When Adi came outside, Lef was already standing nearby. He motioned with a nod of his chin to follow him. Adi, looking around the surroundings, moved after him.
It seemed as if Lef had been here many times: he walked confidently, without a single hitch. The corner where two buildings met, devoid of windows, was a place where it was difficult to hide unnoticed. But from here it was easy to notice anyone approaching.
They looked at each other silently. Even the passing years could not change their growth so dramatically. Both Adi and Lef were not much different from who they were before.
Lef spoke first.
— Have you been told the words of Mr. Count?
- Why did you call me?
“I told you that you are not mine yet.” How does it feel to realize that everything has been turned upside down?
Adi batted Lef's hand away before it even touched her face.
- Enough of this bullshit. Tell me why you called.
- I just missed you.
- Of course.
- Indeed.
Lef removed his hand and said:
“I wanted to see you fall into despair, didn’t I?”
-...
Adi hated Lef, and Lef hated Adi to the same extent. The Count made a mistake in his choice. Even if he decided to set someone up, he should have chosen someone who had at least some chance. However, this did not change anything.
However, she could not understand at all why the Count suddenly changed his mind and decided to return her to the Grimaldi estate. It would be nice to find out, but the Count is unlikely to explain anything.
- Well, how do you like the sight of your own despair?
Maybe we should take this opportunity and test the waters?
- OK. I don’t know what exactly you did to make Your Highness the Crown Prince so interested in you.
-...
“But thanks to this, you get the opportunity to return to the Grimaldi estate, don’t you?”
She didn't think about it. Is the problem really that she met the crown prince? How does he know what he's thinking? Did the Crown Prince and the Count actually meet?
Adi doesn't know anything about this. If they met and talked about something, for example, if he conveyed words about his intention to take her to Jonad, then that explains everything.
“Go back to Grimaldi and live as before, Adrina.”
A rationale is given for what happens in this situation.
- Where you have no one, be alone forever.
Lef took a step forward and said it as if he was the only one thinking about the deceased.
“Won’t that put Adrian’s heart at ease?”
“I don’t think I’m the only one to blame for my brother’s death, Lef.”
Everyone blamed Adrina for Adrian's death. Adrina herself also did not believe that she was not guilty, but everyone present was accomplices. Everyone who was there tormented Adrian.
“You seem to think that you are not to blame.”
“I valued Adrian more than you.”
— Asking whether you value someone and asking about wine are two different things. I am also dear to Adrian.
- You?
Lef snorted.
“Did you even consider Adi your brother?”
- He's my brother.
“I spent more time with Adi than you, and was a much more real brother to him.”
Lef's words were not a lie. But he only had the time and place to be next to Adrian. After Adrian fell ill, even Adrina had no other choice.
“You didn’t shed a single tear over Adi’s death.”
After all, they only wanted to prevent the curse from sticking to Adrian. Adi was silent. Lef simply glared at her. Their gazes met for a moment, after which Lef sighed heavily.
“Since things have gone this far, we should talk about our relationship.” For now I will act according to the will of Mr. Count, but I must continue the Zid family.
Adi opened her mouth to object.
- In any case, you will become nobody.
The crown prince is to blame for all this. It seems it all started with his demand to take her to Ionad. The Count is not going to send her to Jonad. Why? What exactly was the Count up to? If he wants to become related to the royal house, then the easiest way would be to send her to Jonad.
Is there really any reason why she shouldn't go to Jonad?
- Since I don’t care who I live with, then it probably doesn’t matter to you either.
We need to meet with the crown prince.
* * *—Can you hear me?
- I can’t hear you.
Three people stood in a row, looking down at Adi and Lef. Due to the fact that they chose the farthest corner for conversation, it was impossible to look at them from the side and remain unnoticed. There were no windows nearby, so I had to climb even higher to look down, but the conversation could not be heard. Usually the voices come upstairs, and since it’s so quiet here, it means they speak on purpose so that no one else can hear.
- How did they manage to have a conversation in such a corner? And there's nowhere to hide.
“It seems he specifically called him to a place where there are no windows.”
There was no use trying to read lips. The only thing that could be seen was the expression on their faces, but there was no sense of intimacy between them.
- Look, his face is touching. What impudence. Is this how you can treat the son of a count?
- Adi is too soft, so he tolerates it. "Bastard," Roy said. Bert hesitated for a moment and, unable to justify Lef, said: “Adi is not that... soft.”
After all, in Pales it was not Lef Zid who was called a scoundrel, but Adi Grimaldi himself.
And Jules.
“Don’t they look a little too close?”
He couldn't smooth out the stern expression on his face. Putting your hand on your face or grabbing your chin—that distance was too small. Even foster brothers don't behave this way.
It wasn't just intimacy, it was like insubordination. No matter how they grew up together like brothers, Adrian Grimaldi would become Lef Zid's overlord. Such actions towards the person he is supposed to protect...
- Do you think so? In my opinion, they are just ordinary friends.
Roy said. Bert looked at him as if he doubted his insight. However, at that very moment he realized that Roy Gallardo was a Southerner.
Unlike Bert, who was originally from the north but moved south, or Jules Woodpecker, who, even as a southerner, had no real friends, Roy, apparently, grew up fully socializing with his comrades. With that characteristic southern familiarity and abundance of physical contact.
“So we won’t understand what we’re talking about at all.” If we could read lips, we'd know if they were giving away our information or chatting about something else...
Bert, who continued to speak, looked at Jules's face and shuddered.
- Your Mightiness?
- What's the matter?
The voice sounded lower than usual. Although his voice had become deep and resonant as he grew older, it was even deeper and deeper now.
I'm in a bad mood. And the reason for this is probably...
- No.
Perhaps it's all about Adi Grimaldi. Bert made a confused face. He, like Joel, noticed the stickiness between them. To be precise, one-sided stickiness on the part of Jules Woodpecker.
-What kind of relationship do these two have?
- Just childhood friends. Sir Lef Zida's mother is now the head of the ladies-in-waiting, and was previously a wet nurse. They are foster brothers.
- For this reason, they somehow don’t get along very well, don’t you think?
Moreover, there was a sense of strangeness in his treatment of Adi. This is certainly not the look of a foster brother. It seemed that Lef Zid's feelings - be it hostility or perhaps sympathy - stuck one-sidedly and viscously to Adi.
Demonic charm, or what? But how does this charm work on men? Bert knew Adi as a pretty and silent young man, but did not find him all that attractive for his gender. “...Is this really why men are drawn to him?”
Next to Bert, who had taken on a deliberately serious look, Jules clicked his tongue and continued:
— As far as I know, the northerners keep their distance from each other.
Even without going north, the same can be said about the royal court in the midlands. People there are extremely unfriendly to others. But these two...
- Too close.
To say that they are close would not be enough. Even though their relationship seemed strained, touching each other seemed familiar to them.
“It seems like there is some other subtext here.”
- Really?
Roy asked, bowing his head with the air of a man who doesn't quite understand what he's talking about.
“It’s probably because he’s a northerner.” Northerners avoid strangers and keep their distance, but once they get close, they are ready to turn their souls inside out. They say that if you win the heart of a northerner, you will find a friend for life. Perhaps between them...
Roy fell silent as soon as he saw the expression on Yuls's face. Bert noted to himself that although Roy was not particularly perceptive, he unmistakably felt the moment when his head could fly off his shoulders.
- Well, this... they are foster brothers, so it’s possible. But Adi did not like Lefa. He asked me to be sure to crush him.
Jules softened at Roy's words. Bert, standing nearby, put his hand on Roy's shoulder and said, "Be sure to win, sir." Bert himself did not know what would happen if he did not win.
Jules looked down. Lef Zid has already left. Adi didn't move.
Juls, looking intently at the standing Adi, said: “We’re going back.”