Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 149
The night had fallen, and it was about time to go to bed.
After Patrick and Jeff, Gregory also stopped by briefly to check in.
Unlike his usual warm demeanor, he seemed awkward, hovering around without saying much. When he asked if she needed anything, and Jeff mentioned that he had already stocked up on everything, Gregory just nodded sheepishly and left.
Though the whole situation felt absurd—she was being confined against her wishes right now, but she was being visited as though she was a patient in a recovery home.
Adeline couldn’t muster the strength to argue, feeling guilty herself. If she hadn’t felt this guilt, she might have already thrown herself on the floor, protesting against this inhumane treatment.
But she was too much of an adult to act that way now.
“Shall I sleep beside you?” Lloyd offered, as if doing her a favor.
Adeline, already prepared for bed, chuckled when she saw him. Why didn’t anyone else notice how adorable he was? He was so honest.
“You look like you’d hate that.”
He was sometimes so painfully honest, it was almost infuriating.
“I do hate it. But isn’t it better to have some warmth?”
“Hugging a pillow is enough. I don’t really need warmth…”
“If you really can’t sleep, just call me.”
The way he said it, so solemnly, like he was offering himself up for some noble sacrifice, made her laugh. It wasn’t as if she were some corrupt official forcing him into servitude.
“I’ll call you if I need to. Good night.”
“Well, if you insist…”
With a prim expression, Lloyd, her ever-proper ‘Chunhyang’[1], closed the bedroom door and left.
Even after resting her head on the pillow, sleep didn’t come easily. She didn’t feel like sleeping.
‘The sorcerer is from the Kingdom of Brubewein.’
From the day the ship arrived, there had been an incident, so she had suspected that one of the guests might be a sorcerer.
She hadn’t known the sorcerer was a woman until recently, but even then, since the sorcerer hadn’t attacked her directly, she couldn’t take any action. That, and Genevieve’s prescribed rest had left her unable to move.
‘So, the sorcerer hadn’t changed her mind…’
It was just that the sorcerer’s plot had failed, so Adeline hadn’t realized anything. But it seemed clear that something had been in the works.
In a way, that was a relief. The worst-case scenario would have been if the sorcerer had reformed.
She couldn’t bring herself to kill an innocent sorcerer, one who had done no wrong, just so she could live happily. That was something Adeline could never do.
But if she didn’t kill the sorcerer, there would always be the looming threat of something unprecedented happening, and the world—unable to tolerate the existence of something that shouldn’t be—would push her toward eliminating that impurity.
She would be trapped in nightmares until the day she died.
But, fortunately or not, it seemed the sorcerer hadn’t reformed and still wanted to kill the Saintess.
Whether the nightmares would end with the sorcerer’s death, she couldn’t be sure. But at least one major possibility would be eliminated.
‘…Wait, why is she trying to kill me now?’
Adeline hadn’t done anything to earn someone’s grudge, especially from someone she didn’t even know. She wasn’t a public figure, nor did she hold any position of power that could influence events.
Unless the sorcerer was acting on the orders of the world itself, it made no sense for someone with no personal vendetta to come after her.
She felt suffocated by how little she knew.
‘Why do I have such terrible stats for an early-game villain?’
By now, in a game, you’d have leveled up and acquired better gear, but it was as if Adeline had been dragged to the final stage armed with nothing but a wooden stick from the start.
Trying to keep up with the powerful characters running and jumping all around her felt like her legs and lungs were being torn apart.
With a sigh, she leaned her head back against the pillow. Then, she suddenly sensed someone’s presence.
Sitting up, she saw Shane.
“You lock me up, and now you decide to show your face?”
She asked irritably, but there was no response.
It was hard to read his expression in the darkness. She should’ve left at least one candle burning.
Adeline’s anxiety grew, fearing that Shane’s eyes might still be as empty as before.
“Shane, say something.”
“…It’s not me who should be talking.”
Normally, Shane would have approached by now, but he kept his distance.
“You’re the one who needs to say something.”
“……”
“What do you know?”
As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see more clearly. Adeline looked directly at Shane, and she involuntarily held her breath.
He looked like someone interrogating a suspect. His cold, emotionless blue eyes and expressionless face were studying her intensely, as if searching for something.
“I’ll admit it, Adeline. I haven’t been able to figure out what you’re hiding. Isn’t it time you stopped keeping secrets?”
Even though his voice was soft, there was a layer of cynicism beneath it. It felt as though she had swallowed ice—her throat stiffened and ached.
