Chapter 6: I’m Back
Adeline fell asleep after taking painkillers and only opened her eyes in the dark of night. Although she seemed to be feeling better, she was still extremely sick. When she let out a shallow cough, her voice came out hoarse. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“Ugh…”
“Adeline.”
The Lion King was still by her side. Her head felt hot, but her body was cold. When she opened her mouth, her jaw trembled, and her teeth threatened to bump against each other. She pulled on the blanket with difficulty, tossing aside the cloak the Lion King had removed.
“If you just lie still, the wound won’t get any wider. Is there a place to rest nearby?”
Adeline did not answer his question. Instead, she inquired about her obnoxious knight, who should have been there. “How much time has passed? What about Richard?”
“He went to collect the bodies of the assassins. He said he would ask for an investigation team…”
“No way.” Another laugh escaped her lips. An investigation team would not be dispatched. Richard must have rushed to the royal palace to explain her delay in returning. The report would probably be: Adeline Vita, although she was seriously injured, was in a safe place, and there should not be any more assassination attempts.
“I have to go.”
“Where are you going in that condition? It’s a wonder you’re even breathing right now.”
“It’s all right. I won’t die. You must know that already since you’ve seen a lot of people die. I couldn’t possibly die from this.”
“Adeline, you are a patient.”
“And the princess of this country.”
Adeline sat up, rising halfway and lifting her chin. She did it to appear more confident, but when she looked up, the Lion King looked angry. His handsome face, once stern and stony, was visibly distorted. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
Suddenly, a doubt occurred to her. Why on earth was this man worried about her? They had no contact whatsoever. They hadn’t had a fateful meeting in the distant past, nor were they lovers who had sadly broken up due to opposition from those around them. Was it out of pity? But even with that reason, he had no obligation to be here. She was the only one in this world with a right to feel sorry for herself.
“Haa…”
The Lion King’s sigh was longer and deeper than Adeline’s. He placed one hand on his waist and ran the other through his tangled hair. He, who used to look directly at people to the point of making them feel burdensome, now stared at his clenched fist. Then he opened his mouth in an irritated tone, as if he were saying something he didn’t want to say.
“They don’t miss you, so why are you so anxious to get back?”
“What?” Adeline rubbed her eyes with one hand, damp with cold sweat. What the Lion King had just said was the truth that no one dared to mention in front of her. The Crown Prince Cesare Dixon, the royal family of Marma, and even the country itself did not welcome her.
Adeline laughed. “How did you know that? Is Adeline Vita’s strange story so famous even in the barren desert of Odium?”
“You speak as if it’s someone else’s business.”
“No way.”
How could it be someone else’s business? Her humble body had been in a state of suffering through and through. Adeline Vita, Marma’s only princess, had died eleven years ago when she was offered to the young king of the enemy country, Nova, at the age of seventeen. The young princess cried, begging to be spared and even expressing a willingness to die if she could die in Marma. However, the nobles of Marma had dragged the crying young princess like a slaughter mule and thrown her before the king of the enemy nation. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
That was her story—the truth she had never once shared with anyone.
“I heard your story in Nova,” the Lion King said in a heavy voice.
Adeline responded lightly, “In Nova? Do you know anyone there?”
“I have met Aizen Balzac.”
Adeline took a breath and lay back, half-reclining. As she left Nova, she thought she would never hear that name again, but here it was, coming from his mouth. Aizen Balzac was a man who had carved an indelible scar on her. He was the king of the enemy nation, Nova, and someone she had hated fiercely for a long time since she had come to live in his bedroom.
“Aizen… how?”
The expression on the Lion King’s face was unreadable. He looked at her face in silence, his gaze moving past her eyes, her nose, her lips, and finally landing on her shoulder, where blood was still seeping. Then he stretched out one hand and measured the temperature of her forehead.
“It was a year ago. I came all the way to the southern border.”
“Did you meet him on the battlefield?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you meet him?”
“The end-of-the-war negotiations.”
“He met you directly at the southern border?”
“That’s right.”
Adeline burst out laughing. Aizen was a person who rarely left his desk. He was reluctant to even show his face at noble banquets, let alone on the battlefield. Specifically, he was a serious workaholic, to the point that he would do his work in his bedroom after she had come to him. It was also Aizen who had given Adeline the nickname “Viper.”
So, who had said what to whom? She was very curious about what Aizen had said to the Lion King. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“So what did he say?”
Adeline asked with a smile, aware that it was dry and crooked. The Lion King’s gaze upon her had grown heavier.
“He knew I was going to Marma. He said the King of Marma, who has his eyes on me, would present me with well-packaged noblewomen.”
“So?”
“He said that if I’m lucky, I will find a woman who meets at least two conditions. Otherwise, those women—and even I—would be unhappy.”
Adeline’s pounding heart calmed down. That was correct. Her father was a cowardly and greedy king who would throw all of the women of Marma naked before this man if it meant gaining his favor.
Meunier Tamiren, who was said to have died horribly, came to Adeline’s mind. The North Temple was the tallest tower in the capital, Sol-Marma. If a person had fallen from there, their body probably wouldn’t have been left intact. And Meunier had done just that. What number was she? And what number will I be?
“What are those two conditions?” Adeline asked.
The Lion King’s words were heavy, as if he were in pain when pouring them from his lips. “A woman who hates Marma.”
Adeline laughed. Even in pain, she shook with laughter. Ah, Aizen, there is no such thing as guilt if you don’t feel it. What the hell did he teach this innocent desert king? You damn bastard.
“I’ll guess the other one.” Adeline sat up, and her thin blanket slipped away, exposing her skinny, bandaged shoulders. Her bosom peeked out over her sweaty underwear, but she didn’t care at all. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“The woman whom Marma hates.” He opened his mouth before she could even speak. Adeline burst into laughter. The maid, who had been sleeping in a corner, was startled by her laugh and quickly came closer to the bed. She screamed and wrapped Adeline’s body with the blanket.
Adeline laughed even louder. She had no idea what was so precious about this unimportant body that had nothing left to protect.
“Adeline.” The Lion King called her name.
She was. She was the woman who hated Marma, and also the woman who was hated by Marma so much. Adeline Vita. That was her.
A dry laugh sharply pierced the quiet farmhouse.
Adeline laughed like a madwoman, her fevered face wrapped in her hands. Even as the maid cried and the Lion King’s gaze grew heavy, she continued to laugh nonstop, so much that her heart ached and she struggled to breathe.
She asked one last time, “So you’re lucky to meet me. Now tell me your conclusion. What kind of trick does the desert lion intend to pull?”
They looked at each other at the same time. Without any pretense or lies, he revealed his true feelings. The Lion King’s eyes, filled with pure greenery, and Adeline’s, filled with pitch-black malice, pierced each other without yielding an inch. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
He opened his mouth. “I plan to propose to you.”
***
Check out my Patreon to read advanced chapters!
