The Villainess Is Shy In Receiving Affection

In fact, he was determined to let go of everything he had worked for in the capital while he was dragging Melody away.
He understood that he could be punished due to the commotion he made when he took her away, a guest of the Duke’s house.

Thinking back on it now, he didn’t ask Melody’s intentions for going there, so it became a useless resolution.
Anyway, he was serious at that time.

But the day after the incident, Duke Valdwin, Melody’s guardian, visited him himself.
The Duke made Isaiah stand upright and stared at him for a long time.

「You’re going to be a knight? 」

Isaiah immediately answered yes to his short question.
Though, of course, he added Melody’s words, ‘… As long as you allow it.’

「I get it.
」

「Are you saying that you will f, forgive me? 」

「Permission is my job, but forgiveness is Melody’s job.
」

The Duke gave him a brief answer and went back at once.
Since then, Isaiah’s ‘punishment’ had also been set.
In exchange for keeping his life, he was tasked with cleaning the knights’ sock laundry for the time being.

“Sock laundry?”

Melody thought, ‘It was nothing compared to what I was thinking of,’ but she could only think like this as she didn’t know how terrible the knights’ and squires’ socks were.

Isaiah couldn’t bear to say it here, but he was struggling to whiten the socks every day while stuck in an environment where his sense of smell was likely to be paralyzed.
He was in a pitiful position.

Anyway, Isaiah was happy that he didn’t lose his dream, and that he was able to get along with Melody again.

“Now it’s Mel’s turn.
How did you hurt your hand?”

“About that.”

Melody hesitated a little, then scratched her head shyly.

“… While I was attending.”

“What?! Why are you attending?!”

“The Duke gives me food to eat and gives me a room to sleep in, so I said that I wanted to help with anything.
Now, I am in charge of Young Master Claude’s tea.”

Isaiah wrinkled his face as if he had been bitten by a bug when he heard the words ‘Young Master Claude’.
He didn’t like that guy – even more so since he appeared in the prison last time.

It was strange.
He was the one who stopped Isaiah’s strange (?) behavior and kept the situation from getting worse, but it only made him feel more displeasure.

“So you mean that person you called Young Master made your hands like this?”

“Uh, no.
This happened while I was attending Young Master Ronnie.”

“Why are there so many Young Masters?”

“There are two Young Masters, and you have yet to meet the youngest Young Master.”

“That’s driving me crazy!”

Isaiah screamed for nothing.

In any case, there were many boys around Melody since a long time ago.
There were also those who bullied her.

“So, how did you get hurt?”

“It was nothing.”

One day, Ronnie, who suddenly ran into Melody’s room, insisted that she also serve him tea.

「Serve you? Why? 」

「I also deserve to be treated the same as my older brother.」

Melody nodded her head as if she understood.
It seemed that Ronnie admired Claude a lot and wanted to imitate every little detail about him.
Otherwise, he would not have asked Melody, who isn’t even the maid in charge of tea, to serve him tea.

「I understand.
It’s not difficult.
」

Ronnie’s eyes twinkled at her answer.

「Really?! 」

「But the Young Master seems to have difficulty drinking plain tea.
I will bring you some milk as well.
」

Despite her gentle suggestion, he crumpled his face as if he was offended.

「H, how dare you treat me as a child?! Do you think I drink something like milk?!」

She wanted to tell him, ‘You drink milk very well,’ but Melody just nodded her head and said yes.

“So, how did your hand get hurt?”

“That’s because when I was about to leave to let him drink the tea, he insisted that I stay until he finished the tea.
He got up hurriedly so the cup broke.”

Embarrassed, Ronnie hurt his hand while picking up the broken shards.
Melody was also embarrassed so she helped him pick up the shards and they ended up getting hurt together.

“It’s just a very slight scratch.
It just looks like I was really hurt because the adults were making a fuss about it.”

Melody laughed as she looked at her small wound, thinking of the grandmother who jumped up and said, ‘Are you thinking of killing this old woman in surprise?!’ But the grandmother was also very kind as she applied an expensive medicine on it and scolded her, ‘You healthy brazen minx!!’

“I am almost better now actually.
I don’t even need to apply more medicine to it.”

Melody wanted to prove that she was already okay, so she slightly unwrapped the bandages.
As she said, the scratches left on her fingertips were almost gone now.

“Look.”

Melody stretched out her hand and showed him.

“It’s alright.”

Isaiah carefully grabbed Melody’s hand and looked intently at where her bandage had been a moment ago.

‘I’m glad that she’s better now without any scars, but….’

It bothered him, the stubbornly persistent Young Master beside Melody.

“Mel, you know.”

He was about to tell her that it would be better for her to stop serving that Young Master, but the door in the living room suddenly opened without a knock.
Surprised, Isaiah and Melody’s heads turned to look there.

It was Ronnie who proudly came into the living room without any hesitation.
The servant behind Ronnie, who failed to stop him from entering, was repeatedly mouthing, ‘I’m sorry, Miss Melody.’

“How long are you going to be playing here?”

Ronnie groaned in an annoyed voice.
Although he was rude, Melody wasn’t particularly angry – because this side of Ronnie wasn’t harmful in the first place.
However, she was worried as his forehead was wrinkled in displeasure more than usual.

“Young Master.”

As Melody stood up from her seat and approached him, Ronnie flinched and took a step back.

“Did something happen by any chance?”

“Wh, why are you asking that?”

“Because your complexion doesn’t look good.”

“It’s all because of you!”

He groaned as he grabbed the doorknob.

“How long were you planning on making someone wait? The jelly would have melted and disappeared if I didn’t come to find you.”
(E/N: By jelly they mean something like jello, not something similar to jam.)

“Jelly?”

“Yes!”

‘It’s very expensive.
I waited for a long time just to buy that,’ he murmured.

“Oh, should I bring it to the Lady?”

“You’re really.
How are you going to carry the jelly when you hurt your hand… huh?”

He checked Melody’s unbandaged hand and hid his left hand behind his back.
As if he was embarrassed that his hand still had bandages.

“Anyway, you have to go with me.
I have to drink tea, and above all, the jelly…”

“As I told you before, Young Master Ronnie, it is advisable for children to drink milk.”

“I repeat, I’m not that kind of a little kid.”

“But you won’t grow taller.”

Pointing out his height, Ronnie glanced up at Melody’s head.
He seemed to be comparing their heights in his heart.

“… There’s nothing I can do.
I will drink milk if you beg me earnestly.”

“I am not begging you to.
I am just telling the truth.”

Ronnie snapped again at her sharp reply.

“How long will you talk about milk?! I mean, hurry up.
Are you going to make the jelly go bad?!”

I don’t think jelly will go bad this easily.
Ronnie seems to want to deliver it to Loretta as soon as possible.
He can bring it himself though.
Was that something he was embarrassed about because he doesn’t like doing it?

‘Anyway, you’re cute.’

Melody thought so and nodded her head.

“Alright.”

Anyway, Isaiah would go back in a little while, so there was no reason for her not to go along with Ronnie’s request.

‘Well, that’s better.’

She had been a little awkward with Ronnie since the broken cup incident.
He will feel better after drinking milk together.

Melody was grateful to Ronnie for providing her such a good opportunity.
Though she was dissatisfied with him bursting in so suddenly into the living room.
Anyway, this will bring a perfect sense of peace to Melody’s life in the mansion.

… was what she thought would happen.

“Mel is not your maid, little young master!!!”

Until Isaiah, who was quietly watching the situation, grabbed Ronnie by his collar and shook him violently.
The bewildered Melody rolled up the catalog next to her.

 

* * *

 

‘How did this happen?’

Melody looked alternately between Ronnie and Isaiah seated behind the table and sighed.

When Isaiah grabbed Ronnie by the collar, Melody lifted the catalog that just came into her hands.
She didn’t know why, but Isaiah quickly took a step back when he noticed the catalog in Melody’s hands.

Melody was relieved that she had managed to calm the situation a little bit.
But this time, it was Ronnie who jumped on Isaiah and grabbed him by the collar.
Eventually, the friction between the two started.

「Don’t treat Mel like a maid! 」

「It’s up to me no matter how I treat her! 」

They grabbed at each other’s collars and shouted loudly – for a lo~ng time.

They started a duel by throwing gloves to each other, thinking that nothing would happen if they only shouted and pounced on each other with vigor.