“Let go of me!”

Adeline let out a piercing scream.

Had it not been in the forest, her high-pitched voice would have woken up all the people in Horn village.

Adeline struggled to free her captured shoulder. But the more she tried to escape, the stronger the grip became.

“Help! Someone help me!”

If anyone was there, please save me.

Adeline cried out.

It was already unfair to be reborn as a character in a novel, but now to be led to her death by the hands of her biological father who gave birth to her.

It was too tragic. So she was struggling to break free.

“Adeline!”

Adeline shuddered at the familiar voice seeping into her ears.

She carefully raised her head.

“Mel? W-why are you here?”

Only then did Adeline realize it was Cassis who had grabbed her.

She frantically scanned her surroundings and grasped his sleeve.

“Did you see anyone chasing me? Are you alone? Are you alright?”

Her hand gripping the duke trembled uncontrollably.

Adeline was soaked by the pouring rain. Streams of water flowed from her hair to her rounded forehead and eyes, blocking her vision.

“It’s alright. I’m alone. No one is chasing you.”

The duke raised his other hand and wiped away the water trickling down Adeline’s cheek.

It wasn’t rainwater.

The warmth wetting his fingertips was Adeline’s tears.

“I just came out because I was worried about Adeline. But what’s going on? What do you mean by someone chasing you?”

Adeline’s legs gave out at the duke’s innocent gaze, and she sank to the ground.

There was no one there.

The one chasing her wasn’t Credion’s viscount’s group, but this man!

The tears that had been welling up in her eyes flowed down sorrowfully.

It was a mix of relief and resentment towards the man.

“Why… why did you come out here!”

Adeline’s emotions suddenly surged.

“I told you to stay at home, didn’t I!”

She had repeatedly told him not to come out like this. Yet again, he couldn’t resist and came looking for Adeline.

Usually, this might have been an issue to gently admonish and let go.

But perhaps due to the tension from being chased by the viscount’s family all this time, Adeline’s patience had reached its limit.

She was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

She should have been grateful to the duke who came to get her through this storm, but while her head knew this, her body wouldn’t cooperate.

“It’s alright, I’m here…”

Adeline pushed away the duke’s arms as he tried to embrace her.

Her gaze towards the duke was colder than frost. Cold enough to freeze the heart of any man who saw it.

The duke had only intended to help with the small, seemingly difficult zipper and then step aside.

But the moment he touched the zipper, his thoughts changed.

Seeing Adeline hold her breath, he wanted to tease her. So he deliberately started to lower the zipper slowly.

He was so annoyed at the woman who kept refusing his words. At first, it was just a mischievous desire to fluster Del.

However, as the zipper came down revealing fair skin, he became dizzy.

Conversely, it was he who ended up being tormented.

The duke couldn’t control himself at the sight of Adeline’s white flesh.

Despite knowing Adeline would clearly be troubled, he buried his lips on her shoulder.

As expected, Del tried to turn around in surprise, but the duke held her in place, unable to face her expression.

“Haa…”

The duke was afraid Adeline might look at him with contempt.

So he hung his head low to avoid seeing her expression.

Why am I creating this situation because I lost my memories?

The duke felt utterly pathetic about his memory-less self.

Suddenly, something hot boiled up inside the duke’s heart.

What if his memories never returned?

He wanted to clarify his relationship with Adeline more.

So he turned her around and leaned towards her.

Fortunately, Adeline’s eyes showed no sign of the contempt he had worried about.

They were just trembling endlessly, like his own.

In truth, he thought he would be satisfied with just touching lips.

But the moment Adeline’s breath touched him, he lost all reason.

Without realizing it, he gripped her waist as if to break it, then gently embraced her as if she were precious.

“Ah.”

Startled by a sudden flash of lightning through the window, Adeline pushed him away.

Her push felt resentful to him.

Looking at the woman’s lost eyes, he couldn’t help but smile, finding her lovely.

He decided to let her go for today, settling for tidying her lips.

“Go wash up now.”

He needed to cool down too. Feeling he couldn’t possibly cool off in the same space, he left the bedroom.

How much time had passed?

The rain stopped, and he encountered Adeline in the hallway. Seeing him, she lowered her flushed face and fled to town.

At first, he thought she would return soon.

However, contrary to his expectations, time passed endlessly until darkness covered the world.

The summer night after rain was cool, as if it had never been hot.

Recalling the thin dress she had worn, he began to worry.

She must be cold. At that thought, he decided to grab a coat and go look for her.

When he entered the forest path leading to town, the rain that had stopped began to fall again.

The rain that started gently soon intensified, soaking everything once more.

He couldn’t return home due to worry.

Holding up the coat he had brought for Adeline with both hands to roughly block the rain, he began searching for her.

After searching for a while, he saw her in the distance, taking shelter under a large tree.

“Del! Stay there!”

He shouted, wondering if she could hear his voice.

But perhaps due to the loud rain, it didn’t seem to reach her.

“I’ll come to you, so wait!”

He shouted even louder. Then Adeline started running in the opposite direction from home.

“That’s the wrong way! Where are you going!”

He quickened his pace to catch up with Adeline.

“Stop!”

No matter how much he shouted, Adeline kept running away.

Eventually, a mound of dirt appeared in the distance. It looked like a landslide had occurred due to the heavy monsoon rain.

However, Adeline dangerously tried to hide her body between the dirt piles. In a place that could collapse at any moment.

The duke urgently approached and grabbed her shoulder.

“Ahhh! Let go of this!!”

When he grabbed her, she started screaming this time. As if she had seen a monster.

“Calm down! It’s me.”

“Ahh! Help!!! Someone help me!”

“Adeline!”

“Mel? W-why are you here?”

Adeline, who had been in a state of panic, seemed to recognize the duke.

Upon discovering the duke, Adeline began to sob this time.

“Did you see anyone chasing me? Are you alone? Are you alright?”

Adeline was on the verge of losing her mind.

The duke’s throat tightened at her precarious state. Why, who on earth had driven this woman to such a state?

“It’s alright. I’m alone. No one is chasing you. I just came out because I was worried about Adeline. But what’s going on? What do you mean by someone chasing you?”

He had been the one chasing Adeline all along, but

“Why… why did you come out here! I told you to stay at home, didn’t I!”

Even thicker streams of tears flowed down Adeline’s cheeks than before.

She must have been very scared.

Though he didn’t know why, the duke wanted to hug the pitiful Adeline before him.

However, Adeline coldly brushed off his touch.

Then Adeline spat out words mixed with resentment.

“From now on, even if I don’t come, never. Never come out!”

“How can I just stay at home when Del doesn’t come?”

“If I tell you not to come out, don’t come out.”

Adeline showed no sign of compromising with the duke’s words.

A wry smile formed on his lips at Adeline’s unyielding attitude.

“How can I not when I’m worried?”

“Why do you worry about me? Don’t! Just stay at home whether I come or not.”

Adeline raised her voice.

Beyond resentment, the emotion Adeline showed towards him was close to disgust.

“Why are you acting like this to me?”

He had simply come out to look for his lover who hadn’t returned late.

He was just worried. He had been concerned that Adeline might get hurt or lost in this storm.

“Is it so hard to understand when I say don’t leave the mansion?”

Adeline’s thorny words continued endlessly. Cassis’ red eyes sank deeply at the barrage of vitriol she spewed as if she had lost her mind.

His own reflection in her gray eyes looked utterly miserable.

What could be making this woman so angry and anxious?

“Whether I disappear, get caught, or die, don’t worry about me. Please just leave me alone.”

Was his heart merely bothersome and uncomfortable to this woman?

The rain continued to pour heavily. His heart felt not just bitter, but as if it were being torn apart.

The duke’s eyes sank pitifully. It was a wounded look.

It would have been nice if she had understood a little. That he had come all this way out of genuine concern.

But perhaps obscured by the heavy rain, that sincerity did not reach Adeline.

His chest ached, and he unknowingly contorted his face. Then his lowered gaze fell on Adeline’s hand.

The bandage wrapped around her hand had long since become soaked and half undone.

Upon discovering that hand, the ache in his chest was no longer felt. After all, this woman’s pain came first for him.

“Alright then. If you have the strength left to be angry, let’s finish at home.”

The two didn’t say a single word on their way home.

The emotional gulf that couldn’t be resolved in the rain only continued to deepen.