An Early Engagement - Chapter 42
It was Shirley who changed the subject.
“It’s always the same there.”
Melissa quickly latched onto the new topic.
“Is your father doing well?”
“Of course. He’s got a new lover again, apparently.”
Melissa spoke in a bored tone, as if it were no surprise, and plopped down across from Shirley.
Melissa’s father was from Raychen, and her mother was from Laten, so she often traveled to Raychen to spend time there.
“Again?”
“Where do you think his playboy tendencies went?”
Melissa let out a short laugh. Melissa’s father, Duke Gret, was famously handsome and equally notorious for his womanizing ways.
Melissa’s mother, who had traveled to Raychen as a young woman, fell head over heels for him and spent a passionate night with him, eventually marrying him and having a child. However, after years of repeated infidelity, she finally filed for divorce after 16 years.
Since then, Melissa’s mother had taken to traveling across the continent to soothe her frustrations, and they had recently received a letter from her, saying she was somewhere at the edge of the continent.
“That playboy father of mine was serious about my mother too. It only took him three days to lure my naive mother into his bedroom. Mom thought that love would last forever.”
Melissa let out a deep sigh.
“Mom always said, ‘Men change after they’ve had their way with you. You can’t get swept up in a moment of passion. In the end, when you strip it all away, they’re all the same.’”
The blunt and somewhat crude words flowing from the young noblewoman’s mouth made Shirley’s ears turn red. Then, suddenly, she felt as if she had been hit over the head with a hammer, leaving her dazed.
“They…change after they’ve had their way?”
“Obviously. That’s just how men are. Once they’ve tasted the dessert, it’s no longer fresh, you know?”
Melissa cut a slice of fig cake on the plate and popped it into her mouth as she spoke.
“No matter how delicious it is, men’s eyes always shine toward the dessert they haven’t tasted yet.”
“……”
Shirley tugged hard at the tassel on the cushion.
*Snap.*
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
Shirley stared blankly at the severed tassel dangling in her hand.
“Why did you tear that off?”
“I guess it was sewn on too loosely. I’ll have to ask Sophie to reattach it.” Shirley awkwardly laughed and placed the tassel on the table.
“I don’t know why you’re upset, but Damian would never lose to you, right?”
“I told you, we didn’t fight…”
What Shirley couldn’t bring herself to say was that it might be a more serious problem than a fight. But Melissa, who was sighing deeply in front of her, didn’t seem to have any intention of listening.
“Your situation is different from mine. Even if you did fight with Damian, you’d make up quickly. You two know each other too well. You’ve been together since you were kids.”
“……”
For some reason, Shirley found those words strangely melancholic. It was a difference she had never thought about before.
Even though both were arranged engagements from the womb, Melissa and Terban’s situation was different from Shirley and Damian’s.
Melissa and Terban’s engagement was arranged to strengthen ties between the two nations while Melissa was still in her mother’s womb—back when her mother was in the Raychen Empire. Melissa was born in Raychen and didn’t come to the Laten Empire until she was 16.
Along with her parents’ divorce. Holding her mother’s hand.
And that was when she first met her fiancé, Terban.
It was a meeting that came far too late for a relationship that had been arranged since the womb.
Seeing the shadow cross Melissa’s face, Shirley didn’t press further, but she could guess that something serious had happened. So, she searched for words to encourage her friend and finally spoke up.
“You don’t have to worry either, even if something happens between you and my brother. He said he would never break off the engagement with you.”
“……”
At those words, Melissa’s expression twisted strangely again.
“Terban said that?”
Had she said something wrong? Shirley had thought this would make Melissa happy.
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s… something.”
Melissa bit her lip gently.
“That’s good to hear.”
But the expression on Melissa’s face looked lonely and bitter for some reason. Shirley couldn’t bring herself to ask why.
What could have happened between the two, who always seemed so peaceful and solid?
*Sparkle.*
Shirley suddenly looked down at the ring on her finger.
It was the rabbit glass ring Damian had bought her when they went to the festival together.
“It’s pretty. Did Damian buy it for you?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
Shirley fiddled with the ring as she spoke.
“It’s cute. Just like you. Damian treats you like a precious little rabbit, after all.”
Is that so? *You’re cute. You’re adorable.* Those were words Damian always had on his lips.
That’s why it was even harder to believe that he had left without a word the day after they spent the night together.
“It sounds like you had a fun time. That’s nice.” Her tone carried genuine envy.
“You could… spend a good time with my brother too, you know.”
“Terban is planning to leave for the capital tomorrow.”
“Already?”
Shirley’s eyes widened as she asked, but she quickly covered her mouth.
“P-probably busy with something. Damian was like that too.”
“Yeah, he must be really busy.”
The cold reply hung in the air. Even though it was midsummer, the atmosphere felt frozen.
“Hey, Melissa. Wanna go see the… rabbits?” Shirley offered, trying to break the suffocating silence.
“Rabbits?”
“We’re raising rabbits at the villa. Damian brought them.”
“That guy really does everything, huh? Just to cheer you up.” That’s what it had been at first, when she heard Damian had brought the rabbits.
But now, seeing the rabbits only made her feel uneasy.
‘It’s probably just unnecessary worry.’
After all, Damian was in the capital, and she could see him whenever he returned. Of course, he’d come to see me… With that thought, Shirley shook her head lightly.
“You don’t know how cute they are. Let’s go see them together.”
Shirley deliberately spoke in a bright voice and reached out her hand. Melissa reluctantly took it.
Leaving behind the unspoken words, the two stepped outside.
