About Your Pride and My Prejudice

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T/N: 1 POV shifts to 3 POV

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Melissa and Alan strolled side by side in the garden on a warm moonlit night.

The two did not hold hands affectionately, and there was not even any conversation between them, but there was not a bit of emptiness. The sound of a gentle breeze gently stroking the leaves and the faint cry of an unknown insect rushed between them like a wave.

It was an oddly overwhelming night.

“Young master.”

When they arrived in front of the solemn main house, William, the butler, and the servants, who were waiting for them, all bowed together. It was then that Alan held Melissa’s hand. A clear pulse was transmitted from the inside of the thin leather glove.

Alan, who passed by the servants without a word, led Melissa to his room. He walked at a pace that is not too fast, in case she finds it difficult to walk with him.

Unlike in the garden, there was no sound other than the sound of two people’s footsteps in the dimly lit hallway. Not even the faint sound of the wind was heard.

Melissa felt the heat in his hand that held her hand. She had to struggle the whole time she walked along Alan and had to calm her heart that was about to burst.

In the grand and old-fashioned room, the firewood in the fireplace was burning with a crackling sound. It was a night when the subtle scent of roses and oak trees melted cozily and harmoniously. Melissa thought his room was no longer like winter.

She spoke cautiously.

“The fire is already….”

“You’re always trembling.”

“…….”

It wasn’t necessarily because of the cold. Melissa made a blank face. Then Alan pulled her hand and made her sit on a bed bench in front of the fire. It was a natural movement like flowing water.

He sat beside Melissa as she fiddled with the hem of her dress with an awkward touch. Then there was a distant silence again. Melissa swallowed the dry saliva, staring at the blazing embers in the distance.

What should I say now? What should I say…….

She wanted him to speak first, but his tightly closed mouth did not seem to open easily. It was embarrassing.

Melissa endured the silence stubbornly. But there was something more unbearable than this heavy silence.

His blue-gray eyes that persistently stared at her. His intense gaze was constantly distracting.

“…….”

Alan seemed to be waiting for her to speak first, or he must be lost in thoughts. But he never took his eyes off the woman who sat beside him, even for a moment.

And Melissa had a problem that she couldn’t look into Alan’s eyes for long. It was because when she looked into his eyes, her face became as hot as a fire.

Nevertheless, Melissa decided to surrender to Alan. As always. However, the question of whether he loves her did not come out of his throat.

So she brought up a completely different story. Throwing a straight gaze over the flames in the hearth.

“……I heard about Miss Elwood.”

Alan didn’t even move as he had their clasped hands resting neatly on his legs. His beautiful eyebrows that looked as if they were painted might have wrinkled slightly.

Melissa became impatient.

“Sa-Sandra told me because she thought about me. I hope you don’t punish her. I’ll never, ever tell anyone about this story.….”

“So.”

Unlike her, who was flustered with embarrassment, the man sitting next to her was not disturbed at all. As if that was nothing, he still had an indifferent face.

“What did you think?”

Fortunately, Melissa replied with a shallow sigh, noticing that his deep voice was not as cold as usual.

“I thought it was a relief…….”

Alan chuckled at the remark. Obviously, it was neither ridicule nor arsenic. Then Melissa thought she could be more honest. To him and herself too.

“I’m glad that scary woman isn’t your lover.”

“What do you mean by scary?”

“Actually, she came here several times and we’ve had a meal together. She suddenly said wanted to be my friend and yet observed me with the face that said otherwise…….”

Even if she tried to think that it was just an observation, there was something incomprehensible to Monica’s method.

Alan asked back.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“If I told you that she was here…… She said she will kill my maid, so.”

Then he chuckled.

“Some things are arbitrary, but Monica can’t be a great person who can kill people casually.”

“…….”

“She doesn’t look like her father. Except for those damn eyes.”

“Oh…….”

Melissa realized again that Alan no longer hid the story of the family from her. Even after she heard his answer, she was amazed at how she no longer accepted it as a defense for Monica or even got immersed in the desperate sadness.

Now she was feeling some sort of security by Alan’s side, not anxiety or sadness. Surprisingly.

It suddenly crossed her mind that the terrible deaths which Sandra mentioned might have been done by the Leopold Head, not Monica, but that was not the point of the story that the two should share now.

“So, it was a relief.”

At that moment, Alan parted his lips.

“Is that all you feel?”

“Huh?”

“I want to hear it. I wonder if the desire to live in a winter that resembles me is still the same.”

“That….”

[T/N: POV shifts to Alan]

Her cheeks were dyed with a pleasing color as if the paint was spreading. Alan laughed softly. It’s only because her reddish face with the golden light just looks lovely.

Having never handed over the initiative to anyone before, he didn’t want to admit that his heart was completely taken by this fluffy woman. So he had been denying and turning a blind eye for quite a long time.

It would not have been so confusing if she had been strong enough without surrendering, or hard and sharp enough that she could not be cut. She was just a woman who talked like a soft rippling wave and smiled like a fresh flower.

“I told you what I wanted, Melissa Collins.”

He spoke while emphasising on her name. Alan thought he should have admitted earlier if he knew it would make him feel so comfortable.

Honor and goal. A tiring life which he lived, like a person who couldn’t see anything other than those two. Occasionally, under the pressure of death, Alan always stood there. Only because it was the only reason and meaning of his existence.

However, he did not dislike this harmless intruder who arbitrarily demolished all the traces he had and the walls he had built. Even though he was unfamiliar with himself, he desperately needed her by his side at every moment.

“Why me? I…… I….”

Melissa looked afraid for some reason. He pointed it out exactly so that she could never be confused, so why is she asking such a question with such a silly face? Alan’s eyes narrowed slowly.

“I thought you… I thought you wanted only beautiful things. So rather than people like me…… Miss Monica Ellwood or Lady Farrington..… Like Her Highness Princess Cynthia…….”

“Melissa.”

Alan stopped Melissa from speaking in a soft voice. His muse was already an artist by herself, so she was very imaginative and delicate. So if he let her continue talking, she might soon shed tears like beads. Alan didn’t want it.

Though it’s a different thing that his mind thinks that, it’s nice to see her shedding tears pitifully

“It’s true that I only want beautiful and clean things. That’s why I want you, Melissa Collins.”

How many times do you want me to tell you? Melissa’s face heated up like a peach at a small murmur he added in the last.

“I’m not beautiful, I’m not clean—”

“Ah, are you doing this on purpose?”

“………No……”

Then Alan laughed like a breeze. Even if she acted as clever as a little fox, there was no reason why he shouldn’t be willing to be fooled.

“Haven’t I already said the word “pretty” many times? If there are specific things you want me to say, there are a lot of them.”

“…….”

“Your lips, your neckline, your soft nape, your body without a mole.”

“W-wait….”

How can he do this without changing the color of his face…….

Unable to bear the shame, Melissa managed to stop him. It felt like her ears were melting. The flame in the bonfire is small and is burning softly so it must have been this man who melted her like butter on pancakes.

Melissa mumbled, covering her flushed face.

“I have a mole,……On my right cheek.….”

At that moment, Alan’s cold hands gently squeezed both of her wrists. Melissa shuddered at his sudden touch, who had low body temperature, while the hands that covered her face were gently pulled down. Like the falling petals…

“How can I not know that?”

Soon the breathtakingly beautiful face of a man filled her watery vision.

“It’s driving me crazy.”

Whispering, Alan gently kissed her right cheek.

“Hnng……”

As she was unable to avoid him, Alan laughed with a sigh as he looked down at Melissa, who was shivering in his sweet afterglow with her eyes closed.

“It’s the tastiest part of my day, you.”

“Tastiest?”

Melissa, who opened her eyes softly, asked with a slight frown on her fine brow, her brown eyelashes fluttering like butterflies. Alan gently wrapped her cheeks.

He had never liked sweets since he was a child. It was natural that he never thought he wanted to eat decorations on the cake. However, when he looked at this small, shiny face, he strangely felt hungry.

“I mean. Like cherries on cupcakes.”

At those gentle words, her lips, small and red like a cherry on top of whipped cream, gently opened. Alan felt the urge to lick it carefully.

“……Indecent.”

A song-like voice permeated his ears.

“I-I didn’t even imagine that a person like you would say ‘taste’ in such a way. Sir Alan Leopold that I know is a very elegant businessman…….”

Her lips were acting rough, but strangely excited. It was so cute that Alan, who sighed, put his forehead on her smooth forehead.

“Melissa.”

He said in a languid whisper

“I’m done with my work. And today.”

“…….”

“I’ll be with you until morning.”

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T/rant: hmm okay, it’s pretty clear that Alan is a S and Melissa is a M ¯_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

Me after I read Monica gaslighting Maurice:

On the brighter side…readers who are following this religiously and have been reading all the updates just wanna share the good news that there are only 20 more chapters for the main story to get finished

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