"Please help."
Whenever she asked him for help, Ethan's eyes went dark. She had never asked him for help in order to save herself.
Even when the letters to Cedric had appeared. Even when her body had frozen from the icy rain. Even when she had lost consciousness from the fever. Adelina never spoke about untangling the misunderstandings surrounding her. Instead, she asked for help on behalf of her father.
If he thought about it, they had gotten married because she wanted to save her family.
Was her family the only thing that she cared about? If she thought of him even a little bit, the first thing she would have done was defend her innocence.
"Handing confidential documents to a foreign nation is considered treason."
"My father would never do something like that."
"He associated himself with the duke as soon as he was reinstated. I stuck someone to him so that he'd be careful, but he never listened to my warnings."