Chapter 36

***

“What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“What else? The young master of the Duke’s house said he’d teach me how to write a letter.”

“You came all this way just to learn that?”

“Of course. I promised to write the letter quickly. It’s a big deal if a future knight breaks his promise.”

He slightly boasted, “This too is a lesson from my master.”

“What to do.”

But Melody seemed troubled, lightly touching the tips of her hair.

“The young master mentioned yesterday that he would be extremely busy from last night until this evening. He has to send something to the academy.”

He said he’d be holed up in his room until evening to finish everything before the postal carriage arrives.

“Oh, really?”

However, Isaiah didn’t seem much troubled by the news.

“It’s fine by me. Today’s my day off anyway. We can just spend the day together, just Mel and me. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

In fact, he seemed rather pleased by the prospect.

Melody didn’t have classes today either, so it wasn’t really a problem, but…

“Uh… Is that going to be a problem? Are you busy too, Mel?”

“Hmm, I’m fine. But the young master is really busy. We might have to wait a long time. He might be too tired to teach.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Even if he can’t teach you?”

“So what. As long as I can be with Mel.”

He gently tickled Melody’s nose with the dandelion puff, making her laugh.

It was incredibly ticklish, so Melody squealed and ran a few steps back.

Indeed, Isaiah and Melody could spend the whole day from morning till evening together without getting bored.

Waiting for Claude wouldn’t be dull at all.

“Hehe, okay. I’ll stay with you…”

She was about to finish her sentence when, without a knock, the drawing-room door opened.

Startled, she turned around to find Claude standing there, panting slightly.

Dark circles under his eyes indicated he had hardly slept, probably due to the busy work for the academy.

“Young master?”

Melody looked at Claude in surprise.

He caught his breath and looked around the drawing room, his eyes searching for something.

After a moment, he sighed in relief and murmured something like ‘thankfully’.

Melody pondered what he might have been worried about.

Considering his character, it wasn’t hard to figure out.

“Lady Loretta hasn’t come here, has she?”

Claude must have been worried about the brash Isaiah meeting Loretta.

Considering how he rushed to the drawing room, abandoning his busy work.

Claude nodded in response to Melody’s thoughts, confirming she was right.

“That’s indeed… a relief.”

“However, you don’t need to be so wary of Isaiah. He was once the smartest kid in our village. He won’t be a significant harm to the lady.”

Isaiah had received extensive higher education from a young age, though it was enforced by his mother, the doctor.

At one point, he was the subject of expectations, being touted as ‘the child who will grow up to be a smart doctor.’

Melody believed that deep within Isaiah, there was a layer upon layer of various cultures and knowledge taught by the doctor.

“Is that so?” Claude replied, though his expression didn’t quite agree with Melody’s description.

As Melody intently stared at his slightly distorted eyes, Claude moved his blue pupils and gestured with a side glance, as if pointing at ‘the reason for his non-agreement.’

Melody turned around following his gaze.

At the end of that gaze was Isaiah, licking the melted sugar at the bottom of his teacup. With his tongue out and eyes flickering, he seemed ready to plunge his entire face into the small teacup.

“…,” Melody couldn’t muster a defense and just stared blankly.

After Isaiah had neatly finished off the sugar in the cup, he finally detached his face from the teacup, his lips covered in sugar granules, forming a satisfied smile.

The inside of the teacup he put down was unusually shiny.

To an onlooker, it would seem like ‘a very neatly cleaned teacup.’

Melody and Claude, staring in astonishment, heard the voice of the butler behind them.

“Young master, Miss Melody. Lady Loretta is curious if she can meet today’s visitor.”

Melody finally understood why Claude had rushed here, looking pale.

She would have done the same if she were Claude.

Loretta was at an age where she was learning etiquette by imitating those around her. It was impossible to expose her to Isaiah’s strange antics.

“No!”

“No way!”

Claude and Melody shouted simultaneously.

It was nice to see their intentions perfectly aligned, but there was one downside.

Loretta, who was coming down the stairs, heard their fervent cries and started to well up.

“Loretta… not allowed?”

“…!”

Claude seemed quite flustered by his words that made his little sister cry.

He immediately rushed to her, consoling and cajoling her.

More ‘brother fool’ than usual, spouting a series of pathetic sounds.

For instance:

“Who’s my cute and lovely little sister!”

“What is there in this mansion that you can’t do!”

“As many times as you’ve shed tears, your brother will grant whatever you wish!”

Melody, standing a step away, heard all these doting words.

At that moment, Isaiah, who had just stepped into the hallway, nudged Melody’s waist with his elbow, pointing out an important fact.

“Looks like your young master is spoiling the child rotten, huh.”

Quite a valid point coming from Isaiah, who had just been part of a pitiful display.

So, Melody didn’t really have a retort.

***

Loretta’s appearance aligned the interests of Claude and Isaiah for the first time.

Isaiah wanted to learn how to write the letter quickly, and Claude wanted him to leave the mansion as quickly as possible.

Their common goal of ‘quickly’ hastened their actions, and soon ‘Claude’s Letter Writing Class’ began.

The kind Mr. Claude explained the basic format of a friendly letter and even provided suitable examples.

Fortunately, Isaiah proved that he once held the title of ‘the smartest child in the village.’

He grasped the knowledge and techniques passed on to him without any trouble. Furthermore, it didn’t take long before he started writing the letter on his own.

Scratch, scratch.

The sound of Isaiah’s pen gliding across the paper filled the room.

Claude then offered a beautiful sheet of stationery to Melody, suggesting, “Why don’t you write one too, Miss Melody?”

“Me?”

“Yes. One can only master something by actually doing it.”

Melody looked at the white paper he handed her.

Normally, she never paid much attention to how vast the white space of the paper was, as she only had to transcribe texts from books or records.@@novelbin@@

But this was a letter.

The thought of having to fill it from start to finish with her own words made it seem quite challenging for Melody.

“Don’t think of it as difficult.”

Perhaps sensing her hesitation, Claude smiled and pushed the paper a little closer.

“You don’t have to fill the entire paper. The empty spaces can be left to the imagination of the reader.”

Despite his encouragement, Melody still looked troubled.

“Miss Melody, do you not like the stationery? Shall I bring you a different one?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Melody accepted the paper and replied awkwardly.

“I can’t decide who to write to.”

His slight smile indicated that there was nothing to worry about.

“Choosing the recipient is quite simple.”

“Simple?”

“Yes.”

He turned and opened a small drawer on the wall cabinet. The ink bottles inside clinked and jostled.

“Think of a few things you’ve experienced recently.”

He picked an ink bottle and slightly lifted it into the light pouring in from the window, checking its color.

Melody watched him carefully choose the ink while recalling various events she had experienced recently.

Especially since there had been numerous happenings after her arrival at the Duke’s house.

“Among those events, didn’t you receive help from someone?”

He asked, checking the color of another ink bottle.

Help… she had indeed received it.

“There are too many people who have helped me.”

“Then think about the most recent incident.”

Claude placed the meticulously chosen ink bottle in front of both Melody and Loretta. “Actually, I’ve been saving it because the color is pretty,” he said with a smile.

“Most recent?”

“Yes, something recent that happened close to Miss Melody.”

He paused intriguingly mid-sentence.

Then, leaning slightly over the desk from across, he intently looked into Melody’s face.

“Very close.”

The repeated emphasis and the meaningful gaze seemed to suggest he had something specific in mind.

“Isn’t there someone who helped you?”

“Uh…”

Melody gazed intently at Claude’s face, hesitating for a moment. He didn’t blink, patiently waiting for her answer.

“You mean someone who helped me closely?”

“Yes, closely. Very close.”

He repeated the word ‘close’ in his rephrased question, as if it were a significant hint.

Someone close to Melody.

“Ah!”

Once she thought about it simply, following Claude’s advice, choosing the recipient for her first letter wasn’t difficult at all.

“Why did I even worry about such a simple problem?”

“Right?”

He straightened up from his leaning posture, smiling lightly.

“Of course, it should be written to Lady Loretta!”