the Villainess they took for granted

Adrian saw Marian leave.

He watched her cross the ballroom without once looking back.

For a moment, he remained where he was.

Lady Ophelia was still beside him, saying something he barely heard.

His attention had already left the dance.

It had followed Marian.

He had expected her to stay.

Perhaps he had expected her to watch.

Perhaps he had wanted her to feel a little of what he had felt when he saw her smiling at Julian.

He had not expected her to leave.

The music continued around him.

Adrian’s expression remained composed.

But something unsettled him.

He had wanted to see whether she would come to him.

Instead, she had walked away.

Perhaps she had been hurt.

The thought came reluctantly.

He knew she had.

He had seen the change in her face.

And yet he had still done it.

Adrian released a quiet breath.

”Thank you, Lady Rosemont.”

Ophelia looked at him, perhaps surprised by how abruptly the conversation had ended.

”Of course, Your Majesty.”

Adrian gave her a polite nod and stepped away.

He returned to his seat near the imperial dais.

His aide approached almost immediately.

Adrian glanced toward the ballroom doors.

”Find Lady Valmont.”

The aide bowed.

”Yes, Your Majesty.”

”She may already be leaving.”

”I’ll find her.”

Adrian paused.

Then added,

”Tell her I wish to speak with her.”

He paused.

”I will meet her in the palace garden.”

The aide bowed again and hurried away.

Adrian remained seated.

His fingers rested against the arm of his chair.

He told himself he simply wanted to understand why she had left.

That was reasonable enough.

He had seen her face before she walked away.

He knew she had been hurt.

Perhaps he had pushed too far.

Perhaps he had misunderstood what she expected from him.

He wanted to know.

At least, that was what he told himself.

But beneath that explanation was something less rational.

He did not like the thought of Marian leaving while he remained behind.

He did not like that she had walked away from him.

And he wanted her back in front of him.

--

Marian had almost reached the palace entrance when she heard hurried footsteps behind her.

”Lady Valmont.”

She turned.

Adrian’s aide approached, slightly out of breath.

”His Majesty wishes to speak with you.”

Marian glanced toward the waiting carriage.

For a moment, she considered refusing.

She was tired.

She had spent the entire evening trying to keep her expression composed while people whispered around her, and she had no desire to return to the palace simply because Adrian had decided he wanted to speak with her now.

But perhaps she should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Perhaps there was something he wanted to explain.

”Where?”

”The palace garden.”

Marian hesitated.

Then nodded.

”Very well.”

The aide bowed and withdrew.

Marian remained beside her carriage for another moment.

The night air was cool against her skin.

She closed her eyes briefly.

She didn’t know what Adrian wanted.

But she knew she wanted answers.

Perhaps that was why she turned away from the carriage.

--

Marian reached the palace garden a few minutes later.

The night air was cooler than inside the ballroom, but not cold. The warmth of the day still lingered faintly in the stone paths, while the evening breeze moved gently through the trees.

She knew this garden well.

She had walked these paths countless times when she was younger, sometimes alone, most of the time with Adrian.

Her steps slowed as she recognized the small pavilion farther ahead.

It stood at the end of one of the quieter paths, its pale stone columns supporting a curved roof, with benches built along the interior.

They had spent countless afternoons there once.

Talking.

Reading.

Sometimes doing nothing at all.

The memory came and went before she could hold on to it.

Marian continued toward the pavilion.

Adrian was already there.

He was standing beneath the roof, one hand resting against the stone railing.

He wasn’t sitting.

He looked as though he had been waiting.

Marian stopped a few steps away.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The ballroom felt very far away.

There were no musicians here.

No courtiers.

No whispering voices.

Only the faint rustle of leaves and the distant sound of water from the fountain.

Marian drew a slow breath.

Whatever Adrian wanted to say, there would be no audience for it here.

And somehow, that made her more nervous rather than less.

”What do you want?”

Adrian looked at her.

For a moment, he said nothing.

His gaze moved over her face, taking in the careful composure she had managed to rebuild after leaving the ballroom.

She looked calmer now.

But he could still see it.

The faint tension around her eyes.

The way she held herself a little too rigidly.

He had seen that expression before.

Not often.

Marian had always been good at maintaining her composure.

But he had known her too long to mistake it for indifference.

”You left.”

The words were quiet.

Marian’s brows drew together.

”Yes.”

”You didn’t say anything.”

”What was I supposed to say?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

Marian looked away.

”I didn’t want to make a scene.”

”You thought I was making one?”

”I thought everyone else was.”

That silenced him.

Marian folded her hands in front of herself.

”They were already talking.”

”I know.”

”And you knew.”

”Yes.”

”Then why did you do it?”

Adrian’s gaze sharpened.

”Do what?”

She looked at him.

”Dance with her.”

There was no need to say Ophelia’s name.

He knew exactly who she meant.

”You knew what they were already saying about me.”

Adrian’s expression remained still.

”You knew they were watching me.”

”You knew what they would say if they saw you dancing with Lady Rosemont.”

His gaze remained on hers.

Marian’s voice tightened.

”And you did it anyway.”

Marian’s voice was quieter now.

Adrian looked at her.

He could see the hurt in her face.

The faint tension around her eyes.

The way she was trying to hold herself together.

For a moment, something inside him pulled painfully.

He wanted to tell her that the dance had meant nothing.

That he hadn’t been thinking about Ophelia.

That he had only wanted to see what Marian would do.

He wanted to ease the hurt he had caused.

But the words wouldn’t come.

Perhaps because he was still angry.

He could still see Marian smiling at Julian.

He could still remember the sight of them together at the opening ball.

And he didn’t want to pretend that the feeling wasn’t there simply because Marian was hurt now.

So he remained silent.

Marian looked at him.

”Why?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

She took a small step backward.

”I came here because I thought you wanted me to come to you. I thought perhaps that was what you were waiting for.”

Her voice trembled slightly.

”But then I saw you with her, and I—”

She stopped.

Adrian’s eyes remained on her.

She was pulling away.

Not physically at first.

Something in her expression was changing.

The uncertainty.

The doubt.

The possibility that she was beginning to believe she had misunderstood him again.

He didn’t want that.

Not tonight.

Marian looked away.

”Perhaps I should have simply gone home.”

Adrian watched her for a moment.

Then something in him gave way.

He caught her arm and pulled her back toward him.

”Adrian—”

His hand settled at her waist.

Before she could finish, he kissed her.

--

Tbc