ICTIMP CH 05

Chapter 5. The Premature Death Flag Right from the Start (5)

That day, Adel admitted to himself that he was of no help to Anastasia.

‘Go back. And I hope you won’t come to see me anymore.’

At Anastasia’s request, Adel replied that he understood.

When they were young, Adel and Anastasia had not been particularly close.

However, since Duke Magnus and Count Sinclair often interacted with each other, their children naturally came to know one another as well.

Anastasia Sinclair was quiet and mature. Unlike other people, she never asked Adel for anything unreasonable—or even trivial things—and she never bombarded him with questions about his personal life. She was a woman of few words and had a personality that did not interfere in other people’s affairs. Adel felt comfortable whenever he was with her.

Then, one day, while they were attending a performance, Anastasia suddenly vomited blood.

She was suffering from an extremely rare illness, so rare that it did not even have a proper name. Her attending physician called it a ‘Nightmare.’

The confirmed symptoms were extreme physical weakness, dizziness, and vomiting blood. On one occasion, she had even shed tears of blood.

The count’s household was thrown into chaos. Everyone searched throughout the Empire for a cure, but there was woefully little information about the disease.

Anastasia stopped leaving her bedroom, and Adel regularly visited her to encourage her, telling her that she would get better soon.

At the time, he thought he was encouraging and comforting her, and cheering her on.

But he realized far too late that perhaps those words would have been better left unsaid.

However, when he saw Anastasia again only a few days later, she had changed. Adel had tried not to visit her, but his father, who was also her godfather, would not allow it.

When Anastasia vomited blood again, her family had all left the room, trusting the Magnus ducal family to take care of her.

Adel had no choice. He decided that no matter what Anastasia threw at him, he would simply endure it.

But Anastasia welcomed him with a bright smile.

‘So you’re Adel!’

It was the first time he had ever seen her smile like that. Adel was secretly amazed that Anastasia could smile so brightly. When she looked at him, she muttered, ‘You really are handsome.’

Sometimes she blatantly stared at him, and at other times she would hurriedly hide her flushed face between both hands. Adel could not understand why Anastasia kept grumbling about how it was always ‘someone else’s rice cake.’

In any case, Adel and Anastasia spent a pleasant time together.

Anastasia was lively, chatting innocently with the maids. In just a few days, the atmosphere in the count’s household had brightened considerably.

No one knew what had caused the change in her state of mind, but she ate well, talked a lot, and became much more expressive with her emotions. The maids seemed to become more cheerful along with her. Anastasia even playfully teased one of the maids in front of Adel.

On top of that, when it was time for Adel to leave, Anastasia stopped him and asked in a cautious voice,

‘You’ll come visit me again, right?’

Before he could even think about it, Adel nodded.

From then on, Adel visited Anastasia about once every two days.

She now enjoyed going outside. However, Anastasia had become extremely weak.

Worried that she might still dislike him, Adel secretly watched her from a distance, only to see that her steps were unsteady and that she became tired very quickly.

He simply could not take his eyes off her. Before he knew it, Adel had begun interfering in her affairs and nagging her.

As if that were not enough, he even accidentally committed the discourtesy of entering her bedroom.

Adel wondered if he had gone against proper etiquette, but Anastasia brushed it off as though it were nothing, and he was secretly relieved. Gradually, he became more confident around her.

It was only natural that Anastasia eventually exploded.

‘I’m fine! I said I’m fine, so why are you interfering? I’m going to die anyway, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it! If you understand, then just leave me alone and let me do whatever I want until I die!’

The words ‘If you want to go outside that badly, then let’s go together’ rose to the tip of Adel’s tongue. But Adel was always the center of attention, and he was the sort of person whose feet moved before he could think whenever he saw someone in need. Because of that, he had made Anastasia feel burdened.

Even after Anastasia became as cheerful as everyone else, she had never ‘invited’ him to accompany her.

‘You can just protect me if we go outside.’

When Anastasia finally said those words, Adel felt happy.

It was strange. Anastasia had merely changed her personality, yet she caught his attention far more than before, and he found himself worrying about her constantly.

Even when she became mischievous, Adel was not displeased. If anything, the problem was that he found spending time with her enjoyable.

She no longer held herself back. Anastasia was very clear about what she liked and disliked, and whenever Adel made a mistake, she would point it out sharply. She never let him repeat the same mistake.

He was deeply grateful for that. He sincerely appreciated her consideration and thoughtfulness.

Just as Anastasia had asked, Adel visited the count’s household whenever he had free time. Before long, even the maids had grown accustomed to his visits.

And today, Anastasia was dissatisfied with Adel once again.

“You’re annoying.”

“I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong again?”

Since it was undoubtedly his fault, Adel apologized first. Anastasia ignored him completely.

“Hmph!”

“Anastasia, please tell me if I have done something wrong. I will reflect on it and correct my mistake.”

At that, Anastasia’s expression became strange for a moment.

“Adel, whenever I see you, I keep wanting to tease you.”

“……I see.”

Not knowing how he was supposed to respond, Adel simply nodded.

Suddenly, Anastasia’s eyes sparkled.

“Let’s go dine and dash.”

“What does that mean?”

Adel genuinely had no idea what she meant. And he was shocked by his own ignorance.

Anastasia suddenly stood up and grabbed Adel.

“Come with me.”

She took Adel to the kitchen. The head chef was extremely busy moving around, so he did not notice the two of them arriving.

Anastasia pointed at an appetizing pie sitting on the table.

“It’s the chef’s special walnut pie. It looks incredibly delicious, doesn’t it?”

Adel readily nodded.

“It certainly looks like a lot of effort went into it.”

Even to Adel, who knew very little about desserts, the decoration looked remarkably elaborate.

The generously piled walnuts glistened with a golden hue, as though announcing that only the finest quality had been used, and gold dust had been sprinkled evenly over them.

Strawberries drenched in chocolate surrounded the edge of the pie. A rich, sweet aroma filled the air.

Anastasia spoke in a solemn voice.

“We’re going to steal this.”

Adel was shocked for the second time.

“What?”

Before he could stop her, Anastasia snatched up the walnut pie. Adel ended up hiding under the table with her without even realizing what he was doing.

A moment later, the chef shouted,

“Ah! Where did my walnut pie go?”

His acting was terribly obvious, but Adel had no idea.

“Oh, how could this happen! The dessert I put so much effort into making for the young lady has disappeared!”

Adel sensed that something was wrong.

“Anastasia, wouldn’t it be better to return it now? It was made for you anyway, so if you simply ask for it, the chef will surely be happy to give it to you.”

“No way.”

With that, Anastasia took a piece of pie and put it into her mouth. Her small lips moved as she chewed the delicious pie.

Adel developed a headache.

“Anastasia……”

“Boo-hoo-hoo, I can’t find my walnut pie no matter how hard I look!”

Adel was somehow persuaded by the chef’s performance, which sounded as though he were reading from a book.

“The chef seems very sad.”

Anastasia refused to give in. She finished the entire piece of pie and then sucked the cream from her fingers. Suddenly, Adel thought that Anastasia’s lips were very beautiful.

He felt as though he had seen something he shouldn’t have, so Adel hurriedly turned his gaze away. Anastasia paid no attention.

“Let’s leave him alone and go upstairs.”

Adel was bewildered.

“Why are you doing this? Anastasia, you’re a good person. You’ve never done anything that would hurt another person. I don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand why you think I’m a good person, Adel. You saw it yourself, didn’t you? I threw trash on the street and stole the walnut pie the chef worked so hard to make. I’m a bad person. And you’re my accomplice.”

The word ‘accomplice’ became deeply embedded in Adel’s mind.

Anastasia smiled sweetly.

“But I changed my mind because you persuaded me, Adel. I’m going to the chef.”

Something about it felt strangely unsettling, but Adel was relieved for the moment.

“That is the right decision.”

Anastasia walked out from under the table with the pie in her hands. Adel followed behind her.

“Hello, Luke. Were you looking for the walnut pie?”

“My lady!”

The young chef brightened at Anastasia’s appearance. Anastasia held the pie out to him.

“Here. I ate one piece, but I’ll return the rest. Actually, Adel suddenly disappeared, saying he was hungry, and then he stole the walnut pie.”

Anastasia was shameless beyond belief.

“Wait! This is a misunderstanding!”

Adel protested his innocence, but the chef stared at him with a dazed expression.

“No way……”

“Don’t believe him!”

Adel felt completely wronged.

Luke, the chef, and I had to pinch our thighs to keep from laughing as we watched the bewildered Adel.

Wasn’t Adel just ridiculously adorable?

I had been worried because the chef was such a terrible actor, but Adel hadn’t suspected a thing.

Apparently, he was simply shocked that he had suddenly become a walnut-pie thief.

I suppressed my emotions as best I could and called the chef.

“Luke, why don’t you bring some food for Adel? He’s been going around hungry.”

“I’ll bring it right away!”

Luke disappeared at lightning speed to fetch some food. He was obviously going to turn around and laugh excitedly the moment he was out of sight.

I pressed my lips tightly together. Even so, laughter kept escaping little by little.

Ah, this was driving me crazy. Adel was unbelievably innocent. He had clearly never been the victim of such a childish prank before.

Well, it made sense. He had always been mature.

People considered Adel the most ideal and perfect nobleman. And, well, they weren’t wrong.

Adel had never cried since he was young, never thrown a tantrum, and always handled his own affairs by himself.

Even his parents sometimes worried about how difficult it was to deal with a child who seemed to have no flaws whatsoever. Who would ever hold such a petty grudge against a superhuman like him and try to get revenge?

That was exactly what made it so much fun.

Whenever I was bored, I would eagerly come up with plans to tease Adel.

Adel narrowed his eyes.

“Are you really enjoying this that much?”

“Yes.”

I immediately nodded. Adel let out a sigh.

“I admit it. You are not a good person.”

“Oh my.”

“Even so, you’re still a good person to me.”

That was rather unexpected.

I stared at him with a bewildered expression.