The carriage sped smoothly through the streets.

Edric was in a good mood.

The smooth surface of the road they were traveling on felt good, and the force of the headwind rushing through the open windows on both sides was refreshing.

But above all, what felt best was the fact that the worry that had been troubling him for the past few days was resolved all at once.

Thankfully, Rosalyn made the decision right then and there.

‘Let’s say I dumped you. And I suppose I can come up with the reason?’

‘Of course. Make up whatever you like.’

And so the engagement was dissolved by each taking one copy of the cancellation document signed by both parties on the spot.

In fact, breaking off the engagement with Rosalyn wasn’t even a worry, it was just a matter of making a simple decision.

The problem lay elsewhere.

‘Melly Enwood.’

She was Edric’s biggest worry.

Until now, all he had felt for Melly was friendship, or familial affection, or… deep trust.

Of course, it would be a lie to say he had never once felt attraction to her.

She was there for him during his turbulent years, and made a great contribution to straightening out his twisted mind. He did like her briefly during that time.

But as time passed, he realized that Melly back then was not a woman to him, but a kind of medicine.

Medicine is something to be grateful for, not something to fall in love with.

Edric realized this difference before it was too late.

He thought he had never had such feelings since then.

Melly was too small, fragile, and ordinary – a pitiful little sister and a cherished friend.

He had intended to someday match her with a good partner. Someone proper, not a human calculator like Blair.

He used to vaguely think about Melly meeting a good man, starting a family, and raising children.

And how nice it would be if she lived close to his house so they could visit often, have family dinners frequently, and let the children play together.

He even felt pleased imagining such an ideal scene.

But.

On that day when he saw Melly entangled with Francis Adel, he realized.

That children don’t fall from the sky or spring from the ground, but are made through physical union. And that day, if you just removed the clothes from that bastard Francis Adel and Melly, it would be exactly that kind of union.

Every time he recalled that scene, a fire raged in Edric’s heart to the point of dizziness.

That was why he couldn’t accept Melly as a legal sister.

The moment he acknowledged his feelings, Edric decided to break off his engagement.

He could no longer maintain the engagement.

While the fundamental reason he had firmly decided to marry Rosalyn was because he thought her family was a good match for his status, there was also the fact that he was certain no woman would ever catch his eye in his future life.

He had read in some book that there are people who are innately incapable of feeling love. He was so convinced that it was talking about him that Edric never felt more than a liking for anyone. Jealousy was even more of a foreign concept.

He felt nothing even when he saw women who had caught his interest whispering with other men.

Even with Rosalyn, for whom he had felt quite a strong liking, the fact that she had a lover did not affect Edric’s feelings at all.

So he thought he must either be unable to feel love, or unable to feel jealousy. It had to be one of the two.

Melly shattered that long-held belief! It happened in just one moment.

He was no different from any other ordinary man after all…

But confirming that he was not an exception to this law of nature did not make him feel relieved.

Because the object of those feelings was Melly.

If he said he wanted to marry Melly, his mother and the family elders would certainly oppose, but that was nothing compared to Edric’s own opposition.

He simply could not accept the fact that he liked that insignificant Melly Enwood.

His standards were too high, both for himself and those around him.

Was it even possible to marry and live with a woman who fell far short of those standards?

He who had always managed to find flaws even in nearly perfect ladies of beauty, refinement, and background – could he really accept Melly, who was lacking in every way, as a lifelong partner and live contentedly?

He couldn’t be sure.

Their worlds were too different.

Not all nobles were the same.

The marriage of the great noble house of Pelton, which had maintained prestige on par with royalty for generations, to a penniless baronet family no different from commoners. It was nothing short of a union between high and low.

Had there ever been even one person in the history of the Pelton family who had forced through such a mismatched marriage?

Weren’t they a pure noble family that had carefully selected only traditional families to mix blood with, to avoid impure lineages?

To think that he, who had intended to put the finishing touch on his ancestors’ efforts, would decide to marry Melly.

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed, and a wry smile escaped his lips, but… he had already made his decision. Once he made a decision, he did not go back on it.

Rather than looking back, he would think about what to do going forward.

‘Well, I’ve already broken off the engagement, so there’s no rush.’

Since the marriage was cancelled, his mother would postpone the matter of chasing Melly away, so there was plenty of time to think.

First, he needed to consider how to overcome the opposition from his mother and the family elders.

They would surely say something similar to Rosalyn.

‘Marry into a great noble family, and take Miss Enwood as your mistress.’

Most noble men had kept mistresses and fathered illegitimate children in that way, so it was a natural reaction.

However.

“Why should I do that?”

He had lived a life of making choices and focusing.

If he had to choose between other noble ladies and Melly Enwood, it would be Melly. Between beautiful women with eloquent speech and Melly, it would also be Melly.

While he could go days, weeks, or even years without seeing other women, that wasn’t the case with Melly. He couldn’t bear to send her out of his sight for even a single day. The mere thought of another man having her made his blood boil to the point of dizziness.

Therefore, in the end, it was Melly.

Compared to any supreme condition, his choice was only Melly Enwood, from the lowest-ranking baronet family, who was as ordinary as could be.

So…

‘There’s no choice but to make Melly into someone suitable for me.’

There were no other options.

Feeling satisfied with his conclusion, Edric Pelton turned his gaze outside the carriage.

The ducal mansion was already drawing near.

Edric’s eyes flickered with tension as he saw the grand, dignified, massive ivory-colored building visible through the carriage window.

He recalled Melly’s appearance, briefly glimpsed in the lobby before he went out.

‘There were two teacups.’

Surely one of them was his. His favorite teacup filled with his favorite amber-colored Darjeeling tea.

Would Melly know how much he had struggled in that brief moment as he passed by?

Would she know how much he had hesitated, wanting to grasp the hand she had extended first?

But he wanted to face her with a lightened heart after settling the marriage arrangement.

He wanted to start with her in a clean state, not in a messy state tangled with various interests.

So he hurried his steps. To quickly settle the engagement.

The ducal mansion seemed less than half a mile away. He could faintly see the figures of two soldiers guarding the main gate.

Suddenly, Edric instructed:

“Go a little slower.”

He had something to think about for a moment.

‘Why doesn’t Melly think of me as a man?’

He was occasionally curious about her consistently indifferent attitude, and her complexion that didn’t redden at all even when they were close.

Because there hadn’t been a single woman who didn’t feel shy in front of him.

Because of that, he had thought it was good that she liked him, that it was nice to have an opposite-sex friend who could comfortably stay by his side without ulterior motives. But now that things had come to this, his pride was strangely hurt.

‘Why on earth?’

But as he carefully pondered over past events, a quite plausible assumption came to mind.

Melly knew her place well. And Edric was always surrounded by splendid women. So even if she had harbored feelings, she would have had no choice but to hide them.

Her personality that preferred the familiar over the new, and her constitution that didn’t change color even after emptying a whole bottle of wine, added credibility to Edric’s conclusion.

Thinking this way, Edric’s mood improved again.

‘Wait a little, Melly.’

He would soon reach out his hand to her.

And he planned to stand with her atop the podium of glory.

He intended to let Melly, who had always been shrinking back, know what it felt like to look down on people.

The process until then would certainly not be easy, but since glory comes with that much effort, he should willingly endure that much.

The assumption that she would dare refuse the position of a duchess was not present in Edric’s mind at all.

With a brighter face, he instructed the coachman.

“Increase speed.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The coachman swung the reins widely.

Then, in less than ten minutes, they passed through the main gate.

The butler waiting at the entrance of the main building opened the carriage door.

“You’ve arrived, Your Grace.”

Edric, stepping down onto the ground with his long legs, immediately entered the entrance.

As he reached the lobby after passing through the entrance hallway, he asked.

“Where’s Melly?”

“The young lady went out two hours ago. With a guest who came to visit.”

At this unexpected answer, Edric stopped in his tracks.

“Which guest?”

He turned and asked. Then the butler reported the fact without any hesitation.

“It was Lord Francis from the Adel family.”