Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 91
Happiness, a Sandcastle
Adeline sprang out of bed energetically.
It was the most refreshing awakening she had ever experienced since being born into this world. Her body felt light, and her mind was clear.
The morning sunlight was dazzling.
The early winter sunlight streaming through the glass window was beautiful!
Even the heavy velvet curtains looked like a work of art! The thick cords gracefully draped down!
“Damn, the world is so damn beautiful….”
On a whim, she opened the window to feel the clear birdsong resonating through the transparent air.
“So cold!”
No matter how beautiful the world was, it didn’t romanticize the cold. That was the limit of the brain’s happiness chemicals.
Adeline couldn’t become a romantic who didn’t feel cold, heat, or hunger because she was happy.
But as she took a deep breath of the cold air, she felt a sense of reality down to her fingertips and toes.
Does breathing in the clear air even improve eyesight? Maybe that’s why elders make a point to go hiking early in the morning….
The world sparkled.
Because Adeline was truly liberated now!
Liberation, freedom, what a sweet sound.
Adeline no longer had to suffer from the compulsion of how she should live, and she didn’t have to worry about being chased out of this world. She didn’t have to play a specific role, and she didn’t have to fear that something wasn’t hers.
Her return hadn’t put Genevieve in danger. The true villain hadn’t appeared, and the protagonists were each walking their own paths. Even the villainess herself had survived intact.
The mere fact that nothing happened despite the protagonist and the villainess being together was proof of safety.
If the predetermined ‘happy ending’ had been reached, Adeline would have lived with constant anxiety. In that perfect happiness, she would have had to be a dead person.
She might have lived in constant fear, worrying about being discovered and paying the price for cheating fate.
But because it wasn’t a predetermined ending, it wasn’t strange for Adeline to be alive.
Living long enough brought days like this.
“Life was worth living after all….”
Oh, wait. Tears are welling up….
She had no special abilities like the protagonists, and with a frail body that could be killed with a single stab, she had run here and there trying to survive, those years of hardship, blood, sweat, and tears….
Adeline stood by the window, pressing her nose. She thought she had cried herself dry yesterday, but now, rethinking her emotions, her eyes stung again. I worked so damn hard. I lived so diligently….
“You’re up?”
“Shane!”
Shane, carrying a tray full of food, opened the door with his shoulder and entered, looking puzzled.
“Why did you open the window?”
“Because I feel great!”
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Freezing, actually.”
Adeline hastily closed the window and approached Shane to take the tray he was holding. Shane lifted the tray above his head and, instead, bent down to kiss Adeline’s cheek.
“Sit down. Let’s have breakfast.”
“Give it here.”
“No need, it’s heavy.”
Shane strode over to the table by the window and set down the tray. He meticulously closed the window again.
The tray held creamy soup with a savory aroma, golden-brown morning rolls, jam, and milk. It was a simple breakfast menu, but for Adeline today, it looked perfect.
The color of the morning rolls was so inviting. The round shape and the glossy surface made them look even more delicious. The visual appeal made her stomach growl hungrily. Thinking back, she realized she hadn’t even had lunch properly yesterday before falling asleep.
“Eat the soup first. Are your eyes still sore?”
“Yeah. They’re fine though, I thought they’d hurt.”
“I put a cold towel over your eyes early in the morning. It seems to have helped.”
Adeline was surprised.
“And I didn’t wake up?”
“You don’t usually wake up easily.”
“I didn’t used to be a heavy sleeper….”
In fact, she used to wake up too often. After crossing the border and isolating herself, she stopped having nightmares, but her broken sleep habits didn’t immediately return to normal. Even after managing to escape, she often couldn’t sleep deeply because she never felt completely safe.
Anxiety was like a swamp lying at the base of her subconscious. Adeline curled up and slept restlessly, and Lloyd had told her she often talked in her sleep and frowned frequently.
