The Impact Of The Villainess’ Fake Marriage On The Ending

“Dear heavens… It’s really severe.”
“It hasn’t even begun in earnest yet. It will get worse at night. You won’t see anything in front of you.”

Melissa said as if to frighten Adeline, who was gazing at the blizzard outside the window in dismay.

“Worse than this?”
“Yes. It’s extremely loud too.”

Although she said it in a playful way of purpose, it was all true. It wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

Adeline stared at the blizzard outside, her mouth slightly open without her even realizing it.
The fierce blizzard that covered the whole world in white got even worse. She couldn’t have imagined it.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace. You had high hopes of exploring the area.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Even yesterday was such a sunny day. The weather is not helping me on the day I decided to take a look around.”

Adeline sighed at Isabel’s words.

Originally, she and Kael had planned to take a step-by-step tour of the territory near the castle starting today.
But suddenly, an unannounced blizzard struck, and she was stuck in the castle.

“I was also curious about the efficacy of that cloak, but I’ll have to wait a few more days to find out.”
“Exactly.”

Adeline smiled at Melissa’s playful words and answered.

There were many things that she wanted to check, but it was an unfortunate situation in many ways.

“Did you say that His Grace was still in the office?”
“Yes. The northern part of the country is so wide and vast and bordered by other ethnic groups, so there is usually a lot of work to do. After being away for a few months, it seems that work keeps pouring in.”

Their plan was cancelled, but that didn’t mean Kael didn’t have to work.
Kael could not afford to have free time, with the amount of work that was still piling up.

“Don’t worry too much, Your Grace. From what Zion said, His Grace was handling things surprisingly quickly. He will be free soon and spend some time with you.”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

Isabel felt more sorry that they couldn’t have their honeymoon because of the overdue work than the person concerned.
But for Adeline, the present situation was rather fortunate.

The speed at which her heart pounded on the day she was presented with the fur cloak was still clear.
It was a sign that didn’t help at all.
It was dangerous to face Kael in such a shaky situation. It was never an advantage.
She felt like she wanted to keep avoiding him.
But she had decided to spend time with Kael to try to deceive him, and she really had to do it, so there was no way to avoid him.

‘Get yourself together, Adeline. You need to stay calm.’

Adeline swallowed a sigh, reminding herself that she should get a grip as if she were casting a spell.
She should not be shaken.
Because she was going to make the ending the same as what she knew, and end this possession.

***

“That surprised me!”

Adeline, who had barely fallen asleep, rose from her bed in astonishment.

As Melissa said, the blizzard became more intense as time went on.
It was so noisy that it was hard to come to her senses with the sound of it hitting the wall and window.
Besides, the sound of the wind sounded like a howl, so her whole body was tensed up.

The people of the north had been going through this since they were very young, so they continued their daily routines without any problems even in this tumultuous blizzard, but Adeline wasn’t like that.

“I never thought I’d miss the eastern sea so soon.”

The east was a warm place.
It was a region where just seeing snow was difficult, so she could never imagine such a blizzard.
As she was having a hard time with the bleak storm, she missed the emerald sea that shone in the sun.

“Ah!”

As she was thinking about the ocean, the wind beat wildly against the window once more.
Even though she had been listening to it since the evening, she was surprised every time.

“Ugh…”

Adeline let out a long sigh and stared blankly into the air before staring at the door on the inner side of the bedroom.
It was the door leading to the study.
Beyond the study was Kael’s bedroom.

‘Is he still in the office?’

She had looked around the study, but she had never gone over to Kael’s bedroom.
Although she had wandered several times in front of the door, it was hard to open it.

However, due to tonight’s situation, Kael’s presence, which may be beyond the study, was particularly prominent.
She felt like she would stay up all night if she was alone, but she didn’t want to wake up Melissa or Isabel, who were still asleep, and make them uncomfortable.

‘Well, let’s see if he’s in there.’

After thinking about it for a while, Adeline made up her mind and got up from the bed.
She put an olive-colored shawl over her shoulders, lit a small candle, and went into the study.

For a space that was set between the two rooms, the study was considerable in size.
Maybe it was just her feeling, but the study felt even wider today.
It seemed like the distance to the door leading to Kael’s bedroom was fairly long.

‘Is this right…?’

Adeline stopped in front of the door across the study.
Her hand was on the doorknob, but when she tried to open it, her mind became agitated.

Kael being there was a problem, but him not being there was also a problem.
If he wasn’t, she would become someone who entered someone’s room without the owner being there; but if he was, she would have to explain the situation to him.
Either way, it was obvious that it would be very embarrassing.

‘Ugh. Whatever. At this point, it will be better than being in bed with my ears covered. He is more likely to be working in the office.’

After thinking hard, Adeline closed her eyes tightly and turned the doorknob downwards.
It was better to sneak a peek at Kael’s bedroom than to suffer alone.

“As expected. He isn’t here.”

When she entered, gathering all her courage, the bedroom was empty.
The fireplace was just burning quietly, waiting for its owner.

Adeline let out a sigh of relief and took a step towards the center of the bedroom.
Kael’s bedroom was huge, as expected of the space where the owner of the castle stayed.
There was even a strange sense of intimidation, and that atmosphere matched Kael’s.

“Huh? There are a lot of portraits.”

She decided to go back after looking around a little, but as she started to look around, there were a lot of interesting things to see.

Adeline stared at the small portrait frames that were huddled together.
There was a considerable number of them, enough to fill one shelf of a cupboard.

“Are they portraits of his family?”

Adeline stepped closer and looked at the portraits.
There were several portraits of Kael when he was much younger, as well as a portrait of a beautiful woman with black hair and a portrait of brothers standing side by side, unable to hide their mischievous expressions.

‘That’s right. He had a brother who died early.’

Seeing the young siblings reminded her of Kael’s older brother, who was mentioned in the original work.

When she looked closely, she saw a beautiful woman who looked exactly like Kael. It was clear it was his mother, the former grand duchess.
Next to his mother’s portrait was a portrait of a man standing, wearing a uniform with shiny epaulets.
It was Kael’s father.

“That’s correct. It’s his family.”

As expected, all the portraits occupying one shelf of the cupboard belonged to Kael’s family.

“What are you doing here?”
“Ahhh!”

As she was looking into the faces of the previous grand duke and duchess and finding a resemblance to Kael, Adeline screamed in horror at the sweet voice that was unexpectedly close to her.

“I told you to make some noise when coming!”
“I did. Thumping. You didn’t notice because you were so focused.”
“How could I have heard thumping!”

Adeline, who was so surprised, soon realized that she was not in a situation to be angry with Kael.
Her face turned redder and redder as she realized that she had been caught sneaking in and looking around the bedroom.

“I-I apologize. What happened was, I mean, there was a blizzard outside, and it was so loud. I couldn’t sleep because it kept hitting the window, and the sound of the wind sounded like a person was crying.”
“…”
“But tossing and turning alone is hard. I thought it would be better to move around than to be at a loss in bed, so I came to the study, and then I wondered if you were in the bedroom, so I came in for a bit to check. I was never trying to steal anything intentionally. I swear.”

Her habit of spitting out words like quick fire when embarrassed was coming out once again.

“Ah, I was just wondering who the people in the portraits I was looking at were. I wasn’t looking at them with impure intentions, like trying to find something out. Really.”

Adeline quickly spat out the words, unable to hide her embarrassed expression, then looked around and suddenly approached the wine display next to the cupboard.

Kael didn’t have time to intervene.
He was trying to tell her from the beginning that it was fine.

“Drinking will make me feel better. When you drink wine, your senses get a little dull. Won’t the sound of the wind get quieter if I drink?”

It was an absurd affirmation.
To Kael, it seemed that Adeline was so embarrassed that not even she knew what she was saying.
He stared at Adeline’s appearance he was seeing for the first time before bursting into laughter as if he couldn’t stop himself.

Adeline’s nervousness was only slightly relaxed by the soft, pleasant voice.

“Promise me you won’t be stubborn like last time. Then, I’ll open a bottle of the wine you like.”
“… I won’t get drunk.”

Kael smirked again at the slightly dispirited reply.

“Grab a seat.”

A pleasant night, which was not expected in the slightest, came full circle before Kael.