Chapter 41: 41

Melody looked back at Isaiah. Red with rage, his face seemed to be full of confusion and frustration.

“Isaiah, I have a few questions for her.” The girl spoke with a soft tone, touching the heart of her precious friend. “They probably are pretty trivial questions, but I found out that they happen to be quite important questions to me.”

For example, birthdays. She didn’t want to make people feel uncomfortable if they ever tried to talk with her about her birthday. It was something trivial, and yet important.

“I am not meeting my mother because I have forgotten how I used to live.” Melody grabbed Isaiah’s hands. Just like when he grabbed her earlier, she held his hand with a lot of strength. “I am meeting my mother because I have decided how I want to live from now on.”

Melody stood still, holding Isaiah’s hand for a while longer.

“Don’t lie!” He shouted, roughly pushing away Melody’s hand.

Pushed by him, the girl’s body faltered slightly and fell on the floor.

“…!”

Isaiah was very surprised to see Melody falling to the floor. He seemed to have received a big shock.

“Isaiah.”

Melody stood up from the floor with Claude’s help as she called Isaiah affectionately. However, it didn’t seem like it reached Isaiah’s heart. His lips moved and muttered words she couldn’t hear, before turning around and swiftly running to somewhere she couldn’t see. Despite his quick exit, he was soon captured by his fellow knights who came looking for him.

“Wait…!”

Melody hastily shouted towards the knights. Even so, she didn’t want Isaiah to be punished, so Claude, who was just beside her, declared in a stern voice.

“The punishment will be decided by the Duke. Until then, keep that squire safe.”

He added the word ‘safe’ – so that Melody would feel assured.

The knights seemed unwilling to let the Duke judge the punishment for one of their squires, but they had to follow his order now. It was true that Isaiah, a squire, had forcefully dragged around a child who is under the Duke’s care.

“… Isaiah.”

After Melody called him once more with a sad voice, his lips moved once again in a small murmur.

‘Liar.’

That’s probably what he was saying. Melody laughed bitterly. In conclusion, she lied to him so he wasn’t particularly wrong in that.

Melody was worried as she watched the knights take Isaiah away. It feels great to have met Isaiah again. What will happen if we are to break off our friendship like this again?

“It will be fine.”

Melody turned her head when she heard a voice coming from beside her. Claude was also looking down at her, and their eyes met immediately.

“That’s because he’s only hot-headed right now. He will definitely want to apologize to Miss Melody after he calms down and looks back on the situation.”

“I have to apologize first. I lied to him. I promised him I would not come to see my mother….”

“Even so.”

Claude glanced down at Melody’s wrist. Just how strongly had he been holding onto her wrist to leave red handprints? Melody saw where his gaze was directed and quickly hid her hands behind her back.

“It didn’t hurt at all!”

“You are lying.”

At the word ‘lying’, Melody’s eyes teared up slightly.

“I, it hurts, but I am alright.”

“You can come back here later if you want.”

Melody shook her head at his suggestion. Her firm determination was still strong even though she had a conflict with Isaiah earlier.

“It’s okay.”

“You’re courageous.”

He smiled in wonder just as he had done in the carriage a moment ago. He still had the same expression as he reached out one of his hands.

“Please let me help take you there. This is, after all, inevitable.”

Melody had no choice but to give her hand to Claude while looking around for the squire in charge of guiding her and finding them standing with the knights who flocked over due to the earlier disturbance.

“But, Young Master,” Melody quietly asked him a question as they walked down the long hallway, “How did you know?”

“Well,” Claude touched his chin for a moment, as if he was worried about something, “I actually saw it.”

“…What did you see?”

“How Isaiah Mullen finds Miss Melody and runs away quickly.”

Claude had discovered Isaiah Mullen about ten minutes before while he was spending his free time inside the carriage. If it was the Isaiah he knew, he would follow after Melody right away and greet her. Something seemed off about him when he quickly ran to another place. Just in case, Claude went after Melody. He thought that he might be stopped on his way in, but when he showed his identification card to the office, the person waiting there told him, ‘Ah, I was waiting for you,’ and let him in quickly.

“… I see.”

Melody nodded her head slightly, then told him, ‘Thank you.’

“If you are so grateful, please come to my room a little more often. There are many records there waiting for Miss Melody’s sincere hard work.”

Oh, I forgot. This person was the type who had nothing in his head except for his younger sister and studying. But with the help she had received from him, Melody couldn’t even tell him that she didn’t want to do it.

“Oh, okay. I’ll go… often and help out.”

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“Happily?”

“Sure.”

Claude chuckled at Melody’s darkly frustrated face. Her whole body was saying that she doesn’t want to work in his room. He tapped Melody’s forehead with his fingertips.

“You’re lying again.”

His comment twisted Melody’s face in a different direction. Perhaps she wanted to say, ‘I don’t have any choice but to answer like that.’ At that moment, the squire stopped in front of the door. He then took out a big key and began to unlock three locks.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

As Claude said so, Melody asked if they wouldn’t go in together. He shrugged.

“If I meet with Miss Melody’s mother, then I will have to talk about my mother too.”

I know about that to some extent… moreover, Melody probably knows more than what Claude knows when it comes to his mother.

In the original novel, the Duke kept the truth about the Duchess very quiet. Anyhow, she decided to be considerate of his discomfort with the topic of his mother.

“You can go now. I’ll wait for you.”

“Are you going to wait in an uncomfortable position again?”

“I came here because I wanted to make Miss Melody feel uncomfortable.”

The door opened with a click as his joke ended. Melody took a deep breath and stared at the half-open door. She could see the reception room was filled with delicate furniture. However, it didn’t seem normal.

There were thick bars in the middle, and the large reception room was divided into an exact half. She saw a woman standing behind the bars – a woman who was holding the bars firmly with her hands and looking anxiously over to the slightly open door.

‘… Mother.’

Melody unwittingly clenched her fists. Fortunately, she wasn’t hesitating to move forward.

 

* * *

 

“Goodness!”

As soon as Melody’s mother saw her, she shouted in a voice that seemed like she was about to cry.

“You’re here, you really came.”

She stretched out her arms eagerly through the narrow bars – as if she wanted to touch Melody’s cheeks. Melody only stared at her mother before closing the door and taking her seat, following the guidance of the squire who suggested for her to sit down. As her mother’s eyes drilled holes into her, her heart pounded for a bit, but she wasn’t afraid.

“Alright, then. Aren’t those nobles tormenting you? Are you being treated like a slave? You aren’t, right?”

Her mother suddenly asked her that first. For a mother who had treated her own daughter as a slave, it was only right that she didn’t hesitate and try to think about if it was an appropriate question.

Melody didn’t answer. But it seems like her mother didn’t care about that. She kept on talking without taking a break.

“I have something to tell you, hmm? You’ll listen, right? No, well, I met a gentleman here called a Priest.”

“Mother.”

Melody didn’t want to hear how her mother’s story went, so she interrupted her words.

“No, listen first. What was that, telling me that if I die like this, I will receive a very severe punishment? He was threatening me like that day and night saying that it was what was written in a book full of characters.”

It was only after hearing her words that Melody recognized what she was talking about. Her mother probably heard about the stories of the afterlife. She had never believed in religion all her life, but Melody was sure she needed someone to lean on as the time of her mother’s death approaches.

「People who are about to die suddenly want to apologize. There’s no reason for you to be taken advantage of due to that feeling.」

The Duke’s prediction was correct. Her mother was begging Melody for forgiveness and was planning to die with a light heart.

“Don’t apologize.”

“No, what are you talking about? Just listen, I want to tell you –”

“Don’t apologize to me. Don’t even answer questions I didn’t ask.”

“Melody! You!”

Her mother couldn’t control her temper and screamed loudly. Although she soon started to beg helplessly with a blue face.

“No, no, that’s not it. I have something to tell you, but you told me not to, so.”

Her words wherein she pushed the blame onto Melody followed after in a natural manner.

Come to think of it, it has always been like this. She would bring up all her misfortunes as if it was brought upon her by other people. In actuality, it was all created by her mother’s own two hands.

“So, be quiet and listen to me, oh? I told you, I have something to tell you –”

Melody sprung up from her seat. Her mother was startled and quickly shut up.

“I already told you.”

She glared at her mother, imitating ‘Claude’s demonic expression’.

“Don’t apologize to me. Don’t answer questions that I haven’t asked you. I won’t waste my time on other things.”

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