The evidence came to light during Lucian's investigation.
The Crown Prince took particular zeal to destroy underground criminal groups and requested help from Shane.
Shane, in truth, didn't have the slightest interest in who was killing who or who was next. He would have left Delmez long ago if he could.
But he couldn't.
This was the only place where there were still traces of Adaline.
He clung to them as if it were his last chance to breathe.
[If only I knew that you would give your life for some saint...]
[He would not then have picked up that girl, beaten half to death by her own father, dusty, broken.]
[If he had passed by, Adaline would still be alive.]
[She, who barely noticed him, gave that girl a smile, so warm and sincere, as if she was disposed towards her with all her soul.]
[And then...she gave her life for her.]
Shane regretted it thousands of times.
[If it were possible to turn back time, he would not have approached Genevieve.]
[He wouldn't back down from Adaline.]
[He would stay by her side even if she hated him, as long as nothing happened to her.]
[But no amount of regret will bring her back.]
[If Adaline really wanted her death to have meaning, at least let her will save this world.]
[Shane spared neither money nor power to ensure that Genevieve was recognized as a saint. He sent her throughout the Empire, loading her with missions and assignments.]
“Genevieve is a person too, Shane. Even slaves are not worn out like that.”
“Mind your own business. She didn't die."
"Just because she's alive doesn't mean she's okay."
“If it’s hard for her, let her tell.”
“What if she thinks that no one will hear her anyway?”
Edwin, the Crown Prince, chuckled.
“Some even say that you are in love with a saint.”
[They are apparently blind. If he were in love, he wouldn't treat her like that.]
“Genevieve is already tormented by guilt. Don't make it worse."
"I didn't tell her anything."
“Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that’s scarier.”
Edwin and Shane were not only relatives and a lord with a vassal, but also almost friends. They spent their entire childhood together and could afford to speak frankly.
[Genevieve was just pathetic.]
She survived where Adaline died. And she knew it.
[Without unnecessary pathos, without words about the victim, I simply silently allowed myself to be used as a tool.]
For Edwin, this was nothing short of exploitative. But Genevieve was silent. I endured it.
[I knew you were obsessed with Adaline.]
He himself had known Adaline for a long time. A girl from a noble family, straightforward, smart, helpful, Edwin liked her.
[She, however, always grumbled that she was being used, but as long as she got her benefit, she didn’t mind.]
[But she clearly did not have warm feelings for Shane.]
[Openly avoided him.]
It was a one-way love, which is why Edwin believed that Shane’s feelings were not particularly deep.
[Five years have passed since her death. And Shane is still the same.]
[He seemed to have burned out from the inside.]
[Obsession has become dangerous.]
[Gloomy.]
Edwin picked up the documents he received the day before.
“I don’t want to bring this up, but I need to clarify something. Do you remember that servant Adaline always kept with her?”
"I remember."
[How could he forget that pitiful face?]
[She didn’t even make appointments for him, but she sheltered, fed, and clothed this boy. He was always there.]
Shane gritted his teeth.
The smug expression on that young man’s face appeared before his eyes, as if he were loved, unlike himself.
“It seems that this servant had connections with the King of the Underworld. Especially about six years ago, as if he lived there.”
“Do you think Adaline was involved with the underworld?”
"What? Of course not! I’m not crazy enough to say that to you!”
Even if he had suspected it, Edwin would not have dared to voice it out loud.
“It’s just, you know...at that time, Adaline often stayed at the hotel that guy owned, and...”
He stuttered, making excuses, until Shane snatched the papers from him.
While reading, he hardly breathed.
His eyes sparkled. A sharp, icy concentration appeared in them.
---[This...was all part of Adaline's plan.]
[She put on the greatest show.]
[The whole world was watching.]
[And now it became clear why she acted as if she was about to leave.]
[Why did I avoid it.]
[Why did she pull away.]
[If all this was planned back then...]
[If everything was part of one great plan...]
"Ha...haha..."
He could still see her pale hand drop.
I felt warm fingers on my cheek, covered in blood, they slid over the skin and disappeared.
Until now...
[It turned out to be a lie.]
He could barely breathe.
He couldn't tell whether he was crying from happiness or from pain. Everything inside shrank from a strange, dense feeling.
But there was one thing he was absolutely sure of:
[Adaline is alive.]
[She didn't die.]