“I’m sorry. This conversation took longer than I thought.”
“It’s all right. Don’t be sorry. It’s not like that at all.”

Kael strode into the study and sat across from Adeline. He tried to hide it, but there were signs of urgency everywhere.

“Did you find the information you wanted?”
“Unfortunately, there were no results. I think it’s hidden quite a bit deeper than I thought.”

Kael frowned slightly and leaned on the sofa.
The place he went to examine today was where a report had been received regarding the suspect who had framed Adeline as a murderer. After hearing Vero’s report, Kael headed straight there.
However, contrary to expectations, there were no results. Kael’s dense information network barely found any clues.

“I need to take a little more time to look into it. I feel like we need to slowly surround them.”

Adeline nodded. It was the person who killed the ten nobles and tried to tie the murders to the Tien family. It would never be an easy opponent.

“Perhaps your brainwashing could be a clue. I don’t think the person who accused you of being a murderer and the one who attacked your carriage that day have no connection at all.”

In fact, Adeline was thinking the same as Kael. There was a time difference of close to 10 years, but no matter how much she thought about it, it didn’t seem to be a separate event.

“What were the contents? Of your brainwashing?”

Of course, she had expected him to ask, and she had prepared herself for it, but Adeline’s mouth froze when Kael asked seriously.
She still had no idea how to tell this long, and rather complicated, story.

“Like I said before, it was about me being possessed by a book. There was a character named ‘Adeline Tien’ in the book ‘Beyond Orange’, and I was possessed by that character.”
“Then, the book you found at the bookstore that time…?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. It was because of that.”

Adeline looked at Kael with a somewhat surprised expression. She did not know that he clearly remembered the brief moments in the bookstore.

“It was weird. The ‘Beyond Orange’ I knew of was so different from the one that existed here. The characters were different, the story was different, and the ending was different.”
“What was the story you knew? That would have been the basis of the brainwashing.”

Adeline took a deep breath before answering. It was going to be a long story, so it was necessary to prepare.

“It was a love story.”
“A love story?”
“You and Lady Felix were the main characters. And I was a villainess who got in your way.”

Kael couldn’t hide his surprise at the brief summary. He looked at Adeline suspiciously.

“There was a predetermined ending to the love story, and I felt that I had to achieve it the same way. That’s how I believed the possession would end.”
“A predetermined ending? And what was that?”
“The ending where you killed me.”

His blue-grey eyes shook visibly. It was a rough agitation not easily seen in Kael.

“What nonsense is that…”
“In the ending I knew, you fell in love with Vanessa at first sight, turned the capital upside down, and married her, and I, who was jealous of both of you, was discovered and killed by you while trying to kill her.”

Kael couldn’t even say anything. He heard something so outrageous that he just stiffly stared at Adeline like he was out of his mind.

“Wait. Didn’t you say just now that you believed the ending should be the same?”
“Yes. I did.”
“Then, have you been thinking of dying by my hand?”

This time, Adeline’s lips closed tightly. Though it was because of brainwashing, it was true that Adeline had been thinking about dying at the hands of Kael for a long time.

“…”

Kael did not urge her to answer. However, he clenched his fists to try to manage his rising anger.
His anger towards the unidentified person grew stronger and stronger, making it difficult to calm down.

“You know that I can’t kill you, don’t you?”
“I know. So it was more confusing, and more difficult. Because you had to kill me to end the possession, but I didn’t think that the person I could see and feel in front of me would be able to kill me.”

Adeline calmly conveyed her feelings.

“Actually, a lot of things went against my expectations. In the story I knew, you danced with Lady Felix, not me. The story unfolded right there, with love at first sight.”
“Were the situations set with such detail?”
“Yes. Before the story began, that is, before you and Lady Felix danced, even the small events all went as they were set, and even after that, most of the important things happened. That was the case with Lady Felix’s spectacular debutante, as well as the moment when the previous emperor collapsed from his illness.”

‘That was why I knew the day the previous emperor would die, and used that death to lie to you;’ she swallowed those words.
In fact, she had to tell him this too, but she didn’t want to. She still clearly remembered Kael’s reaction when she told him that he would die if he stayed with Adeline.
His eyes shone even more when he was told that death could come to him. It occurred to her that it might be easier to let go of his lingering feelings about marrying Adeline if he found out that this was a lie.
So, she had to hide it. Adeline wanted to protect this marriage.
When she proposed this marriage to him, she was only willing to destroy it somehow, but now, this completely different mindset made her feel bitter inside.

“That’s what the book was about, and that’s how it went. Until the masquerade ball that day.”

Kael’s eyes turned sharp at once. It would have been unusual if he could predict not only the fact that Adeline’s situation was made up, but also the external situation.

“But from that day on, things were contrary to what I knew in the book. As time went by, it became completely different.”
“…”
“I thought that was why Lady Felix was acting strange. I thought that she knew the story I had been brainwashed with.”

Adeline sighed deeply, then continued,

“But the more I think about it, the less I understand. Why would anyone do this to me? And dragging Lady Felix and everyone else into this…”

Whenever she thought of the brainwashing, she ended up with the same question every time.

“I’m thinking the same as you. I feel like there’s a connection between the carriage attack and everything that has been happening lately. All my memories from before that day have been erased, so I’m sure it’s the same person who brainwashed me and killed my parents.”
“…”
“But the more I assume this, the more confused I am. I’ve been trying to think of someone who could do something like this, and in the end, His Majesty is the most likely.”

Kael, who was listening to her, looked at Adeline with a slight surprise. He also thought that it might be the emperor.

“He may have attacked my parents in order to keep the East in check, and dragged Lady Felix into this to prevent our marriage and the union of the North and the East.”
“…”
“But the more I think about it, the more thoughtful I am. There’s no need for His Majesty to plan such a complicated situation.”
“…”
“There are many ways for him to wield the power he holds and deal with it simply. There’s no reason to put this much effort into it.”

Adeline continued to talk with great concentration, then shook her head. No matter how many times she thought about it, there were no pieces that fit together.

“I’m even more scared because I can’t predict it at all. I’m afraid I won’t be able to catch the culprit who did this to me.”
“That won’t happen.”

Kael denied Adeline’s words more firmly than ever.

“We’ll catch that person, no matter what. Didn’t I promise you?”

Adeline quietly made eye contact with him, then slowly nodded. There was a lot of determination to never back down in Kael’s eyes.

“… Kael.”

Seeing that, she remembered something that she had to tell him.

“I really want to find the time I lost. I must go to Repositio and check the records.”
“You will. You’ll definitely go inside.”
“So, what I mean is…”

She practiced countless times last night without getting any sleep, but when the moment to tell him came, she hesitated.

“You said it is a place where only the grand duke and duchess are allowed to enter. So please, no matter what, keep this marriage going until Repositio appears.”

Kael’s eyes shook once again at the completely unexpected words.

“Even if you push me away… Please don’t take this position away from me.”
“… Adeline.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to break our contract. I won’t let what you’re worried about happen. So just… Let’s not shake up this marriage until then.”

It meant that she wasn’t going to love him or approach him, so she wanted him to keep their marriage no matter what.
It was a sad word that Kael heard as she tried to push him away. Thinking about the two of them, it was right that they had to clear their feelings like this.

However, the moment he saw Adeline trying so hard to hide her sorrow, and the moment he saw his reflection in Adeline’s eyes, looking at her with an equally sad gaze, Kael was eaten away by the bitter waves pushing against him.
It was definitely the right direction, it was definitely the right path to walk, and it was definitely what he had hoped for so much, but his heart was completely torn apart.

–