At first, cute and innocent, the kiss soon turned more needy, as if the pair was trying to make up for the time they weren't by each other's side, and Zane's hand inadvertently ended up at Melinda's back, pulling her closer…
"Wrrraugh!"
"...!"
"...!"
…only to be interrupted by the loud bark of some domesticated mutt monster, making them flinch and pull away.
Zane's usually pale complexion turned crimson red as if the full weight of the show they put up for any curious passersby had suddenly dawned on him.
"...you weren't at the ceremony…"
Zane stood up, but instead of taking a step back, he remained close to Melinda, looking to the side while trying to regain at least some composure.
"All things considered, it was the safest option back then. It was troublesome enough to attend lectures while acting as if I wasn't deaf - trying the same at a ceremony could get me found out."
"I was under the impression that you receiving the top student reward was a secret…"
Still seated, Melinda leaned against Zane's leg and explained, making him raise his brows as he pointed out.
"Who else was going to receive it if not me?"
"..."
The gold-haired girl blinked a few times in pure confusion, asking with such innocence that Zane was left speechless once again.
"...pffft…! True. Very true."
"Hmhmhm~"
The next moment, the white-haired monstrous youngster couldn't help himself and snorted before nodding his head in agreement, making the girl hum boastfully while gazing up at him.
"...you're not going to ask about the specific item I used to get here and how I even knew that you were here?"
After a moment or two, Zane shook his head and asked, facing away but constantly sneaking glances at Melinda.
"Hmmm…"
The gold-haired girl furrowed her brows, getting deep in thought…
"No. I've decided that you wanted to see me so much that your love let you plot-convinienced your way to me~"
"...wh-wha…?"
She finally declared with such unwavering confidence that the monstrous young man ended up choking on his own saliva.
"I mean, I know that one of your party members has an ability that allows them to create unique magic items. I also know that this one of the settlements was raided by bandits, that your party was dispatched here to help resolve the issue, and that you all even helped out with reconstruction. It's not hard to figure out that Rose created a device or two that could do the trick."
Melinda leaned back, glancing down the well with an indifferent expression as she spoke.
"If I had to guess, after my absence at the ceremony, you learned about the little show I put out with inquisitors as well as the direction I went in afterward, which let you make an estimation of my location. This was the fourth place you checked out, right?"
She added with a playful smile as she kicked up her feet, balancing herself right on the edge.
"That's … correct… mostly… This is the sixth place, actually…"
Zane opened and closed his disturbingly large mouth before letting out a troubled sigh and admitting.
"See? All of that can be boiled down to one word~ Love~"
The sheer confidence behind Melinda's statement made it more than obvious that she made up her mind on the subject and wasn't going to budge at all.
…and it wasn't as if she was actually wrong, either…
"Say… all those bandit and monster raids… that seemed to be scaling in difficulty just enough to pose a challenge and help my party improve steadily… Did you organize all of it? Did… did you plan for me to find you today…?"
The monstrous white-haired man furrowed his brows, struck by a sudden thought that he ended up voicing before he could stop himself, staring at the gold-haired girl.
"Hmmm? Me? Planned all of that? Zane, please~!"
Melinda hummed, shaking her head with a compassionate smile before standing up and dusting off her butt.
"Who do you think I am? Some self-absorbed villainess or something~?"
"!!!"
She chuckled, looking back at the monstrous man with the proudest of smiles yet, causing Zane to freeze up, utterly flabbergasted.
"...hello, young Zane…"
"?!!?"
To add to his confusion, suddenly, someone who had sneaked up on the monstrous man without alarming him in the slightest spoke up, making him flinch.
That someone turned out to be a…
…maid…?
"It doesn't seem that you found what you hoped for."
"...!"
Taking things even further, Melinda spoke up to the maid with casual familiarity, to which Zane could only shake his head and blink repeatedly as if not believing either his ears or eyes.
"...I do not know what you are talking about, my lady… The food they offer isn't particularly novel, but it does appear to be of high enough standard to be worthy of your palate."
The maid lowered her head slightly grumpily before changing the subject and reporting her findings.
"S-sorry for interrupting, but… I do not believe we were introduced... Miss…?"
Zane ended up gulping down his saliva and speaking out after glancing at Melinda before focusing on the maid.
"..."
"...?"
Although he was polite, it appeared that he upset the maid in some way, making him raise his brows without being able to understand the situation.
"...oh… Ohhh… that's outside my expectations… Don't you remember her at all?"
"N-no…"
Melinda straightened her back with an alarmed expression and muttered, looking between the white-haired man and the low-spirited brown-haired maid, to which Zane mumbled back.
"Adi. Adrianna. She has worked in the Fenrioette mansion since she was fifteen. She became my personal maid last year and helped me out with the formalities of the exchange program. We traveled and hunted toge…"
"...my lady, it's okay…"
The gold-haired girl stepped forward and began recounting everything, but was stopped by the weak sigh of the maid herself.
"...Young Zane, you said that my ability, Background Character, had a chance to evolve into something you called Shadow Eminence… unfortunately it ended up turning out very different from what you suggested it could become…"
The maid shifted from side to side, clearly upset, and revealed while upholding pained eye contact with the clearly oblivious man.