Chapter 25: 22: Civil discussion.
"I have contracted Amnesia."
The lady looked like she had just been shot in the chest, and the duke, his brows furrowed in confusion.
"Amnesia?" He asked, his voice low.
Edward nodded.
"I have no recollection of anything before I woke up in the border town that our men had found me in. I didn’t know who I was, or what was happening. So forgive me, if at that time, I had done anything to offend you both." He said flatly, and a little confidently, since he had been told how to proceed with the conversation.
Both of them nodded, seemingly understanding where he was coming from.
But Edward was still not convinced that he was out of the maze yet, after all, he were talking to actual nobles. And up until 2 days ago, he had only been a normal civilian, untrained and naive, even if he was the heir to such a big house now.
From what he understood, nobles had an innate way of twisting things to their liking. They were people who have always had power, it was only second nature to them that the world was going to bend to their will.
Edward was anticipating some kind of accusation, maybe an outrage, maybe even straight up insults at what absurdity he had spouted in front of these people.
Unfortunately, the response he got was far worse.
"We understand." The duke stroked his neatly trimmed beard, his expression thoughtful.
The lady nodded along too, her anger nowhere to be seen.
Way too calm...
This was the one scenario where Edward knew that he didn’t have any power in changing the situation around.
It was a little... unsettling, to say the least.
Edward opened his mouth to speak, to somehow fill the tense silence, however, the duke interrupted him.
"Amnesia is indeed quite the difficult situation. We would have never expected for such a problem to arise. That said..."
He looked at the door, and right on cue, as if it had already been rehearsed before, it swung open. A old, frail looking woman donned in a dark blue robe walked in. In her hand was a staff, with a clear crystal embedded in its tip.
She bowed deeply to the room, and then went and stood behind the couch where the Verdigris was sitting.
"This is Lady Cyr Valen, our resident mage, and mentor of Selene." The lady of Verdigris spoke, her voice steady and dignified.
"She will be present for the rest of the meeting."
Edward looked at Cyr. She looked unassuming enough, but guessing by how Calen was clenching his sword that was tied to his side, he assumed that she was here to do... something.
He didn’t know what it was, at least yet.
Edward gave Cyr a polite nod, and she nodded in return.
Then after a moment, the duke spoke.
"According to the information we have currently, you were found an hour of travel away from where we found our daughter."
He flicked his wrist, and a large map materialised from thin air in the table in front of them.
Edward did his best not to flinch.
The duke pointed to a small cluster dots with his finger.
"This was the location you were found in." And then he traced his finger a little to the left, into what looked like the drawing of a jungle.
"And this, was where we found Selene."
Edward nodded along.
"Normally, it would have been an insult to the name of Myrvale to accuse them of such a thing. But we found ourselves stuck in quite the predicament when we found that crest where we had found the young lady."
He took his hand from the map and leaned a little back.
"I would like to believe that the young master is not lying to us, considering that things between the two houses are going so smoothly after all."
Edward looked at him, a little puzzled on the inside.
Where is he going with this?
"Do you remember anything... something? that could have ended up knocking Selene unconscious?" He stared into Edwards eyes, most likely trying to peer into the thoughts that was racing inside his brain.
Edward shook his head, not trusting himself enough to speak properly.
The duke just exhaled.
"I see..."
He looked at Cyr, and nodded.
Cyr nodded back, and spoke for the first time after entering the room.
"If the young master agrees, I can peer into your body to see what is causing the amnesia."
"Peer into my body? How?" He asked, startled, and a little confused about what he was hearing.
"I specialise in matters relating to internal mana and the soul, so if the condition is not natural, I might be able to find clues."
Edward glanced at duke, then at Cyr, and gave her a nervous smile.
"Do we... really have to do that?"