<Chapter 39>
#5. Be Assertive in Your Advances
Melty stared at the outstretched hand before grasping it without much thought. He followed Calix with quick steps as he led him forward eagerly. When Melty finally recognized where they had arrived, he looked around with a blank expression. Blinking slowly, he asked a slow question.
“You said a ‘fun place’…?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
As Calix nodded matter-of-factly, Melty clenched his fists tightly. Though he hadn’t particularly trusted Calix, his inflated expectations had deflated in a short time. He slowly looked around at his surroundings. Pressing down on the soft surface under his bottom, Melty asked with a suspicious expression.
“Your ‘bed’…?”
Melty’s head was still full of question marks. When they were heading to Calix’s room, he thought it was to pick something up. But proving Melty’s thoughts wrong, Calix closed the door tight as soon as they entered and said “ta-da.”
Looking at Melty’s face changing from puzzled to dubious, Calix laughed cheerfully and asked:
“Why? Can’t a bed be fun?”
At Calix’s brazen question, Melty’s mouth fell open. His lips trembled, too dumbfounded to respond. Observing Melty’s face with amusement, Calix calmly sat down next to him on the bed.
Of course, there were more than enough fun things that could be done on a bed. But he had no intention of doing that today. Even besides that, there were many things that would make Melty open his mouth in delight. Having succeeded in completely separating him from Johaim, he was already satisfied with that.
“There will be lots of people today who are either guests or freeloaders, so the mansion will continue to be noisy.”
“Even so. How is Calix-ssi’s room a ‘fun place’?”
Calix laughed softly at Melty’s complaint and readily agreed. There was nothing wrong with what he said. The main reason he had taken Melty away from the banquet hall was to prevent him from getting further entangled with Johaim.
Of course, it also bothered him that Lila McNeil had mentioned Johaim as Melty’s ideal type among countless people, and that there were others lurking around looking for an opportunity to approach.
“Aren’t you being too harsh just based on the location? There’s such a thing as a pajama party, you know.”
“I know that’s just a lie too. Why would anyone have a party in pajamas?”
“Do you really not know? Have you never heard of a pajama party?”
Melty hesitated at Calix’s nonchalant reply implying ‘everyone does it.’ Trying to determine if what he was saying was true, Melty scrutinized Calix’s face.
“…Is there really such a thing?”
“You’ve been deceived your whole life. Yes, of course there is.”
At Calix’s exaggerated nodding, Melty fell into deep thought. Having always been confined to his room due to health issues and never having made friends, it was impossible for Melty to verify the truth of his statement. Just as Calix was about to reveal the truth to him while he was tilting his head in contemplation, there was a light knock at the door.
Calix smiled at Melty, who startled and perked up his ears, and got up. Following closely behind him, Melty peeked out from behind Calix’s back to see who was at the door.
“Oh? It’s Jenny-ssi. What brings you here?”
Jenny smiled brightly at Melty, who spoke with round eyes, and handed a picnic basket she was holding to Calix.
“I prepared it as you requested.”
“Ah. Yes.”
“You have a schedule tomorrow, so you should return before it gets too late.”
Jenny smiled kindly at Melty, who still looked confused, and handed him a coat she had brought along. Unlike Calix, who was checking the contents by opening the picnic basket cover, Melty accepted the coat with a puzzled expression.
“Since it might be cold, don’t stay out too long.”
“Cold…?”
Melty, who had asked back with a confused face, looked around while firmly holding the coat with both hands. He couldn’t understand why a coat was needed for a pajama party in a warm indoor space. Jenny’s gaze, which had been observing Melty tilting his head, turned to Calix.
“Didn’t you two discuss this already?”
“I was about to when you arrived. I’ll handle it, so just go and take care of your work.”
Jenny sighed as she was pushed away by Calix, who was urging her to leave, and took a step back.
“Then have a good time.”
She closed the door, leaving behind her polite greeting and gentle smile. Melty, who had been staring blankly at the closed door, turned his head to look at Calix.
“What did Jenny-ssi just say? If it’s a pajama party, don’t we need pajamas?”
“It seems you don’t like pajama parties much.”
Calix handed the picnic basket he was holding to Melty. Having received the basket without really thinking, Melty followed Calix, who was walking toward the wall inside the room.
“What are you doing?”
“I told you I’d take you to a fun place.”
Calix, who spoke with a hint of laughter, skillfully felt along the wall. With each movement of his hand, a finely carved snake’s head began to appear on what had been a flat wall. It was unclear exactly where his hand was pressing, but the flat snake mark gradually became three-dimensional. Soon after, with a click, the tightly closed snake’s mouth opened wide.
“Eek!”
Melty, at a loss for words at the sudden hole in the wall, stepped back warily. Calix stretched his arm to catch Melty before he could run far away and said with a smile:
“Why are you running away? This is just the beginning.”
“B-beginning? What beginning?”
Thanks to the brightness of the room, the open mouth of the snake was slightly visible, but its end couldn’t be seen. Though he clearly knew theoretically that it was just a snake carving, perhaps because of the dark interior, it felt like a real snake’s throat.
“Why are you so frozen? Didn’t you say you wanted to go to a fun place?”
“And you, Calix-ssi… You said we were having a pajama party!”
Calix laughed out loud at Melty’s outcry full of indignation. Looking adoringly at him as he groaned and tensed his body, threatening to flee, Calix opened his mouth.
“We’ll have the pajama party next time. Let’s go for a picnic now.”
“…Picnic?”
“Yes. It’ll be fun.”
At his voice reassuring him not to worry, Melty surreptitiously turned his head to the side to look at the gaping mouth of the snake carving. Calix, who very naturally wrapped his arm around Melty’s shoulder, took small steps forward.
“D-don’t pull me.”
“Why? You enjoy flower viewing but dislike picnics?”
At Calix’s question, Melty closed his mouth tight. As pretty flowers began to settle in the garden of the Padrian mansion, Melty enjoyed taking walks. But if those walks required going through a snake’s throat like this, he would definitely have thought twice.
“Are you actually afraid of dark places?”
At Calix’s puzzled question, Melty couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘The problem is that it’s shaped like a snake’s mouth.’ Curiosity and fear waged a fierce battle within him. And the result of that battle ended rather anticlimactically. It was just a secret passage through a wall, but as Melty’s hesitation grew longer, Calix finally stepped in.
“Shall I make it not scary for you?”
“H-how?”
“Leave the method to me. What do you think?”
At the smile that appeared on Calix’s lips, Melty closed his mouth tightly. Although he felt it would be easier to just obediently entrust himself to him, he simultaneously had an ominous premonition.
“Can’t we just go out through the main entrance?”
“No. We’re going to a secret place. If we go out through the main entrance, other annoying people might follow us.”
“‘Secret place’?”
Melty, who had been hesitating, looked up at Calix intently. Seeing the anticipation rising in his round eyes, Calix maintained the most gentle smile he could. The word he had recalled based on their previous conversations seemed to have really pleased him. Satisfied with his own statement, Calix nodded emphatically.
“We’ll get there quickly this way. It’s really just for a moment. Shall I help you?”
“…Well, I guess…”
Melty, who had been hesitating, nodded up and down. With a satisfied smile at the hard-won consent, Calix put on a thick coat. He also didn’t forget to take the coat tightly held in Melty’s hands and help him into it.
Thanks to this, Melty, who became even more comfortable in the already warm room, obediently followed his instructions. Hugging the picnic basket tightly with both arms, Melty looked back at him.
“Do I really just need to stay like this?”
“Of course~”
With a cheerful reply, Calix embraced Melty tightly from behind. As Melty was about to question the sudden skinship, Calix’s voice reached his ear.
“Now, take one step forward.”
Despite it being just a short sentence, Melty took a step forward without any particular doubt. And then he felt his body suddenly sinking downward. He didn’t even feel Calix embracing him strongly from behind. Melty let out a resounding scream with his eyes tightly closed.
“Aaaahhhh!!”
