Adaline has long had warm feelings for Shane Blanchard.
[He is not one to open up to others easily. Cold with others, but next to her - soft as a marshmallow, he said that she was special to him. How could you resist this?]
[I wanted you to be happy. That's why I let you go and decided to just watch from afar.]
But as soon as she realized her feelings, desire settled in her soul. And then...he confessed to her.
[Even after everything. After she pushed him away, said cruel words, deceived him, ran away, he still said that he loved him.]
[He smiled as if he had won the whole world simply by marrying a woman who had been dragged into the house under threats.]
Looking at him, she told herself that she should be angry, but instead, again and again she felt something weaken inside.
[He clung to her, to the woman who was trying with all her might to get away. He said that he couldn’t sleep without her, he was worried. Asked to stay.]
[How can you not love such a fool?]
[But is the villainess allowed to fall in love with the main character?]
[Maybe it's just an instinct built into her role.]
[Maybe no matter how much she struggled, "Adaline" was still made to love a hero.]
[The only difference was that Adaline truly wanted Shane to be happy.]
[If this world no longer requires my death, maybe I can make it happy myself?]
[No. Stop. Wake up, Adaline. Nothing has been decided yet. You must protect Genevieve first.]
And she made a choice.
[First, find the sorcerer and destroy him.]
---[The review that Lloyd has been assigned will take time.]
For now, Adaline decided to be around Genevieve as often as possible.
The Empress conveyed through Emma that she wanted to see her. Adaline was going to go to the palace, visit Emma after a long separation, and, under this pretext, be closer to Genevieve.
“You didn’t come to see me, did you, Adaline?” - Edwin asked with a grin.
"Sorry?"
“Well, you see... She locked herself in her room and said that she would only let her husband in. He doesn’t want to see me, or the Empress, or anyone else. I let her go on vacation, and she repaid me like this..."
“What? Genevieve?
Adaline was shocked.
“Genevieve doesn’t want to see me?”
"Especially you." - Edwin added calmly.
“Well...it's certainly possible. Perhaps...But isn’t it strange?”
“Something is wrong with her...”
Adaline suddenly realized that she had never even allowed the thought that Genevieve could turn away from her.
[Is she angry too? How's Shane then?]
[When they met again, Adaline was more afraid of being mistaken for a mistress than of deceiving Genevieve.]
[She felt less guilty because it was all for the sake of awakening the Saint's power.]
[But, perhaps, from the point of view of Genevieve herself, everything looked different. She is kind, she could just be worried. Regret. It must be hard for her to be angry at someone who has already been kidnapped and imprisoned once.]
“What if I just wait in front of the door...would that be creepy?” - Adaline asked quietly.
“He’ll come out when he’s bored.” - Shane responded indifferently.
“Or when he gets hungry. Hunger will take out anyone."
“Genevieve is not a wild animal!” - Adaline was indignant.
“They’ll pull her out anyway when the vacation is over.”
“This is even worse!”
[If Genevieve was hurt, if she was in pain, Adaline wanted to hug her, comfort her.]
She turned to Edwin:
“She...was very scared? To see someone's hand being cut off right in front of their eyes... it's terrible..."
“Do you think it might have scared her?” - Edwin grinned. “On expeditions, she sees how bodies decompose, how wounded soldiers bleed, how meat literally falls off the bones. Severed hand? Nonsense."
"..."
[Our sweet heroine lives like a character in a hardcore action movie...]
“I don’t know why there’s such a sudden attack of fragility, but apparently there’s something on her soul. I'll tell you that you came. In the meantime, go to the Empress.”
"Okay..."
[Is this how parents feel when standing at a teenager’s closed door?]
Adalyn fought back her tears.