I Died In His Arms Now I’ll Marry Another Chapter 05
I explained that I had only wandered into the maintenance passage by mistake and had done nothing to Adrian.
No one believed me.
Emilia was nearly hysterical.
“My brother is crying! When has he ever cried in front of anyone? What did you do to him?”
This Adrian didn’t know me.
How was I supposed to know why he was crying?
“Emilia, Laurel didn’t hurt me.”
Now back in his Royal Guard uniform, Adrian stepped out from a side entrance and reported to Queen Evelyn, “King Roland received an anonymous threat and ordered me to provide discreet protection in the garden. That passage is a surveillance blind spot, so I was stationed there. Laurel mistook me for an intruder, which led to the misunderstanding.”
He was covering for me.
That surprised me.
But Adrian still wore that same cool, distant expression, as if the man who had cried moments ago wasn’t him at all.
“Laurel.”
Queen Evelyn beckoned me over.
She looked at me, then at Adrian.
“What do you think of Stonebrook Pack’s heir?”
I paused.
“Adrian is an excellent man.”
Queen Evelyn smiled.
“Stonebrook Pack is responsible for the security corridor north of the capital, and your father has served the Royal Council for many years. If the Crown were to arrange a betrothal between the two of you, would you be willing?”
Instinctively, I glanced at Adrian.
His expression remained calm, but he showed none of the outright rejection I had seen in my past life.
I quickly looked away.
“Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. But Adrian deserves someone who truly suits him. I am not that person.”
It took me a long time to persuade Queen Evelyn to drop the idea of matching us on the spot.
My father might serve on the Royal Council, but I had no territory and no political value. And Queen Evelyn had never favored me the way she did Emilia.
Why had she suddenly brought it up?
I was still pondering this as I walked down the castle’s glass corridor.
Suddenly, a hand closed around my wrist.
I turned and saw Adrian, who should have already left.
He looked down at me, long lashes casting shadows beneath his eyes.
I thought he was going to question me about what had happened in the garden.
Instead, he asked, “Why won’t you marry me?”
Everything about today was strange.
Adrian was always restrained and proper. Grabbing an unmarried woman in a corridor full of cameras and guests was not something he would ever do.
I said softly, “Adrian, we don’t know each other.”
His lips pressed into a thin line, and then he slowly let go.
“I’m sorry. I overstepped.”
He stepped back, turned, and walked away.
Sunlight streamed through the glass dome above, falling across his straight-backed silhouette.
Adrian had been born into Stonebrook Pack and raised from childhood as its Alpha heir. He’d excelled at the Royal Academy, served in the northern garrison, and was now a Royal Guard investigator trusted by King Roland himself.
In my last life, if it weren’t for me, he would have married someone he truly loved and inherited Stonebrook Pack in peace.
In this life, I would set everything right.
Love, resentment, debt—it all ended here.