Chapter 62
‘Huh?’
Polius blinked rapidly, trying to understand what was happening.
Even when he requested a visit, he was always rejected. Yet today he happened to run into Melanie just as she was returning to the duke’s residence.
Because of that, he had felt a small hope that maybe things would go well today.
But he hadn’t expected to be met with such a completely expressionless face.
Shouldn’t she be grateful that I came all the way here to tell her what’s going on?
“Melanie… did you hear everything I said? Father won’t let you get engaged to Damian.”
“My ears aren’t clogged.”
Melanie replied flatly, her attitude giving no hint of what she was thinking.
Don’t give me short answers—tell me what you’re thinking. Or at least smile.
Polius swallowed the anger rising in him. Now wasn’t the time to lose his cool.
If he just waited a little bit, they could go back to how they used to be. Then, he could point out her attitude and receive an apology. It wouldn’t be too late.
“Melanie, I’m sorry I treated you so clumsily before.”
“You’re dressing it up nicely for someone who treated me terribly.”
Hiss. Polius clenched his teeth again.
“Don’t say it like that. I regretted it a lot, and I was really sad.”
“……”
She didn’t answer, but from the way she crossed her arms, he could guess her reaction.
So what.
“Melanie. We used to be really good together.”
“……”
“Are you really okay without me? I’m not. Life without you was hell. Honestly, I wanted to run to you so many times.”
But Melanie’s crossed arms never loosened. She didn’t seem touched at all by his words he’d struggled to say.
Facing her silence, he felt like he was going insane.
“Melanie, say something.”
“Do you like being cursed at?”
The remark came out of nowhere. Polius blinked, trying to understand what she meant.
Wait—does she mean that if she opens her mouth, she’ll curse at me?
Once he realized the meaning, his jaw dropped before he could stop himself. He knew he looked pathetic, but he couldn’t control his reaction.
“What did you just say to me?”
“If that’s all you wanted to say, I’ll be getting up now.”
Her cold eyes reflected a man completely thrown off-balance.
Polius couldn’t accept the pathetic mess he had become in front of Melanie. It was unacceptable.
“You call this revenge? Is this all you’ve got?”
Her icy ridicule struck him like a knife to the chest.
“…Melanie. That’s not what I meant.”
He shut his mouth before finishing. Anything he said now would only make him look more pitiful.
Is the Melanie I knew really gone? For good?
He didn’t want to admit it.
The Melanie Clotilde who once loved him desperately, who longed for him and waited for him—she no longer existed.
He had simply wanted to believe that the girl before him still thought she couldn’t live without Polius Beldert.
I thought Melanie would always look only at me.
The girl who used to blush at his words and actions was gone.
Now all that remained was a noble lady who just wanted this bothersome conversation to end quickly.
She’s changed.
But then another thought surfaced.
But I can just make her fall for me again, right?
Stealing Melanie’s heart wasn’t hard. He just hadn’t lowered his pride all this time.
He had never even used his fairy blessing properly…
“Your voice sounds a little sharp. You seem sensitive today. Yeah, you look unwell. Come here.”
With the gentle voice he used when they first met, Polius reached out a hand.
He summoned the blessed power he was born with and let it flow toward her.
Wooooom—
A white glow shimmered from his hand and drifted toward Melanie.
When he saw her eyebrow twitch—the first sign of disturbance since he arrived—Polius felt victory.
Painkiller side effects are horrible. She must’ve been sensitive and exhausted this whole time.
Thinking that made it easy to excuse her attitude.
“I don’t want to take you by force through a marriage proposal. We used to be good together.”
Polius remembered Melanie—who was prickly to others, sharp-tongued even, yet always smiled when she looked at him.
“You’re engaged to Lady Ingda…”
“That was just something I said in the heat of the moment when I heard you were getting engaged to Damian. No formal proposal was exchanged.”
To be precise, the proposal never got that far because of the incident at the Ingda Marquisate.
“So I’ll forgive you for seeing Damian. You couldn’t have liked him as much as you liked me anyway…”
Using the fairy’s blessing calmed him. He remembered how Melanie, suffering in agony, always relaxed when she received the blessing.
Surely she must be smiling now too—
Huh?
But Melanie’s expression was just as cold as before.
“So? Is that all you wanted to say?”
Her tone even sounded bored.
Polius blinked rapidly. He vividly remembered how Melanie always looked the most serene when he used the blessing.
“What? Maybe I didn’t use enough? Let me hold your hand like before—”
But when he reached toward her hand, her guard knight stopped him.
“Let go! Do you even know who I—”
“You’re no one. Just some man who has nothing to do with me.”
“How am I ‘no one’?! Do you even know why I was born with the fairy blessing? It’s to ease your pain! We’re destined!”
Even while being restrained, Polius kept talking desperately.
“Melanie, you think Damian truly loves you? He’ll only use you—”
“You’re the one who used me.”
Her face was utterly indifferent.
Why? Polius couldn’t understand how she could look at him like that.
“Melanie, the blessing must not have reached you properly. Then I’ll do it again—!”
“Oh, would you stop? I don’t need your fairy blessing anymore.”
“What?”
“Lord Damian fixed it easily. And he doesn’t even need to be there for it. I can handle it myself.”
Right. Without Polius, the blessing meant nothing. It couldn’t soothe her pain.
Polius was often late to their arranged meetings, and Melanie would suffer alone.
Even when she was gasping, barely able to breathe, she would endure without taking painkillers because she thought Polius would arrive soon—until her vision went white.
So when she finally took the painkiller, afterward Polius would appear and say—
“I’m so sorry! Josephine suddenly started crying because she was sick—I couldn’t ignore her…”
Did he not consider that Melanie was crying from pain too?
“On my way here, some old lady—”
“A child fell down so I took them home—”
Polius was kind. Like a protagonist, he helped everyone.
But… is that really love?
Sharing his blessing with everyone, while ignoring his own fiancée trembling in agony.
And why was it always young women who needed so much help?
But now things are different.
Thanks to the magical artifact Damian gave her, Melanie no longer needed painkillers with nasty side effects.
She no longer had to fear losing access to the blessing if Polius changed his mind.
Now that I think about it, Lord Damian was so straightforward. Polius always acted like he was my savior…
Polius had always portrayed himself as Melanie’s only hope.
“What…? Damian… what did he do to you!?”
Polius shouted in disbelief.
Melanie answered dryly.
“It doesn’t heal the illness anyway. It just eases the pain. There’s no reason that method has to be the fairy blessing, don’t you think?”
“That’s impossible. I… you… we’re supposed to be together…”
There was clearly nothing more to gain from the panicking Polius.
Melanie immediately stood up, and Polius couldn’t stop her.
Without the fairy blessing, he had no confidence she would love him.
He had only been bold in front of the duke’s daughter because he had the blessing that relieved her pain.
If she doesn’t need the blessing anymore… then…
Melanie stood, looking down at the unmoving Polius with pity.
So this man had been controlling her with the blessing all along.
She regretted realizing it so late.
“Clean him up when he comes to his senses.”
“Yes, my lady.”
With a cold turn, Melanie walked toward another room in the duke’s residence.
She didn’t look back.
