Chapter 156

 

* * *

 

Even so, Ronny didn’t want to neglect his brother’s hard work at this late hour.

‘Ah, honestly. Why am I blessed with such an upstanding character?’

Grumbling, he headed back up the stairs towards the study.

The door was slightly ajar, allowing him to see Claude seated inside.

‘…Huh?’

Ronny noticed a few odd things – first, there were no documents on the desk at all.

And then…

“No, I want to try. I might need to do it for Loretta later on too.”

Melody was present.

Ronny stopped in his tracks, quietly observing the scene visible through the  gap.

Melody was deeply bent over towards the seated Claude.

At a glance, their faces almost seemed close enough to touch, giving off a rather intimate air.

“……”

The two with their faces nearly pressed together appeared to be whispering something to each other.

Though the content was inaudible, the taut tension between them seemed to have reached its peak.

For some reason, Ronny clenched his fists so tightly they ached.

“And we’ll need more fuel too. I’ll go get some.”

Since Melody was about to exit into the hallway, Ronny hurriedly looked around.

But failing to find anywhere to conceal himself, he glanced back at the study again just as…

“Ah.”

He inadvertently let out a sound. Of course, he immediately covered his mouth with both hands.

“……”

After witnessing their perfectly entwined figures, Ronny realized he really shouldn’t be present here at all.

But his legs simply refused to move no matter what.

Was it due to his rude gaze that the lamp soon extinguished completely, leaving them in darkness?

“……”

Ronny silently stared into the unseeing blackness.

Soon, the incessantly vexing ‘impudent imaginary Melody’ in his mind posed the same question again without any tact.

‘Why?’

What was that ‘why’ referring to?

The reason he struck Stewart Middleton solely for Melody’s sake, regardless of the Higgins name?

The intense displeasure he felt upon hearing news of her prospective suitor?

Or if not those, then the reason he couldn’t bring himself to leave this place?

In fact, there were countless more reasons he should voice besides those.

As many as the time Melody and Ronny had spent together in this mansion.

But no matter how many reasons he listed, it no longer seemed to matter now.

He had been making up excuses for each of those instances up until now. But in reality, they all stemmed from the same underlying reason.

‘I…’

The ensuing words of confession flowed inaudibly into the darkness before him, dissipating without a single person to hear them.

It was undoubtedly a sweet utterance.

If this were a story from some novel, it might have been words holding the power to save the world.

But this was reality, and his solitary whispered confession held no such force, simply vanishing into the empty air.

As if he had never spoken them at all.

“…What a fool I am.”

Once more, he hung his head down low.

 

* * *

 

A few days later, the final date requested by the Middleton family for Melody arrived.

After this last meeting, the Higgins household would send a polite letter of refusal to the Middleton family.

However, on the morning of Melody’s final date, Ronny Baldwin witnessed a rather peculiar scene in the study.

“Oh, Ronny!”

Melody, who should have been preparing for her date, was instead assisting the librarians with their work.

Her long hair was tied up tightly, and she wore a loose, dusty shirt and pants.

Although Ronny knew it was against decorum, he couldn’t help giving Melody a once-over.

It was hardly the proper attire to meet a suitor, after all.

Not that she needed any etiquette for that sorry excuse for a suitor, but still.

“Hello, Ronny.”

Melody greeted him while hugging an armful of books, prompting Ronny to awkwardly raise one arm in return.

“Uh… hey.”

In fact, Ronny had crossed paths with Melody a few times since that night.

But this was the first time they were alone without anyone else around, leaving him feeling rather ill-at-ease.

“Um, uh…”

Ronny fidgeted awkwardly before finally managing to ask a single question.

“Wh-What are you… doing?”

“There seemed to be a lot of books needing reorganization, so I’m helping out.”

The question of “What about your date?” nearly made it to the tip of Ronny’s tongue.

But for some reason, he found continuing the conversation with Melody difficult, so he decided to drop it. He would find out eventually as time passed anyway.

“Well then, work hard I guess.”

He responded stiffly before trying to promptly exit the study.

That is, until he noticed the book Melody was holding titled “A Passionate Engagement with the Northern Duke.”

“Th-That…!”

Ronny pointed at the book in shock.

“Oh, this one?”

Melody abruptly thrust it towards his face.

“Have you read it by any chance?”

“Are you insane?!”

He recoiled a step back in alarm.

“Oh, you haven’t read it, I see. It’s extremely entertaining. Quite romantic too.”

Melody’s wistful remark made Ronny’s heart lurch painfully.

Was she implying she had developed feelings for the future Duke Claude, just like the novel’s plot?

He knew it was a ridiculous notion, yet he couldn’t help feeling that way.

After setting that book down on the cart, Melody picked up another one.

“How about this one then? Have you read this?”

This time, it was “The False Engagement with the Philandering Prince.”

Unable to lie twice, Ronny gave a nod this time.

“Uh, yeah. More or less.”

“Was it fun?”

“Well, not bad I suppose.”

Ronny glanced over at  the book cart beside Melody.

It was piled high with all sorts of engagement-themed novels he had read over the past few days.

He picked up a few of them.

Reorganizing these wouldn’t be too difficult. After all, he remembered which shelves he had taken most of them from initially.

“Thanks for helping out.”

“Hmph.”

Ronny only grunted dismissively at Melody’s gratitude as he located the spot for “A Passionate Engagement with the Northern Duke.”

However, he shelved it upside-down as a petty act of retaliation against the infuriatingly annoying book.

It was a childish form of revenge, but it felt quite satisfying nonetheless.

Next, he reorganized “The False Engagement with the Philandering Prince.”

Since the prince character had no particularly objectionable traits, Ronny shelved that one normally.

The following book was “My Fiancée is my Childhood Friend.”

“……”

Ronny paused, staring intently at the cover.

This one evoked mixed feelings within him.

Especially since he had read it that very night…

“Oh.”

Suddenly, Melody popped her head out from the nearby shelves and approached him.

“Should I reorganize that one instead?”

It seemed Melody assumed Ronny was having trouble figuring out where to place it.

“No, it’s fine. I can do it.”

He shook his head while hugging the book closer.

“Alright then.”

Fortunately, Melody didn’t insist further and headed towards the opposite shelves where the cart was placed instead.

“Ronny, if you haven’t read that book…”

Soon, her voice carried over again.

Lifting his head from staring at the floor, Ronny gazed at Melody’s back visible through the gaps between books and shelves.

“You should give it a try.”

“This one?”

When he asked, Melody picked up a different book and turned around fully, their lines of sight meeting through the narrow  gap.

“Yes, the one you’re holding. It’s one of my favorites.”

“A favorite of yours?”

His voice was laced with blatant skepticism, but Melody simply smiled brightly as she responded.

“Yes, I really like it. A lot.”

“……”

“So if you don’t mind, you should read it too, Ronny.”

“I, I did read it actually.”

At his dejected reply, Melody stepped closer to the shelves, peering intently at Ronny’s face visible through the  gap.

“By any chance, did you dislike it…Ronny?”

Ronny’s eyes narrowed briefly at her question.

In that moment, Melody seemed to realize she had inadvertently touched upon some sore point for him.

But she could not bring herself to ask exactly what it was.

Somehow, she worried it might only hurt him further.

“…Like it.”

Then, a quiet answer finally came from beyond the bookshelf – so soft that it was practically a whisper, not reaching Melody’s ears properly.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

In response to Melody’s inquiry, Ronny scrunched his face before abruptly turning and heading towards the other shelves.

However, after taking just a few steps away, his murmured words clearly reached Melody’s ears.

“I said I like it.”

“Huh…?”

Melody responded with a startled inflection, prompting Ronny to shout irritably from behind the shelves.

“I said I like that book!”

“Oh…”

The sound of Melody’s awkward laughter followed. It seemed she had momentarily misunderstood his words, leaving her a bit embarrassed.

He returned the book to its proper place before letting his gaze linger on the spine for a bit.

“Yes, I really like it. A lot.”

Recalling Melody’s voice as she said that, a faint smile appeared on his face.

“Honestly, you’re really incorrigible, Melody Higgins.”

Grumbling, Ronny headed back to  the book cart and picked up another novel.

“But why are you doing this here anyway?”

“Huh?”

When Melody questioned him, he unnecessarily ran his fingers over the cover as he responded.

“Wasn’t today supposed to be…your date?”

“Ah, well that’s true.”

Melody leaned against the now emptied book cart for a moment.

“But I received a letter.”