About Your Pride and My Prejudice

Side Story Chapter 15: Nightmares

Side Story Episode 15: Nightmares

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Winter.

The season when fierce winds linger outside the window.

“Alan.”

Recently, Alan has been having nightmares more frequently.

“Honey, wake up.”

Tonight was already the third time she had woken up to the sound of his groaning in the deep of night. Carefully stroking her husband’s side in the darkness, he met her eyes with a dazed look.

“Melissa?”

“…Sigh.”

As she kissed his pale forehead and stroked his hair, he weakly leaned into her.

“Yes, it’s okay. Good boy…”

* * *

After a light meal, they sat across from each other at a sunlit table—him with the daily newspaper and her with her notebook—on an early afternoon, the most peaceful time of the day.

It was also Melissa’s favorite time.

‘Of course, any moment spent with you is…’

Melissa couldn’t take her eyes off Alan’s concentrated expression, his cold gaze fixed on the paper, and the occasional faint furrow of his brow. She soon put down her white quill and propped her chin up. Then, without realizing it, she mouthed the words.

I love you.

“Why, Melissa?”

At that moment, he looked up. The faint winter sunlight brushed against his slightly furrowed eyes. In such moments, his eyes were so pale and transparent that they looked like snow crystals.

“Nothing, really.”

“Sigh.”

As she hastily averted her gaze, her cheeks blushing, a faint smile spread across his tired face.

“Do you want a kiss?”

“…No? I won’t interrupt.”

“Interrupt? That wouldn’t happen.”

“…”

“Come here.”

Melissa hesitated for a moment, then slowly stood up. The light green velvet dress she received from Madame Conte’s boutique two days ago rustled softly.

In any case, his words about not being interrupted were certainly true. Last month, after completing a trade expansion treaty with the Hua Empire, Alan made two declarations: he wouldn’t attend parliament for a while, and he would take a break from all state affairs.

Naturally, the upper echelon of Lunoa was abuzz. However, there was someone who fervently supported his vacation, recalling the Count of Elsinore’s contributions to the principality with great enthusiasm—Brigadier General Riemann

She had once heard from a maid that he was the one who had halted Alan’s railroad investment project. However, she only recently learned that Brigadier General Riemann was the father of ‘Miss Marcella,’ a name she had come across during the founding festival. It turned out that Riemann’s pressure on Alan was all because of Lady Riemann.

When Melissa asked Alan for details about why the general changed his stance, he merely shrugged. He either didn’t know the reason or didn’t consider it significant.

The important thing was that Alan now had more leisure time. Though the increasingly cold wind reduced their outings on the lake, they spent much time at the estate and in the greenhouse garden, occasionally taking strolls in the city,

“…Melissa.”

and sometimes not leaving the bedroom all day.

“Can’t breathe. Just a moment.”

Alan, raising his hands in surrender, smiled even as their lips remained locked, showing his wife who seemed determined to become the best kisser in the principality. Only then did Melissa snap out of it and quickly pull her head back.

“…Sorry…”

“Had enough?”

In her hands, she held the face of the person dearest to her in the world. And in his shining eyes, there was only her face reflected. Could there be a greater miracle than this? As she gently caressed his tired cheek with her thumb, his unusually reddened lips slowly curved into a smile.

“But Alan, you look worn out.”

“It’s nothing.”

“You had that dream again last night, didn’t you?”

“……”

The dream that had been tormenting Alan lately was always the same. A dream of running along a dark, pitch-black shore. He mentioned hearing the sound of waves crashing, so it must have been the night sea. An unknown beach, so dark that nothing could be distinguished.

He said that in that dark sea, he could hear a sound. A sound that was very mysterious, something he had never heard before, simultaneously frightening and strangely heart-wrenching.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a dream of being chased or attacked, but Alan felt as though the sound was calling out to him. It distressed him because he couldn’t respond to that call.

“It feels like it’s asking to be released.”

“…But it’s only natural that you can’t go into such a dark sea.”

Melissa softly stroked his cheek.

“So, there’s no need to feel guilty. I had nightmares about monsters when I was little too.”

“Do you think it’s a monster?”

“Of course, isn’t it? You said it was a sound loud enough to fill the whole world.”

“But it didn’t feel like noise. It was, how should I say…”

Alan pondered for a moment, then pulled his lady into a tight embrace.

“No. No, Melissa.”

“…..”

Melissa rested her cheek on his soft hair, pausing in the fragrant love.

Then Alan spoke again.

“In fact, I think I know why I’m having these dreams.”

His deep voice resonated particularly heavily. As they held each other tightly, it felt as if his voice was flowing into her like a river.

“…What is it?”

“I received a message from the Sourne royal family.”

“The royal family?”

Melissa pulled away from Alan, startled like a rabbit. His expression was serious, so it couldn’t be good news.

“When?”

“About two weeks ago. They want me to come to the palace. It’s about the family.”

“The family…?”

“Sorry for not telling you earlier. I haven’t fully sorted out my thoughts yet.”

His sigh dispersed like mist. Melissa watched his thick eyelashes blink slowly, her mind filled with complexity.

Family matters? The Leopold family, which had been passed on, had already been officially returned to Sourne. Queen Cynthia had restructured Leopold into an institution for the welfare of the kingdom’s people and was running it excellently, a fact that had been reported several times in the principality’s newspapers.

Could there be a problem with Leopold? But even if that were the case, Alan had lost all rights to Leopold. Why would they contact him?

‘Or are they seeking some sort of help related to the family? Advice or something…’

But even that didn’t explain why Alan was so deeply troubled.

Even if afraid, she had to ask. They would have to face any hardship together. After all, isn’t that what marriage is about?

“What happened?”

“Ian Leopold is dead.”

“……”

Melissa held her breath at the sudden revelation. She didn’t even want to know the cause of death.

Her question, barely held together, was even more fragile than the faint winter sunlight.

“Are you going there for… his funeral?”

“No. The royal family already held a brief service.”

“Oh…”

“He was already too decayed to do anything more.”

Melissa turned pale and covered her mouth. Alan, brushing back his damp hair weakly, sighed heavily once again.

“Sorry for telling you things you didn’t need to know.”

“Then… why did the royal family call for you?”

“Melissa, it’s a bit complicated.”

This was the situation: Before the head of the Leopold family disappeared, he had transferred all the family’s authority to Alan through written documents. However, it turned out there were still some powers that had not been officially delegated.

Since the direct transfer procedure was skipped, some of these powers still belonged to Ian Leopold. Upon his death, these automatically transferred to his adopted son, Alan.

The royal family informed Alan of Ian’s death and politely requested that he transfer these additional powers.

Of course, Alan had already handed everything over to Sourne and had no intention of holding on to any additional powers that he unknowingly acquired. To him, Leopold was merely a ghost from his dark past.

“A new headmaster is apparently being appointed to the academy.”

Thanks to the astronomical donation from Sir Alan Leopold, the Royal Academy had renovated and expanded its old facilities and greatly increased the number of scholarships. Alan, who had been instrumental in making the academy what it was and remained a role model for the students, was naturally,

“They want to… meet you.”

It was only natural that the new headmaster would want to personally meet Alan.

“Alan.”

The issue was that Melissa had noticed his subtle trembling.

“Are you afraid? Of returning to the kingdom?”

“…”

“The truth is, the reason we came to the principality was…”

“To escape the shadows of the past.”

Even though they had started a new life here, as long as their connection to Leopold wasn’t completely severed, they couldn’t truly call this liberation.

Of course, going to Sournea to complete the transfer procedures and returning wasn’t a laborious task. But Alan would undoubtedly experience a mix of emotions.

Ian Leopold was both the one who had thrust young Troy’s life into a mire of trauma and the person who made Alan who he was today.

Though his methods could never be deemed right, the fact that he shaped Alan Flynn’s world couldn’t be denied. Even though it had been a long time since Alan had heard anything about that cold-hearted man, disappearance and death were entirely different matters.

“I… sigh.”

Alan felt a fear as if part of his world had literally collapsed.

Even if he returned to the kingdom, he had no intention of visiting Ian’s grave. But could he truly erase him completely without seeing the man’s death with his own eyes?

Alan was simply anxious. Even if he tried to act nonchalant as usual, he couldn’t shake it off. The death of Ian Leopold felt like an eternal loss, something he found terrifyingly loathsome and deeply frightening at the same time.

No, perhaps it was torment. An emotional storm that couldn’t be defined in words was engulfing him entirely.

“Alan.”

At that moment, Melissa’s hands gently enveloped his like soft waves. The faint warmth seemed to suddenly ease his breath.

“I’ll go with you.”

“….”

His eyes, cold and pale like a frozen lake, slowly lifted. His tired eyelids looked unusually poignant.

“What’s the point? It will only lead to more gossip.”

He was right. Alan Leopold was literally the darling of everyone, the heir to a greatly admired family.

He had exposed the family’s secrets, returned everything to society, and even discarded his surname. To top it off, he had married a woman unknown to the public. Every step he took was shockingly unprecedented.

Naturally, Lady Flynn had become a subject of endless speculation and rumor in the Sorné social circles.

“If we go together, it might be a bit easier. Don’t you think?”

Enveloped in her gentle embrace, he closed his eyes.

“That’s enough for me. Besides, there’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, Alan.”

“…Something you’ve been thinking about?”

Alan looked up at his wife as he carefully held her slender arm. Melissa smiled brightly, her face seeming to carry the scent of sunshine.

“Let’s go to Whitewood, shall we?”

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