Chapter 51
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Lev had already taken his position by the time Adi made it outside. With a sharp jerk of his chin, he indicated that she should follow him. Adi cast a quick glance around the area before trailing after him.
He navigated the grounds with the confidence of someone who had walked these paths a thousand times. Eventually, he ducked into a secluded nook where two structures converged. The spot was devoid of windows, creating a perfect blind spot that shielded them from prying ears. Its isolation also meant that anyone trying to sneak up on them would be spotted instantly.
A heavy silence stretched between them as they traded looks. A few years had passed, but time hadn’t altered their heights or appearances in any dramatic way. To each other, they looked almost exactly as they had in the past.
Lev broke the quiet first.
“I assume the Count has already briefed you on the situation?”
“What’s the point of this meeting?” Adi countered.
“You once claimed you didn’t belong to me. I wonder how you’re enjoying the way things have shifted.”
Lev moved his hand toward her cheek as he spoke, but Adi didn’t let him get close. She struck his hand away with a sharp movement.
“Stop wasting my time and get to the point.”
“I simply felt like looking at you.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m being serious,” Lev insisted, pulling his hand back. “I wanted to witness your misery firsthand.”
“……”
The animosity was mutual; Lev harbored just as much venom for Adi as she did for him. It was a failure of judgment on the Count’s part. If he intended to force them together, he should have chosen two people who didn’t despise one another. Regardless, the outcome remained the same.
The real mystery was the Count’s sudden change of heart. Why was he so intent on dragging her back to Grimaldi now? She doubted the Count would ever volunteer the truth, which left her to find out on her own.
“So, are you satisfied with the despair you see?”
She decided to test him, hoping to fish for information.
“It’s a beautiful sight. Though I still can’t fathom what you did to catch the Crown Prince’s eye.”
“Is that why you’re being sent back to Grimaldi?”
The thought gave her pause. Had her interaction with the heir to the throne triggered this? It was impossible to guess the Prince’s motives. Had he and the Count held a secret discussion?
Adi was in the dark. If they had spoken—if the Crown Prince had perhaps suggested bringing her to Ionad—it would explain the Count’s drastic reaction.
“Prepare to return to Grimaldi and rot just like you used to, Adrina.”
The pieces were finally clicking into place.
“You’ll be alone forever in a place where no one will stand by you.”
Lev closed the distance between them, adopting the persona of the only person who truly cared for Adrian’s memory.
“Maybe that will finally give Adrian’s spirit some peace.”
“Don’t act like my brother’s blood is only on my hands, Lev.”
She was tired of being the sole scapegoat for Adrian’s passing. While she carried her own weight of regret, she wasn’t the only one responsible. Everyone in that house had contributed to his agony.
“You really think you’re blameless, don’t you?”
“I cared for Adrian more than you could ever imagine.”
“Love doesn’t erase your sins. Adrian was important to me as well.”
“To you?”
Lev gave a mocking, breathy laugh.
“Did you ever even view Adi as a brother?”
“He was my brother.”
“I was more of a brother to him than you ever managed to be.”
There was a kernel of truth in his words that stung. Lev had been granted the proximity she had been denied. Once Adrian was confined to his sickbed, Adrina had been pushed to the margins, unable to do anything for him.
“You didn’t even cry when he died.”
She remained silent, knowing they had avoided showing such grief to prevent dark energy from tainting him. Lev continued to glare at her. After a tense standoff, he exhaled sharply.
“Since the situation has changed, we need to discuss our future. I’ll follow the Count’s lead for the time being, but I still intend to take my place as the head of the Zid family.”
Adi opened her mouth to respond.
“You’re destined to become a ghost anyway.”
The Crown Prince was the catalyst for everything. His mention of Ionad must have spooked the Count. It was clear her father had no intention of letting her go to the capital. But why? If he wanted to strengthen his ties to the crown, her presence in Ionad would be a powerful asset.
What is it about Ionad that he fears?
“Since you feel nothing for me, I suppose it won’t matter who I share a life with.”
I have to speak with the Crown Prince.
“Can you make out what they’re saying?”
“Not a word.”
Three figures stood together on a higher vantage point, observing Adi and Lev. The pair had chosen a corner that made side-viewing impossible without being spotted. The observers had been forced to climb to a higher level to look down, yet the distance rendered the conversation silent. Usually, sound traveled upward, but the hushed nature of their talk suggested they were being extremely cautious.
“Why talk in such a cramped spot? There’s nowhere to hide nearby.”
“He likely picked a place without windows on purpose.”
Lip-reading proved useless. They could only interpret the body language and facial expressions, which showed no signs of warmth or friendship.
“Look at him trying to touch his face. The nerve. Is that how one treats a noble?”
“Adi is only tolerating it because he’s so gentle. That prick,” Roy muttered.
Bert hesitated, unable to support Roy’s assessment of Adi’s personality. “I wouldn’t exactly call Adi… gentle,” he whispered. After all, within the walls of Pallesa Palace, Adi Grimaldi was the one usually seen as the troublemaker, not Lev Zid.
Yuls, however, had a different concern.
“Don’t they seem excessively familiar with one another?”
His face was a mask of tension. The way Lev reached out, the proximity of their bodies—it was too much. Even for those raised together, this crossed a line.
It wasn’t just closeness; it looked like a lack of respect. Regardless of their history, Adrian Grimaldi was Lev’s superior. Such behavior toward a future lord was unacceptable.
“Really? They just look like old pals to me,” Roy offered.
Bert gave him a look of pure disbelief, then remembered Roy Gallardo’s southern roots.
Unlike Bert, a northerner who adapted to the south, or Yuls, a southerner who had lived a sheltered life, Roy had grown up with a normal social circle. He had that classic southern habit of ignoring personal space and being overly physical.
“We’re getting nowhere. If we could just read their lips, we’d know if they were plotting or just talking nonsense…”
Bert trailed off as he caught a glimpse of Yuls’s profile.
“Your Excellency?”
“What?”
The Duke’s voice was a low, dangerous rumble. It had always been deep, but now it possessed a jagged, irritated edge.
He’s furious. And the reason is obvious.
“Never mind.”
Bert knew it was because of Adi. He felt a wave of internal conflict. He was finally seeing the strange, suffocating tension Joel had warned him about. It was a blatant, one-sided fixation radiating from Yuls Woodpecker.
“What is the actual history between those two?”
“Childhood companions. Sir Lev’s mother is the Head Maid and was the wet nurse. They were raised as brothers.”
“They don’t look like they even like each other.”
There was something unsettling about Lev’s demeanor toward Adi. It didn’t look like brotherly affection. Whether it was a form of obsession or deep-seated resentment, Lev’s emotions seemed to wrap around Adi in an uncomfortably tight way.
Does he just draw people in? Bert wondered. Adi was attractive and quiet, but he didn’t seem like the type to inspire such intense reactions in other men. And yet, they kept coming.
Next to a brooding Bert, Yuls let out a sharp click of his tongue.
“I was under the impression that people from the North kept their distance.”
The royalty in the Central region were the same—exclusive and cold to outsiders. Yet these two were breaking all those rules.
“They are close.”
The word felt too weak for what he was seeing. Even if there was no love between them, they were far too comfortable with physical contact.
“It looks like they have a secret agenda.”
“You think so?” Roy asked, looking puzzled. “It’s probably just a Northern thing. They might be cold to strangers, but once you’re in, they’d die for you. They say a Northern friend is a friend for life. Their bond is probably—”
Roy stopped abruptly when he saw Yuls’s face. Bert noted that while Roy wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, he had a decent survival instinct when his life was on the line.
“Well, I mean, they were raised together. But Adi doesn’t like him. He specifically told me to take him down.”
At that, Yuls’s expression finally softened. Bert leaned over and gripped Roy’s shoulder.
“You have to win this, Sir Guard.” Bert didn’t want to imagine the consequences of a loss.
Below them, Lev Zid was the first to walk away. Adi stayed behind, standing perfectly still.
Yuls watched the solitary figure for a moment before turning away. “We’re leaving.”
