The next day, Blair came to Herdin's office upon his call.
In the office, Herdin and an unfamiliar middle-aged man were waiting. It wasn't difficult to guess who the man was.
The man bowed politely as soon as he saw Blair.
"I am Marcel, the hypnotist. It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness. Or rather, I should call you Duchess now."
He said this while alternately looking at Blair's hands and eyes.
It was customary for men to kiss the back of a woman's hand as a sign of respect and courtesy when meeting female royalty or high nobility.
For her, who had lived as a princess for twenty years, this was familiar and natural.
Blair noticed this and extended her hand to him.
But at that moment, Herdin, who had been leaning crookedly against the desk in the office, stood up and said as he passed between them:
"We have another schedule, so let's start right away."
The hypnotist, blocked by Herdin, lowered his hand awkwardly and immediately began preparing for the hypnosis.
Blair, sitting in a rocking chair in one corner of the office, looked at Herdin with anxious eyes.
He seemed intent on watching the hypnosis being performed, standing firmly in place.
"Herdin. If you're busy, it's okay for you to go and attend to your work without me."
"I've heard that those who awaken memories that are sometimes difficult to recall can be in pain. So naturally, as your husband, I should stay by your side."
Hearing this, the hypnotist thought the Duke must care greatly for his wife, but Blair knew better.
His cool blue eyes, staring at her coldly despite his words of concern, were saying:
'How could I trust you?'
Blair closed her eyes as if to erase that cold voice in her head, then slowly opened them again.
"I'm ready. Let's begin, Marcel."
The lights illuminating the shaded room went out, and the pendulum in the hypnotist's hand began to move.
Blair's eyes blinked slowly following the movement of the pendulum, then gently closed.
Only the hypnotist's soft voice echoed through the quiet room.
"You're going back to that day ten years ago when there was a fire in the Empress's palace. You must have been about ten years old. Is that right?"
"...Yes, that's right."
Blair's voice mumbled, a beat slower, as if she were talking in her sleep.
Herdin watched, leaning against the window with his arms folded.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm... going to the Empress's palace. Without Mother knowing. Mother doesn't like me going to the Empress's palace."
"Then we should hurry. It's about time you arrived. Have you arrived?"
"Yes... Her Majesty the Empress welcomes me."
"What do you do there now?"
"We talk while drinking warm cocoa. We also play card games with the maids."
"What do you do next?"
"I seem to have fallen asleep."
"Slowly open your eyes. What do you see?"
At the hypnotist's question, the faint smile that had been on Blair's peaceful face disappeared.
"...It's dark."
"It must be a very dark night. Can you see anything around you?"
"No. Just... dresses..."
"Dresses? Where are you?"
"...I think I'm in a wardrobe."
At Blair's words, Herdin's eyes sharpened.
At the time of the accident, Blair was found collapsed in the corridor of the Empress's palace, and the knights who came to rescue the Empress discovered and rescued her.
And in the Empress's room, Esmeralda and her maid were found dead, having hanged themselves.
No one knew exactly what had happened there that day.
The maids staying at the Empress's palace that day had fallen into eternal sleep along with the flame-engulfed palace after drinking tea laced with sleeping pills.
Blair was the only survivor of that accident.
Blair's memory was that when she woke up, she was inside the wardrobe of the Empress's palace. That was all she remembered.
She had no memory of coming out of the wardrobe into the corridor until her rescue. So the real memory search was about to begin now.
The hypnotist, sensing this, adjusted his posture.
"What are you doing there?"
"I don't know. I just woke up and found myself in the wardrobe..."
"Then shall we try going outside now?"
As the hypnotist suggested, Blair gasped. She seemed frightened.
"...I can't go out."
"Why not? Is the door locked? Or is there another problem?"
"I don't, I don't know. I can't go out. If I go out... I shouldn't."
Herdin's brow furrowed slightly as he looked at Blair. The truth of that day would be beyond the wardrobe that she couldn't see.
"Hmm, then how about just peeking outside through the crack of the door? To see what's happening outside."
"I don't want to... I don't want to see. I'm scared..."
Blair whimpered, shaking her head as if she had returned to being a ten-year-old child of that time.
"Whatever is there, whatever is happening, nothing will happen to you. Now, take a deep breath."
"Fire, fire... Smoke is coming in."
Blair started coughing and gasping for breath as if she had really inhaled smoke.
"Then let's go out of the wardrobe now. Open the door."
"The door... The door won't open."
Blair gasped for breath in a terrified voice. The hypnotist then tried to calm her.
"You can open that door. It will open if you want it to."
That day, Blair was found in the corridor. Whether someone helped her or she came out on her own was unknown, but in any case, the wardrobe door must have opened.
Blair's belief that she couldn't leave the wardrobe was likely a barrier created by her subconscious.
But Blair still couldn't open that door.
"Ugh... No. I don't like this... Help me. Please help me, please. I can't breathe..."
She twisted her whole body, showing tears. The blood had completely drained from her already pale face.
Herdin finally realized why Blair had tried to send him away before starting the hypnosis.
"...Stop."
However, the hypnotist, as if not hearing those words, continued to urge Blair.
"You must open the door. You have to open that door and come out!"
"Ugh... Ugh... Huk..."
Blair's breathing became increasingly rapid. As if she was really about to die. The fragile woman was shaking like a leaf. It seemed like she might really die at this rate.
Search "child" at redcatty [.] com to read ahead up to chap 170.