Chapter 90

Chapter 90

“No one will.”

With those words, he moved at an angle Adele couldn’t see and glared at the peeping maids behind her. The poor maids quickly shrank their necks in fear and their gazes were immediately glued to the ground.

“Nonsense!”

Adele added more strength to her hand and tried to push him away. Unsurprisingly, Noah didn’t move and instead unhesitatingly poured light kisses on her rouge-colored lips. Although Adele fussed quite a bit, she did not dislike his advances. In fact, she welcomed it.

Gradually, she let herself loose.

But as Noah’s hands wrapped around her waist and slowly descended to her hips, she turned her head away with a questioning glare. “Really? In broad daylight?!”

“Alright, alright.” Noah raised his hands in defeat and shrugged as if he did not do anything.

Adele was left speechless at his aggrieved appearance who looked like a bullied wife.

Their eyes met with each other and it struck a harmonious chord within them, with both of them bursting into a bout of laughter at the same time.

The maids forgot a certain warning and smiled widely as they marveled at the beautiful relationship of the couple.

Having returned to his bearings, Noah informed her of something.

“Oh, I have arranged for a pond is to be built on this site. It will be finished by the time I get back, with forget-me-nots planted around it.”

“…”

Did it have to only be planted with forget-me-nots?

He added some reminders for her, “You don’t have to be so reserved with me. Whether you like it or not, tell me honestly and I’ll have it amended to your liking. In any case, I have told the workers to be diligent and careful with their task.”

Adele smiled, “I’m sure it will be beautiful, and the flowers’ blooming season is almost here.”

In Astria, forget-me-nots bloom until autumn because of the magic found in the ground that inadvertently sustains them. Adele looked out the window and glanced at the vacant ground, thinking that a few days later, a beautiful scenery would unfold in this place.

Noah, on the other hand, looked at her side profile and spoke, “I have something to say.”

“Hm?”

He carefully opened his mouths, but in the end, no words came out. He chuckled, “I’ll tell you when I get back.”

Adele was about to press him for details when she saw the bitter expression on his face. She abruptly shut her mouth. He looked so empty and hollow. Then, she recalled he had the same expression when she made the flower ring in the mountains a while ago.

Thinking up to this point, Adele wondered if Noah had any meaningful or painful memories about this particular flower.

She simply nodded in acquiescence to his words, “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

Noah stroked her hair, gently placing a gentle kiss onto her forehead with his warm lips.

But somehow, Adele still felt uneasy somewhere in her heart.

***

‘I didn’t know you’d be this ill, countess.’

‘It’ll get better soon. There’s no need to worry, young lady.’

Recalling her conversation with the countess as she left the older woman’s castle, Adele’s face was full of concern. Countess Arsene with her character was the kind of person Adele wanted to get close to even if her mother-in-law was not primarily involved.

Seeing her mistress’s dark face, Lina didn’t know what to do. Looking out the window, however, she saw something and hurriedly blurted out some words.

“Ah, milady! Ellie is there!”

“Hm?”

At Lina’s reaction, Adele turned her head and saw that outside the window, on the street, there were men moving a coffin and Ellie was standing still.

“Now that I remember, Ellie did ask to be excused today. Thanks to that, me and the other maids put off our holidays and had to go back to work!”

Adele frowned at Lina’s furious tone and felt that this maid needed a bit of scolding.

Ellie was a sincere and meticulous child. She was not a person who intentionally causes harm to others. However, Adele was soon distracted from her thoughts by the peculiar feeling emanating from Ellie and she glanced at her.

The child was crouching on the ground. She was pushed aside by the men carrying the coffin and fell quite hard.

Seeing this, she hurriedly ordered the coachman to stop the carriage. As she got off the carriage, Adele hastily approached her and helped Ellie to stand up. The young maid was currently holding back her tears.

“Ellie.”

“Milady?”

Ellie, who had always maintained her tidy appearance, now had unkempt hair and disheveled clothing. Adele beckoned Lina to come closer as she saw blood running down her knee. Lina quickly pulled out a clean cloth and wiped them off.

“What happened?”

“Ah, that is…” Ellie successfully stifled her sobs, “It took me a while, but I have found the person who sent my father the bottle of wine as you have ordered.”

Adele looked around. There was a gambling house and a brothel just one block away.

This little maid was wandering around such a dangerous place?

Adele admired her determination but felt that she was a little too naive. Perhaps, she could have asked for someone to assist her? Adele touched her head. “Be careful of dangerous places like these in the future. Don’t go wandering out on your own.”

Ellie nodded, “I’m sorry for causing you to worry. It’s just that, when I heard that the person who sent my father the bottle was in the gambling house, I immediately ran towards this place.”

“It’s alright, you may stop searching for him. It… doesn’t matter anymore.” Adele stared at the ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.

She let out a sigh.

Now, the only important person to her, aside from her blood-family, is Noah. She felt sorry to Enon, but then again… he himself made the request to Noah. He will look down on her from heaven and nod to himself that everything is going according to his wishes.

Engulfed in her thoughts, Ellie spoke cautiously to Adele, “Erm… milady. I do not know how to tell you this, but the person who gave the wine has already died.”

“What? He’s dead?”