“It’s so frustrating.”

Melly muttered while looking out the window.

She stood by the window for a long time. She thought some sunlight might make her feel less stuffy.

She wanted to go out for a walk… but that wouldn’t be allowed, would it?

‘Please stay in your room until the guest leaves.’

That’s what Edric had told the butler.

Why did he tell her not to leave the room? Was it because Rosalyn came to visit?

But why would her visit be a reason to confine her? It was only a few hours ago that she was excited about meeting her. Melly couldn’t understand his sudden change at all.

‘Well, that’s not the only thing I can’t understand.’

He usually says they’re like family, but he doesn’t seem particularly eager to make it real.

But whether she understood or not, Melly couldn’t stand how cursed she felt for asking him this morning to accept her as a member of the family.

She couldn’t know exactly what he was thinking, but judging by his expression and tone, he didn’t seem to take it very well.

‘Does he think I’m dreaming nonsense after living with high-class people for so long?’

Was that why he thought he should prevent her from meeting noble ladies like Rosalyn, so he didn’t allow her to leave the room?

It might be so.

He was a kind and affectionate friend, but also the head of a prestigious noble family.

He had the right to control subordinates who tried to climb above their station without knowing their place.

“This won’t do.”

When her thoughts reached that point, Melly couldn’t just sit still any longer.

She felt she should go find Edric and tell him even now that her thoughts were foolish.

If not, she should at least leave him a note.

Melly sat at the desk and began writing down her intention to ask forgiveness for her foolishness.

[I’m sorry, I was wrong. I don’t know why I said such things. I was shocked by what happened with Lord Blair and momentarily became]

She stopped writing and put down her pen.

‘Hmm… is this too long?’

He was busy entertaining Rosalyn now. So it seemed better to write just the essentials concisely rather than a long story.

Melly drew thick black lines over what she had written, then wrote again on a new sheet of paper.

[Please forget everything I said this morning. I was rash.]

This seemed like it wouldn’t disturb his precious time.

Melly folded the paper twice, grasped it in her hand, and left the room. Then, intending to use the west staircase closer to the reception room, she turned the corridor corner.

[This is the timeline separator]

Ironically, as soon as she disappeared around the corner, Francis appeared from the opposite direction. He looked around the corridor, examining the doors lined up on both sides.

“I’m sure it was somewhere around here.”

His eyes, scanning the softly gleaming spruce doors, stopped on one of them.

It seemed the very woman he had seen in the gazebo would be beyond that door.

He knocked carefully. Then knocked once more.

During the two knocks, there was no sound from inside.

‘She must have gone somewhere in the meantime.’

Clicking his tongue at the unfavorable situation, Francis leaned against the wall.

He intended to wait for her return.

He didn’t have anything particular in mind. He just wanted to talk to her for a moment.

No, to be precise, there was something he wanted to confirm.

‘The other day, I saw Miss Ellie, was it? At your house… She was at the opera house with some man.’

Francis remembered the expression that appeared on Duke Pelton’s face when he told him that. He might think he hid it well, but Francis saw it clearly. The deep blue eyes that seemed like they wouldn’t ripple even if a stone was thrown into them shook violently for a moment. A crack had formed in his iron-like heart.

He saw himself in that sight.

‘I’m getting married.’

On an early spring evening, beautiful sunset, warm breeze, the scent of new buds carried by the wind. At the moment when everything was perfect, Rosalyn’s declaration came like a bolt from the blue, making his heart sink.

Even though he had prepared his heart so much to hear it, he couldn’t help but lose control of his expression at those words that seemed to claw at his chest…

‘Ugh!’

Francis stood up, irritated by the bitter memory. He decided not to wait any longer and turned the doorknob.

The room’s owner showed no signs of returning, and it seemed a waste to go back without any results.

He felt he should at least look around the room before leaving.

The door opened quietly, and he stepped into the empty room.

It was small for a noble lady’s room, but large for a guest’s room.

“They tried very hard to remind her of her place without being accused of mistreating her.”

Francis sneered.

Even at a glance, it was clear that the room’s owner wasn’t a woman of much vanity.

Simple, clean-designed furniture, a few modest decorations that could have been bought at a traditional market. Plain, single-colored bedding.

On the dressing table were just the necessary cosmetics, and other items were all… no, slightly less than what might be considered necessary.

She must be a woman who knows her place.

Suddenly, a notepad turned face-down on the desk caught Francis’s eye.

‘What’s this?’

He picked it up without much thought. There were traces of something being written and then scribbled out, as if the writer wasn’t satisfied with it.

He held the paper up to the slanting sunlight coming into the room. The writing hidden under the scribbles began to show.

“I’m sorry… I was wrong. I don’t know why I did that…”

Francis tilted his head.

‘What on earth did she do wrong, and to whom, to start writing such a long-winded memo?’

She didn’t seem the type to commit wrongdoings.

He thought for a moment but couldn’t figure it out. He tossed the notepad back onto the desk and turned away.

Suddenly, the silver drawer handle under the desk left a vivid afterimage in his turning mind.

Francis turned back.

There was no one in the room, but he still glanced around swiftly. The act he was about to commit required just that much caution and secrecy.

He was relieved to confirm that not even an ant was around. Then he pulled on the handle.

Inside the drawer were a few simple writing instruments, a handkerchief embroidered with colored thread, and a hardcover notebook.

‘A diary.’

Francis recognized it at once. Because it had a lock on it.

The key was not visible, but that didn’t mean there was no way to open the lock.

He removed the family crest brooch attached to his clothes.

“I wonder if everyone knows that the brooch of the prestigious Adel family is being used like this.”

Francis chuckled as he pushed the pin of the brooch into the tiny keyhole as far as it would go.

After poking it three or four times, the lock opened cheerfully with a click.

It was worth the brief effort.

Francis returned the brooch to his chest and picked up the diary with satisfaction.

‘Well, well. She wasn’t as aware of her place as I thought.’

Francis’s amber eyes sparkled with interest.

[This is the timeline separator]

The butler turned pale as if he’d seen a ghost when he spotted Melly.

“My lady, didn’t His Excellency say you should stay in your room? It’s troublesome for me if you wander around like this.”

“I’m sorry.”

Melly quickly apologized and handed him the note.

“I’ll go back right away, but I’d like you to deliver this. As soon as possible, if you can.”

She wanted to soothe Edric’s likely displeasure as quickly as possible. She wanted to erase the foolish words she had uttered from his mind as soon as possible.

The butler took the note from Melly’s hand and urged her again.

“I understand, I’ll deliver it, so please go back upstairs quickly. Quickly now.”

“I will.”

Melly complied obediently. She felt she had done her part.

In any case, the note would be delivered soon, and Edric would surely feel better once he knew her true feelings.

Melly turned around, feeling much more at ease.

But her mood sank again when she heard Edric and Rosalyn’s friendly laughter from beyond the reception room.

She wondered if his cold attitude when turning away was something only she had seen.

‘I’m most comfortable when I’m with you, Melly. It’s so tiring to force myself to laugh and chat with people.’

He had always said that, but now Melly couldn’t be sure. It seemed that the face he was showing Rosalyn in the reception room right now was his true self, and the face he had shown her this morning wasn’t because he was comfortable, but because he had grown distant.

Because of one foolish word from her.

Melly returned to her quarters with heavy steps.

Sighing as she closed her room door and turned around, she was so shocked it was a miracle she didn’t scream.

“You’re back?”

“……”

For a moment, her mind went blank and she couldn’t think of anything except that the person before her was a man.

Reason slowly returned.

‘This man… That, that man!’

That distant relative who was kissing Rosalyn in a secluded corridor. No, were they legal siblings now?

“Wh… why are you here?”

Melly looked with an incredulous expression at the man who was lazily reclining on the chaise lounge to greet her.

The words that came out of his mouth were even more absurd.

“I knocked, but there was no answer.”

“If, if there’s no answer, does that mean you can just come in like this? This is a serious breach of etiquette.”

Melly shouted as she opened the door.

“Get out right now!”

But she had no choice but to close the door again.

“I saw something interesting…”

Melly’s eyes widened as if they would pop out when she discovered her diary in the man’s hand.

She hurriedly closed the door.

“Wh… why is that there…”

That wasn’t the only shocking thing. The diary didn’t have a lock on it!

Then where was the lock?

Amidst her frantic gaze, she noticed the lock lying open on the desk. She wondered if there had ever been a moment in her life when her heart sank so much.

“I didn’t see much.”

Francis added with a slight smile.

“But I learned all I needed to know.”