Weeks passed after my first ever garden party which was a complete success but my mind and my heart recieved some heavy blows that took some time to heal. 'I can't believe Mr. Keilan lied to me saying he didn't have anyone he was seeing! But they still weren't dating so maybe he said that.' Still, I couldn't believe Juliette liked Mr. Keilan and uh, well the other way around too.

Winter had slowly started setting in; the loose thin clothes were replaced by thicker ones. I’ve been in this world for five months now, with no information about the sorcerer or any other news of a new space opening up, connecting to the real world. Slowly, I began to feel comfortable in this world and felt as if it was the real one.

Winter started really early in this world in fact, there were only two seasons- summer and winter. The summers weren’t as hot and humid but the winters were harsh. So cold that it once dropped to -19˚C; I wondered how people survived here during the winters. Well that’s what I just read, I've never experienced it first hand; this would be my first winter here.

“Here’s some hot chocolate for you, Lady Jerinah.” The maid gave me a cup while I sat beside the fireplace.

“Is the winter colder this year?” Zed said seeing me shiver, as he sat on the couch behind me.

It isn’t colder but your winters here are too cold! I didn’t move from the fireplace and sat there for almost the entire day, alone. This somewhat worried my parents again.

Later in the evening, father came to the room.

“Adline, still cold?” He asked.

He sounded quite worried about me. I told him that I was trying to adjust myself to the cold but it took some time. He sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulder; his body was warm. I closed my eyes and leaned on him. Even though he wasn’t my real father, I felt close to him not just physically but emotionally too.

“It's not unusual to see you struggling to adjust yourself to the cold but this seems a little critical. Do you want to go to the Celeste family home?” he said.

There was another home? I looked at my father with eyes wide open. He understood that I had forgotten about it when I lost my memories. He said that Nana would be happy to see me and her special soup would be the best for this cold weather. He also said that it would be a good chance for the family to go for a vacation.

“Where is the family house located?” I asked.

“At Hellebore.” He said.

One of the great territory aside Gardenia and Azalea, Hellebore. It would be a great chance to visit the other places of this world.

“I’ll be off now. I’ll ask the maids to arrange all the necessary things.” He said as he stood up.

“We’re leaving soon?” I asked.

“Yes we are leaving tomorrow.”

This family did everything they said that instant and this time it was to go for a vacation! Usually for a vacation, we’d plan for some days then make necessary arrangements and leave; well it was a whole lot different here. I wanted to prepare myself too but it was too cold so I continued to burn the wood on the fireplace and sat cozily, sipping on my seventh cup of hot chocolate.

The next morning, I dragged myself into the carriage as we prepared to leave. It was early morning and colder than it was during the day. Soon, we headed out to Hellebore.

“Wouldn’t Zed and the other knights be cold?” I asked my parents. Apart from the three of us, the knights rode on their horses in the cold.

“They were trained to face all these situations, Adline.” Father said. “Don’t worry they’ve been though conditions worse than this. You only have to take care of yourself.”

‘But this was unfair.’ I thought.

I looked out through the window of the carriage and saw Zed. He wore a thick cloak that seemed warm enough. Soon after, our eyes met. He then positioned his finger to the side of his lips and pushed it upwards to the side that made him look like he was smiling. He kept the smile on his face and gestured an ‘OK’ sign with his hand. I understood that he meant to tell me to smile and that everything was ok.

I smiled back at him and raised a thumbs-up.

It took us half a day to reach Hellebore. I got off the carriage and stretched; my muscles were all tightened sitting for a stretch of 'I-don't-know' hours. The weather here seemed less cold than it was in Gardenia. I felt a little better than I was there.

“Welcome home Lord Roscoe, Lady Sofina. How was your trip?” an old lady welcomed us to the big old mansion. This house was probably larger than the one in the capital.

“Oh, Lady Jerinah I almost didn’t recognize you. How tall and beautiful you’ve grown, just like your mother.” She continued. “I’ve heard about your illness and I’m saddened to hear about it but I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay here and hopefully, you’ll regain some memories from here.”

“Tila, can you prepare some fire for Adline? Her body doesn’t seem to take the cold quite well these days.” My father told the old lady.

“Oh, I don’t feel that cold over here, in fact it’s quite bearable here so I guess it’ll be alright.” I said.

They took my words, seeing me look quite better and we settled in.

“Here’s a cup of hot chocolate.” The old lady handed a cup to me. “You loved hot chocolates ever since you were a child.” She said.

Guessing from how she acted towards me and how she knew of when Jerinah was little, I believed she was the Nana father had told me of.

She looked quite old; she could have been around the age of my grandmother or somewhere close. Later, I went out to take a stroll outside with Zed. The sun was slowly setting in as the sky was draped in intense coral pinks, reds, and peachy oranges.

"We should head back in, Lady Jerinah?" Zed suggested we go inside as the temperature slowly dropped.

"The sky looks beautiful." I said ignoring what he had said.

Zed looked at me and turned his gaze at the sky, he didn't say anything. I guess he knew I wouldn't want to enter the house until I wanted to.

"Did any of your memories return?" He asked.

"No, none." I replied.

I glanced at him and his eyes looked sad. Did the old Jerinah and Zed have something; a good memory together? Why did he look sad every time I said my memories didn't return? Was it a good memory that he didn't want neither of us to forget? There's no way they'll return since I'm not the old Jerinah nor did I get any memories like Al. I wanted to ask him but decided not to. There was nothing I could do either.

“Let’s go back inside.” I turned around and headed back to the mansion. Zed followed me silently.

After escorting me till my room, he bowed and walked away.

“Zed?” I called out.

“Yes, Lady Jerinah?”

“Is everything alright?” I asked.

“Yes, you don’t have to worry about anything. I shall take my leave now.” He turned around. I watched him until he left my sight.

I sat on my bed and couldn’t help but worry about Zed. It kept bugging me after I saw the look on his face. He had been there with me from the very first day I entered this world and we got even closer than we were before. Though I can’t say what kind of relation the old Jerinah had with him.

Unable to sit back, I decided to actually go and talk about it with Zed. ‘It wasn’t even time for bed so it should be fine’ I thought and covered myself with something warm. It was good that it was not as cold as Gardenia here.

I headed straight to the manor house for the knights which was located behind the mansion and walked aimlessly for sometime. As I walked, I heard voices from a room.

“It was all my fault.”

I recognized the voice, it was Zed. What was his fault?

I stood close to the door that was slightly opened and listened to their conversation.

“If only I had refused to take Lady Jerinah out that day, none of these would have happened!” Zed shouted at the other knight. “She would have never lost her memories!”

“You don’t have to shout like that Zed and I don’t think you could have said no to Lady Jerinah, knowing her.” The other knight kept talking. “Even though you carry around that cold poker face along with you, everyone knows how much you care for the Lady, ever since she was young and the amount of trust the Lady has on you. Isn’t that why the Duke allowed you to continue to be on her side even after all that happened?”

As I peeked inside, I saw Zed sitting with his palms on his face. I had never seen him that distressed. But now I kind of knew what kind of relationship they had. Zed had been escorting the old Jerinah even before I came, that explained why he was there when I woke up.

Putting in the pieces of information I had, I came up that the old Jerinah wanted to go out but wasn’t allowed to since she was always sick. So she asked Zed to take her out, unable to refuse to her request, he must have taken her out and that’s when I took over her body and as I woke up, the memories of the old Jerinah had disappeared.

If my guess was correct, I thought about how miserable Zed would have felt since the first day. Tears were already collecting in my eyes. I suddenly thought, what if I returned back to the real world and my family and friends had forgotten about me. My heart felt a pinch. I shook that thought away as that wasn’t the problem here at the moment.

I had to tell Zed that it was not his fault and that he didn’t have to blame himself for it.

I moved a little closer to the door just then, my dress knocked off a vase that was on the table next to me. 'Shoot!'

“Who’s there?!”

In a split second, the tip of a sword was right in front of my eyes. I was so scared, I dropped down to the ground. The person holding it was Zed. ‘How on earth did he manage to move that fast?!’

“Z-Zed?” I called out his name.

“Lady Jerinah?!” He immediately put down the sword and knelt down. “What are you doing here?!”

I was too shaken from what had happened I couldn’t speak nor move for some time. After a few minutes, I told him how worried I was and wanted to talk to him so I came here. I quickly apologized for eavesdropping on their conversation. He said that he didn’t want me to hear a part of the conversation but since it had come to this, it didn’t matter anymore and decided he escort me back.

As we were walking back, Zed spoke.

“Are you mad at me?” He asked.

“I’m not. Why should I be?” I replied in an instant.

“Well you’ve heard from what Allan and I were talking back there, the reason you’ve lost your memories was all because of me. Since you know all of it now, I’m ready to take any kind of punishment you have for me.”

Concluding from the conversation he had with the other knight, Allan, he had always thought the reason I lost my memories was due to the fact that he couldn’t refuse the old Jerinah’s requests. Even if I had no idea about it, I can at least say that it wasn’t his fault.

“I don’t think it was your fault at all and there’s no need for any sort of punishment either.”

Zed looked at me confused.

“But Lady Jerinah-!”

He stopped when I smiled at him.

“Even though I’ve lost my memories, I haven’t lost any of the love that everyone gave me; including yours. I haven’t lost anything so Sir Zed, you don’t have to feel guilty about anything. In fact, it was my fault to begin with. Knowing you cannot refuse to anything I said, I asked you to take me out. So don’t blame yourself.”

Zed hid his face; his bangs covered his teary eyes. He wiped off the tears and knelt down on one knee and placed his hand on his chest.

"I, Zed Yvaine, swear my loyalty to the Lady which is unwavering. I deeply regret my past doings and am grateful to the Lady for her kindness. I shall continue to protect the Lady with my life."

He then took my hand kissed the back of it.

"And I continue to put all of my trust and faith in you, Sir Zed."

"Yes, my Lady." He smiled.