A luxurious chandelier.

People dressed in fancy attire.

Dignified and disciplined staff.

Classical music sweetly enhancing the atmosphere.

The pitch-black void visible through the window. The moon and stars a bit closer.

‘Ah, so this is what a hotel is like.’

Melly looked around in admiration at the sight she was seeing for the first time. That’s when it happened.

Hearing the sound of wheels being pulled from somewhere, she turned to see a chef approaching with a trolley. About a dozen attendants were with him.

“Your Excellency, it is an honor to have you here.”

The chef’s hat nearly touched the ground as he bowed his head. The accompanying attendants also showed their respects just as politely.

Melly glanced at Edric, who nonchalantly accepted the chef and attendants’ courtesies as if they were natural.

A different dignity was felt compared to when he dealt with the servants at his home.

It was natural. The demeanor of a family head and that of a business owner were clearly different.

He was the owner of this palace-like hotel where each sensible action of the employees directly led to profit.

She had already heard that he owned several hotels.

But Melly, who hadn’t had much interaction with the outside world, thought hotels were just slightly larger and wider inns for travelers.

She never dreamed they would be such tall and grand buildings.

Moreover, the modern machinery she had only heard about.

The elevator she experienced for the first time was not just marvelous but shocking.

Watching the lobby becoming increasingly distant below her feet through the glass walls, Melly was deeply fascinated by the convenience brought by modern inventions.

Moreover, Edric was kind, just like in the old days.

“You must be hungry? Eat a lot.”

He cut the steak into bite-sized pieces and placed them in front of her for easier eating.

It was a kindness she had missed so much.

But Melly couldn’t be entirely happy about the recovered friendship.

Because there was still something left that would disappoint him.

‘How could someone as sensible as you behave like that, I simply cannot believe it.’

Recalling his words from before, she could only sigh.

But she thought it would be best to confess as soon as possible, since he would find out anyway.

“I have something to tell you, Edric.”

It was just after the tea and three-tier dessert had been set up for dessert.

Melly spoke with a grave face.

“Actually, I didn’t go to that square alone earlier.”

“…”

“I went with Young Master Francis Adel.”

Edric’s quiet gaze was asking.

‘And?’

“That person came to the duke’s mansion. He said he came looking for you… though I’m not sure if that’s true. Anyway, given the unpleasant incident before, I wanted to handle him at my level. So I took him to that square earlier, and after soothing him well, I sent him away.”

Melly kept her head bowed like a guilty person throughout the story.

She desperately wished for two things.

One was that Edric would please not despise her, and the other was that he wouldn’t inquire any further. If not both, at least the latter…

“Raise your head, Melly.”

“…?”

“Why are you bowing your head when you’ve done nothing wrong?”

Both wishes came true.

Edric neither inquired further nor lost his kindness. No, he was even gentler and warmer than usual.

“You’ve done nothing wrong. All the wrongdoing was done by that person. He probably tried to use you to achieve his goals. There’s no need for that anymore.”

The meaning of the last words was ambiguous, but now that didn’t matter. The regained friendship hadn’t been tarnished. That was all that mattered to her.

Melly now intended to cherish this friendship.

To do so, she was prepared to cleanly put aside her feelings of love for him.

“I was too harsh before. I think I said some terrible things to you. Will you forgive me?”

“No, I was foolish. As you said, it was really nonsense. Legal family, indeed. To think that I would become Melly Pelton. How could I have such a pathetic thought.”

“…”

Unlike Melly, who was overjoyed, the smile on Edric’s face was gradually fading.

“I’m the one who wants to ask for forgiveness, Edric. I am now, and will continue to be, Melly Enwood… No, I could become Melly Claude, or Melly Florence. But I will never become Melly Pelton. From now on, I won’t beg to become a member of the Pelton family.”

Edric’s face became increasingly expressionless.

Melly became puzzled.

‘Does he not believe me? Then I should speak more clearly.’

“I swear to God. I will never become Melly Pel…”

“I understand.”

Edric cut off her words.

“I understand, so eat your dessert.”

He said, pushing the three-tier tray in front of Melly.

“Thank you, Edric.”

Although she couldn’t finish her vow, Melly was overjoyed that Edric seemed to believe her sincerity.

It felt as if the anguish that had weighed so heavily on her heart for the past few days had disappeared in an instant.

Then, the hunger she had forgotten suddenly reared its head.

For the rest of the time, Melly almost single-handedly devoured the desserts on the three-tier tray.

She offered some to Edric, but he declined. Somehow, he seemed to have lost his appetite.

‘Why?’

Shouldn’t he be as happy as her now that their friendship was restored?

But thinking about it, he wasn’t as free as her to dwell solely on this one issue.

He had the marriage issue, and… wasn’t he also pushing forward with that square redevelopment project or whatever it was?

So maybe he was thinking about one of those things now.

It was when she was immersed in satisfaction after finishing the dessert.

Melly was startled when she inadvertently looked at the clock.

It was time to go back. She had never been out this late before.

She said,

“Shall we go now?”

Edric nodded and tried to pay the bill. Just one glance was enough for the manager to come running.

They were all people meticulously trained to understand his intentions just by the changes in his eyes and expressions. Instead of paying with jingling coins, Edric took out a gold-plated card smaller than his palm and handed it over.

The employee inserted it between carbon paper, pressed it once, then returned it to Edric. That was the end of the payment.

Melly followed Edric outside.

A dozen or so staff members followed behind them like a tail.

“Thank you for visiting, Your Excellency.”

They didn’t raise their heads until the elevator carrying the two disappeared below their feet.

As the bellboy turned a pulley that looked like a cabin key, the elevator slowly descended. Melly, who had been uncomfortable with the people’s extreme politeness as if sitting on pins and needles, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

She thought it would take as long to go down as it did to come up. But suddenly the elevator stopped.

‘What’s this? Could it be broken?’

But judging by the doors opening properly and the carpeted floor spreading out before her eyes, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“We have arrived, Your Excellency.”

The bellboy politely informed. Edric gave him a gold coin as a tip.

Melly wondered why the elevator had stopped on this floor instead of going all the way down to the lobby.

“Where are we going now?”

Melly grabbed his arm as he was about to go ahead.

Edric turned around.

“You’ll know if you follow me.”

He said. His eyes, which had become more profound, flashed with desire for a moment. But beneath his eyelashes, which had lowered and lifted like a curtain, his blue eyes were again clear as a lake.

Melly thought she must have seen wrong.

She followed behind Edric again.

He stopped in front of a sophisticated modern door that appeared after walking down the corridor for quite some time.

Then he took out a golden key from inside his jacket pocket, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it.

Click- The sound of the lock opening was heard. He pushed the door.

Melly couldn’t see what scene was unfolding beyond the gently pushing door.

But the bright light flowing through the door crack, the warmth of the fireplace, and the subtle aroma aroused an irresistible curiosity in Melly.

“Where is this?”

“See for yourself.”

Edric stepped aside.

His navy blue eyes looking straight at her somehow seemed seductive. But Melly felt curiosity more strongly than the strange sense of alienation she felt from him.

Melly slowly walked through the open door.

“This is…”

For a moment, Melly wondered if she had teleported.

That’s how much the space before her eyes looked exactly like his private living room in the duke’s mansion.

From the furniture to every single accessory, his quarters had been perfectly recreated.

The only difference was that the view outside the window was not a green area but empty space.

Melly realized.

This is how he, with his precise likes and dislikes, characterizes his world.

It’s his own way of showing that this place is under his control.

‘So he has this side to him.’

The more Melly learned about his new aspects, the more unfamiliar he felt.

She even thought that perhaps what she had known until now was only a tiny part of the man called Edric.

Suddenly, Melly realized that there was another private room to her right.

In the duke’s mansion, that place was his bedroom. So surely this place would be his bedroom too.

A large bed where three or four grown men could lie down with room to spare, with snow-white bedding spread out. And on the right bedside table, a lamp shade filled with pale yellow light…

“…!”

Suddenly, Melly remembered that she had forgotten something important.

‘Why on earth did he bring me here?’

Melly turned around to ask Edric.

But before she could utter a single word, her lips were swallowed.

Taken in a defenseless state, he swept through her entire mouth.