The Impact Of The Villainess’ Fake Marriage On The Ending - Chapter 68

Chapter 68

“This is ridiculous…,” Adeline muttered quietly.

Her lips were covered with the blood she had vomited, and the tears that she didn’t even know she was shedding were also wetting her face.

Her hands trembled, and her fast-paced heartbeat thumped in her ears.

‘Am I really Adeline Tien? Didn’t I get sucked into a book while living a different life?’

Adeline always thought of herself as someone who didn’t belong here. It was natural because she had been thinking of herself as a character in a book for every moment of her memory.

Although she truly loved and cared for her brothers, she always had a bitter taste in her mouth because he couldn’t erase the idea of having to leave them, and skepticism poured in whenever it could because she thought that she couldn’t escape the original story no matter how she acted.

‘That’s why I made such a fuss about dying. I thought I might be able to escape this story a little sooner.’

Her past, in which she tried to die multiple times but couldn’t, flashed through her mind.

She only did so because she thought she had to end her possession.

Because Adeline couldn’t change her life by her own hands, and it didn’t matter anyway since it wasn’t her life in the first place.

She had tried many different things, but she had never succeeded. At that time, she believed that she was just trapped in the possession and wasn’t allowed to die, but looking back now, she was just lucky.

‘That time… Then, the time I suffered so much…’

Hot tears flowed down Adeline’s cheeks without ceasing. She couldn’t stop crying, as if her lacrimal glands had broken down.

An inexpressible sense of hopelessness struck Adeline. It was too confusing to think that all the facts that she trusted to be true, facts that she had never doubted before, were not true.

[You live a life surrounded by lies. There are so many grey clouds around you.]

[…]

[It’s up to you to decide whether to remove the clouds and face the truth or live with them as they are.]

[…]

[But no matter what you choose, please remember what I say. Don’t believe what you know. Never.]

Suddenly, she recalled the words of the fortune teller she had met at a tea party a long time ago.

It was only now that she understood what the fortune teller had said about the clouds and what it meant not to believe what she knew.

‘But events I knew to be the contents of the book happened. Both Vanessa’s debutant, and the death of the previous emperor. Everything was the same until Kael danced with me at the ball.’

Vanessa’s splendid debutant, which had turned the capital upside down, Enoch’s marriage to Theresa, which had been quite dramatic, and the death of the previous emperor, which Adeline had told Kael when she was “threatening” him, were all things Adeline had known about before they happened.

It was strange that she was not possessed by the book ‘Beyond Orange’, and that the ‘predetermined ending’ she had clung to the whole time was an illusion caused by brainwashing, but she was foreseeing those events.

‘It’s weird. It’s really weird.’

Just handling the sense of hopelessness was too much. But when it mixed with confusion, her whole body lost strength.

It was so painful that Adeline’s world seemed to have been completely turned upside down.

“Adeline! Look at me.”

As she lowered her gaze and stared blankly at the floor, she heard Kael’s voice.

Kael gently wrapped his hands around Adeline’s face and turned her to make eye contact with him.

“…”

His lips were moving as if he were about to say something, but Kael quietly swallowed his words and stared at Adeline.

He carefully wiped Adeline’s tears with the hand that didn’t have blood on it. The fact that he couldn’t even ask her if she was okay because anyone could see that she wasn’t, was conveyed to her.

Feeling his gentle touch, Adeline stared at Kael.

Countless thoughts crossed Adeline’s mind as the different-colored eyes captured each other.

‘It turns out that I wasn’t possessed by a book, and there’s no ending that I need to reach, so what will happen to us?’

Now, Adeline had no reason to die at the hands of Kael, and no reason to return him to Vanessa while fulfilling the villainess’ role.

She faced Kael completely as Adeline and his the wife, the Grand Duchess of the North.

‘But he’s not going to love me. The more I try to reach him, the farther he’ll try to get away from me. Then, we…’

The tears that seemed to have stopped for a while wet her cheeks again.

“Adeline?”

After noticing the change, Kael called out to Adeline in a worried voice.

However, Adeline could not answer, but merely captured Kael beyond her blurry vision.

She couldn’t even estimate what the future would hold for Adeline and him, or how to proceed next. It was now possible to desire him honestly, but she couldn’t smile because she knew Kael’s feelings and will.

“Adeline!”

Adeline, who was cried blankly, lost her senses and collapsed into Kael’s arms.

It was a very, very cruel night for Adeline.

***

“She must have pushed herself too hard. The doctor says there’s nothing wrong, so she will be alright after a while.”

Returning to the mansion, Simeon sighed deeply and faced Kael.

Kael stared quietly at Adeline, who had fallen asleep as if she were buried in the large bed.

Adeline’s eyes, which he had seen just before she collapsed, were clear. They were very different from the light-green eyes that he had captured until now.

He could see that her heart was torn apart beyond her eyes. However, it seemed like the person who made her that way was Kael, so he was very anxious.

“Your Grace, are you alright?”

Simeon asked indirectly while looking at Adeline for a long time. Kael looked at Simeon, wondering if there was anything that made him ask that.

“Your hand. You cut it twice.”

“Ah…”

Only then did Kael look at his bandaged hand. He couldn’t pay attention to his own wound because he kept thinking of Adeline.

“I’m fine. This is nothing, so don’t worry.”

His resolute blue-grey eyes quickly returned to Adeline.

Simeon quietly watched as he recalled the moment he was drawing the magic circle.

It wasn’t surprising at first, but as soon as Adeline was in pain, he brought the dagger to his already bloody hand once again as if it was nothing.

The assertiveness that his pain wasn’t important because it was for Adeline’s sake really complicated Simeon’s mind.

Simeon was convinced of Kael’s curse, and he could seldom erase his suspicions that it would affect Adeline. So he kept his distance from Kael more than the other brothers, and he hoped Adeline would get away from him a little sooner.

However, seeing that Kael seemed to be willing to immediately give his life for Adeline made him think a lot.

“Your Grace. May I ask you one question?”

“What is it?”

“The contents of the curse. Can’t you tell me?”

There was no reason or need to beat around the bush. Simeon asked straightforwardly.

“… I can’t.”

Kael, who had been silent for a while, stated firmly.

It wasn’t easy to tell anyone. Even Zion and Vero couldn’t fully know about Kael’s curse. Kael didn’t tell them the part that he thought was the most terrible,

“Then, does my sister know? What curse it is?”

“Adeline doesn’t know either.”

“And the fact that you are cursed?”

“That she knows.”

A dark shadow fell on Kael’s face. He didn’t want it to be discovered and had been keeping it hidden, but the person he hoped wouldn’t know the most was Adeline.

However, Adeline witnessed Kael struggling with pain, and yet, she continued to stand by his side without fearing him.

“You don’t have to answer if you can’t. But I think the various things that are happening to her have quite a bit to do with Your Grace.”

Simeon’s heavy words shook Kael.

Although he said it indirectly, his message was clear. It meant that he was thinking that the various sufferings Adeline had been going through lately might have stemmed from Kael’s curse.

Kael could do nothing but look at Simeon.

He couldn’t deny it. He also always had that thought in mind. It seemed that the wind created by Kael’s curse was shaking the calm sea that was Adeline, and creating waves of suffering.

“But I also know that Your Grace cares for my sister with all your heart. And I know that her feelings towards Your Grace aren’t small either.”

Simeon’s rather sharp mood softened with a shallow sigh.

He could feel that his affection for Adeline was big, and yet, he had only been thinking of the curse and pushing him away. He was confident that he would never let Adeline get hurt.

“But for me, Sister is my priority. Whatever your feelings, if it becomes clear that Your Grace’s curse is hurting my sister, I will never let it go.”

The atmosphere that had softened for a moment became stiff again with his resolute voice.

No matter how much Kael loved Adeline, and no matter how much Adeline loved Kael, the most important thing for Simeon was her safety.

Simeon knew well how terrible the curse of darkness was. He had no intention of letting Kael’s curse harm Adeline.

“I will protect her regardless of the means. Brother Enoch, Brother Leo, and the entire Tien family too.”

Kael stared quietly at his firm, light-green eyes. It felt strange to be looking into eyes that looked just like Adeline’s but had a different temperature.

“Priest Simeon.”

After a moment of silence, Kael slowly opened his mouth. Then, he spoke as decisively as Simeon, or even more firmly than Simeon.

“Promise me one thing. If there comes a situation where you have to save Adeline from me, promise me that you will save her regardless of the means, just as you said.”

“…”

“That’s what I want. More than anyone else.”

Simeon’s eyes shook at his desperate voice.

However, there was a commotion before he could fully grasp his feelings.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Adeline!”

“Sister!”

Adeline woke up screaming.