Their faces became puzzled. Melly continued speaking with a calm smile.

“You didn’t need to worry about that. The bag is right there.”

Melly pointed with her finger to where she had been sitting. Cyril, who was sitting next to it, unconsciously glanced at the bag and then looked back at her.

Melly nodded.

“Yes, could you pass that to me?”

Cyril handed over the bag with a dazed expression.

“A promise is a promise, so I’ll pay for today. But the Pelton Hotel restaurant might be a bit difficult.”

“…”

“As you all know, I have no power at all.”

Now everyone realized why Melly had suddenly changed like this. Annette stood up awkwardly and tried to explain.

“Melly, there… there seems to be some misunderstanding…”

“A misunderstanding…”

As Melly repeated Annette’s words, she suddenly let out a snort.

“I didn’t hear it from someone else, I heard it with my own ears, yet you try to pass it off as a misunderstanding. What a pathetic excuse, Annette.”

At the cold voice, Annette’s eyes shook greatly. Melly was also surprised at herself.

She found Edric in herself. Edric used to call people’s names in a clipped manner when asserting his dignity.

“Let’s never see each other again. Annette Felice. And…”

Melly declared the end of their friendship by calling out the names of the rest of her friends in the same rigid manner.

Not a single person tried to stop her. No one asked for her forgiveness.

Just like that, the relationship was severed. So very simply.

The manager saw her off as she finished paying and left the shop.

“Will you visit us again?”

Melly said nothing. She moved her steps desolately while bidding farewell to the last remaining person.

‘Melly Enwood. It’s over with you too.’

Edric noticed he was different from usual.

He couldn’t focus on work, as if his mind was elsewhere.

Even though he had clearly received reports in the morning, he ordered them to be reported again in the afternoon because he couldn’t remember, and he sent a document to the emperor without signing it, causing his attendant to come back for his signature.

This wouldn’t do.

He summoned Wilson.

“Your Grace, you called?”

“Prepare the carriage.”

“Already?”

Wilson looked at the clock. It was two hours earlier than the usual time Edric left work.

Edric gestured to the desk while speaking to Wilson, who was looking at him with a puzzled face.

“Pack all of those. I’ll finish dealing with them at home.”

It was a pile of documents stacked high.

Wilson followed the instructions, neatly organized the documents, and packed them into a briefcase.

By the time they returned to the duke’s residence, it was after dusk.

“Has Melissa returned?”

That was the first thing he said as he got out of the carriage.

The butler replied politely.

“She has not returned yet, Your Grace.”

Edric opened his pocket watch. The hour hand of the watch, which opened with a click, was positioned between seven and eight.

‘She must be having quite a good time.’

She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the feeling of returning to the old days.

To the Melly he used to know, the Melly Enwood from the time before she was greatly influenced by him.

Edric felt as if he was standing on uneven ground. The foundations that had been firmly supporting him were slowly and unsteadily shaking.

“Russell.”

The butler bowed his head at his master’s call.

“Bring a drink to my room.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The butler bowed his head once more and turned away.

Edric headed to the dressing room.

After roughly loosening his tie and carelessly throwing his jacket aside, he returned to his quarters dressed in indoor trousers and a silk robe. By then, a bottle of cognac, a cut glass, and an ice bucket had been set up on the table.

Edric filled the glass with ice to his liking and poured the cognac. The sound of ice melting and slightly changing position rang clearly in the glass.

As he took a sip, the strong alcoholic heat warmed his esophagus.

Amidst the rising, tingling heat, he suddenly felt the urge to do something.

He wanted to call out her name aloud.

“Melly.”

He had rarely called her by that name since their marriage. Whether in public or private, her name was Melissa. And Melly had become a name that only occasionally came out in situations where his head was beyond the control of reason, like in bed.

Like a hidden mistress, the name Melly had become the shadow of the official name Melissa.

But at this moment, he felt he could call that name with a clear mind.

Melly. Melly.

To him, she was now exactly like the Melly from long ago.

The one who made him boil over with every unintended word and action.

‘I will never become Melly Pelton. I swear.’

“Who decides that.”

A heavily suppressed voice flowed through Edric’s teeth.

He desired Melly.

More intensely than ever before.

“Your Grace.”

Just then, the butler came to inform him.

“The madam has returned.”

“…”

“Shall I tell her to come here for a moment?”

“No.”

Edric rose from his seat.

“I’ll go there.”

His eyes gleamed seductively as he moved towards the door.

Whew—.

Edric sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. His sweat-soaked hair remained fixed as he swept it up, revealing the graceful curve of his forehead.

His body was drenched in sweat. His skin glistened in the moonlight as if oiled.

Edric’s body had been burning hot today. Enough to repeat the rise and fall three times in one opportunity.

Was it because the fresh anxiety stimulated excitement?

Or was it because of his woman who was moaning with cries close to screams today?

Melly was full of sensuality.

From readily agreeing when he requested their marital duties, as if she had been waiting for it, to wearing the see-through slip that she rarely wore because it was embarrassing, and finally making many more demands than usual.

‘More… hold me tighter.’

She was the type who liked it gentle. So when Edric occasionally lost his reason and pushed roughly, she would cry like a woman being devoured by a beast.

It was strange that such a woman was acting so coquettishly like a seductress today, but it wasn’t an unwelcome change for Edric.

Edric pushed her so hard that her head bumped against the headboard. Melly’s moans were erotic, but if misheard, they could sound like crying.

So he lifted his body a couple of times to check Melly’s face.

There were tears in her eyes, but that happened occasionally at times like this.

So there was no problem.

Edric lay down next to Melly.

She didn’t pull the blanket up to her chin as usual. Her body, faintly revealed in the darkness, still drew seductive curves as if craving his touch.

Edric obliged her request.

Lying beside her, caressing her with gentle hands, he said,

“It seems you had a good time meeting your friends today.”

That seemed to be the only reason for her becoming more active in bed.

The answer came after a slight pause.

“…Yes. It was good.”

“Meet them once in a while. I’ll tell the hotel, so next time you can have your gathering in a suite room.”

He said in a generous tone.

Actually, he wasn’t very pleased. He still wished Melly would associate with esteemed ladies of high society rather than such people.

But the relationship held in dim anxiety gave unexpected satisfaction.

It didn’t seem bad to embrace her in such intense desire once in a while. Though not too often…

“No.”

“…”

“I won’t meet those girls anymore.”

She spoke again in a clear voice.

“I will never meet those girls again. And from now on, I’ll truly devote myself only to the role of a duchess.”

At that moment, Edric’s hand caressing her stopped.

“I see.”

“…”

“You’ve thought well. Of course, that’s how it should be.”

He said.

But unlike his smiling face, his hand slowly detached from Melly’s body.

As he rose, Melly asked with a face that couldn’t understand,

“Are you getting up?”

“There’s some unfinished business.”

He picked up the robe strewn on the floor as he got up.

The robe that settled on his body after a half turn elegantly wrapped his toned physique.

Melly asked again in a careful tone.

“You’ll come back later, right?”

“We’ll see how the work goes.”

He said, looking back at Melly over his shoulder.

“Get some rest.”

“Yes. I’ll wait for you.”

Melly said with a faint smile. He left the bedchamber without replying.

Melly’s face, watching the door he had left through, rapidly grew gloomy.

The feeling of being suddenly summoned to reality from a hazy fantasy was miserable.

She could still hear Annette’s voice in her ears.

‘Anyway, everyone’s nice to me. Who knows? Thanks to me, we might have our next gathering at the Pelton Hotel restaurant.’

She thought she had shaken off the humiliation by coldly declaring the end of their friendship. She was even proud of herself for maintaining her dignity calmly without shedding tears.

Returning home like that, Edric happened to request their marital duties. She thought that after spending time with him, the incident would become even more insignificant.

Melly was more true to her instincts than usual.

But…

In the middle, tears burst out without her knowing. Suddenly, she felt so pitiful.

On one side, she was rejected for being different from them, and on the other side, she was treated like a sponsor.

She felt like she had become a mutant, not accepted by any group. Tears kept coming. She pretended it was moaning to avoid being noticed by Edric.

And she realized.

Now I am nothing if not Edric’s wife, the Duchess of Pelton.

If I can’t hold on even here, there’s nowhere for me to be. Really nowhere at all.

Then, a desperate will to become a more dignified duchess than ever before welled up inside her.

She conveyed her resolution to Edric.

The somewhat dry response must have been her imagination. Her mood was dejected, so the other person’s words must have sounded that way too.

“…”

Melly turned her head from the door.

Then, looking at the bleak gray ceiling, she quietly called out her own name.

“Melissa Pelton.”

It was the first time. The first time she had called herself that.

There was no unfamiliar or strange sense of alienation. It was just sad.

Melly. The fact that she had to say goodbye to her long-held self.

Tears flowed warmly down her temples. Feeling the pillowcase getting damp, Melly repeated the name Eida had given her over and over.

So that she could naturally recognize herself by that name.

So that she could forget the name Melly as soon as possible.