Adaline spent agonizing hours waiting for Genevieve.
She had to somehow fill her stomach with dinner, which she could not even see, and endure the endless chatter of Edwin, who was trying to extract details about her life over the past five years.
But the worst thing was that Shane was nearby all the time.
[Is this what my wedding day should look like?]
[On the one hand, I was glad that I didn’t have to think about how to avoid the wedding night. But is this normal?]
[Maybe we should have a drink...]
“Alcohol...” she muttered out loud.
“You’ve already had one glass. That's enough." - Shane snapped.
“Ugh...Why? There’s still something left there..."
She gave him a look that showed all the injustice in the world: [being greedy over some bottle is too much.] Shane just grinned in response.
He extended his hand and touched her forehead. His eyebrows furrowed.
“You have a fever. You probably didn’t sleep at all?”
“Who do you think is to blame for this?”
“When you're exhausted, alcohol is poison. I'd better make you some tea. We'll have to be content with this."
“I'm tired of tea. Do you even know how many cups I drank today?”
"I'll add some milk."
She expected him to call the servant, but Shane stood up himself, heading towards the kitchen.
Adaline bit her tongue. She didn't know whether to stop him, thank him, or hurry him up.
Edwin, who had been silently watching the scene all this time, finally said:
“It looks like you didn’t get a husband, but a servant.”
“Do you want us to switch?”
[If you accept this offer now, I will give you a ninety-nine percent discount.]
“Pass. Even with my high status, I would not be able to handle such an overbearing servant.”
Adaline looked at him coldly. Edwin's cheeks were already slightly flushed from the wine, and he seemed to be smugly amused by his own joke, which no one but him thought was funny.
[Feelings...such complex things.]
She decided not to try anymore to understand what was going on in Shane's head. Things had already gone too far, and his determination not to let her go was obvious.
But the anger still remained. Every time she looked at Shane, she wanted to snap back.
Of course, if we compare the degree of anger, he probably had more of it. But this does not mean that she should accept everything in silence.
[I can understand his offense.]
[After the kidnapping, when he learned that she was alive and her death was faked, his shock, anger and betrayal were understandable.]
[Pain because someone he truly cared about turned out to be a liar.]
[And yet...even though she was kidnapped, locked up, and forced into marriage, Adaline couldn't truly hate Shane.]
[She didn't understand why his "revenge" had to take the form of marriage... But the anger he brought down on her was, to some extent, deserved.]
Therefore, she had a plan: [either to become so unbearable that he himself abandoned her, or to persuade him to divorce.
[But his smile...was not at all like the smile of a person who hates her.]
Even as she thawed and allowed herself to be softer, Shane responded the same way he once did when he was the caring, patient fiancé she constantly tried to push away.
And this only made it more difficult.
[I still can't live next to Shane Blanchard.]
“You seem to have too much on your mind, Adaline.” - Edwin noted.
“You are terribly insensitive towards the bride who got married today. And not of my own free will. Of course I have a lot of thoughts.”
“If you were a real married couple, I wouldn’t come at all. So you should be grateful - for the intrusion."
“Oh yes, I’m so grateful... I’m just dying of happiness...”
“I’ll write it down as your debt.”
“You also impose debts on people?”
Edwin laughed quietly.
Adaline was already reaching for his glass to snatch it and drain it when Shane returned and gently stopped her.
Precise, down to the second, appearance. Protagonist, no less.
---Genevieve arrived shortly before midnight.
“I’m really late, right?”
“Are you late? We didn’t even intend to sleep.” - Shane shrugged.
He had been trying to kick Edwin out since ten in the evening, but Adaline pretended not to notice.
“Genevieve! Are you eating normally? Why are you so skinny? - she exclaimed, hugging her friend.
[Genevieve's body was thin, like the idols from her past life. Fragile, light, this only made it more painful.]
“They told me that you were attacked! Did you go back to work right away?! This is true?!"
"Oh, who messed this up..."
Edwin, without hesitation, raised his hand. Genevieve just wrinkled her nose, it seemed like she had no doubts.
“It was just a threat...a poison arrow. I wasn’t hurt..."
“You can’t talk about ‘just’ threat and poison in the same sentence!”
“Well... yes, I was a little scared...”
“You’re just saying this out of politeness, I can see.”
“To be honest... I wasn’t even scared. And then nothing happened. They just beefed up security, which only made things more difficult. I was late today because I eluded them.”
“...And the culprit has not yet been found?”
“Well... no...”
“And yet you weren’t scared, and you also ran away from your own guards?!”