At this unfamiliar side of her, Kailen raised an eyebrow. A faint sneer crossed his lips.

Why is this woman acting like this? I thought she was docile, but that wasn’t it either?

“Fine, okay. I’ll do it.”

Kailen retied the loosely draped robe’s sash and approached Adeline. His movement sitting on the sofa across from her was leisurely. His attitude strongly conveyed the nuance that this conversation no longer mattered.

“I’m tired, so let’s make this quick.”

Adeline’s chest still heaved, but he’d already calmed the voice that had grown slightly heated because of her just moments ago.

The difference in emotional temperature was so clear that Adeline felt suffocated.

“I understand why you’re viewing me and Eva Lorenz that way.”

Kailen continued matter-of-factly.

“But I’m not the kind of person overflowing with enough enthusiasm for women to keep two at once.”

Enthusiasm.

That word lodged in Adeline’s chest like a twist. His cold tone sounded like saying you alone are already troublesome enough.

“Such vague words aren’t a proper explanation.”

Adeline tried to calmly refute. But Kailen immediately cut her off.

“Stop. That’s enough. Just because you’re my wife doesn’t mean you can rashly interfere in business or official matters.”

Adeline inhaled. Her voice came out high-pitched on its own.

“Then what official business could you possibly have with a woman who even bore William’s child? I’ve never heard she started any business.”

Kailen tilted his stiff neck back and rubbed it with his hand. It was a habitual motion of someone with accumulated fatigue. After letting out a small sigh, he looked intently at Adeline again. That gaze treated her like a bothersome burden.

“So, if I tell you every little detail, would you even understand?”

“…”

For a moment, Adeline was speechless. Not because no answer came to mind. Too many words rushed in simultaneously, leaving her unable to say anything at all.

Adeline might not be an exceptional genius like Kailen, but she wasn’t foolish enough to not understand after hearing explanations and studying. At least during her girls’ academy days, she’d always received excellent grades in language studies.

But with him coming at her this way, she felt insulted. She was becoming infinitely shabby before him. It felt like being driven out without a stitch of clothing in the cold winter.

Don’t cry. Hold it in.

Tears seemed ready to spill at his cold appearance, but she pinched her thigh hard. She held onto her emotions through pain.

Perhaps taking her silence as defeat, Kailen stood up. However, he didn’t head for the bedroom. Instead, he rang the bell and soon opened the drawing room door.

The maid on night duty soon appeared.

“You called?”

Kailen spoke briefly while standing at the door.

“Bring Mrs. Lien.”

The maid didn’t ask why after seeing his expression. She hurriedly bowed and disappeared down the corridor.

Meanwhile, Kailen stood in the corridor with the drawing room door open, and Adeline still sat on the sofa. Like people left in different spaces, they didn’t make eye contact.

Mrs. Lien arrived relatively quickly. She seemed to have not gone to bed after hearing Eva Lorenz had visited the mansion. She’d just hastily thrown a coat over her nightgown.

Kailen didn’t hide his irritation upon seeing her.

“That person seems quite ill. Call Dr. Lemon first thing tomorrow. And tell him—when did I entrust that person’s treatment to him, and why is she still in that state?”

Mrs. Lien’s expression stiffened momentarily, then she bowed her head.

“Understood.”

But even while accepting the order, embarrassment showed plainly on her face.

Then Kailen’s view caught Adeline’s back as she sat on the sofa. Her back, her shoulders trembled faintly. No sound came, but he could tell she was laughing. Soundlessly, like someone whose world had collapsed.

“I’m ill?”

Adeline muttered in a low voice. Then she slowly stood up and entered the bedroom pointedly, like confirming no one would stop her.

Seeing this, Kailen said nothing and simply closed the drawing room door attached to Adeline’s bedroom and left. Then he changed direction and headed to his own bedroom for the first time in a while.

That night, the master and mistress of the house stayed behind closed doors in their respective rooms.

The next morning, rumors had already spread throughout the entire mansion.

Stories that the master and mistress had quarreled badly.

Mrs. Lien warned the maids and servants several times to keep their mouths shut, but Kailen’s voice that had echoed through the corridor the previous night had been too loud to completely contain.

The mansion’s atmosphere changed overnight.

Perhaps resembling the psychology of the mistress locked in her room, even the air became gloomy.

Laughter decreased, and even footsteps became cautious. No one carelessly opened their mouth first.

* * *

Things with Kailen remained awkward.

Not talking didn’t mean they’d completely turned their backs, but they hadn’t returned to their natural state from before either. Kailen seemed unusually busy these days, and nights when he couldn’t return to the mansion became frequent.

Strangely, she missed him.

Adeline inwardly hoped he’d appear with an unbothered face, like nothing had happened. 

But simultaneously, she thought if he suddenly came to embrace her without any explanation, she wouldn’t have the confidence to readily accept it. Her heart clearly wouldn’t follow enough to readily accept.

So Adeline only felt confused about whether to consider his nights away fortunate, or accept them as another wound.

Still, Adeline hadn’t just spent the time in a daze either. 

For several days, she’d been busy in her own way. She met with lawyers to check if there were things among the deposits and real estate her mother left that could be settled, and handled them one by one. 

Part of the settled funds went toward Mrs. Neumann’s retirement, and was also divided as pensions for people still remaining at the Harden mansion.

She wanted to keep the institutions her mother had sponsored during her lifetime as well. 

So she created a separate account in Luise’s name and separated it so the sponsorship wouldn’t be cut off. The money remaining after that wasn’t a tremendous amount, but she kept it on hand thinking she might need to use it for Leopold.

Even though she’d done quite well with the things she needed to do, far from feeling proud, a corner of her heart kept emptying. To soothe that hollow feeling, Adeline often held onto Mrs. Lien. 

The head housekeeper seemed to find this Adeline somewhat burdensome, but didn’t push her away overtly. She didn’t give long periods of time citing work, but gave her presence as much as needed.

And from a few days ago, she’d also given orders to redecorate the mansion. She’d heard news that Kailen’s mother, Isabel, planned to visit.

Adeline’s heart trembled strangely. Recalling that she hadn’t even attended the wedding, she had more than enough reason to expect she wouldn’t be very welcoming. 

Still, she was Kailen’s mother. Even if she couldn’t completely win her husband’s mother’s heart, she at least didn’t want to earn her hatred.

With Mrs. Lien’s help, she busied herself preparing to receive the guest. She had the garden touched up to let spring energy flow, and decided to change the curtains and bedding to fresher colors.

Actually, Adeline was originally someone who preferred an elegant and neat atmosphere rather than lively. But these days, she just felt that way. She wanted to try bringing out spring energy. 

Hoping that, perhaps, her heart might lighten along with it.

The mansion was busy day after day. People’s footsteps and instructions constantly came and went, and sounds of curtains being drawn and the garden being tended continued from somewhere. At the center of it, Adeline held onto Mrs. Lien seeking advice.

Mrs. Lien was someone who’d attended to Isabel Belliche since the days of staying at the main house. No one would know her better than Mrs. Lien.