Chapter 22

***

Melody’s mother was left in jail, awaiting punishment. Now that Loretta’s identity had been confirmed, her mother was facing severe punishment.

Meanwhile, some elders argued vehemently that ‘criminal Melody’ should be expelled, especially after her mother’s crimes were deemed more serious.

The Duke, however, did not stay silent on this matter. He mentioned the illegal dealings between the elder and the jailer, effectively silencing them. The infuriated elders returned to the Duke’s domain.

Subsequently, Melody was welcomed back as a ‘guest’ of the Duke’s house.

Upon her return from jail and stepping out of the carriage, Loretta rushed out of the entrance to embrace her warmly.

“Duke, you are the best,” Loretta declared, throwing her arms around him near his waist.

That evening, a splendid dinner was held, albeit hastily arranged with some purchased items from the city. Despite the simplicity of the meal, it was a joyous occasion without the troublesome elders.

After a pleasant bath, Melody was treated again for her wounds. The medicines had washed off during the bath.

“Ah, it still looks painful,” remarked the maid, blowing gently on the medicine to help it dry and wincing slightly.

“Does it hurt much?”

“It’s okay.”

“About Miss Loretta,” the maid continued, wrapping bandages around Melody’s wounds.

“What about her?”

“She seems a lot like the Duke.”

The maid recounted an incident during Melody’s absence, where Loretta firmly answered an elder. Standing with her legs firmly apart, she had proudly ordered, “Bring Melody back.”

“Even when the elders said something, she didn’t flinch and replied just like that,” the maid noted, admiring Loretta’s bravery. Melody felt slightly embarrassed, unsure if she deserved so much love and attention from the female protagonist.

After the treatment, when it was time to read a fairy tale and go to sleep as usual, Melody decided to ask Loretta a question in the darkness, borrowing a little courage.

“Why do you show me so much affection?”

“Melody?”

But asking ‘why do you like me?’ directly felt too embarrassing.

“Uh, no. Let’s go to sleep.”

Noticing Melody’s odd expression, Loretta gently covered her ears with her small hands, just as Melody had done for her on rainy days.

“Melody, were you scared?”

A concerned voice whispered softly into her warmed ears.

Melody was about to say ‘I was okay,’ but decided against it, choosing to be honest instead.

“Yeah, I was a little scared.”

“Sorry.”

“But you sent the Duke to save me.”

“The Duke protected Melody?”

Melody nodded with a smile.

“Yes, he protected me.”

“The Duke is good. And I like Melody too.”

Loretta, perhaps worried her expression of affection hadn’t been conveyed, slowly released her hands from Melody’s ears.

“Um… you know.”

Encouraged by Loretta’s sweet confession, Melody cautiously asked something she had been curious about.

“Why do you like me, Loretta?”

After all, there were plenty of likable people around Melody.

“Huh?”

But perhaps it was a bit of a complex question for the little girl.

“I don’t know…”

Loretta fidgeted with her hands for a moment before breaking into a smile and hugging Melody tightly.

“Even so, I really like Melody, very much.”

Hearing such heartwarming words, Melody quickly nodded and etched them in her heart.

“I really like Loretta too, very much.”

After their shy confessions, the two naturally started sharing other stories, forgetting the bedtime rule of ‘close your eyes and mouth when you sleep’.

Consequently, they overslept the next day and as a punishment, had to munch on carrots instead of apples during snack time.

Ronny, sitting across the table, glared at them while also eating carrots.

Nevertheless, all three finished their carrots, which was commendable.

***

With ‘Baldwin’ officially added to Loretta’s name, several significant changes occurred in the Duke’s household.

Firstly, Loretta moved her room to the second floor. Initially, she was upset about being farther from Melody’s room, but ran happily to her new room on the second floor after Melody said, “You should invite me often to see the view from the second floor.”

Meanwhile, Ronny began to deny reality.

“She’s really my sister? No way. She doesn’t resemble my handsome looks at all.”

Watching this, Loretta became sullen and even asked Butler Higgins.

“Does Ronny hate Loretta?”

Higgins, recalling the second young master’s dishonest nature, shook his head.

“Of course not. He must find you very cute.”

Really?

Loretta wanted to verify Butler Higgins’ words. So, she immediately ran to Ronny’s room.

Knocking on the door, Ronny opened it grumpily, asking “What?”

Loretta decided to try a ‘cute act’ Melody had taught her on her brother, putting extra effort into it. First, she took a deep breath until her stomach was full and then exhaled deeply. A long ‘phoo’ sound came from her small mouth. After breathing, Loretta looked up at Ronny expectantly.

“…?”

Ronny, of course, did not understand why Loretta had suddenly come to show him her breathing.

“What are you doing?”

“Loretta is cute even when just breathing. Ta-da.”

A brief silence followed.

Then, Ronny’s face turned red with anger, and he yelled loudly, “Stop it, it’s not funny!” And with a bang, the door closed. Loretta looked somewhat dejected.

Meanwhile, the Duke also had his worries, particularly about Loretta.

“The Duke is the best.”

Now that their relationship was clear, Loretta shouldn’t call him ‘Duke’ anymore.

‘If I suddenly ask her to change how she addresses me, she might feel uncomfortable.’

Rushing wouldn’t be a good idea, especially in a case like Loretta’s, where there had been drastic changes in her environment.

“Duke, by any chance.”

One day, Melody followed him in the hallway and whispered behind him, “Are you worried?”

“…?”

As he turned around in surprise, Melody clasped her hands and smiled, as if saying, ‘I know everything.’

“It’s about the honorifics, isn’t it?”

Before the Duke could even ask how she knew, Melody quickly added, “Well, whenever Miss Loretta calls you ‘Duke,’ everyone in the mansion flinches and looks at each other.”

This was an incident from the original story that briefly plunged Loretta into a sea of sadness. As everyone was considerate and didn’t point out the issue with the honorifics, Loretta felt, ‘Maybe everyone dislikes me.’

Recalling the content of the original story, Melody was asked by the Duke, “Did I flinch?”

“Not noticeably.”

Maybe it was obvious to the keen eyes of children.

“I see.”

The Duke nodded.

“…Thank you.”

Following Melody’s advice, the Duke soon had an honest conversation with Loretta about the honorifics.

Luckily, Loretta readily accepted the term ‘father.’

“Dad.”

Of course, understanding the honorific mentally and actually using it were two very different things.

Loretta would instinctively start to say ‘Duke’ but quickly switched to ‘father.’ Consequently, for a few days, the peculiar term ‘Daduke!’ echoed around the mansion.

Although Loretta’s honorific was ‘incorrect’ just like in the original story, no one gave her a strange look. Everyone merely tried to contain their laughter.

The Duke himself enjoyed ‘Daduke’ quite a bit. He even playfully wrote ‘From Daduke’ on notes he left for Loretta.

Thanks to this, Loretta did not fall into sadness over the honorific issue.

“Loretta’s got it!”

Moreover, she made an excellent adaptation.

The diligent girl, wanting to demonstrate her good realization, immediately ran to Ronny’s room.

Knocking on the door, Ronny again opened it grumpily, asking, “What now?”

Loretta jumped forward and exclaimed loudly,

“Big brother!”

“…!”

Taken aback by the sudden impressive honorific, Ronny foolishly responded,

“Why am I your big brother?!”

“Well, since Loretta is the daughter of the father, Ronny is the big brother.”

It was an irrefutable perfect answer.

Ronny grumbled, “Just until recently, you were calling him ‘Daduke.’”

“Loretta likes calling you big brother, right?”

“What choice do I have? We’re family.”

“Right. Father, big brother, Loretta, and Melody are family!”

Ronny crossed his arms and chuckled at the response.

He seemed pleased to finally find something to point out.

“Why is she our family? Melody is just an outsider. A total stranger!”

Ronny emphasized the word ‘stranger’ with his eyes.@@novelbin@@

Loretta, seemingly frightened and frozen, watched as Ronny, satisfied at last, slammed the door and went back into his room.