“Let’s talk for a moment”

Edric said in a cold voice. Melly nodded.

“Okay……”

He approached Melly. This time he didn’t sit on the bed. Nor did he sit on the chaise lounge.

He avoided the two places he often sat and sat on a stool without a backrest.

Then he turned his body towards Melly so that the chaise lounge would be out of his sight as much as possible.

“Melly.”

Edric called out to her in a dignified voice.

“Tell me the truth.”

“……”

“Why was that guy here?”

Melly was delighted inwardly.

‘As expected, you didn’t believe it. You didn’t think of me as a reckless woman.’

But even so, the answer was no different.

‘That guy stole the diary I wrote pouring out my feelings for you. This mess happened while trying to get it back.’

……She couldn’t say that. It was a shame similar to being branded as a promiscuous woman. At least that’s how Melly thought.

“It’s as I said earlier.”

“……”

“I was walking in the hallway feeling stuffy and met that person. We talked for a bit and ended up letting him into the room, and then……”

“Melly.”

Edric cut off her words in an even colder voice.

“I haven’t known you for just a day or two.”

His chilling gaze seemed to steal away the heat of the sunlight penetrating through the latticed window.

“As far as I can guess, everything you said is wrong from the beginning.”

“……”

“That guy probably saw you lingering by the window, not in the hallway. And he must have come up to meet you out of curiosity. That fellow, being unnecessarily emotional, could easily do that. If there’s anything I got wrong up to this point, tell me.”

Melly was at a loss for words at the incredibly accurate guess.

While she was moving her lips with a bewildered face, Edric crossed his legs and placed his interlocked hands on top.

It was the posture he took when he was about to dig into something in earnest.

“Do you have any weakness that guy could hold over you?”

Melly’s right thumb dug deeply into the palm of her opposite hand. She tried to answer calmly.

“How… How could there be such a thing?”

“……”

“That guy just happened to run into me while snooping around the house on his own. And we talked for a bit and then……”

“What did you talk about?”

Edric asked.

“What did you two talk about? Tell me, Melly.”

“……”

Just how stupid am I?

Melly deeply resented herself for not anticipating such a question.

“Well… Just……”

He wasn’t someone who could be brushed off with vague words like “just everyday talk”. A more definite reason was needed.

“Actually, it was because of you.”

Miraculously, a plausible reason popped into Melly’s head.

“To persuade him to end things with Rosalyn.”

“……”

“Marriage should start with trust at the very least. That’s why I pulled him into the room. It’s not something to discuss in the hallway.”

Those words had indeed been exchanged. So it wasn’t a complete lie.

Melly could see Edric’s sharp gaze slowly dulling.

He must have thought it was a somewhat understandable reason.

Melly felt relieved. And she wanted to clear up other misunderstandings while she was at it. She pointed to the chaise lounge with her finger.

“And the reason I was like that with him over there was……”

“You don’t have to explain that.”

Edric tried to cut off Melly’s words without even looking at the chaise lounge.

“No, I want to say it.”

Melly insisted, uncharacteristically.

It was because she wanted to assert her innocence clearly when given the chance.

“It’s not… what you think. It was all an accident. I stood up to say goodbye but suddenly my ankle twisted and……”

She considered saying that Francis had acted mischievously because he didn’t like her advice, but decided it was better not to.

If Edric were to question him about it, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t reveal the diary story out of spite.

“So I accidentally fell on top of that man before I knew it. I tried to get up right away but it wasn’t easy, so Young Lord Adel tried to help me by wrapping his arms around my waist and……”

“Melly.”

His voice, which had sunk to a deadly calm, cut off Melly’s clumsy excuses in an instant.

“I don’t want to hear the details.”

He was pressing his fingertips to his temple, as if he was uncomfortable about something.

It made his already sharp eyes look even sharper.

“I understand what you’re trying to say. I’ll believe you.”

“……”

“But Melly. I hope you never create a situation like this again. Even if you had something to discuss with that guy, you should have done it outside. Carelessly letting him into your chambers was a very wrong action. I can’t believe how someone as sensible as you could behave that way.”

Edric was the head of the ducal family before being a friend. Therefore, he had the right to reprimand anyone in the household regarding matters that could cause discord.

Melly swallowed her resentment and humbly accepted the bitter rebuke.

“I’m sorry….. It won’t happen again.”

“Then rest.”

Edric uncrossed his legs and stood up.

There was still a cold wind coming from him as he turned away, but it wasn’t so scary that she couldn’t touch him like before.

Melly followed Edric and grabbed his arm.

“Edric.”

Edric, who was about to put his hand on the doorknob, looked at the hand holding his arm and then at its owner in turn.

“What?”

“Well……”

She flinched for a moment at his gaze that had turned fierce again, but Melly gathered her courage and asked what she wanted to ask.

“Why did you come to my room earlier? Did you come after receiving the note I sent?”

Edric answered after a slight pause.

“Yes.”

Melly held her breath, waiting for the next response. Edric obliged her wait with a voice as cold as the surface of a winter lake covered in thin ice.

“I came to tell you I had already forgotten. To be honest……”

“……”

“It should make some sense, you know.”

Melly felt bewildered by the ruthlessly direct words.

It was like a thorn so thin and sharp that it didn’t even feel painful.

“Ah… Yes, that’s right. I thought so too. That was really… nonsensical.”

Haha.

Melly laughed. Somehow, she felt she should laugh at this part, so she did so consciously.

But her body couldn’t lie.

The hand holding his arm lost strength and drooped down.

Edric looked at where her hand had been for a moment, then turned and left without a word.

Click−.

Only when she heard the sound of the lock engaging did reality come flooding in.

‘It should make some sense, you know.’

‘No. He didn’t intend to criticize.’

She tried to deny it, but it was useless.

The words were too blatant and ruthless. And Edric had said them.

He now attacked her with the same cruelty with which he used to confide in Melly about how much he actually despised people he outwardly seemed to respect greatly.

Melly couldn’t apply to herself now the indifference with which she used to listen to those inner thoughts with one ear and let them go out the other.

She had been criticized. And… she deserved it.

‘I’m asking you to make me your legal family member.’

She wanted to turn back time. If she could, she would die before uttering those words.

“……”

Melly placed a hand on her chest.

The deeply embedded thorn finally began to stimulate pain.

Melly felt her vision blur.

For a moment it cleared as hot streams flowed down both cheeks, but soon the fog rolled in again. Later, there weren’t even moments of clarity.

It seemed as if her tear glands were broken.

Edric, who had been striding down the corridor carpet, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The fiercely honed look in his eyes gradually lost its strength.

The voice of conscience echoed in his mind, saying it wasn’t too late to go back and apologize.

He almost turned around.

But then a memory that came to mind stopped him.

‘I accidentally fell on top of that man before I knew it. I tried to get up right away but it wasn’t easy, so Young Lord Adel tried to help me by wrapping his arms around my waist and……’

The fist he had been clenching lightly gradually tightened until the tendons stood out prominently.

Even if Melly hadn’t said anything, he knew very well in what position she and Francis had been entangled.

His eyes weren’t just for decoration, after all.

Yet he was angry at Melly for kindly explaining in detail.

So, unintentionally, he had ended up saying harsh words.

‘It should make some sense, you know.’

Honestly, there was nothing impossible about it. There had often been cases of people living as dependents and then being adopted as daughters.

And even if it didn’t make sense, he had the ability to make it make sense. If only he had the intention to do so.

Edric returned to his chambers without retracing his steps.

It was difficult enough to calm his own confusion.

Come to think of it, it had been like this consistently lately.

Like a stream of water that leaks in one place when another is blocked, just when he thought he had suppressed one confusion, another would immediately rush in, leaving him unable to gather his thoughts.

When Edric recognized Melly and that fellow embracing, the first thought that came to his mind was ‘Where did I put my gun? Ah, it’s in the cabinet in my office.’

At first, he thought such murderous intent arose because he believed that scoundrel must have been trying to do something terrible to Melly, who was like a younger sister to him.

But seeing that such thoughts continued even after reason returned and Melly confirmed it was a misunderstanding… It seemed the problem was not Francis, but Edric himself.

It was because he didn’t see Melly as family.

Edric sighed, feeling the wind blowing through the open window with his eyes closed.

“It’s absurd. Melly, of all people.”

Melly Enwood, who wasn’t pretty, didn’t have much of a background, and wasn’t even gentle.

The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed, and he could only laugh wryly.