320: The burden on Bastian's heart (part 2)

The burden on Bastian's heart (part 2)

"…Could you please start by explaining what this is?" she asked, holding the object that was passed to her and adopting a patient tone.1

He rolled his eyes but proceeded to take her hands, his features shifting slightly as he pressed both of their hands against the side of the spherical crystal.

"It will work once it heats up," he explained, his frown deepening. "But with your ice-cold hands, it might take a while."

She frowned back at him. "Apologies for not having the right body temperature."

It took a moment of both their hands over the crystal ball before it activated. When it did, Adela gasped in awe as a light in the shape of an upside-down pyramid emanated from the ball. Her amazement quickly turned to shock as the projection displayed the face of her despised enemy.

Aldric of Varinthia lay in the bed she had recently occupied, his chest bandaged, and his thigh marked with dried blood that appeared untouched. Her stomach churned as he began to speak.

"Bastian," Aldric's voice wheezed as he spoke. "Our plan failed; they found a way to retrieve my bird... My eyes and ears are covered. I'm reaching out to you to request information; you must help me, only you can. Only you understand what I'm going through."

Adela winced when Aldric chuckled weakly.

"Look at my leg! My feral bird left a mark on me! I specifically asked them not to use magic on it. Looks like I'll have a scar soon, just like you... Something else we have in common, brother."

Hearing the word 'brother' from Aldric's mouth drained the energy from Adela's arms; the only thing keeping the ball in place were Bastian's hands which squeezed hers tighter. It was unnecessary, for the recorded message had come to an end, and the pyramid was swallowed back by the ball which stopped glowing a moment later.

He released her hands, and the ball disappeared once more.

"Explain," he demanded.

Explain? Her eyes questioned his demand silently. Wasn't it Bastian who should be providing the explanations?

"Our plan…" Her eyes searched his eye for answers within his accusatory gaze. "When he said 'our' plan… Did he mean that you aided him?"

His eye narrowed, his expression unyielding. "No. By 'our,' he means your plan and his."

A renewed sense of shock coursed through her, so profound that it caused her head to spin. Strangely, being accused of running away with Aldric seemed like a preferable option to Bastian being an accomplice to her enemy, the one responsible for her uncle's murder and her kidnapping.

She had no doubt about it, the young King of Varinthia had thoroughly influenced Bastian's thoughts, poisoning his mind against her.

"...Aldric is the devil's incarnation. Isn't he?" She murmured.

"He is. But that's the kind of man that you're interested in, right?"

She closed her eyes, attempting to regain some semblance of composure. It appeared that Bastian was not a co-conspirator but rather a victim, trapped in Aldric's web of manipulation. Her husband's brother was thoroughly brainwashed, not merely under a spell. She couldn't underestimate Aldric's abilities in that regard.

She held her head up high when he glared down at her.

"Bastian, the only man I am interested in romantically is my husband. Egon is the sole focus of my affections. Nothing... No one can change that."

His expression shifted from surprise to confusion, and then it hardened into a mask of darkness, devoid of emotion.

"Is this your idea of brutal honesty? Are you going to deny it?"

She braced herself for the accusation she knew was coming. 

"Are you going to deny the affair you're having with Aldric of Varinthia?" He asked through clenched teeth.

Adela felt the searing words like venomous daggers, piercing her ears and lodging deep in her heart. For Bastian's accusations cut not only at her fidelity but also her honor as a member of the royal family of Emoria.

"What? Do you have nothing to say in response? Remember your own words earlier when you barged into my room?" His face contorted, his scar seemed to stretch further down. "Should I take your silence as a yes!"

Her eyes burned, but she took a deep breath and swallowed her emotions. She already had doubts about this; she should answer Bastian without involving her feminine sentiments and use only her rationality.

"My father instilled in me a fundamental principle. Those who trust you require no proof, and those who doubt you will never be convinced."

"What a cowardly approach to life."

Cowardly? Was he accusing the future Emorian king of cowardice?

When Adela met Bastian's piercing eye with a defiant glare, he rubbed a thumb across his lips and then smirked, but he wasn't fooling her. He seemed just as miserable as she was about all of it.

"Kolhis is rife with rumors about Emorian women, you know?"

"..."

"No? Well. I've grown up hearing how Eomrian women go along with their political marriages, appearing as innocent as lambs on the surface while engaging in lewd affairs behind their husband's backs."

Biting her tongue, she resisted the urge to slap the arrogance from his face and demand a series of apologies. Instead, she chose to use her words to hurt him equally.

"In Emoria, we only take accusations seriously if they're substantiated by evidence. Gossip is seen as petty, the pastime of the uninformed or those with too much time on their hands. It's for those who ought to find something productive to do rather than concocting baseless tales to be parroted by their ilk."

Bastian's bronze skin reddened as his fist struck his forehead just above his scar. The calmer she remained in the face of his provocations, the more he appeared to be provoked by her.

"You want proof? I'll give you a few! What was he doing in your room before the farewell ceremony?"

She opened her mouth, initially intending to defend herself against her father's advice she recited to Bastian earlier, but she quickly closed it when her brother-in-law's accusations began to fly in every direction.

"What about the miracle you performed to save his life? Huh? What about leaning against him like..." His face twisted in anguish. "What about burning down the house so you can run away with your diabolic lover? Doesn't all of that qualify as proof as well?"

"..."

Adela was relieved that he didn't give her a chance to defend herself. This was not why she had come into his room in the first place.

My objective here is done. Father needs to know all of this.

She wouldn't need a week to respond to her father. Bastian had been thoroughly brainwashed by Aldric of Varinthia, his mind poisoned, possibly beyond repair, against her.

"...I won't be able to continue this conversation with you, it seems," she said, turning away and preparing to leave the room. However, he caught her wrist and squeezed gently.

"Do you want to hear the worst part?"

She didn't, but she couldn't yank her hand away when his trembled so fiercely.

"The worst part is, I want it all to be true. I desire it more than anything I've ever wanted in my entire life, Adela."

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