Chapter 25. I Know Him Too Well
Mellie stared at him, bewildered.
Edric’s expression was cold as ice, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She wondered if she had misheard him.
“…Marriage? Edric, you and me?”
“That’s what I was thinking. But now I need to reconsider.”
“… …”
“I didn’t know you thought of me as just a one-night stand.”
His voice was sharp, cutting like the chill of the autumn air.
Mellie blinked, still trying to process what he meant.
“Anyway, now I know how you feel,” he said, stepping back from the railing, his gaze hard and unreadable.
“Wait, Edric!” Mellie urgently grabbed his arm.
“What is this all about? Explain it to me!”
“Mellie.”
He shook her hand off, contempt lacing his movements.
“I was going to marry you.”
“… …”
“I convinced my mother. I was even prepared to sever ties with her. But…”
Edric’s voice wavered slightly as he tried to suppress his anger.
“I think I was wasting my time.”
“… …”
With that, he turned on his heel, his retreat leaving a frigid void in his wake. The cool mountain breeze on the terrace only heightened the cold emptiness he left behind.
Mellie crossed her arms tightly around herself, trying to steady her racing thoughts.
He was going to marry her. He had said so himself. But then…
“Who thinks about the future in one night?”
The weight of her words hit her like a tidal wave. She had pushed him away, dismissing his intentions as a fleeting whim. She had rejected him before he could even propose.
“I let him down,” she realized.
“…!”
Panic surged through her, and Mellie took off in a sprint.
Her steps echoed loudly through the mansion’s corridors as she raced after him. She nearly collided with Lena, one of the maids, on the staircase.
“Miss Mellie, what’s wrong?” the maid called after her in concern.
But Mellie didn’t stop. She had to find him.
‘I need to tell him the truth. I’m not indifferent. I just didn’t want to seem desperate.’
But when she reached the door to his study, she froze.
Her hand hovered over the doorknob, her courage faltering.
She knew Edric too well. He was a man who didn’t look back
once he turned away. A man who hated desperation and clinging.
If she barged in now, confessing her feelings, he might meet her with nothing but a cold, mocking sneer.
The thought made her stomach churn.
‘I’ll think it through. There has to be another way.’
Reluctantly, Mellie turned and began walking back to her room. Her footsteps, so full of urgency moments before, now dragged heavily as if weighed down by chains.
—
Edric sat in his study, staring blankly at the letters on his desk.
No matter how many times he reread them, the words refused to sink in. It was as though his usually sharp mind had been dulled by the weight of his emotions.
Hoo…
He took off his glasses, setting them aside, and turned to face the window.
In the western sky, the sun had left behind only faint traces of purple on the horizon, while a crescent moon hung high in the east.
It was a sight he usually loved. But today, it was just another source of irritation.
He couldn’t believe Mellie thought of him that way.
He had known it wouldn’t be easy to win her over. He was prepared for her hesitation, even her doubt. But to hear her so casually dismiss their night together as a fleeting moment…
“Who promises the future with one night?”
His fists clenched at the memory.
Last night had been intoxicating. The feel of her soft, trembling body under his hands, her reluctant surrender to her own instincts—it had all been utterly captivating.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Initially, his plan had been simple: just one night. A way to make her think of him differently, to plant the idea of a future with him in her mind.
But somewhere along the way, his plans had unraveled. His desire for her had become something deeper, more consuming.
He wanted to marry her.
To see her every day. To hold her every night.
He thought she felt the same way.
But then she said it:
“If it was fun, that’s enough. Wanting more would be greedy.”
“You dare think of me as just a one-night stand?”
Edric ran a hand down his face, the frustration clawing at his chest.
Even the cool autumn breeze through the open window did little to calm him.
His eyes flicked towards the door to his study.
‘If you regret it so much, Mellie, why haven’t you come back?’
The thought made his anger flare anew.
“Damn it.”
Unable to sit still any longer, he stood abruptly.
—
Mellie tore through her room in a frenzy, searching for her diary.
It wasn’t in the drawer. Or the closet. Or on the shelf where she kept her jewelry.
It was nowhere.
Her heart sank.
That diary was the only way she could properly express her feelings.
She wanted Edric to understand that her love wasn’t shallow or fleeting. That it wasn’t born overnight but had been quietly growing for years.
But it was gone.
“It’s all ruined now,” she whispered, slumping onto the sofa.
The diary that had always seemed to show up at the worst times
was now nowhere to be found when she needed it most.
‘What do I do now? Should I just tell him?’
Her thoughts warred with each other.
She knew Edric too well. He wouldn’t forgive her so easily.
‘But if I don’t try, I’ll regret it.’
Mellie made her decision.
Even if it ended in rejection, she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t try.
—
“Edric!” Mellie burst into his room, her courage barely holding her together.
But the room was empty.
The bed was neatly made, and a blue dressing gown lay folded on top of it.
“…He’s not here.”
Her voice wavered as she stared at the vacant space.
And just like that, her courage crumbled.
