Into the Rose Garden Novel - Chapter 26.1 - Side story 1 : Hey there, pretty Count. What's your name?

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.
The back of my head ached as if it would shatter. Instinctively, I touched it. It wasn’t “as if”; it was “really” broken, it seemed. A bandage met my fingers. My vision went black for a moment, then brightened. I felt so dizzy I almost vomited. But I didn’t want to stay in this strange place, so I forced myself to sit up. Then, a worried voice came from beside me.
“Are you okay?”
I turned my head. The light was dazzling. A soft glow filled the luxurious room. Sunlight and wind streamed through the airy lace curtains. It was peaceful and comfortable. But that wasn’t all.
Beside the bed stood a man with blond hair. His delicate, pale face, as if he’d stepped out of a painting, was filled with worry. His blue eyes, close to royal blue, were like jewels. At a glance, he seemed frivolous. But a sincere gaze flowed with innocence and intellect. From his straight shoulders and posture, he seemed to be a noble aristocrat of considerable cultivation.
Woman, man? Alpha, Omega?
From his attire, a man, and probably an Alpha.
Whichever he was, I didn’t want to refuse the attention he was giving. His straight shoulders, elegantly moving arms and hands. A hand approached and brushed my bandaged forehead and cheek. It didn’t particularly hurt, but he bit his lip as if he were in pain himself. At that sight, my pulse suddenly doubled.
I took the hand that had approached. He didn’t pull his hand away. Instead, he gripped mine tightly. I brought his hand to my lips and kissed the back of it. His smile softened. At the same time, the back of my head throbbed.
What happened while I was unconscious? To have such a beautiful person appear and nurse me.
“Thank you for your concern.”
At my obvious greeting, he stiffened slightly. My voice had cracked at the end, making him worry, I suppose. I cleared my throat a few times to steady my ungraceful, breathy voice. Then, I greeted him again with a polite expression and tone.
“To meet such a beauty. Sometimes, hitting your head isn’t so bad. I, I, oh? Hmm…”
I was momentarily flustered. My name wouldn’t come to mind. Was it temporary confusion from hitting my head? My confusion must have been fully conveyed, as his beautiful face quickly clouded over.
“Kloff? Are you in a lot of pain? I should call the doctor again.”
Ah. Kloff. My name is Kloff. It sounds a little rustic and rough, but it’s not a ridiculous name, so that’s a relief. Now, I should find out the name of this angel, shouldn’t I? I quickly grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving. I smiled at him as he turned back.
“I’d rather be nursed by you than by a doctor.”
I threw a flirtatious remark, pretending to be crazy. Even if it hurt, I wasn’t dead, and it was better not to miss the person in front of me right now. My instinctive sense told me so. That I would regret it for the rest of my life if I let this person go. Giving it grand reasons, it was ultimately just my Alpha instincts taking precedence over my survival instincts. Well, an Alpha in his prime might be like that.
The other person smiled ambiguously. Worry, surprise, a hint of shyness, even a slightly prim smile – it was all perfect. Although my memory was gone, my physical functions were surprisingly normal. That’s why my heart was pounding like crazy at the charming reaction of that beautiful angel. My body seemed quite robust. Not only did it endure well enough to keep my heart from leaping out, pounding as if to break my ribs, but it also didn’t show on the outside. Seeing that my face didn’t even flush with heat, I must have been quite shameless.
“Are you really okay?”
“I’m fine. My head is throbbing, but I feel like it will get better soon. More importantly, there’s something I want to know.”
“What is it?”
A little flustered, he leaned closer. Could I kiss him? But not on our first meeting. First, introductions. I kissed the back of his hand, which felt soft as if it had never known hardship, and asked,
“What is your beautiful name?”
“What?”
The angel gasped. And so did I. The moment I saw his widened blue eyes welling up, I felt a plummeting sensation in my gut. To fall in love at first sight with the first person I saw after losing my memory. It was like magic. Or an imprinting phenomenon, like a newly hatched duckling. Anyway, it was fortunate that the mother duck was beautiful.
“What is your name, beautiful angel?”
“…Don’t joke. It’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking. I am very happy to meet someone as beautiful as you. Someone like me, who is nothing—ah, am I nothing? I suppose so. Somehow, I feel that way when I’m in front of you. Anyway, I am curious about you. Would you please tell me your esteemed name again?”
“…Aaaargh!”
When I asked his name again, he was so surprised that he forgot to answer and stumbled out of the room. If I hadn’t been dizzy, I would have chased his lingering scent, scattered like magic dust. But now, it was hard to even sit up. Instead, I shouted a few times, “Is anyone there?”
No one appeared. Instead, after a delay, the open door clicked shut. I was confined. This felt a little lonely. The angel was gone too. My head hurt. Should I just sleep? I’m quite a carefree person, aren’t I?
While I briefly closed my eyes, I suddenly heard a commotion. The door burst open, and the blond beauty reappeared. A doctor was with him. As I groaned and tried to get up, the doctor shook his head, stopping me. Instead, with a serious expression, he took a stethoscope from his bag and put it in his ears. I shivered at the feel of the cold metal on my chest.
“What’s your name?”
“They say it’s Kloff.”
Other than my memory, I didn’t feel much pain. And to let him know there was no need to worry so much, I smiled as innocently as possible.
“It’s a pleasure to meet such an excellent doctor. But I’m not particularly ill. I’ve hurt my head a little, but I don’t think it’s a major concern.”
At my words, the attending physician quickly removed the stethoscope.
“Honorifics, how very serious.”
“Losing memory due to a strong impact, I suppose that can happen, but how can a person change so much? He even used the extreme honorific ‘esteemed name’ for me. And a kiss on the back of the hand! Normally, he’d pounce like a stallion in heat, and in a flash, strip me naked and make me do all sorts of shameful things in broad daylight!”
The blond angel standing beside him was as pale as if he was about to faint. At his ambiguous explanation, which was half-insult, half-not, the doctor groaned with a grave demeanor, as if delivering a diagnosis of an incurable disease.
“Can this be fixed?”
“I don’t know. But it won’t be permanent. After all, he is, what do you call him, Mr. Bendyke.”
“If it’s temporary, how long will it take for him to return? This politeness makes me uncomfortable.”
When asked for a specific timeframe, the doctor shook his head.
“No one can guarantee that.”
“But this is an important time.”
“However, giving him a shock isn’t entirely good either. Let’s wait and see. Many people recover in a few days.”
Without much progress, the doctor disappeared with a generic prescription to rest well. After that, the beauty stared at me from a distance, as if he had seen a ghost.
“You’re really not joking, are you?”
“…No.”
“I’ll believe you for now. But if I find out it was a joke, I’ll really punish you!”
“Yes.”
“Don’t answer so meekly; be violent, that is…”
“Yes?”
“You should show a rough, uncultured, ignorant, yet arrogant attitude! Not those innocent eyes, but with a terrible possessiveness that makes one’s legs give out just by facing you, and shamelessly so!”