A Promise Too Far のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

The bedroom door opened, and Adelaide Knight strode in. She was still wearing the black-and-silver armor she'd had on yesterday, with several dark red bloodstains on one sleeve.My blood.She walked over and pressed a small paper bag into my hands."Here's your favorite candy. I went back to Miller's Sweets in Southridge and got you some more." Her voice was gentle, the same way she always coaxed me whenever I had to take bitter medicine.I lowered my eyes to the bag of candy in my hands. It was still warm from her touch, the paper slightly crumpled."Why aren't you eating it?" She reached out and ruffled my hair affectionately."Fabian drank your blood, and he looks so much better today. The doctor said he just needs a few more days of rest before he'll be able to get out of bed and walk." Her eyes lit up as she spoke, relief and happiness shining in them.I blinked slowly and looked up at her. "Adelaide."She froze. I normally called her Addie in that foolish, childish way of

Moving into the guest wing was my idea.At first, Adelaide refused. "The guest wing barely gets any sunlight. Your body can't handle the cold. How are you supposed to live there?"She sat behind the desk in her study, reading through military reports without even looking up.I stood across from her, my voice calm. "The main house is too noisy. I want somewhere quiet."It really was noisy. Ever since Fabian moved in, doctors and servants carrying medicine had been coming and going every day.Adelaide had even moved her study into the room next to his.At last, she looked up from the report and glanced at me. "Fine. Once Fabian has fully recovered, you can move back."She thought this was some petty attempt to compete for her attention.I didn't explain, turning to go back to my room to pack. There wasn't much to take anyway. I left behind all the expensive clothes and belongings she'd given me over the years. All I brought were two sets of plain clothes and the bag filled with t

By the time Adelaide returned to the guest wing with the empty bowl, evening had already fallen.Fabian had drunk the blood and fallen into a deep sleep. The doctor said the poison was finally gone from his system.Adelaide was in such a good mood that she even went to the kitchen herself and brought back a bowl of soup."Reed, wake up. I brought you something to eat."She pushed open the door. The room was dark."Still asleep?"She set the bowl on the table and lit a lamp.The dim light pushed back the darkness to reveal that the bed was empty. The blankets had been neatly folded, without a trace of warmth left in them.Adelaide frowned. "Reed?"She checked the closet. Empty.She looked behind the room divider. Nothing."Where did that little fool hide this time?" she muttered under her breath.Whenever I'd upset her or gotten my feelings hurt in the past, I'd hide somewhere on the estate: in the hayloft, behind the garden shed, or tucked away in some corner of the kitchen

Her eyes were red. "No one is taking Reed's place!"She left all her military duties to her second-in-command and traveled to the Blackthorn Frontier alone, convinced I was still alive.After all, this was where I'd come from, and medicinal herbs that could suppress the toxins in my body grew here."Reed..."Adelaide braced herself on her sword and dropped to one knee in the mud, gasping for breath. Her vision was beginning to blur. The toxins in the air had already entered her bloodstream.Just as she was about to collapse, the faint scent of medicinal herbs drifted toward her. Her head snapped up.Not far away stood a small cottage enclosed by a wooden fence.In the yard, a young man in a pale shirt sat with his back to her in a wheelchair, spreading medicinal herbs out on trays to dry.That slender figure… that profile…Adelaide's heart clenched so violently it seemed to stop."Reed!"Somehow, she found the strength to stand. She stumbled through the fence and rushed towa

I didn't pull away. I let her filthy, bloodstained hands close tightly around mine."Adelaide." I looked at her, my voice quiet. "Do you remember what you said when you first brought me home?"Adelaide froze.Of course she remembered. It had been winter five years ago when she'd pulled me, barely alive, from a pile of corpses.She'd carried me back to her estate, pointed to the courtyard filled with camellias, and said, "Reed, this is your home now. As long as I'm here, no one will ever hurt you."Tears spilled from Adelaide's eyes again, landing hot against the back of my hand."I remember... I remember everything..." She cried like a helpless child."If you remember..." I slowly pulled my hand from hers. "Then why were you the one who ended up hurting me the most?"Adelaide shuddered as if she'd been plunged into ice.It was true.Who had allowed the servants to dig up his camellia tree?Who had taken the stone that kept the cold poison under control and given it to anothe