“Be of use, Melissa.”

Every vacation, Grandfather would take the twins to the riverside villa. When the weather turned cool and autumn leaves piled high, the three of them would walk hand in hand along the crunching dirt path.

The man, whose black hair had turned gray with streaks of white, always maintained an expressionless face. Though she didn’t know what he was like in the past, the grandfather Melissa remembered was perpetually steeped in sadness.

“You must never forget why your parents died.”

In truth, since the twins had grown up without even knowing their parents’ faces, Grandfather’s words didn’t really resonate with them. To Melissa and Rael, their parent wasn’t those dead people, but Grandfather himself.

But he always demanded perfection from Melissa and Rael.

“Don’t eat food in unfamiliar places! Even if you know someone’s face, doubt them one more time!”

While the obedient Melissa was fine, he was especially merciless with the rebellious Rael. He would use the rod or slap her to prevent Rael from straying outside. That’s the kind of person he was.

Though outwardly he appeared oppressive and obsessive, inside he harbored endless sadness.

Unable to trust anyone.

Unable to love anyone.

A foolish man whose only way of expressing himself was to extend the lives of his two young granddaughters.

Melissa, who watched from his side, knew how deep his hatred for commoners had festered over those 30 years.

Melissa had been brainwashed her whole life to hate commoners, but she promised herself she wouldn’t, and thought that alone made her quite a special noble.

Yes, a noble.

In the end, that’s all she was.

Perhaps she thought it was enough to look after them by sweetly patronizing them from a noble’s position.

That’s why while staying by Reizen’s side, servants were just servants, and whenever commoners drew lines between themselves and her, she considered it natural.

Though she spoke more, she didn’t give long explanations, and when situations arose where they had difficulty understanding each other, she seemed to think it couldn’t be helped because they came from different backgrounds.

Ah.

How deceptive this was.

People must have known about this deception.

That’s why she couldn’t adapt among them, and why she felt so lonely and isolated from society and groups when Reizen wasn’t around.

“Huu…”

Clear tears fell drop by drop from Melissa’s eyes. Her lips, parched from lack of water, cracked and beaded with blood. The tears lingering on her lips mixed saltily with the metallic scent of blood.

Melissa crumbled.

Sitting collapsed, the prison seemed to spin around her. Though she hadn’t eaten anything, bile churned in her stomach and she felt like vomiting.

The Marquis, finding her reaction amusing, smiled brightly while remaining absorbed in stories about her grandfather.

The women sitting around, though seeming indifferent at first, appeared to pity the pregnant Melissa but gradually their gazes turned hostile.

She wanted to run away.

But she couldn’t escape.

And she shouldn’t escape.

If she wanted to make even slight amends for her grandfather’s misdeeds. But how? Would they even want her help?

She shook her head.

No, even if no one wants it, it must be done.

If I don’t do it, who will? I must do it. Don’t avoid it, don’t run away. I am…

‘Melissa Grey.’

She bit her lip until it bled and raised her head with clear eyes. Melissa, her fists clenched tight, threw dirt particles into the Marquis’s eyes while he pressed close to the iron bars.

“Argh!”

The Marquis, who had been enthusiastically telling his story, suddenly clutched his eyes in panic. While stamping his feet in place and threatening retribution, he twisted his ankle and fell.

With a crash, the slop-like food spilled everywhere. Having smashed his nose against the iron bars, he got a nosebleed, and the women burst out laughing at the pathetic sight of the man covered in food.

He narrowed his eyes threateningly and warned he wouldn’t let those who laughed get away with it, but since it was invisible anyway, there was no way to know who had laughed.

Dripping blood from his nose and barely able to open his eyes, the man shouted for his servant.

But no matter how much he called, perhaps because the outer door was too thick, no one came down to check.

“Damn it!”

Seemingly deciding he’d have to go up himself, he grabbed the iron bars to stand up.

That’s when it happened.

At the end of the corridor, which remained dim even with lights on because the bulbs hadn’t been changed for so long, someone appeared.

“Butler! Quickly! Come quickly!”

The Marquis, unable to see well, waved his hands in the air while shouting. However, the figure at the end of the corridor moved unhurriedly. He slowly approached, examining the inside of each cell, surveying his surroundings.

Thud, thud.

Heavy footsteps.

The man, who seemed to absorb the smell of old iron bars and mold, carried the fresh scent of wood. A cool mint-like shiver covered everyone’s bodies, and all stared directly at the shadow’s movement, overwhelmed by his commanding presence.

“…”

People shuddered at the intimidating atmosphere, unable to make even a breath of sound. Each inhale felt like their lungs were freezing, and they instinctively knew they would never forget this scene for the rest of their lives.

But there was exactly one person here who hadn’t adapted to this current atmosphere.

“Come closer and support me! I’m in a terrible state because of this crazy woman. Just wait until later.”

The Marquis, holding his nose and growling like a beast, threw a bowl at Melissa’s cell.

With a clang, the wooden bowl bounced off the iron bars and rolled across the floor, spinning round and round before the booted feet.

The Marquis fumbled forward.

“What are you doing? I said support m… me.”

His outstretched arm was caught by a man.

“You, who are you?”

Only then did the Marquis realize something was wrong and flinched. When he couldn’t move his arm despite trying to pull it free, he thrashed about like a beast.

Then the man suddenly released his grip, causing him to lose balance and stumble into the wall. Once again, suppressed laughter erupted from around them, and the red-faced Marquis shouted.

“Who are you, I said! How dare you in my mansion…!”

“Me?”

Just one word.

Though just a single word, the unusual deep voice echoed through the corridor. At the same time, Melissa’s clouded gaze traveled up along the iron bars.

“I’m the husband of that crazy woman you just threw a bowl at.”

The man outside the bars said, looking at Melissa with eyes devoid of humor.

How could one possibly put into words the emotions felt at this moment? The man she met across the iron bars in this space half-filled with darkness was markedly different from when they met in Sorbet.

Though he looked at her with dry eyes, he absolutely wouldn’t look away. These weren’t the searching or resentful eyes from when they first met in Sorbet.

“Melissa Grey.”

Though he spoke her name with deliberate slowness, it was saturated with longing.

“I missed you.”

At these words that sounded like a sigh, Melissa’s insides crumbled. Her red lips trembled, holding back tears. As tears flowed helplessly down her cheeks, soaking her neck and chest, she had no other words.

Melissa could only stare.

Because she didn’t know what to say.

Reizen’s gaze softened slightly, then sharpened again when he looked at the Marquis.

The Marquis appeared uneasy. He seemed to be considering how to escape this situation. Pressed against the wall, he nervously bit his nails and hunched his body tightly. Where was his earlier boldness in brazenly boasting about his deeds? Now face to face with Reizen, he ticked in place like a broken clock.

Just then, someone shouted from the end of the corridor.

“Prime Minister, we’ve fixed the lights!”

Soon after, electricity was supplied to the basement. From far down where the corridor began, all the way to where Reizen and Melissa were, yellow bulbs lit up one by one, bringing light to them in sequence.

The women, who had lived so long in an enclosed space with only lamp-like weak light, squeezed their eyes shut.

Melissa, too, who had grown accustomed to the darkness, was caught in the seemingly eye-piercing flash of sudden light.

Sensing his chance, the Marquis tried to escape, but Reizen knocked him unconscious with a single strike to the neck. Then he approached the iron bars and sat down at Melissa’s eye level.

His blue eyes rippled with a profound light.

“It feels like a dream. Being able to see you.”

The man, wearing an expression of pure joy, grabbed the iron bars.

“If this is a dream, I’m worried I’ll wake up soon. Won’t you come closer?”

The man she was meeting after about 4 months.

Though she had felt they had become so distant that she could only learn of his well-being through newspapers, seeing him now trying to reach through the iron bars to grab her, he seemed like someone she had seen just last night.

“Melissa, please let me hold you just once.”

Reizen’s dazzling golden hair sparkled beneath hundreds of bulbs, seeming to emanate light itself. Seeing this, waves of golden light rippled in Melissa’s eyes. Due to the sudden strong light, rainbow-colored dots danced following her gaze.

The moment their eyes met, the rubber band that had been connected so thinly it seemed ready to snap became tautly stretched.

From here, it was a matter of choice.

If Melissa pulled, the rubber band would easily break, and if she approached, it would stop expanding and loosen…

As she hesitated, Reizen’s expression grew increasingly sad. With his dazzlingly beautiful face trying to force a smile, he wiggled his hand again.

Like a gentle invitation to come closer.