Melissa stared blankly at the metal in her hand.

When she gave this gift in her childhood, it was with admiration and love.

Memories flooded back of the gentle man who would feed her pudding with a spoon from a time she couldn’t even remember.

Looking at this recalled sharing sandwiches bite by bite during picnics and the boy’s shining face while he slowly kept time for her when she was clumsy at dancing.

Even though such beautiful memories had long since faded.

Melissa shook her head.

“…I can’t accept this.”

“No? Why?”

“Because I’ll never forgive you!”

Melissa’s face twisted with sadness.

“What right do you have to say such things after pouring ink all over our good memories? Do you have any conscience?”

Though she knew it would be ugly, she didn’t want to pretend to be demure in front of this man anymore. Along with her tears, the true feelings she had been holding back came crashing down like an avalanche.

“Sel, I hate everything related to you! If my heart could be swayed by giving me some mere jewel, I wouldn’t be this disgusted!”

Melissa shook her head and spat out her words, overcome with anger.

After being hurt, she had tried to consider Selheim as nothing and erase him from her mind.

Though she had received wounds that would never heal in her lifetime, they were too big to embrace, so she had closed the door to those memories and tried to live pretending that life had never existed.

But making such efforts meaningless, this man tries to plant painful memories in her until the very end.

After causing such deep wounds, instead of telling her to forget and move on, he was trying to drive in a stake telling her not to forget, seemingly planning to create obstacles in Melissa’s life.

‘Why are you doing this to me?’

Truly an incomprehensible person until the end.

A damnably bad person.

A disgustingly hateful person.

Because he had been precious, the sense of betrayal was greater, and it seemed she could never forgive him.

Melissa spoke with deep anger.

“I really hate you, Selheim.”

At those words like a curse, Selheim’s pupils dilated slightly. He froze for a moment like a broken statue, then soon nodded with a gentle smile saying, “Yes, that’s fortunate.” It was a disgusting response.

“Don’t forgive me, Mel. Hate me forever.”

“You, you really…”

Melissa stopped what she was about to say. Instead, she bit her red lips hard and picked up the leather bag that had fallen to the ground.

Perhaps because she had rarely raised her voice in her life, her throat stung just from shouting briefly. Or maybe it was because of the revolutionary soldiers with rough appearances approaching from afar, kicking up dust.

There wasn’t much time.

The murmuring of the gathered onlookers grew louder.

“Catch her now!”

The remnants of the revolutionary army tried to chase her with fire in their eyes. Their expressions were terribly fierce, seemingly annoyed by the interfering crowd of onlookers.

Thinking she wouldn’t even leave bones if caught, the anxious Melissa tried to escape even if it meant pushing Selheim away.

But Selheim, whom she thought would persistently hold onto her until the end, made way for her.

He wasn’t someone to give up so easily.

Could this be a trap?

When Melissa looked up at him with a questioning face, the man smiled with curved eyes as usual and gave her back a light push.

“Go, Mel. Take the path you wanted to take.”

When she made a suspicious expression, the man laughed weakly and smiled while furrowing his brow.

“And don’t look back again. From now on, if someone blocks your path, slap them. Understand? Don’t waste time being kind like this.”

Selheim gently stroked the ends of Melissa’s long hair and took a step away from her. Then he whispered softly.

Goodbye, Mel.

The commotion of the gathered crowd grew louder, and the man’s voice was buried in the masses.

Melissa instinctively understood why Selheim had stopped her here.

If the revolutionary remnants had spotted her from afar, it would have been difficult to escape while pregnant. So he deliberately gathered a crowd to create a place to hide, planning to push her toward an escape route once it was secure.

‘He was trying to save me.’

As Melissa’s resolve weakened and her eyes reddened, Selheim turned his back first and walked away. That was when the revolutionary remnants approached right in front of Selheim.

Melissa ran without looking back, pushing through the people gathered out of curiosity. Breaking through the jungle-like crowd was difficult.

Her heavy body made her quickly out of breath. Though her lips trembled sadly and her legs shook and tingled, she didn’t stop.

How far had she run?

When she finally broke through the people gathered in a donut shape, all the gazes that had first been fixed on her passed her by.

When she looked back one last time, she saw Selheim removing his bowler hat among the bustling crowd.

Someone with a strong voice shouted.

“It’s the Crown Prince!”

Though it was far from a welcoming tone, Selheim held his hat and smiled, waving his hand.

Melissa covered her mouth with the back of her hand, feeling nauseous, and limped away. When she reached an empty alley, she took out a new hat from her trunk and pulled it on, then stood still for a while, tightly clenching both fists.

* * *

In front of Selheim, angry men approached, and he didn’t avoid them.

If he had cards left to play, he could have held back and aimed for the next opportunity, but now all he had left was his body, so he couldn’t avoid it.

After losing the duel, it was his fate to be unable to hold onto anything anyway. But at the last moment, he miraculously met her and gained an opportunity.

‘An opportunity to engrave myself.’

You know what, Melissa.

I always wanted to be something to you.

From when he first met her in childhood, he thought it was fate. Since everyone said ‘the child who will be your wife in the future,’ he naturally tried to protect her.

When she would run to him calling Selheim’s name and hug him, she had a soft baby powder scent. Sometimes like a father, sometimes like an older brother, and sometimes like a friend or teacher, he tried to protect her.

But the child he thought would be ‘his possession’ for life didn’t understand his way of survival as her hair grew longer.

Where had the shy girl gone who would blush and offer pretty gift boxes? Later, she only looked at him with expressions full of distrust and doubt.

Selheim couldn’t stand that.

‘When you’re all I have, why won’t you look at me?’

Even when they entered balls hand in hand, shared their first dance together, and he stroked her head while making eye contact, she wouldn’t return within a certain distance.

So he would hold back, worried that she might break if he held her, snap if he touched her too strongly, or distance herself if she discovered his inner ugliness.

Because she became frightened when he got close, there came to be many days when he kept his distance and watched from afar.

When he saw her walking brightly under the sunlight with a blue parasol, he would place his finger on the window and follow her steps for a long while.

He would have been content maintaining that distance for life.

If only you would stay by my side.

‘Melissa.’

After your family fell, I was constantly angry.

I thought it was because you betrayed me and ran away with that count’s rascal… but thinking about it now, that doesn’t seem right.

‘Why didn’t you come to me when you were most troubled? Mel.’

I could have done anything for you.

Though I had everything that exists in this empire, I hated that you treated me like nothing even with me by your side. I was angry because it was terrifyingly painful and hateful that I was nothing to you.

So I tried to wound you.

If I couldn’t be loved, I wanted to be remembered through pain at least. But you…

Far from remembering, you tried to erase me even when I hurt you.

Melissa, that’s why this time too, I’m trying to engrave myself in you until the end.

You know what, so I… did I succeed, or.

Did I fail?

Only you would know that result.

People shouted like a storm as they parted.

Dust swirled chaotically, and an acrid scent like fire circled his nostrils. When the journalist took photos, the afterimage wouldn’t leave his whitewashed vision.

“Die!”

The anger of those who had lived bitter lives was carved into Selheim’s stomach with a blade.

The bright red fury of people with fire in their eyes covered him like the flames of the hotel that burned that night.

‘I wish you would come back and call my name like that day…’

The man holding the bowler hat spat blood while standing straight. The blood that burst forth scattered on the ground. Even through his blurry vision, the man continued to watch the afterimage with hopeful eyes.

He felt a warm sensation reminiscent of young Melissa running to hug him. A gentle yellow light shone down on Selheim’s head, and in his dream-like state, he asked that child.

Tell me, Mel.

Did I succeed?