If You Want To Possess Me - Chapter 27

Despite her clearly flustered reaction, Melissa now pretended to have just remembered.

“B-Broken engagement? Oh, right. That’s right. You said you broke off your engagement with Daniel.”

That behavior seemed even more suspicious. Even for someone who didn’t enjoy gossip like Melissa, Kisa and Daniel’s broken engagement had caused quite a stir, so it seemed odd to have forgotten about it. Especially since it had happened just a few days ago.

“Of course I’m curious about the broken engagement too. Like how you two ended up breaking it off. But… isn’t this a natural question as your friend?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious! I can even swear on it!”

“Never mind your swearing. If what you said earlier was sincere, there’s one thing I’d like to ask.”

Sensing the conversation might get lengthy, Kisa sat back down on the sofa. Seeing this as a sign of reconciliation, Melissa’s eyes lit up.

“What is it? Ask me anything.”

“It’s nothing much, I’m just curious why you only came now.”

“What do you mean only came now?”

“Didn’t you say earlier you came to apologize to me?”

“Oh, yes. I came to apologize today.”

“I want to know why you only felt compelled to visit our house in person to apologize today.”

“…Are you blaming me for coming too late?”

“Late, huh. Yes, it was late.”

Melissa narrowed her beautifully made-up eyes.

“Kisa, speak plainly. I’ve been holding back since you’ve been angry, but I need to make this clear.”

“Alright. Make it clear then.”

“I’ve been apologizing all along. You’re the one who’s been ignoring it until now.”

“You apologized?”

“I did. By letter. Do you know how many I sent? But you never replied once!”

“Ah, those.”

For a moment, Kisa felt deflated, wondering if she needed to explain even such basic matters, but she didn’t hold back what needed to be said.

“Melissa, no one in this world would accept a letter that’s more than 80% self-justification as a sincere apology.”

Melissa blinked blankly.

“…Self-justification?”

“Things like how hiding Daniel’s betrayal was ultimately for my sake, or how you had no choice but to spill everything when the princess asked. Those kinds of statements.”

“B-But that’s the truth!”

“The truth is this. You didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters. You wanted to sell my story to look good to the princess. And…”

Though unintended, the next words came out in a somewhat bitter tone.

“The reason you came here now is to find out why I broke off the engagement, so you can bring more joy to the princess.”

For a moment, Melissa’s eyes wavered. It was more solid proof than anything else that Kisa’s words were correct.

After a brief silence, she raised her voice, speaking with a trembling tone.

“Wh-What nonsense are you spouting! Do you want to slander me that badly?”

A highly agitated response. If it had been a month ago, Kisa would have shrunk back, unsure how to deal with such an angry Melissa.

But having dealt with Daniel by now, she had enough composure to coolly assess the situation in a corner of her mind.

“So it really was true. Now that I’ve confirmed it, I don’t feel very good.”

“It’s not true! It really isn’t!”

“Don’t you think I, who’ve been your closest friend for over ten years, would know you? Why did you suddenly visit our house in person when you were only sending letters until a few days ago?”

“That’s because my father happened to have business here!”

“If he didn’t, you would never have come in your lifetime?”

“What? No, that’s…”

“If you sincerely wanted to apologize to me, why didn’t you come alone?”

“You wouldn’t have allowed me to visit!”

“You came without permission today, didn’t you?”

Melissa was at a loss for words at that question.

“What mattered to you wasn’t my permission, but whether you could meet me or not, right? If you had come alone, you might have been turned away at the door, but if you came with your father, we’d have no choice but to let you in too, and then I’d have to deal with you.”

“…”

“Would someone who cares so little about my permission have cared much about forgiveness?”

Kisa quietly watched Melissa gnawing on her own lips.

“If you truly felt sorry towards me, you should have come to apologize in person long ago, not just send letters.”

Even if it meant enduring the possibility of not being let in at the gate or being told to leave right to her face.

If she had done that, if Melissa had continued to come apologize despite that, Kisa too would have eventually softened her anger.

But she didn’t do that. After all, a letter was a convenient means that wouldn’t risk losing much face even if no reply was received.

“Besides, you asked our father before, didn’t you? To help us reconcile.”

On the day he returned from visiting the Dos estate, Count Vanspelt had called Kisa and told her to accept Melissa first.

“You, who have been watching from the side, knew full well. That I fear my father. To try to force me using such a father’s power, I simply cannot accept your actions—”

“Don’t speak as you please!”

Melissa suddenly stood up and shouted hysterically.

“I merely asked your father to help us reconcile!”

She glared at Kisa with fiercely raised eyes.

“You’ve changed completely. You’re not the kind Kisa I used to know.”

Facing her former friend who was showing clear hostility, Kisa replied with utmost calmness.

“You’re right. I have changed.”

Not completely, but a little. She too felt that she had definitely changed compared to before encountering Daniel’s secret.

“But I don’t regret it. I like who I am now more than before.”

She became able to speak a little more of what she wanted to say. She reduced her tendency to yield her own intentions first out of fear of conflict with others.

“So Melissa, why don’t you change too?”

“What are you saying?”

“How long will you keep packaging your selfish actions as goodwill? Isn’t it about time you acknowledged your mistakes?”

“N-No! What do you know? I really did it for your sake!”

Some excuses became beliefs. That was the case with Melissa.

The ‘kind Melissa’ who had approached the shy young Kisa and reached out her hand first. Come to think of it, that kindness was largely self-satisfying in nature.

As someone who had received no small comfort from Melissa, she had no intention of diminishing its value now, but ‘kind Melissa’ and ‘Kisa’s friend’ were no longer compatible concepts. She had far more important roles than ‘Kisa’s friend’.

“Fine, let’s say I don’t know. How important is that now anyway?”

Kisa stood up.

“Goodbye, Melissa. Although it ends like this, I had many happy moments being your friend.”

It was sincere, without an ounce of lie.

“I hope you’ll be happy.”

“Wait, wait a moment! Kisa! Are you going to leave after saying only what you want?”

Melissa shouted something, but she was determined not to look back. However, there were words that stopped her steps heading towards the door.

“Do you know how worried I was when I heard you were being sold off to that old pervert in Charmal!”

At the familiar content she had heard somewhere before, Kisa glanced back, and Melissa smirked with a somewhat exhilarated look.

“Now you listen to me.”

“Did Daniel say that?”

“Looks like it’s true, since you guessed it right away?”

She brushed her side hair with an ostensibly relaxed hand.

“He came to me a few days ago and asked. He said you might soon become the queen of Charmal, and wondered if I knew anything about it.”

Come to think of it, Daniel, who didn’t know that Kisa and Melissa’s relationship had soured, might have tried to confirm things related to Kisa with her. Moreover, Daniel’s sister and Melissa belonged to the same social circle.

“Even so, really. Your father is amazing too. How could he send his daughter to such a place…”

“So you came to hear it from me directly? Whether I’m really being sold off to a foreign country for money?”

“I said I was worried. Even if we fought, it’s natural to worry when hearing such things, right?”

“…You don’t need to worry. There’s no chance of me becoming the queen of Charmal.”

“Really? Then why did you break off the engagement? Your father isn’t the type to make you break an engagement without reason.”

“Melissa, are you really worried about me?”

At those words, her face flushed red.

“Why? Does it sound like a lie?”

“If it’s not a lie, I think I’ve answered enough. I’ll be going now.”

Kisa left the reception room, and Melissa didn’t try to stop her further. As if she had already gotten the answer she wanted.

It had been over two weeks since Kisa broke off her engagement with Daniel, when Count Vanspelt summoned his daughter to his office after a long while.

Kisa went to see her father with some expectation. She had entrusted him with a congratulatory letter to send to Sayerd before, and wondered if a reply had already come back.

However, the count’s business was something entirely different.

“Um, Father… What is this?”

When he handed her an envelope, Kisa picked it up with an excited heart, but a few seconds later, she asked in a voice that clearly revealed her disappointment.

Naturally, the count was not one to pay attention to his daughter’s disappointment.

“It’s an invitation.”

“Yes, it says so here.”

She hadn’t asked him because she couldn’t read what was written on the envelope.

“I don’t understand why this person sent me an invitation.”

The sender was Countess Havertz, who was Daniel’s aunt and also the person in charge of hosting the upcoming charity event.

“Kisa, attend that charity event.”

“Pardon?”

“I hear Duke Hillan will be attending. As Princess Arta’s partner.”