"Pierre Lefevre. His letter was addressed to Sophie Bernard, and he wanted Sophie to go to the room on the third floor upon waking up—there was no other option. Théo Girard. His letter was addressed to Julienne Charpentier, telling her to stay where she was. It was a bit livelier than Pierre's content, but there were still issues with how he described things:
'You are Julienne Charpentier, Sophie Bernard is my girlfriend, and you're close to her too. (You may not remember that.) It's because she disappeared that we're here searching for her....Do not go up to the third floor of the castle. The room you're in is the safest place. Do not leave it.'
He was fully aware of my amnesia and was determined to make me believe I was Julienne. His goal was to keep me where I was and confirm my identity as Julienne.
Julienne Charpentier—while his tone seemed intimate and confiding, as if he were speaking to Sophie, it didn't feel familiar to me by association. And if Sophie had really sent him the text message, and he knew she had a communication device on her, shouldn't he have asked Sophie to call him when she woke up? Instead, he simply told her to go to the third floor or wait where she was, which didn't make much sense. That meant to him, it didn't matter whether Sophie went up or stayed—unless he was sure he would return before Théo.
Of course, what really made me decide to leave the room was the fact that there were no windows. With no way to assess the outside world and unable to trust any of them, if I waited for them to come in, once they blocked the door, I wouldn't have had any chance of escape in the condition I was in.
And if I guessed correctly, once I reached the third floor, I would gradually become Sophie, and if I waited for Théo, I would become Julien. The choices I made at that moment would determine who I would become. In order not to become anyone else, I couldn't choose either of the given options—so I chose to go down to the ground floor to assess the situation.
This game is actually quite scary, especially for someone with amnesia. Whether I became the Sophie known to Pierre or Julienne, or the Julienne known to Théo—I would lose myself. I said you were kind, but you were also cruel.
Thinking about it, I realized that my personality before the amnesia must have been rather intense." I concluded.
"You're smarter than I expected," she laughed, then said, "I deliberately didn't mention it earlier—people who come here but fail the test can't start over. Instead, they become part of the test environment here. They lose their own thoughts and can even be replaced and disappear completely. That's the price to pay. You're good, and you're lucky."
"Even though I've lost my memory, I still trust my instincts. Maybe my previous profession had something to do with it. I don't remember what I used to do in life, but if I could fly a helicopter, it couldn't have been too bad."
I was joking.
"All I can say is, you're good—and it turns out you really are," she said appreciatively.
"Now that we've talked a lot, can you tell me your name? Maybe we'll meet again later?" One thing I hadn't said—when she called me, it wasn't just the name that felt familiar, it was also the way she said it. I had a feeling I should know her.
"Elodie. Elodie Dubois." She looked at me as if she wanted to see my reaction to the name.
"Elodie. Elodie Dubois. Dubois—as in 'property of the woods'? Interesting." I said with a laugh. (Elodie is derived from 'alodis', meaning 'property')
A nostalgic smile appeared on her face, as if it wasn't the first time someone had made that comment.
"Oh, my dear ladies, I hope I'm not intruding,"
A smooth male voice came from a corner, and then I saw a young man in a suit appear out of nowhere.
"Oh, Beau, you're always a little late." Elodie looked at the man and giggled.
"I must be handsome when meeting our lovely ladies. I must say, I still love 21st-century suits. Designers had taste." The way he deliberately tugged on his tie was a little comical. "Pleased to meet you, Vivienne. I'm Beau Richard. Call me Beau—I like it."
"Nice to meet you, Beau." I smiled and responded.
"I'm sure Elodie's told you about this place. You can just think of us as employees of the Castle of Amnesia. And—"
"Sorry, Castle of Amnesia?" I interrupted him.
"You didn't tell her yet?" He looked at Elodie, puzzled.
"No name yet, just the essentials." Elodie shrugged, clearly thinking it wasn't important.
"Isn't our name essential, Elodie? You're always like this. We need a little ritual in our lives, don't we?" He looked at Elodie, then at me, as if trying to convince me.
"Ha-ha-ha!" I let out a hearty laugh. I had to admit—they were very funny. "Whether it's called the Castle of Amnesia or the Castle of Memory, it doesn't really affect what happens next, does it?" I sided with Elodie.
"You two!" He covered his face with his hands and pretended to be heartbroken.
"Anyway, Castle of Amnesia is a great name." I decided it was better to comfort the man pretending to be sad.
As expected, his mood lifted the moment I finished speaking.
"Back to the point. I came to pick you up for the next challenge. We can talk about the details later, but for now, let me officially congratulate you!
👏👏👏 'Welcome to the official challenge of the Castle of Amnesia, Vivienne Durand.' 👏👏👏"