Chapter 34 – Do You Still Love Me?
It was a pitch-black room.
Unlike the calm atmosphere of the neatly organized space, the air currents hovering above it were strangely excited, as if a storm had struck.
Soon, a rustling sound was heard, and Edric came down from above her.
Sweat dripped down the neatly divided valleys of his abs.
Mellie pulled up the blanket and admired his body with the help of the darkness.
His wide chest, with its beautifully ridged lines, made him look even firmer. The sweat that had soaked up his skin gave his skin a smooth sheen.
Lying next to Mellie, his rough breathing felt rather strange.
Mellie felt proud, thinking that he had found satisfaction in her.
She watched him for a moment and then approached him.
It was because she wanted to share warmth with him.
Not a heat that would burn her whole body, but a warm warmth that would last for a long time.
That was the only moment when she could confirm his love for her.
But before she could even reach him, Edric removed the arm covering his eyes and stood up.
“Then rest.”
It seemed as if he was going to leave.
“… … Are you going?”
Mellie grabbed his arm urgently. His skin was slippery with sweat.
“I have work to do.”
“… … .”
“… … Do you have anything to say?”
Edric asked. As if he would only stay if she had something to say.
“No.”
I just wanted to hold you tightly. As always.
But I couldn’t hold on to someone who had work to do for that reason.
“No. Nothing.”
Mellie let go of his arm. Her hand slid smoothly down his arm.
“Don’t overdo it.”
“You should rest too.”
Edric picked up the gown that had fallen on the floor.
His well-knit body was hidden under the bleak gray gown.
He left the bedroom without looking back. He simply performed the ritual of joining themselves and left.
Mellie pulled the blanket up to her chin.
The sweat hadn’t dried yet. The heat he had given her hadn’t gone away either.
But he had left, and Mellie was left alone in the bed. Her naked body on the large bed. And her skin, slippery with sweat. She laughed at the sight of her enjoying herself alone.
Mellie gently ran her hand over the place where Edric had been.
The soft bed was still warm from his body temperature.
Mellie moved sideways little by little and covered herself on top of it.
That somehow soothed her regret.
Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time he had ended a relationship like this and left right away. Even though he would hug Mellie and share the lingering feelings, he would leave her behind when he had urgent business to attend to. Even without that, he didn’t care as much about communicating with her as he used to. The time they spent hugging each other became shorter and shorter, and sleeping in their own rooms became the norm.
The moments when they would face each other and chat all night long now felt like a story from a long time ago.
Mellie wanted to ask several times while they were making love.
‘Do you still love me?’
But she stopped. At that moment, he was like an animal that had lost his mind. It seemed like he would say yes no matter what she said.
She didn’t like that. She wanted to hear it when he was rational and knew what he was talking about. Not something he couldn’t remember.
But after everything was over, she didn’t have the courage to ask.
‘I’ll definitely ask next time. Next time. When his mood is right.’
She always put it off until next time with that kind of mindset. And when the time came, she put it off again.
But now she wanted to ask something else.
‘Why did you think of marrying me?’
I wonder what the answer would be… … No, I’m not curious.
***
“The Duke’s regular banquet is coming up soon. I’m thinking of hiring outside staff to prepare this banquet. What do you think, Edric?”
Ada asked during dinner. Edric nodded and asked back.
“I don’t care, but… … Why, Mother?”
“For Melissa. If we only do it with the family members, Melissa will have to get involved, so won’t it be too hard for my daughter-in-law?”
At Ada’s words, Edric’s eyes turned to Melissa. For a moment, a hollow smile seemed to form at the corners of his mouth.
It seemed to be saying, ‘Is that all there was to it?’
“You have to develop the habit of going through hardships. That’s how you can grow.”
Edric said in a casual tone, as if he was handling a task
Mellie controlled her expression so as not to ruin the mood.
For the past few years, Edric had entrusted Mellie with the important task of hosting the ducal palace’s regular banquet.
Mellie stayed up all night to carry out the task perfectly, but even so, there were always vacancies. For example, some people were left off the invitation list, or the thermometer in the wine cellar broke down, so they served stale wine. Or they accidentally changed the banquet order, causing confusion for the guests.
Perhaps the mistake was made while passing it on to the subordinates. There was no problem when she checked. However, it was the duchess’ job to calculate and prevent even such mistakes in advance. Therefore, Mellie could not refute Edric’s unilateral announcement.
‘You are now stepping down from hosting events.’
There was no anger in his voice at that moment.
He simply ruled her out because he thought she was not fit to lead important family events.
He left all the banquets to his mother, Ada Felton.
“You take care of everything. Let me handle the small stuff.”
He calmly divided up the roles and got up.
But Mellie didn’t want to be left behind forever.
After dinner, she visited Edric’s quarters for a moment.
“Hey, honey.”
“What’s going on?”
Edric, who was sitting in an armchair reading a book, answered without looking up.
His deep blue eyes, illuminated by the lampshade, turned orange.
“I have something to show you.”
Mellie handed him a neat piece of paper.
His eyes shifted to the paper.
“What’s this?”
“I just scribbled it down when I had some free time, and I thought you might like it.”
She had thought of a few invitation phrases for this banquet.
It was something she had written after reading literature for several days and thinking hard about it.
Even he thought it was well written
“Well written,”
Edric said, quickly scanning the paper and handing it back to her. Mellie was happy. For a moment.
“You can use it when you host a tea party.”
“… … .”
That meant it wasn’t suitable as a regular banquet invitation.
Just this once, she wanted to be of some help. She spoke persistently.
“If there’s anything that needs to be fixed, please let me know. I’ll go and fix it right now.”
Edric looked up from the book he was holding. His blue, intelligent eyes hidden behind his glasses made him look even colder.
“It’s not something that can be fixed.”
“Then why don’t you just start over from the beginning… … .”
“What do you want to do, Melissa?”
Melissa. When her name was called, Mellie had to prepare herself mentally.
“Why don’t you read the ten-day extra edition? If you know the trends, you’ll have something to talk about with people.”
“… … .”
He never said outright that your writing was crude or trashy.
He effectively broke Mellie’s stubbornness in his own elegant way.
Mellie picked up the paper, feeling as if a thorn had been stuck in her fingertips.
“Yes… … I understand.”
She said weakly and turned around.
Mellie went out the door and looked at the paper with the writing on it again.
The writing that had seemed so perfect a moment ago was now full of sloppy and crude writing.
The letters even looked like bad handwriting.
Mellie remembered Edric’s elegant handwriting.
And she thought of the invitations he had always written himself.
They were simple and elegant, without any unnecessary details.
How could she have thought that he would like this sloppy writing?
What on earth was the basis for such confidence?
Mellie suddenly felt disgusted with the paper in her hands.
As soon as she returned to her quarters, she threw the paper into the fireplace flames.
The paper blackened and shriveled. My self-esteem seemed to disappear along with the paper.
***
‘Regardless of the era and generation… ‘
Edric thought back to the phrase Mellie had written.
It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either.
She had done the best she could within her capabilities.
However, what the Feltons needed was not ‘doing as well as she could’.
The Felton family, which was equivalent to the royal family, and the Duke of Felton, who was respected by the people of the empire, had to do more than that.
Therefore, Mellie’s writing was lacking.
However, it seemed that she could write the invitation text for a ball held at home, rather than a large event like a regular banquet. Her writing lacked the charisma to captivate everyone, but it had the emotional style that ladies would like.
‘It would be good to use it as a tea party invitation text.’
He praised her in his own way. But Mellie seemed unhappy, as if she wanted something bigger.
‘Then why don’t you just rewrite it from the beginning… . . ’
She was rushing too much these days. Even the pregnancy.
‘If you really want to do something, Melissa. How about reading the ten-day extra edition?’
It was impulsive to add the advice, but I didn’t think it was a mistake.
She didn’t read the extra editions often.
Because of that, she often stayed silent at social gatherings because she couldn’t keep up with the flow of conversation.
‘What on earth is she thinking?’
Judging from her active attitude towards the invitation text, she doesn’t seem to be unmotivated.
Edric couldn’t figure out what Mellie was thinking.
