Rustle, rustle.

Busy footsteps filled the drawing room floor.

Before heading to the study, Kailen had told her to go into the bedroom, but Adeline simply couldn’t do that.

How can I comfortably wait for you?

In the middle of the night, and a woman came looking for you.

Adeline couldn’t stand or sit by the sofa, continuously pacing busily around the entire room. 

She frequently bit her lips as she passed the same spot several times, and in between checked the clock on the wall countless times. 

With each movement of the second hand, as time slowly passed, her heart felt like it was flinching along with it.

Exactly 57 minutes.

It had been exactly 57 minutes since her husband had taken the woman named Eva Lorenz into the study.

Finally, at the sound of the door opening, Adeline stopped walking. She quietly watched Kailen cross the threshold of the drawing room. His face was far too calm. 

In the middle of this night, his expression was completely unbothered, like the fact that a woman of unknown identity had suddenly appeared at a mansion where his wife resided had never happened at all.

That appearance rather left Adeline feeling empty. Enough to make herself seem foolish for anxiously pacing alone for the entire hour that had felt like an eternity.

Still, Adeline swallowed dryly. She tried her best to regain her composure.

Kailen silently entered the drawing room, then turned off the lights in the space connected to the bedroom one by one. And leaving only one last light on, he spoke in a low, calm voice.

“It’s already gotten this late. Don’t stand here, let’s go in.”

He naturally headed for the bedroom door. It was the moment he grasped the handle.

“Wait, Kailen.”

Adeline’s voice held him back.

“Let’s talk for a bit. Right now… this… what happened, I want to hear an explanation.”

While continuing to speak, Adeline organized her thoughts like convincing herself.

When she first encountered Eva Lorenz, she had to admit that she’d made excessive assumptions from being too shocked. Her imagination was too vivid, far too vivid.

In the first place, someone who was the king’s mistress couldn’t possibly… do such things with Kailen at the same time, could she?

Moreover, there were countless eyes in this mansion. If Eva Lorenz had any kind of relationship with him, someone surely would have noticed.

I was hasty.

If I don’t trust my own husband, who on earth would I trust?

Right, there must be some story behind this.

During those 57 minutes, Adeline had built countless hypotheses. Kailen wasn’t from Krauben. 

Eva Lorenz was also a foreigner. However, since Belliche’s headquarters was in Frenon, if Eva was from Frenon, they might have had a light connection that passed through there.

What kind of connection could it be?

She couldn’t dare guess any part of it, but if she didn’t think that way, she felt she couldn’t endure this situation.

And considering Eva Lorenz’s current status, even if they’d been acquainted before, it might have been awkward to readily reveal what kind of relationship she’d had with Kailen. So perhaps they’d kept silent in front of her, pretending not to know each other.

So… a light friendship.

If it was really just a light friendship.

Honestly, even that brought up unpleasant feelings first, but Adeline forcibly suppressed her heart. She convinced herself that it could be that way, that it was entirely possible. However, at the end of those thoughts, the same doubt always remained.

What if, really what if it wasn’t that?

She couldn’t even begin to guess. What on earth could Eva Lorenz and Kailen need to do together? No matter how much she thought about it, the point she couldn’t understand kept bothering her mind.

No.

Wait. When he comes, I’ll ask.

He’ll answer. He has to.

That’s how she’d endured the time.

Adeline looked once at Kailen standing holding the bedroom door handle, then walked to the sofa instead of to his side and sat down. 

She judged the drawing room more suitable for this conversation than the bedroom. She didn’t want to start this kind of talk in a space that led to the bed.

Kailen watched her movements, then finally removed his hand from the bedroom door handle and turned around.

“It’s nothing. Let’s talk about this tomorrow, Adeline.”

Fatigue clearly showed in his expression. An attitude that said he didn’t want to add any more complicated matters, that everything was bothersome so he wanted to brush it off and end it.

“No. I want to talk now. Even just 10 minutes is fine. Give me just 10 minutes.”

If she couldn’t end this conversation somehow, she clearly wouldn’t sleep a wink tonight. Adeline adjusted her shawl and spoke carefully.

“Please sit here.”

But Kailen didn’t move. Far from sitting on the sofa, he stood still looking down at Adeline. That gaze felt burdensome, so eventually she opened her mouth first.

“Earlier… I didn’t conduct myself properly. There were eyes watching too, I’m sorry. But I wasn’t trying to put you in a difficult position.”

Calm down.

Nothing’s certain yet.

Calming herself that way, Adeline brought out the words she’d organized while waiting for him, one by one.

“I just… didn’t expect you to be acquainted with Miss Lorenz. Plus it was late at night, and Miss Lorenz’s status is…”

But while speaking, her words naturally trailed off.

“Of course, this might be my prejudice. But anyway, being close with her doesn’t seem like it would be good for you. So I think I got excited for a moment.”

She knew it herself. That even this was a shabby excuse. But the uncomfortable feelings toward the person called Eva Lorenz weren’t the kind that could be easily withdrawn.

Adeline took a breath. Her voice became extremely cautious.

“But, Kailen… why did Miss Lorenz come here at this hour? I want to know the reason she came looking for you.”

The moment Kailen heard that question, he roughly guessed what suspicions she held. Adeline was painting something improper between him and Eva Lorenz. Strangely, that absurd assumption didn’t feel bad.

But the day had already become sufficiently troublesome dealing with the unscheduled Eva Lorenz. Perhaps because of that, his words didn’t come out nicely.

“Well. Whatever reason Miss Lorenz came looking for me, it’s probably not the kind you’re thinking of right now.”

This statement was the truth without lies. And the actual reason wasn’t content worth telling Adeline either. No, rather, not knowing was much better in every way.

She was that person’s niece anyway. Hadn’t she once carried the Rosenthal name?

But Adeline, who didn’t know the circumstances, trembled her lips.

“Then what is it?”

“It’s a story you don’t need to know.”

Her eyes that always sparkled lost their light in an instant. His attitude, which seemed to lack even the enthusiasm to attach one plausible excuse about Eva Lorenz, was too disappointing for her.

His appearance full of indifference, like she as a person only amounted to that much to him, heavily pressed down on a corner of her heart.

“I don’t need to know?”

“That’s right.”

The time she’d spent trying not to be emotional while waiting for him became meaningless. The emotions she’d suppressed surged up in an instant.

“How can you say that? How can you say that to me?”

Kailen exhaled a sigh tinged with irritation and rubbed his temple.

“Ha, you’re being exhausting…”

“…”

“You’re making false accusations like this, but why can’t I say even that much? No, why do I have to explain every single thing you’re curious about?”

“What did you say?”

Only then did Adeline understand. What situation the saying meant, that when you’re angry, a hollow laugh comes out instead. That was exactly her state right now.

She forcibly swallowed the laugh trying to leak out and spoke her words clearly.

“I am your wife. The legal wife of Kailen Belliche, who even finished signing the marriage certificate. I’m Adeline Belliche.”

Until now, she’d accepted everything Kailen did. However he wielded things. But today she couldn’t do that. She didn’t reduce her momentum and didn’t back down at all.

“In joy, in sorrow, in difficulty, I’m your wife who agreed to share everything together, and we’re married. So I have the right to ask you about what happened tonight.”

The more she spoke, the more her breath quickened. Though usually calm, her voice grew louder now from excitement.

“And you have the duty to answer as a husband!”