“Stop here.”

When Edric ordered the driver to stop the car far from the store, the driver cautiously suggested.

“Your Excellency, if we go just a bit further, there’s a square. How about stopping there?”

Edric didn’t respond. It meant to quietly follow his wishes.

The driver didn’t press further and dropped him off at the entrance to the forest path.

After getting out, Edric slowly walked along the trail lined with maple trees starting to turn red.

His eyes leisurely swept over the lush autumn scenery at its peak.

It was when he finally reached the edge of the village.

He stopped walking when he spotted a modest two-story house with a blue-green roof next to an open space piled high with haystacks.

That was the house he bought for Melly.

He heard from a villager he had bribed that she liked this house.

Even without their words, Edric would have recognized it at a glance.

It looked just like the house of the notary couple Melly had liked, who lived in a corner of the ducal estate’s back garden long ago, handling miscellaneous tasks.

He remembered the crystal-clear tears that formed in Melly’s eyes on the day that family emigrated and their house was demolished.

Someone who liked such simple things surely wouldn’t have thought of becoming a duchess if he hadn’t stepped in. She would have just kept her feelings for him to herself, left the ducal estate, and settled down somewhere.

Then she would have met someone compatible and built an ordinary family. Having children too. Her true happiness lay in such a modest daily life.

“…”

Suddenly, a smile spread across Edric’s face.

Now it seemed he could give her everything she had wanted.

A modest house, an ordinary family. And… children.

Melly could now have children.

And he would love the children Melly bore… solely for her sake.

So that she could bask in happiness watching the two of them play, he would love the children even more.

For now, it didn’t seem he could love children for any purpose other than that.

Edric hurried along the path again.

The car he had ridden in slowly followed behind him.

Melly’s store was visible less than ten meters ahead.

And Edric could see Melly sitting in the window seat where he always used to sit.

Her face visible through the window was resolute.

Today, she would probably say:

‘Did you bring the papers?’

Then she would pick up a pen to sign the two documents he handed over. However.

‘She won’t be able to.’

Edric’s bright blue eyes looking down at the envelope of documents in his hand sparkled with certainty.

What he had done over the past few days further strengthened this certainty.

Promoting her store to travelers. Small considerations he made for her for the first time ever. And…

The perfume she had bought him as a twenty-fifth birthday gift. Which had vanished without a trace, as if it had evaporated.

‘Right. There was such a thing.’

It was close to a miracle to recreate the scent that remained vaguely in his memory. It would have been impossible without his delicate senses, accurate expression, and financial resources.

He knew that these small touches of emotion would strongly contribute to opening her closed heart when gathered together.

He also knew.

That a bird that has left its cage cannot be caught again unless it returns on its own.

And that the only way to make a bird return on its own is to give it what it wants.

‘If that’s the only way to make you understand my sincerity, I’ll grant you a divorce as you wish.’

Just like the ultimate reason he had uttered those words.

In fact, he never intended to remove the name Pelton from her for even a moment.

Even if it was natural to go through the process of Enwood on the way from Melissa Pelton to Melly Pelton.

He just pretended to withdraw his obsession so that she could look back on her own heart.

“Ah… You’re here?”

As Edric entered the store, Melly stood up with a complicated expression. That expression made Edric even more satisfied.

“Please sit.”

Melly offered him a seat. Then as she was about to get up to brew tea, Edric said:

“You sit too. I don’t need tea.”

“But I want to serve you.”

However, Melly was particularly stubborn today.

“Please stay seated.”

Even her voice was firm. Edric let her do as she wished.

A moment later, Melly returned with two cups of tea on a tray.

“Please drink.”

Melly said, setting the tea down in front of Edric. Today it wasn’t Darjeeling.

“What kind of tea is this?”

Edric looked at her with a puzzled expression, unable to recall the unfamiliar tea name. Melly replied:

“It’s marigold tea. It’s good for the eyes…”

Her expression turned wistful as her voice trailed off.

Once Oz started revealing secrets, she seemed unable to stop herself from spilling everything that had happened, as if she had to tell it all that day.

She told Melly almost everything, except for matters related to Eida Pelton.

The more Melly heard of her stories, the more amazed she became, but what shocked her most was:

‘They say when a kind person turns, it’s scary, and that’s certainly true. Seeing how Madam didn’t return even at the news of the Duke’s accident.’

‘He had an accident? When?’

Surprised by this unheard-of news, Melly didn’t even realize she had referred to him with the old title.

Oz was even more surprised at her reaction.

‘What? You didn’t know about that famous incident? The whole empire was in an uproar.’

‘…’

‘The Duke was in a traffic accident. A major one, enough to crush all his bones.’

That news was as shocking as hearing he had tried to take his own life.

Melly shook her head stiffly and said:

‘I… didn’t know. How on earth…’

‘Madam, have you been living in the mountains all this time? Or were you in hibernation?’

Oz tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand. But as if deciding to set that issue aside for now, she continued explaining the situation.

‘The Duke had an accident while crossing the road. The driver said he seemed not to have noticed the car coming because of his poor eyesight…’

She trailed off. It meant she had a different opinion.

‘Anyway, he’s fully recovered now. It’s because he’s a duke; anyone else wouldn’t have stood a chance.’

‘…’

‘Still, something needs to be done about that eyesight. His vision has gotten much worse.’

After thinking for a moment, Melly nodded.

She had already seen that he had switched from his usual gold-rimmed glasses to high-prescription horn-rimmed ones. She had also seen him bringing objects very close to his eyes to see them when not wearing glasses.

‘The doctor said his eyesight deteriorated due to fatigue and stress. He said it would improve with rest and care, but he keeps coming here…’

That was why Melly had made the marigold tea that was good for the eyes.

But she couldn’t tell him that.

Because she had made a promise to Oz.

“Drink up.”

He closed his eyes and savored the tea without asking anything. His long eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes.

The thought that such poignant shadows must have fallen in the moment of the traffic accident, and in the moment he resolved to die, made Melly’s heart twinge.

“Take care of your health. Don’t come here.”

“Coming here is how I take care of my health.”

Edric retorted to Melly’s words.

“My eyes have improved a lot since coming here.”

“Then would you like to try reading those letters over there?”

Melly challengingly pointed to a fabric frame placed in a corner of the store.

There was a phrase she had written herself at the bottom of a sunset picture that dyed feathery clouds red.

Edric gazed at it without flinching and said:

“Even the hardest times become memories as time passes.”

“…”

“My eyes are fine.”

As if he could see everything related to her clearly, he looked at her directly with firm affection.

Suddenly, Melly felt her face flush hot. Not knowing where to look, she let her gaze wander until she spotted Edric’s empty teacup and picked up the pot.

“T-Tea… Have some more tea.”

Edric’s lips curved into a gentle smile as he brought the full cup Melly had poured to his mouth.

Melly hesitated, fiddling with her teacup, before finally hardening her gaze as if she had made up her mind.

“Don’t we have something to talk about now?”

“I was wondering when you’d bring that up.”

Edric narrowed his eyes as if displeased, then handed her the documents he had placed beside his chair.

There were two papers. One was a property transfer document, and the other was a divorce paper.

Melly’s gaze lingered longer on the divorce paper.

Edric’s signature line was blank. He would probably sign it after she did. Because he had promised.

Melly took out a pen from inside her apron and uncapped it.

Her smooth movement stopped abruptly just before the pen tip touched the signature line.

The autumn breeze blowing through the slightly open window ruffled Edric’s bangs, revealing his forehead that had been constantly covered. The red scar on one side of his smooth forehead suddenly made his accident, which had only been a vague thought, feel real.

Lowering her gaze, she saw traces of sutures in a couple of places on his arm exposed below his rolled-up sleeve.

She thought there must be dozens more such scars in unseen places. Since it was said to have been a major accident that crushed all his bones…

“…”

That fact gripped her wrist like magic. She simply couldn’t lower the pen. And she opened her eyes wide, seemingly more surprised at this fact herself.

On the other hand, Edric smiled calmly as if he had expected it. But soon he put on an innocent face, as if not understanding why she was acting that way, and said while smoothing his disheveled bangs:

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“…No. It’s nothing.”

Melly took a deep breath and tried a few more times.

‘An accident is an accident, and divorce is divorce.’

But due to the tension in her hand, the shaking only intensified, and the pen didn’t get any closer to the paper.

Finally, Melly sighed and withdrew the pen.

“I’m sorry.”

She capped the pen and looked at him.

“Please give me a few more days.”

Time to be certain she wouldn’t regret it.

She had been sure she would never regret it when she fled the ducal estate three years ago, but she ended up regretting it after all.

Edric granted her request with a nonchalant attitude.

“Do that.”

“…”

“I’ll wait as long as you need, so think it over comfortably, Melly.”

While Melly bowed her head, bewildered by the unexpected conflict, the smile on Edric’s face watching her grew deeper.

It was a good decision to have Oz meet her.