Adaline shuddered internally. Even now, having become a little closer to Lucian, she could not allow herself to completely relax next to him.
He took her out supposedly to “have fun,” but in the end he used her without a drop of pity.
[Lucian always remained a person who could not be fully understood and could not be trusted completely.]
[He didn’t share information just like that until you paid. And when he called her “friend,” this did not at all prevent him from setting her up for his own benefit.]
[The Crown Prince of the Empire is the same. Here are my friends...one is better than the other.]
[What happened to her surroundings?]
[However, Lucian was a reliable ally as long as he was paid for.]
[He even knew how to make a living person appear dead.]
“Why are you smiling so strangely?”
And this look...
“Yes, I was just thinking. You really don’t know anything.”
“About what exactly?”
"About what happened after you disappeared."
“Everything ended well, didn’t it?”
“Well, yes, of course.” - he grinned dryly. "Your way."
“The saint married her beloved, everyone lives happily ever after...” - Lucian suddenly started laughing, for real.
Adaline was taken aback:
“Are you...are you laughing?”
[He had feigned amusement more than once, but now it was genuine laughter.] And this made her feel uneasy.
“Don't laugh! Creepy! What are you up to?"
“I didn’t plan anything.”
"..."
“You really don’t know anything at all.”
[There's that "you don't know anything" again. How much can you?]
Adaline muttered tiredly:
“If you only came to joke, you can leave. I'm tired."
“I was going to anyway. Unlike some, I have things to do."
[Killing people...would sound like charity if anyone heard.] Adaline snorted.
Lucian, leaving, said at last:
“Hold on, Adaline. A lot has changed in your absence. It will be interesting."
“I’m not in the mood for “interesting things.” After all, my mother died.”
“Oh yes...exactly. Sorry, forget what I said."
She looked at his warm smile with alarm; it seemed too sinister to her.
Before leaving, he whispered something to Lloyd and disappeared without turning around.
“What did he tell you?”
“What if I get tired of being around you, I can go to work with him at any time.”
“Are you…going?”
“You said that you wouldn’t live a day without me.”
"Right. I’m like a sunfish, I’ll die without you.”
“I don’t know what kind of fish this is, but I definitely don’t want to see you die because of me. So it’s a refusal.”
"That's why I love you."
"Yes, yes."
Lloyd accepted her usual declaration of love with the same equanimity with which he dismissed Lucian's proposal.
He muttered under his breath:
"Hopeless."
“Hug me, my dear brother!”
“Just try to touch.”
Adaline laughed at his disgusted reaction. Just like a teenage younger brother.
“Are you really not going to return to the Bertrand house?”
“After everything that happened, there’s no point anymore.”
“I still don’t understand why it was necessary to take such a step.”
“And you didn’t ask questions when you helped me.”
“I was just following orders. But if, as you say, it all ended with the Saint’s wedding, why give up everything that rightfully belonged to you?”
Adalyn smiled wryly:
“How can I return to them now, after I myself have severed all ties with them?”
She wasn't particularly close to her family, but that didn't mean she didn't feel guilty.
[Then it seemed to me that if I didn’t disappear, I would simply go crazy. I didn’t think about other people’s pain then.]
Only after leaving Delmez did Adaline realize how difficult it was for her in those days.
[It is impossible to stay sane when you are not allowed to sleep properly.]
[She remembered only fragments of half the days when she was tormented by nightmares.]
“But shame doesn’t feed. If I were you, I would take my share of the inheritance. Apparently, you are now on the verge."
“I don’t remember that I gave you so little for expenses...”
“How long are you going to last at this?
“We still have enough.”
Luckily, her finances were in order.
She prudently collected jewelry every time she was given away by the crown prince or Lucian.
“And how do you plan to get to the memorial? The Bertrands won’t just let anyone in.”
“Lusian said he would help us get through at night. While we wait, I even gave him tickets to the theater.”
“How much did he charge for this?”
Lloyd had become almost a curmudgeon over the past five years, and this upset Adaline.
She was determined to get rich, for his sake, so that her assistant would no longer have to count every coin.
[Now that I'm free...maybe I should ask Lucian to create a new identity for me and open a business?]
“Consider it a welcome back gift.”
“Do you really believe this?”
"Of course not. It's obvious he's up to something. This is his hobby.”
Lloyd snorted. Adaline shrugged.
“I guess he doesn’t really need me anymore.”
“Perhaps so.”
"..."
“If this bothers you, take back your name.”
"Don't want."
[Burn down a barn just for rats? No way.]
She will quickly leave Delmez as soon as she lays flowers.