He shook his head, his tone growing more solemn. "She also hated a eggplant—hated it so much that she refused to be anywhere near it. But one day, after she lost her memories, she ate it. Just like that."
Jiho raised an eyebrow, watching the Emperor closely as he continued. "I knew then that something was terribly wrong. Losing memories doesn't change a person so completely. The body remembers things the mind forgets. But this wasn't the woman I loved anymore."
The Emperor's voice dropped to a whisper, his face tightening in grief. "And then, I discovered that your father".
He stopped speaking, the silence in the room hanging heavy between them.
The Emperor's face twisted with a mixture of grief and anger as he spoke, his words tumbling out in a torrent of emotions that had been suppressed for too long.
