Chapter 12
“Melissa, do you have something to tell me?”
“Huh? Ah!”
I only asked because it seemed like Melissa was constantly glancing at me today.
Startled, Melissa dropped the teacup she was holding.
As a result, tea spilled across the table and dripped onto my dress.
“Oh no, what should I do?”
A flustered Melissa quickly stood up.
“It’s fine. I can handle it myself. It’s not that wet.”
Since I had left Anne outside, I took Melissa’s handkerchief and dabbed at the wet spot on my dress myself.
Melissa’s face turned crestfallen as she watched.
“I’m so sorry….”
Melissa was always nervous around me, but today she seemed even more tense than usual.
Narrowing my eyes, I looked at Melissa and asked,
“Melissa, is it because you feel uncomfortable about rejecting the Imperial family’s proposal? Or is it because of me?”
“Huh?”
“There’s no need to be so surprised. I heard it from Father.”
I calmly explained to the shocked Melissa.
I told that she had turned down a proposal from the Imperial family, and that the Duke had conveyed her wishes to them on her behalf.
At that time, the Duke had even hinted at possibly sending a proposal to the Rudion Ducal House to gauge if my feelings had changed.
Perhaps the Duke was trying to see if I would be willing to marry after Melissa’s refusal, but my feelings would never change.
In fact, gaining this information allowed me to keep a polite distance from the Evgenia family, though I couldn’t completely avoid visits just yet.
‘I’ll have to bear with it until the marriage proposal.’
Regardless, Melissa’s refusal followed the same course as in the original story, so I didn’t think much of it.
But her reaction now made me wonder if she was still worrying about me despite my reassurances.
“As I said before, I’ve put all my feelings for His Highness the Crown Prince behind me. You remember that, don’t you?”
“Yes? Yes, I remember.”
“So there’s no need for you to concern yourself with me at all. Now or in the future.”
Before I even finished my sentence, Melissa shouted in a high-pitched voice.
“No, not at all! Like I mentioned before, I only met him a few times by chance when he was a commoner. I didn’t even know he was the Crown Prince, and to be honest, I don’t understand why he would send me a proposal. I really have no feelings for His Highness.”
Of course, she wouldn’t. Melissa was probably in the midst of her own forbidden first love.
“I remember well what you said about not having to be forced into anything for the family’s sake. So refusing the Imperial proposal was entirely my decision.”
I nodded, signaling that I understood.
“So why are you so uneasy around me today?”
“Oh….”
“Do you have something to say to me?”
Melissa hesitated for a moment, as if I’d hit the mark, then slowly nodded.
“Yes, actually, I have something to ask. I also need to apologize to you.”
Apologize? What could the protagonist have done wrong to a villainess?
Puzzled, I watched as Melissa, with a determined expression, began to speak.
“While exploring the mansion, I accidentally entered your annex.”
“….”
“Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I somehow ended up in the basement. And there….”
“Melissa.”
When I called her name, Melissa flinched. She seemed to think I was angry.
But I wasn’t angry at all.
It wasn’t even something I was unaware of; I just hadn’t expected…
‘I didn’t think Melissa would bring up Richard’s story first.’
I was just slightly taken aback by her unexpected confession.
Though the situation was somewhat tense, I had thought that my connection with Richard had ended when I sent him away from the mansion.
Maybe I only wanted to believe that, but I honestly hadn’t expected him to come up again.
After gathering my thoughts, I said to Melissa,
“Forget everything you saw and heard there.”
“Huh?”
“I already knew you had been there.”
“Oh.”
Realizing that I had pretended not to know, Melissa’s face froze.
I figured this was enough of a warning and whispered softly,
“Don’t worry about him. I made sure he went somewhere good.”
“Huh? Some-somewhere good?”
Melissa widened her eyes in shock.
Well, really? If she reacted like that, wouldn’t this villainess be a bit annoyed?
With a slight frown, I replied coldly,
“I mean, I let him go freely. I even provided him with enough money, so he should be fine.”
“Oh….”
Hearing Melissa’s sigh of relief, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“So forget about him. And forget about going to the annex. That way, there’s nothing for you to apologize for, right?”
“Yes, I understand!”
With relief brightening her face, Melissa responded energetically, clearly reassured that Richard would be fine.
Of course, if Richard were to return someday, Melissa wouldn’t be able to just ignore him…
But for now, hearing her answer made me feel somewhat at ease.
Feeling a bit more relaxed, I asked,
“How do you find living in the mansion?”
“I love it. I’m enjoying everything I’m learning.”
“You don’t feel cooped up?”
As a commoner, her life would have been much freer, but in the Duke’s mansion, that freedom was restricted. Besides, there might be people she wanted to meet outside.
“Just a little….”
Her answer carried a hint of disappointment.
“If you want to go out, you can ask Father. You’ll need to take a guard with you, but he should allow it as long as it’s a safe place.”
Hinting at places like the temple, I noticed Melissa’s face light up.
But only for a moment; she then said dejectedly,
“It seems the temple is busy with prayer gatherings lately.”
“Prayer gatherings?”
I casually asked, thinking that she might have already been looking around to visit the temple even if it wasn’t me.
“Yes. His Highness, the Crown Prince, is about to depart for the battlefield.”
Words I couldn’t simply ignore followed one after another.
“Deployment?”
When I asked, Melissa nodded, glancing around cautiously.
Ah, no wonder.
I had heard that even though Melissa had rejected the marriage proposal, the Crown Prince had brushed it off without much reaction.
I thought it was because it wasn’t yet time for the story to deepen their relationship, and his feelings towards Melissa were no more than mild curiosity. But it seems there was a background of deployment.
“It feels like the war with the Kingdom of Labirin just ended, and now there’s another one… It’s terrifying.”
At Melissa’s sigh, I nodded in agreement.
Then, even though we were alone in the garden, Melissa looked around cautiously before asking carefully,
“Sister, is it true what they say about His Highness the Crown Prince being a war fanatic?”
At first, she had been uncomfortable even mentioning the Crown Prince around me.
Perhaps because I had resolutely shut down any attachment, she now asked without much fear.
I blinked slowly and replied.
“Well, considering the founding Emperor of the Empire of Elios was a powerful warrior who defeated the evil dragon ravaging the continent, it wouldn’t be surprising if His Highness, the Crown Prince, inherited a similar combative nature.”
I wasn’t particularly interested in the Crown Prince, so I didn’t know for sure, but suddenly, the myths from the original story came to mind, and as I mentioned them, Melissa seemed to understand immediately and nodded.
“Indeed, His Highness, the Crown Prince, is said to bear the strongest bloodline of the founding Emperor among all the royal descendants.”
And to have become the youngest sword master.
Sighing deeply, Melissa mentioned that even if this war ended, another might soon follow.
Seeing her like that made me feel strangely uneasy as well.
Just then, Anne rushed into the garden and announced,
“My Lady! His Highness, the Crown Prince, has arrived at the estate!”
…Wait? They say a tiger appears when you speak of it, but why now of all times?
• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
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