldn’t move another inch.
Yuuta’s crimson eyes were finally visible beneath his hair. They were filled with tears, confusion, exhaustion, and something Erza hadn’t expected to see directed toward her.
Betrayal.
Erza stared at him in stunned silence. During her centuries of existence, countless beings had feared her voice, bowed before her authority, and died for speaking disrespectfully in her presence. Raising one’s voice toward the Dragon Queen of Atlantis could once have been enough to condemn an entire bloodline.
Yet none of that entered Erza’s mind.
She wasn’t standing before Yuuta as the Dragon Queen.
She wasn’t his ruler.
She wasn’t his superior.
She was his wife.
And right now, her husband was looking at her as though her touch itself had become unbearable.
Erza slowly pulled her arms back. For some reason, that tiny movement hurt more than any wound she had received in battle. Her violet eyes moved across Yuuta’s face, desperately searching for some explanation for what had changed during the few seconds since he regained consciousness.
"Yuuta..."
Her voice had become unusually small.
"What happened?"
Yuuta didn’t answer.
He didn’t even react.
His head remained lowered while his bloody fingers stayed wrapped around the shattered pen. Tears continued slipping silently down his cheeks, but there was no response to Erza’s voice, almost as though he couldn’t hear her at all.
Erza stared at him helplessly.
Another tear escaped her eye.
It must be the side effect.
The thought immediately gave her something to hold onto.
Yes... that must be it.
Yuuta had nearly died only moments ago. His mind had been overwhelmed by memories it wasn’t capable of processing, the Crown Seal had reacted violently, and Erza herself had been forced to erase part of his memory to save him. Of course he would be confused after waking up. Of course his emotions wouldn’t immediately make sense.
There was no other explanation.
Because her Yuuta wouldn’t scream at her.
He had always been cautious around her, sometimes ridiculously so. Even after becoming comfortable enough to tease her and argue with her, there had always been a certain respect beneath everything he did. He knew what she was capable of, and in the beginning, he had practically trembled whenever she became genuinely angry.
My mortal would never look at me like that.
Erza desperately wanted to believe it.
He would never scream at me like that.
Her trembling hand slowly rose again, although this time she didn’t dare touch him.
"Yuuta..."
Erza made her voice as soft as possible.
"Tell me. Is something still hurting?"
Yuuta remained silent.
Erza swallowed painfully before continuing.
"Your head? Your eyes? Anything at all. Just tell me so that..."
"So that what...?" Yuuta said.
Erza stopped.
Yuuta’s voice had been quiet, but there was something inside it that immediately made her stomach tighten.
He slowly lifted his head.
"So that what, Erza...?"
His crimson eyes finally met hers directly.
The tears were still there, yet beneath them was an expression Erza had never seen from Yuuta before. There was no fear of her strength, no nervousness about angering the Dragon Queen, and none of the warmth he usually carried whenever he looked at her.
Only hurt.
Yuuta stared directly into her violet eyes before speaking in a low, frighteningly serious voice.
"So that you can erase my memory again?"
Erza’s face froze.
For several seconds, she couldn’t breathe.
What...?
Her mind immediately began racing.
How?
Her lips parted slightly.
"How did you..."
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Erza’s thoughts became chaotic. Had her spell failed? Had she accidentally left fragments of the conversation behind? Had the Crown Seal somehow restored the erased memories when Yuuta awakened?
Is that why he’s acting like this?
She had erased everything connected to the dangerous revelation. She had been careful despite her panic. Yuuta shouldn’t have remembered what happened.
Before Erza could understand any of it, Yuuta’s lips slowly curved upward.
It was that same broken smile.
"I know what you’re thinking."
Another tear slipped down his cheek.
Yuuta gave a weak laugh.
"You’re wondering how someone like me figured it out, aren’t you?"
Erza’s eyes widened slightly.
"You’re wondering how someone as weak and pathetic as me figured it out, aren’t you?"
His smile became more painful.
"Am I right?"
Erza said nothing.
Not because Yuuta was correct.
She had never thought of him as pathetic, nor was she looking down on him for being weaker than her. Her throat simply felt too heavy to speak. Her mind was still desperately trying to understand how Yuuta could possibly know about something she had erased from him only moments ago.
Yuuta interpreted her silence differently.
His gaze lowered.
"I knew it."
Erza immediately shook her head.
"No, Yuuta. That’s not what I...."
Yuuta suddenly raised his bloody palm between them.
Erza stopped.
"You wanted to heal this, didn’t you?"
The shattered remains of the pen rested against his palm while blue ink mixed with dried blood across his skin.
Erza stared at it.
"So what happens after that?"
Yuuta’s fingers trembled.
"You heal my hand..."
His crimson eyes returned to hers.
"...and then erase my memory again?"
Erza’s expression changed immediately.
"What are you talking about?"
There was genuine confusion in her voice now.
"No. Yuuta, first tell me why you’re behaving like this. What happened after you woke up? "Why are you suddenly acting like this...?"
"Like what?"
"Weird.."
Yuuta interrupted her.
His expression darkened.
"So now I’m weird?"
"That’s not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
Erza opened her mouth, but Yuuta didn’t allow her to continue.
"Is this what happens when someone you can control suddenly realizes what you’re doing?"
Erza’s eyes widened.
"Control...?"
She genuinely couldn’t understand where this was coming from.
"Yuuta, I don’t understand what you’re saying."
Yuuta stared at her for several seconds.
Then he lifted his palm higher.
"This."
Erza looked at the blood and ink again.
"This is how I know."
Her eyebrows slowly pulled together.
Yuuta noticed the confusion on her face, and somehow that only made his chest hurt more.
"You really don’t understand, do you?"
His voice became quieter.
"Look at the ink, Erza."
Erza did.
Blue ink covered the center of his palm, spreading between the dried blood and tiny cuts. The broken refill remained beside him, but none of it made any sense to her.
Yuuta swallowed painfully.
"I took a pen before confronting you."
Erza’s eyes slowly returned to him.
"I kept it with me because I already suspected you might erase my memory."
Her pupils contracted.
Yuuta continued before she could speak.
"I knew that if you erased everything, I wouldn’t remember the conversation. I wouldn’t remember what you told me. I wouldn’t even remember that you used magic on me."
His bloody fingers slowly curled.
"So I needed something you couldn’t erase."
Erza’s gaze dropped toward his hand again.
Understanding began creeping into her expression.
Yuuta saw it.
"I planned to mark my palm."
His voice trembled.
"Just one small mark."
He looked at the shattered pen.
"If I woke up afterward with missing memories and found ink on my hand, then I would know."
Erza’s face gradually lost its color.
"You..."
Her voice barely came out.
"You planned this... before talking to me?"
Yuuta gave another broken smile.
"Because I was afraid of you doing exactly what you did."
That sentence struck Erza harder than his scream had.
Yuuta hadn’t discovered the truth because her magic failed.
He hadn’t recovered the erased memories.
He had expected her to betray his trust before their conversation had even begun.
And he had prepared evidence against his own wife.
Yuuta slowly looked down at his palm again. The original plan had been nothing more than a tiny mark, yet somehow the pen had been crushed completely, its refill shattered while ink and blood covered his hand. He still had no idea what happened during those missing minutes.
But that no longer mattered.
One thing had been proven.
"I didn’t know if my stupid little plan would work."
His voice became increasingly unsteady.
"I actually hoped it wouldn’t."
Yuuta slowly raised his eyes toward Erza.
"I wanted Elena to be wrong."
Erza’s heart tightened.
"I wanted to believe there was some misunderstanding."
His tears continued falling.
"I wanted to believe that when you looked into my eyes and told me to trust you..."
Yuuta’s lips trembled.
"...you actually meant it."
Erza couldn’t move.
Yuuta opened his bloodied palm completely, placing the evidence between them.
"But sadly..."
His crimson eyes remained locked with hers.
"...you really did erase my memory."
Yuuta remained silent for several seconds after those words left his mouth.
His bloody hand slowly lowered, and despite the exhaustion still weighing heavily upon his body, he placed one hand against the sofa and forced himself onto his feet.
His legs trembled immediately.
The pain inside his head hadn’t disappeared, his muscles felt almost completely drained, and even standing should have been difficult in his condition. Yet Yuuta refused to sit back down. He steadied himself before Erza, breathing heavily until his crimson eyes finally rose and met hers.
Erza didn’t move.
The man standing before her looked exhausted, wounded, and barely capable of remaining on his feet, yet something about him suddenly felt different. The warmth that normally existed between them had disappeared beneath the confusion and betrayal burning inside his eyes.
Then the air shifted.
A faint green aura began leaking from Yuuta’s body.
Erza’s violet eyes widened slightly as the energy slowly wrapped around him. It wasn’t particularly powerful compared to hers, nor did it carry enough force to threaten her. But that wasn’t what made Erza’s chest tighten.
Yuuta wasn’t afraid of her anymore.
Only minutes earlier, Erza had been terrified that awakening this very aura had fooled her into believing he was strong enough to survive the truth.
Now that same aura surrounded him as he stood directly before her demanding it.
Yuuta’s bloody fingers slowly tightened into a fist.
"Tell me."
Erza remained silent.
Yuuta took one shaky step toward her.
"Why did you erase my memory, Erza?"
There was no hatred in his voice.
That somehow made it worse.
He sounded hurt.
He sounded like someone desperately hoping there was still an explanation capable of saving the trust he had placed in her.
Erza stared at him without answering.
The person standing before her wasn’t an enemy. He wasn’t some arrogant king challenging her authority, nor was he a warrior she could crush until he learned his place. He was the one person Erza loved more than her pride, her throne, and perhaps even herself.
Her husband.
And now that very man stood before her, surrounded by his newly awakened aura, demanding the one answer she had just sworn never to give him.
Erza’s fingers slowly curled.
If she told him the truth, the Crown Seal could react again.
She had already seen what merely revealing a fraction of his past had done to him. She had watched blood pour from his eyes. She had heard him scream while his mind tore itself apart. Telling him again could finish what she had barely managed to stop.
But if she erased his memory again...
Erza’s gaze fell toward Yuuta’s bloodied palm.
The shattered pen remained there.
This time, he would know.
Perhaps he would always know.
Erza slowly looked back into his crimson eyes.
There was no safe choice anymore.
Yuuta waited.
"Erza."
His aura flickered around him.
"I’m asking you one last time."
His voice became painfully calm.
"Why did you erase my memory?"
Erza’s heart pounded against her chest.
Only moments ago, she had made an oath.
Even if you hate me...
I won’t make this mistake again.
Never again.
Yet now Yuuta stood directly before her, demanding the truth she had sworn to keep from him.
Erase him again...
Or answer him.
Erza closed her eyes.
For several seconds, she remained completely still.
Then her violet eyes opened.
She had made her decision.
Erza moved.
To Be Continued...
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