In this world, indifference to safety issues was considered as serious a problem as alcoholism.
Genevieve looked at the angry Adaline with a faint smile, and then became slightly embarrassed and said quietly:
“Sorry. I'll be more careful."
"Promise."
"Yes."
“Don’t go anywhere alone, don’t skip meals and be sure to rest at least two days a week!”
“Um...rest will be difficult. The schedule is already completely full..."
Adaline was still hugging Genevieve, but now she was staring menacingly at Edwin and Shane.
Edwin grinned.
“Listen, Adaline, from the outside it looks like you gave birth to Genevieve.”
“In my heart, yes.” - she answered firmly.
A heroine born of her soul.
[Adaline was not a picky reader. She took every word as the author intended. She cried where she needed to cry, got angry at the right moments, and if the plot was lame somewhere, she simply did not notice. got too carried away. So it was natural for her to root for the main character in any story.]
[Ah, here it’s all for real. She herself looked after Genevieve. The memory of the terrible state she was in when they first met still hurt.]
[What if she had found it earlier? If I wasn't clinging to the plot, where should Shane have brought the Saint? Maybe she could have saved her earlier... This feeling of guilt still did not go away.]
“Um, Adaline...thank you for your concern, of course, but...if you think about it like that, then His Lordship turns out to be my father, and this is...a little...”
"..."
“I would prefer it if you considered me a daughter born before marriage.”
Adaline squinted. [A couple who should be husband and wife are now suddenly father and daughter?]
“This... is already too much.” - she muttered.
Shane intervened in a cold voice:
“If she is your child, then she is mine too. Before or after marriage, it doesn’t matter.”
"Genevieve, say hello to your father." - Edwin inserted.
Adalyn closed her eyes and shouted loudly:
“Stop it! This is all wrong! Being a father and daughter is weird! It makes much more sense to be a couple!”
“And I am against both options!” - Genevieve snapped.
“Then you didn’t give birth to Genevieve. She is not your daughter, let her go." - Shane stated, gently but firmly pulling Adaline's hand away from Genevieve.
Even though she didn't like Shane's approach, Genevieve obediently backed down.
[Is...it really that bad between them?]
[There was not a drop of warmth in their relationship - only cold, oppressive detachment.]
In this strange, awkward scene, only one laughed - Edwin.
“Genevieve has been getting a lot of trouble lately. It raises the dead..."
He narrowed his eyes and glanced at Adaline. She immediately stared at Shane.
[This bastard is to blame for everything. Only him.]
“After the attack, people began to wonder: Is the Empire treating humanity's treasure with dignity? Although...most likely it's just envy. Everyone is unhappy that we have, as it were, “privatized” the Saint.
“They talk about her like an object...” Adaline muttered.
Genevieve squeezed her hand tightly, as if to say: I'm okay.
“Dad most likely will not survive the winter, and now he wants the Saint to be nearby. After the parliament meeting, it was decided to cancel her winter cleansing pilgrimage.”
“If I don’t go far, I think everything will be fine.”
“Technically, this is for your safety, but in reality they are afraid that other countries will take advantage of the scandal and try to... take you away.”
“You mean kidnap?”
"They'll call it a 'release' rather than a kidnapping."
"Sounds logical." - Genevieve nodded.
Adaline expected the Saint to be revered as a light of hope for humanity. But the deeper she delved into politics, the clearer it became: Genevieve is just an instrument of power.
The cold detachment with which the girl perceived all this only intensified the feeling of awkwardness.
“So what now? Will you give me a vacation? - Genevieve asked with subtle irony.
Edwin's smile spread from ear to ear. Adaline could bet her hand he definitely wouldn't answer directly. Now a new monologue will begin.
“Since you two got married, the only one left is me, the bachelor.”
[Since when are Shane, Edwin and I a trio? Remove me from this company...]
“My mother nags me non-stop. If I returned to the palace today, she would immediately drag me to an educational lecture. So he ran away."
“Your Highness, don’t you have a fiancée?” - Adalyn intervened. She remembered that he seemed to be betrothed to a foreign princess.
“It was...” Edwin shrugged indifferently. “But three years ago they started a rebellion. We did not consider this alliance valuable enough to interfere in the civil war. We received compensation and ended the engagement. As a result, they say she recently married the rebel leader.”
"..."
Adaline didn’t even know where the glitch started, but it was obvious: [that country now has a completely different plot - some kind of revolutionary thriller.]
“Mom decided that I definitely should get married this winter. All worthy ladies from the continent will come to the Winter Founders Festival..."
“Poor thing, how busy you will be.” - Genevieve responded lifelessly.
Adalyn just nodded sympathetically. [With his looks and title, he certainly won't be left alone. Gets married. Sooner or later.]
[Or not. But who cares.]
“I will need your help this winter. Both."
“No way!” - Adalyn immediately snapped.
“Genevieve, maybe you’d like to go on an expedition? They might attack again there. Even kidnap. You’re not going to die anyway, so...it’ll be fun.”
“Oh, are you...serious?!” - Genevieve exclaimed, almost breaking into a scream.
Adaline cast a pleading look at Shane, hoping he would intervene. But he just sighed heavily, his face distorted.
[It seems that he was remembering the debt hole he had driven himself into by starting this hasty wedding.]
“Who told you to pretend that you don’t care about me?” - Shane said quietly, but reproachfully.
“Are you a child, or what?”
Edwin, as always, smiled like an angel.
[As they say, the devil smiles like an angel. He is living proof.]