“Oh my, Rosalyn. You’re already here!”

Eida Pelton, who had just returned from an outing, immediately visited the reception room.

“Oh, Mother−.”

Rosalyn, who had been looking out the window with bored eyes, jumped up when she heard her future mother-in-law’s voice.

The two shared a warm embrace.

“Have you been well? Are your parents alright?”

“Yes, of course. Everyone is in good health. Mother, have you become even younger and more beautiful in the meantime?”

Rosalyn responded affectionately to Lady Pelton’s greeting.

“Oh my, such flattery. What if I really start to believe it?”

“It’s true. You don’t have a single freckle even in broad daylight. Whereas I…”

Rosalyn blushed as she covered the faint freckles on her face. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she asked.

“How does Miss Melly have such porcelain-like skin? I’d like to know her secret.”

“Melly?”

Eida looked puzzled for a moment as an unexpected person became the topic of conversation. But she soon nodded in agreement.

“Her skin is certainly quite good.”

“…”

“But that’s her only redeeming quality. She’s too small and thin. It’s as if her growth stopped at fourteen or fifteen. She can’t compare to the elegant and feminine Rosalyn. As much as Melly is like a daughter to me, I must acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged.”

“Still, I envy Miss Melly’s delicate features. My eyes are so big that sometimes people say I look scary.”

“I prefer Rosalyn’s open features to Melly’s stuffy face. Let’s ask a passerby. Who’s more beautiful between Melly and Rosalyn? I’d bet my entire fortune on Rosalyn.”

Rosalyn blushed and smiled at the blatant compliment, but she didn’t deny Eida’s words.

The two continued their pleasant conversation for a while, using Melly as their subject.

Rosalyn was surprised at how critically Lady Pelton judged Melly, but she didn’t think much of it, knowing that some noble ladies disliked their daughters and belittled them in public.

Suddenly, Lady Pelton realized the absence of someone who should have been there and asked.

“Where’s Edric? Leaving his fiancée alone?”

“Oh, he went to fetch my brother. Francis Adel.”

Rosalyn replied as if she had just remembered.

“He went out to smoke a cigar and must have lost his way, as he hasn’t returned. But seeing that both of them are late, I’m a bit worried. Surely Duke Pelton wouldn’t have gotten lost in his own home…”

At that moment, the reception room door suddenly opened.

“Mother, you’re here.”

Edric walked in, adjusting his sleeve.

“How could you leave your fiancée alone for so long?”

“I apologize. Did you wait long, Rosalyn?”

“No, not really… But.”

Rosalyn’s gaze swept behind Edric.

“Where’s Fran? Did you not find him yet?”

“Ah, I found him. However, he said he forgot he had some business and asked me to relay that he’d return home first.”

Edric spoke with impeccable composure.

“Business?”

Rosalyn tilted her head.

“He shouldn’t have any.”

“I think he intentionally left to give us some privacy.”

Edric said.

“So that I could escort you home. He even took the carriage with him.”

“My, what a witty young man.”

Eida Pelton exclaimed.

“I think so too, Mother. He’s very perceptive and… intelligent.”

Edric agreed. His lips twisted slightly midway, but no one noticed.

Rosalyn still looked doubtful, but just then, the butler came to inform them that the meal was ready, so she had to set aside her suspicions.

“Take my hand, Rosalyn.”

Edric offered to escort her. Rosalyn smiled brightly and placed her small hand on his large, delicate one.

The couple followed the Dowager Duchess, walking side by side.

With no one watching, Edric no longer needed to manage his expression and his eyes turned cold.

Melly was afraid to dwell on her thoughts.

Everything felt like a momentary dream.

She had been caught by Edric in a shamefully intimate position with another man.

His gaze, alternating between her and the man beneath her, seemed somehow empty.

She couldn’t discern the emotion it held. He seemed unable to believe what he was seeing.

Melly stood up. She rose easily, as if her previous struggle to get up had been a lie.

As if she had been straddling that man of her own volition all along.

At that moment, Edric’s empty gaze suddenly changed.

‘Um… Edric, this is… It’s not what…’

Her thoughts weren’t even organized when she opened her mouth, so her words didn’t come out properly.

Perhaps frustrated by her fumbling, the man behind her cut in. That madman who was the cause of this whole situation.

‘Let me explain. We were…’

But he too was unable to finish his sentence.

Because he was knocked down by Edric’s fist.

Melly covered her mouth with both hands at the sudden turn of events.

To think that the refined Edric would resort to violence.

And that one punch wasn’t the end of it. He took a step towards Francis, who had fallen some distance away, to deliver further punishment.

There was no time to consider what had angered him so.

‘Stop!’

Melly spread her arms, blocking the space between him and Francis.

For a moment, Edric stared at Melly as if he would devour her.

The deep blue eyes she had thought resembled the sea now seemed like the hottest blue flames.

‘Move.’

His low voice betrayed his suppressed anger.

He looked precarious, like a tightly inflated balloon. That’s why she couldn’t move.

‘It’s my fault.’

‘……’

‘I invited Young Lord Adel in. We happened to meet in the hallway… I guided him to my room to talk for a moment.’

Melly hated herself.

If it weren’t for the weakness Francis held over her, she would never have defended him.

Because of that shameless man, she made herself out to be a loose woman.

And in front of the man she loved most.

Melly couldn’t bring herself to meet Edric’s eyes and lowered her gaze.

The tips of his beautiful, delicate fingers were trembling finely.

It was unresolved anger causing his blood vessels to spasm.

Who would he be angrier at? That shameless Francis? Or me?

Before she could guess, Edric gently pushed down one of Melly’s outstretched arms. Her arm fell like a carelessly placed bar.

Edric brushed past Melly.

The cold wind he stirred up made Melly’s shoulders shudder.

But surprisingly, what came from behind her was a calm apology.

‘I misunderstood. I thought Melly was being mistreated by a stranger.’

When Melly turned around, Francis was grabbing Edric’s arm and getting to his feet.

‘It’s alright. It was a situation easy to misunderstand.’

Francis said, looking anything but alright.

His burst lip and one cheek already starting to swell spoke of how great an impact that one hit had.

With unnatural pronunciation, he took out a handkerchief and spat out what he had been holding in his mouth.

Thick blood quickly dyed the white handkerchief bright red.

‘I suppose dinner will be difficult today?’

Francis said with a face that suggested he regretted not being able to eat due to another appointment, rather than because his mouth was burst.

‘I’m sorry, but could you please tell Rosalyn I left early because I had business?’

‘Sure.’

Edric replied just as calmly.

‘And I’d like to borrow one horse. Rosalyn will need to use the carriage. You’ll do that much since you hit me, right?’

‘No need, take the carriage. I’ll escort Rosalyn home myself. It’ll be easier to explain why you suddenly disappeared that way.’

For a moment, Melly felt dizzy.

It was the bewildering feeling one might have when suddenly thrown from the midst of a raging storm into a cloudless sky.

What on earth had she been seeing all this time? Had it all been her own delusion?

‘I’ve been very rude.’

Francis bid Melly farewell with a polite bow. And Edric…

He didn’t spare Melly even a glance.

And then he passed by Melly with an icy attitude as if he would never see her again, and did not return.

That was just half a day ago.

Melly spent several hours alone in the middle of the silent room.

All she heard during that time was Oz’s affectionate scolding for leaving the meal he brought untouched, and the sound of carriage wheels outside the window.

It must have been the sound of Edric escorting Rosalyn home, as he said he would.

Melly resented herself for stopping Francis Adel from being beaten to death.

‘I’ll buy you a meal later. You’ll be grateful to me.’

What should I be grateful for?

For breaking our precious friendship because of you?

For being able to remain in his memory for a long time as a loose woman who fooled around with his future wife’s lover?

Melly wondered how she could have thought Edric would feel jealous because of her.

Then again, when Edric knocked Francis down, she herself had entertained that thought for a moment. But.

‘I misunderstood. I thought Melly was being mistreated by a stranger.’

As always, hope ended in miserable disappointment.

Come to think of it, even if it had been a complete stranger rather than his sister, anyone might have acted with their hands before their head like Edric if they saw such a predicament.

Melly was certain that Francis had been completely off the mark.

He seemed to have wanted to awaken Edric and break off this marriage, but what broke was not the planned marriage but the ten-year friendship between Edric and herself.

He had accepted Melly as a friend because of her prudence and discretion. Now that he knew otherwise, this friendship was over!

Suddenly, she thought of the diary.

She had seen Francis Adel quickly hide it behind a cushion just before he got up.

Sure enough, when she removed the cushion, there was a checkered hardcover notebook.

‘This was the root of the problem.’

A monstrosity where she had poured out her raw emotions. She regretted not burning it earlier.

Melly approached the fireplace.

She lit the flint on the kindling and waited for the flames to build up properly.

Finally, when the flames crackled and blazed, she pushed the diary behind the screen.

Now she just had to let go of the hand holding it. Then this monstrosity would disappear from this world forever…

Knock knock−.

But then, suddenly there was a knock.

She recalled Oz scolding her for leaving her meal. He must have come with a snack after all.

Melly retrieved the diary.

She didn’t want him to see the half-burned diary.

Melly hastily stuffed the diary into any drawer nearby and answered.

“Come in.”

She moved towards the side table.

She was a bit hungry from barely eating lunch. Thinking she wouldn’t skip this time, she turned around.

She was about to sit in the chair next, but couldn’t.

“……”

Why? The carriage sound had only been heard once. There had been no sound of a returning carriage at all.

And yet… Edric was there.