Chapter 306: v4 - 7: Adrian’s choice I

Chapter 306: v4 Chapter 7: Adrian’s choice I

By the time the council meeting ended, lunch had already been served in Adrian’s private office.

He entered alone.

The room was quiet after the long morning.

Adrian removed his gloves and placed them on the desk before taking his seat.

For a moment, he thought of nothing but the meal before him.

Then his thoughts returned to the council.

The succession.

The heir.

It was not the first time the matter had been raised.

It would not be the last.

Adrian had expected it.

Nearly four years of marriage was enough for the court to begin wondering when the Imperial nursery would finally have a child.

His gaze drifted toward the window.

Four years.

It was strange to think that much time had already passed.

For most of his life, Marian had been a constant presence.

Eighteen years.

They had grown up together.

Been engaged for most of that time.

Loved each other long before either of them had fully understood what that meant.

There had never been any question, in Adrian’s mind, that Marian would eventually become his wife.

Until Cassian.

For a little over three years, everything had changed.

Marian had chosen another man.

Then she had lost him.

And Adrian had made certain that, when Marian was finally ready to return to the capital, the path back to him was easier than any other.

He had never forced her to choose.

That distinction mattered to him.

Marian had still made the choice herself.

She had still come to him.

She had still agreed to become his wife.

But Adrian knew better than anyone that the circumstances surrounding that choice had not happened by accident.

He had created them.

He had removed the obstacle between them.

He had made Valmont’s circumstances increasingly difficult.

He had known that, eventually, Marian would have to consider what kind of future she wanted.

And when she finally returned, Adrian had been there.

Waiting.

Not openly.

Never desperately.

He had simply made certain that when Marian looked at her choices, he was the most practical one.

The safest one.

The most obvious one.

And she had chosen him.

That should have been enough.

Perhaps, for any other man, it would have been.

But Adrian had wanted more than her decision.

He had wanted certainty.

He had wanted to know that Marian had chosen him.

Not the Emperor.

Not the crown.

Not the security he could provide.

Him.

That was why he had tested her.

Even before they married, he had begun.

He had given her certainty.

Then taken it away.

Watched her reactions.

Pushed until he found the point at which she would no longer tolerate him.

And when she had finally walked away from him that night, Adrian had realized that he could not continue testing her indefinitely.

If he pushed too far, Marian would leave.

So he had changed his approach.

He married her.

And marriage gave him something he had not possessed before.

Time.

Time to watch her.

Time to learn her.

Time to see whether she would remain.

Four years later, Adrian had his answer.

Marian was wonderful.

More wonderful than he had expected.

She had settled into their marriage with an ease that still surprised him.

She was affectionate.

Attentive.

Warm.

She knew his habits.

His schedule.

His moods.

She knew when he wanted conversation and when he preferred silence.

She waited for him when he returned from court.

She sought him out when she wanted his company.

She remembered the smallest things.

Their marriage had become comfortable in a way Adrian had never anticipated.

He enjoyed the ordinary parts of it more than he cared to admit.

Quiet meals.

Evenings together.

Her presence in his rooms.

The simple knowledge that, once the affairs of the Empire were finished, he would return to her.

He loved their life.

He loved her.

And yet, some part of him had never stopped testing.

The women at court were the easiest means.

Adrian had no genuine interest in them.

He never had.

If he spoke to one longer than necessary, it was deliberate.

If he allowed his attention to linger, it was because he knew Marian was watching.

At first, she had reacted exactly as he expected.

She would grow quiet.

Her expression would change.

She would watch him from across the room.

Sometimes she would confront him afterward.

Sometimes she would be angry.

Sometimes she would cry.

And every time, Adrian received the same private reassurance.

She cared.

She wanted him.

She did not like the thought of another woman having his attention.

It was petty.

He knew that.

But he liked knowing it.

There was something satisfying about seeing the woman who had once chosen someone else become irritated by the possibility of losing him.

Perhaps it was childish.

Perhaps it was cruel.

Adrian had never claimed otherwise.

But over time, Marian learned him.

She began recognizing the pattern.

The unnecessary conversation.

The deliberate glance.

The woman Adrian knew she would notice.

And once she understood what he was doing, she stopped giving him the reaction he wanted.

That annoyed him more than it should have.

There were evenings when he would deliberately allow some young woman too much of his attention, only to glance across the room and find Marian completely uninterested.

She would continue her conversation.

Smile at someone else.

Reach for her glass.

Nothing.

Adrian would watch her.

Waiting.

Nothing.

It was infuriating.

Because he knew she knew.

She had learned his little habit.

And now, sometimes, she simply refused to indulge him.

Those were the moments Adrian found himself wanting to provoke her further.

Not because he wanted to hurt her.

Because he wanted her attention.

He wanted that small confirmation that she still cared enough to watch him.

Still cared enough to become jealous.

He knew how strange it was.

He knew that, by then, he had more than enough proof.

Marian loved him.

He saw it every day.

But knowing and feeling were not always the same thing.

And Adrian liked feeling it.

His thoughts returned to the succession.

The child.

Marian wanted one.

Adrian knew that.

He had known for years.

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Tbc