Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 27
Crown Prince Edwin was the person Adeline was most suspicious of killing her.
Even though she played the role of a villainess, ‘Adeline Bertrand’ was a character who had quite a bit to her name—enough to attempt the assassination of a saintess candidate. She had guards and generally lived in well-secured facilities.
To assassinate or poison such a person without the culprit being identified, it would have to be someone with even greater power. Hence, she suspected it would be either Shane or Crown Prince Edwin.
And with the kind of personality he had, that just made him the most likely suspect.
A sinister control freak and a sociopath.
With hair like melted sunshine, clear round eyes, and sky-blue irises that sparkled like gemstones, he looked as radiant as an angel in a religious painting.
But inside, he was the complete opposite.
‘I thought only the crown prince could be such a character, but in reality, my childhood friend turned out to be worse…’
Her eyes must have been blind all this time.
“You don’t seem surprised at all. How disappointing.”
“I’m actually quite shocked, you know.”
Despite speaking with a leisurely smile, there wasn’t a trace of sincerity in his words. Edwin walked over gracefully and sat down opposite her.
“When I got the message at dawn, I thought either Shane had finally gone mad enough to see things or I was dreaming.”
“I wish it were one of those two…”
“But you’re actually alive. Is this what it feels like to dream with your eyes open? It’s a strange feeling.”
“You really don’t know how to listen to people…”
Is this what they call collective monologue?
Yet, in a way, it was comforting that he hadn’t changed at all. Especially since the person next to her had changed so drastically.
“How did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“What did you do to fool Shane right in front of his eyes?”
Shane answered for her.
“Lucian Cole cooperated.”
“Lucian Cole? That lunatic, Lucian?”
“Yes, that Lucian Call.”
“That madman knows how to cooperate…?”
Adeline stared intently at Shane’s profile.
Lucian had collaborated with Shane to sell her out. She was determined to find out how much he had received.
“The youngest of the Marquis’ family isn’t someone you can easily meet. You never mentioned having such connections. How did you become friends?”
“Apparently, you don’t have to be friends for him to cooperate.”
When Adeline answered sarcastically, Shane chuckled and said,
“Yes. You just need to pay him.”
“…”
If Lucian had cooperated, Edwin could roughly understand the situation even without knowing the detailed process. Edwin spoke,
“Adeline, did you commit any crimes?”
“Me? Well, you know I’m someone who could live without breaking any laws.”
“Unless it was a serious crime, you wouldn’t have needed to change your identity and run away.”
“…”
“Even if it was a serious crime…”
Edwin glanced sideways at Adeline. It was left unsaid, but essentially, he was insinuating that if she had just told Shane, he would have taken care of it. In the past, she thought such words were lame jokes.
She had secretly cursed the crown prince, thinking he assumed everyone was like him. But now she understood.
Birds of a feather flock together—this was a universal truth.
“Did you kill someone?”
“I didn’t kill anyone!”
“Was it a high-ranking noble or a clergyman? Or maybe royalty from a neighboring country?”
“I said I didn’t kill anyone!”
“Then why did you do it?”
“……”
Because the world hates me…!
The truth she couldn’t say out loud sounded absurdly juvenile. Adeline kept her mouth shut.
It wasn’t just embarrassing. She couldn’t say it.
In regression or transmigration stories, protagonists often make the plot frustrating by not revealing their true identities.
They worry it might hurt people to know they’re just characters in a novel?
People don’t die from a little emotional pain.
If they think you’re crazy, they might send you to a monastery or far away for rest. But even begging for that didn’t work. Of course, they didn’t believe her.
As a reader, she would get annoyed and think, ‘Just say it already!’
But as the person involved, it wasn’t easy.
‘If you try to say it, you end up dying horribly!’
Whenever she tried to reveal the secret or even thought about it, she and the person she was talking to would meet terrible ends in her nightmares.
She had never tried telling Shane or Genevieve, but every time she tried to tell Lloyd, she had to endure seeing such horrible deaths.
Edwin watched her in silence for a moment before speaking.
“So why did you come to see me? If you’ve already gone ahead with all this, you didn’t need to report to me.”
“We plan to hold our wedding as soon as possible.”
“W-What?”
“I’m just informing you. Our engagement was approved by His Majesty a long time ago.”
“…Well, that’s true…”
Edwin glanced at Adeline.
She looked like she had a lot to say. Her eyes were already cursing him in every way possible, but she remained silent.
‘She’s being blackmailed.’
He immediately caught on.
The hostages were probably Genevieve or Adeline’s family.
