Despite showing a clearly disturbed reaction, Melissa suddenly pretended to just remember.
“Bre-Breakup? Ah, right. That’s right. You said you broke off your engagement with Daniel.”
Her behavior seemed even more suspicious. Even for someone who wasn’t as fond of gossip as Melissa, the broken engagement between Kisa and Daniel had caused quite a stir, so it seemed odd to have forgotten about it. Moreover, hadn’t it happened just a few days ago?
“Of course, I’m curious about the broken engagement too. How you two ended up breaking it off. But… isn’t this a natural question as your friend?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, I’m serious! I can even swear to it!”
“Never mind your oath. If what you said earlier was sincere, there’s something I’d like to ask.”
Sensing the conversation might get lengthy, Kisa sat back down on the sofa. Seeing this as a sign of reconciliation, Melissa’s eyes lit up.
“What is it? Ask me anything.”
“It’s nothing much, but I’m curious why you only came now.”
“What do you mean ‘only now’?”
“Didn’t you say earlier you came to apologize?”
“Ah, yes. Today I came to apologize.”
“I want to know why you only now felt compelled to visit my house in person to apologize.”
“…Are you blaming me for coming too late?”
“Late, huh. Yes, it was late.”
Melissa narrowed her beautifully made-up eyes.
“Kisa, speak plainly. I’ve been holding back since you’ve been angry, but I need to make this clear.”
“Fine. Make it clear.”
“I’ve been apologizing all along. You’re the one who’s been ignoring it!”
“You apologized?”
“Yes, through letters. Do you know how many I sent? And you never replied once!”
“Ah, those.”
For a moment, Kisa felt deflated, wondering if she needed to explain such basic things, but she didn’t hold back what needed to be said.
“Melissa, no one in this world would accept a letter as a sincere apology when more than 80% of its content consists of self-justification.”
Melissa just blinked blankly.
“…Self-justification?”
“Things like how hiding Daniel’s betrayal was ultimately for my sake, or how you had to tell the princess because she asked…”
“B-but that’s the truth!”
“Here’s the real truth. You didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters. You wanted to curry favor with the princess by selling my story. And…”
Though unintended, her next words came out somewhat bitter.
“The reason you came here now is to find out why I broke off the engagement so you can bring more joy to the princess.”
Melissa’s eyes wavered for a moment. It was the clearest evidence that Kisa’s words were correct.
After a brief silence, Melissa raised her voice with a trembling tone.
“Wh-what nonsense are you talking about! Are you trying to slander me?”
A highly agitated response. If this had been a month ago, Kisa would have shrunk back, unsure how to handle such an angry Melissa.
But having dealt with Daniel by now, she had enough composure in a corner of her mind to assess the situation calmly.
“So it really was true. Now that I’ve confirmed it, I don’t feel particularly good about it.”
“It’s not true! Really, it’s not!”
“Don’t you think I know you, having been your closest friend for over ten years? Why did you suddenly visit my house in person when until just a few days ago you only sent letters?”
“That’s because my father happened to have business here!”
“If he hadn’t, you would never have come?”
“What? No, that’s…”
“If you sincerely wanted to apologize to me, why didn’t you come alone?”
“You wouldn’t have allowed my visit!”
“You came without permission today, didn’t you?”
That question left Melissa speechless.
“What mattered to you wasn’t my permission, but whether you could meet me or not, right? If you had come alone, you might have been turned away at the door, but if you came with your father, I would have had to let you in and deal with you.”
“…”
“Would someone who cared so little about my permission have truly cared about forgiveness?”
Kisa quietly watched Melissa, who was biting her lips nervously.
“If you were truly sorry, you shouldn’t have just sent letters – you should have come to apologize in person long ago.”
Even if it meant risking being denied entry or being told to leave to her face.
If she had done that, if Melissa had continued to come apologize despite that, Kisa would have eventually softened her anger.
But she didn’t. Letters were a convenient means that wouldn’t risk much embarrassment even if they went unanswered.
“Besides, you asked father for help, didn’t you? To help reconcile us.”
On the day he returned from visiting the Dos estate, Count Vansfelt had called Kisa and told her to accept Melissa first.
“You, who had been watching from the side, knew well enough. That I fear my father. To try to force me using my father’s power, I simply cannot accept your actions-”
“Don’t talk as you please!”
Melissa jumped to her feet and shouted impulsively.
“I just asked your father to help us reconcile, that’s all!”
Her sharp eyes glared at Kisa.
“You’ve completely changed. You’re not the kind Kisa I used to know.”
Looking at her former friend showing clear hostility, Kisa responded with utmost calmness.
“You’re right. I have changed.”
Not completely, just a little. She too felt that she had definitely changed compared to before encountering Daniel’s secret.
“But I don’t regret it. I like who I am now more than before.”
She became able to speak out a little more of what she wanted to say. She had reduced her tendency to yield her own intentions first out of fear of conflict with others.
“So Melissa, why don’t you change too?”
“What are you saying?”
“How long will you keep disguising your selfish actions as goodwill? Isn’t it about time you acknowledged your mistakes?”
“N-no! What do you know? I really did it for your sake!”
Some excuses could become beliefs. That was Melissa’s case.
The ‘kind Melissa’ who had first reached out to the shy young Kisa. Looking back, it was goodwill that was largely self-satisfying in nature.
As someone who had received considerable comfort from Melissa, Kisa had no intention of diminishing that value now, but ‘kind Melissa’ and ‘Kisa’s friend’ were no longer compatible concepts. She had roles far more important to her than being ‘Kisa’s friend.’
“Fine, let’s say I don’t know. What does it matter now anyway?”
Kisa stood up.
“Goodbye, Melissa. Though it ends like this, I had many happy moments being your friend.”
It was sincere without a trace of lie.
“I hope you’ll be happy.”
“Wait, wait a moment! Kisa! Are you going to leave after saying only what you wanted to say?”
Though Melissa was making a fuss, Kisa had decided not to look back. However, there were words that made her footsteps toward the door stop.
“Do you know how worried I was when I heard you were being sold off to that old pervert from Chamal!”
At this familiar content she’d heard somewhere before, when Kisa glanced back, Melissa was sneering with what seemed like a gleam of delight in her eyes.
“Now you finally listen to me.”
“Did Daniel say that?”
“Seeing how quickly you guessed, I suppose it must be true?”
She casually brushed her side hair with an apparently relaxed gesture.
“He came to me a few days ago and asked. He wanted to know if I knew anything about you possibly becoming the queen of Chamal soon.”
Come to think of it, Daniel, not knowing about the rift between Kisa and Melissa, might well have tried to confirm his questions about Kisa with her. Moreover, weren’t Daniel and Melissa’s younger sibling in the same social circle?
“Still, really. Your father is something else. How could he send his daughter to such a place…”
“So that’s why you came to hear it from me? To confirm if I’m really being sold abroad for money?”
“I said I was worried. Even though we fought, it’s natural to worry when hearing such things, isn’t it?”
“…You don’t need to worry. There’s no chance of me becoming the queen of Chamal.”
“Really? Then why did you break off the engagement? Your father isn’t the type to make you break an engagement without reason.”
“Melissa, are you really worried about me?”
At those words, her face flushed red.
“Why? Does it seem like I’m lying?”
“If it’s not a lie, then I’ve answered enough. I’ll be going now.”
Kisa left the reception room, and Melissa didn’t try to stop her further. As if she had already gotten the answer she wanted.
****
More than two weeks after Kisa had broken off her engagement with Daniel, Count Vansfelt called his daughter to his office after a long while.
Kisa went to see her father with some anticipation. She had previously entrusted him with a congratulatory letter to send to Seyard, and wondered if a reply had already come.
However, the Count’s business was something entirely different.
“Father… what is this?”
When he handed her an envelope, Kisa had picked it up with an eager heart, but a few seconds later, she asked with a voice clearly showing disappointment.
Naturally, the Count was not one to pay attention to his daughter’s disappointment.
“It’s an invitation.”
“Yes, that’s what it says here.”
She hadn’t asked him because she couldn’t read what was written on the envelope.
“I don’t understand why this person sent me an invitation.”
The sender was Countess Habertz, who was Daniel’s aunt and also the person in charge of hosting the upcoming charity gathering.
“Kisa, attend that charity gathering.”
“What?”
“I hear Duke Hillan will be attending. As Princess Arta’s partner.”
