The memory ended, like a door slamming shut in his mind. Adam sat there for a moment, stunned, barely able to breathe.
Then, he slowly moved toward her.
Crystal sat stiffly on the cushioned chair, her head low, fists trembling atop her knees. Her silver twin-tails, usually so lively, hung limp at her sides. She looked like she was about to cry but was too stubborn, too proud, to let it happen in front of him.
Without thinking, Adam lowered himself down beside her.
He turned slightly, facing her fully, and met her shimmering, furious eyes. "I'm sorry," he said simply, voice raw with sincerity.
Crystal scoffed immediately, snapping her head away, as if to shield herself from the weight of his words.
But he didn't stop.
"I'm sorry," he repeated, softer this time.
And just like that, the dam burst.
"You...!" Crystal jerked up, her voice cracking as she finally poured out the feelings she'd locked away for years. "You bastard! You absolute idiot! Do you even know what you did to me?!"
Adam sat there, unmoving, letting her speak.
"I was the one who stood up for you! When everyone gave up—Mother, Father, even Laylee—I was the only one who said you'd come back to us! That you were just confused, that you needed time!"
Tears welled up in her furious eyes, but she blinked them back, her face twisted in a raw, painful snarl.
"And I... I..." She clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white. "I confessed to you, you know?! Even though we're half-siblings, even though I knew it was stupid, I confessed because I loved you! And you—!"
Her voice broke, but she forced the words out like blades.
"You laughed. You looked me in the eye and said..." She sucked in a breath, trembling, the memory still fresh as blood. "'Why would I have feelings for a useless woman like you?'"
Adam felt like he was punched in the gut.
He remembered it now.
Clearer than day.
Not from his own mouth, but the mouth of the cursed Adam Blake, twisted and venomous under the curse of Lethargy. And yet... it was still his mouth.
Still his voice.
He stood up slowly, without a word.
And before Crystal could flinch away, he drove his fist straight into his own cheek.
THUD!
The sharp crack echoed in the room.
Crystal's breath caught in her throat, her eyes wide.
". . ."
". . ."
Adam staggered a little—then punched himself again, even harder, bruising his jawline in angry, punishing arcs.
THUD!
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Crystal finally cried, lunging forward, grabbing his wrist with both hands to stop him from landing another blow. "Have you gone mad, Adam?!"
Adam paused.
Then, through the swelling on his cheek, he smiled at her. A warm, stupid, earnest smile that made her stomach twist painfully.
"Finally..." he murmured, gently pulling his wrist free, "you called me by my name, Crystal."
She froze, her cheeks burning crimson as she released him with a startled jerk. Adam just chuckled quietly.
Then, still smiling wryly, he began listing it off. "All the stupid things I've done... insulting you, Laylee, the servants... letting myself rot like a pig... wasting everyone's hopes..." His voice softened, trembling. "No excuse, even if there were reasons. No justification. Not even the curse I won't speak of should be an excuse."
He took a deep breath.
And then, in a move that made Crystal's heart leap into her throat, Adam dropped to one knee in front of her.
The posture of a supplicant. Of a man humbling himself before a woman.
Slowly, gently, he reached out and took her trembling hands into his own.
His palms were warm, soft despite the weeks of training and hardship.
And then, he lifted her hands to his lips—and pressed a tender kiss against her knuckles.
"I'm sorry, Crystal," he said, his voice like a caress. "Please forgive your foolish little brother."
Crystal's world tilted.
Her mouth opened to shout at him—to call him an idiot, a fool, a piggy, anything—but no words came out. Only a tiny, breathless squeak as her cheeks turned a dangerous shade of scarlet.
Her twin-tails whipped about madly, like drills gone haywire, as she stumbled backward in pure panic, her brain short-circuiting under the weight of a thousand unfamiliar emotions.
"Y-You... you stupid piggy—!!"
She couldn't even finish the insult.
With a strangled shriek, she spun on her heel and bolted out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her hard enough to rattle the walls.
Adam sat there, blinking after her.
Then he leaned back on his hands and let out a long, long sigh.
"...Well," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head, a small smile tugging at his lips. "That went better than expected."
At least... some of his words had gotten through.
+
Crystal practically bulldozed through the corridor, completely ignoring Laylee, who raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to ask something—only to be left blinking as Crystal stormed past, face redder than a boiled lobster.
Crystal barely managed to reach the sanctuary of her room before she collapsed back against the door, panting heavily.
Her heart thudded wildly against her ribs.
She stared at herself in the mirror on the far wall—at the flushed, wide-eyed girl who barely looked like the cold genius she was supposed to be.
"You stupid... little..." she muttered, struggling to breathe, "piggy...?"
No. She couldn't even call him that anymore.
Not with those wide, earnest eyes burned into her memory. Not with the lingering heat of his lips pressed against her hands.
Not with that body—curvy, lean, and dangerously beautiful—flashing in her mind.
Her cheeks flared hotter as a low, frustrated whine escaped her throat.
Her fingers twitched at her sides.
Before she even realized it, her hand wandered lower... trembling, hesitant.
That night, the prodigious twin-tailed genius of the Blake family did not get much sleep.Not much at all.