Adeline rushed to intervene.

“No. It’s not Mr. Vardi’s fault. Everyone told me not to come out, but I insisted. I wasn’t even here from the beginning. They said the fire had died down considerably, so I thought it was safe and came out. And… since you’re away, I’m the one responsible for this estate. I need to be out here to understand the situation properly. That’s when you arrived. Look, I’m not even hurt. I was just a little startled.”

Kailen looked at her quietly before nodding.

“I see. Then that’s fortunate. Let’s not stay out here—let’s go inside and talk.”

He firmly supported her waist and helped her up. The motion brought them close together, nearly pressed against each other. The watching eyes that hadn’t bothered her when she first embraced him now suddenly felt burdensome. Adeline quietly lowered her gaze.

“Okay.”

Still holding her, Kailen walked toward the stairs and glanced back at Mrs. Lien and the head butler, tossing out a light joke. A faint smile even played at his lips.

“Surely not every single chair we could sit on burned down, right, Mrs. Lien?”

Only then did the rigid expressions relax as Mrs. Lien and the head butler followed.

“Master, the first floor is still chaotic, so we’ll prepare a room on the second floor for you to stay in.”

* * *

The estate still hadn’t fully caught its breath.

The same was true of the drawing room they entered. A bucket containing wet rags and broken glass shards sat abandoned in one corner. The space clearly showed signs of hasty cleanup.

Kailen, who’d offered Adeline the seat beside him, rested his chin on the sofa’s armrest and looked at the head butler.

“As I said earlier, regardless of the circumstances, the mistress should have been taken to a safe place first.”

The head butler bowed his head deeply once more.

“Yes, there’s no excuse. It’s entirely my oversight.”

Kailen shifted his gaze and called the head housekeeper.

“Mrs. Lien.”

“Yes.”

“Prepare to take my wife to a safe room. And call Dr. Lemon.”

Mrs. Lien nodded while carefully adding her own input.

“Yes. However, other doctors have already arrived at the estate.”

The head housekeeper explained that three or four hastily summoned doctors were currently tending to the lightly injured in the annex, and though they’d tried to have Adeline examined first, the mistress had adamantly refused, insisting they send the doctors to the seriously injured instead.

Adeline, who’d been listening, shook her head.

“I’m really fine. I wasn’t hurt even a fingernail’s worth.”

Kailen’s lips curved into a brief smile.

“How considerate of you. But to me, your wellbeing matters most.”

Though he ordered tea to be brought, he didn’t rescind his command to summon Dr. Lemon. Once Mrs. Lien left, the head butler’s report immediately followed.

“Master, based on what we’ve determined so far, the ignition point is presumed to be the lower-level break room. However, a final judgment will have to wait until the investigation is complete.”

Vardi explained while flipping through the documents in his hand.

“The damage includes the entire greenhouse, a third of the southern corridor, and part of the library. About half the underground storage flooded, and we’re currently compiling an inventory of the furnishings. The scale of damage is by no means small, but fortunately, the family’s valuables were stored in the safe and remain intact.”

He caught his breath briefly before continuing.

“There are twelve injured in total. We’ve brought three doctors who are providing distributed treatment in the eastern annex, and two of them will soon be transferred to a nearby hospital.”

Adeline’s face, sitting beside Kailen, contorted like hot flames had grazed it. The mention of serious injuries threatened to bring back bad memories.

“Who’s hurt badly enough to need hospital transfer? I heard there were no serious casualties…”

“Yes, well…”

The head butler started to answer, then closed his mouth.

Kailen, who’d been resting his chin on his hand, tapped the armrest twice very lightly, then looked at the head butler while holding Adeline’s hand.

Sensing something odd, Adeline looked up at Kailen.

“What is it, Kailen?”

“I’ve always told you. You should worry about yourself.”

His voice was subtly dry. That tone left an unexpected sense of alienation. Adeline looked down at her hand held in his, her face slightly embarrassed.

Just then, seeing Mrs. Lien crossing the drawing room threshold, Kailen leaned down and whispered in her ear like nothing had happened.

“It looks like the room’s ready. Go in first and rest. I’ll come up soon.”

“Okay…”

Adeline answered reluctantly and tried to rise from her seat.

That’s when it happened.

Bang!

A dull explosive sound of metal hitting the floor rang out from outside the drawing room. A maid’s scream tearing through the air overlapped with it.

“Kyaah!”

Everyone had just let their guard down, thinking all the flames were extinguished.

At the completely unexpected crash, Adeline reflexively turned and practically collapsed into his embrace.

“K-Kailen. I…!”

Adeline’s voice trembled, caught in her breath. Her startled body couldn’t find calm and clung right to his chest.

The crash and scream…

Some terrible scene following them suddenly burst up in her mind. That time when everything around her was drenched in blood.

Kailen gently patted her back as she trembled in fright. His touch was incredibly gentle. But somehow, his tone was excessively calm.

“It’s fine. Probably just a picture frame fell.”

His words were enough to downplay the situation, but they couldn’t quite embrace Adeline’s anxiety.

She pressed closer, rubbing her forehead against his solid chest, seemingly begging him not to leave her alone.

But Kailen didn’t allow that state to last long.

He grasped Adeline’s shoulders and separated her with careful but firm strength. It was still a warm touch, but a strange resoluteness dwelled within it.

Kailen raised his head and spoke.

“Head housekeeper, escort my wife now.”

“Ma’am, I’ll escort you.”

Adeline’s eyes, forcibly separated from Kailen, shook violently.

“Alright… thank you.”

Adeline answered quietly. She was scared. She wanted to stay with Kailen. But as always, she had no choice but to follow his will. In this estate, who could dare defy him?

The moment she completely left Kailen’s embrace and received Mrs. Lien’s guidance, Adeline’s small shoulders hunched completely. The warmth that had given her comfort just moments ago was rapidly moving away.

* * *

“Huk!”

With a short scream, Adeline’s body shot up from the bed.

Haa, haa…

Her breath came in gasps, broken and shallow, caught in her throat. Adeline gulped air desperately several times.

She pressed both hands firmly against her aching chest. Her heart pounded violently, having lost its rhythm, the air reaching deep into her lungs feeling sharp.

“Adeline.”

With the sound of rustling blankets, Kailen turned and called to her. His voice sounded especially low with sleep. But Adeline couldn’t answer. 

Her lips moved, but only shallow breaths escaped instead of words. Her tongue wouldn’t follow her will because her heart was beating too fast.

‘Where is…’

Her gaze slowly swept the ceiling.

An unfamiliar ceiling. Unaccustomed decorations. Molding at a subtly different height.

The texture of the blanket clutched in her hands and the elasticity of the mattress supporting her body were all different from the room in her memory.

Only then did her disconnected thoughts piece together one by one. The fire. Evacuation. The hastily prepared room. And sleep.

Ah, this is where I am.

Once she recalled that she’d fallen asleep in the temporary room prepared after the fire, her breathing finally settled. But she wasn’t completely calm. Tension wouldn’t release, like some part of her body still touched the flames.

Then, a familiar shadow fell over her pale face.

“Kailen…”

Kailen, awake from sleep, looked down at her through narrowly opened eyes. His pupils hadn’t fully focused yet from just waking, but she was clearly within them.

“What kind of dream was that? Did you have a terrible nightmare?”

“Yeah…”

Adeline slowly nodded while catching her breath.

“It was a horrible dream.”

The moment she spoke, colors flashed through her mind. All pitch black, and bright red… A dream with no form but only sensations remaining. Heat and smoke, screams—all mixed together.

Kailen’s hand touched her forehead. His touch slowly swept down along her skin, damp with cold sweat. Only then did Adeline realize how soaked with sweat she was. Her neck, her back—everything was damp. Her negligee clung to her body unpleasantly.

Normally, she would have pulled away from his hand, complaining about her sticky body. She might have said she smelled of sweat, that she’d change clothes.

But she couldn’t do that now.

If his hand left, she felt she’d become even more anxious.