“Lady Felix?”

It was Adeline who was more surprised to hear that Vanessa had come to visit.

She made up her mind that she would not be shaken by Kael, and as soon as the doctor said that she could go around now, she put on a dress for the first time in a long time and tried to run towards the end as hard as before.

But from the moment she met Kael, who couldn’t take his eyes off Adeline, her resolve faltered.
Kael’s eyes looking at Adeline were filled with interest and affection as he said to just treat each other as contract partners since nothing good would come out of them being close.

The bigger problem was not the thought of running away like before when she met those eyes, but Adeline herself, who secretly liked it.
She was surprised and quickly erased her thoughts, but she was quite happy that Kael couldn’t take his eyes off her.

‘I can’t believe Vanessa came here all of a sudden…’

It was even more disturbing when Vanessa suddenly came to visit in a situation like this.
Moreover, she didn’t come to see Adeline, but to meet Kael.
Adeline’s matter had not yet been resolved, so it was not even possible to estimate what would happen and how it would become a new variable.

“We can’t leave her standing outside. I don’t have time to meet her, so send her back.”

Adeline looked at Kael in surprise.

Although it was not a fancy household, Count Felix was raising a fairly prominent family, and Vanessa was, after all, the young lady of the family.
Although it was bad manners to visit suddenly, her status also did not allow her to be stood up outside the door of the grand duke’s family.

“You’re not going to let her in at all?”
“There’s no reason for us to meet. And I have no intention of accepting such discourtesy.”

Kael was more determined than ever.
Only Adeline felt strange seeing that.

According to what Adeline knew, Kael and Vanessa were affectionate lovers who fell in love with each other at first sight.

“I will convey your will as it is, Your Grace.”

The butler bowed politely and went downstairs to convey Kael’s will.

‘His attitude towards Vanessa has changed. He wasn’t interested in her before, but it doesn’t feel like that now.’

Adeline was lost in thought when she was left alone.
Previously, Kael had no interest in Vanessa. Of course, that was a problem in itself, but it wasn’t as full of negative emotions as it was at this moment.

‘Is Vanessa related to what happened to me?’

Adeline was trying to find a reason when she suddenly remembered that Vanessa was the last victim of the incident she had been falsely accused of.
These days, Kael was working hard to find out the full story behind the incident. If his attitude towards Vanessa suddenly changed, that was the only reason.

“Kael. Does Lady Felix have anything to do with me being falsely accused?”

Kael stopped walking as he was about to enter the mansion’s study.

“If that’s the case, I want to hear about it. Just like you, I want to know how that nonsense happened.”

Adeline made eye contact with Kael and firmly told him her intention.

“I also need to know.”

Her voice conveyed her will to listen to it at all costs. Kael gazed at Adeline for a moment, then nodded with a faint sigh.

“Come in. It’ll be a long conversation.”

***

“You’re saying that Lady Felix’s testimony made them convinced that I was the culprit?”
“That’s correct.”

Kael and Adeline, sitting down, looked at each other.
Kael told her about the investigation process he learned about after looking into it for several days.

“I expected it to some degree. I can think of the Tien family through the ten victims, but I can’t clearly pinpoint myself. I could see that they were trying to use Lady Felix to point to me out of the four people in the family.”

She had thought about it since she was trapped by the Red Knights.
But this alone was not enough to explain Kael’s strange hostility.
It was also possible that Vanessa could have been involved regardless of her will if it were the current situation.

‘But to treat her so fiercely… Was Vanessa not forcefully dragged into this situation?’

Adeline, who repeated her reasoning with a slightly lowered gaze, looked up at Kael again.

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“Was there something wrong with that testimony?”

As Adeline asked, Kael nodded.

“I heard that you received flowers from Lady Felix. And that you sent her a thank you letter.”
“Ah, yes. That’s true. She sent the flowers not long after I came to the North, but I was so distracted that I only sent her a letter thanking her long after.”

It was the rule of the social world to always express your gratitude when receiving a gift. People usually sent a letter or said a word as soon as they received it, before it was too late.
In a normal situation, Adeline would have picked up a pen as soon as she checked the flowers.
However, the meaning behind the yellow Freesias sent by Vanessa was unusual, and it was a time when she was distracted from adjusting to the north, so she kept delaying her answer.

“But why are you mentioning the flowers and letter all of a sudden?”
“Lady Felix said that when she left the temple after praying, she received a letter from you. But as soon as she opened the letter and read it, her whole body stiffened, and she vomited blood.”
“…”
“You can think of it as a statement of what happened so far. The problem is what came after.”

Kael calmly told her what he had found out.

“When she returned to her senses after a successful cleansing by the nearby priests, she grabbed the knights and cried loudly, saying that the black magic of the curse was clear and that the letter seemed to be the problem.”

Adeline’s expression hardened.

“I heard that there is one source of information that the captain of the Red Knights and the emperor absolutely trust. It’s a secret informant that not even the emperor knows the identity of.”
“…”
“The thing is, that informant said that you were the culprit and told the captain. Before he even met with Lady Felix.”
“…”
“Since he received that information and even Lady Felix spoke your name, he had no choice but to suspect you. Letters have always been used as a medium for curses, after all.”

The pieces were frighteningly fit together.
Adeline was infinitely confused.
Based on Kael’s words, it was not a situation that Vanessa had been dragged into regardless of her will.

“I keep looking for who that informant is, but it’s not easy. I think I need more time than I thought.”
“…”
“I don’t know what you think, but I’m bothered by the fact that the informant and Lady Felix have spoken your name one after the other. It doesn’t look like a separate situation.”

There was no clear evidence yet. However, Kael could not erase his suspicion that Vanessa was deeply involved in this matter.
It was no coincidence that she received the letter in a temple that could easily feel and purify black magic, or that she collapsed vomiting blood as soon as she got it.

“Do you know Lady Felix well from the beginning? Are you close?”
“No. We’re not close. We didn’t have any interaction before.”

In fact, it was safe to say that she only knew her face and name.
However, Adeline fully knew the contents of the story, so she always kept an eye on Vanessa.
It was not a normal relationship. But she couldn’t tell Kael about this.

“Then it will be much easier to stay away from her. If you can, please avoid Lady Felix.”
“…”
“I’ve begun to investigate the Felix family, so I’m sure a lot of information will be coming in soon, and then I’ll get some clues. Before that, there’s no harm in being careful.”

In a firm voice, Kael told her to avoid Vanessa.
Adeline went blank.
Both Kael telling her to avoid Vanessa, and Vanessa’s attempts to cause her harm, confused Adeline.

‘Vanessa isn’t causing me harm, I’m the one causing her harm… I feel like Vanessa’s life and mine have completely swapped.’

The heroine, Vanessa, became the villainess, and the villainess, Adeline, became the heroine.
In fact, the story continued to get twisted from the ball until now. Still, she was convinced that the ending would not change, and that she would not let it change at will.
However, that conviction gradually faded when she faced a story that had completely changed as if it could no longer be dealt with.

‘Now that things turned out like this, can he love Vanessa?’

Adeline gradually felt like she was crossing the river of no return.

“Adeline.”

After Adeline had remained silent for a long time, Kael called her in a low voice.

“I will never let them go. Anyone involved in this.”

Kael had sworn to himself and Enoch, but he had never told Adeline directly.
He said that he would punish those who harmed her with a firm voice that did not tremble at all.

“I have no intention of showing mercy to those who harmed the Grand Duchess of the North. Even if you forgive them.”

Adeline replied with a few nods.

The ones who harmed the ‘Grand Duchess of the North’.
Kael’s words continued to linger in her ears. Just as Adeline was trying to take a step away from him, she could also feel Kael drawing a line.
Even though she knew that it was natural, and even though she knew that trifling things like this weren’t that important in the current situation, every corner of Adeline’s heart felt strange.

‘Please get a grip, Adeline. You decided not to be like this.’

She repeated over and over again that she shouldn’t be like this, but the stinging pain in her chest did not subside at all.