Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 192
He understood all too well how terrifying that must be for Adeline, who did not love him.
Even if she didn’t love him, even if she thought it was awful, he was content as long as he could keep her alive and by his side.
Though he couldn’t help hoping she might love him… it no longer mattered.
Shane was prepared to be hated by Adeline for the rest of his life.
Thus, Shane had nothing left to guard.
When Shane realized he no longer had to worry about being hated by Adeline, he felt strangely free.
He could kill them all.
If Adeline hadn’t confessed, Shane would have locked her away and headed to the Kingdom of Brubewein by now.
Like a loose guard dog, he’d have bitten through anything that annoyed him on the streets, without a muzzle.
The moment he learned that Harrison was a traitor, all he could think about was how to exact revenge.
Lucian and Jeff talking about negotiation seemed laughable.
Shane already had no muzzle.
Since Adeline would hate him anyway, there was no reason to hold back.
“Is it really… you, Shane?”
When he found Adeline, she was collapsed on the floor.
Thanks to Genevieve’s holy power, her skin was clean without any cuts, but the traces left on her body told him what she’d been through. Her disheveled platinum hair, the bloodstains near her nose and lips, her dirtied and torn clothes.
When anger boiled to its peak, he found himself becoming frighteningly calm.
Shane was so enraged he wanted to tear and kill everything.
Those emerald green eyes, which had never wavered before, looked shattered and wet with unshed tears—just what had she endured?
Adeline was the only person who brought out such raw emotions in him: love, misery, thirst, happiness, hatred. And now, rage.
He had planned to kill them all from the start, but now there wasn’t even room for negotiation.
The one who had dared to try to kill Adeline, the Kingdom of Brubewein that had nurtured her like a cradle, and even the kingdom the royal family was trying to protect—they were all unforgivable.
Adeline would weep and beg him not to make innocent people suffer, but teaching her that when something went wrong, someone would die might be a worthy sacrifice.
Even if it made her genuinely despise him, which would be agonizing enough to want to die.
Yet that was better than losing Adeline again.
He would never let her die before his eyes. Never again.
Watching Adeline’s warmth slowly fade as he foolishly hoped for love had been enough. He wouldn’t expect anything anymore.
No matter what Adeline said, he would delve into her soul, uncover every hidden thing inside her, and consume it whole. No longer would he trust someone who knowingly swallowed poison.
No matter what he gained from her, whether it was love or hatred—if she remained alive, then what did it matter?
‘But who would have thought she’d confess while crying.’
It was an unexpected gain.
That one sentence drained all his poison.
Even Adeline seemed bewildered by it, but no one was more surprised than Shane himself.
Just that one line.
“I like you. I like you too.”
That was all, yet suddenly, everything else didn’t matter to him.
All his thirst was quenched.
Of course, he couldn’t simply let the masterminds go unpunished, but at least the raging hatred and dark anger that had demanded their deaths had completely vanished.
There were still countless problems and mysteries to solve, but… those could wait.
As long as you come back to me, I don’t need anything else.
But will that truly make you happy?
I’m glad you love me, though.
Because your smile is the most precious thing.
If you’d been forced to hate me, I might never have seen your smile again.
Shane carefully, very slowly, pressed his lips to Adeline’s round forehead.
The warmth of her skin, the soft touch lingered on him as if clinging to him.
Only the love was real, while everything else was twisted and distorted somehow.
All those left behind when Adeline rushed forward to achieve her goals were the same.
For Adeline, this would undoubtedly be a terrible thing.
