Chapter 12 – Look at this, you didn’t know your place
“It’s stuffy.”
Mellie muttered while looking outside the window.
She stood by the window for a while. She thought that she would feel less stuffy if she got some sunlight.
She wanted to go for a walk… … But she couldn’t, right?
‘Please stay in your room until the guest leaves.’ That’s what Edric told the butler to convey her.
Why did he tell her not to come out of her room? Was it because Rosaline came?
But why was her coming a reason to lock her up? It was only a few hours ago that he was excited for her to meet Rosaline. Mellie couldn’t understand how he had suddenly changed.
‘Well, that’s not the only thing I can’t understand.’
Even though they usually said they were like family, he didn’t really want to ask her to become a real family.
But whether she understood or not, Mellie couldn’t stand the fact that she cursed herself for asking him to accept her as a member of the family in the morning.
I don’t know exactly what he was thinking, but judging from his expression and tone of voice, he didn’t seem to take it very well.
‘Maybe he thought I was dreaming a dream after living in the same house with such high-ranking people for so long?’ Was that why he kept me from leaving the room, thinking that he should try to keep me from meeting a noble lady like Rosaline?
That might have been the case.
He was a gentle and affectionate friend, but he was also the head of a prestigious noble family.
He had the right to command subordinates who didn’t know what to do.
“I can’t do that.”
When Mellie’s thoughts reached that point, she couldn’t just sit still.
She felt she had to go see Edric and tell him how foolish her thoughts were.
If that didn’t work out, she had to leave him a note.
Mellie sat down at her desk and wrote down her intention to forgive her foolishness.
[I’m sorry, I was wrong. I don’t know why I said that either. I was shocked by the Blair affair, so I was a little lost]
She put down her pen.
‘Hmm… is it too long?’
He was busy entertaining Rosaline. So it seemed better to write down the main points concisely rather than going into detail.
Mellie underlined the text she was writing and wrote it again on a new sheet of paper.
[Forget what I said this morning. I was careless.]
She didn’t think this would be enough to interrupt his precious time.
Mellie folded the paper twice and left the room, holding it in her hand. Then she turned the corner of the hallway, intending to use the west staircase, which was a little closer to the drawing room.
***
Ironically, Francis appeared on the other side just as she turned the corner. He looked around the hallway, examining the doors on either side.
“It must have been somewhere around here.”
His eyes, scanning the softly polished spruce doors, stopped at one of them.
The woman he had seen in the pavilion seemed to be beyond there.
He knocked cautiously. Then he knocked once more.
There was no sound from inside during the two knocks.
‘Where did you go in the meantime?’
Francis clicked his tongue at the awkward situation and leaned back against the wall.
He planned to wait for her to return. He had no particular intention of doing anything. He just wanted to talk to her briefly.
No, he had something to confirm.
‘I saw that lady at your house the other day… Was it Miss Ellie? She was at the opera with some man.’
Francis remembered the expression on the Duke of Felton’s face when he had told him that. He might have thought he had hidden it well, but he had seen it clearly. Those blue eyes that seemed untouched by stones shook violently for a moment. His heart, as solid as iron, had cracked.
He saw himself once in that look.
‘I’ll marry you.’
Early spring evening, beautiful sunset, warm breeze, the scent of buds brought by the wind. My heart sank at Rosaline’s shocking declaration at the perfect moment.
Even though I had prepared myself mentally, I couldn’t help but lose control of my expression at the words that were like a stab to my heart… … .
‘Okay!’
Francis got up, his body displeased at the bitter memory. He didn’t wait any longer and turned the doorknob.
The owner of the room had gone somewhere and showed no
sign of returning, but it was a shame to go back without finding anything. It seemed like I should at least take a look around the room.
The door opened quietly, and he stepped into the room without an owner.
The room was small for a noble lady, and large for a guest.
“You tried very hard not to be accused of being rude, even though you reminded yourself as a mere guest.”
Francis sneered.
Even at a glance, it seemed that the owner of the room was not a vain woman.
The furniture had a clean and simple design, a few simple decorations that looked like they had been bought at a traditional market. The bedding was plain and simple.
There were just enough cosmetics on the dressing table, and the other items were all just what they needed… … No, they were just enough to make it seem a little lacking. She must have been a woman who knew her place.
Suddenly, Francis noticed a notepad lying upside down on the
desk.
“What is this?”
He picked it up without thinking. There was a trace of someone writing something down and then stopping and doodling.
He held the paper up to the sunlight streaming diagonally into the room. Then, the writing hidden by the doodling began to become visible.
“I’m sorry… … I was wrong. I don’t know why I did that either… … .”
Francis tilted his head.
‘Who on earth did she do wrong to that she had to write such a detailed memo?’
She didn’t seem like the type to do anything wrong.
He thought about it for a moment, but nothing came to mind. He threw the notepad back on the desk and turned around.
Then suddenly, the silver drawer hook under the desk left a vivid afterimage in his mind.
Francis turned around again.
There was no one in the room, but he still glanced around. What he was about to do required just as much caution and secrecy.
He was relieved to see that there were not a single ant around. Then he pulled the hook.
Inside the drawer were a few simple writing instruments, a handkerchief with colored embroidery, and a hardcover notebook.
‘A diary.’
Francis recognized it immediately. It had a lock.
He couldn’t see the key, but that didn’t mean there was no way to open the lock.
He took off the family crest brooch on his clothes.
“Does anyone know that the brooch of the prestigious Adele family could be used for such things?”
Francis chuckled and pushed the brooch’s tip all the way into the small lock hole.
After three or four thrusts, the lock snapped open with a click.
The short effort was worth it.
Francis put the brooch back on his chest and opened the diary cheerfully.
“Look at this. You didn’t know your place.”
Francis’s amber eyes sparkled with interest.
***
The butler turned pale as if he had seen a ghost as soon as he saw Mellie.
“My lady, didn’t His Majesty tell you to stay in your room? If you wander around like this, it will be difficult for me.”
“I’m sorry.”
Mellie quickly apologized and handed him a note.
“I’ll be back to my room soon, so please just give his this. As soon as possible.”
She wanted to relieve Edric’s displeasure as quickly as possible. She wanted to erase the foolish words she had said from his
mind as quickly as possible.
The butler took the note from Mellie’s hand and urged her again.
“Okay, I’ll give it to him, so go upstairs quickly. Hurry up.”
“I will.”
Mellie obediently followed. She felt that she had done her job.
In any case, the note would be delivered soon, and Edric would feel better when he found out her true feelings.
Mellie turned around, feeling much more at ease.
However, her mood sank again when she heard Edric and Rosaline’s hearty laughter from across the living room. She wondered if his cold attitude as he turned away was really something only she could see.
“I’m most comfortable when I’m with you, Mellie. It’s too tiring to force myself to laugh and chat with people.”
He had always said that, but Mellie could no longer be sure. The way he was showing Rosaline in the living room right now was his real self, and the way he showed me this morning was not because he was comfortable, but because he had grown distant.
Because of my foolish words.
Mellie returned to her quarters with heavy steps.
Sighing, she closed her door and turned around, so shocked that it was a miracle she didn’t scream.
“You came?”
“… … .”
For a moment, her mind was blank, and she couldn’t think of anything else but the fact that the person in front of her was a man.
Her sense of reasoning slowly returned.
‘This man… … That, that man!’
The distant relative who used to kiss Rosaline in the dark hallway. No, were they legal siblings now?
“That… … Why are you here?”
Francis sat lazily on the chair and looked at the woman who greeted him with a bewildered expression.
The words that came out of the other person’s mouth were even more bewildering.
“I knocked but there was no answer.”
“If there’s no answer, then you can just come in like this? This is extremely rude.”
Mellie shouted and opened the door.
“Get out now!”
But she had no choice but to close the door again.
“I saw something interesting… … .”
Mellie’s eyes widened as she found her diary in the man’s hands.
She hurriedly closed the door.
“That… … Why is it there… … .”
That wasn’t the only surprise. There was no lock on the diary!
So where was the lock?
Her gaze trembled as she saw the lock sitting open on the desk.
She wondered if there had ever been a moment in her life that made her heart sink so much.
“I haven’t seen many,”
Francis added, smiling.
“But I know everything.”
