The Impact Of The Villainess’ Fake Marriage On The Ending - Chapter 22

“Welcome, Lady Tien.”
“I’m sorry I arrived later than the promised time. Can I still see His Grace? If he’s resting, I can just go.”
“Not at all. His Grace’s orders were to serve the Lady, no matter the time.”

Yesterday, she made an appointment with Kael to tell him beforehand that her family had allowed her to get married.
However, Rosa’s tea party took much longer than expected.
The time to get their palms read that started before the party was over was prolonged, and in the end, Rosa even served dinner to the ladies, making it a long party.
Because of that, Adeline had to stay at Rosa’s mansion until evening, and was only able to come a while later than their promised time.

“He’s in the study right now. You can go inside.”
“Ah, if he’s resting, I can just…”
“Not at all, Young Lady. Go on in. It’s really fine.”

The butler of the mansion opened the door of the study with a smiling face, perhaps glad that Adeline had come.
He acted like he didn’t hear her saying that she could just go back if he was resting.
Thinking for a moment that he was strange like his master, Adeline nodded and went inside the study.

“… He’s sleeping.”

Kael lay on the long sofa in the study, resting with one arm over his face.
Adeline sighed for a moment, wondering why he let her in when he was sleeping and not just resting, but she suddenly wanted to check Kael’s sleeping figure.
She was curious about whether he would have the same atmosphere when he was in a defenseless state.

Adeline approached Kael with silent footsteps.
But as she drew near, she couldn’t see his face because of his arm.

“I wanted to see his face. That’s a pity.”

Adeline’s body drooped in regret.
She slightly repositioned herself, in case she could see his face behind his arm.

“As expected, I should go…”

As Adeline’s face drew very close, Kael lowered his arm and opened his eyes, surprisingly.
The blue-grey eyes and the light-green eyes met at a distance that was too close.

“K-Kael? Were you not sleeping?”
“I wanted to see how far you would go, but I think you would leave quickly if I didn’t open my eyes now.”
“Ah…”
“Why were you just going to leave when you just came here?”

Unlike Adeline, who was startled and embarrassed, Kael was just relaxed.
Grinning, he looked at Adeline and pointed to the seat next to him on the sofa.
Adeline, who was still surprised, glared at Kael and sat next to him.

“I thought you weren’t coming today.”
“I’m sorry. The tea party got prolonged. I was going to come back next time if you were resting, but I was told it was fine… I also have to say something important.”
“Something important?”

The period when all the nobles gathered in the capital was going to end the next month, and everyone would have to return to their own lands.
There was not much time until then, so they had to hurry up if they were going to have the wedding.
That was why Adeline came to the mansion even though it was late.

“My brothers have allowed me to get married.”

Kael looked at Adeline with astonishment as she went straight to the point.

“That was faster than I thought. That’s a relief. I’ll send you a formal letter tomorrow. I’ll invite the Marquis and your brothers to come here in two days. We’ll discuss the specifics at that time.”
“Of course.”

After deciding their schedule, a question mark still shone in Kael’s eyes.
Although he didn’t ask, his eyes were asking her why she was in such a hurry.

“Our appearance yesterday was quite… I think it moved a lot of people’s hearts.”

Adeline explained why with a slightly awkward face.
The ladies’ reactions she had seen throughout the day overlapped with the images of Enoch and Leo, who had changed their minds.

“Aah. Come to think of it, did you receive the dress well?”
“Ah, yes. Thank you. I didn’t expect you to be so attentive.”

Kael asked about the dress once he understood the reason, and Adeline immediately thanked him.

“It wasn’t just the same color; it was quite similar.”
“I’m glad.”

Kael and Adeline both had light smiles on the corners of their mouths.
Adeline silently looked at Kael’s smile, which she was now quite used to.
As she looked at Kael, several thoughts came to her mind.

The lady’s words that Kael’s feelings for her were not ordinary from seeing him smile when looking at her, when he never smiled.
The lady’s words that she could feel what noble love was like from seeing Adeline wiping the blood off him the previous day.
Enoch and Leo’s words that they believed they were truly in love because there seemed to be a bond between them they didn’t know existed.

The countless words mingled in her head.

‘… Since so many people are being tricked, maybe the Grand Duke can be tricked as well?’

Suddenly, Adeline thought that she might be able to deceive Kael by saying ‘I love you’.
She came to tell him that she was allowed to get married, and she knew it didn’t suit her at all to say it right after they talked about fixing the schedule for the marriage a couple of days later, but she kept thinking that this was her chance.

‘I have to trick him when I can. He might believe it now. Will he let me go at this point if I tell him I really like him with tears in my eyes?’

She quickly came up with something.
Adeline, who was thinking hard, finished organizing her thoughts and made eye contact with him, intending to call his name.
However, his gaze at Adeline was unusual.
As if he could see what Adeline was thinking right now, his face showed an expression of ridicule.

“Adeline.”
“… What?”
“Why do you think I would have accepted the request to let you go if you loved me without saying anything? I’m sure you’ll try to deceive me by thinking hard like you’re doing now.”

As he saw exactly through her, Adeline frowned deeply.
It was a moment when she seriously suspected that he had the ability to read her mind.

“I accepted it because no matter how much you say you love me, I can find out if those words are true or false.”
“How do you know that? If those are my feelings, how can you not believe…”
“If you really come to love me, even if you want to hide it, I will know.”
“But how?”
“I have a very mysterious tool.”
“What?”

It wasn’t even easy to tell whether he was joking or telling the truth.
Adeline looked at Kael blankly, but he just grinned and suddenly got up from his seat and brought a small jewelry box.

“I was going to give it to you soon, but it just happened to be a good time.”
“… What is this?”
“Open it.”

It was a luxurious black jewelry box decorated with diamonds.
Adeline carefully opened the jewelry box.

“Ah…”

There was a ring inside the box that Kael gave her.
It was a spectacular ring with ice stones and diamonds embedded in white gold, which was only mined in glacial mines in the north.

“This ring has been passed on in the Inver family for generations. It’s a symbol of the Lady of the North.”

Adeline nodded and stared at the ring quietly.
Seeing the particularly shiny and pretty ring suddenly reminded her of what she knew about the original novel.

[How dare you try to hurt Vanessa?]
[It wouldn’t have happened if Your Grace had looked at me.]
[Shut up.]
[Why are you overreacting when she didn’t even die? It would have been better if Vanessa had di⁠e— ack!]
[One more word and your tongue is next.]

Adeline from the original novel was caught the moment she tried to poison Vanessa, and Kael, who had lost his mind, interrogated her directly.
The furious Kael stabbed Adeline in the arm, making her scream loudly, and after that, he immediately killed Adeline as if she was not worth dealing with.

‘That’s what happened in the original, and that was the end. That’s what I want, too.’

Now that it was so different from what she knew, it felt strange to receive a ring like this.

‘If it eventually goes back to how it was supposed to be and he kills me, how will he remember this moment? Even if we have this moment, in the future, will he deal with me without blood or tears like in the set content?’

She knew it was a useless assumption. She also knew that there was no need to give it meaning like this.
However, since she heard from the fortune teller not to trust anyone because she was surrounded by lies, she was exceptionally confused.

“Do you want me to kneel down? Or does the ring not suit your taste?”
“… What?”
“You were just staring at the ring with a serious face.”
“Ah, I was just thinking about something. The ring is pretty. And don’t even think about kneeling.”

Kael grinned again as Adeline returned to reality and responded firmly.
Adeline immediately pulled out the ring and put it on her left ring finger.

“It fits perfectly.”
“It automatically adjusts to the recipient. It has some magical power.”
“Ah… No wonder.”

While she was nodding slightly, her gaze remained on the ring.
The more she looked at it, the more far-off it was.
It was unimaginable that she waited years for the ball where Kael and Vanessa would meet for the first time and fall in love with each other.
Of course, the ring she naturally thought would be placed on Vanessa’s finger became hers, and the title of Lady of the North would also be given to her instead of Vanessa.

“Kael.”

Their eyes met as Adeline called Kael in a low voice.

“When you confirm that I really fell in love with you with that tool or whatever,”
“…”
“Please keep our contract. That’s when our marriage ends.”

Adeline’s mind, which had been strangely floating because of yesterday’s incident, calmed down.
It had changed so much, but it still had to flow as it was supposed to.

“Of course. I promise.”

Each had to return to their own place.
That way, Adeline’s possession would end.