TBDNS - Chapter 30

Episode 30. That was the real reason you left

“Yes, tell me. In fact, I’ve always wondered. The reason you returned to your biological father. The reason you married old Marquis Oswald. You said it was because you wanted to become a noble, but that wasn’t really the case, was it?”

After catching her breath for a moment, Adele spoke with a strained voice.

“I wanted... revenge.”

“Revenge?”

It was an unexpected story.

“To those who made my mother like that.”

“Your mother was attacked by a beast in the forest. Didn’t you try to get revenge on the silver wolf?”

Adele shook her head.

“Do you remember the villa at Lake Garden?”

“I remember. High-ranking nobles used to come here often.”

“After my mother passed away, I happened to go there and overheard people talking. The nobles who came to visit the villa were raising wolves. And they made them hunt people for fun.”

Christine’s mind went blank at the unexpected story.

“Really... really?”

“My mother, who went to deliver bread, was bitten by a wolf they were raising. But they made it look like she was attacked by a forest beast.”

Just thinking about it again was so horrible that Adele’s whole body trembled. She bit her lips, but tears welled up in her bloodshot eyes.

No matter how much time had passed, she still vividly remembered her mother’s brutal corpse.

“What kind of bastards?”

Christine’s pale blue eyes were terrifyingly murderous. He seemed ready to go and tear them all apart at any moment.

However, Adele felt comforted by his anger. He felt like an alter ego, sharing the same sadness and anger as she did.

“They’re already dead.”

“Dead?”

“Yes, everyone.”

Her face was strange as she nodded calmly.

“No way... you...”

Did you kill them?

Christine, who was about to say that, was startled.

There was no way, right? Adele, of all people.

However, Adele’s face was just as unfamiliar as anyone else’s.

“Yes. It wasn’t the Marquis that I poisoned, it was them.”

Christine's eyes became dizzy.

She looked down at her hands and smiled bitterly.

"I thought I could get revenge if I became a powerful noble. That's why I accepted Count Grylls's offer and became the Marquis's wife."

The Adele Christine knew was a tenderhearted girl who couldn't even kill a bug.

A kind and gentle girl who only cared about herself when she was hungry.

But she was so unfamiliar when she calmly talked about killing a person.

Were her pale face and deep green eyes so cold?

That's why she hated the guys who made her like this even more.

"That... was the real reason you left?"

"Yes, and the real reason I stuck with that damn Marquis for two years."

"Why... didn't you tell me?"

"It was my mother's business. Your father, who was trying to catch that beast, was injured to the point of death. I didn't want to be in your debt anymore."

Christine's eyes turned red as he barely suppressed his growing emotions.

“Your mother was like a mother to me. At least you should have told me...”

If you had, it would have been a little bit of strength for you!

He couldn’t stand it because he felt sorry for resenting Adele in the past.

Thinking about her struggling to deal with that great pain alone made him go crazy. He only felt helpless for not knowing anything while Adele was going through such a terrible time.

All those emotions were mixed together, and Christine couldn’t stand it.

He lowered his head and remained silent for a while, then stared at Adele with bloodshot eyes.

“What on earth was I to you, Adele?”

His voice sank low as he suppressed his emotions that were about to explode.

But Adele stared at him clearly with her deep, transparent eyes.

“Forget it, Christine? You weren’t there then.”

“...!”

“When my mother passed away, and at her funeral... You showed up after everything was over.”

Adele didn’t mention the rumor that she had seen him naked in the forest.

The Christine he knew was never someone who would act rashly.

But it was true that she was so disappointed in him.

She thought he was like her own blood.

In fact, she didn’t know that was why she left without telling him. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to be indebted to him. Maybe she resented him a little.

“Ah, that’s right... I...”

Adele smiled at Christine, who was mumbling in pain, as if it were all in the past.

“Don’t worry about it. We were both young back then.”

But he knew. That had created a rift between them that could never be repaired.

Someone who had not been there for her when she needed him most.

Unless Christine revealed her identity, that rift would never be filled.

“Then why are you looking for the silver wolf? Isn’t your revenge already over?”

Christine returned to his cold expression.

“The day my mother died, people said they saw a strange silver wolf in the forest. It must have been one of the wolves they were raising. But when I went to their wolf pen, the silver wolf was gone.”

“They didn’t raise the silver wolf. Or it never existed in the first place.”

Christine felt relieved on the one hand.

He didn’t know the noble who had harmed Adele’s mother.

He had never been raised by anyone.

So it had nothing to do with Adele’s mother’s death.

But Adele didn’t seem to think so.

“No, all the wolves in the wolf pen were dead. Just like my mother, they had five claw marks all over their bodies, and they were torn apart. The silver wolf must have killed the wolves there and escaped.”

“Wait, five claw marks?”

“Yes, he’s not like a normal wolf.”

“It might not be a wolf.”

“The footprints on the ground were definitely wolf tracks. And he had been quiet until now, but he recently appeared again in the palace. And the guard was dead. If there are five claw marks on the guard’s body, it’s definitely his doing this time. Silver wolf!”

“Is that how it’s going to be...?”

“We have to catch him quickly. If not, there might be more victims.”

Christine's heart sank.

Five claw marks...

Unlike normal wolves, he still had five claws when he mutated.

However, since he had never been locked in a wolf pen, it means he wasn’t the one who killed the wolves and escaped.

So what on earth killed Adele’s mother and the wolves in the wolf pen?

Perhaps it was its doing to kill the palace guard.

A beast with five claws like his own.

If it really was a wolf, was it also one of the wolf clans that disappeared from the world?

Or, by chance, what did he do that he doesn’t remember...?

That couldn’t be true!

But Christine absolutely had to reveal her identity.

If only to prove his innocence to her.

And if only to find his clan, that might be somewhere.

“Yes, leave this to me and get out of my way.”

As expected, Adele stubbornly refused.

“He’s my enemy. So I’ll find him.”

“I’m better suited to investigate this because I have the position and people to command. I think a rational decision is needed rather than an emotional one.”

“But...”

Christine got up from his chair and knelt quietly in front of Adele.

“You alone endured that horrible thing ten years ago. So now leave it to me. If you don’t do this, I don’t think I can bear it.”

“Chris...”

“Please, Adele...”

His eyes staring at Adele were so earnest.

It seemed as if tears would flow from his bloodshot eyes at any moment.

Bam!

At that moment, the door to the examination room opened wide, and Mia appeared.

Adele was sitting on the bed, and Christine was kneeling in front of her with an earnest face.

She instinctively felt that she had appeared at the wrong time due to the unusual atmosphere between the two.

“Oh my, Jade isn’t here either. I was playing tag with Jade. Hohoho! Then I’ll excuse myself!”

Mia quickly turned around, but Christine got up from his seat.

“I’ll find Jade.”

He hurriedly left the examination room.

***

However, Christine, who had come out into the hallway, stopped with an embarrassed expression.

“Are you really Count Weiss?”

“Do you have any evidence?”

“Then where are the White Ghost Knights?”

The young patients surrounded him and kept asking him questions. Their sparkling eyes were filled with curiosity and awe.

At that moment, Jade ran over and shouted.

“It’s really Count Weiss! He fought me with swords, and he was really, really strong!”

“Hey, he doesn’t look that strong.”

“Yeah, they said the Count was as big as a house. He also has a scary face.”

Jade’s face turned red when the kids didn’t believe him.

“I said it!”

“You’re lying, you liar!”

The children’s commotion finally brought Mark out into the hallway.

“You guys! If you don’t hurry up and get in, I’m going to give you some really, really strong medicine!”

At those words, the children rushed into the hospital bed. The children who had been sick all night looked cheerful, as if nothing had happened when their fevers went down.

Watching them, Mark smiled happily and then threatened Jade.

“You too, Jade. I told you not to keep coming in and out of the clinic.”

“I’m going to give this to Adele.”

Jade waved a piece of paper with a drawing on it. The woman in the drawing had dark brown hair and green eyes, which seemed to be Adele. She looked like a witch with her bright red lips, but the crooked writing underneath that said, “Don’t get sick and get well soon,” made him smile.

“Then just give her the drawing and come out. Don’t forget to wash your hands.”

“Yes, Dad!”

Christine felt his heart flutter as he watched little Jade excitedly run to Adele’s clinic.

The lively noise of children, Mark’s cheerful laughter, Judy humming as she walked around, despite being busy...

The winter sunlight seeping into the old wooden hallway felt unusually warm here.

“Isn’t that why people get married, because I want to be their strength as much as they rely on me?”

“That’s him?”

“Probably.”

She thought she knew why Adele had chosen him.

Her life must have been so cold in the past, so she must have missed this kind of warmth.

This man might be able to make her happier than he was.

“Please take care of Adele.”

Mark was taken aback by the sudden words.

“What do you mean by that...?”

Christine made a grumpy expression.

“I have to go to the palace, so I’m asking you to take care of her. What else did you think it meant?”

“Yes, that’s what I thought, Count.”

Mark smiled kindly instead of getting angry. Christine felt a twist in his heart because his smile was so gentle. So he left the clinic without saying goodbye.

Even if it was right to give up for Adele, he could never do that.

He thought he had erased it, but he always missed her even in the bloody battlefield.

Her smile, her scent, the house he shared with her...

***

“Why are you staring so intently?”

Mia, who had come up to her side, looked out the window with Mark. She could see Christine’s back crossing the garden yard.

“Give up, Mark.”

When Mark looked at her as if asking what she meant, Mia smacked her lips bitterly.

“Adele, I mean. A person’s heart is not something you can obtain with effort.” 

They say that sneezes and love cannot be hidden, and no matter how hard Adele tried to hide it, she could see it clearly. Where was her heart directed?

How could she not know when her eyes became so affectionate at the mere mention of Christine’s name?

Furthermore, the atmosphere between the two of them a moment ago was something that no one else could invade.

“Well, a person’s heart is not something that can be given up just because you give up.”

Mark looked up at the clear winter sky and smiled bitterly.

“Mark...”

Mia looked at her foolish blood relative with pity, but he was brave.

“Don’t look at me like that, Mia. I’ll just do my best. Even if I get hurt, it’s my responsibility to handle it. And I’m a therapist.”

Mia glared.

“You know, from your brother’s perspective, you’d want to hit him, right?”

“I would want to hit my own brother, too.”

“Ha, really!”

Mark laughed loudly beside Mia, who was laughing in absurdity.

He already knew. That Christine’s feelings for Adele weren’t one-sided.

Last night, when Adele was on the verge of death, all she kept calling out was ‘Chris...’

But he didn’t really want to tell Christine.

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