Noticing how exhausted Adaline looked, Lloyd silently took off her coat and began to tidy up the bedroom.
Adaline buried her face in her knees and simply listened, Lloyd's familiar movements, the quiet sounds of everyday life filling the room.
[What kind of life is this anyway?]
She felt completely devastated.
[And it wasn’t the week spent at sea, or the fact that she was kidnapped. It was just normal, debilitating fatigue. Tired of everything.]
[I just didn’t want to die.]
[I didn’t want to die pitifully and quietly, as it seemed that was expected of her. Why did everything turn out to be such a nightmare just because she chose to live?]
[Is it a crime to want to survive?]
[What else did she have to give to be forgiven for just wanting to stay alive?]
All this was no easier for her than for others.
The years when she retreated, ran away, pretended not to notice, it was real torture.
“Mistress, lie down. You need to sleep."
“I don’t want to…” Adaline whispered.
She was afraid of having nightmares again.
But despite her weak, trembling voice, Lloyd unceremoniously picked her up and laid her on the bed, no matter how much she resisted. [A real sadistic brother.]
[I have to think of something.]
[Whether the genre was tragedy, romance or absurdity, she no longer wanted to be just a “plot element.”]
[Even if Shane hates her, even if her soul is torn with guilt before her family, she decided: I will live. In this world that does not accept me, I will still remain.]
---And everything started spinning quickly.
Adaline's "resurrection" became the main news in all the Delmez newspapers the next morning.
She just opened her eyes... and everything turned upside down.
[Money and power, that's what really works miracles, damn it.]
[Money and influence are so powerful that they can even resurrect the dead. Or at least convince everyone of it.]
[The saint brings the benefactress back to life!]
[The daughter of the Bertrand family awakens after five years of sleep.]
[Miracle of the Goddess: Return from the Dead.]
Adalyn just chuckled dryly. "Resurrection", "rebirth"...she wished everyone would just shut up. [Adding such drama to an already strange world is like dousing a fancy cake with fish soup.]
[It is impossible to repay such kindness, sisterly love is holy]
[The value of life: a man's duty, not a saint's]
[Privatization of the saint: using the gift of the Goddess for the personal purposes of the highborn?]
Genevieve, with a calm face and the voice of a real saint, made memorized speeches, said that Adaline was in a dying state, and only five years of prayers led to the answer of the Goddess.
[When did she learn to lie so cleverly?]
[Genevieve didn’t know how to handle the media before!]
[Obviously it was Shane. His influence was felt in everything.]
[The morning newspapers spread throughout Delmez, dozens of editions. It seems that everything that was even somehow called the press was bought out here.]
[Without the Internet, like in her previous life, she had no way of knowing what people's real reactions were. But... in this country you just have to say “Duke Blanchard” or “saint”, and the whole people instantly go crazy.]
[Duke Blanchard: “Adaline is the only woman in my life”]
[Love that has passed through the centuries!]
[Five years of fidelity and waiting for the bride's return]
“Bullshit...” Adaline whispered through her teeth.
[Если читать только заголовки, он выглядел героем-романтиком.]
[But in reality, it was a madman who kidnapped his ex-fiancee because her leaving hurt his pride.]
[Good people, but this is a scammer!]
At one point she almost grinned: “fraudster” sounded like she was talking about herself. But no - now it was important not to lose focus.
“You are cruel. After all, your fiancé.” - someone nearby noticed.
“This is not a groom in front of me. Kidnapper."
“Well... you can’t argue with that.” - Shane grinned.
He sat opposite, illuminated by the soft light of the morning sun. A beautiful face, flawless skin, black hair, deep blue eyes, for the first time all this only caused Adalyn irritation.
[Even if Apollo himself is still a kidnapper and blackmailer.]
[At dawn he arrived at the Bertrand estate. And what was most striking was that his family greeted him quite friendly, almost cordially. Beauty and title apparently open any door.]
[She could leave her room, but she was still a prisoner. Only now, in a bigger prison, where the guards are their own family.]
Shane sat her down reading the morning press, full of lies and hypocrisy, and made her wait for someone she didn’t want to see at all.
A man she was no less afraid of meeting than communicating with Shane himself.
"You really are alive, Adaline." - a familiar voice rang out.
It was Edwin. The Crown Prince, the same one who couldn't bear any secret unless he was its owner.