Good heavens. He was having foolish thoughts.

Melly spoke firmly.

“Don’t even dream about it. You and I are strangers.”

“Not legally.”

Edric pulled out a twice-folded document from his jacket pocket. He unfolded it and held it up for Melly to see clearly.

It was the divorce papers with both of their signatures side by side.

“I brought it to show you.”

He withdrew the document and pushed one corner into the candlelight on the table.

“To tell you that divorce is absolutely not an option.”

The small flame at the corner slowly began to crawl up the paper. Edric didn’t let go of the paper even as the growing flames consuming the text and signatures threatened to engulf his hand.

His unwavering gaze fixed on her seemed to be testing how long she could endure.

‘Do as you please.’

She didn’t want to be drawn in by him any longer. Melly lifted her chin haughtily and stared at the flames with a composed face. Until just before the flames were about to graze his thumb.

“What… what are you doing?”

As the flames nearly touched his fingertips, and ash with embers fell onto his white shirt, leaving soot and smoke, Melly could no longer stand by.

She hurriedly approached and held out the water bucket she was holding.

“You’ll get hurt. Quickly, throw it in here.”

At that, Edric’s lips curved into a smile. It was a smile tinged with triumph.

He dropped the burnt paper with a victorious attitude. Then he snatched the bucket from her hands and went out the door.

‘He’s crazy.’

Melly shook her head as she looked at the door he had exited.

He had acted as if he would have really burnt himself if she hadn’t stopped him. Such behavior was unlike Edric. For him, who valued dignity above all else, to engage in self-harm.

She patted her still-pounding heart to calm herself.

Fortunately, by the time Edric returned, she had calmed down considerably.

She took off her apron and hung it on the coat rack.

Edric set the bucket down in a corner of the shop and quietly watched Melly as she carefully smoothed out every wrinkle of the apron to keep moisture from settling. She was as meticulous about even the smallest things now as she had been before.

His gaze slowly lowered. Then he saw the rounded belly protruding beneath the lavender dress.

He asked.

“How long are you going to wear that belly band?”

“Until I give birth.”

Melly answered perfunctorily as she neatly arranged the remaining items. Edric asked again.

“When are you due?”

“Next month.”

“Can’t you take it off now and say you gave birth a month early?”

“No, I can’t.”

Melly didn’t put much effort into her answers. She was busy finishing up her daily tasks, hanging dish towels and gathering tablecloths into the laundry basket. Naturally, she had no time to worry about the belly band.

But Edric’s gaze remained fixed on her protruding belly.

Even knowing it was a fake pregnancy, he felt strangely displeased.

It was as if some other scoundrel had planted his seed in her body. And the fact that she was acting so naturally as a pregnant woman made it even worse.

“It looks heavy.”

He gently suggested once more.

“It’s not heavy compared to a woman in her last month of pregnancy.”

“How would you know what a woman in her last month feels like?”

“……”

It was then that Melly’s busy hands suddenly stopped. But before Edric could sense something amiss, she erased the wavering in her eyes and said,

“Just… I imagine it would be like that.”

She turned to face him, thinking she really needed to send him away now.

“I want to rest now. Please go.”

“Alright, sleep well. See you tomorrow.”

Edric retreated without lingering further. However.

See you tomorrow…..

That final greeting left Melly dazed.

‘He means he’ll come again tomorrow.’

After he left, Melly locked the shop door tightly and closed all the window shutters meticulously. If possible, she wanted to keep them closed forever.

‘Still naive as ever.’

Watching Melly carefully draw the curtains to block out even a sliver of light, Edric let out a scornful laugh.

‘Does she think that will keep me out?’

If he wanted to, he could easily break those locks. He could prevent her from putting on and taking off that cumbersome belly band in her small room, and spare her from feeling sorry to the shop owner. All he had to do was make her truly pregnant instead of faking it.

Perhaps that would be the easiest way to reunite.

If she had a child, she wouldn’t be able to resist reuniting with him, if only for the child’s sake.

But he didn’t do that. He wanted her to return to him of her own will, not by force.

He was willing to wait patiently. For now.

“But don’t make me wait too long, Melly. If it’s delayed, even I don’t know what I might do.”

He warned quietly, then lifted his gaze.

Suddenly, he noticed the shop sign glowing white in the moonlight.

He’d been curious from the start, but where did that name come from?

Perhaps a man she met during the three years she was away from him? Or one of them?

At that thought, Edric’s eyes hardened. But soon he changed his mind, wearing a relaxed smile.

It doesn’t matter who she met during the past three years.

Only the future matters now. He just needs to get rid of anyone who might linger around her from now on.

Edric gave the shop sign one last fierce glare before turning away.

The sun was beating down fiercely.

Heat waves shimmered above the red-hot pavement, and rivulets of sweat trickled down the temples of people walking by.

But Melly’s shop was cool and pleasant, as if existing outside the seasons.

This was thanks to the ceiling fan that blew cool air at the push of a button. It was part of a new technology initiative led by the imperial court, where only a hundred places throughout the empire were selected to have cooling devices installed on a trial basis, and Melly’s shop was lucky enough to be chosen.

As a result, even customers who didn’t usually like tea visited the shop for a respite, and sales were rising sharply because of it.

There was more good news besides that.

“The black tea tastes better than before. Do you have some secret?”

“Ah, well……”

The other day, while visiting the traditional market to buy tea leaves, Melly had chanced upon a merchant. Next to him was a large sack of Darjeeling leaves, which he was considering discarding due to mismanagement that had altered the aroma.

‘May I smell it, if you don’t mind?’

Melly had asked cautiously, and the merchant readily agreed.

Her eyes widened as she inhaled the scent. An elegant aroma gently filled her nostrils.

It was clearly a high-quality product that had received meticulous care from cultivation to drying.

If this is what it’s like after deteriorating, what must it have been like before?

‘I’ll buy it.’

There was no need to think further.

Melly gladly purchased the entire sack.

It was especially fortunate as she had been in a difficult situation with her regular supplier demanding a price increase.

Melly was happy with this series of good events.

It was also part of her daily joy to be able to offer customers an affordable cup of tea and a cool respite.

If there was one thing that wasn’t joyful, it was just one.

‘How long is that man going to keep coming?’

Edric Pelton, who had been sitting in the same place at the same time for a month now, making her uneasy. Except for him, everything was going so smoothly.

‘Is that man really the one I know?’

She had doubted this many times.

The Edric she knew had never experienced, let alone tolerated, a one-sided relationship. It would be more like him to forcibly take her and make sure she could never leave again.

Rather than being like a piece of furniture occupying one side of the shop.

“……”

Melly glanced down at the shelf under the counter.

A rolling pin, usually used for kneading flour, lay there. She had hidden it there in case he made any sudden moves during quiet times or late hours.

But there had been no need to use it.

All he ever asked of her was a cup of Darjeeling tea.

‘To my taste.’

Of course, he always added that.

“Sister, we’re here.”

The laughter of regular lady customers entering the shop broke Melly’s reverie.

“The Darjeeling scent is so nice. Please give us a cup of Darjeeling tea each.”

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

Melly scooped tea leaves into a glass pot and poured in properly heated water.

A faint tea aroma permeated the milky steam rising up. Melly checked the time on her pocket watch. Three minutes.

It was the time for the tea to steep most deliciously. Steeping longer would make it bitter.

As she waited for the three minutes to pass, Melly scanned the shop and found her gaze inadvertently stopping on Edric again.

He had been wearing different glasses for a few days now. Thick horn-rimmed glasses instead of gold-rimmed ones.

The lenses were thicker than before.

‘Has his eyesight gotten much worse?’

Melly tilted her head as she observed him.

Today he was looking at documents instead of a booklet. And his eyes reviewing the documents were much more serious and solemn than when reading a book.

Come to think of it, he had always been like that when it came to work.

Like a racehorse with blinders, he would focus fiercely on his work. His concentration then was so solid that no external stimulus could break it. Probably even now in that state…..

“…!”

Suddenly, Edric looked up.

His sea-blue eyes gazed at her indifferently.

Startled by the sudden eye contact, Melly hurriedly lowered her head.

She opened and closed her pocket watch, chiding it for not reaching three minutes faster.

When her surprised heart calmed, she raised her head again.

Edric was still looking at his documents. As if nothing had happened.

Now Melly felt as if he really was just a customer with no particular relationship to her.

‘Did he really come just because he wanted to drink tea?’

Although that couldn’t be true, he was making it seem that way. This man called Edric Pelton.

Melly sighed and shook her head at his inscrutable attitude. Just then, a customer at a corner table called her.

“Excuse me. Could I have another cup of rosemary tea?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll bring it right away.”

Melly set aside her thoughts about Edric and quickly focused on brewing tea.

It was at that moment that Edric’s gaze turned towards her.