“First, take a seat.”

“Excuse me.”

As he nodded slightly and sat in front of her, Siyan smiled as if she had been waiting and offered him a sweet potato.

“Eat this.”

“Ah, yes.”

Although he had eaten it yesterday too, he couldn’t refuse since it was offered directly by the queen herself, so he accepted it obediently.

But why sweet potatoes again...?

He certainly wondered.

They don’t taste good when they’re cold.

“Then, excuse me.”

At her continued urging, he filled his mouth.

Regrettably, he still couldn’t taste the sweet potato.

Who could eat comfortably in front of a monarch?

Moreover—

No, why only me...?

He was the only one eating the sweet potatoes.

If he had something else to eat with others, he might have filled his stomach while being somewhat at ease.

But she just stared intently as he ate the sweet potato.

It feels like she’s drilling a hole through my face.

He felt pressured but couldn’t ask her to look away.

Munch, munch-

“...”

Munch, munch-

In front of the smiling queen, Alon forced himself to finish all the sweet potatoes.

“You eat well.”

“...Thank you for the compliment.”

Should I be happy to be praised for eating?

As he fell silent with that brief thought, Siyan nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Good. Now that you’ve eaten, let’s talk.”

She leaned forward as if to get to the main point.

“What did you find in the ruins?”

“I found the Dragon’s Egg.”

“What is that?”

“...Actually, besides its name, I don’t know much. But may I ask something?”

“Speak.”

“Do you not know of the Dragon’s Egg, Your Majesty?”

That would be expected.

There must have been a reason Alon was sent there.

But—

“Of course I don’t know it.”

Siyan nodded as if it were obvious.

“?? Then why did you order me to visit the ruins...?”

Alon’s doubt only deepened.

She seemed to gather her thoughts for a moment, then fixed her gaze on Alon.

“Count Palatio, are you well informed about our Cretinia royal family, or more precisely, about the Golden Historian’s Eye?”

Alon nodded.

“Yes, I am aware.”

“Do you know its power?”

“It’s a power that has been passed down through your royal lineage, accumulating strength.”

Siyan nodded in agreement.

“Yes, just as you said, this Golden Historian’s Eye passed down in our Cretinia royal family inherits power. It’s almost the same as inheriting the past.”

She lifted her index finger slightly.

Whoosh-!

A small flame appeared on her fingertip.

“How about that?”

“...It’s magic.”

“I haven’t specifically learned magic. Isn’t that surprising?”

“Is it an inherited power?”

“Yes. It’s a power bestowed by the second generation, who was a seventh-level wizard. But that’s not all. Swordsmanship, alchemy, engineering, strategy—I have inherited many other things.”

She tapped her eyes with her other hand.

“With these eyes.”

Leaving behind a remark that it might seem unfair, Cretinia’s Siyan extinguished the flame as Alon remained silent.

Honestly, Alon couldn’t quite grasp what she was trying to say.

Siyan continued.

“But even though it may appear so to others, this power has a side effect. Do you know what it is?”

“...I don’t really know—”

Alon replied, though he harbored doubts. As far as he knew, there were no documented side effects of the Golden Historian’s Eye even in Psychedelia.

“It’s the memories.”

“Memories, you say?”

“Yes. The Golden Historian’s Eye passes on power to the next generation—and their memories as well.”

“...This is the first time I’m hearing this.”

“Of course. This fact is known only to the monarchs who have inherited the Golden Historian’s Eye.”

“So you inherit all memories?”

“No, it’s not like that. It’s selective—primarily strong memories and cherished recollections that linger and gradually resurface.”

Siyan stared intently at Alon’s face.

“Count Palatio, you must be curious why I sent you to the ruins of Malacca, aren’t you?”

“To be honest, yes.”

Siyan responded quickly to Alon’s nod.

“It’s because you exist in the memories inherited by the Golden Historian’s Eye that I have received.”

She disclosed this fact.

“Count Palatio, you...”

Count Palatio—or rather, Alon—kept his face expressionless, but his mind was filling with questions.

“Am I really present in the inherited memories of the Golden Historian’s Eye?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

It made no sense.

The Golden Historian’s Eye is supposed to inherit the past, just as she described.

“Why would I lie? It is an undeniable fact, without a shred of falsehood.”

“...Could there be a possibility that you are mistaken?”

“No, there is no such possibility. I would not be driven mad by the numerous memories of my predecessors because I can recognize that, even though I inherit memories, they are the memories of others. And—”

“This is definitely an inherited memory,” Siyan said firmly.

“...Can you tell when this memory was inherited?”

“No, unfortunately that is not possible. Inherited memories, as I’ve said, encompass only intense memories or cherished recollections. They do not allow for further inference.”

They are merely inherited—with no additional information as to when, from whom, or why.

“That’s what’s so fascinating, Count Palatio. What exactly are you?”

“...The things you mention are very unfamiliar to me.”

“Despite that, you don’t seem surprised or perturbed.”

“My facial expressions aren’t usually very expressive.”

Siyan hmmed and shrugged, seemingly disappointed.

“I thought perhaps talking to you might provide some clue, but it seems not.”

“...May I inquire about those inherited memories?”

Siyan paused, recalling.

“So far, two memories have surfaced. One is of a person resembling you having a private audience with a king who possessed the inherited memories, mentioning that something very important was in the ruins of Malacca.”

The reason she sent Alon to the ruins of Malacca.

“And another is of you in full ceremonial garb saving the kingdom from a crisis and receiving praise.”

Hearing this, he still couldn’t grasp any leads.

“...Does the face match mine?”

“Do you think I wouldn’t recognize that much?”

“...My apologies for the slip of the tongue.”

Siyan let out a low exclamation.

“Ah, and in the inherited memories, you had quite expressive facial expressions.”

“...You mean I had expressive facial expressions?”

“Yes, for example—”

She tapped Alon’s lips with her index finger and then pulled them up into a smile.

“Like this.”

“You mean I was often smiling?”

“You were grinning all the time.”

As if she had seen something amusing, Siyan laughed along.

Alon pondered quietly.

“May I ask what my rank was in those inherited memories?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Is that so?”

“There is a memory of a conversation, but only your words are remembered; the actual words of the memory’s owner are not heard.”

Afterward, Alon asked several more questions, but he couldn’t determine which generation the inherited memory belonged to.

After some conversation:

“Anyway, the reason I sent you to the ruins of Malacca was because of that inherited memory.”

“...Thank you for your kindness.”

“Kindness? It’s all an investment.”

“An investment?”

“Yes. The you in the inherited memories saved the kingdom, so I thought you could be of help this time too.”

“That may not be me.”

“...Is that so?”

Siyan rested her chin on her hand and smirked slightly.

“In the end, we haven’t learned anything new about these peculiarly inherited memories.”

“I apologize.”

“No need. It was quite interesting. I’ll call you again if something else comes to mind.”

“...Do the memories surface gradually?”

“Mostly, yes. Since inheriting them, they come to mind suddenly, or sometimes when there’s a strong shock similar to the past, anyway~”

“See you later. I’m getting sleepy now.”

With those words, she dismissed him, and Alon bowed slightly before leaving her office.

A few days later—

“Count?”

“What is it?”

“You’ve been deep in thought ever since you returned from the castle. What happened?”

Evan asked while driving the carriage, and Alon shook his head.

“It’s nothing serious.”

“...If it’s not serious, why have you been pondering for days?”

“Strictly speaking, I’m not pondering. It’s more like spacing out over a few days.”

Evan’s languid voice trailed off as Alon again looked out at the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) passing forest.

What filled his mind was the memory inherited through the Golden Historian’s Eye that he had heard from the queen a few days ago.

...It doesn’t make sense, no matter how much I think about it.

As he’d thought several times, the Golden Historian’s Eye is a power that inherits the past.

It doesn’t have the power to predict the future.

If such a power existed, Siyan wouldn’t have died protecting a crumbling kingdom, and Alon would have known about that setup.

Thus, the memories inherited through the Golden Historian’s Eye are likely from the past.

What he couldn’t understand was—

Someone with exactly the same face and voice as me...

Except for the expressive face, the man in the memories looked exactly like him.

...An ancestor?

The thought that he could be a descendant of the Palatio family occurred to him, but even so, it was strange.

...The ruins of Malacca haven’t been discovered for long.

As far as he knew, the ruins of Malacca were still relatively newly revealed at this point, with only a year left before the original story starts.

Meaning, it wasn’t a memory from a distant past.

...A hundred years ago, a jungle was destroyed, and the documents being studied were all lost. It’s possible the ruins of Malacca were discovered before that time and the memories from then were inherited. But it still doesn’t add up.

Despite such thoughts, there were too many unresolved issues, and Alon pondered.

“Huh—”

With a light sigh, he ended his contemplation.

The memories provided by the Golden Historian’s Eye were too limited, making speculation essentially pointless.

Instead, Alon brought up his last question—

A question that remained unanswered since his meeting with Cretinia Siyan.

...Why is she so kind to me?

Logically, the memories of the Golden Historian’s Eye should reflect the past.

That means the man in ceremonial garb in the inherited memory is not Alon, but someone who looks like him—which would have been a logical deduction for her too.

Yet she showed kindness to him because he looked like the man who saved the nation.

That means she must be convinced that the man in the inherited memories is Alon.

...And there was no reason to tell me to go to the ruins of Malacca.

Therefore—

What could it be?

Alon was left to ponder whether the queen was hiding something.

*****

Meanwhile....

In the office at Asteria Castle.

“...You seem very pensive lately, Your Majesty.”

Siyan, who had been staring blankly out the window, turned at her secretary’s comment.

“Does it appear so?”

“Yes. Especially since you met Count Palatio, it seems even more so. May I dare ask why?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not a serious concern at all. Rather, it’s an interesting one.”

“...Interesting, you say?”

Siyan nodded slightly.

“Yes, very interesting. In many ways.”

A small smile played on her lips as she murmured cryptically.