“Ah, yes… I, I see. I had no idea about this…”

Isabel scrutinized her like gauging something.

“It seems you didn’t hear from Kailen. That boy…”

Adeline hesitated, then murmured softly.

“Publicly, he’s known as my biological child, but in truth… he’s adopted. I adopted Kailen.”

Adopted? Adopted son, adoptive mother… What is this…

How long had she been married to him and living under one roof? Not even two full years, and she felt an indescribable sense of emptiness. 

Perhaps she was overreacting. But still… this wasn’t exactly ordinary, was it?

They’d shared a bed, skin against skin… yet he’d never said a single word about his adoptive mother’s existence.

Adeline’s fingertips trembled at this unexpected story. Though she felt she shouldn’t dig too deep, part of her wanted to hear everything about him.

“Kailen’s birth mother Bianca was my second cousin. So in reality, I suppose I’m that child’s aunt.”

“I see…”

Bianca…

She was his legal wife, yet she hadn’t even known this crucial fact… It felt hollow.

Not many people knew Kailen was adopted, Isabel added.

“Both for business and personal reasons, we judged it better not to reveal that Kailen was adopted. So you might not have known.”

That could be. But the belated, brief consolation didn’t register.

“Yes.”

“I’m glad I told you after all. Since you’ve become husband and wife with Kailen, it’s right that you know at least this much.”

Adeline unconsciously nodded in agreement.

“Yes… yes.”

Yes, yes—her lips moved well enough, but her dazed mind couldn’t keep up.

“When that child was eleven, Bianca passed away. So after consulting with my husband, I adopted Kailen. The age difference with my own children wasn’t great, so I raised him like my own.”

“Yes…”

I really… know nothing about Kailen.

Still, this…

Adeline’s vision wavered briefly.

The words of that woman, Eva Lorenz, suddenly came to mind.

〈Do you trust your husband?〉

Back then, Adeline had said without hesitation that she did.

She wasn’t asking him to share every detail of uncomfortable family history. 

Just one word—that Isabel was his adoptive mother—would have prevented this shock. She wasn’t someone who’d pry into details unless he wanted to share.

An outsider—she felt like an eternal outsider to him.

What am I to you?

Really, what?

Could I not even give you that much trust?

So am I just a woman to warm your bed? Just… that much?

A far greater shock hit her than when she’d faced Eva Lorenz. Back then it had been simple jealousy and anxiety, but now…

Now the solidarity that came with being called a wife, being called a married couple, felt shaken to its roots.

Isabel quietly concluded her words while watching Adeline, who’d lost herself in bewilderment.

“For more detailed stories, hear them directly from the person involved. This is as much as I can tell you.”

Adeline repeated another circular response.

“Yes…”

Yes—that single word was all she could manage right now.

* * *

After hearing the shocking story, Adeline remained distracted even with Isabel before her. So she spent that evening somewhat dazed. After giving Isabel a room, she returned to her own and tossed and turned all night.

Then finally, Kailen returned from his business trip. Looking somewhat tired, he exchanged light, affectionate greetings with Isabel.

Throughout the dinner that followed, Adeline couldn’t shake the feeling of being an outsider. Kailen’s far-too-casual demeanor somehow wounded Adeline.

After giving Adeline just a brief greeting, Kailen mentioned Isabel’s health with light inquiries, then brought up business matters.

But talk about company operations didn’t continue long either. Eventually the conversation thread broke.

〈I thought you’d be different now that you have a wife, but you’re still the same. Boring boy.〉

〈If you needed conversation, you should have brought Rainer along.〉

〈That one’s too noisy, and you’re excessively quiet—there’s no middle ground.〉

Not biological…

Then Isabel might have been closer to a patron than a mother to Kailen.

Seeing how he hadn’t said a word about his mother, were they distant?

With such thoughts, Adeline felt even more on edge as she carefully observed the two.

But for that to be true, they seemed like an ordinary mother and son.

An excessively taciturn son before his mother, and a mother equally sparing with words—that was all Adeline gleaned from the hour-and-a-half dinner.

“…Though a bit brusque, she seemed like a good person.”

Tanya, who was drying and combing Adeline’s wet hair after her bath, asked back.

“Pardon? What did you say, my lady?”

“Hm? Oh, just talking to myself.”

“Yes.”

To avoid disturbing Adeline, who seemed deep in thought, Tanya quietly closed her mouth.

From observing these past few days, to Adeline’s eyes, Isabel didn’t seem to dislike her as much as expected. No—she showed no sign of displeasure at all.

She must have raised him with love.

Right, my narrow prejudice went too far again.

To adopt and raise an orphaned nephew, how overflowing with love she must have been.

Just because his birth mother passed away and he was raised by an adoptive mother didn’t mean he was unhappy, right?

Come to think of it, they’re similar—same expressions.

Kailen often made expressions whose meaning she couldn’t read, but Isabel, who raised him, was even more so. She couldn’t read any psychology from her face at all.

Are businesspeople originally like that?

…No, my mother also told me not to show expressions.

Watching Isabel often reminded her of her mother Luise.

In that way, all three are similar…

Though Isabel said to ask Kailen for details, Adeline had been hesitating for days, unable to rashly bring up family history.

Still, shouldn’t she ask what happened?

She couldn’t pretend not to know forever when she did know.

Actually, the emptiness that had grown between them lately was indescribably huge. But what could she do? It didn’t make her want to leave Kailen. The one who loved more had no choice but to raise both hands in surrender. It wasn’t too late yet. She had to stop.

She decided to be the first to stop this heartbreaking war of attrition where they clawed at each other.

When he’s in a good mood, so…

Her blonde hair, flowing to her waist, rippled with the brushing. Tanya, choosing a ribbon to tie that hair, asked.

“Should I braid it loosely as usual so it doesn’t tangle?”

When no answer came even after waiting, Tanya stared at Adeline in the mirror.

“My lady.”

“Hm? What? What is it?”

“I asked whether to braid your hair loosely before bed, or leave it down.”

“Oh, braid it as usual.”

Adeline left her hair to Tanya and continued her interrupted thoughts.

When was he in the best mood?

Ridiculous as it was, it could only be right after intimacy.

He was always busy, so they’d never done anything to build memories together… Naturally, since they hadn’t even gone on a honeymoon.

Suddenly she wondered—are we really a normal couple? Do all couples have this kind of married life? Is this truly right? But Adeline had no one to offer her a word of advice.

“…”

Pushing down the unhelpful emptiness, Adeline recalled Kailen’s face again.

Her husband greatly enjoyed their intimacy.

After a satisfying release, Kailen would knead Adeline’s chest and buttocks while giving her light kisses and smiling.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t done such aftercare at all lately. She missed him looking down at her while playing with her blonde hair whenever she stirred from light sleep.

Fear crept in that their relationship might drift apart forever like this.

Even if she sometimes hated him, resented him. Still, she loved her husband more than that. She wanted to stay by his side.

How pathetic and miserable that the only way she could think of to regain her husband’s affection was through intimacy. But nothing else came to mind.

She opened the lid of the rose-colored lip rouge case displayed on the vanity and picked up a brush.

“Tanya, sorry but… could you let my hair down again?”