Chapter 21

Their eyes didn't meet, but he could tell from her stiffly closed lips that she wouldn't back off.

When Ethan took the handkerchief, Adelina let out a deep sigh.

"I will take care of cleaning up the library."

It was difficult to speak with this man, but she still couldn't bring herself to hate him.

And because she knew that his hostility stemmed from what her mother had done, she didn't have the right to hate him.

"Please be careful from now on."

If they had met with different pasts, would this man have approached her differently?

Even though she knew it was impossible, she found her current situation to be so unbearable.

"I'll take my leave."

She didn't have the courage to continue looking at Ethan.

Turning around, Adelina ran to the library as if she were making an escape.

* * *

John swallowed his breath as he watched Ethan. The atmosphere felt heavy.

Usually, when Ethan was in these moods, the best thing to do was to leave him alone. However, John was here to give his report, so he couldn't avoid it.

"You said that things have changed after she returned from seeing Consort Min?"

"Yes, according to Elly, this is the case. However, at first, the Mistress never let anything show, so Elly didn't notice it at first. That's what I've heard."

Although she left because she claimed to hate the clan and her husband, Consort Min seemed to have some sort of lingering attachment to this place. 

She thought Ethan didn't know about it, but Ethan knew everything that took place within his house.

"It seems that my mother thinks that this place is still within the palm of her hand."

John crouched down even further at Ethan's cold words.

The Consort Min that Ethan knew would use her silver tongue to make Adelina's heart waver. Her elegant figure could melt the hearts of any person, and her soft expression as she approached you would usually win her opponents over and make them do whatever she wanted.

'She didn't give Consort Min what she wanted?'

If Adelina asked the Consort to help her return to the Crown Prince's side in exchange for information about the bamboo grove and Ethan, the Consort would have wholeheartedly granted her wish.

Although he felt uncomfortable and annoyed whenever he saw her face, Ethan couldn't help but feel that Adelina was a bit different from the other women he knew.

Although she had a difficult time withstanding Ethan's fierce aura, Adelina didn't avoid him. Instead, she approached him.

"How much have you progressed in preparing what I've asked?"

"Things are almost done on our end. However, Elly says she will need more time."

"I don't care who you use or how you use them. Tell her she mustn't miss a single thing."

Hearing the cold command, John couldn't stop his body from trembling.

After raising his collapsed clan and taking everything that had been snatched away by the Consort and the nobility back one by one, Ethan's personality grew harder and colder.

At times, John wished Ethan would pause and take a breath. But instead of resting, Ethan would merely charge forward.

Because of Ethan's efforts and sacrifice, he was able to come this far. However, John was worried. He felt that Ethan was racing precariously towards his goal, and that he would collapse at any moment. The anxiety almost brought him to his knees.

However, there was nothing John could do. He merely sighed in silence and continued to speak.

"And it looks like the Crown Prince's marriage has been postponed. It seems that they have discovered the corruption rooted in the Deputy Secretary General's family."

"Whether someone discovered it or it was merely time for the truth to be exposed… No one really knows."

"Excuse me?"

Although the Crown Prince was gaining supporters, the Deputy Secretary's family was under the Consort's realm of influence. All in all, the Deputy Secretary General had started out as a merchant and managed to make it this far.

Because his house was one that had gained power by going back and forth between Consort Min and the Emperor, it had definitely touched a nerve with the nobility. And yet the family disregarded this and the daughter had been chosen as the future Crown Princess. And this was all due to one reason.

They had the unspoken permission of the Emperor or the Consort.

And this permission had been shattered from one end.

"For now, give the people who are keeping an eye on this situation more money. Tell them we'll give them more based on the information they bring us, and they'll take care of the rest."

"Yes, sir."

Figuring out what family the future Crown Princess would come from was not an immediate problem that needed to be solved.

Either way, Ethan's foundation wasn't based on the government post that came with his achievements in war. His foundation was based on the soldiers under his command.

Because Gideon was a nation that favored scholars and civil servants over the military, the imperial forces were a lot weaker than those in other countries. Therefore, whenever the country was thrown into war, the Emperor would use the soldiers belonging to noble families to fight the foreign nations.

Thanks to all the time and capital Ethan had invested, Ethan's soldiers were one of the most powerful forces in Gideon.

Now that there wasn't a war to fight, Ethan planned on merely keeping an eye on the capital and focusing more of his attention on his soldiers.

"What did you do with the new weapons we brought with us?"

"We've placed them in the warehouse for now. Would you like to take a look?"

Ethan got up from his seat at John's words. As he began making his way to the door, he stopped and fixed his eyes on something outside the window. Ethan's eyes saw the entire scene unfolding outside.

"Master?"

"That woman seriously…!"

Ethan hurriedly went outside.

Wondering what made Ethan behave this way, John looked out the window.

"M-Mistress!"

Right now, it wasn't important why the woman who was supposed to be in the inner residence was over there.

The problem was that Adelina was currently climbing the tall wall with her long sleeves and skirts tied back. Below her, a group of servants had gathered as they murmured amongst themselves and tapped their feet.

Astonished, John ran out after Ethan.

After she got married, she came to live at the bamboo grove. A few months had passed, but her life did not change.

The servants' hostility grew worse by the day, and half of the clothes she had brought back with her after her wedding were now torn to shreds. 

She managed to survive by eating the food that Mona would prepare for her, but because she wasn't eating properly, Adelina found herself growing thinner every day.

Whether it was due to Ethan's order or because they didn't care for the library, no one said a word to her even though she began to make multiple trips to the library a day. 

Thanks to this, Adelina was able to take a stroll to the library whenever she felt suffocated in her residence. 

Like any other day, Adelina had been walking back to her residence from the library when something made her pause.

"Is something the matter?"

The murmuring people froze when they heard Adelina's voice.

"Mistress, that is…"

Adelina followed their gaze. What she saw made her widen her eyes.