The Impact Of The Villainess’ Fake Marriage On The Ending - Chapter 20

“Adeline. Are you alright? You must have been very surprised.”

“I was a little surprised, but I’m fine, Brother.”

Enoch took care of Adeline as soon as they returned to the mansion.
Adeline had looked dazed the whole time since she was separated from Kael and climbed into the carriage.

“I’ll go inside my room and rest. Call me if you need anything.”
“Alright. Rest well.”

Adeline went straight up to her room, took off her dress, and threw herself onto the bed.
Lying down and looking at the white ceiling, the situation that happened at the imperial palace flashed through her mind.

[B-Brother, that…]
[It’s a Corrupted. Adeline, come behind me right now!]

The sparring that had anxiously disturbed Adeline before it even started eventually led to an incident.
Even though she was under the protection of Enoch and Leo in the garden where Utah revealed his Corrupted form, Adeline could not take her gaze away from Kael.
After seeing the shape that creeped her out just by looking at it, she couldn’t help but worry about Kael having to fight it.
However, at that moment, Kael snapped the wings of the Corrupted, and immediately the splendid swordsmanship that hardened everyone in the garden like a statue continued.

[… Brother Leo. Didn’t you tell me that the blood of the Corrupted will melt away everything it comes in contact with?]
[Yes. That’s right. I saw it with my own eyes.]
[Then how…]

Leo was speechless at the sight unfolding in front of his eyes.
Adeline looked at Kael, who was fine despite being covered in the monster’s blood, with an astonished face.
It was also hard to believe. She even felt like she had encountered an immortal creature.
And at that moment, a scene came to Adeline’s mind.

[It is my most desired wish, my eternal wish. Ending this tough life.]

The moment Adeline told Kael the lie that he would die if he married her to get away from him, Kael said he wanted to end his life with such cold eyes.

[‘What kind of story does he have? What happened to him…’]

All sorts of thoughts flooded in.
Is there really an immortality curse on him, or did he really suffer the wrath of the Corrupted while fighting it?
Her thoughts continued one after the other.

Then, after the battle was over, the black blood that covered the garden turned red.
And at that moment, she could feel the frozen atmosphere in the garden.
Adeline looked around carefully.

[…]

Everyone was looking at Kael with dismay.

She could feel that they were more afraid of Kael, who had defeated the Corrupted, than of the monster itself, who had entered the imperial palace.
There was no applause, no cheering, or anything for the hero who saved everyone.
The garden was filled with only horror, as if they had encountered a living monster.

[‘… This looks too familiar. This kind of scene.’]

In fact, Adeline would have also been standing in the same spot if she could only feel the frightening atmosphere around her.
However, Kael, who was acting like he was completely used to this terrible atmosphere when being covered in blood, caused a deep impression on Adeline.

[Brother Enoch.]
[Hm?]
[The handkerchief I gave you. Do you have it now?]
[of course. It’s the handkerchief you gave me, so I cherish it…]
[Please let me borrow it for a second.]
[Hm? Why all of a sudden…]
[Quickly.]
[Ah, alright. Here.]

Enoch reached out his handkerchief immediately at his sister’s urging.
Adeline crossed the garden with the handkerchief tightly in her hand.

[Adeline!]

She heard the voices of her brothers trying to stop her, but she didn’t stop.
As she moved forward, she saw Kael, who was about to find her and approach her.
But he stopped as he was approaching her, who was now covered in blood. As if he was like poison.
Seeing that awakened her instinct of disobedience.
She didn’t want to stop like him.
She could feel the bottom of her dress getting soaked in blood, but it didn’t matter. Adeline stepped closer and faced Kael’s eyes directly.

[…]
[…]

She had never seen the blue-grey eyes shaking like this.
Kael was visibly agitated as he saw Adeline approaching him as if it was nothing.

When she saw his agitation, she felt even more strange.
Whenever Adeline faced Kael, she always approached him while making a lot of calculations.
At first, she calculated how she could somehow separate herself from him, and after signing the contract, she thought about how she could deceive him by pretending to love him.
However, the moment Kael’s wide back looked lonely for the first time, her mind was completely empty.

[Much better.]
[…]
[As expected, white or blue suits you better than red.]

That was also why she threw a nonsensical joke.

All the calculations were erased, and she just wanted to comfort him in a humane way.
She didn’t know well, but she hoped that Kael’s time, which didn’t seem to have been smooth, was a little less lonely.

[Your dress is ruined because of me.]
[That’s because of the Corrupted. Not because of you.]
[Because it got soaked in blood while you walked towards me.]
[Then, just take about 50% of the responsibility. And I don’t think it’s time to care about my dress. Go back to your mansion quickly and rinse it all off.]

Kael nodded with a smile, and Adeline, who had wiped all the blood off his face, turned around to go back.

[Adeline.]

But Kael called her again.

[Thank you.]

It was a voice she was hearing for the first time.
Although Kael’s voice had a sweet low pitch, it always gave a strangely cold feeling.
However, when he told her those two words, she couldn’t feel the coldness at all.

“Ah, thinking of which, what should I do with that dress?”

She, who had been brooding over the situation, turned her head slightly and looked at the dress that had been taken off carelessly.
The blood smeared on the bottom of the skirt looked quite unsightly.

“It’s the blood of a Corrupted, so it won’t be washed off. I think Amy will be frightened if she sees it.”

When she approached it and looked at it, it seemed to be severely coagulated.
Besides, it was the blood of a Corrupted, so it could not be washed off.

“I should just throw it away. It’s a shame. It’s a dress I liked.”

Adeline arranged the dress and placed it over the partition.
It was a pity, but there seemed to be no other way than just throwing it away.

Knock, knock.

As she kept looking at the dress with regret, she heard a knock on the door.

“Yes. Come in.”

Adeline, who hurriedly put on her gown at the thought of her brothers, immediately answered to come in.
But though she answered, the door was not opened.
Eventually, Adeline approached and opened the door.

“What? There is no one?”

But there was no one in the hallway.
The hallway was very empty.
Adeline returned to the room and tilted her head.

“I’m sure I heard a knock… Dear heavens. What is that?”

The knock was not coming from the door, but from the window.
There was a huge bird sitting in front of the large window right in front of her.

“An eagle? No. It seems bigger than an eagle. What is it? Why is it knocking on my window?”

As Adeline met its eyes, the large bird with dark blue feathers knocked on the window again with its beak.
It was much louder than before.
Adeline approached the window straight away.

“It’s really big. But what is that on its feet?”

When she saw it up close, the giant bird was clutching a big bundle tightly with its feet.
It was a pretty big bundle that only a bird this size could hold.

“… I’ll open it for you, so don’t kill me.”

Adeline, who had been thinking about it over and over, eventually opened the window.
When the window opened, the large bird came inside, tossed the bundle, and sat on the windowsill in an elegant position.

“Who sent you?”

Adeline carefully examined the bundle.
But no matter how much she looked, she could not see the name of the sender.

“The bundle is bigger than I thought…”

The bundle that the bird brought was bigger than what it looked from afar.
Adeline glared at the bird sitting on the windowsill with an anxious look.

“That can’t be it. What do you know?”

Adeline sighed and carefully unpacked the bundle.

“Dear heavens.”

Adeline covered her mouth with one hand as soon as she opened the bundle and found out.
Adeline stripped off the wrapper as if possessed by something, and a very-well organized gift spread over the bed.

It was a dress.
A dress in the same color as the one Adeline wore today, and in a similar design.
There was a small card on top of it.

“I hope you’ll forgive me for remembering only the color of the dress.”

Adeline smiled as she read the contents of the card out loud.
It didn’t have any name, but it was clear who the sender was.
It was Kael.
She wondered in many ways how he had bought and sent a dress in the same color in this short time, but she could feel how he was dealing with the situation that happened a little earlier.

“Adeline. Can I come in? Are you sleeping?”
“Ah, Brot…”

While Adeline was looking at the dress with a smile, Enoch and Leo entered the room.
Enoch opened the door to check if she was sleeping because there was no answer to the knock, and because of that, he saw the blue bird sitting in the wide-open window and the sky blue dress on the bed.

“Brother. So, this is…”
“It looked like the Grand Duke sent you a bird.”
“Ah, yes. I think so. But I saw it for the first time today. It’s the first time he has ever sent something to our home through a bird like this. We have never exchanged anything strange.”

She was embarrassed and made a series of excuses that she didn’t have to.
Adeline herself was so surprised that she couldn’t understand why she was saying this.

“Alright. That seems to be the case, so sit down for a moment.”

Enoch smiled, looking slightly mischievous, and sat Adeline on the sofa.

“Leo and I have been thinking a lot about what happened.”

Leo also approached them and looked at Enoch and Adeline, leaning on the back of the sofa.

“Because we are confident that we love you too much, and that we know you too well. We didn’t believe you.”
“…”
“It was like that, you know. It was you who said you weren’t interested in marriage until a few weeks ago, and even told us to get you a partner that you could break off your engagement with.”
“…”
“But seeing you crossing that bloody garden so casually, it made me change my mind. Mine, and Leo’s too.”

Adeline quietly focused on Enoch and Leo’s words as she felt the unusual atmosphere.

“It’s something no one could do. Even I was overwhelmed in that atmosphere, so I didn’t even think of approaching the Grand Duke.”
“…”
“But you did. There seems to be a bond between the two of you that I don’t know about. I thought maybe I shouldn’t have brushed off your words.”

Adeline looked at her brothers with an unbelievable look on her face.
There was only one thing that would follow this.

“If you really want to get married, I’ll allow it. I won’t oppose it anymore.”

Adeline’s ‘humane consolation’, in which she only followed her heart, was even more influential than she thought.
To the extent that it changed the hearts of the brothers who shouted that she wouldn’t get married even if they died.