Melinda Desmond/Synopsis

== History ==
Not much is known about Melinda's origin, but she has parents whose current location has not been revealed.
Once she met Donovan Desmond and, after marrying him, became part of his privileged, wealthy family. Melinda gave birth to Demetrius, and six years before the beginning of Operation Strix, she gave birth to Damian. At some point in her life, her husband became a politician and later the chairman of the National Unity Party, a far-right political party. During the war between Ostania and Westalis, Donovan succeeded Prime Minister Chapman, and ruled Ostania, and he and Melinda were known as the Prime Minister and the First Lady respectively.
Before becoming First Lady, Melinda, like Donovan, kept her own small and exclusive social circle called the Lady Patriots Society, an elite women's group in Berlint that she is the chairwoman of.
After losing his P.M. position, Donovan closed off from other people and became a recluse. For unknown reasons, he and Melinda also became estranged from one another and appear to have even moved homes, with Donovan and their two sons staying in the main manor while Melinda took to her own residence.
When the National Unity Party lost power, Melinda stopped involving herself in politics and appears to spend most of her time with her Lady Patriots Society.
== Synopsis ==
=== Eden Beginnings Arc ===
After Anya Forger secures a spot at Eden Academy, her father, Loid Forger, shuffles the school documents so that Anya gets into the same class as Damian. Loid wants her to make friends with the children of influential people, especially with Damian. During Anya's orientation at the Academy, he imagines that when the children become friends, it will easily provide him with contact with Melinda's husband. However, at the orientation, Anya, angry at Damian's threats and bullying, hits him in the face and earns her first demerit. Henry informs the boy's parents about this as well, and this circumstance shocks Loid, making him think that this situation could obviously spoil his relationship with Donovan.
=== Midterm Exams Arc ===
When Damian gets first place for his art project, Anya suggests that he brag about it in front of his family, to which Damian gets angry, stating that he will never show this ugliness to his parents.
=== Imperial Scholars Mixer Arc ===
Donovan attends Eden Academy's semi-annual event, the Imperial Scholars mixer. Because the event is currently taking place, school security has tightened, with agents and the military on guard. Inside the campus, Loid overlooks the security disguised as a professor. He remarks on how difficult it is to infiltrate the Imperial Scholars mixer, citing past failed attempts by other agents. As he considers options for entering the "Tower of Wisdom" to finally meet Donovan, Melinda appears in his imagination as a darkened silhouette on Donovan's left side. This presentation showed that Melinda periodically attends social events with her husband, although Donovan arrived at this particular meeting without her.
=== Friendship Schemes Arc ===
Continuing to comprehend the role of a mother and wife, Yor goes to a department store to buy Anya some cakes. At the same time, Melinda and her servant, Nola, are also at this department store to buy lots of cakes for the all-mothers volleyball league game, both of them carrying a large stack of boxes. Melinda tries to hurry Nola, who replies that she bought too much and cannot see where she is going. Melinda tries going ahead but loses her balance and falls down the stairs. Luckily, she gets saved by Yor, who also catches the cake boxes. Amazed by her moves, Melinda asks Yor if she is an athlete, but Yor explains that she is a housewife going to buy cakes. Melinda then asks Yor to join her for something, offering some of the cakes she bought as a token of her gratitude.
Melinda takes Yor to a sports hall and dresses her up in sportswear. She then introduces her to the Lady Patriots Society and announces to her volleyball team that Yor is their ringer for the game. Despite having no experience playing the sport, Yor agrees to help them win. Melinda decides to give Yor a quick rundown of the rules, then asks for her name. At the start of the game, Yor struggles to play properly, but Melinda encourages her and teaches her to play with the team. Throughout the rest of the game, Melinda, Yor, and the other women have fun playing together.
After the game, the mothers go out to have tea and cakes together and talk about how much they enjoyed the game, despite losing. Melinda hopes Yor will come over again to join them for other activities, and Yor promises that she will, saying there is so much that she wants to learn from them and will not waste this opportunity. A mother then mentions her son receiving a Tonitrus Bolt. Yor reveals that her daughter also attends Eden Academy and is in first grade. Melinda realizes who Yor is and formally introduces herself as Melinda Desmond.
Upon realizing who Melinda is, Yor immediately apologizes for Anya's actions toward Damian at orientation. Melinda laughs and brushes it off, but when Yor insists, she repeats herself more seriously. The ladies explain to Yor the Desmond family's "hands-off" parenting philosophy and say she was lucky to be invited by Melinda to a get-together, as most of them were already friends before Melinda became First Lady. Melinda explains how she thought she and Yor could become friends without preconceptions about her political position. She hopes Yor will, if possible, come over again and become friends with her.
Melinda then wraps up the conversation and gives Yor a ride home. In the car, Melinda mentions Damian, having overheard from the household staff that he is enjoying Eden Academy. She suggests that he may have been getting along with Anya lately. Yor enthusiastically agrees, saying that Anya brings him up all the time and seems happy when she does. Melinda mutters that she hopes they can get along while making a strange face.
When Yor returns home, she mentions this acquaintance to her family, which activates a stormy activity in their heads. Loid and WISE have been aware of Melinda but believed she had little information value due to the fact that she distanced herself from her husband and their sons and stopping appearing in public after the National Unity Party lost power. Loid also begins to suspect that the meeting at the department store could have been arranged, but he refuses to blame Yor because he has already checked her background and now sees her genuine reactions. He comes to the conclusion that if there is a setup, it has to be from Melinda's side. Recalling his only meeting with her husband, Loid suggests that he might have aroused suspicion, but it's hard for him to imagine that Donovan would use his own wife for something like that.
Heavy suspicions and a complete lack of confidence in the Desmonds' intentions prompt Loid's desire to find out more facts, and he decides to use Yor for this purpose. Loid, with ostentatious good-natured approval, pushes his wife to be friends with Melinda, which she begins to seriously consider. He feels that Yor could potentially be his key to learning more about the Desmonds and developing a new avenue of attack. Based on this, Loid makes up "Plan C: The Mommy-Friends Scheme," believing that this plan can provide an even more direct route to Donovan than Plan B. Anya, meanwhile, begins to regard her mother as a rival, as she too is trying to bring her father to the "main boss" through Damian. While she does not voice this displeasure, this prompts her to develop her new battle plan of the friendship schemes where she is going to defeat Yor.
As Yor contemplates the notion of having friends, she suddenly remembers that if Melinda is an important person, she should inform her employer, the Shopkeeper, of her decision. The next day, Yor secretly asks permission from the Shopkeeper to be friends with Melinda. He good-naturedly gives Yor the go-ahead but warns her that she may have problems with Loid because of Melinda's conservative alignment. However, he suddenly becomes gloomy when he learns from Yor that her husband has already met with Melinda's husband and expressed interest in his party.
=== Red Circus Arc ===
After all the students are saved from the bus hijacking by the Red Circus, Eden Academy calls their parents so they can pick up their children, and Damian believes that his will not come. To his surprise, Yor, who came to pick up Anya, notices Damian and informs him that Melinda is on her way. Melinda arrives, rushes over to Damian to hug him, and apologizes for her lateness. Melinda expresses how worried she is but is grateful that he is safe.
Seeing her son's tears and feigned fearlessness, Melinda tells him not to act so toughly for her, and Damian asks her in return not to tell his father that he cried. Melinda's face darkens at the mention of her husband as she thinks about how she should not have come. As she accepts Damian's request under the condition that he does not let Donovan know she was here, Melinda's mind goes back and forth with thoughts of motherly affection and absolute disdain towards Damian. Afterward, Melinda and Damian head home, where she cooks his dinner before leaving to go to her own residence. Their butler, Jeeves, mentions to Damian her actions when the boy has dinner by himself.
=== Mole Hunt Arc ===
Damian calls Jeeves after receiving the special tea cakes to give Anya, and Jeeves reveals that Melinda got them, apparently having gone through a lot of trouble to do so. She then told Jeeves that she hoped that Damian and Anya would get closer, which he reports to the shocked Damian. Damian questions how his mother knew he was planning to give it to Anya, and while Jeeves is unsure, he tells him that Melinda "seemed quite pleased about it."
=== Term Finals Arc ===
At the annual charity bazaar for disabled veterans that the Lady Patriots Society regularly participates in, Melinda attends the event in disguise. Melinda notices a commotion going on between her members and a group of city hall workers and steps in before one of her members raises her hand against one of them, whom Melinda discovers to be Yor. Melinda's happy reunion with Yor is interrupted when Yor's co-worker Millie Myers accuses Donovan of being a monster who started the war and associating Melinda with him. As the young woman is moved away, Melinda looks on with surprise.
Millie's claim quickly gets corrected by her superior, and the women of the Lady Patriots Society demand an apology from her. However, Melinda believes that she should be apologizing as a member of the Desmond family, stating that she has a duty to the veterans and their relatives. While she removes the disguise covering her face, Melinda approaches Millie and tells her that she empathizes with how she feels due to having a family of her own, saying that she would also resent someone if she lost any of them.
Melinda is called to meet with the Wounded Veterans Association, but before she goes, she takes the load that Millie was carrying and thanks her for her help. Before leaving, Melinda criticizes her fellow members for policing each other's behavior, as it would be a return to wartime repression. Millie apologizes to Melinda for what she said, which makes Melinda smile, as she says she would have felt bad if Millie hated Yor because of her.
Later, when Anya meets Demetrius for the first time and reads his dark thoughts about other people, she recalls her experience of reading Melinda's mind and comes to the conclusion that all Damian's relatives are "such weirdos."
On the day of Eden Academy's end-of-class gala, Loid, disguising himself as a waiter, infiltrates the event and observes what is happening. He has doubts that the Desmond family would ever seriously consider a girl who plays with her own snot as a relationship prospect. However, seeing Anya's determined attitude and remembering their shared goal of world peace, he eventually decides to help her become Damian's dance partner, believing that their victory in this challenge will ensure the sake of Plan B.
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