About Your Pride and My Prejudice

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I didn’t have time to dry my hair completely.

The maids who led me out of the bathroom cleaned me with busy hands, applied soft oil over my skin, and dressed me in an elegant colored gown. Meanwhile, I paused silently, feeling as if I were on the edge of a cliff.

My hair, which could not be neatly styled due to being wet, was hung over one shoulder with a light flower decoration. The damp chill that hung over my shoulders was persistently clinging to me as I moved anxiously along the endless hallway.

However, the direction the maid led me was different from before.  Whether it was day or night in the mansion, it was only a few days ago when I visited Alan’s office, and I remembered it clearly.

This direction is not towards the office. Where are you taking me?

“I…”

Eventually I stopped the maid who was ahead.

“Where are we going now?”

The maid turned and the candle in her hand flickered, casting a dark shadow over her face.

“To the dining hall.”

“……What?”

I froze as I gently touched my wet, curly hair.

Obviously I told the maids I wouldn’t have dinner tonight. Thanks to that, I was able to enjoy a leisurely bath.

So, it’s way past dinner time.

“But the time…….”

“I cannot let him wait any longer.”

The solemn answer sounded somewhat eerie. After all, there is no other way. I had no choice but to follow in the footsteps of the maid who had begun to take the lead again. My lips were parched with nervousness.

Soon the maid and I were standing in front of a huge door. A tension as heavy as the grand door weighed down on me.

“Young master.”

A faint motion sickness rushed in, as if I was standing on a ship that clashed with the rapid waves. I felt my fingers getting cold and traced the delicate grain of wood flowing over the door with a bashful gaze.

“I’ve brought her.”

With those words, the door opened wide. The moment I felt as if I was standing in front of the gates of hell, bright lights and fragrant warmth flooded towards me like waves. No wonder my legs are weak.

As if it were the smallest of the dining halls in the main building, the space beyond the door was much smaller than the dining hall in the annex where I always eat.  Nevertheless, the energy was incomparably gorgeous and cozy.

Alan Leopold sat alone like a painting on a broad table, white as snow. His skin, his shirt, was as pale as the moon in the night sky. The soft black hair was dyed with the warm golden glow of the candlelight.

When he opened his eyes slowly as if he were asleep, I could not avoid my eyes and burst into a small sigh.

“You’re here. Sit down.”

As the low voice rang through the hall, the servants in the room stepped away with courtesy as if they had made a pledge. I shivered helplessly at the sound of the door closing behind me.

“Sit down, Melissa.”

At first glance, a soft but terribly overbearing voice urged me.

Having managed to move at a steady pace, I sat carefully across from him. Unfortunately, there was no time to question why he was calling me by name as if we were close.

His voice melted into my ears again as I was staring at the back of my trembling hand with the white napkin in front of me.

“Next to me.”

“……What?”

“I told you to come closer because you have a small voice.”

“Ah….”

It felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest at any moment.  I quivered my lips like a fool. It’s too much just to sit face to face at this wide table, but next to him.…. I felt like I was going crazy.

But it was so obvious that he wasn’t asking for a favor, and I couldn’t turn him down. In the stifling silence, the piercing blue-grey gaze urged me to obey.

“…….”

I managed to get myself up. I couldn’t even breathe properly because of his cold eyes staring into my face while I stood up straight and took each step next to him…….

And when I finally crept beside him, Alan’s languid low voice greeted me.

“Your hair is wet.”

This is too close…….

“…..I don’t want to eat.”

I closed my eyes tightly and changed the subject. No matter the greetings, I can’t just talk about things like bathing with him.….

But Alan didn’t answer.

I could not turn my head to that side even after I gently opened my eyes in a puzzled mind, but I added, looking nervously down at the edge of the table embossed with the wave pattern.

“I-It’s not because of you.”

“…….”

“I didn’t have an appetite all day…….”

When I met him again, I had a mountain of things I wanted to say, but I was ashamed of myself for saying all the wrong things. I felt like I went back to being the clumsy girl one evening when I begged for a collection of poems or shouted with my whole body that I was in love.

In the meantime, the problem was that the strength in my whole body kept loosening. Is it because of the mellow scent that comes from the back of the neck? Or because of his face which is horribly beautiful looking at me?

Or maybe it’s because I realized again that I still love him…….

“That’s great.”

Then, Alan’s soft lips moved.

“It just so happened that I didn’t think about it either.”

“Oh, then I……!”

Let’s say I’m going back to the room. You’d better avoid him for now. With that mind, I carefully raised my head but had to shut my mouth.

His gaze as he was looking at me and his clear, smooth skin caught my attention.His transparent skin looking at me with his chin at an angle.  The sight of the soft light melting on it was more than enough to hold my breath…

Perhaps it was funny that I was obviously blushing, Alan whispered with a thin smile on his face.

“Then, alcohol?”

“…….”

……how can a conversation unfold like that?

While choosing my words out of embarrassment, he waved the golden bell on the table. Then a servant immediately brought the trolley. As if he was waiting outside the door.

It was an instant that a simple finger food, a black bottle of alcohol that could not be seen, and a sparkling crystal glass were placed on the table.

“Take it.”

The bottle in his hand was tilted and gently touched the crystal glass, which was clearly mine, and a clear sound, clink rang out. It shook me like a shot.

I waved my hands in a hurry.

“Oh, I don’t like this kind of alcohol.….”

“Can’t you drink?”

“Well, I can drink wine, but this kind of alcohol…… I can’t.”

A low laughter could be heard as I closed my eyes, blaming myself for answering the question in a docile way.

“It’s wine.”

“…….”

“I thought you didn’t like sweets. You don’t put sugar in your coffee.”

“That…”

I hurriedly shut my lips, ready to give a straight-forward answer again.

Calm down, Melissa.  Are you going to respond to the blatant idiot who casually says that he watched me at the coffee shop?

Though I thought so in my head, my eyes couldn’t stop gazing endlessly at the red lips, which shed a pleasant voice.

“Still, have a drink. It will relieve the tension.”

“…….”

All the thoughts in my head seemed to melt down like sugar in a coffee cup. On Florin Boulevard, at the ball, or when I met him in his office not long ago, he wasn’t this gentle to me. It was only in my dreams…….

“It’s freezing. You look like a completely different person than you were a few days ago.”

“That…”

My lips feel dry because of his beautiful smile which was like a painting. Why are you doing this to me? Was it so terrible that I loved him arbitrarily? How far are you trying to make me miserable? You want to destroy me completely?

Then Alan added in a faint smile.

 “I’m sorry I couldn’t take care of you after I got you out of there.”

Take care of ……?

I stopped breathing, doubting my ears. At that moment, Alan, who finished the second drink, held one out and whispered to me.

“Melissa.”

“…….”

At the sound of his voice calling my name, all hesitation until now had evaporated.  I quickly took the drink. The half-filled crystal glass was cold and quite heavy.

And after two deep breaths, I emptied the glass at once.

“Ugh…”

The place where the strong alcohol had passed was hot as if it were burning.  The bitter taste of whiskey was overwhelming……….

Shaking my head, I spat out the words I had been holding back.

“……Why are you doing this to me?”

Instead of answering, Alan transferred small pieces of fruit to a transparent plate. I closed my eyes, helplessly, as my gaze caught sight of the straight fingers holding the silverware.

“You hate me! You’re not in love…… Like this……!”

Clink, I woke up horrified at the sound of a plate being placed in front of me. At the slightest sound….. That’s how on edge I was.

“You hate it? It’s the other way around.”

“……I don’t understand. You’re making me suffer, even now…….”

“Are you sure you’re in pain?”

He spoke as if he were dealing with a child.

“You look happy now, your face shows it, dear.”

“What……. Ha….….”

My face was all hot. In the first place, the fact that Alan Leopold was breathing next to me was too much.

When I finally covered my face with my hands, his low voice was heard.

“I wouldn’t have brought you if I didn’t want to be nice to you. So I want you to stop being vigilant.”

“What you just said…… Is it like a catalyst for an author?”

Then Alan, who was taking the glass to his lips, smiled. I was forced to take all my attention away from the beautiful bent lips.

“I don’t come here often, but if you need anything, I want you to tell me.”

“…….”

“It’s okay to be uncomfortable, whatever.”

I had no idea what Alan Leopold was thinking.

But at least now he seems to be kind to me.  Even if this was an extension of his madness or just a prank disguised as a favor, it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

For me who didn’t know when his next return would be, I was in a hurry. So I had to interrogate him right now and persuade him to comply with my demands.

However, he was so dazzling that just peeking at him can make your toes curl, and my heart was too weak to make eye contact with him casually.

“First of all….”

So I decided to borrow the power of alcohol.

“Would you like another drink?”

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