Maylily - Chapter 85

The rain that soaked the forest of Prowden lasted for several days. Watching the scenery of gray days with no sun and black nights that hid the moon through the window, Maylily repeated the cycle of being held in the Count of Everscourt’s arms and falling asleep.

Except when the Count went to the main house to attend schedules with guests as the master of Prowden, they were together every moment.

They tangled their bodies day and night, shut their eyes when they were sleepy, ate when hunger struck, and then tangled their bodies again. As if they had become beasts who had lost reason and chased only instinctive pleasure.

Let it end like this.

In this time, let every feeling, lingering attachment, and desire they held for each other wear down and disappear.

But the Count’s gentle voice and gaze, crashing into her violently as he slammed their bodies together and shattering Maylily’s wish, kept gripping her heart and refused to let go.

Several climaxes passed. In the dulled sense of time made even heavier by the dim weather, when she quietly closed her eyes, the Count, buried deep inside Maylily, whispered low by her ear.

“What should I do, Maylily?”

It was a neat, soft voice, completely unlike the frantic sex that drove her into exhaustion so deep she couldn’t even lift a finger.

“I don’t think I’ll get tired of you even if I take you until your body’s worn out.”

The Count spoke while holding her reddened, swollen nipple in his mouth and slowly rolling it with his tongue as if savoring it. A faint hint of laughter lingered in his voice, but it didn’t sound like a joke at all, and Maylily’s breath caught.

I’ll succeed. I will. No matter how great you are, you won’t be able to reach out and lay your hands on my stage recklessly.

In that moment, Maylily realized that this was the way to walk out of this relationship on her own feet. She hoped the dream that the Count now held as her weakness would someday become the strength that protected her.

Before it was too late, before she was discarded, she wanted to discard this relationship. So she could break the arrogance of the man who believed he could control and wield her as he pleased.

Around the time she carved that new resolve into herself, the gloomy rain clouds that had covered Prowden cleared away cleanly. Before she knew it, August was right around the corner. Maylily finally escaped the forest that had been like a cage and set out on the road to Roden with the Count of Everscourt.

***

Even after returning to Roden, summer was still hot. Aberque Street, where most shops were closed to match the time when nobles spent their summer vacations at resorts, was quiet.

The Roden Opera House was the exception, bustling with life. With about a month left before the autumn season, rehearsals for each production had begun.

The day after returning to Roden, Maylily went straight to the theater. There wasn’t a rehearsal scheduled for any production she was appearing in that day, but she came to do personal practice.

As she passed through the wide tree shade stretching across the theater courtyard and entered the performers-only entrance, familiar faces began appearing one by one. They weren’t people she could say she was particularly close to, but seeing them again after a long time still made her happy.

Exchanging nods with smiling faces as she passed them, Maylily met Greta at the end of the corridor.

“Greta!”

“Lily!”

Smiling brightly, they hugged and greeted each other, then briefly shared updates. Greta, who spent the summer practicing at the theater every day after the spring season ended, said she went to the nearby beach with her family last week.

“I wore my hat and parasol so diligently, but I got this tan in just two days.”

Pointing at her sunburned face as she rattled off what was basically a complaint, Greta suddenly clapped her hands as if something came to mind.

“Oh, right, Lily, I heard you became a soloist this time? I heard the news the other day. That’s really great!”

“Thanks, Greta.”

Maylily, feeling uneasy about receiving congratulations for a position she got thanks to her patron, smiled awkwardly.

“I guess I still need to build up more skill and experience. It’s only my second year, so I’m trying not to feel impatient.”

Greta told her the disappointing news that she’d failed the soloist audition. Unable to offer either an apology or comfort, Maylily’s face darkened, and Greta gave her a bright, spirited grin.

“You don’t have to make that face. I’m going to become a soloist next year and use the same dressing room as you. You believe me, right?”

“Yeah, of course. If it’s you, Greta, you’ll definitely make it!”

“So keep holding onto that spot until I get there. I know I don’t need to nag because you’ll do well anyway.”

Even if it was the nature of this industry that a singer’s standing and treatment could change at any time depending on patronage, it was only natural that the looks directed at her, someone who grabbed a soloist position without even auditioning, wouldn’t be kind.

Even so, seeing Greta understand her and cheer her on with a generous heart made Maylily’s nose sting. It finally felt like they had become true friends, beyond just colleagues.

“Thanks, Greta. I like your nagging, so go ahead and do it as much as you want from now on.”

“If you taste how spicy my nagging really is, you won’t even be saying that after half a day.”

Maylily’s eyes softened, and she chuckled quietly at Greta’s teasing words. That was when someone walking up from behind struck her shoulder hard as they passed.

“Ah….”

Maylily let out a groan and staggered, reflexively turning her head to the side. Greta also stared in the same direction with startled eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing, standing there blocking the hallway? Do you not think about other people?”

A woman stopped at the stairs leading up to the next floor snapped at them irritably. It was Vanessa Fritz. Her face, thinner than before, gave an even sharper impression.

Did she come back?

Stunned by the unexpected appearance, Maylily quickly composed her expression.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be careful from now on.”

As if even that meek apology was displeasing, Vanessa shot Maylily a glare, then spun around and went up the stairs.

A carriage could pass through here. Greta muttered while glancing toward the passage behind Maylily, then asked casually, “Lily, you still haven’t heard about Miss Fritz, right?”

“What… news?”

After confirming that Vanessa, who was climbing the stairs, had fully disappeared upstairs, Greta continued in a secretive voice, “They say Miss Fritz came back thanks to the patron she found this summer. I’ve heard rumors that the patron is the Marquess of Rowford, and thanks to him, she even took on a few leading roles.”

Greta added that the Marquess of Rowford was a middle-aged noble who wielded considerable influence in both political and business circles.

“So I think it’d be best to be careful not to clash with Miss Fritz. She’s been especially harsh about keeping you in check for a long time. Of course, you have a patron too, so she can’t do what she used to, but still.”

At Greta’s worried advice, Maylily slowly nodded.

As the autumn season approached, Maylily’s goal was to carry out every performance flawlessly. Even if the roles she obtained came with the help of the Count of Everscourt, she wanted to prove that she was fully worthy of claiming them. To do that, it would be beneficial to minimize the mental and emotional energy wasted on matters outside the productions themselves.

“Thanks for telling me, Greta. I’ll be careful, like you said. Then shall we head up to the practice room too?”

“Yeah, let’s.”

Ending their conversation with smiles toward each other, the two of them began climbing the stairs together.

When it came to music and the stage, Maylily had always done her best, but this August, she poured more passion into it than at any other time in her life.

She diligently practiced on her own and entered rehearsals for the productions she was cast in fully prepared. She also built her abilities by observing and studying rehearsals for other productions.

In the midst of that, the date of the Count of Everscourt’s engagement party was set for late September. Each time Maylily felt that the Count’s attachment to their relationship only grew stronger as that day drew closer, she clung even more fiercely to music. As if it were the last remaining hope she had.

And just like that, a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the new opera season opened.

Maylily, who took on supporting roles in several productions, carried out her parts splendidly, drawing on her own charm and interpretation. Those were the moments when the skills she had honed so she could stand proudly on a stage gained through another’s help finally shone.

Even among troupe members who had looked at Maylily with envy for her sudden rise in status within the opera company, an atmosphere of recognition gradually spread. The public, too, began to focus not on her background as the Count of Everscourt’s sponsored singer, but on the songs she delivered on stage.

Success was still far away, but Maylily was taking steady steps forward each and every day.

Then, two weeks after the new season began, an opportunity for a fateful leap came to her.