Chapter 4 Part 2

“You were the one writing the replies.” Alexander tilted his chin, looking at him. His three-cornered eyes were chilling, but Boris was used to his expression changes. To be honest, that was his most natural look, making it easier to deal with him.

“Yes. I intercepted the letters and began mimicking the handwriting to send replies. Later, I tampered with the dedicated messenger pigeons and bribed the clerks. I intended to stop after a few times, but it’s been well over ten years now.” She shrugged.

“Feelings couldn’t help but develop. So let me just meddle a little. Don’t glare at me as if you’ll kill me, and please understand, even if it’s unpleasant. After today, I won’t bother you anymore. After all, you’re my master.”

“I permit it. Speak.”

“Are you sincere about Melissa?”

“I’m even considering marriage.”

“…Ah.” Boris blinked as if struck by shock, then waved his hand dismissively.

“Your way of speaking… I almost got the wrong idea. I asked if you were sincere. You know how Melissa feels about you.”

Alexander fell silent, lost in thought for a moment. If they were talking about “love,” then yes, he knew about it. And he believed it to be something with very little value.

“You’re asking if I love her?”

“Sometimes you talk so inhumanly that it’s baffling. You know? Like someone who doesn’t understand emotions.” Boris looked utterly fed up.

“Fine, sure. Straightforward is good. Do you love Melissa?”

He wanted to kiss her. Such a desire would normally be called love. His foster parents whispered “I love you” while writhing in bed with countless lovers. However, it was too sharp to be called fragmented, and when he thought of her, it conjured a continuous, deep connection. Strange and ambiguous. It couldn’t be pinned down. It was far from the love he knew.

A chill, like a jolt of cold, struck his throat, and a wave of discomfort rose. Just like when he first saw her as a child.

“No.”

Boris didn’t seem particularly disappointed by his answer. She let out a long sigh with a disheveled expression.

“Honestly, it would have been stranger if you’d said you loved her.”

Now that her master had decided on marriage, there was nothing Boris could do. To be honest, no one in the world could intervene.

At least Alexander compensated adequately, so he was a better marriage prospect than Franz. However, Boris knew that Melissa was one of the rare people who valued her own feelings and was true to herself.

But was a relationship with a man blinded by his own ambitions truly good for Melissa?

It wasn’t hard to understand why Alexander used his charm to captivate a woman already deeply infatuated with him.

It was far more efficient than using any other means.

“The rumors are spreading like wildfire within the territory right now. People who already thought it strange that a hostage would become the daughter-in-law of the Bergritz are now mixing in talk of her using witchcraft to beguile people as she got involved with the Lord. There’s a mess of gossip going around. Why are you leaving this unchecked?”

Alexander let out a soft chuckle as he swung his sword to flick off the blood.

“That’s how she’ll come to me.”

In other words, the more troublesome her situation, the more likely Melissa would seek his help.

Boris stood caught between respect and disdain for his master, with only one thought echoing in his mind: “This is bad.”

He pitied Melissa.

“As a long-time subordinate, I beg you—please just use her moderately and then cast her aside. And make sure you pay her what she’s due,” she pleaded.

“She’s not my daughter, but I was beginning to think of her like a niece.”

“Once she’s of no more use.” He smiled faintly. The gap between his expressionless face and his slight smile was so stark that it dampened the menacing air, but Boris didn’t let his guard down.

Alexander raised his sword.

“I’ll use her and toss her aside; you can pick her up if you want.”

The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed as the sword slid slowly into Boris’s scabbard. The click as it fit perfectly was sharp, and Alexander let go.

Boris found it hard to read his expression. He said “pick her up,” but if he actually tried, it seemed Alexander would kill him.

No, perhaps it was just a misunderstanding.

Marriage was a powerful means of forging alliances. No matter how much he scorned marriage, there was no reason for someone like Alexander, with plenty of options, to keep a marriage with a hostage going for long.

“Yes, divorce her and toss her aside, and I’ll just adopt her as my child,” Boris muttered, fiddling with the hilt of his treasured sword that had been returned to him.

“Is that all you needed?” Alexander said, walking ahead toward where the horses were.

Boris, hurrying after him, let out a long sigh, as though fed up with the pile of work waiting for him.

He’d lost count of how many times he’d sighed today.

But now was the time to finally say the real reason for his hasty visit.

He spoke with the same expressionless face as his master.

***

Melissa dashed down the riverbank in a frenzy. It was the first time she realized she could run so fast. The thought of Boris possibly misunderstanding the situation sent chills down her spine. Stupidly, she had nearly kissed him with her whole being. If it hadn’t been for Boris standing behind him, she undoubtedly would have. The awkward look in Boris’s eyes when they met hers yanked Melissa back from the dreamy haze into stark reality.

And yet, she kept replaying his words over and over in her mind.

“He said he likes me. Wants me.”

It was surely a lie, a temptation meant to sway her. And yet, her mind couldn’t stop retracing the intensity in his gaze.

The man she had admired so endlessly now claimed to want her. To like her.

It was so tempting to believe it, even if it was a lie.

‘So, come to me.’

His voice echoed in her ears. By the time she came to her senses, she was near the mansion. She needed time to collect her thoughts.

As she hurried toward the mansion, she noticed a commotion around her. Servants, stewards, and a few guards were bustling outside.

“Is this how you treat a guest, huh? I’m your master’s older brother…!”

A familiar voice cut through the crowd.

Her blood ran cold.

“You should’ve prepared days in advance. This wouldn’t have happened…!”

“Shut up! Don’t you dare talk back to me.”

The steward’s calm reply was cut off by the irate man.

As Melissa approached the source of the commotion to see what was going on, she began to make out a familiar figure amidst the crowd—his disheveled hair, his hunched, skinny frame, and his bleary eyes on the verge of erupting.

Franz Bergritz.

The ruckus from moments ago seemed to fade as her mind went blank, and Alexander’s voice echoed in her head.

‘As you might’ve guessed, the one who tried to kill you was Franz. He’s the only fool who’d pull something this stupid.’

She had disliked him before, but now that she knew he’d tried to kill her, fear and fury welled up inside her.

Franz was about to call out to her when it happened.

“Brother.”

Alexander’s voice came from behind, as if he had followed them.

Before Melissa could even turn her head, he passed her on horseback.

He didn’t dismount but stopped in front of Franz.

“I’ll have dinner prepared. So quit throwing a tantrum like a blind pig.”

Anyone could tell Alexander was in a foul mood. There were bloodstains on his face and clothes, and remaining mounted doubled his usual imposing presence.

“Remember, everyone here is mine.”

“I’m sorry… I’ll be careful,” Franz said, his face flushing, but he didn’t explode as he normally would. Considering his usual behavior, it was an astonishing sight.

“Alexander, actually, I didn’t come empty-handed. I brought a gift. But it might arrive a bit later.”

Franz’s lips twitched with a strange, almost gleeful expression. Melissa studied his face carefully, but all she saw hanging from his shabby waist were ornamental daggers.

“Thanks for the hospitality. I’ll go see my fiancé now.”

He barely managed a greeting before striding toward Melissa. His steps were so quick, and there was no reason for her to avoid him, so she had no choice but to stand still.

“Melissa.”

He spoke with forced affection.

“Feels like years since I last saw you, though it’s only been a few weeks.”

When Franz hesitated and then abruptly hugged her, she felt sick with revulsion.

‘He tried to kill me.’

Melissa couldn’t say a word and just nodded, her response almost mechanical.

Franz’s face turned beet red again, as if he were humiliated by her lack of response, but he didn’t lash out. He was showing a surprising amount of restraint.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking. You’re going to be my woman now… Mother told me not to be too harsh with you.”

He kissed the top of her head.

Rather than pushing him away, the moment Bright was mentioned, her entire body froze, rendering her incapable of any action.

“Show me around a bit, would you?”

He whispered with the intimacy of a fiancé, so only Melissa could hear.

“After all, it’ll all be mine soon.”

“…Yes.”

Melissa reluctantly nodded.

“Oh, right, Mother also asked me to pass something along to you.”

Bright’s message.

She felt as if bugs were crawling between his fingers on her shoulder.

He gripped her hesitant arm tightly.

“Let’s go, what are you waiting for.”

Melissa barely managed to follow him.

Alexander’s gaze lingered on the edge of her shadow.

***

The claim that dinner was being prepared wasn’t an empty one; the evening meal was lavishly laid out. Since the sea wasn’t far from Tavalon, the table exuded the distinctive scent of cooked seafood among the various delicacies.

Franz dined greedily, not with jealousy that all this should have been his, but with a kind of pleasure as if it would all soon belong to him.

Meanwhile, Melissa grew anxious. She had shown him around the mansion, leading him through secluded places, but Boris had been tailing them, making it impossible to pass along Bright’s message.

“Brother.”

Alexander spoke midway through the meal.

The bloody appearance from the afternoon was gone, replaced by his usual restrained, elegant demeanor.

“There was a monster attack on the way to Tavalon.”

Franz cleared his throat with a loud cough.

Seated at the head of the table, Alexander gave a faint smile and continued.

“It was the work of a poacher, and it seemed to target my sister-in-law. Do you have any idea?”

“My God, how should I know?”

Feigning shock with an exaggerated expression, Franz turned to Melissa, who was sitting opposite him.

“Melissa, why didn’t you tell me anything? You should’ve sent a message. I did hear you returned via Rune’s Gate, but something seemed off…”

Melissa found it hard to hide her disdain.

‘Right, because you were the one who tried to kill me.’

“Hearing that makes me even more uneasy. Are you sure Melissa was the target? It’s more likely they were after you, Alexander. You have more enemies.”

“Well, that might be true.”

Alexander responded as if talking to himself.

He didn’t touch the food at all, and neither did Melissa.

It was certainly not a meal that could be called a pleasant family gathering.

“This won’t do.”

Franz shook his head dramatically.

“If there’s enough danger for an ambush, it means Tavalon isn’t safe either. I’ll have to take Melissa to the capital immediately…”

“That’s not possible.”

Alexander gave a faint smile.

“Unfortunately, we can’t dismiss the possibility that the attack was targeting me, just as you said. That means, sister-in-law cannot be excluded from suspicion.”

“…What do you mean?”

Melissa was just as shocked.

It was impossible to tell whether Alexander was saying this just to keep her close, or if he was serious.

Alexander’s mood did not seem particularly good.

“Sister-in-law.”

His half-lowered eyes curved into a smile.

“Didn’t you admit on the spot that you could see the monsters?”

“Lord…!”