Chapter 214

 

* * *

 

After Melody brought stability to Loretta and the cruel fate receded.

Grand festivals were held throughout the capital to celebrate the return of Prince Samuel and the appearance of the new prince August.

Using the excuse of poor health, Loretta couldn’t attend any events and received lots of consolation letters and flowers from the people of the capital.

However, even with the gift bombardment every day, Loretta didn’t seem particularly happy.

“Brother Jeremiah, how long do I have to stay only in this room?”

Today marked the fifth day since she started recuperating in the guest room.

Loretta complained for the first time.

Jeremiah removed his hand from her forehead and tilted his head.

“There is a serious flaw in your words. I have never kept you ‘only in the room.’ I recommended walks so you could see the sun for a certain period of time.”

Loretta wiggled her bottom on the fluffy bed.

“Okay. I’ll correct it, how long do I have to stay ‘mostly in the room’?”

“Another week.”

At the firm answer, Loretta grabbed his hand and pleaded.

“I can’t live like this for another week! No. Even if I can, it’s too pitiful for Melody!”

Surprised that the story suddenly turned to herself, Melody stopped closing the window and turned to look at Loretta.

“I’m fine though?”

Melody found it fun to spend all day with Loretta.

They played chess together and caught up on stories from before.

The story of Loretta going to the Magic Tower without the Duke knowing was very exciting.

Melody also honestly confessed about going to Kristonson with Claude and the time she spent in Belhold.

“I also enjoy being with Melody of course, but I feel sorry somehow. For staying only in the room.”

“You don’t need to be sorry. I’m here because I like it.”

Above all, Melody still kept the promise with the Records Keeper in her heart.

When she recalled the promise not to live in the capital, it felt wrong to go outside the mansion.

But Loretta, who didn’t know her situation, shook her head wildly.

“It’s already been five days since I’ve been lying down. That’s enough time for a bean sprout to grow this much! Right, Brother?!”

Loretta looked at Jeremiah with sparkling eyes, but he only took out a medicine bottle from his bosom with an expressionless face.

“The growth of bean sprouts and your recovery have no relation.”

“You’re too much.”

Although she said that, Loretta drank the medicine she took every day in one gulp and lay down, sliding into the blanket.

Because she always felt sleepy after taking the medicine.

Soon the sound of Loretta falling asleep was heard, and Jeremiah silently activated the magic circle drawn in the room.

The mana filling Loretta’s body was stable, but the fact that the amount was excessively large remained unchanged.

Jeremiah reduced that mana little by little every day.

After the light of the magic circle disappeared, Jeremiah approached Melody standing by the window.

“Is there any discomfort, even a little?”

“Do you remember asking the same question yesterday?”

“I’m asking today’s you, Higgins.”

“I’m healthy. I’ll probably be healthy tomorrow too.”

“I’ll ask tomorrow’s you then. It’s fine if you don’t feel any discomfort.”

Jeremiah, who nodded, stood there blankly in silence.

Until now, after asking about Melody’s well-being, he used to leave the room as if he had nothing more to do.

As Melody tilted her head at the unusual behavior, he adjusted his glasses and turned his gaze.

“…I heard.”

“About what…?”

“That you read a record with a certain future written in it.”

“Ah.”

Melody laughed awkwardly. Now it was meaningless to call the ‘original work’ the ‘future’.

Because it had changed so much.

“Well, although… it wasn’t of much help.”

“Father doesn’t seem to think that way. The royal family has become more stable due to the existence of Prince Samuel and his son.”

“But we couldn’t avoid Loretta going through hardships.”

“I apologize for that point.”

At the words he delivered with a slight nod, Melody was flustered, saying, “Pardon?” Because he had done nothing wrong.

“Do you remember? When Loretta fell into a deep sleep before.”

“Yes. Of course…”

“Loretta was instinctively clinging to you like a lifeline even when she lost consciousness.”

“Did that have any meaning?”

“It might have meant that Loretta has placed her heart’s center on you. Just as you have for that child.”

“But that.”

Melody clasped her hands together and answered.

“Looking back now, it only means there is room for such interpretation.”

“That is certainly true, but at least that room shouldn’t have been overlooked.”

Jeremiah often felt regret these days.

Thinking, what if he had told Melody at that time, ‘Loretta has made you the center of her heart’…?

“I think that if you knew that fact, you might have insisted on staying by Loretta’s side no matter what.”

If that had happened, Loretta might have been able to grow up without knowing the pain a physis must go through at all.

“It’s not your fault, Young Master. Actually, until recently, I didn’t think I would become such an important person to Loretta.”

“Is it because of that ‘record’ you read?”

“Yes.”

Melody nodded.

“It seems it didn’t turn out as recorded probably because I stayed by Loretta’s side.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“You don’t need to comfort me.”

At her answer, one corner of Jeremiah’s mouth lifted crookedly.

“I’m not comforting you. I’m telling you the truth.”

“The truth?”

“Wasn’t it proven even by looking at the narrow world of the chessboard? Even with the same board and pieces, the game’s aspect changes every time.”

“But I can’t escape the responsibility of changing the first move…”

“This is what I think, Higgins.”

He turned his gaze to the chessboard placed far away for a moment.

On the black and white board, traces of the small battle Loretta and Melody had been waging a little while ago remained.

“I think the balance was already different the moment you first moved.”

“Pardon?”

“If I had to find the ‘first move’ of this world, it would be the one who made you read that record and remember it. Of course, I don’t know if that subject is a ‘person’ or ‘providence’.”

“That’s.”

“Anyway, you did your best with the given board to come this far. There is no reason for you to be blamed.”

Melody hesitated for a moment and cautiously opened her mouth.

“Was the path I chose… really the right one?”

“Of course, it was right. As proof.”

There was a very rare smile on Jeremiah’s face as he nodded.

“You won this time too, didn’t you?”

When he drew his finger in the air, the chess pieces Loretta and Melody had finished the game with began to move backward to their respective camps.

The chess pieces soon returned to their original state.

No, it should be said that they finished preparing for a new game.

 

* * *

 

As Loretta recovered her health to some extent, the Duke made an important decision.

He recommended that all the mansion members stay elsewhere while the mansion was being properly repaired.

However, he left it up to each person’s decision where they would stay.

The Higgins couple insisted on staying in the capital with the Duke, but in the end, they decided to go to the Ainz mansion, Mrs. Higgins’ family home.

Ronny declared that he would go to the ducal territory.

He said, “I’m tired of the noise, I’m just going to sleep.” but in fact, it must have been a decision to help his father and brother.

Claude chose to stay in the capital with the Duke.

The reason was that at least one person was needed to manage and supervise the mansion construction while the Duke worked at the Imperial Palace.

Meanwhile, Melody hadn’t decided on her residence yet.

She occasionally asked Loretta, “What do you want to do?” but each time, she only got the answer, “I’ll follow Melody’s intention.”

‘Considering Loretta’s health, it would be too much to move too far.’

Melody covered Loretta, who had fallen into a short nap, with a thin blanket up to her chin, quietly stepped back, and pondered her future schedule.

By the time she grabbed and turned the doorknob, although the promise with the Records Keeper was on her mind a bit, the thought of renting a hotel in the capital and living there came to her.

‘Loretta would feel at ease being close to the Duke, and Young Master Claude… will be there too.’

Thinking of him, Melody naturally let out a sigh.

Recently, the relationship between him and Melody had become a bit awkward.

No, it felt like they had become complete strangers. She couldn’t even recall when was the last time they had a proper conversation.

It wasn’t this awkward when coming from Belhold to the capital.

Of course, both of them were out of their minds due to Loretta’s situation, so there was no room for awkwardness.

‘Somehow, I feel like Young Master is uncomfortable talking to me.’

As a result, Melody also began to act more and more stiffly towards him.

Melody had been pondering the cause of this situation for days, but no matter how much she thought about it, there was only one answer.

‘Because the record and reality have become so different…?’

Claude had been devoted to finding August for a long time.

But in a crisis situation, August was of no help at all.

‘He worked so hard to find him, but in the end, it turned out like that… Even I wouldn’t feel very good.’

Thinking so, when she pulled the door open, someone was standing right in front of it.

Letting out a small surprised sound and looking up, there stood Claude, looking equally surprised.

“Ah.”

Perhaps because she had just been thinking about him, Melody’s cheeks turned red as she flinched and turned her gaze away.

“…Miss is asleep. It will take about an hour for her to wake up.”

“I see.”

At the slightly slow answer, Melody felt a sense of disappointment for some reason.

From the moment she ran into Claude, her heart seemed to have arbitrarily held some expectation.

That he might have come to talk to Melody.

…It was a futile hope though.

“Then I’ll go back to my room for a bit. If you want, Young Master can stay by Miss’s side…”

“No, I have to leave soon too.”

“I see.”

Unlike saying he had to go, he stood his ground at the door a little longer.

Naturally, Melody couldn’t return to her room either and ended up standing blankly at the doorway.

“Um, Young Master, if you don’t move aside, I can’t go to my room…”

“Miss Melody.”

“Yes?”

When she looked up at him cautiously with a bit of surprise, he smiled awkwardly.

“By any chance, have you… decided where to stay?”