Chapter 27

Translator: Yonnee

 
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The expression that had so warmly smiled just moments ago while speaking with Nadia turned cold, as if that earlier cheer had been a lie—and Carlisle was visibly taken aback.

—…Milady?

From the time young Adeline had taken her first steps until now, Carlisle had watched over her for many years.

And in all those memories, there had never been a moment when Adeline wore such an expression.

Naturally so.

Adeline had always shown him a friendly gaze and a relaxed demeanor.

So why now?

Just as confusion began to rise on Carlisle’s face, Adeline quickly wiped the look away and smiled.

With a smile no different from usual, she waved a hand as if it were nothing.

—Sorry, Carlisle. The dream was just a little strange.
—Did you have a nightmare?
—Yeah. In my dream, you betrayed me. It was truly horrible.

Adeline responded in a light tone, then stood and approached Carlisle.

Her green eyes, still marked with traces of tears, stared straight at him.

—You won’t betray me, will you, Carlisle?

It was a question—and at the same time, a demand.

Her silent gaze pressured him to respond, as if saying, Hurry up and say you won’t.

Though even without that, the answer Carlisle would give was always the same.

—Of course.

Just how terrible must that dream have been?

Soon enough, as Carlisle gave that very reply, Adeline nodded in satisfaction and dismissed him.

That entire sequence of events felt strange to Carlisle.

‘It feels like Milady has changed somehow.’

To put it more precisely, there was a sense of distance.

Was it just his imagination?

As he picked up the towel and dried Adeline’s hair, Carlisle kept thinking about it.

‘Looking at her now, she doesn’t seem any different than usual…’

Then what was that sense of distance he’d felt that morning?

Unable to meet her gaze, he kept his head lowered and focused solely on his task. Carlisle’s hands, like his nature, were meticulous but at the same time restrained. He wrapped the long golden hair in the towel, pressed it gently, then smoothed it down.

His eyes drifted toward the pale nape of her neck, revealed between strands of hair.

Adeline had entrusted her head entirely to Carlisle’s hands, so when he tilted her head slightly, her whole body followed. In the dim light, the line from her neck to her shoulder was faintly exposed along the angle.

‘…So pale.’

The immaculate skin that reflected the light caught his gaze. It was like how the moon sometimes appeared especially bright in the night sky.

And so, the red marks engraved atop that pale neck couldn’t be missed either.

The vivid, almost excessive crimson seized his attention.

At that moment, the sense of distance he had felt from Adeline since morning crept back in. It had been like a thorn beneath the nail, quietly needling him. That quiet discomfort, which would have faded after a day like nothing had happened, transformed straight into hostility—hostility directed at whoever had left those marks.

A hot pain flared like a gut sliced open by a razor blade.

Carlisle’s fingertips, as they passed over the brightly flushed marks like blooming welts, moved with the same gravity they had while drying her hair. Yet they were no longer gentle.

‘…Who could it have been?’

The thought passed through him unconsciously. Carlisle didn’t even realize he was wondering.

One uneasy image after another filled his mind.

Adeline, panting in the arms of an unfamiliar man.

That man, pressing his lips carelessly to her skin.

Even now, Carlisle was careful to avoid brushing against her as he dried her hair.

‘That wretch must have touched her at will.’

Just how much of Adeline had that bastard touched?

Had he felt her lean fully into his embrace?

Adeline’s lips and hands… had they also sought him out?

And.

“Did you… permit this, Milady?”

Had Adeline also taken pleasure in that act?