Anything But Study - Chapter 39

“Then what about my dress? If I don’t have a dress, the party will be ruined!”

At the ear-piercingly sharp voice, Charlette frowned.

“Here at Charlette, we operate two boutiques.”

Even so, she responded calmly.

“The premium line, Charlette. And the standard line, Lette.”

There was no way the business could continue operating at this scale on Charlette reservations alone.

“There are plenty of beautiful dresses at Lette as well. When we informed you of the schedule change, we also booked you an appointment for a Lette dress.”

This season, she could wear a Lette dress, and next season, a Charlette dress. They’d been considerate enough to arrange it that way.

Other nobles would have welcomed that arrangement. After all, even Lette dresses weren’t easy to reserve.

“So it’s not accurate to say you don’t have a dress.”

It was a completely reasonable explanation. But Catrin refused to accept it and shouted back.

“But this time was definitely my turn! How can you suddenly do this!”

“If we’re being precise, it wasn’t originally your turn either.”

Catrin’s face turned bright red.

“I didn’t intend to say it this bluntly, but if you were able to push someone else out of their slot, why didn’t you consider that the same thing could happen to you?”

From the beginning, everyone gave their consent before making a reservation.

The premium line, Charlette, was in a position where such changes were possible, and everyone reserved with that understanding.

After all, there was already a solid compensation option in place with Lette.

Lette was popular enough to sometimes surpass other boutiques, so she was confident it wasn’t an unfair condition.

“Who is it! I need to see the face of the person who took my spot!”

But Catrin, apparently tireless, continued to make a scene and tried to force her way into the boutique.

Madame Charlette, however, was seasoned. She hadn’t risen to this position by dealing with nobles for nothing.

“If you continue like this.”

Her cold voice fell.

“You’ll find it very difficult to make a reservation at our boutique again.”

The warning was sharp. Catrin flinched.

Even if Catrin’s status was higher, she was the one who stood to lose here.

When she glanced back, the two young ladies who’d followed her were wearing fed-up expressions.

“Tsk….”

Catrin ground her teeth, seething.

It was infuriating. But leaving quietly now, swallowing the humiliation, was the right choice.

If she ended up unable to ever wear a Charlette dress again, she’d be a complete laughingstock.

And with witnesses present, rumors would spread quickly through noble society.

“There’s always next season. Let’s end this quietly today.”

“…Hah. Fine.”

In the end, Catrin had no choice but to suppress her anger and leave.

‘Just who is it? The person who stole my spot!’

She climbed into the carriage alone without letting the two young ladies ride along and slammed the door shut.

Their incredulous stares lingered on her, but she ignored them.

Before the carriage door fully closed, her furious gaze remained fixed on the Charlette boutique.

All of that anger was directed at whoever was inside.

***

After returning home, Melia opened the box containing the dress again.

‘Is this really mine?’

Even with it right in front of her, she couldn’t believe it.

It had only been an hour since Hailon gave her this dress and asked her to go with him to the seasonal party as his partner, yet it felt like a dream.

She’d denied it when Charlette asked if she and Hailon were lovers, but this….

‘It really feels like we’re lovers.’

Me and Hailon?

She shook her head side to side on her own.

Melia knew this much herself. Just because two people mixed bodies didn’t mean they were lovers.

Even so, why was Hailon so good to her? Good enough to take her as his partner to the seasonal party.

There was only one explanation she could think of.

Was it a kind of pity? Like the charity of the upper class.

Hailon had definitely seen it.

The way Catrin had openly looked down on her.

And he knew Melia’s situation too. He’d even seen her in a state where she’d almost been beaten by her uncle, so maybe he felt sorry for her.

If that was why he treated her well, then it made sense.

Even if that were the case….

When she thought of his face smiling as he asked her to go with him as his partner, her heart started pounding again.

‘When you smile like that, I can’t help but hope, Hailon.’

Melia wanted to ask.

Why are you so good to me?

Why do you always smile at me so gently?

Could it be that you….

Like me, even just a little?

She wished, just a little, that it wasn’t pity alone, that there was even a small trace of another feeling mixed in. That small hope kept piling up.

But she shouldn’t want more.

Melia forcefully dug through the feelings piling up inside her.

She already knew.

A few days ago, Melia had witnessed it herself. The scene where Hailon coldly rejected a girl who had worked up the courage to confess to him.

It was just yesterday, on the way to the lecture hall for class.

‘Huh? That voice….’

Melia’s steps slowed, then stopped completely.

“Sorry.”

It was a short word, but more than enough to recognize whose voice it was.

She heard it almost every day.

For someone saying sorry, his voice was chillingly cold. Cold enough to feel like he was talking to an inanimate object.

Melia’s gaze was naturally drawn in that direction, and there.

“Sniff, hic… still, I, l like you.”

A female student was crying in front of Hailon. Even as she rubbed her reddened eyes and her shoulders shook, she kept saying that she liked him.

Melia felt like she’d seen something she shouldn’t have.

But her feet felt glued to the floor and wouldn’t move.

What would Hailon say?

She had a strong feeling she wouldn’t be able to take even a single step until she knew the answer.

“What, you’re crying?”

Hailon only asked her briefly. His voice held no emotion at all.

But the girl seemed to think that if she cried, his heart might soften, and she started crying even harder.

“Sniff, sob, ugh, I mean….”

She took it as a positive response.

But.

“Ah, you’re noisy.”

“Sniff, sob. H-huh?”

“Didn’t you hear me? You’re noisy, so I’d like you to be quiet. I’m leaving.”

As if he didn’t want to stay even one second longer, Hailon left.

Melia stood there blankly and watched the entire scene.

To speak so coldly to that girl.

It was a side of him Melia had never seen directed at her even once.

The smiles he showed her, his gentle touches, made her fall into strange misunderstandings.

The coaxing voice, the heat that pushed her to her limits, all of it had been directed at Melia.

In the moments when she was alone with him, it felt as if she was his one and only lover in the world.

How could she not be drawn to someone who acted as if nothing else existed but her?

Before she realized it, being held in Hailon’s arms had started to feel natural.

A seed of doubt sprouted somewhere deep in her heart.

What kind of relationship are Hailon and I?

The questions that surfaced floated aimlessly through her mind, unable to settle on any answer.

But soon, those questions shattered inside her head. Melia herself crushed them and shook her head. Don’t think like that.

Didn’t she already know the truth?

She was nothing more than a partner to relieve the desires caused by the relic. Nothing more, nothing less.

If Hailon had partnered with another female student at the camp, then the one mixing bodies with him now wouldn’t be Melia, but someone else.

It was just a coincidence that Melia happened to be the one.

Knowing reality perfectly well, she only hated herself for hoping for nothing and falling into misunderstandings.

To Hailon Alfred, Melia Anderson was not someone special.

‘You already know that.’

Melia scolded herself.

There was no way she could ever ask Hailon what kind of relationship they had.

She avoided it because she didn’t want to hear the answer.

And because she selfishly wanted to keep this fluttering feeling just a little longer, she kept dodging it without ever saying it out loud.

‘Don’t overthink it.’

There must be a reason he asked her to go as his partner to the seasonal party.

He probably chose her because he didn’t want to get caught up in rumors with anyone else.

With a girl from an insignificant family like Melia, there wouldn’t even be a proper scandal, so there’d be no hassle.

That made sense.

Even so, every time she thought like this, it felt as if her heart was being gouged with a skewer.

It hurt. It was painful.

Melia believed that if she kept hiding her feelings for Hailon, they would naturally fade away.

Like the wind sweeping away sand, leaving no trace behind.

But that belief was wrong.

Faster than the wind could blow them away, her feelings for him kept piling up.

The mound grew larger and larger.

Before she knew it, it had become a mountain so solid that no storm could shake it.

So tall that Melia herself could no longer bear it.