Chapter 173

 

* * *

 

“What in the world are you rubbing on yourself while walking around? Like a little kid.”

His thumb swept across the center of her forehead.

“Huh, it’s not erasing.”

But as if it wasn’t going as he intended, he wiped Melody’s forehead a few more times with his finger.

“What in the world were you doing while walking around?”

He eventually took out a handkerchief from his chest and scrubbed it over her forehead.

“The black thing just spreads and won’t erase.”

He grabbed Melody’s chin and pulled it, then started rubbing off the remaining black thing on her forehead.

“It’s probably ash that rubbed off. I touched something burned.”

“Why in the world were you touching something like that?”

After removing the handkerchief he used to wipe off the ash, he continued nagging while still pulling her face.

“That’s why you get hurt all the time! Every time you do that, how much do I…!”

Ronny, who had been scolding her while their faces were close, realized the overly close distance and bit his lip.

“…Ronny worries about me.”

But Melody, as if this close distance was nothing, simply continued his words.

“I know. Of course you do, Ronny worries about anyone in this mansion.”

“…”

Ronny was extremely dumbfounded. How could Melody have no thoughts at all when grown men and women were facing each other at this distance?

“You really…”

He was a bit annoyed that his heart was pounding alone for no reason.

“Yes?”

“Never mind. I must be crazy, really.”

He quickly hid the hand that had been touching her cheek behind his back and took a few steps back.

“Thank you.”

Soon Melody touched her forehead and greeted.

“Never mind, as you said, I’m a guy who worries needlessly.”

“That means Ronny is kind, right?”

“Not really.”

Other people always attached the word ‘kind’ to Claude, not the grumbling Ronny.

“But the young master was mindful that my books weren’t the only ones without a bookplate, right?”

“…”

“Thank you for noticing. I’m really happy and excited.”

At Melody’s story told in an excited voice, Ronny’s annoyance melted away a little.

No, actually it melted away completely, and before he knew it, he was even smiling with satisfaction.

“Yeah. But it’s too early to be happy. That artist already has a backlog of orders. It’ll probably take quite some time to produce.”

“It must not have been easy to place an order with such a popular bookplate artist.”

“Hmph, I used some power. This Ronny, that is.”

He showed off a bit and raised his already high nose even higher.

“And how much he disliked it, saying the order form was too detailed.”

“The order form was detailed? What in the world did you write and send?”

“It’s nothing, I just faithfully filled it out according to the definition of an order form.”

“The definition of an order form?”

“Yeah, writing down the buyer’s wishes. In the case of this order, I wrote down things related to you or things you like. About ten pages.”

Melody stared at him with a surprised face.

“Ten pages… You’re j-joking, right?”

At the carefully asked question, he flinched and grinned.

“You noticed?”

“Well, ten pages is nonsense.”

“Yeah, that’s right. It was thirteen pages.”

“…”

“Ah yeah, I got it. I’ll be honest. With the specific images attached, it’s sixteen pages in total.”

At his words delivered as if doing a favor, Melody couldn’t answer anything.

It was natural for any artist to be reluctant to readily accept such a demanding order form.

‘I feel sorry for the artist somehow.’

But apart from that, she actually felt more grateful to Ronny.

The sixteen-page order form he completed would probably perfectly depict Melody’s tastes and lifestyle.

The fact that all three designs sent by the artist were to her liking was proof of that.

“Thank you. But don’t make the artist work too hard. Understand?”

“What do you take me for? If it’s to your liking, I have no intention of being more demanding than this.”

“That’s a relief, I really like it. It means Ronny’s order form did its job…”

Suddenly, Melody stopped talking because of a thought that came to her mind.

‘The order form is for writing down the buyer’s wishes…for the item.’

It was such an obvious thing, but it sounded a bit new now that she was looking for an answer about the white  shoes.

‘Perhaps…’

While Melody was coming up with a hypothesis, Ronny started to worry about her suddenly stopping talking.

“Hey, hey?”

He waved his palm in front of Melody’s face and called, but there was no response.

“Hey!”

Eventually, he grabbed Melody’s shoulders with both hands and shook them firmly.

“…Ah.”

Finally, her lips moved and an answer came. With a somewhat dazed appearance.

“Are you okay?”

When he asked, looking at her face, Melody slightly lifted the corners of her lips and answered.

“Did I say it before?”

“What nonsense are you going to say now?”

“Ronny is my savior!”

“…What are you saying all of a sudden?”

He slightly averted his gaze. He didn’t dislike being called a savior, but he was a bit embarrassed because Melody seemed to say it so sincerely.

“It’s true, actually there was a problem I had been worrying about for days.”

“Why, did you find a clue while talking to me or something?”

“That’s right! That’s exactly it!”

“Ugh.”

Ronny moved his hands up and squeezed Melody’s cheeks tightly. Strongly enough for her lips to become round.

“You’re not going to be so excited and act recklessly without thinking, right?”

Melody wanted to answer no, but her lips wouldn’t move properly.

“No way, you already look like you want to run wild.”

“…Mmph.”

“Don’t make that resentful expression. I won’t let it slide just because you’re pretty!”

He shook his head as if he was really fed up, and warned seriously.

“If you get all worked up and just end up getting hurt, I’ll write ‘Higgins’ troublemaker’ on your bookplate!”

He shouted “Got it?!” and finally let go of Melody’s cheeks.

“I understand. I promise. As safely as possible…”

“No! Unconditionally safely.”

“Ugh.”

When Melody hesitated for a moment, he sent a sharp gaze.

It seemed like if she didn’t nod, he would really make a bookplate with “Higgins’ troublemaker” written on it.

“Ah, I got it. I promise.”

“Good.”

He nodded with satisfaction, then returned to his room, saying he would send a reply to the artist.

 

* * *

 

Melody, who parted with Ronny, changed out of her ash-stained clothes and went to find Claude.

She was worried he might have gone out with the Duke, but fortunately he was in his room.

Apart from feeling relieved to be able to talk right away, Melody frowned as soon as she entered his room.

“What in the world is this?”

His room had become a complete mess in just two days.

All kinds of books on cryptography filled half of the floor, and the other half was full of papers he had scribbled interpretations on and thrown away.

Even in this situation, Claude answered as if it was nothing.

“I told you before. I wondered if the label might be a code. So I collected as many books on cryptography as possible, read through them, and then tried applying it.”

Melody looked through the neatly stacked papers one by one.

“Don’t look too closely.”

But soon he took the papers from Melody’s hands.

“It’s embarrassing that I couldn’t solve it.”

He let out a small sigh.

“The attempts aren’t over yet. Codes are as diverse as the number of wars in imperial history, and if you turn your gaze to other countries, it becomes several times more.”

Hearing his words and checking the place where books were piled up again, there were several books written in foreign languages.

Melody could easily discern that Claude was enjoying this whole series of processes.

Even though he looked very tired, his eyes were sparkling.

Come to think of it, she recalled him spending days obsessed with a puzzle, saying it was a new way of thinking.

“Could it be that you’ve been engrossed in cryptography for two whole days?”

“No way. There are twenty-four hours in a day.”

When she checked where he was pointing, there was a report on the  shoe workshop on the desk.

It analyzed not only the artisans who had led the workshop from its founding to the present, but also the main customer base.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the name of Prince Samuel’s maternal family, the Grimes Earldom, or the families belonging to it.”

Melody thought she knew why Claude naturally remembered even her foot size.

He was an extraordinary maniac.

Once he set the direction of his thoughts, he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings and charged forward without rest.

“Anyway, I’m doing my best, so I’ll be able to solve the code soon. Ah, right. Loretta didn’t leave any food today, did she? She seemed to have no appetite lately, so I got the fish she likes.”

Even in the midst of being busy, he didn’t forget his sister’s maniacal side.

“Fortunately, she ate it all without leaving any. It was really delicious.”

“You too, Miss Melody?”

“I always eat well.”

“That’s good, I can focus properly again.”

As he tried to sit back in his desk chair with a motivated look, Melody brought a hat nearby and held it out to him.

“Please wear it.”

“Hmm?”

He turned around with a puzzled look, and Melody just smiled brightly.

Claude stared at her face blankly for a moment, then made a slightly deflated expression.

“…You found…the way.”

Melody said hesitantly.

He answered while bending his knees slightly. Melody put the hat on top of his head.

“I don’t know if it’s accurate yet.”

He fixed his hat and grinned.

“Then, we should verify it together.”