Adaline was cruel. Really cruel, both to Shane and to Genevieve.
[She wasn't heartless, she just...she desperately wanted to survive.]
[Realizing that she did not deserve forgiveness from either of them, she had no intention of asking. She saved herself at the cost of their trust.]
And every time something from the past appeared in Shane's look or behavior, she clenched her fists and forced herself to disbelieve.
[No. Can't be. Seriously? Really? No, I'm not that naive. Five years have passed. I am a completely different person now...a liar. No, definitely not...]
[It would be easier if she really didn't understand anything. If she could believe that Shane just hated her, it would be easier.]
[I didn’t explain anything to him, let him hate it as much as he wants.]
Adaline didn't really say a word to him.
[But there was nothing to explain. How can you even explain this? Tell anyone, they won’t believe it.]
[It's all because of nightmares, it sounds like a ridiculous excuse.]
[Even if for her it was a matter of life and death.]
[And, in that dream, as soon as she tried to tell the truth, she was immediately killed.]
[This was her first life, where death was breathing down her neck at every step.]
[How could she then decide to be frank?]
[You can't take blind risks when the stakes are your life.]
[She still didn't know who exactly the sorcerer was. The story is not over.]
[Maybe everything will end not with a happy ending for the main character, but with the death of the villain?]
[And, in general, novels have always been about the struggle between the heroine and the antagonist?]
[Like a sweaty sports manga.]
[Since the genre has changed, the ending is probably different now.]
[And yet - her goal remains the same.]
[Don't become part of this plot.]
[Don't allow yourself to become a puppet again. Don't let the nightmares bring her back to where everyone wants her dead.]
[These dreams...only after being there, you can understand what kind of hell this is.]
[When the world itself says: you are superfluous.]
[That everyone will be happy if you are not there.]
[When people move according to someone else's scenario, and you are alone. Outsider. Before everything happened again, Adaline wanted to get away from the main characters. Find a safe life.]
[But...maybe running away wasn't the right option.]
[All she has achieved in five years is kidnapping, imprisonment and forced betrothal.]
[And one more thing.]
[She has been with them for a month now, and not a single nightmare.]
[Perhaps the story where "Adaline must die" has already ended?]
[If so, all that's left is to face it.]
[She decided that she would find the sorcerer and tell everything to Prince Edwin or Shane.]
[If they are busy fighting magic, she will have a chance to escape.]
[But...if everything is really resolved, all you have to do is catch and destroy the sorcerer?]
Adaline looked at Shane's face as he slept, holding her close to him like a cuddling pillow.
It was a thought that she had driven away from herself all her life.
[If it is not mine, I will not desire it.]
[This is someone else's person.]
[No matter how much light there is in him, to envy and desire another man's man is to bring upon oneself a curse.]
[The main character will make him happy.]
[Oh, you, Adaline, don’t interfere and just live.]
[Live. This is more important.]
[The novel will not satisfy. Love won't save you.]
[But...if the plot is already broken...]
[If you kill the sorcerer, that's all...]
[Can't...I...just take it for myself?]
[Since it was not possible to escape.]
[After all, all this time she did not allow herself to fall in love, because she had already given him too much.]
[It’s hard not to feel anything for someone who confesses his love to you day after day, and does it so truly.]