SACBD

90

"Riv, it's autumn. Late autumn."

Riv was puzzled.

"Is that why the garden is so desolate?"

"Riv, are your memories really gone? Can't you remember?"

"Lionel, I have no problems with my body nor my memory."

Lionel didn't seem to believe Riv's words.

He clasped her hands with impatience.

"Riv, you lost consciousness in a horse riding accident a week ago."

Riv was puzzled.

She could ride a horse, but she was very clumsy. She would not have ridden a horse voluntarily.

"Did I ride a horse?"

"There was an accident when you rode your horse without a destination. The coachman followed you and found you, unconscious."

This was news to Riv.

Riv didn't like horseback riding. She disliked the swaying and shaking feeling of being in a saddle.

She only learned how to ride when she went to Mont Del, and even then she could barely ride a mule.

"Why? Was I being chased?"

Riv started thinking through different possibilities when she suddenly got a terrible headache.

"Ah!"

She held her head and moaned.

"Riv, Riv?"

Lionel hurriedly embraced Riv and clicked his tongue.

"I told you not to overdo it."

Riv pressed her forehead to suppress her headache.

At the same time, her mind raced desperately.

This was all too strange to be a dream. What if it was real?

"Call the doctor!"

Riv's body gradually fell forward.

Her vision was fuzzy and she couldn't see properly. Lionel's voice became urgent.

"Rambaud! Emilia!"

Riv could hear running footsteps and loud discussions, and for a moment she was so dizzy that she couldn't see anything.

She felt alone, in the dark.

"L-Lionel! Lionel!"

She became so terrified that her body shook. Lionel grabbed her hands.

"Riv, calm down. I'm here."

"Lionel, haa."

"Don't think about it and clear your head. Take slow deep breaths."

Riv gripped Lionel's hand and followed his instructions.

When her panicked breathing returned to normal, she could see again.

She appeared to have had a blackout.

"Relax, Riv. I'll always be by your side."

Lionel gave Riv a kiss on the back of her hand.

His lips were dry, yet hot.

"Riv, breathe."

"Yes."

The doctors gave Riv a relaxant. She took the pill and fell asleep.

***

When Riv woke up from her nap, she was still in the Duchess' room.