Chapter 29: 29

Does Claude count as a reliable adult? When he is only 15 years old?

He smiled before turning around and started walking away. Melody ran after him, feeling uneasy about something. Fortunately, he didn’t stop her, but instead lent her his jacket saying that ‘I think it will be a problem if you walk around with only those clothes on’. She felt like her cold shoulders and arms were defrosting from the warmth after he draped his jacket on her. Besides, it was made out of nice cloth, and it felt really good to the touch.

Melody realized one thing as she fiddled with the sleeves of his coat – the clothes he was wearing now were also the clothes he wore earlier today. She now knew that he was still awake at such a late hour. He must have attended a party on behalf of the Duke, and returned late. After all, Claude Valdwin was a trustworthy son and trusted by many vassals. Because he himself knew of that fact, he classified himself as an ‘adult’ even though he was only 15 years old.

He first went to Butler Higgins, and told him to change the patrol times and slightly change the intervals between them. After that, he asked the servants and the soldiers, who worked at night, to strengthen the patrols on the second floor. They promised to pay more attention to the second floor now with very serious expressions, since Claude was the respectable young Lord to them. Their serious reactions to the order were because if anything happened after he told them those words, then they wouldn’t be giving Claude any face.

(T/N: not giving face = humiliating their Lord/Master)

“See, everyone can help like this if Miss Melody is honest.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s not something to be thankful for. It was something concerning my little sister.”

He happily responded even at this moment, showing his bizarre possessiveness towards his younger sister. Perhaps, he liked Loretta more now than when they first met. Well, it was only a natural thing to say considering Loretta’s charm.

“Go back to sleep if you are feeling a little more relieved now. It’s not the time for children to be wandering around.”

“… Young Master is also wandering around here right now.”

“Hmmm? I think I just heard someone treating me like a child.”

Even though Melody was thinking ‘He’s still a child if you consider his real age…’, she never said it out loud – because she was scared of the consequences.

“Young Master is an amazing adult. So amazing that you were allowed to go to a party at this hour!”

“I’m relieved you know.”

Of course, Melody thought that ‘It’s also childish to constantly run around saying you’re an adult!’, but she didn’t say anything at that moment either. It would be too bothersome to listen to his complaints and teasing.

“A good child should be rewarded. Come here, I’ll help you to sleep in ten minutes.”

Melody took a couple of steps back subconsciously.

Falling asleep in 10 minutes? It wouldn’t be possible unless I was slapped on the back of my neck and knocked out.

“There is nothing to be so suspicious of. After all, I was planning to go to sleep soon too anyways.”

He grabbed Melody’s wrist and led her somewhere. Where on earth are we going? Melody looked at Claude, who was a few steps ahead, and thought of one or two more things.

「I was planning to go to sleep soon too anyways. 」

… Did he mean that he will put me to sleep? No, wait a minute, such a development is unacceptable no matter how improbable it is. What do you mean the Young Master is suddenly putting me to sleep…!

It was a complete misunderstanding that caused Melody to be thinking about stuff like that.

He didn’t take Melody to some strange place but instead to the kitchen. There was always something to eat there, so Melody usually would come here several times a day to get snacks. Though, there was no food nor people in there right now.

“Take a seat.”

He suggested that she should take a seat as he put a small stool next to the table. After that, he rolled up his sleeves neatly and skillfully went back and forth from the kitchen to the food warehouse as he took out what he needed.

“Do you come in here often?”

“I don’t. It has been 378 days since the last time. But since we have made certain organizational rules and put them together, it isn’t difficult to come here whenever I want and get around.”

He heated up a small pot of white milk and poured the warmed liquid into a thick glass with some sweet vanilla syrup.

“Slowly drink it before you go to bed, and you really will fall asleep within 10 minutes. It will make you feel comfortable since it will fill your stomach and warm you up.”

He drank the milk as if he was performing a demonstration first. Melody looked at him quietly, then immediately took a sip.

Thinking of it, she had thought that it was quite cold in the estate earlier that night because of the autumn night. She felt her body relax after she drank something warm, soft and sweet – even her cold feet warmed back up. She finished the rest of the milk quickly.

“Are you feeling a little sad for some reason?”

Melody looked at the empty glass and nodded. I thought I could drink a few more sips.

“Then you drank just the right amount. Well done.”

He took the empty glass Melody was holding and pointed with his chin towards the hallway. It seems like he was telling her to go back to her room now.

“Go straight back to your room and pull your duvet up to your chin. You will definitely fall asleep in ten minutes if you do that.”

Melody still nodded even though she didn’t fully believe him because she had nothing to say to retort. For some reason, it seemed like he was complimenting her once again, like he was saying ‘Good girl’.

Melody got up from the stool ready to return to her room.

“Oh right.”

She suddenly remembered the borrowed jacket, she pulled on her sleeves to make them look longer and tried to take off the coat he had lent her. I think I should return this. However, before she could do anything, he suddenly approached her and closed the door again, completely locking Melody out while she was still wearing his jacket – as if telling her to not even think of taking it off.

“Wear it and go.”

Maybe it was because he was worried that Melody would be cold. After all, the Young Master is undoubtedly a gentleman that the Ducal Family is proud of.

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“I will be more at ease if Miss Melody would give it to the maid in charge of the laundry tomorrow.”

…. He wasn’t. It was just his laundry.

“Ah that’s right, there’s a spilled drink on the hem of the right sleeve. Tell them to take care of it, they need to make sure not to leave any stain.”

He even included additional commands.

“Then, come to my room on time tomorrow, because there are still a lot of records left for Miss Melody to transcribe.”

Moreover, his efficiency in planning his bullying for tomorrow was perfect. This man was indeed a devil.

He opened the door once more to look at Melody and see her reaction.

“Well?”

Melody looked at him with a dissatisfied expression on her face, so he smiled as he handed her a small glowing lamp.

“Stop looking at me. It’s embarrassing.”

It was amazing how he wasn’t shy at all, so Melody just turned around and started walking. She heard him chuckling from behind her. Goodness, I really hate him. Melody huffed and returned to her room on the first floor.

She initially wanted to go to Loretta’s room to sleep with her, but she was afraid that she would disturb the child’s sleep so she decided not to. She yawned lightly the moment she grabbed the doorknob of her room and pushed it open. She hated to admit it, but the milk that Claude made for her really did its job.

‘I think I can sleep comfortably.’

When she completely opened the door as she thought, a foul smell pierced through the tip of her nose. The smell was something that should never come out of her room that was always neatly cleaned, so it could only be that someone intentionally did this.

Melody lifted her small back up to her eye level. Her room hadn’t changed much. Nothing was messed up, but when the lamp shone over the chest of the drawers,

“…!”

She was so startled that she stumbled on the spot for a moment.

If you ask Melody what she cherishes the most, she will pick three things: her white lace hat, her green ribbon, and her pen. Those three were the evidence that she was now living a different life than before, so she always kept them in a conspicuous place and did not forget to clean them everyday. That’s why anyone in this mansion would know very well that she cherishes them.

Was that… the problem? Should she have thoroughly hidden what she liked and not tell anyone?

Melody slowly approached the chest of drawers with trembling steps. The source of the stench was coming from on top of it. She saw her hat soaked in black filth when the light shone on it after stepping closer with the lamp. Its original color was barely visible, and there were even several cut marks that seemed to have been made by scissors.

‘Is this… anger?’

She felt surprisingly calm when she had that thought. That’s because she had been through quite a bit of disappointment, during her life due to someone else’s anger, quite frequently so far.

‘So, it doesn’t hurt.’

Melody put down her glowing lamp and carefully grabbed the ribbon and hat. The unidentified rotten liquid ran down her hands, down her wrists, and onto Claude’s clothes.

 

* * *

 

It was the next day.

Coincidentally, it was also the same day some of the vassals were going back from the Duchy. The mansion was quite noisy with the sound of servants loading and unloading their carriages from early in the morning.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Duke.”

“When I get back, I will do as you commanded and post a report.”

“I will be waiting. Are you going to leave right away?”

The Duke’s question was nothing more than a command for them to ‘leave right away’. However, the vassals exchanged glances and hesitated instead of leaving. It seemed like they still had some business with the Duke.

“Sir,” the oldest of them stepped forward cautiously, “The Duke and us Elders seem to be at odds about this subject but we are deeply concerned about this.”

After one person came forward to talk, the others took turns speaking one by one.

“The Duke won’t decide on his own, right?”

“Wouldn’t some people ridicule the Duke for letting a guest stay at an inappropriate place for their station?”

Hearing the words of his vassals, the Duke looked at him softly and asked, “Who said that?”

“Yes?”

The vassal raised his head in surprise. Then the Duke let out a black aura and asked him again. “I asked who dared make a joke about me, the Duke of Valdwin.”

“Th-that… the capital’s… nobles.”

The vassal couldn’t even finish his words. One of the Elders close to the Duke tapped him on the arm and signaled for him to stop.

“The capital’s nobles? Bring them to me next time. I will gladly listen to what they were laughing at.”

Of course, no noble would dare say such a thing to the Duke’s face, so the vassal who raised the topic didn’t dare to respond.

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