Being recognized

"You..."

The black-haired man closed his mouth and knitted his brows a little bit more as if thinking about the rest of his sentence. Meanwhile, the woman who was beside him also tilted her head with confusion while looking between me and the man.

'What's wrong with him?'

I looked around once before turning back to the man, who was still glaring at me like a lost donkey and tilted my head to the side with a questioning gaze.

"You..." The man repeated once again as his gaze moved up and wandered on my dark-blue hair. "Have I seen you before?"

"...."

Tap

I unconsciously took a step back and my hand moved up to grab the edges of my hair on its own.

"I- I don't think so..."

I don't know why, but my voice cracked a little bit as I said those words, making Ranger notice that something was wrong and turn to me.

My heart was beating really fast all of a sudden and a sudden rush of rare anxiousness engulfed my whole body. I lowered my head and avoided the man's gaze.

'Who is he?'

Without myself noticing, I had taken another two steps back and my hand was now almost covering my blue hair in the front of my head.

'Come on! Why are you acting so obvious!?'

I got too worked out all of a sudden that even Ralph would understand something was off!

Straightening my back, I coughed once before looking up at the black-haired man.

"I'm sorry, I have to attend to my master's."

I turned around and rushed to the bathroom at the end of the hall before the black-haired man could say anything else. Slamming the door behind me, I leaned my back on the wall and took a deep breath.

'Who the hell was that?'

Did he recognize me? Seriously? He was staring at my hair... But there is no one who can recognize me based on my hair in this country... At least, there were none in the past few lives I had.

Black hair and black eyes... I've never seen that man before. How did he know me? There is no way I'd meet him in one of my previous regressions as the memories of regression would be lost to anyone else besides me... And I'd remember him for sure if I'd seen him before...

Wait, how come I'd never seen him before? As the young master's attendant, I had to follow him on this trip to the empire for almost half of my lives, and we had stayed in this inn for half of those times... But I've never met this man or that woman. How is that possible? If they wanted to stay here this exact day, I must've seen them at least one of the times I was here...

How did I encounter the man in the first place?

Last night, I only heard his voice when we were returning from Barnett Blicra's room. Today, I met him when I went to 'rescue' Ranger...

First of all, there were no dinners with Barnett Blicra before as young master Alaric would never talk to the son of the duke about 'The Return of The Greatest Hero'! If there were no dinners, then it was obvious that I wouldn't manage to hear the man or see the woman.

Second, it was only after Alaric lost his memories that he asked his father to let him take fewer servants with him, and that was why Ranger was the one who went to talk to the inn owner instead of some other servant to order food, or even why there was a need for us to order food, because we didn't have a chef with us, and also why I was the one who went to 'rescue' Ranger, as there were no other servants and helpers here beside me and Ralph.

It's also possible that one part of the reason why I stopped before going to the bathroom and listened to the woman's words was that I'd seen them the last night, or else, I'd probably ignored them and gone on my way.

There was also the possibility that these two people were not here in any or a part of my regressions. That is also questionable... What changed this round in their schedule? The only thing that changed this round was Alaric's memories...

'Damn it, who the hell was that man?'

Black hair and black eyes... Black hair and black eyes... I don't know. I can't remember...

'If he isn't someone from any of my regressor turns, then can he be someone of my past? Someone I've met before this whole circle of dying and going back in time started? That is also the only way for someone to remember or recognize me...'

I moved away from the wall and approached the sink. I splashed cold water on my face, which helped me calm down a little bit and made my mind a little bit clearer.

'I have to be cautious.'

If he really is someone who knows me from before I started regressing, then I have to be extra careful. I can always avoid trouble by dying... But I still haven't found out the true reason for Alaric's memory loss and I don't want to regress before I have my answers...

'Also this round is a little bit fun so I don't want to waste it.'

Whoever that dude is, I have to make sure I'll never meet him again!

I washed my hands and splashed water on my face a few times more. I then brushed back my hair with my wet hands. Standing in front of the mirror and looked at my messy hair that was cut unevenly and asymmetrically. I was the one who had cut it with a rusty and old kitchen knife, so I was the only one to blame for my eye-catching hairstyle.

Heaving a sigh and wondering if I have to cut my hair shorter or even make myself bald, I left the bathroom and headed right to the young master's room without looking anywhere else. After breakfast, the whole group packed the stuff and headed to the carriages.

As if it was now my own and not the young master's, I jumped inside the luxurious and comfortable carriage and sat on my usual spot.

Alaric called me an extra and said some strange stuff when I asked him why he was worried about me, but I'll forgive him for now. He gave me money and food so he is a good person.

Think simple live simple... and short.

That's my new motto.