It covered more than half of her face, hiding the chaotic expression she wore.
Su Nian turned her head, her brilliant golden hair cascading down like a waterfall, further shielding her—much like her current state of mind, which was as tangled as a mess of hemp.
Her long, pale fingers mindlessly twirled a strand of hair, over and over again.
‘Should I refuse to acknowledge our past relationship? But… all that evidence is real!’
Her parents clearly wouldn’t mistake her for someone else, and her Contract Beast’s memory couldn’t lie.
The clothes in her Storage Space made her blush just looking at them, and then there was that note that read “Shadowmoon Manor.”
It was a complete chain of evidence!
But…
Deep down, a voice told her: Danger.
This man is dangerous.
It wasn’t a rational conclusion, but an intuition originating from the depths of her soul.
Whenever his gaze fell on her, that familiar yet strange sense of pressure surged.
‘Would I really… have fallen in love with a man who makes me feel this uneasy?’
Thinking of the word “love,” and then thinking of the pile of skimpy clothes on the bed, Su Nian felt as if she were being steamed by a scorching heatwave.
The shame she felt now was probably stronger than all the embarrassment she had experienced in her entire life combined.
Her brain felt like a bowl of porridge, thoroughly stirred by this mess.
Chu Tian walked up to her.
Su Nian could feel his shadow looming over her, carrying an undeniable presence.
She didn’t look up, only winding her hair tighter around her finger.
“I know your mind is a mess right now, and you can’t accept this sudden change all at once,” Chu Tian began, trying to soothe her.
He then continued, “By my calculations, it will take about three months for the damage to our souls to fully repair itself. By then, our memories should return.”
The man’s voice was unexpectedly calm, as if he were stating an indisputable fact.
Su Nian’s movements paused.
‘Will my memory really return in three months?’
That wasn’t too long.
“Don’t forget who we killed. A member of the Eight Demon Generals, a high-ranking power of the Demon Race. Do you think they’ll let this go?”
Su Nian’s heart sank, ‘The Demon Race.’
She clearly remembered the demoness she and a shadow had killed together.
She recalled the venomous look in the woman’s eyes before she died.
“Our current state is very dangerous,” Chu Tian continued, “Missing memories mean we’ve forgotten many things. What information we had, what trump cards we held, even… what kind of coordination we had between us to turn the tide of battle. We’ve forgotten it all.”
“So, we need to return to the place we know best to recover our memories as soon as possible. We need to figure out what we went through and what power we possessed to survive the Demon Race’s next act of revenge.”
His logic was as sharp as a cold scalpel, precisely dissecting their current predicament.
“If we separate now, we’ll likely be picked off one by one.”
Su Nian twirled a lock of golden hair around her long, pale finger, thinking to herself: ‘What this guy is saying seems… to make sense.’
It was the only—and most correct—choice.
The threat of the Demon Race was a sword hanging over her head, ready to fall at any moment.
The missing memories likely held the key to resisting them.
Logically, returning to a familiar environment to recover her memory as soon as possible was the right move…
But the alarms in her heart were ringing wildly.
Reason told her to nod, but a voice deep inside seemed to plead with her not to.
‘It’s so strange…’
For some reason, she felt that once she agreed to Chu Tian and returned to live with him at Shadowmoon Manor, her life would slide into an unpredictable abyss.
‘Forget it…’
She had to decide based on the existing information and “evidence.”
Furthermore, even if she returned to Academy City, she could verify her past through the people at Shadowmoon Manor, Magic Feather Fantasy, and the Magic Academy.
“Returning to Academy City is fine, but our relationship… because of the memory loss, it’s still…” Su Nian didn’t know how to finish, her heart in turmoil.
“It’s still…”
Chu Tian saw all of the girl’s struggles and hesitation.
He understood what she was thinking.
After all, for Su Nian, suddenly having a boyfriend was something she couldn’t accept immediately.
The pressure eased slightly.
He took a half-step back, creating a bit of safe distance, and offered her a way out.
“Of course, I know all of this is hard to accept.”
“Before we recover all of our memories, we can keep some distance.”
‘Distance?’
Su Nian’s trembling eyelashes suddenly lifted.
‘What does he mean?’
Chu Tian deliberately drew out the final word, his deep eyes filled with serious thought, as if he were searching for a solution to a difficult problem that would benefit both parties.
“We can sleep in separate rooms.” He finally said the words that mattered most.
‘Separate rooms!’
Those three words were like a flash of light, instantly piercing through the fog in Su Nian’s mind!
‘Right!’
As long as they didn’t sleep together, and as long as she could preserve that small patch of independent territory, there was still room for maneuver!
She practically blurted it out, her voice trembling with an urgency she couldn’t hide, afraid he would regret it in the next second.
“Fine!”
However, this also meant she had agreed to return to Shadowmoon Manor with Chu Tian.
“Then it’s a deal!”
Su Nian instantly straightened her back, trying to regain a bit of her momentum—the posture of the radiant, inviolable Star-Moon Saintess she was in front of others.
She emphasized each point, stressing every word as if she were announcing a sacred and inviolable treaty.
“Until… until I remember everything! You are not allowed to touch me!”
By the end, she even raised her delicate little fist and shook it at him as a warning.
Chu Tian looked at her “armed” state, appearing like a kitten with its fur standing on end, and a smile flashed in his eyes.
Su Nian was quite cute like this.
He smiled and nodded, agreeing very readily.
“It’s a deal.”
‘Excellent.’ Chu Tian felt a wave of triumph in his heart.
Although they had agreed to sleep in separate rooms, the most important goal had been achieved—she had agreed to return to Shadowmoon Manor.
That was enough.
Based on the existing evidence, they had been a very “loving” and “happy” couple who had even faced life and death together.
Now, it was just a small setback caused by amnesia.
Since he had been able to make her willing to wear those clothes and become his partner before, it would only be easier this time.
He was confident that he wouldn’t even need to wait for her memory to return to “move” this stubborn and cute little wildcat again.
However, Chu Tian did not know that his former self had never relied on “moving” her, but rather “defeating” her.
Those so-called “evidences of a relationship” were all just a performance the girl had put on for others amidst humiliation and despair.
The only thing he guessed correctly was…
In the past, they really had played in very creative ways.