Ch#145
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Roy exited the room with practiced speed. While he had paused for a fleeting moment, the heavy tension inside had become suffocating. It was painfully clear that some unresolved history had followed them from Pallesa Palace. Dimitri followed his lead, offering a flimsy excuse about organizing some tea and snacks. Both men were eager to avoid the awkwardness of being unnecessary witnesses.
In the hallway, their gazes met briefly. That single look confirmed they were entirely in sync, yet they immediately looked away, walking in opposite paths as if they were strangers. It was a wordless pact: they would claim total ignorance regarding whatever transpired behind those closed doors.
Inside, Yuls remained focused on Adi, his expression a mask of bewilderment.
“Are you truly aware of the weight of your words?”
“……”
Adi bit her lip, her mind racing. She briefly considered if he was questioning her sincerity and moved to explain herself, but catching his eyes, she simply countered,
“Does anyone actually speak without understanding their own intent?”
He knew many people did exactly that. However, the steady, honest depth of her stare suggested she wasn’t one of them. A strange warmth began to bloom in his chest. The way she regarded him—with a mixture of deep-seated care and a loyalty that bordered on the absolute—was nothing short of miraculous.
Yuls hadn’t lacked for affection growing up in Woodpecker, even if his mother’s love had been absent. His life was one of privilege, both in wealth and in the fierce protection of those who served him. He was well-acquainted with the concept of sacrifice.
Yet this was a different breed of devotion. The look in her eyes belonged to another category entirely.
Yuls tightened his hand into a fist before relaxing it. Initially, his motivations had been simple: he would pay any price to shatter the curse. Now, however, he found himself thinking that the curse could remain forever if the alternative meant losing her. As long as Adrina stayed, nothing else seemed to matter.
“I have feelings for you.”
The admission he had offered her recently seemed to have come back to him as a gift.
“To be clear… I am no predator. I have no plans to act on this until Your Excellency has reached adulthood.”
A sudden laugh escaped Yuls. The comment was so absurdly unexpected that he was caught completely off guard. He couldn’t begin to fathom where she picked up such ideas.
“You plan to act on it then?”
“I do.”
She spoke with a blunt confidence. A second later, a shadow of doubt crossed her face, and she added tentatively, “…is that forbidden?”
“It isn’t a matter of permission. I just want to know where you learned to talk like that.”
Claude was known for his colorful language, but Adi’s occasional outbursts were in a league of their own.
“I didn’t learn it from a specific person,” Adi explained. She drifted into a brief silence, her eyes tracking something invisible in the air. “It is simply the way the Knights and their Pages speak to one another.”
He wondered which group she meant. Hopefully, she was referring to the garrison at Pallesa Palace and not his own men at Woodpecker.
He was aware that knights weren’t exactly bastions of refined speech, but they usually maintained a level of decorum in his presence. He wasn’t privy to their private banter.
“Quite often, I…”
Adi’s voice remained level as she continued.
“…feel a desire to possess Your Excellency.”
Yuls felt his jaw drop. He squeezed his eyes shut, bowing his head as a fierce heat climbed up his neck. He knew Adrina was blunt, but this was reaching a new extreme.
Wait. Yuls looked up sharply, his eyes narrowing.
“Do you actually grasp the connotation of that phrase?”
“It means to have for oneself, so does it not imply making our bond official to the world?”
It didn’t. That was certainly not the context the knights used, but Yuls decided not to correct her.
“Indeed.”
The technical definition was irrelevant. If she meant making their relationship public, that aligned perfectly with his own desires.
“Then I am yours to have.”
The response clearly stunned her; her eyes widened before softening into a warm, crescent-shaped smile. Yuls wondered if she realized how captivating that look was. He held his breath for a moment, trying to steady his heart.
“But not this very moment,” he added softly.
It was a self-imposed restraint more than a command to her.
“Only once I have regained my true form.”
He couldn’t allow things to progress while he was trapped in this body, in this environment. There were too many complications.
“I will give that version of myself to you.”
He would have happily surrendered the title of Count Grimaldi to her right then if she asked. Of course, the Royal Family would never permit such a shift in power, and the distance between their lands made the logistics of a conflict impossible.
“I am grateful, Your Excellency,” Adi said, offering a formal bow.
Yuls laughed at her stiff politeness. Being thanked for such a thing was surreal. At the same time, a sense of frustration gnawed at him.
“This is incredibly lopsided.”
“What is?”
“Forget it.”
He knew that attempting to kiss her while in this state would be completely inappropriate.
“We can at least hold hands, can’t we?”
Adi reached out, her expression questioning. Their hands, which had once been so different in scale, were now nearly identical in size. The sight felt wrong. Yuls took her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. Imitating the way she had always treated him, he kissed her skin with deliberate, firm affection, letting out a small sound of contact.
Her hand was calloused and scarred—the hand of a warrior. He felt immense pride just looking at it.
His only sorrow was the lack of jewelry on her bare fingers.
“Once we return,” Yuls whispered, his thumb tracing the base of her ring finger. “I have a gift for you.”
“There is no need for presents—”
“You will take it.”
Adi studied his face. She truly required nothing from him; her list of things she wanted to do for him was already long enough. But understanding they felt the same way, she saw his perspective. If she were to offer him something and he turned it down…
“Do not decline.”
She knew that would hurt.
“Accept everything I choose to give you.”
Adi realized silence wasn’t enough of a commitment. “I will,” she promised. “Even if what you give me is suffering, I will take it.”
“…I would never hurt you.”
His pulse hammered against his ribs like a frantic clock. He knew he should feel self-conscious about her hearing his heart race, but he found he didn’t care. The urge to kiss her was overwhelming, yet he remained disciplined. He wouldn’t cross that line yet.
As he fought back his irritation toward Count Grimaldi, he cursed the man’s methods. If he wanted to strike at me, he should have chosen a different weapon than turning me into a child.
“We have to track down that Witch immediately.”
“You will find her.”
Yuls gave a quiet, knowing laugh. It was clear Adrina didn’t quite understand why he was in such a desperate hurry.
At first light the following morning, the Woodpecker party—a single carriage and five riders—departed the Grimaldi lands. One rider trailed behind, stopping to cast a final look at the estate before eventually turning away to join the others.
Yvette Grimaldi watched them fade into the distance from her window, her mind a blank slate of numb emotion.
The Count stood nearby, equally silent.
“Was it you who spoke?”
It had been years since the Count had stepped into this wing of the manor. His presence in Yvette’s private space felt like an intrusion. She gave a hollow, mirthless chuckle.
“It was.”
“What was your motive?”
“…I’m not sure.” She looked away, her voice a mere shadow. “It simply felt like the right path to take.”
“It was a mistake,” the Count said, his voice devoid of warmth. “You understand the damage this does to the Grimaldi name.”
“Damage I caused?”
Yvette turned to him, stunned by his audacity. How could he possibly blame her for this collapse?
“If you hadn’t committed those acts six years ago, we wouldn’t be here. Or better yet, if you hadn’t declared a child a curse years before that, none of this would have happened.”
The Count remained silent. In his mind, twins were an undeniable shadow. He saw no error in how the girl had been treated.
“Why couldn’t you have just sent her away?” Yvette’s voice cracked, vibrating with either terror or rage. “If she had been sent to Malvina, we could have avoided all of this.”
“…My plan was to retrieve her.”
He had intended to reclaim her from the Duke. Initially, he thought leaving her there was a tactical move, but the girl’s independence had exceeded his expectations. Her relationship with the Duke was irrelevant; within the walls of Grimaldi, she was meant to be a tool of his will.
“I wanted to make Grimaldi whole—”
“There is no such thing as a whole Grimaldi, Count,” Yvette interrupted, her voice sharp as glass. “We broke a long time ago.”
He fell silent.
“The legacy of Grimaldi died years ago.”
“Tell me…” The Count began, pausing as he gripped his hands tight. He forced the words out. “Do you feel love for that child?”
“No.”
The denial was instant.
“How could I possibly love her?”
The Count saw the pain twisting her features and knew it was a lie.
“Then…” he pushed further. “Do you love me?”
Tears finally filled Yvette’s eyes, shimmering on the edge of her lashes. They stayed there, trapped in a glassy stare, refusing to fall.
“No,” she whispered.
“Every act you claim was for my benefit has only resulted in my ruin.”
She wished for a way to rewrite the past.
“How can you even use the word love?”