‘I won’t meet those kids anymore now.’

Edric mulled over Melly’s words as he returned to his quarters.

‘From now on, I’ll only focus on my role as the duchess.’

Focusing on the role of duchess……

It was what I wanted to hear. I sincerely hoped she would voluntarily show her determination. Wasn’t that why I had said those insincere words about giving her freedom?

But the moment I heard those long-awaited words, I realized I didn’t find this situation very satisfying, and I felt confused.

Why? Why did I feel deflated rather than happy?

Edric couldn’t understand the contradictory feelings within himself.

By the way, why did Melly suddenly change her attitude? She was so immersed in the feeling of going back to the old days that she didn’t even glance at me.

A lopsided smile soon appeared on his face, which had been wearing a puzzled expression for a moment.

‘Right. That’s how people are.’

Of all that nature has created, only humans strive upwards from below.

No one wants to go down from above. The same must be true for Melly.

No matter how much she cares for those below her and wants to treat them as equals, that’s a fantasy that can only be hoped for from the comfortable position of a duchess.

She must have realized during her reunion with old friends.

How happy her life is compared to their miserable lives. How splendid her life is, with fine clothes and jewels, not having to lift a finger.

She must have thought the level was low while listening to useless daily stories and childish conversations.

So she would have returned to her original state. She must have acutely felt that where she should be is not in such a lowly place, but right here, in the position of the mistress of the Pelton duchy.

With this, her deviation has ended.

He too would no longer have to worry about her. Nor would he be confused, unable to focus on his work.

His shaky ground has regained stability. No, it has become much firmer than before.

But.

“……”

Edric stopped for a moment and looked back at the quarters he had just left.

The place where he and Melly had reached the peak of sensation several times. Where they had played their own sensual music.

He couldn’t be sure if he could ignite that passionate flame again from now on.

The blue flame that had been burning brightly in his eyes died out the moment his ground stopped shaking.

‘I’ll go back when it’s over.’

Perhaps he already knew at the moment he said those words.

That tonight. He would not return to her again.

“You must have been very tired yesterday? Working late into the night.”

At breakfast time, Melly asked cheerfully with a smile. She showed no resentment for his not returning last night.

“Are you going to see His Highness the Crown Prince today as well?”

Melly asked as they were having coffee for dessert after the meal. Her voice was bright.

It was the voice of someone who had decided to fully immerse herself in the role of duchess.

Strangely, the more she acted like that, the more Edric’s sense of emptiness grew.

He asked in a dry voice.

“Why do you ask that?”

Instead of answering, Melly nodded to Oz, who was standing at one side of the dining room.

Oz nodded in response to her gaze and disappeared somewhere for a moment. When she returned, she was holding a box in her hands. She placed the box with a red ribbon tied around it in front of Edric.

“What’s this?”

“Open it and see.”

Melly said as Oz stepped back.

Edric looked alternately at the box and Melly, then soon pulled on a short string that stuck out from under the ribbon.

As the ribbon came undone, he lifted the lid.

Inside the box was a small white baby shirt.

Melly said with a shy smile.

“I don’t know the baby’s gender, so I made it in that color for now. Please give it to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“So… you made this yourself?”

Edric asked, looking at Melly with an incredulous gaze. She had never before given anyone a baby shirt she had made herself.

Melly nodded brightly.

“Yes.”

Edric stared at her with sharp eyes that seemed about to pierce through her. As if trying to find evidence that her smile wasn’t sincere.

But soon he relaxed his gaze. What did it matter if it was fake or not? Melly had done what was expected of her as the wife of the Crown Prince’s closest confidant.

He closed the gift box lid.

“His Highness will like it.”

Oz retied the ribbon exactly as it was before and stepped back.

Edric took a few more sips of coffee and stood up.

Melly caught him with an energetic tone.

“When will you be back today? Can you have dinner at home?”

“No.”

Edric answered without hesitation.

“I have a late meeting with the royal administrators today.”

“I see.”

Just as disappointment was about to seep in, Melly changed her expression and spoke cheerfully again.

“Then come back whenever you’re done with work. I’ll be waiting.”

“Don’t wait up. Go to sleep. I’ll be very late.”

Edric turned around.

“I’ll still wait. I want to see you come home.”

Melly said to Edric’s back as he turned away.

Her voice was strangely cheerful. For a moment, it even seemed desperate.

‘What happened to you?’

Edric was overcome with the urge to turn around and ask right away. He wanted to persistently question her until she confessed the truth if she were lying.

“Your Excellency, we need to depart now.”

But at that moment, Wilson entered the dining room to escort him.

Edric regained his composure. He thought of the mountain of work waiting for him in the palace office. It was enjoyable and fulfilling work, but he didn’t fancy being tied up with it late into the night.

Therefore, he had to hurry. He didn’t have the luxury to worry about Melly’s subtle changes.

Melly would always be there anyway.

He had been anxious for a moment when she showed a different side, but not anymore.

She would now be stuck in that place with an adhesive stronger than wax. Continuously from now on.

Edric moved his feet. He nodded at the box to Wilson.

Wilson picked up the box containing the baby shirt and followed his master.

Four years ago, when she was pregnant, Melly had set aside a few pieces of soft cotton fabric.

She had planned to slowly make the baby’s first clothes as a form of prenatal care.

But before she could even put scissors to the fabric, the baby was gone.

She thought she would be able to make it again soon. She thought the second time would be easy since the first time had been relatively easy.

But the child, perhaps resentful of the mother who couldn’t properly nurture it, didn’t come back for a long time.

Yes. I would have been resentful too.

I wouldn’t have wanted to waste a precious life by coming back to an inadequate and careless body.

But Melly waited. She endured those terrible times imagining the day she would dress her newborn child in the baby clothes she had made.

Even when noble ladies who had married around the same time gave birth to their children one by one, Melly gave other gifts instead of cutting her cotton fabric.

Breaking the custom of the nobility to give handmade and embroidered baby clothes as birth gifts, she made dolls or mobiles instead.

She was criticized knowingly or unknowingly because of this, but she stubbornly maintained her own belief.

The belief that her firstborn should be the first to wear clothes she had made.

But Melly has now abandoned this sad yet strong belief.

She decided to leave the past behind and live in the present. Edric wanted that, and above all, she herself wanted it.

If this place, the Pelton duchy and social circles, was the only place for her to stand, she had to live wearing a smiling mask thoroughly, putting aside petty pride or meaningless beliefs.

She had to smile as if unaffected by grating sounds. She had to pretend not to be hurt even when hurt. She had to show that nothing you, or you all, say or do can shake her.

That’s how she had to live from now on, with armor around her heart.

Last night. Realizing that Edric would not return, Melly opened the drawer and took out the cotton fabric. And as part of her resolve, she cut it. She made baby clothes for the royal grandchild.

Her eyes blurred as she continued her stitches. It felt like crossing a river of no return.

‘Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t be weak.’

But Melly soon changed her mind.

‘No, it’s okay to cry. Just don’t stop your hands.’

But just as she couldn’t stop her tears, she couldn’t stop her hands either.

She occasionally placed the baby clothes far away to prevent her tears from staining them.

It wasn’t for the baby in the Crown Princess’s womb. She couldn’t let the precious fabric her child never got to wear become wet with tears.

Melly waited quietly for the tears to recede back into her tear ducts. When it seemed impossible, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve cuffs.

But the tears kept welling up like an inexhaustible spring, over and over again.

Thinking it might be better to cry hard and get it over with, Melly set aside her sewing altogether.

With that decision, the tears stopped coming.

She wondered if perhaps her tear ducts were only stimulated when the cotton fabric touched her hands.

After a short while, Melly picked up her sewing again. This time, she tried to think of Edric rather than the lost child. Surprisingly, it progressed smoothly that way.

The completed baby clothes were cute and adorable.

Melly carefully ironed and folded them, then put them in a box to give to Edric.

‘I hope you like them.’

She hoped he would understand.

That she had made for another child the baby clothes she had wanted to first dress her own child in, just to show him.

That she had decided to no longer act foolishly and to faithfully fulfill the duties of a duchess as he wished. She desperately hoped he would understand her desire to improve their relationship, even to that extent.

But…….

It was probably a vain hope.

His indifferent attitude was proof of that.