<Chapter 40>
#5. Be Assertive in Your Advances (2)
“Ugh…”
Melty hunched over with a pale face and covered his mouth. The hole that had suddenly appeared in the wall looked like the inside of a snake’s mouth, so he hadn’t examined it carefully. Assuming it would be stairs had been the problem. He couldn’t understand what kind of construction it was, but it turned out to be a steep, large slide. Melty simply couldn’t forget the sensation of his feet suddenly sinking and the feeling of wind against his face.
“Are you okay?”
“…Don’t talk to me.”
Melty weakly pushed away Calix’s hand as it stroked down his back, and groaned while curling his body into a ball. The sound of Calix’s laughter in his ears throughout his screaming remained vivid in his mind.
“Want some water? I didn’t know you’d be that scared…”
While Melty had screamed his throat raw, Calix had assumed it was a scream of enjoyment. Upon arrival, Melty couldn’t move at all with tears welling in his eyes. When Melty mentioned his legs had given out, Calix had diligently massaged them and rubbed his back, but Melty’s startled heart wouldn’t easily recover.
“Of course I’d be surprised when the floor suddenly sinks beneath me.”
In normal circumstances, he would have added about a million exclamation marks at the end of his sentence, but his voice couldn’t muster any strength due to exhaustion. Calix sat down next to Melty, sweating nervously at the reproachful look in his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I thought it would be fun. And walking would have taken much longer too.”
“…You mean we could have walked instead?”
“Yeah. Well… Ha, haha.”
Calix let out an awkward laugh at Melty’s reproachful gaze. Though he turned his head away, the meaningful stare burning into him made his cheeks sting. After clearing his throat loudly, Calix moved his body and offered Melty his back.
“We need to go a bit further. I’ll carry you.”
Melty glared at the back of Calix’s head with his lips firmly pressed together before obediently entrusting himself to Calix’s back. He squeezed Calix’s neck tightly before loosening his grip as he grumbled.
“If you had told me in advance, I wouldn’t have been so surprised.”
“That would have been less fun… Ow, ow! I get it. I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
Calix carried Melty on his back with ease and began walking. The wide corridor wasn’t particularly frightening thanks to lights illuminating various spots along the way. When Melty petulantly pulled at his hair in small acts of revenge, Calix quickly and promptly declared surrender.
“Don’t do that again next time.”
Melty murmured with his cheek resting on Calix’s shoulder. Calix quietly laughed at the warm sensation transmitted from behind. Melty pouted his lips, thinking that Calix’s laughter sounded like he was mocking him, and turned to look back. Just like when they first entered, he couldn’t see where the exit was even from this side. A question suddenly occurred to him, and he turned his head forward so quickly it made a whooshing sound.
“Be honest.”
“About what?”
“The pajama party thing—that doesn’t really exist either, right? You made that up too, didn’t you?”
Even without looking back, Calix could imagine Melty’s expression. He smiled, picturing Melty with puffed cheeks saying, ‘I’ve been deceived! You liar!’
“Why would I lie about something like that? Didn’t you ever have one when you were young?”
“No, I didn’t. Is it fun?”
At Melty’s mumbled question, Calix answered without needing to think.
“Well, I don’t know since I’ve never done it either…”
“…But you said it was fun?”
“I’m guessing it must be fun since so many people do it. I was never really interested in playing with other kids.”
Melty was about to nod in understanding when he belatedly noticed something strange. With his cheek still on Calix’s shoulder, he narrowed his eyes and asked suspiciously.
“…Kids?”
“Yeah. It’s usually something you do when you’re young. Around 10 years old or so?”
“You mean you recommended a children’s game to me?”
Melty’s body trembled with anger at the thought, ‘He’s making fun of me again.’ Sensing the murderous aura from behind, Calix hastily opened his mouth to protect his hair.
“Adults can do it too. Didn’t you say you’ve never tried it?”
“……”
“Since when are there age restrictions on games? Right?”
At Calix’s confident and shameless retort, the anger enveloping Melty quickly subsided. Thinking about it carefully, Calix wasn’t exactly wrong. Having calmed down instantly, Melty responded while fidgeting with Calix’s hair.
“That’s true.”
Calix chuckled at Melty’s docile agreement and continued walking diligently. Melty, quietly being carried on his back with nothing particular to say, stared intently at what seemed to be the same corridor.
“What exactly is this place? I didn’t know there was a passage like this in the mansion.”
“Of course you wouldn’t know. Only a few people are aware of it.”
“Is it okay to show me so openly? What if I use it for something bad?”
Calix smirked at Melty’s question. Originally, only direct descendants of the Padrian family could use this passage. Even if others knew of its existence, they could never use it.
“Someone planning to do something bad wouldn’t bring it up in the first place. We’re almost there.”
Melty looked forward at Calix’s words. Even without being told they had arrived, Melty could sense it naturally. His mouth automatically fell open when he saw what existed at the end of the long tunnel-like cave.
Calix carefully lowered Melty from his back. Melty remained frozen with his mouth open, completely unaware that Calix had put him down. What filled the wide open space was flowers. The sight of transparent light-bearing flowers lined up was more than enough to appear mysterious.
“These are ‘Dolmaui flowers.’ Don’t touch them.”
“These are Dolmaui flowers?”
Curiosity sparkled brightly in Melty’s eyes. The Dolmaui flowers, exclusively cultivated at Padrian, were famous. Known for carrying a flower that never withers, Dolmaui flowers were precious medicinal herbs used to alleviate many diseases. Not only was the flower’s shape itself beautiful, but it was also more famous for being able to grow without sunlight.
“They’re extremely rare flowers, aren’t they? And there are so many here?”
“Yes. Don’t go too far inside though. There are dangerous plants cultivated there too.”
Melty hesitated as he was about to head further in out of curiosity. Standing awkwardly, he blinked, waiting for Calix’s additional explanation. Seeing Melty’s expectant gaze, Calix smiled slightly and kindly elaborated.
“See the mix of black and red over there? Those are poisonous plants.”
Following Calix’s explanation, Melty stretched his neck upward and discovered red flowers with black-tinged tips. The small flowers were hardly noticeable due to their dark color.
“You grow Dolmaui flowers and poisonous plants together?”
As Melty asked his question, Calix was spreading out the picnic set that Jenny had prepared for them on one side.
“People have simply named what they can’t handle as ‘poisonous plants.’ Besides, Dolmaui flowers grow better alongside those flowers.”
Melty nodded, listening attentively to Calix’s explanation, and wandered around the outer edges where the flowers were planted. The constant exclamations of “wow” escaping from his mouth showed his amazement at seeing so many of the rare flowers at once. Calix’s mouth corners twitched upward into a smile as he watched Melty, unable to tear his eyes away from the flowers.
Calix, who had already prepared everything for the picnic, approached Melty.
“Why don’t you take a break from flower-watching for a while? Jenny packed quite a lot of snacks.”
“Snacks?”
At Calix’s words, Melty finally managed to tear his gaze away from the flowers. With his eyes wide open, Calix guided him to the picnic spot he had neatly arranged, with his arm around Melty’s shoulders. Sitting down on the cloth Calix had laid out, Melty picked up a scone beautifully arranged on a plate and put it in his mouth.
Despite having already enjoyed plenty of sweet desserts at the banquet hall, the snacks still readily found their way into Melty’s mouth. Calix’s attention was drawn to Melty’s cheeks, which moved up and down following the movement of his chewing mouth.
The trembling, jelly-like state Melty had been in when they first arrived at the Dolmaui flower garden was nowhere to be found now. Seeing him full of vitality, Calix chuckled.
“By the way… How did Jenny-ssi know in advance to prepare all this?”
“I told her before we left the banquet hall.”
“When? I didn’t see Jenny-ssi at the banquet hall?”
Even while trying to recall his memories, Melty’s mouth didn’t stop working. Wiping away the powder stuck to Melty’s mouth corner with his hand, Calix answered.
“I asked someone else to pass the message to her. Do you like them?”
“Yes! But these aren’t really to your taste, are they? You don’t usually eat these kinds of sweets.”
Melty spoke while holding up a cookie with a large chocolate piece making its presence known. Having been attached to Calix for work-related reasons for so long, he had figured out Calix’s food preferences a while ago. Calix preferred plain food. While he might occasionally eat cookies with subtle sweetness, at most he would pick up one or two with such obvious chunks of chocolate.
“You’ll eat more than me anyway. So it makes sense to match your taste, right?”
“…That’s true.”
Melty meekly agreed with Calix’s answer. More than half of the cookies that had been beautifully arranged were already in Melty’s stomach. Looking at the small head of Melty, who was staring at the few remaining cookies, Calix casually tossed out a question.
“So you know that those cookies aren’t to my taste?”
“Of course I do. I was originally contracted to be your personal chef, remember? I keep an eye on your preferences in case my duties change again in the future.”
“Hmm~ So you’ve been noticing and observing my food preferences?”
“That’s right. Honestly, if my gift hadn’t worked the way it did, I’d probably be working as your personal chef instead of as your assistant right now!”
As Melty continued speaking without even turning his head, Calix looked at him with a reproachful gaze and surreptitiously moved closer. Raising his hand to fix his hair, Calix secretly rolled his eyes to look at him. The initially melting Melty was now as fresh and vibrant as a newly bloomed flower. Suddenly, a conversation he once had with Melty flashed through Calix’s mind.
– Just… since I have two eyes, two ears, one mouth and nose and all that~ everyone sees things differently.
– So…you’re not my type.
Calix’s brow furrowed as he recalled how Melty had spoken cautiously yet firmly.
‘I’m not the kind of person who would hear that sort of thing from others.’
As evident from today’s exchange meeting alone, there were many who subtly aimed for connections between families. There was no small number of people who would blush at his gaze or try to flirt with him. Calix was very well aware of how attractive his appearance was to others. The only problem was that this weapon didn’t seem to work at all on the hamster in front of him.
“I’ve been thinking about something.”
“About what?”
Melty looked up at him with puzzled eyes. The round eyes blinked rapidly, urging him to continue. Calix cleared his throat loudly before continuing.
“What exactly about me doesn’t match your taste?”
