Maylily - Chapter 120

The wind brushing past the moon hanging in the dark blue night sky was cold. Michele left the inn to arrive at the time Maylily’s performance ended and pulled the collar of his frock coat tightly together. In his hand was a shawl to give to Maylily.

Just like last week, the reason he went to pick Maylily up today was half because he didn’t want to imagine even for a moment the sight of her returning side by side with the Count of Everscourt, and half because of Carlo and Giovanna urging him on.

[Even if you end up letting Maylily go, you should at least try your best, you fool.]

[That way, you won’t have any regrets either.]

While the two still maintained a friendly attitude toward the Count of Everscourt who had been revealed as Dylan’s biological father, they also hoped Michele and Maylily would end up together.

Were they expecting some kind of fair competition between the two men surrounding Maylily? In any case, they really were too naive.

Today, Dylan fell asleep early, so he could leave him with the two of them and come out without worry. When Michele reached the restaurant after passing through the dim alley, he saw groups of people gathered near the entrance. They seemed to be guests who had just come out of the restaurant after the performance.

Passing through the noisy crowd, Michele was walking toward the back door. At that moment, he saw Maylily sitting at a table through the large window on the side of the building.

Across from her sat a middle-aged man. The familiar face with a square jaw covered in thick beard and a slightly curved hooked nose immediately caught his attention. Michele easily recalled the man’s name and position.

Armando edit to Monroe. Director of the Royal Opera Company of Cartia.

In the world of Cartian opera, he was a legendary figure, and there was not a single singer who didn’t know him. Michele recognized him even more easily because several years ago, he’d applied for an audition for the Royal Opera Company and saw him sitting among the judges. The result at that time hadn’t been very good.

Seeing the two sitting across from each other, a memory from yesterday suddenly came back to him. On his way back from the market after buying groceries, Michele happened to see Armando edit to Monroe and the Count of Everscourt leaving a café in the village square together.

Was that meeting related to Maylily?

Michele fell into thought as he looked at Maylily. She listened attentively to edit to Monroe’s words with a shy smile, but soon her face grew thoughtful. edit to Monroe took out a business card, scribbled something on it, and handed it to Maylily. The two of them soon stood up.

Michele walked a little faster and moved toward the back door. The Count of Everscourt, who he expected to be waiting for Maylily, was nowhere to be seen. Not long afterward, Maylily came out through the back door.

“Michele!”

Maylily brightened and ran toward him. Her softly shining golden bangs swayed cheerfully from side to side. Michele opened the shawl he was holding and draped it over her shoulders.

“Did you come to pick me up again today?”

“The night air has gotten quite chilly. I thought you might be cold.”

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I don’t have to worry about catching a cold.”

Maylily chuckled happily as she pulled the shawl up to her chin, enjoying the warm and soft feeling. Michele couldn’t help smiling as well.

By the time they entered the alley leading back to the inn after passing through the square lit by yellow streetlamps, Michele finally voiced the question that had been circling in his mind the entire way there.

“What did you talk about with Director edit to Monroe?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

Maylily’s wide eyes sparkled prettily in the streetlamp light.

“I saw you through the window. I’ve seen Director edit to Monroe before when he was working in Cereno.”

Ah, I see. Maylily murmured softly to herself. She toyed with the tassels on the shawl and spoke carefully.

“I received an offer to be scouted by the Royal Opera Company of Cartia.”

It wasn’t as a chorus member but as a soloist. For the most prestigious Royal Opera Company in Cartia, the homeland of opera, to offer a soloist contract to an unknown singer, and a foreign one at that, was extremely unusual and unprecedented.

But if it was the result of the Count of Everscourt pulling strings, then it was nothing surprising. Michele listened to Maylily quietly with a calm expression.

“He said he came to Bredova on vacation and happened to stop by the restaurant. And it just happened to be today. I guess I’m really lucky.”

Maylily smiled innocently without the slightest suspicion about what might lie behind that fortunate coincidence. The sight left a bitter taste in Michele’s mouth. All Michele could give Maylily was encouragement, yet the Count brought her the opportunity to stand on the greatest stage in Cartia. So easily.

“So, when are you leaving?”

“Leaving?”

Maylily blinked and asked back at the question filled with lingering regret. Then she immediately let out a low sigh.

“Actually… I was tempted, so I said I would think about it. But I think I should decline.”

“Why?”

“Dylan is still too young. If I go to Cereno, it will only be Dylan and me there. I don’t want to leave a child who can barely speak in someone else’s care for long periods of time. This is the time when he needs his mother’s care the most.”

Maylily smiled brightly as if it were nothing. But Michele knew better than anyone, as someone who once dreamed the same dream she did, that such a decision could never be easy. Maylily must also know how extraordinary the opportunity she was giving up truly was.

Then the best thing for Maylily would be to help her find a way where opera work and raising a child could coexist. But if he allowed Maylily to postpone her dream, he could continue his everyday life with her. Even if it was selfish, he didn’t want to let Maylily go yet.

Torn between Maylily’s dream and his own desire, Michele ultimately couldn’t say a single word to her by the time they reached the inn.

He couldn’t fall asleep late into the night. Michele lay on the bed staring blankly at the ceiling, then put on his coat and stepped outside. Perhaps a walk in the cold air would clear the clutter in his mind.

Pale moonlight poured down over the backyard. His gaze passed over the fluttering laundry line, the lush fig tree, the orange trees whose leaves glimmered faintly, and the small flowers beside them, until it reached Maylily’s bedroom window. The light was still on, as if she had not fallen asleep either.

He noticed the tall, dark figure standing beside it when he lit the tip of the cigarette between his lips. The smell of sulfur from the burning match pricked unpleasantly at his nose.

[Does Maylily know you’re hiding here and spying like a stray cat?]

At Michele’s low voice, the dark figure turned its head and slowly walked toward where he stood. The light spilling from the window cast a deep shadow along one side of the face drawn in smooth lines.

“Well.”

For someone who’s been creepily following a person around for over a month. The Count of Everscourt’s reply carried an air of innate dignity and composure.

Michele exhaled smoke tinged with irritation and offered him a cigarette. The Count accepted it without even a word of thanks, as if it were a right he naturally deserved. After lighting the tip and drawing in a breath, he paused. For a nobleman who smoked only the finest cigars, it must have tasted awful.

Yet the Count showed no further reaction and continued smoking. He could have simply flicked it to the ground. Was he graciously showing manners to me as well? That attitude was annoyingly aristocratic. Michele pulled hard on his cigarette until his cheeks hollowed, a crease forming between his brows.

[What scheme are you up to this time?]

“What kind of scheme could there be in a stray cat’s spying?”

[Armando edit to Monroe.]

Ah. A short, indifferent exclamation slipped into the air. Not even surprised that he was caught.

[I don’t believe it was a coincidence that he offered Maylily a scouting proposal.]

“And why should I explain that to you?”

[What if I tell Maylily that it was something you arranged, Count?]

“Then you would become the second man to crush Maylily’s dream.”

[….]

“And I will return the stage to Maylily somehow. So I’d prefer if we didn’t waste our strength on pointless things.”

It didn’t sound like simple bluffing. Over the past month, the devotion the Count poured into Maylily made the scale of his obsession with her unmistakably clear.

Was it really wise to entrust Maylily to the plans of such a man?

The Count was still an arrogant and overbearing man who bent others to his will. Yet his efforts to win back Maylily’s heart proved that she alone was an exception to him.

If he truly wished, taking Maylily back to Riverton right now wouldn’t be difficult. It would be impossible for Maylily to remain in Bredova by her own will.

Michele suddenly tossed away the cigarette butt that had burned down to the end and slowly opened his mouth.

[Maylily said she intends to decline the offer.]

Tap. The Count’s hand, which was flicking ash from the cigarette, paused.

“Why?”

[If she joins the opera company, Dylan will have to be left alone for long periods of time.]

“….”

[I’ll go inside first.]

That should be enough for him to understand. Michele turned away, leaving the Count who brought the cigarette back to his lips. He let out a deep sigh and looked up at the night sky. Over the moon shone Maylily’s smile, brighter than anything.

“You’re really a good person. Thank you, Michele.”

That damned phrase, ‘good person.’ That’s the problem.

A bitter smile spread across Michele’s lips as he headed toward the back door. It seemed he wouldn’t be sleeping at all tonight.