SDIV 43

Chapter 43

Arin, who had gone to greet Melodyan, watched intently as a pale sky-blue carriage approached from afar. It looked far too elegant for a commoner’s carriage. She guessed that Melodyan must be inside.

As she slowly rode her horse toward the carriage, Arin called out,

“I’m Arin Yan, a knight under the Duke of Altair.”

A knight affiliated with the Count of Rigel gestured something to the coachman. The coachman gently pulled the reins, and the horses slowed down.

As Arin approached, the carriage came to a full stop and its door opened smoothly.

Melodyan’s face peeked out through the door. Her bright, cheerful smile had a charm that made anyone who saw it feel happy.

“Sis, I’m here!”

They had agreed to be close without formality, but they weren’t quite at the level of calling each other sister. Still, perhaps because it had taken effort to meet, the joy of reunion made the term feel more affectionate. Melodyan’s eyes sparkled as she babbled on.

“I came because I couldn’t reach you. I didn’t come to the wrong place, did I?”

“No, you came at the perfect time.”

“That’s a relief.”

“You haven’t arranged lodging yet, have you? Come stay at my place.”

Melodyan nodded and stepped back into the carriage.

As Arin guided the way on horseback, the group from the Rigel household followed behind.

When the majestic and grand Altair ducal estate came into view, several knights gasped in awe. Arin puffed up a bit, though the praise wasn’t even directed at her.

Melodyan opened a small wooden window attached to the carriage and asked curiously,

“But didn’t you say we were going to your house?”

“This is my house.”

“Excuse me?”

Who knows what she had imagined, but Melodyan looked oddly bewildered, causing Arin to scratch her head.

“It’s a long story, but basically the estate I live in is here inside the duchy. There are plenty of rooms, so everyone who came with you can stay.”

As they chatted, they reached the estate’s entrance.

A guard standing watch straightened his posture upon seeing Arin leading a group of unfamiliar people.

“Lady Arin, are these guests of the duke’s?”

“No, they’re my guests.”

The guard nervously fidgeted with the spear in his hand, clearly flustered. He lowered his voice and whispered,

“For them to enter, I believe we need permission from either the Duke or the First Knight Captain.”

It seemed that noble guests needed formal permission to enter the estate. Arin finally realized this and internally cursed herself. Am I an idiot?

She was about to recommend a nice nearby inn instead when the metallic sound of friction echoed — the large castle gates began to open. The person who appeared was none other than the First Knight Captain, Vega.

“The Duke has granted entry.”

Arin and even Melodyan, who had been cautiously observing the situation, exchanged suspicious glances. Deneb suddenly inviting them in so smoothly? That was suspicious.

Melodyan’s small head played out all sorts of worst-case scenarios. The entrance to the estate looked like the gates of hell, and sweat began to trickle down her back.

Arin wasn’t thinking anything different. She prepared to reject the offer and get Melodyan out of there, when Deneb suddenly appeared like a ghost.

“Come in.”

“No, I’m going to decline. I think it’s better for Mel to stay somewhere else.”

He had even given her romantic advice and tried to show goodwill, but being firmly rejected made his eyes flash.

“I said come in.”

No matter how forceful he got, Arin didn’t budge. So Deneb changed tactics. He stared directly at Melodyan and curled up one corner of his mouth.

“Come in, Lady Me-lo-dy-an of Ri-gel.”

As he pronounced each syllable deliberately and stared her down, Melodyan shrank.

She lowered her head in defeat. For an ordinary person like her, Deneb’s presence was far too oppressive and intense. With tears in her eyes, she nodded reluctantly.

That evening, a familiar guest arrived at the brown antique estate where Arin resided.

“I happened to catch a pheasant while passing by, so I thought I’d stop in.”

Deneb offered a ridiculous excuse while holding a pheasant. Before Arin could even react, he smoothly slipped inside.

Yellow, drawn by the delicious smell of pheasant, rushed over and started kneading the floor excitedly.

[Our boss is here. Make way.]

He acted so frantically, it felt like a gong should be ringing. Watching Yellow’s sycophantic antics, Arin crossed her arms in irritation.

Surprisingly, Deneb found comfort in Yellow’s chattering today.

Using the pheasant to lure Yellow, he headed upstairs — not forgetting to grab Ad along the way.

His destination: the parlor where Melodyan was drinking tea.

The fading sunset painted the corridor red as he walked. As the sky darkened, he thought:

A perfect evening for surveillance.

Arin’s plans to chat with Melodyan about business and Earth stuff were utterly ruined — because Deneb wouldn’t take his eyes off Melodyan.

More specifically, he kept staring at her so intensely that there was no way to have a private conversation.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“I’m not sleepy yet. I’ll go to bed when Lady Rigel does.”

Wondering how long he planned to keep watch, they tried to outlast him until 3 a.m., but it was a losing battle. In the end, they just exchanged greetings and headed to bed.

The next morning.

“Arin, wake up.”

Arin felt pure exhaustion as Deneb barged into her room at sunrise.

She buried her face in her pillow and, still half-asleep, began unloading all her pent-up frustration.

Melodyan’s unexpected visit had delayed her anger over the letter incident, but now it came back with full force.

“You kept my letters… stopped me from contacting her… made me work out of nowhere… What’s your problem? Did I do something wrong? Is this some kind of weird harassment? You show up at my room in the morning, seriously…”

Her voice was hoarse and gravelly from sleep.

Watching this half-asleep version of her, Deneb pressed his lips into a tight line to suppress a smile.

He gently twirled a lock of her tousled hair with his fingers. The soft brown strands wrapped around his hand and then slipped away.

Arin, annoyed that he still wasn’t answering and just playing with her hair, sat up and stared him down.

“Alright! Whatever this is, just tell me. Why are you acting like this?”

“Hm… Why do you think? Figure it out yourself.”

“I knew it.”

“…”

“You just want to have a cute little conflict with me, huh? Can’t you give me a serious answer for once?”

“…There’s something else I’d like to get ‘cute’ with, but sure.”

The lazy tone in his voice was obvious flirting — to anyone but Arin, who didn’t catch that nuance at all.

His evasiveness annoyed her. Now fully awake, she struck his chest and let out a tyrannosaurus-level roar.

Hearing her dinosaur scream, Yellow woke up with a jolt in the next room. He threw open the door with his giant paw.

He opened his mouth wide.

Seeing his boss taking a beating from the clumsy girl with zero signs of being hurt, Yellow bellowed:

[This early in the morning?]

Yellow stomped his jelly paws on the floor.

[An early-morning dominance battle?!]

Ears twitching, he lowered his body and lunged at the two.

[Let me join! My goal is to defeat the clumsy girl and rise to second-in-command. I’ll lick your head for it!]

Thanks to Deneb and Yellow, Arin had used up all her energy by morning. She felt like she was going to die of stress.

“I need a plan. A real plan!”

After finishing training with the 2nd Knight Division, Arin began to think seriously.

Deneb had always been somewhat illogical and pushy with her, but that used to be only in certain situations.

When did he start interfering so extremely?

…No matter how she thought about it, it must have been after the imperial party.

Nothing particularly dramatic had happened there… unless you counted meeting Melodyan.

Could Deneb’s change in behavior be connected to Melodyan?

Determined to explore every possibility, Arin decided to observe Deneb carefully.

After finishing her morning duties, Arin returned to the antique estate to have lunch with Melodyan. As expected, Deneb showed up uninvited — again.

Thus, aside from Ad and Yellow, who had already eaten, the rest sat down for a meal.

Deneb shamelessly cut his steak while intensely observing Melodyan. The reason he kept watching her was to monitor anyone getting close to Arin.

Ever since realizing his own feelings, his jealousy hadn’t cooled — it had only burned hotter. Man or woman, young or old, he viewed everyone as a threat.

Arin, unaware of his deeper motives, assumed that Deneb simply lost all reason when it came to Melodyan. Based on that, she came to a wild conclusion:

Just like in the original story… maybe he fell for Melodyan.

She actually felt this was a plausible theory.

Even while eating, Deneb didn’t take his eyes off Melodyan. In fact, it was strange she hadn’t noticed earlier — his gaze was downright obvious.

Feeling his stare, Melodyan looked up and made eye contact. Startled by his intense look, she dropped her utensils.

Out of the multiple utensils that fell, Deneb picked up the knife and placed it in front of her.

“Be careful.”

Arin was startled by this rare display of kindness. So he has that side too? It left her feeling oddly sour.

Meanwhile, Melodyan was frozen, convinced she had just been threatened in public.

Out of everything, why did he pick up the knife? Worse, the blade was facing her.

Does he want to stab me? It had to be a message.

Arin clearly hadn’t caught on to Deneb’s intent. Melodyan had realized by now that Arin was fairly clueless — and Deneb knew that too, judging by the satisfied look on his face.

That bastard. So this is how you’re gonna play it. We’ll see about that.

She decided to grow even closer to Arin — just to mess with Deneb. There was no way she was going to be the only one suffering. With Arin by her side, she wouldn’t die…

…Probably.