Chapter 36

Jack agreed to Adeline’s request without hesitation. After all, as he himself had noted, there was nothing for him to lose. If anything, he stood to gain twice the auction price from the Barretts, so he had no reason to refuse.

‘I don’t know what Jack said to send Sophia to me.’

Her part was simply to make the request.

From that point on, everything was in Jack’s hands, so Adeline had no way of knowing exactly how events unfolded. But what was certain was that he had fulfilled her request with utmost sincerity. And the proof was there before her, Sophia had appeared before Adeline and Millein.

“Well, I never expected to see Froude Academy’s notorious flirt and its princess together in one place. It’s been a while, Adeline.”

After a brief greeting to Adeline, Sophia turned straight to Millein with a teasing glint in her eye.

“Milleinberg, are you hoping to charm Adeline this time? Last time it was my cousin Mireille, wasn’t it?”

“That was all a misunderstanding, Sophia. Nothing ever happened between Mireille and me.”

“Oh, I’m sure it didn’t!”

Mireille Leroux, Sophia’s cousin, was a name even Adeline recognized.

‘Now that I think of it… didn’t she have a scandal with Millein some time ago?’

Mireille, who was the same age as Millein, had indeed been at the center of such rumors. Whispers that the two were involved had spread like wildfire, only to be dismissed as baseless gossip a week later, bringing the scandal to an abrupt end. It was a story Adeline herself had long since forgotten. But for Sophia, who was close to her cousin, it seemed the memory still lingered. How else could she bristle at the mere sight of Millein?

Sophia, clearly delighted to have caught him off guard, needled him openly.

“Misunderstanding, you say? Come now, Milleinberg. Do you really think I don’t know how you charm girls and then cast them aside whenever you please?”

As her sharp criticisms continued, Adeline found herself glancing at Millein almost unconsciously.

What she saw was a face she had never witnessed before.

The smile he always wore had vanished without a trace, and now, his face was cold and expressionless as he fixed his gaze on Sophia.

‘And then, just as quickly, it was gone.’

Millein changed his expression so swiftly, offering such a warm, friendly smile, that Adeline almost wondered if what she’d just seen had been her imagination.

“It seems Sophia may have misunderstood something. Would you mind if I spoke with her for a moment?”

“Of course, don’t worry about me. Go ahead.”

“I’ll be back soon. Forgive me, Renée.”

With that, Millein led Sophia away from the gathering. As she watched the two of them disappear into the crowd, Adeline felt a quiet certainty settle within her.

‘…So that’s how it was.’

She had always wondered at the sudden swirl of rumors about Millein’s romantic exploits after her marriage, but it seemed he hadn’t changed overnight at all. Sophia’s biting words and the way Millein promptly led her away—everything made perfect sense now.

Everything now spoke plainly to Adeline.

‘Millein had been deceiving me all along.’

Truthfully, his many romantic entanglements no longer surprised her. If the man she had seen over the past three years was his true self, and the gentle affection he showed her now was only a facade, then perhaps it was a relief to finally know the truth. Yet the more she uncovered, the more puzzling it all became.

One fundamental question lingered in Adeline’s mind.

‘Then why did Millein go to such lengths, deceiving me and hiding so much, just to propose?’

He concealed his many affairs and even gave up a title that was all but his by right. Was there truly any reason to keep up the mask of a kind, affectionate childhood friend for over a decade, all for the sake of a proposal?

Lost in thought, Adeline found herself growing more contemplative as she stood alone.

“And where has your partner gone, leaving you here all by yourself, Adeline Zeller?”

The words interrupted her reverie. A voice, at once unfamiliar yet strangely familiar, drifted to her from somewhere nearby.