Chapter 152: Getting Bullied by a Girl Half His Size

Adeline’s POV~

"Well, you are the crybaby," he said casually.

"Excuse me?!"

"I’m just stating the plain facts of what I witnessed with my own eyes," he shrugged, shoving his hand right back into his jacket pocket with a smug look.

"One minute, this tough, fearless girl is looking at me, telling me she doesn’t care about anything in this world and was demanding answers from me seriously. The next minute, she is completely soaking the shoulder of my jacket with her tears."

"You literally forced me to cry!" I yelled softy. "You stood there on the bridge and said all those heartbreaking things directly to my face! What was I supposed to do, just stand there like a stone statue?!"

"Maybe you should have been strong and held it in," he teased smoothly, a dangerous glint in his dark eyes.

"Oh yeah?!" I countered back, glaring up into his face. "Maybe you should have held it in!"

"I did hold it in," Adrian said smoothly, not backing down an inch. He leaned down slightly, his voice dropping into that deep, velvet register.

"Every single drop of moisture that left my body was purely from the violent bug attack, Adeline. I am a victim here. Meanwhile, you were practically drowning my jacket."

"You are unbelievable!" I gasped, a mixture of disbelief and sheer amusement bubbling back up in my chest.

"A victim?! You literally analyzed my entire soul, called me out on hiding in my hoodie, broke down my emotional walls like a wrecking ball, and now you’re claiming a bug attacked you?!"

"I’m a man of facts," he murmured, his dark eyes sparkling under the faint moonlight.

The heavy, suffocating tension that had gripped us earlier had completely transformed into this electric, banter-filled air.

"And the fact is, your nose is red, your eyes are puffy, and you’re still holding onto my sleeve like you’re afraid I’m going to vanish into thin air."

I blinked, suddenly realising my hand was clutching the fabric of his jacket sleeve. I don’t know for how long or when I started holding his jacket sleeve.

I yanked my hand back as if I’d just touched hot iron.

"I was not holding onto you," I lied through my teeth, looking away toward the river.

"Right. And I wasn’t crying," Adrian replied instantly, his tone dripping with playful satisfaction.

"Shut up."

I whipped my head back around to glare at him, but the smug, effortless charm radiating off him made it impossible to stay mad.

"I should probably alert everyone that you are getting so violent," he said with a teasing smile on his lips.

"And I will tell Kai you cry in public places," I countered back without missing a beat.

"I do not cry in public places!"

"Then why did you cry in this public place?"

"Seriously? Oh, Goddess help me," Adrian muttered under his breath, tilting his head back to stare up at the pale moon as if begging the universe for some strength.

"I swear to you, I had a completely solid plan when I stepped out of the shadows tonight. I came out here with the full intention of being solemn, quiet, and deeply mysterious. I was going to stand in the dark, act like a cold courtier, and speak only in grand, tragic sentences that would make you think I was some unshakeable force. And now look at me, I am literally walking down a freezing road, getting mercilessly interrogated and bullied by a girl who is barely half my physical size."

"I am not half your size, Adrian!" I snapped right back at him, my voice rising in pure outrage as I took a long, fast step to stay right alongside him, glaring up at his sharp side profile with all the irritation I could muster.

"Why do you keep exaggerating everything to make yourself sound like some giant victim? I am a completely normal height, and you are just being dramatic because you have nothing better to say!"

"Adeline, you barely even come up to my shoulder," he said smoothly, keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead on the dark road, though a faint, maddening trace of amusement twitched at the very corner of his mouth.

"If a strong gust of wind came through these trees right now, I would probably have to grab you by your oversized t-shirt just to keep you from blowing entirely away into the forest."

"I come up to your chin... actually your face, you crybaby!" I yelled softly, stepping right in front of his path.

"Barely," he murmured softly.

"You are still reaching, Adeline. You are practically standing on your tiptoes right now just to prove a point to a man who could easily lift you with one hand."

Before my brain could even process the ridiculousness of his words, my body acted completely on pure, unfiltered instinct.

I swung my leg out and kicked him right against his ankle, not hard enough to actually hurt an alpha, but definitely hard enough to make a loud, solid thud against his heavy leather boot.

Adrian instantly let out a sharp, dramatic hiss of pain, hopping backward on one foot like I had just struck him with a blade.

He stumbled once, regaining his balance on the gravel, and then snapped his head up to glare down at me with his eyes wide in absolute, genuine shock.

"Did you... did you seriously just kick me?!" he whispered, his voice dropping into a dangerous, disbelief-filled rasp, but he couldn’t hide that small tug on his lips.

"Are you completely out of your mind? Do you even realize what you just did? You just physically assaulted an Alpha! A high-ranking royal courtier! People have been executed for doing far less to men of my status!"

"I didn’t kick an Alpha, Adrian," I hissed right back.

"I kicked a giant, lying, dramatic crybaby who is still refusing to admit that he broke down and cried right against my hair five minutes ago!"

"Don’t you dare call me that name ever again!" he muttered under his breath. I let out a soft chuckle.

The mystery of my mother was still there, lurking in the shadows, and the royal guards were still watching our every breath from the dark trees... but standing here with him, the fear wasn’t completely drowning me anymore.