Chapter 14 Friendship is over
“Oh, Rosaline. You’re already here!”
Ada Felton came back from her outing and stopped by the living room right away.
“Oh, Mother-.”
Rosaline, who had been looking out the window with bored eyes, jumped up when she heard her future mother-in-law’s voice.
The two hugged happily.
“How have you been? How are both of your parents?”
“Yes, of course they are well. Everyone have to be careful I guess. I can see that mother has become younger and more beautiful in the meantime.”
Rosalind responded cheerfully to Mrs. Felton’s greeting.
“Oh, you’re joking. What if I really believe you?”
“Really. You don’t have a single freckle even when I see you in
broad daylight. On the other hand, I… … .”
Rosalind blushed, covering the faint freckles on her face. Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she asked.
“How can Miss Mellie have such porcelain-like skin? I want to know the secret.”
“Mellie?”
Ada looked momentarily bewildered when the topic of conversation turned to an unexpected person. But she soon nodded in agreement.
“She certainly has good skin.”
“… … .”
“But that’s all she has. She’s too small and skinny. It’s as if she stopped growing at the age of fourteen or fifteen. She can’t even compare to the elegant and feminine Rosaline. Even though Mellie is like my daughter, I have to admit what I have to admit.”
“But I envy Miss Mellie’s dense face. Sometimes people say my eyes are scary because they’re so big.”
“I like Rosaline’s refreshing face better than Mellie’s stuffy face.
Let’s ask someone passing by. Who is more beautiful, Miss Mellie or Rosaline? I’ll bet my entire fortune on Rosaline.”
Rosaline blushed and laughed at the blatant compliment, but did not deny Ada’s words.
The two of them chatted amicably for a while, using Mellie as a sacrifice.
Rosaline was surprised that Mrs. Felton was being so cold to Mellie, but since there were some noblewomen who did not like their daughters and belittled them in front of others, so she didn’t take it seriously. Suddenly, Mrs. Felton realized the absence of someone she absolutely had to see and asked,
“Where is Edric? He left his fiancée alone?”
“Oh, he went to pick up my brother, Francis Adele.”
Rosaline said, as if she had just remembered.
“He went out to smoke a cigar and got lost, so he didn’t come back. But I am a little worried that both of them are so late. I hope the Duke of Felton didn’t got lost in his own house… …”
At that moment, the drawing-room door suddenly opened.
“My mother is here.”
Edric walked in, while smoothing his sleeves.
“How could you leave your fiancée alone like this?”
“I’m sorry. Did I keep you waiting for so long? Rosaline?”
“No, not really… … but.”
Rosaline’s eyes scanned Edric’s back.
“Where is Fran? Haven’t you found him yet?”
“Oh, I found him. But he told me that he forgot something and asked me to tell you that he would be leaving first.”
Edric spoke with a straight face, without a single flaw.
“Something?”
Rosaline tilted her head.
“That wouldn’t have happened.”
“I think he deliberately left the room,”
Edric said.
“So that I could take Young lady home. Considering that he even took the carriage.”
“Oh, what a clever young man he is,”
Ada Felton exclaimed.
“I think so too, Mother. You are very perceptive… and very intelligent.”
Edric agreed. The corners of his mouth twisted slightly along the way, but no one noticed.
Rosaline still had a suspicious look on her face, but the butler just in time announced that the meal was ready, so she had to put her suspicions aside.
“Take my hand, Rosaline.”
Edric offered to be her escort. Rosaline smiled and placed her small hand on his large, delicate hand.
The two walked side by side, following the former Duchess.
Since no one was watching, Edric no longer had to control his
expression, and his eyes hardened coldly.
***
Mellie was afraid to ponder her thoughts.
It all seemed like a fleeting dream.
Edric caught her in such a shameless position, intertwined with a strange man.
His gaze, looking back and forth between her and the man beneath her, felt somehow empty.
I couldn’t tell what he was feeling. It seemed like he couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Mellie got up from her seat. It was as if the struggle she had been struggling to get up was a lie, as if she had been on top of the man on her own.
Then, Edric’s empty eyes suddenly took on a different color.
‘Hey… … Edric, so this is… … . That’s not it… … .’
I opened my mouth without even organizing my thoughts, and I couldn’t speak properly. Perhaps frustrated with my appearance,
the man intervened from behind. That crazy guy who was the cause of all this.
‘I’ll tell you. We… … .’
But he couldn’t speak either.
Because he had been knocked out by Edric’s punch.
Mellie covered her mouth with both hands at what had happened in an instant.
That noble Edric was using violence.
And that one blow wasn’t the end. He stepped forward to retaliate against Francis, who had fallen far away.
She had no time to think about what had made him so angry.
‘Stop!’
Mellie spread her arms and blocked the gap between him and Francis.
For a moment, Edric stared at Mellie as if he would devour her.
The deep blue eyes that she had thought of as the ocean now
seemed like the hottest blue flames.
‘Get out of the way.’
She could hear the suppressed anger in his soft voice.
He looked precarious, like a balloon inflated to the brim. That was why she couldn’t get out of the way any longer.
‘It’s my fault.’
‘… ‘
‘I called Francis myself. We ran into each other in the hallway… … I took him to my room to talk for a moment.’
Mellie hated herself.
If it weren’t for her weakness that Francis had, she would never have defended him.
Because of that one shameless act, she had made herself a reckless woman.
And in front of the man she loved the most.
Mellie lowered her gaze, unable to bear to look at Edric in his
eyes.
His beautiful and delicate fingertips were trembling slightly. His unresolved anger was convulsing his blood vessels.
Who was he more angry at? That shameless fellow Francis? Or me?
Before she could guess, Edric had firmly pressed down on one of Mellie’s outstretched arms. Her arm fell down like a loosely placed lock.
Edric passed by Mellie.
The cold wind he had created made Mellie’s shoulders flinch.
But surprisingly, what she heard from behind her was a calm apology.
“I misunderstood. I thought Mellie was being treated badly by another man.”
When Mellie turned around, Francis was holding Edric’s arm and raising his body.
“It’s okay. It was a situation that could have been misunderstood.”
Francis said, looking completely uneasy.
The shock of the blow was evident from his split lip and the swelling on one side of his cheek. With his pronunciation being unnatural, he took out a handkerchief and spat out what he had in his mouth.
The thick blood quickly dyed the white handkerchief bright red.
‘I guess we won’t be able to eat today, will we?’
Francis said, as if he was sorry that he couldn’t eat because of another engagement rather than because his mouth was split open.
‘I’m sorry, but could you tell Rosaline that I have something to do and have to go first?’
‘Of course,’
Edric replied calmly.
‘And I’ll borrow a horse. Rosaline will have to use the carriage. Since you hit me, you can do that, right?’
‘No, take the carriage. I’ll take Rosaline home. That way, it’ll be
easier to explain why you suddenly disappeared.’
Mellie’s head suddenly became dizzy.
It was the kind of absurd feeling one might have when one is suddenly thrown from a raging storm into a clear, cloudless sky.
What on earth had I been seeing? Was it my own delusion?
‘Excuse me,’
Francis said politely as he bid farewell to Mellie. And Edric…
He didn’t even spare her a glance.
Then he passed her coldly as if he would never see her again, and never came back.
That had been only half a day ago.
Mellie had spent hours alone in the middle of the quiet room.
In the meantime, all I could hear was Oz’s affectionate reprimand for leaving the food she had brought her behind, and the sound of the carriage wheels outside the window.
It was definitely Edric’s call to drop Rosaline off.
Mellie felt resentful that I had stopped Francis Adele from being beaten to death.
‘Take me out for dinner later. You’ll be grateful to me.’
What should I be grateful for? That our precious friendship had been ruined because of you?
That I would be remembered by him for a long time as a reckless woman who had slept with the lover of his future wife?
Mellie wondered how she could have ever thought that Edric would be jealous of her.
Well, when Edric had knocked Francis out, she had thought that too. But.
‘I misunderstood. I thought Mellie was being treated badly by another man.’
As always, the anticipation ended in bitter disappointment.
Come to think of it, if it had been a complete stranger, not his sister like friend, exposed to such a calamity, he would have ignored it like but Edric couldn’t do that.
Mellie was convinced that Francis had made a complete mistake.
He had wanted to awaken Edric and break up this marriage, but what had been broken was not the arranged marriage, but the ten-year friendship between Edric and her.
It was because of her prudence and discernment that he had accepted Mellie as a friend. Now that he knew it wasn’t the case, this friendship was over!
Suddenly, the thought of the diary came to her mind.
She saw Francis Adele quickly hide it behind a cushion just before he got up.
When she lifted the cushion, there was indeed a hardcover notebook with a checkered pattern.
‘This was the cause of the trouble.’
A monstrosity that had been the raw excretion of her emotions. She regretted not burning it sooner.
Mellie walked over to the fireplace.
She lit the flint, placed it on the kindling, and waited until the flames were just right.
Finally, as the flames crackled, she pushed the diary through the screen. All she had to do was release the grip she was holding. Then this monstrosity would disappear from this world forever….
Knock-.
But then, there was a sudden knock.
She remembered Oz scolding her for leaving her food behind. It seemed like she had finally brought her a snack .
Mellie put the diary back. She didn’t want her to find out about the unfinished diary. Mellie slid the diary into a nearby drawer and answered, “Come in.” She walked over to the side table.
She was a little hungry, having skipped lunch. Thinking that she wouldn’t skip it this time, she turned around. She then intended to sit down on the chair, but she couldn’t.
“… … .”
Why was this happening?
There had only been one carriage sound and it seemed like he clearly left with her. And yet… … there was Edric standing in front of her.
