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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Seeing Miragen off ended quickly.
Miragen seemed to want to act familiar with me, but since it was an official occasion rather than a private one, she couldn’t casually strike up a conversation with someone.
She was a princess.
As someone of a status that others couldn’t easily approach, we had already said our farewells beforehand.
“Did you say goodbye?”“I met her last night.”
When Adele, who was next to me, asked, I nodded slightly and answered.
Then, Adele’s smile faded for a moment, but soon returned to her original expression as she moved her lips again.
“I see.”
She looked like she had a lot to say.
It seemed she wanted to say various things, but slowly closed her mouth, conscious of the situation.
Didn’t I also have something I wanted to say to Adele?
Of course, it couldn’t be considered good news for her, but my purpose for coming to the North in the first place was for what I had in mind.
By the way, if there was something different about Adele today, it would be that she seemed to be in a strangely good mood.
The fact that she kept smiling slightly whenever she looked at me, made it seem like something good had happened, so I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Did something good happen today?”
“Something good?”
“You’ve been smiling continuously since earlier.”
When I pointed to her face with a faint smile, Adele was startled and touched the corner of her mouth.
Adele, who had been touching the slightly raised corners of her mouth, then let out a fake cough.
Was it my imagination that the tips of her ears had turned red?
Adele, who covered her mouth, stared at me intently for a moment.
“You’re mistaken.”
When she removed the hand covering her mouth, her faint smile was erased and she had returned to her originally cold expression.
To say I saw it wrong, it was an everlasting smile that one couldn’t forget.
It was probably just embarrassment or something unrelated to me.
Since she was trying so hard to hide it, I just nodded and agreed, not knowing what to say.
“… But was I smiling?”
When our eyes met again, Adele hesitated and moved her lips.
That cautious question was a slightly different attitude from her usual.
Rather than her always confident demeanor, should I say she seemed embarrassed?
Even if I didn’t know what she was embarrassed about, it seemed clear that the smile from earlier had appeared regardless of her will.
After pondering my answer for a moment, I then calmly opened my mouth.
“You were smiling. And smiling suits you well. Better than always wearing a cold expression.”
“… Don’t add unnecessary comments.”
It wasn’t an unnecessary comment.
It was something I often said during the many rounds I spent with Adele.
As I said, smiling slightly like earlier suited Adele better than looking at her surroundings with those cold eyes.
Whenever I thought about it, Adele’s appearance wasn’t as rough as the wolf guarding the North.
Rather, she was closer to being elegant and delicate like the nobles of the central region.
It was just that since her life began in the North, it would be awkward for her now.
A woman who suited a cloak with wolf fur better than a dress, a sword better than flowers or tea.
Such uniqueness could be said to be a charm that only a woman named Adele could possess.
Perhaps annoyed by my comment that smiling suited her better, Adele slightly furrowed her brows and walked forward with big strides.
The North became quiet again after Miragen returned to the imperial palace.
The imperial palace would be noisy about this incident, but no one would say anything to Adele.
Maybe the Crown Prince, but the North would be quiet for a while.
So I made up my mind.
Leaving now would cause the least disturbance, and I needed some time to organize my thoughts about what I had to wrap up in the south.
“Your Grace, I have something to tell you. Do you have time?”
Then Adele, who had stopped abruptly, stared at me blankly.
After gazing at me with a rather strange expression, she soon shook her head and answered softly.
“Follow me.”
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Even as I tried to bring it up to Adele, I realized my attitude was quite cautious.
Saying that I would leave the North and go back to the south, from Adele’s perspective, not knowing I would join the Saint and go to the south, it would sound like I was going to find Theresa.
Adele had warned me several times after hearing my story.
– If you do end up going, don’t go alone. It’s too dangerous.
It was clear that Theresa was calling for me.
Unless she was a fool, revealing her existence in the North where I was could only point to one thing.
If I went to the south, I thought I would probably be able to face that reality.
“So, what did you want to tell me?”
Adele, who put down her teacup, asked casually.
When I glanced over to see what kind of tea it was, what was placed in front of Adele was black tea.
Come to think of it, she often enjoyed drinking the black tea that came from the central region.
Smiling slightly at the old memory, I then erased my smile at the gaze staring intently at me and slowly opened my mouth.
“It’s already been 3 weeks since I arrived in the North.”
“Has it already been that long? It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.”
“Do you remember what you said at first? When you made me your deputy.”
As if something came to mind at those words, Adele, who swallowed for a moment, nodded her head.
I wondered how much I had satisfied her heart with that absurd suggestion of trying not to like me too much.
I thought she probably didn’t mean it sincerely.
“… Yes, I said I would watch what you do.”
“Then how much did I please Your Grace? As a deputy, I mean.”
“As a deputy.”
As her blue eyes swept over me, Adele, who then chuckled, opened her mouth.
“Unfortunately, if you hadn’t gotten hurt, I would have kept you by my side. It would be problematic to value a deputy who returned wounded by the tribes.”
“Is that so.”
“But why are you asking that? There should still be plenty of time left for you to stay in the North.”
I closed my mouth for a moment at that suspicious question, but I couldn’t hide it forever.
There wasn’t much time left.
Two more days until the new year, and considering returning to the central region after that and joining Adriana, the leeway given to me was at most a week.
It would be nice to have more time, but I had to say it now.
Meeting Adele’s eyes as she blankly stared at me, I carefully opened my mouth like that.
“I’m thinking of going back now.”
Silence flowed for a moment, and Adele, who had been staring at me with her mouth closed, laughed as if dumbfounded and answered.
“What?”
“I’m going to go to the central region and then back to the south. I was originally planning to go to the south, but due to Theresa’s matter, I need to move a little faster.”
“The south.”
Adele, who muttered like that, had a gradually darkening complexion as she wiped her face with her hand and quietly looked at me.
She was probably thinking about what I meant by saying this.
When I waited for a long time after making eye contact, Adele moved her lips again.
“I must have told you not to go alone. No matter if she was your fiancée, don’t you think it’s obvious she’ll be waiting for you?”
“I’m not going alone.”
“Then who are you saying you’re going with?”
“… I think I’ll probably be going with the Saint. Since my original purpose was to go to the Temple of the Moon.”
Upon hearing the word “Saint,” Adele narrowed her eyes for a moment and sipped her tea.
The slightly raised corners of her mouth were drawing a sneer.
It was a habit she showed when she was in a bad mood.
Perhaps she reacted to the word “Saint”, or was it that she didn’t like the fact that I was going to the south?
Around the time I guessed her thoughts, Adele’s voice reached my ears.
“You have a talent for annoying people.”
“What do you mean…”
“I didn’t ask you anything. I had no intention of stopping you from going back. Because it would make you uncomfortable. Because I could see that you were reluctant to do such a thing.”
Between her slightly furrowed brows, her forehead wrinkled.
As if dumbfounded, Adele clicked her tongue and continued.
“I don’t know anything about you. Other than the fact that you’re the eldest son of the Taylor family, that you’re better with a sword than I thought, and that you received a favor from the princess that I don’t know about. Yet, I kept being considerate of you.”
“……”
Her lips moved slightly and came down, followed by a moment of silence.
Adele’s expression as she tried to say something just looked frustrated.
It seemed like she had a lot she wanted to say, but she was confused because it wasn’t organized.
So I waited until she could fully express what she finally wanted to say.
She twisted the corners of her mouth slightly.
“But now you’re saying you’re going to the Saint? After making someone’s heart so unsettled, you’re just going to say what you want to do, what you want to say, and leave like that? I think it’s too selfish.”
“It’s not on purpose-”
“If it’s not on purpose. Are you trying to play games with me now?”
They were quite different from the reactions I had expected.
I thought she would be suspicious about me leaving earlier than planned, but I didn’t expect her to react so sharply.
I was certainly surprised.
The emotion mixed in Adele’s voice was not anger towards me, but…
It seemed like she was disappointed.
The emotions glimpsed between her wavering eyes were complicated.
Even as she expressed annoyance towards me, she was more disappointed than that feeling.
About me bringing this up now, about me leaving the North and going somewhere else.
This is just a guess, but about me going together with the Saint.
Only then did I notice Adele’s lips.
Her bitten lips had already turned white.
When the force of her trembling lips loosened for a moment, the bite marks remained exposed.
“… Are you jealous?”
The words that suddenly came to mind slipped out, and I was startled without realizing it.
It was a thought that arose from her unusual reaction.
Since she was acting like this at my words about going with the Saint, it was connected to her being sensitive about the Saint before.
I was sure she would answer no.
Just as I thought that and was about to open my mouth again, Adele, who had approached me, pushed me against the wall.
Thud, my chest was pushed by her hand, and I stumbled back unexpectedly easily.
With my back against the wall right behind me, I slightly furrowed my brows as I faced Adele.
“Did you say jealous?”
“I don’t think that’s it, but…”
It was a distance close enough for our breaths to touch.
Close enough to see even the tiny gaps between her pupils, Adele’s eyes were slightly reddened.
I faced her at that distance.
Her scent was sweet.
The rose scent I always felt close by filled my nose, and I blinked at the strange feeling that arose for a moment.
“It is jealousy.”
I was dazed for a moment, wondering if I had heard correctly, but Adele continued speaking without even giving me a chance to come to my senses.
“You’re right that I’m saying this because I don’t want you to leave the North. I haven’t finished saying everything I want to say. Who gave you permission to leave here as you please when I haven’t even allowed it?”
“… Your Grace.”
Her delicate hand gently grasped the collar of my shirt.
Adele, who clenched it to the point of wrinkling the front of my shirt, leaned her face towards my neck and whispered.
A small voice, barely audible to my ears alone, seeped into my ear like that.
“Two days, you’re not in such a hurry that you can’t even wait that long, right?”
When I slightly nodded, Adele, who smiled satisfactorily, slowly released her hand.
While smoothing out my cloak, she then sat back in her chair without saying a word to me, who couldn’t say anything until then.
She waved her hand and added.
“There’s something I want to show you.”
So stay.
I smiled bitterly at those words, which could be called an order so typical of her.
Because it was absurd, because it was hard to understand this situation.
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