Chapter 91

 

***

 

Just as Melody had hoped, Loretta was truly delighted to talk about the performance.

“You saw it too? Really?”

Unlike yesterday, the child’s eyes were wide with excitement as she clung to the hem of Melody’s dress, giggling happily.

“Yes, I did. The sound really did sparkle.”

“It burst with a ‘papang!’, didn’t it?!”

“I was so surprised, I thought my heart would drop.”

“Every time that happened, Father would hold my hand. Hehe.”

Loretta added shyly, fiddling with her hands.

“If your heart went ‘thump,’ I would have held your hand too, Melody.”

It was such a heartwarming statement that Melody couldn’t help but smile broadly.

“So, let’s definitely go together next time?”

However, she found herself unable to nod in agreement with the following wish.

“Umm…”

“Is it a no?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to.”

“…It’s just that it’s only nine times out of ten fun without you, Melody.”

Loretta pouted her lips. It seemed she was still not pleased with yesterday’s event.

“Because Melody is forever my number one.”

Watching the girl count on her fingers as she said this, Melody felt a mix of apology and a slight thrill of joy.

She was overjoyed that someone treasured her this much.

“Thank you, for me, Loretta is ten out of ten. You’re my everything.”

In response, the child’s head shot up as she asked,

“Really?!”

“Yes, really.”

Loretta started hopping around, joyously declaring, “Then all of Loretta’s ten are Melody’s too!” and laughed brightly.

“Oh, but then what about the Duke?”

Melody’s playful question seemed to trouble Loretta, whose face became a bit distressed.

“Uh… um…”

After counting her fingers several times, Loretta reluctantly held out one.

Trembling as she did so, as if she was parting with a lifelong treasure more comfortably than she would have liked.

“Then, one is… for Father.”

After giving one to the Duke, it appeared Loretta thought of others as well.

With a sad face, she began to count out others on her fingers.

One out of ten for her mother.

Three for her other brothers.

And after giving two to Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, Loretta was left with only three fingers.

“Hueng… Melody, I’m sorry…”

With three fingers extended and a sorrowful face, Loretta made Melody burst into laughter.

“No, it’s okay. I’d be happy if you had even more people you liked.”

It signifies that Loretta’s world is expanding and that she’s receiving a lot of love.

“Hmm…”

Despite Melody’s response, Loretta seemed preoccupied, merely counting her fingers back and forth.

 

***

 

After spending time playing the piano with Loretta, Melody came out to the hallway and saw Ronny, confidently striding past with a stack of documents in his arms.

“Good day, young master.”

Upon her greeting, he muttered, “I’m busy,” but greeted her back nonetheless.

“Hello.”

“If you’re busy, I’ll leave you to it.”

As Melody made to walk past him without further ado, Ronny’s eyes widened, and he blurted out loudly,

“You, you! Aren’t you curious why I’m busy?”

Melody stopped and turned to look at him.

“I thought it might bother you if I started a conversation, seeing as you’re busy.”

“Of course, it’s bothersome. I’m truly busy.”

He ran his hand through his hair, revealing that he had taken extra care with his appearance and attire today.

“Shall I tell you why I’m so busy?”

His lips twitched eagerly, as if he was desperate to share.

“I know. You’re assisting the Duke, aren’t you?”

“What… You knew already. Were you that interested in what I’m doing?”

“Not particularly. The Duke mentioned that he would be relying on your help.”

“It seems the successful hosting of the last banquet left a strong impression. He handed me these documents as soon as things got tough.”

He stepped closer to Melody to show her a red mark on the corner of the documents.

“Do you know what this mark means?”

Then, Ronny looked around cautiously.

“No, I don’t.”

“It means,” he leaned closer and whispered in Melody’s ear, “this is very important and urgent. For your information, blue marks indicate routine tasks, and yellow marks are for tasks on hold.”

Ronny looked at Melody proudly, as if to say, “See? Aren’t I impressive?”

“Amazing.”

“Yep. You can admire me even more.”

“Outstanding.”

Despite Melody’s lackluster praise, Ronny seemed genuinely pleased, his face flushing with happiness.

“Exactly. It’s rare for children to be trusted by their parents, so it’s not strange for you to admire me… Oops.”

Ronny quickly covered his mouth with the documents. Caught up in his own arrogance, he had momentarily forgotten his resolution not to mention ‘parents’ or ‘mother’ in front of Melody, a mistake he had made once before and had been careful to avoid since then.

“Uh, um.”

He wanted to apologize, but hesitated, fearing it might further hurt Melody.

“Young master?”

“I, I’m going. Okay?”

“Since you’re holding something important and urgent, you should go quickly.”

Melody’s comment prompted him to thrust the documents forward towards her.

“Right! This is red! I need to hurry; there’s no time to waste! Even if I want to… play with you.”

He blurted out his thoughts, then realized he had expressed an unnecessary truth and quickly turned away.

“Anyway, you should go help Higgins. Don’t worry about my business, focus on yours!”

It was Ronny who had called Melody over and explained, despite claiming not to care…

Melody wanted to argue, but seeing that he indeed looked busy, she decided to let it go.

Moreover, Ronny was right about needing to care for Higgins.

Melody immediately went to knock on Higgins’s door. He was taking a day off today and hadn’t come out of his room since the morning.

‘Could it be that going to the performance yesterday was too much for him?’

After a short wait, the door opened. Higgins was dressed in his usual perfect attire, even on his day off.

“Oh, there.”

Seeing him looking healthy, Melody realized her worries were unfounded.

It was a relief, but she felt slightly disappointed at not having anything to help with.

“You’ve come at the right time, Miss Melody.”

“Yes?”

Butler Higgins opened the door wide, seemingly inviting her in.

Entering the neatly arranged room, she saw a stack of letters on his desk. It appeared he had been organizing his mail until now.

“Didn’t you say you were on vacation?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

He smiled and pulled out a chair for her.

Sitting down, she noticed a white envelope in front of her. It seemed like he intended to give her a task, so she rolled up her sleeves, ready to work.

“What should I do?”

Higgins selected a few envelopes and handed them to Melody.

“Please prepare replies for these senders.”

“Leave it to me.”

Transcribing was something Melody excelled at.

Melody quickly transcribed the address and name on the first envelope, which was to be sent to a certain count’s family. Suddenly, she noticed something odd. This envelope wasn’t the usual type used by the Duke’s household.

Perhaps noticing her confusion, Higgins handed her another envelope and explained,

“These are replies to letters addressed to me. Usually, I do this late at night, but today is my day off.”

“All these letters are for you?!”

Melody was surprised, looking again at the pile of letters before him.

It seemed to rival the amount the Duke received.

“It’s been a busy year, and it seems some have heard about my illness.”

“It looks like you’re quite popular in the capital.”

In fact, when she went out with him yesterday, she had thought, “The butler doesn’t stand out.” It seems she was completely mistaken.

“Popular, you say.”

He found Melody’s choice of words amusing and laughed heartily for a moment.

“No, it’s not that. Everyone sends these letters looking to the Duke behind me.”

“Because the Duke trusts you?”

“That’s correct.”

Melody nodded slightly, thinking that such things indeed happen to those close to people in power.

“Moreover, there are those who believe that my words and actions represent the Duke’s intentions.”

“That must be quite a burden.”

“Yes, but it’s unavoidable in order to live alongside the Duke, so I try to act with caution.”

Melody recalled that he always demonstrated the virtues of a fine gentleman, which she had assumed was his natural disposition. Now, she wondered if it wasn’t entirely just that.

“Ah, right.”

Melody remembered something she had intended to thank him for today.

“Thank you for yesterday.”

“If it’s about yesterday, I am the one who should be thankful.”

He smiled faintly as he opened a letter, but Melody shook her head.

“Thanks to you taking me, I could properly discuss the performance with Miss Loretta.”

“That’s good to hear. Sometimes it’s hard to have a conversation without shared experiences.”

“It really seems so. It was the first time I realized that sound could feel like light.”

Melody carefully wrote another address and name on a new envelope, holding her breath to ensure not a single letter was misplaced.

She repeated the task for a few more letters, gradually picking up speed as she became more accustomed to it.

Deep in concentration, almost not hearing the sounds around her, she heard Higgins call her softly.

“Miss Melody.”

“Oh, yes?”

Startled, Melody looked up. Higgins’s gaze was fixed on the tip of the pen she held.

“Did I make a mistake?”

“It appears so.”

“Where…?”

Melody checked the writing again. The address and name seemed correct.

“I’m sorry. I can’t tell. Could you please show me?”

After a moment of silence, Higgins also lifted his head.

“It’s not something that can be done every time.”

“Pardon?”

“About the performance.”

“…!”

Melody was too surprised to respond.