Chapter 148

 

* * *

 

However, among those seated at the table, no one was scooping up the soup. For some reason, everyone seemed to be waiting for Melody’s story.

Melody smiled around at them before answering in a light voice, “Hmm, I’m going to reject it. Above all, having a fiancé for me is just too strange.”

Finally, the tense atmosphere began to smoothly dissipate. Soon, Loretta gave a petulant reply, adorably pouting her lips.

“It’s not strange at all for Melody to have a fiancé. But I don’t like it yet. For some reason, it feels like Melody is being taken away.”

After that, Ronny also spoke up as he released Isaiah’s collar that he had been gripping.

“Anyway, it was a good thing you didn’t accept the engagement proposal. Kids shouldn’t be doing stuff like engagements.”

“Though the young master saying that is the same age as Mel.”

“Sh-Shut up! Mentally, I’m already over twenty-five, alright?”

As Ronny and Isaiah started bickering like usual, Melody could finally feel relieved. Just moments ago when the atmosphere had frozen over, she thought she must have made some huge mistake.

Melody now picked up her spoon and lifted some of the potato soup to her mouth. The rich aroma made her want to let out an exclamation of delight.

Looking around at the much calmer atmosphere, Melody decided to share an important fact as well so they wouldn’t worry.

“In any case, before officially rejecting it, I’m going to go on dates. Like others do.”

But for some reason, her words made the surroundings fall silent again.

“Um…”

What’s more, everyone was now gripping their knives tightly, following Claude’s lead.

‘…?’

Melody tilted her head slightly. At this point, she wondered if gripping knives was some kind of secret code between them.

‘Did I make some huge mistake with what I said…?’

She slowly retraced her previous words before clapping her palm, “Ah!”

She had made another mistake! A very significant one at that!

“Everyone, don’t worry, I know in these cases you’re supposed to go on at least three dates!”

Even as Melody confidently held up three fingers, the tense atmosphere in the dining room did not lighten at all.

 

* * *

 

After that strange breakfast, Ronny Baldwin immediately rushed to the study.

He dragged over  the book cart the librarian had placed at the entrance and began stacking books that caught his eye.

Once the stack reached up to his chest, he flopped down on the large sofa in the corner of the study.

He would nod or shake his head seriously as he read through each book one by one.

Occasionally, servants would approach and ask, “Young master, what about your meals?” But Ronny would just wave them off dismissively. To be honest, he did not feel particularly hungry.

He had become completely immersed in the diverse worlds shown in the books, turning pages faster and faster. He didn’t even realize time passing by.

Before he knew it, the sun had fully set and a round moon had risen high in the sky.

At this point, the servants who cared for Ronny became quite worried about him.

He had hardly eaten all day, only nibbling on some fruit, too engrossed in his books. Not only was his health a concern, but they worried about this level of obsession as well.

So from time to time, they would carefully approach Ronny and speak to him.

“Young master, you must eat something and get some rest.”

“We’ve prepared a bath as well…”

But no matter how earnestly they entreated, Ronny would just shake his head dismissively, sending them away.

The servants had no choice but to leave Ronny to his reading as they clocked out for the day.

However, the next morning when they found Ronny in the same state as the previous day, buried in books, the servants decided they could not leave him be any longer.

First, they hurried to Mrs. Higgins’ room, hoping she might know a way to send the young master back to his chambers.

“How dare they make such an outrageous request involving my daughter?! How dare they?!”

…The servants quickly gave up on that idea after hearing the terrifying sounds coming from beyond the door.

But if they left Ronny in this obsessed state with books, his health would surely suffer eventually.

So they sought help from the next person who had the greatest influence over Ronny.

“Um…young master?”

That person was none other than the duchy’s proud knight, Isaiah Mullern.

Isaiah had been pulled aside during his morning training, so he was dressed in a sweat-drenched practice shirt with dirt all over.

“What’s up?”

At Isaiah’s voice, Ronny finally lifted his head for the first time that day, his face contorted into a scowl.

Of course, seeing Isaiah’s sweat-drenched and dirty appearance only made Ronny’s scowl deepen further.

“Isn’t it disgraceful for a knight to go traipsing around the manor looking so filthy?”

Fortunately, Isaiah had a rebuttal ready.

“But Mel says I’m not dirty,” he replied with an innocent smile.

Ronny was quick to shake his head at Isaiah’s boastful claim.

“No, you are dirty. Isaiah Mullern.”

“But the young master is wearing the same clothes as yesterday too. Plus, your hair is sticking up towards the sky…did you not bathe?”

Isaiah wrinkled his nose as he asked, greatly offending Ronny’s pride. To be called dirty by none other than Isaiah, of all people.

“I was just about to go bathe! If you hadn’t blocked my way, I would have been giving off a wonderful fragrance by now!”

He slammed down the book “A Passionate Engagement with the Northern Duke” he had been reading before jumping to his feet.

“Let’s go!”

He grabbed Isaiah’s wrist and started trudging forward.

“Huh…me too? Why?”

“Why, you ask? You plan to wander around the manor in that filthy state? Even after that, you’re still my…”

Ronny paused mid-step and speech to glare at Isaiah resentfully, as if continuing that sentence greatly vexed him.

“Aha.”

Isaiah grinned broadly as he brazenly finished the words Ronny disliked.

“I’m the young master’s friend.”

“Damn it! Damn you!”

Ronny resumed walking while cursing irritably. When the nearby servants started laughing along with Isaiah, he scowled and shouted again.

“Prepare a bath. Right now.”

“Yes, yes! We’ll have it ready right away!”

“Looks like two people need a bath.”

“Of course, of course!”

The servants scurried away, and Ronny entered his chambers with Isaiah in tow. The sounds of bustling activity could be heard from the nearby bathroom, likely the servants preparing the bathwater.

Ronny stood with his arms crossed for a moment, deep in thought.

The reason he had been reading nonstop since yesterday was actually…

“Huh?!”

Unfortunately, Ronny’s thoughts could not continue further. Isaiah had started shamelessly stripping off his shirt right in front of him.

“Have you gone mad?!” Ronny shouted as Isaiah even started unfastening his belt buckle, still with that unabashed attitude.

Ronny was so dumbfounded that his mouth hung open.

“…Oh, does the young master prefer bathing in clothes?”

Isaiah paused with his pants halfway down to ask.

Ronny ended up unconsciously answering despite himself.

“No, I bathe without clothes on.”

“Great then.”

“…Great, my foot! Oh, stop taking your clothes off so haphazardly!”

Ronny had to avert his eyes from Isaiah’s massive chest and arm muscles. He knew knights had impressive physiques, but he had no desire to actually witness it himself.

“Oh, is there some kind of etiquette for removing clothes too? They never taught us that in the Knights’ Order.”

“There’s definitely an etiquette about not stripping in someone else’s room.”

“But we’re going to bathe?”

“……”

At a loss for words, Ronny had no choice but to start unbuttoning his own shirt.

A short while later, the two were sitting side-by-side in a large bathtub, sipping chilled flower tea.

Pleasantly relaxed in the water at just the right temperature, the fatigue in their bodies seemed to dissipate.

“This is too good.”

Isaiah had a towel twisted into ram’s horns by a mischievous servant adorning his head.

“It seems the young master worrying everyone was a rather good thing.”

He downed the rest of his tea in one gulp before doing some brief stretches in the water.

Ronny watched the shifting shapes of Isaiah’s back muscles with fascination as he moved, soon setting his own teacup down as well.

After ordering the servants to leave them for a bit, Ronny draped his arms over the edge of the tub.

“…I looked into it.”

At Ronny’s quiet words, the playful glint in Isaiah’s eyes turned serious. Though they hadn’t made any explicit promises, the two had been concerning themselves with the same matter since yesterday morning.

“Last night, I read some books with deep insights on engagements. There’s a lot more material than I expected, so I’m still not finished.”

“There are books analyzing engagements?”

“Yeah, incredible stuff.”

Ronny listed off some of the book titles he had read:

My Sister’s Fiancé, The Forced Engagement, A Passionate Engagement with the Northern Duke, The Engagement with Three People, The False Engagement with the Philandering Prince…and so on.

“As you can see from the titles, there are all sorts of different engagement situations.”

Rolling his eyes in different directions, he briefly summarized the contents of the books he had read.

A case where the younger sister has to pretend to be the older one and fulfill her engagement.

Enemy families forced into an engagement by the Emperor’s orders.

A disgraced woman becoming engaged to a man with a terrifying rumor surrounding him.

Ronny described over ten different bizarre engagement scenarios before shaking his head worriedly.

“Oh, this…doesn’t seem good.”

“Yeah, not good at all.”

The two nodded in agreement, having found the common thread among all the vastly different engagement stories.

Ronny frowned deeply.

“They all started out determined that ‘they would never go through with this engagement.’ But in the end, they all ended up actually getting married.”

Isaiah let out a sigh as he dejectedly hugged his knees to his chest.

This was especially worrying after Melody had said “I’m not getting engaged” just yesterday morning. Based on Ronny’s research, those seemed like the exact words someone on the verge of an engagement would say.

“…Mel getting married.”

Isaiah’s mother back home would surely be overjoyed at such news. But he could not shake this heavy feeling no matter what.

“Hey, what if some pathetic loser comes asking for Mel’s hand in marriage?”

“Well, no need to worry about that.”

On this, Ronny had firm confidence as he answered resolutely.

“Mrs. Higgins will hang him upside down and kick his ass, after all.”

“Ah!”

Soon, Isaiah’s expression brightened as well. That was certainly a reasonable expectation.