Chapter 62

***

At his frightening command, Melody froze, her breath caught in shock.

“Leave,” he repeated when she didn’t move.

“Um, Sir Jeremiah.”

Melody summoned all her courage to speak, but he merely pointed toward the door with his chin.

‘What should I do?’

The yelling she had heard earlier and Jeremiah’s attitude suggested some major conflict within the Duke’s household.

She wasn’t sure if it was safe to leave Loretta alone with an angry Jeremiah. The Jeremiah she remembered from the early days was somewhat… prickly, setting his thorns against everyone due to his many wounds.

She worried that Loretta might get hurt by his sharpness, and more importantly, she feared that Jeremiah himself might suffer an irreversible pain.

“Do you not hear me?”

“I do hear you…”

“Then why?”

“It’s just that…”

Melody couldn’t think of a good excuse. What to do?

‘Please help me, Loretta!’

She mentally pleaded with the clever Loretta for help, but that was obviously not very practical. A deeply sleeping child wasn’t likely to provide a suitable excuse…

Suddenly, Loretta’s hand clutched Melody’s firmly.

The event, happening so quickly, startled Melody into letting out a cry.

“Ah?!”

Alternating her gaze between Loretta’s gripping hand and Jeremiah, Melody exclaimed in excitement.

“Did you see that?! She grabbed me! She really did!”

Unlike the overly excited Melody, Jeremiah seemed unimpressed.

“Miss Loretta must really be a genius!”

While Melody was unable to calm down, Jeremiah explained the phenomenon with utmost composure.

“It’s a perfectly natural phenomenon for someone to grab nearby objects in their sleep. It’s an instinct for emotional comfort.”

“But she grabbed me the moment I internally cried out for help.”

“It’s a coincidence.”

“But she grabbed me very tightly. So tightly I couldn’t get away.”

As if to prove her point, Melody raised her arm, and Loretta’s hand followed, clutching as if determined not to let go.

“Moreover, it seems she grips tighter when I try to let go.”

Jeremiah slightly furrowed his brow.

…Annoying.

There are a few basic rules for successfully performing magic.

Create an environment conducive to concentration.

Minimize variables.

Melody’s presence violated both of these rules.

With her hand so firmly entwined with Loretta’s, any magic Jeremiah performed on Loretta might affect Melody as well.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

Jeremiah’s tone softened as he asked, though he still looked at her with arms crossed.

“The slave trader.”

“More precisely, her daughter.”

Melody slightly bowed her head in greeting.

“I’m Melody. Master Jeremiah.”

Not knowing what expression to wear, she managed an awkward smile.

“…Blessed with ignorance, I see.”

But even that smile seemed to irritate Jeremiah. He muttered under his breath, clearly still displeased.

“Yes, I don’t know many things. So if you could teach me, Sir, I would learn well.”

“Why should I go to such trouble?”

“Because it seems something in your plan has gone awry due to Miss Loretta holding my hand.”

Not completely foolish, then. Jeremiah thought and began to explain.

“I plan to directly intervene in Loretta Baldwin’s emotions now.”

Jeremiah expected a barrage of annoying questions from Melody, like ’emotions?’ and ‘intervene?’

People who weren’t magicians always bombarded him with such tiresome questions whenever he tried to explain something.

However, to his surprise, she simply nodded.

“…You understand?”

Maybe it was her unexpected response, but Jeremiah found himself asking that question unintentionally.

“Yes. So… you mean to bring Loretta back, right?”

Her straightforward answer was exactly right, softening Jeremiah’s rigid expression.

“Due to you and Loretta being physically connected, you too fall within the influence of my magic.”

Jeremiah wondered if Melody would understand this as well.

“Uh… does that mean.”

Melody tilted her head, appearing thoughtful.

Jeremiah couldn’t help but smirk.

What was he expecting, really? A slave trader’s uneducated daughter understanding magic?

“Does that mean I might get pulled into Loretta’s emotions as well?”

But her question, pinpointing the core issue, momentarily shook Jeremiah’s eyes.

“That’s… correct.”

His answer came out somewhat dazed, perhaps due to his surprise. But he quickly regained his composure by clutching the hem of his robe.

“What happens then?”

“If we’re lucky, nothing. You’ll just get a little peek into her mind along with me.”

“If we’re unlucky?”

“You get sucked into the abyss of Loretta Baldwin’s mind and never return. Forever.”

That was as good as death. A body that doesn’t wake up cannot survive.

Maybe it was the grimness of the story, but Melody remained silent for a while. Jeremiah thought she would now want to let go of the hand at all costs.

After all, no one in this world would easily embrace death for someone else.

“Is it safe?”

After a long pause, Melody finally asked, probably about the likelihood of falling into the abyss, though that was something not even Jeremiah could predict.

“It depends on how quickly Loretta’s mind expands.”

“Is Miss Loretta going to be alright, even if she ends up swallowing me into her abyss?”

“…What?”

That question was far beyond what Jeremiah had expected, leaving him somewhat stunned.

He had never worn such an expression, even when summoned to explain things at the royal palace.

“Miss Loretta, I mean.”

Unaware of his shock, Melody asked earnestly again.

“Is she safe under all circumstances?”

Of course, she would be. Jeremiah’s magic was designed solely for that purpose. Loretta’s safety could be considered guaranteed.

The issue was Melody, an exceptional case.

“…Well.”

As he nodded, Melody finally allowed herself a small, relieved smile.

“That’s good then. Really good…”

While she seemed at ease, Jeremiah was more confused.

He had explained the life-threatening side effect, yet why did she come to this conclusion?@@novelbin@@

Shouldn’t she be asking how to prevent such an unfortunate event? What about her sense of self-preservation?!

“Have you always been this foolish?”

“What?”

“Why isn’t your response to let go of the hand?”

He shouted, somewhat agitated, but Melody didn’t seem to find Jeremiah frightening.

It felt to her like he was worried about her.

“Well, you said it yourself, Sir. Miss Loretta holding my hand is an instinct for emotional comfort.”

“That’s true.”

“But if I let go and she loses that hard-found stability, wouldn’t that be troublesome?”

Hearing that, Jeremiah realized it was another variable to consider.

At this point, he almost suspected that Melody was an expert sent undercover from somewhere, disguising her identity.

Otherwise, it made no sense for her to corner him, known as the prodigy of the Magic Tower, like this.

“…Do you mean it’s okay for you to disappear?”

“If it makes Loretta happy, I’m okay with it.”

Jeremiah erupted at her immediate response.

“Don’t speak so lightly!”

“…?”

“Whatever happens, you can never change the past! No magic can!”

The inability to rewind the clock and alter past choices was a curse equally bestowed upon all humans.

Whether they were gifted or not.

“So far, no magic has… been able to change the past.”

The last words carried a tinge of melancholy.

His research topic had long been focused solely on ‘time’, or more precisely, ‘the past’.

It might have been an obsession with ‘that day’. Perhaps he wished to piece his shattered world back together, however clumsily.

“Sir.”

Suddenly, Melody called out to him, and he turned to see her smiling gently. The slight curve of her eyes was endearingly mischievous.

“Do you need magic to go back to the past, Sir?”

“…What?”

“I always go back.”

His gaze wavered for a moment, even though he knew her words were nonsensical.

“By calmly recalling my memories.”

“….”

The absurd answer made Jeremiah turn his head sharply away. Frustration welled up for having harbored any expectation in response to her nonsense.

“What’s the point of going over memories that can’t change anything?”

It only leads to getting hurt again. Deeper and deeper.