Chapter 130: Until Dawn Breaks |
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Epilogue
This story is entirely fiction.
If I wrote this in the author’s review, would people who read my book be taken aback?
I need to correct this so there is no room for misunderstanding. This is the true story of what happened to Melissa Collins, or rather, Melissa Flynn and Alan Flynn. I, Melissa Flynn, copied it and published it as a novel. The names in the story are Melita and Troy.
As you can see from my last name change, we became a couple.
t turns out, on the day I was proposed to, I unexpectedly reached out and offered Alan my great-grandaunt’s ring, which made him laugh, but due to Alan’s large hands, it couldn’t become our wedding ring. Now, it’s safely kept in my treasure box.
Our wedding was held in a rose greenhouse filled with cozy light and scent. To borrow his expression, in a large bouquet of flowers. It was a day when white snow fell like a blessing.
Following Alan’s words that ‘preparations’ were necessary, we decided to inform her family by letter later, so the guests who witnessed our wedding were William and Sandra—Alan called her back to the mansion just before the wedding!— and other guests.
Of course, Alan wanted to throw a big wedding for me, but it was I who convinced him that this small greenhouse garden was enough.
I thought we needed to adjust to our new life. Because he is no longer Leopold’s successor.
Well, anyway, to return to the story of the novel, the beginning was clearly a series of somewhat incomplete feelings of vain unrequited love and secret obsession.
However, after going through numerous crises, Troy and Melita finally encounter each other’s weaknesses and become each other’s saviors, willingly vowing to fill them.
If miracles had a name, wouldn’t it be love?
This is the end of the story. After successfully debuting her novel to the world—although she is still a young rookie—Troy receives an apology from his father and takes over the family name.
Shortly after their marriage, Alan revealed the secret of Leopold’s family to the media. From revelations that he was actually an adoptee and had to live a fabricated life to circumstantial evidence that the head of the family used to secretly eliminate those who were interfering with the business or those who left the family due to unfavourable circumstances.
It was certainly not the graceful and perfect revenge he had been preparing for his entire life. The kingdom was turned upside down, and the terrible and cruel truths that Ian Leopold had been hiding came to the surface one after another.
As the case heated up, a series of life-threatening testimonies emerged, revealing that victims who had been sacrificed by him were found deep in the Florin River, and that the carriage accident that caused the death of the adopted child’s parents was also caused by his instigation.
It was an incident that once again engraved in my bones the old adage that there are no eternal secrets. Of course, there may still be truths that have not been revealed.
Actually, it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t afraid that Alan might kill Mr. Leopold…… Mr. Leopold, who deeply apologized to the entire kingdom, the royal family, and Alan, disappeared without trace the next day.
Although it would have been easy to find him, Alan chose not to. The royal family also maintained silence on the matter, perhaps due to their appreciation of Leopold’s contributions or out of propriety. Whichever the case, it’s a bitter situation.
Will Alan continue to live with eternal hatred towards the man who was once his father? Could he ever find it in himself to forgive him? At this moment, he’s unsure and cautious, feeling only a gnawing ache in his heart.
However, Alan returned Leopold, the giant company that supported the family and kingdom, to society after due process.
Unlike his original plan to return to the kingdom after completing the first stage of his new project, he decided to remain in the Principality as a free foreigner, which was probably the last step toward his motherland.
Leopold, as Cynthia Queen ascended to the throne with the change of the tide, decided to govern the kingdom transparently by employing talented individuals.
The previous business structure, centered around trade, has been extensively restructured, now focusing primarily on charity and scholarship programs.
Alan Flynn, no longer the sole heir to the remarkable Leopold or the beloved of everyone, cannot be prouder and at the same time, more lovable.
By the way, he kept the name Alan, contrary to my expectations. I thought he’d change his name to Troy, but but Alan said that the name was also of unknown origin and that he did not hate the name Alan, in fact, he liked it.
The reason is…… I’m ashamed to say it, but it’s because he likes the shape of my mouth pronouncing his name……. I always call his name like I’m singing.
‘And I don’t want all the moments when you called me by that name to lose their meaning.’
……It is indeed a romantic reason.
Instead, he put the name Troy in the middle. So, his full name is Alan Troy Flynn
Perhaps because all of my favorite words come together, it is the most beautiful name in the world to me.
And…… Oh, Monica Ellwood.
She didn’t show up even once after I returned to the Principality. She didn’t even come to the wedding.
Thinking that Alan had invited her, I asked her about Monica’s whereabouts, and Alan gave me a concise answer: that she had left.
Isn’t she equally distressed by Ian Leopold’s fall and the truths revealed as a result? With that in mind, when I asked him for more details about Monica, the answer he gave was still as vivid as if it were yesterday.
‘I know you’re a novelist. However, there is no need to know and understand the entire villain’s narrative. If I feel sorry for a villain, doesn’t that mean the villain isn’t a villain?’
‘…….’
‘Just hate. You should know how to do that’
Those words became valuable advice to me, as I continue to live a novel-like life through my writing, until that antagonist repents and endeavors to understand.
In fact, Alan is not only the first reader of the stories I create, but also an advisor and sometimes an editor, because he founded a small publishing house!
Of course, he is almost illiterate when it comes to the publishing business and has no literary knowledge, but he is really trying. So he is confident that everything will slowly get better little by little.
As for how a server at Antress, Sourne’s favorite coffee shop, became one of Alan’s few employees…… I also don’t know. These days, I often get the impression that life is very interesting.
The thing is, Alan is still my muse and best supporter. No matter how fast things are changing, I feel like there are some things in the world that definitely don’t change.
As I continue to lead a happy writing life with his unwavering love and support, naturally, I often have conversations like this, for example……….
“Melissa, isn’t the title too long, though? Your Pride and My Prejudice…….”
“About! What’s wrong with this?”[2]
“It’s a little difficult every time I tell people who visit me that it’s a book written by my wife, although it can’t be changed now.”
“Ha.”
Do you know how cute it is to imagine you, with a face as cold as ice, reluctantly boasting about my novel like a proud peacock? I can’t help but find it endearing.
I only replied by gently pushing a bowl of warm soup to him, who grumbled calmly.
“There is no title better than that, so what should I do? And these days, long titles are trendy.”
“…….”
“You should be a little more encouraged, boss. Eat diligently before it cools down.”
A cozy daily life with flowers on the table every evening. It may seem ordinary at first glance, but this is the kind of daily life I most hoped for.
At the earnest request of the Principality council, Alan often helped with the ambassador’s work in addition to his publishing duties, but even on those days, he always returned home on time for dinner.
When Alan stepped away from the trading business and came to the upper echelons[1] of Lunoa, I was almost tempted to mutter a complaint, but he willingly decided to lend his support to the revitalization of international trade.
At that moment, I thought he was no longer the sophisticated Alan Leopold I knew.
Yes, now he’s Alan Flynn. Now, he lives for the dreams of Alan Flynn.
Ultimately, Alan is still busy as ever, but when he returns, I sometimes ask about the news from the publishing house while helping him take off his coat scented with wind, inquire about how the atmosphere in the council was today, and how relations with the Hwa Empire are progressing. They’re ordinary yet oddly warm moments.
In reality, not all of our time together is so remarkable. Sometimes, we make garlands out of garden flowers and place them on each other, or we create funny hairstyles with bathtub bubbles. Like innocent children.
Once or twice a week we go to a bookstore together and spend hours choosing books, and the order is always the same. Holding the book I chose after much deliberation, holding Alan’s hand, and walking down the sunset street together.
Just like now.
“Melissa.”
Alan, who was walking slowly to match my speed, seemed to have slowed down a bit, and then he suddenly said something.
“Would it be better to move to a slightly smaller house?”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Quite spacious, isn’t it? Most of the staff have already left. Will you be uncomfortable when Mrs. Collins arrives soon?”
“……Did you think all of that?”
I pulled our joined hands together and kissed the pale, beautiful back of his hand.
“I’m proud of you.”
Then Alan laughed as if it was funny. The moment when that low laughter dispersed across the street colored by the setting sun was like a dream.
At times like this, I find myself talking to myself without realizing it.
“I’m happy.”
“There’s not a day when you don’t say you’re happy.”
“……But I’m really happy.”
Rather, the word happiness is too small and trivial compared to how I feel right now.
“So what makes you so happy today, wife.”
“It’s just, you know. I used to only remember walking alone in the kingdom, but now I’m not alone anymore…….”
Then, Alan’s hand was tightened a little more firmly, and he answered in a low tone.
“You weren’t alone.”
“…….”
“I was walking down the cold street with you. Always.”
“Ah…….”
I felt like I was about to burst into tears. But I didn’t want him to waste time comforting me. Because a very sparkling moment is passing us by right now.
I held the book in my arms—I chose it because it had a unique title, <A Room With No Windows>—a little tighter, bit the tender flesh inside my lips, soothed my expression, and replied playfully.
“Perhaps you were following me with arrogant footsteps. Isn’t that so?”
Then Alan laughed again.
“When are you going to let go of that cute prejudice?”
At the end of that, under the rosy sunset, we kissed for a long time.
With those words, under the rosy sunset, we kissed for a long time.
Our story, just beginning on a new page, is so beautiful, yet the next page might hold tales that are as sad or precarious as they are beautiful.
Life is more like a novel than a novel itself, and we are just shallow seas and gentle winds.
But if an inevitable anxiety creeps in, weakening our love, I will quietly hold him and whisper,
That I recognized him amidst the countless lost souls. That I diligently swam against the rushing currents to find you.
You and me, me and you. How miraculous it is in itself until dawn breaks.
The End
***
[1] “Echelons” refers to levels or ranks within an organization or society, especially those of authority or importance. In this context, it refers to the higher levels of the Lunoa organization.
[2] Here Mel wrote the new novel with the same title as the one which we are reading that is: 당신의 오만과 나의 편견에 관하여. Alan was having difficulty in remembering the name and he didn’t said 관하여 which translates to “About” so Mel adds that word instead in next sentence, since in the English translation “About” comes first, I cut out that word to show that he forgot to say it since it was hard for him to remember the name, I hope the readers get the gist of the scene
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