“What’s this mark?”

Her voice somehow sounded eerie, perhaps because of the lowhanging sky.

“A mark… you say?”

Adel, as if knowing nothing, asked back.

But her heart was throbbing.

‘Did he overhear the conversation with the stone?’

‘Should I tell him everything now? Yes, let’s…’

Then Tanya came running from a distance.

“Miss!”

Then Christine, as usual, kissed the back of her hand and smiled. It was as if the serious look from a moment ago had been Adel’s illusion.

“I’ll leave now. I have to go back.”

As she turned around, Adel hesitated.

‘Should I grab him now and tell him everything?’

In the meantime, Christine went back to his companions, and Tanya approached.

“Quickly get in the carriage. It seems something will fall soon.”

The carriage carrying Adel and Tanya soon moved and went far away.

Christine, who had keen ears, could hear the conversation between the two inside the carriage. And he clearly heard the conversation between the stone and Adel.

“Adel, you haven’t even shown him your back yet? And you call yourself his woman.”

“I was curious. If he knew about the mark on your back. If you two had slept together.”

“Could it be that you were waiting for me?”

That mark on her back…

Furthermore, an ominous smell of blood was coming very strongly from the handkerchief in Stone’s possession.

Last night, was it Stone who had been watching Adel from beyond the window of the restaurant?

He said he had been back in the country for quite some time; surely he hadn’t met with Adel during that time?

Was that why Adel had avoided sleeping? Could it be?

Damn!

Christine scowled.

Once doubt set in, everything about Adel became suspicious.

(This is a time separator.)

Meanwhile, Adel, who had returned home, couldn’t easily calm her mind.

Stone had appeared.

If she wanted to prepare before he concocted something, she thought she couldn’t do it alone.

Besides, she was afraid of misunderstanding with Christine by dragging the time out like this.

From the fact that he asked about ‘the mark,’ whether he knew something too. And yet he wasn’t asking because he wanted her to tell him first.

‘Yes, let’s tell him everything.’

‘Christine will surely be on my side.’

If not, even so, it would be better than deceiving him and causing misunderstanding.

But he didn’t come back until late at night.

The sky, which had been looming, began to snow from the evening, and it piled up gently on the window frame.

The servants had all gone to bed, and only a few of the guard corps were awake.

Waiting for him, Adel read a book in bed. Her mind was so cluttered that she couldn’t take in any of the content.

While flipping through the pages absentmindedly, she heard the sound of the guards greeting.

Dressed in her nightgown, Adel quickly put on a red robe over it and went out.

“You’re late.”

She ran into Christine, who was just coming up to the second floor.

“Uh.”

“Is it snowing a lot outside?”

Quickly descending the stairs, Adel reached out to brush off the snow that had gathered on his shoulders and head.

But he pulled back and brushed it off with his hand.

“It’s okay. I can do it.”

Adel, who had smiled and reached out, was embarrassed and clasped her hands together unnecessarily.

But she smiled kindly again.

“Aren’t you hungry? Shall I bring you something to eat?”

“Thank you, but I’m fine. You must be tired, so you should sleep.”

“I’m not tired at all. I wasn’t sleepy and was reading a book.”

“Then go in and continue reading your book. I have things to take care of.”

“You’ve been working all this time and now again?”

“There’s a lot to prepare for the royal horseriding competition soon.”

“Oh, that must be the case. But try to rest too.”

“Thank you for worrying. Well then.”

Christine’s voice was as gentle and soft as usual. But the feeling that he didn’t want her by his side was strong, and she couldn’t approach him because of the distance.

“Yeah, goodnight.”

Adel once again gathered the courage to give Christine a goodnight kiss as always.

‘A goodnight kiss should be fine, right?’

But just before their lips touched, he turned his head away.

“Zimmer.”

“Yes, my lord.”
“It doesn’t seem like the confirmed list of participants for the tournament has been posted yet?”

“Yes, there are a few additional participants, but since the overall plan hasn’t changed much, I was going to tell you in the final report.”

“Go report it right now.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Christine, male, passed by Adel, female, and went up the stairs with Zimmer, issuing instructions to Zimmer without a break all the way up.

As he was getting further away, Adel felt like she had to say something. But her mouth wouldn’t open.

“He must be really busy.”

She shrugged her shoulders and muttered to herself.

It was natural for Christine, who was in charge of the grand event at the palace, to be frantically busy. It was also natural that he couldn’t pay attention to her as he was engrossed in his work.

Adel comforted herself like that. But her hurt feelings did not easily go away.