Adeline also desperately hoped the false accusations against her beloved brother Leopold would be cleared. 

She especially wanted to determine the truth about the charge of leaking state secrets. But she was somewhat skeptical about him reclaiming his position as crown prince.

Even to Adeline, who didn’t know the detailed circumstances due to her long life abroad, Krauben wasn’t in a position for civil war right now. 

It was time to strengthen their foundations both internally and externally. Yet her mother only thought of summoning the storm called Leopold to cause upheaval.

She didn’t want to describe her beloved mother this way, but stagnant water always rots.

“If I had married Grofen’s Prince Oscar, would Leopold have reclaimed his position as crown prince today? What about Fritz Eisen? Would he really help Leopold?”

Adeline rattled off the names of men who had been candidates for her husband. At minimum, they were crown princes of small countries or direct or collateral royalty with strong royal bloodlines.

“The world has changed now, Mother.”

At Adeline’s final words, deep cracks formed in Luise’s previously smooth brow.

* * *

“You’d better give up on gaining or buying anything with bloodlines now.”

By the time she left the estate practically driven out, her mother, who had endured Adeline’s harsh words, had nearly fainted.

“From today, you are not my daughter! My daughter Adeline Rosenthal von Krauben is dead. You’re just a lowly wench of Belliche, nothing more.”

When she came outside, leaving behind her mother who leaned on Mrs. Neumann, gasping for breath after finally casting out her rebellious daughter, the sun had already set.

Adeline looked at the sky mixed with murky crimson and gray and breathed in the damp air deeply.

“It’s late. I won’t make it back today.”

Instead of pushing herself to catch the last train, Adeline chose to stay at a hotel near the station.

Actually, last month, Adeline had come here to Harden with Kailen to see her mother. She was turned away at the door then too, and used the same hotel that day.

Alone, of course.

Since they weren’t yet married and there were eyes watching around them, Kailen, who had booked her room, stayed at a different hotel nearby.

“Then please rest comfortably.”

When the hotel staff member who had set down her luggage on the floor of the two-bedroom suite bowed politely and left, just like during her previous stay, Adeline finally caught her breath.

Meanwhile, Tanya approached and helped Adeline change.

“It must have been difficult.”

“You’re the one who worked hard, Tanya.”

“Hard work? I just sat still and was treated well.”

Adeline, wearing a gown, told her to rest in the adjacent bedroom, but Tanya shook her head.

“Don’t you need anything else? You haven’t eaten anything all day. Here’s the room service menu.”

“Really? Then order me some snacks.”

A short while later, a couple of plates of food sat on the dining table. They were light dishes that wouldn’t upset her stomach even late at night. But instead of picking up her utensils, Adeline just drank a glass of water while sitting at the table, then set down the glass with a smile.

“I was pretty hungry… but now that I see it, I have no appetite. You eat it for me.”

“What? No, Princess. I ate a lot of snacks, so I can just have something simple later…”

“We went to the trouble of ordering it, so it’d be a waste to throw it away untouched.”

Before her maid could add anything more, Adeline disappeared into the bathroom.

At what happened so suddenly, Tanya stood awkwardly staring at the bathroom door before eventually sitting at the table.

* * *

Adeline’s eyes widened after finishing her shower.

“You’re still here? I told you to go rest.”

She had spent quite a bit of time under the warm stream of water. So she thought Tanya would have gone to the next room by now, but she was still there.

“I’ll just see you to bed and then go.”

When she removed the towel wrapped around Adeline’s hair as she sat before the mirror, her damp blonde hair cascaded down over her delicate shoulders in loose waves.

“Thank you for being so thoughtful.”

“Not at all.”

Tanya, standing with a comb, swallowed. She was newly amazed by Adeline’s beauty reflected in the mirror. Adeline was always beautiful, but today especially so.

Her pure face, soaked in fatigue, strangely captivated the heart like glass on the verge of shattering.

Tanya was braiding the neatly combed and dried blonde hair loosely to one side and tidying up when it happened.

Knock, knock.

A cautious knock broke the quiet of the room. Through the gap in the door Tanya opened, a hotel staff member bowed with his hat removed.

“Excuse me, Princess. There’s a phone call for you. Would it be all right to connect it at the front desk?”

Adeline’s gaze turned to the clock. 8:47 PM. A time when it wouldn’t be strange to go to bed early.

A phone call at this hour…

She could guess the caller without asking. Kailen—who else would know her whereabouts and call so late at night?

“Yes. I’ll be right there.”

With her answer, Adeline wrapped a shawl around herself and followed the staff member without delay. In the reception room connected to the first-floor front desk, the staff member bowed once more, left a word hoping she’d use it comfortably, and closed the door.

Before even sitting down, she quickly picked up the receiver on the table.

What could bring someone who said he was busy? Was there some urgent matter?

“Hello.”

– It’s me, Kailen. I hope I’m not disturbing you at this late hour.

His low voice had a strange power that made the listener focus. Adeline immediately adjusted her grip on the receiver.

“It’s fine. I hadn’t gone to bed yet. But how did you know I was here?”

– Work finished faster than expected. So when I contacted you, the caretaker told me you took the morning train to Harden. It was too late for you to return, and time-wise, I expected you’d stay at a hotel.

“Ah, I see. Actually, I did consider just taking the last train, but I was a bit tired.”

– I thought so.

A very low breath brushed past through the receiver. Though his tone was calm, a hint of displeasure seeped through somewhere.

– Then all the more reason I should have accompanied you. If I was unavailable, I would have sent someone trustworthy in my place. It was dangerous for you to move alone.

Adeline’s lips curved gently as she spoke in a whisper.

“How could I hold onto someone as busy as you? You can’t even rest properly because of work. I feel sorry for you…”

She only spoke that far before closing her mouth.

It was true she thought it unwise to make a busy person accompany her all the way to Harden. But there was another bigger reason she hadn’t told him about today’s schedule.

Because the first and last meeting of the three people—her mother, Kailen, and Adeline—had been the worst.

The day they visited the estate to pay respects, Kailen didn’t come empty-handed. He said he wanted to express his feelings, however modest.

Inside the gift box he handed to Mrs. Neumann was the now-unobtainable Edelweiss & John porcelain tea set ‘Maria Theresia Line’ and Queen’s Garden Blend tea leaves, her mother’s favorite.

Both Adeline and Mrs. Neumann were surprised by his impeccably thoughtful gift selection.

She had thought men’s gift sense was all the same. Gifts were usually expensive jewelry or shoes, and if it was a slightly more sentimental choice, flowers.

Kailen—he was truly different.

A precious vintage tea set with only three pieces on the entire continent that didn’t even appear at auctions. To choose a gift that perfectly matched her mother’s taste.

Then again, he had been an extraordinary person from the start. Not just because he had an exceptional mind, but because he was quick-witted and clever, knowing how to make his presence shine anywhere.

Was that why? 

Mrs. Neumann, who had hesitated briefly, brewed subtle tea in those beautiful teacups, and Adeline offered the tea, hoping her mother’s heart would move a little like her own.

But her mother’s hand knocked the teacup away. Adeline stared blankly at the porcelain teacup, close to a work of art, rolling along the table edge before falling to the floor, and a thin crack formed in her face like that cup.

She truly hated that he was hurt by her mother’s attitude. He wasn’t someone who deserved to be insulted.