Chapter 26
**Line 1:** CHAPTER_TITLE: The Jealous Fiancé's Heart
**Line 2 onwards:**
She had been worrying about his illness to the point of studying it as though it were her own. Yet she showed not the slightest concern for Noah Miller, herself. When he was fine or not didn't matter to Adeline. Noah's forehead grew hot.
“Besides, does it bother you?”
The corner of his lips twisted.
“How could it?”
The woman who used to cling to him like a leech was now keeping her distance. Noah was shaken by the change.
He didn't even realize it was heading in the direction he had originally wanted.
***
Noah's patience had finally run out. Though his personality wasn't one for strong endurance, he also wasn't the type to cling to someone who avoided him and cause him trouble.
Yet here came another exception.
Adeline.
That woman deliberately avoiding him was incredibly irritating. He felt like letting go out of frustration, but Adeline wasn't the sort who could be set free. No. In truth, he didn't want to let her go at all.
“For anyone else's sake… damn it….”
His pride was already cracked. Because of Adeline, Noah had been acting like a fool. He couldn't even count how many times.
Because of Adeline, he had started a scam.
Because of Adeline, he had gotten aroused countless times.
Because of Adeline, he had even tried desserts he had never liked before.
And damn it, he was still chasing after Adeline, who avoided him.
He needed to know the reason.
Last time she had fled after he kissed her. So what now?
No matter how he racked his brains inside the room, he couldn't figure it out. The woman Adeline was hiding behind a veil, Noah had resolved to rip that veil off himself.
Anyway, for that reason, Noah was following Adeline in a hat with his collar standing up high and a tight coat.
“Just look, miss.”
Adeline, who had been walking around looking around, got caught by the stall owner. The merchant who had piled up the woman's goods on the display was smiling with a good-natured smile and tugging Adeline's wrist.
“Ah, it's fine….”
“Oh, just looking doesn't cost anything. Just watch, don't refuse.”
Surprised because she hadn't expected someone to grab her, Adeline relaxed her guard when she realized the other person was a woman. She smiled and waved her hand to refuse politely, but there was no way to the merchant who dealt with countless people.
“Then I'll just look a little.”
Finally unable to refuse, Adeline stared at the stall. Noah let out a hollow laugh.
“How did she manage to live so long with that kind of guts?”
Shocked by Adeline's daring lifestyle without a single servant, Noah was now curious. She was being toyed with like a fool, and it was a miracle she was still alive. A naive woman who had her guts and liver and all other organs stolen.
“Pretty….”
Noah, glaring at Adeline through narrowed eyes, lowered his gaze to the stall at that sound. A smile was on Adeline's lips as she fiddled with the cubic hair pin.
A cheap hair pin being pretty?
“Try it.”
The merchant seemed to have hit the jackpot, and he even stuck the hair pin into Adeline's hair himself. When she frowned in annoyance, she quickly turned her head this way and that while looking in the mirror.
When she turned her head toward Noah's side, he clenched his fist without realizing it. It wasn't because she was looking at him. Adeline had simply tilted her head toward Noah's direction while distracted by her reflection in the mirror.
Startled, Noah's fingers twitched.
Adeline had the cheap hair pin stuck in, but she looked nothing like her usual self.
For a moment it felt as though only Adeline was bathed in light. Even though it was a crowded street, at that moment, everything except Adeline was invisible.
One by one they disappeared, and in that strange state where only she remained, Noah couldn't even blink once.
What is this feeling?
The feeling of his head turning white was something he had never experienced before.
“How much?”
Adeline's face fell with disappointment at the price.
“Ah. Next time. I'll come buy it next time.”
Adeline hastily set down the hair pin and rushed away from the spot. The merchant, who had called an expensive price for bargaining, followed in surprise but couldn't catch her. Noah, chasing after the busy retreating Adeline, suddenly looked down at the stall she had been staring at.
At the moment his hand reached for the cubic hair pin Adeline had touched—
“……!”
A woman's hand suddenly shot out and snatched it. Almost simultaneously. Noah raised his eyebrows and looked beside him. The slightly irritable face relaxed slightly when it met a familiar face.
“Celia.”
“It's Noah, right?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I came shopping!”
Celia gestured at the servants who had closely followed her. She was carrying a full shopping bag today too, as if she had bought a lot. Not particularly surprising, so Noah nodded roughly.
“Yeah. Then you won't mind me holding it?”
Noah couldn't think of acting gently toward Celia. That was a habit ingrained in his body, but the thought that he might lose Adeline made him strangely uneasy. He had no time to think about anyone else.
“I was going to buy this too.”
“I picked it up first.”
“Why are you a woman’s hair pin? Are you giving it to someone?”
Noah glanced back at the path Adeline had taken. Her head still seemed visible far away. For now, he could still catch up if he chased after her.
Therefore, Noah had no time or leeway to argue with Celia.
“There’s someone I’d give it to. You buy something else.”
Noah roughly took out some money, and in that moment, Celia snatched the hair pin away. Noah's forehead wrinkled in annoyance.
“I don’t like it. I want to buy it. That’s why I’m more curious now?”
“Aren’t cheap things not your taste?”
“You don’t like them either, right?”
Noah regretted for the first time having a regular partner. Celia knew too much. That had made things easy, but now it was annoying.
He roughly scanned the stall and picked up a purple hair pin. Without looking at the shape, he paid the price.
Noah grabbed Celia’s wrist, which was glaring at him sullenly, and pulled it toward him. He brushed her hair behind her ear with his free hand, which was unskilled, and skillfully swapped the purple hair pin for the cubic one.
“This suits you.”
His voice came out roughly gentle, and Celia’s lips curved up in a crooked smile as if her heart had been soothed.
Noah, who had obtained what he wanted, paid for the cubic hair pin roughly and rushed away hurriedly.
“Noah! Are you coming to the party later?”
“Take care, Celia.”
“Come today! Why are you acting so expensive lately!”
Celia shouted in protest, but Noah just waved his hand roughly and pushed through the crowd.
Adeline. Adeline.
Noah was wandering around like a madman. His mind was only filled with one thought: he had to find Adeline.
The worry began when she disappeared from his sight. Wasn't that naive girl not refusing men who grabbed her wrist and following them? Wasn't she being harassed by some low-class bastards?
“At least cover that half-baked face!”
Noah ran as if insane. He had run until his lungs were tearing, and he stopped by kneeling on one knee.
He had lost Adeline.
Noah finally admitted the fact after a long time.
Exhaling heavy breaths, he unconsciously looked beside him. His own figure reflected in the flower shop's glass window was ridiculous. His hand clenched tightly around the hair pin, his head messy with his hat long gone. He who enjoyed exercise had been running until his lungs were about to burst while searching for just one Adeline, but Noah's expression changed as he faced himself.
The most surprising thing was that seeing the hair pin brought to mind the moment Adeline had stuck it in, and the corners of his mouth had lifted as he thought about it.
His heart thudded. It sank heavily like a rock.
At this rate, at this rate, this was a warning ringing in his ears.
***
“You’re dressed up today? I thought you were going out somewhere… Are you perhaps going out?”
Albert, who had come to report for work, narrowed his eyes at Noah spraying perfume. Recently, he had been skipping parties and gatherings while pretending to be ill, but today was different.
“Just going to the usual place. Whatever.”
Noah said it casually, but he seemed angry somewhere. His rigid cheeks didn't seem to relax, and his brows were deeply furrowed. What's going on? Albert looked at Noah adjusting his watch with curiosity.
“Has the play ended?”
Noah's hand that was adjusting the watch strap stopped for a moment.
But just briefly. As if nothing had happened, Noah neatly arranged his attire and shook his head shortly.
“That’s not it.”
“Not it?!?”
Albert, who had been thinking things were getting easier, was taken aback.
“Wait, then does Lady Bilvert know you’re going out today?”