Evelyn

  ***

  With my house and room locked up, I found myself in the hideout, although I wasn’t alone. Flying onto my shoulder was a familiar, if not slightly rger than normal, raven.

  “You know, I thought you would be happy about getting a human body.” I sighed.

  “Hey, if you could fly you would agree with me.” She said.

  Ah, she’s not speaking in my mind this time? With the help of magic, and also Raven’s naturally being able to mimic human speech, she can use her normal voice with that body. It still feels a bit weird, but it’s a cook party trick.

  “I can fly.” I reminded her. “Well, I mean not now, but you get what I’m talking about.”

  “Well yeah, but without magic.” She said.

  “I mean, I’ve technically tried hang gliding before.” I said.

  “You were just being pushed around by the wind, that doesn’t count.” She said.

  “Oh you’re too serious about this.” I said.

  “Look at me again and tell me that I’m too serious about flying.” She said.

  “Ahh, don’t worry about it.” I waved off.

  Right now isn’t the time to argue about it. Now was time for something else. One was for Angelica to test out her magic. Given that she had already transformed into a bird, she had a head start. As for myself, well… Okay, I’ll admit. I’m bored. Since I can’t transform, I can’t go out and fight demons, I can’t forge any new goods since I used magic, I can’t go out to Nissia’s parent’s for snacks, I can’t do any work on the base, and I can’t even fly around just to kill time. What can I do? I’ll tell you what. Some good ol’ fashioned training!

  “So, are you ready?” I asked.

  “Yeah I’m ready.” She sighed. “Are you sure that gear is good enough?”

  “I’ll be fine!” I said.

  What gear? It’s protective equipment I made for training. Holding various enchantments it’ll keep me safe from everything that Angelica throws at me! Or so I hope. You see, this is the first time I’ll be trying it! Let’s keep that a secret from her…

  Orson

  ***

  With night falling, I found myself in the rare enviable position to be done with work for the day. Although it isn’t as rexing as I thought it would be. Gncing at the letter once more, I couldn’t help but worry about it. Given that it was from Melody, it is far more important than most of the other peppers, however it is also so very infuriating…

  Reading it once more, it said; “Something came up, I’ll be gone for a bit. Also, can you fix this please? Thanks!” and nothing else. What was there to fix? Well it was the communication device that she once again managed to break. She was going off somewhere and we had no way to contact her. But that wasn’t the only worrying thing. It was the person she chose to be the messenger.

  “Evelyn Eytell…” I muttered.

  That girl… She’s a mean one. There’s no other way to put it. The list of her wrong doings is extensive, and there’s not much that can be done about it. For one, she’s a Duchess. The youngest duchess in The Empire’s history, and the head of her household. Although she has a brother, he is a step brother and not of the main Eytell family bloodline. As much as many would like it, our ws are clear. As long as the Eytell Blood flows through her veins, she is the one and only heir to her household. Under normal circumstances, unless she has a kid of her own, she cannot be repced. Not even by a branch family.

  Having said all of that, and knowing her nature, why would Melody trust a letter this important to her? It makes no sense… Is there something we’re missing?

  “Lord Regent.” 19 suddenly appeared before me.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  19- no. All of the Shadows are like this. They don’t do much small talk and prefer to get straight to the point. As such, let’s not waste any time.

  “Some new information has come to light.” She said. “Have you received any letters or documents for the Eytell household recently?”

  “?” I looked at her. “No. They send reports from their territory bimonthly.”

  “And what about from Lady Eytell herself?” She asked. “Have you received nothing from her?”

  “No?” I said.

  Given her attitude, I doubt I would forget her sending me anything. As I thought that, 19 pulled out multiple unsealed envelopes with the Eytell house seal on it. I… I don’t remember those…

  “Lady Eytell said something strange when visiting the Saint.” She said. “38 informed me of her issues with the Young Regents. She also cimed that she sent letters regarding a few incidents.”

  “This is news to me…” I said.

  What issues? If anything, they have issues with her. I want to say that her words were merely lies, however given the fact that 19 was holding multiple letters as evidence, I can’t simply dismiss it.

  “The issues include the Young Regents having people spy on her house, following her when she is out in town as well as an incident where they forcibly entered her residence as she was out.” 19 said handing me the letters.

  Reading them was a shock. I couldn’t help but find them to be surprising. Yes they did describe the events 19 mentioned, however the writing was… off… Although they were formal requests, they were much too casual. They even referred to me and Alyssa by our first names. Evelyn doesn’t speak like this. She’s more formal and cold. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard her refer to anyone by name, only title…

  “Could these be fake?” I asked.

  “It’s unlikely.” She shook her head. “These letters aside, there's something else.”

  Once more, she took out another set of letters. Those letters had my personal seal. I never use that seal. Why would they have that seal? Furthermore, if they have my seal, why don’t I remember writing them?

  Seeing my questioning look, 19 handed them to me. Reading them, I was once more shocked. This is my handwriting… Not only that but I was referring to her by her first name as well. If one were to disregard the seals, these letters could easily be mistaken as letters between friends. I know that this is painfully obvious, but I am not friends with Lady Eytell. Age difference aside, her personality seems to reject the very concept of friends. These letters however… They seem to reject that view I have of her. Why is that?

  “Are there any others?” I asked.

  “We’re looking right now.” She said. “My Lord, do you remember these letters?”

  “No…” I slowly shook my head.

  This is the first time I’ve seen them, however given that the handwriting is very definitely mine, why can’t I remember them? Seeing my expression, 19 grimly nodded.

  “It seems that something has altered our memories.” She said. “Based on these letters alone, it’s obvious that you held some sort of connection with Lady Eytell. Maybe we all did.”

  “That’s-” I hesitated. I can’t deny that…

  “Not only that but 38 reported that Lady Eytell called Lady Lottaway her friend.” She said.

  “That’s impossible!” I couldn’t help but say.

  Those two have a terrible retionship! It’s well known that they don’t get along. Rather it is a one sided hate that Lady Eytell has towards her. There is no possible way that they are friends.

  “That may be true now, but was it always?” 19 asked.

  “That…” I trailed off.

  My memory says that it’s true, but now I’m beginning to doubt it. I’m holding the evidence in front of me, but what am I to do? Doubt my own mind?

  “Is there… Is there any way this could be a mistake?” I asked.

  “Unfortunately we have physical evidence.” She said. “Not only that but Melody trusted her to bring her letter and communicator to us. Why would she trust her if our memories of Lady Eytell are true?”

  “I…” I hesitated.

  Does Melody know of this? Rereading her letter, I can’t help but be annoyed at her. Write more than that! Be more specific about what you’re doing! Sighing I shook my head.

  “And what of Lady Eytell?” I asked. “Aside from what you mentioned, did she give any hints of her knowing of a change?”

  “I’ll have to ask 38 directly, she only gave me a short report.” She said. “Shall I bring her here?”

  “No.” I said. “If something did change our memories, we need to be sure that the Saint is safe. We don’t know what else could happen. Keep watch over her and see if she truly is different from our memories.”

  “Understood.” She said.

  “Furthermore…” I, once more, hesitant. “Keep this news quiet.”

  “Yes Lord Regent.” She said.

  Have our memories truly been altered? If so, we can’t let this news out. If other kingdoms knew that our memories were maniputed, would they still trust us? Who’s to say that it couldn’t happen again? Who's to say that this is even the first time it happened?

  “Until Melody returns, make sure that no one knows about this. And keep an eye on Lady Eytell. If what we suspect is true, she may be unaffected, or at least less affected than the rest of us.” I ordered. “Investigate any strange happenings with her, and see if there’s a link between her and Melody.”

  “It will be done.” She bowed.

  Like that, she vanished. Alone in my office, I sighed. What in the world happened?

  Evelyn

  ***

  Returning home, I gently pced Angelica on her familiar cushion which now y on my bed. Currently she was in her bird form and was out cold. During my training, she unleashed all sorts of magic and knocked herself out. Given the fact that her body showed no sign of injury, the problem likely lies with her soul. I never really thought about this before, but given that her soul originally had very limited use of magic, and back on Earth she had no magic, she likely was experiencing some form of exhaustion from overusing magic. Let’s be more careful next time.

  Yawning, I flopped down on bed and held out my hand to- Oh, that’s right. Sighing I slowly raised myself and headed to the door. No magic to clean myself off. Looks like I’ve got to do this manually… Walking out of the door, I pause. That’s right, I need clothes. Where are my pajamas?

  …

  Taking longer than I probably should have, I found what I needed and headed to the bathing room. Walking down the dark halls, I was careful not to make any noise. This pce may be big, but I don’t exactly want to wake up any of the servants at this hour. As I did so, I suddenly paused. Looking around, I saw no one but felt someone watching me.

  “Ah.” I suddenly said. “That’s right…”

  Turning back to my room I quickly retrieved a heavily decorated perfume bottle that was a birthday present from st year. Supposedly it was to help with sleeping, but it served another purpose. The cap, which took the form of a crystal knob, was actually a long steel needle which was hidden in the bottle. It can quickly be removed for emergencies, yet looks as innocent as any perfume bottle could be. With this now in hand, I returned to the hallway and headed to take a bath.

  On the way, I secretly kept an eye out for that intruder. Maybe it would be wise if Angelica and myself slept in the base…

  …

  It took a while, but I was able to fill up the bathtub, although I wasn’t exactly able to warm up the water as much as I wanted. Although I have quite the stores of magic, the only actual magic I can use is Dark Magic, and if I get attacked here, I’ll need as much of it as possible since so far the only way I know how to attack with it is to give people seizures. If anything it’ll buy me time to escape with Angelica.

  Trying to be quick, I bathed as naturally as one could in this situation, and kept the perfume close. Not long into this facade, I heard a slight creek, one by the door which I had previously magically made as Melody to warn me if someone aside from myself was drawing near.

  Hearing that sound however, I did my best not to react. That was for two reasons. One was because I didn’t want to seem like I had noticed it, and the other was that this specific creaking sounded familiar. What do I mean? Well, as Melody, I made three different creaking noises in these traps scattered throughout the house. One would be for any staff, which this one wasn’t, another for Shadows which this sound was, and a third for strangers including my family.

  Good news. This is a Shadow. Bad news, this is a Shadow and I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Given that everyone’s opinion of me has changed, I’m not sure if they were ordered to get rid of me or not. So, what to do…? The door is locked and already enchanted to get stuck if someone tries to force it open, so I have some time. Although now that I think about it, time will do me no good since I can’t exactly escape from this room. Since I don’t really use this pce, I didn’t bother putting a teleporter in here, and there’s no windows for me to jump out of. What to do…?

  Luckily they don’t appear to be trying to enter here, but let’s assume that they are waiting to ambush me as soon as I leave. I’ll need to be careful. After I had finished cleaning up, I dried myself off as much as I could, but given how long my hair was, it was still wet… Wait, do people know about my hair? Given that people’s memories of me have changed, do the Shadows still know that my hair is actually bck? I wore my neckce here, so it still looks like Mom’s but should I wear it going out?

  I’m already suspicious, so let’s wear it just in case. This neckce was a gift from Uncle Aaron, so hopefully they’ll think I’m simply attached to it. Getting dressed, I took a deep breath, kept my hand on the hidden needle and opened the door.

  …

  Ah, it’s 19. Why is it always her? Aren’t you the Regents’ guard? Ignoring her, I pondered that question and headed back to my room. She followed silently like 38 back when we first met, so she doesn’t realize that I can see her. Looks like she’s going to monitor me for now… Wait, what about Angelica? If she goes into my room, she’ll see her and start asking why I have a bird with me. Well, I can just lock my door and hide her, but that won’t solve the problem if they’re watching my room. Sooner or ter, I’ll have to come out with her and her cover will be blown. She could stay in the hideout, but that’ll be too lonely and even if she did know how to get back here, it’ll be a multi day trip by flying.

  What to- wait, I’ll just use magic. Yeah, I’ll just cover the pce in shadows when she wants to leave. It’ll have to be at night, but it’s better than nothing. Or I could just use myself as a distraction… Okay, you know what, this problem isn’t actually a problem. But what is a problem is sleeping… They probably weren’t ordered to get rid of me since I haven’t been attacked yet, but that’s not to say that they won’t. Doing my best not to sigh, I realized that I’m going to have to stay up for tonight. I guess I’ll need to be prepared to be bored out of my mind tonight…

  Grayburne