Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 157
She wished it was a dream.
Was all that blood from Lloyd? Though the boy was taller and broader than Adeline, he was still just a child. It seemed impossible for so much blood to come from someone so young, yet it drenched his upper body, pooling on the ground beneath him.
His face was drained of color, but his torso was bright red, with a sharp, menacing piece of iron lodged in his chest.
A blade, the kind that could so easily tear through human flesh, was stuck in Lloyd’s body.
Adeline replayed the scene over and over again in her mind.
She needed to find some sign that Lloyd was still alive. Even the smallest clue would be enough for Adeline to hold on to that belief.
‘There’s no way this boy could die so easily.’
Lloyd had once been Lucian’s right hand. Even if it had been a surprise attack, if he were still under Lucian’s protection, he could have avoided it and escaped without injury.
‘But I’m the one who took Lloyd in…’
Adeline had brought him to her side, preventing him from becoming an assassin.
She knew Lloyd kept training secretly. She was aware of how remarkable his skills were. Even Lucian and Shane had praised him.
However, Lloyd, in the original novel, was still an assassin. He was someone who, instead of engaging in direct combat, eliminated his targets through ambush.
If he were attacked directly or forced into a frontal confrontation, even if he had followed the novel’s path, he wouldn’t have been guaranteed victory.
And the current Lloyd, who had lived by Adeline’s side, hadn’t received proper training.
Instead of learning how to kill, Lloyd had learned how to make Adeline’s favorite meals, how to quickly tidy up her messy room, and how to brew the perfect cup of tea.
‘If only I hadn’t taken him in…’
Her thoughts were spiraling toward a dark place.
No, Lloyd wasn’t dead yet.
Even though he acted indifferent, as if he had no attachment to the world, Adeline knew the boy had an intense obsession beneath the surface. Unlike how he appeared, he was meticulous, worrying even about small stains on the wallpaper. Even if she told him to leave things alone, he would never handle anything carelessly.
Unless she saw his lifeless body with her own eyes, Adeline would believe Lloyd was still alive. Without that belief, she knew she couldn’t keep her sanity.
Adeline murmured to herself as she opened her eyes.
“Where is this place, again…?”
She had no idea why her voice sounded so hoarse and rasped like an old man’s. The taste of blood lingered in her throat, probably from screaming Lloyd’s name as he fell.
She was becoming disturbingly accustomed to waking up in unfamiliar places. Rising to her feet, Adeline reflected with a growing sense of cynicism on how most of her kidnappings had been carried out by people she loved.
At least her hands and feet weren’t bound this time.
She wiped her face with her dry palm, feeling her skin rough and cracked like coarse sandpaper. Genevieve would cry again if she saw this… Adeline thought as she surveyed her surroundings.
Not far from her, Genevieve was lying unconscious.
Crawling over, Adeline flipped her over. Though her body was limp, Genevieve was uninjured, and when Adeline pressed her ear to her chest, she could hear her heart beating steadily. She sighed in relief and rested Genevieve’s head on her lap.
‘Let her rest for now… there’s no point waking her when there’s nothing we can do right now.’
The person who attacked Lloyd…
Adeline tried to organize her thoughts, but halfway through, she shook her head violently.
Lloyd’s pale face kept surfacing in her mind, paralyzing her ability to think.
Focus on what you can solve right now.
Nothing would change by jumping to conclusions or despairing over things she couldn’t confirm.
Start with what you can do.
Think about what needs to be done.
She repeated these thoughts like a mantra until the chaos in her mind finally settled.
The one who had launched the attack was undoubtedly Genevieve’s husband.
The Imperial Crown Prince’s knight.
