Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 146
“If you’re angry, just say you’re angry! Stop pretending like nothing’s wrong!”
“……”
“Are you cutting me off because I didn’t follow your orders? Is that it?!”
“I told you, no…”
“Then what is it?”
“Calm down, Lloyd.”
“Do I look like I can calm down right now?! First, you almost die from drinking poison, and then, somehow knowing someone was going to poison you, you still went around carelessly! You accepted whatever was given to you, left the antidote to someone else!”
“How are you ‘someone else’?”
She was trying to stay quiet since she did make a mistake, but he’s going too far. Adeline raised her voice, snapping back.
“We are not strangers! Why would I entrust my life to just anyone?”
“……”
“I entrusted it to you! And it worked out fine!”
Lloyd bit his lip tightly. Adeline, who had let her emotions take over, finally came to her senses after seeing his face.
Normally, she wouldn’t have reacted like this. She could have handled it more calmly, but she wasn’t in a rational state, and controlling her emotions was difficult.
“When I said not to worry, I didn’t mean anything else… I meant that no matter what you do, I’ll never hate you. So you don’t need to worry. You can take me for granted.”
“……”
“Lloyd, I’m sorry.”
Lloyd glared at her in silence for a long moment. When he finally let out a sigh, Adeline knew his anger had subsided.
“…You really are unfair, you know that?”
“I know.”
In the end, it was her smiling face that made it impossible for him to stay angry.
Lloyd was still upset that Adeline had placed her life solely in his hands. Although he was usually by her side, you could never be 100% sure about anything in life.
Especially when it involved something as crucial as a life.
There shouldn’t be even a 1% chance of doubt. She should have taken every possible precaution. That’s what he wanted from her, and the fact that she didn’t made him angry…
But faced with her relaxed expression, he couldn’t keep being mad.
She was really unfair.
How could she trust someone like him with her life? He simply couldn’t understand it.
Is that what it means to have a broad mind?
Ultimately, there was only a fine line between “having a broad mind” and “being simple and trusting others easily.” It all came down to luck, whether it worked out or not.
“If you understand, then reflect on it.”
“I will. So give me a hug.”
“No. Don’t act like it’s normal to take advantage of moments like this.”
“Come on, what’s so wrong with hugging my little brother…?”
“……”
“Ah, fine. Don’t get mad. I won’t do it.”
Lloyd let out a deep sigh.
“I’m serving you, and even though I don’t like it, you entrusted me with the antidote. So, I’ll let it go this time, but you should know that others won’t be so forgiving.”
“It’s not easy…”
“Well, that’s what it means to be a part of your family.”
When she entrusted Lloyd with the antidote, she hadn’t realized it would hurt him.
Adeline had become desensitized to her own death after experiencing it so many times in her dreams.
If there was something like “experience points” for dying, no one, not even in a past life, could match her.
After being killed countless times by people controlled by sorcerers, something like a mere poisoning attempt didn’t even faze her.
Honestly, her first thought was, “Really? This is it?” rather than any sense of danger.
She truly didn’t feel the urgency of nearly dying.
She was sure she wouldn’t die from something so trivial.
The fact that someone had found out she had prepared for this poisoning attempt in advance was far more troubling.
‘Why do they keep locking me up?’
What am I, an animal?
For a moment, Adeline grumbled while forgetting that this whole mess was because of her betrayal, fleeing, and deception.
But to capture prey trying to escape, the only answer was to catch and contain it.
The next visitor was the Marchioness of Bertrand—her mother, Emma.
