MHHC Chapter 102

Vessel

Joy and affection overflowed unmistakably from his narrowed golden eyes. Their noses brushed lightly.

"That's a relief."

She lowered her head, face flushed bright red. Honestly, his personality was truly strange. To be so delighted about her addressing him informally...

Adelheid cautiously traced Valentin's face with her gaze in the bluish darkness of dawn.

Last night, she seemed to have dreamed briefly. But what that dream was, she'd already forgotten.

Valentin kissed briefly above her furrowed brows as she slowly traced her memory.

"What are you thinking about so hard?"

"The dream I had yesterday, it's bothering me a bit."

"A dream?"

He repeated as if finding it cute.

"It felt like a dream I should remember... If I remember, I'll tell you."

They spent time leisurely embracing each other until the sun rose completely. They didn't speak a single word about reality.

Before long, the footsteps of servants passing through the corridor could be heard. Adelheid fidgeted anxiously, covering her nakedness with the thin blanket.

"Now it's time to, um, I think we should get up..."

Perhaps someone might enter looking for him. When Adelheid whispered cautiously, Valentin kissed her forehead briefly.

He released Adelheid from his embrace and rose from the bed.

Adelheid watched him pick up his discarded clothing while clutching the sheet against her chest.

"..."

Each time Valentin moved, his back muscles rippled savagely. As she followed that movement vacantly, her breathing quickened slightly.

Last night, how far had that magnificent body driven her?

Watching sunlight flow across his solid shoulders and chest was pleasing.

Deepening shadows, revealing curves different from hers without concealment, ultimately recalling yesterday's sensuality.

Her fingertips unconsciously crumpled the sheet's edge slightly.

"..."

Only after Valentin dressed neatly in his uniform up to the collar could Adelheid barely tear her gaze from him. She swallowed the saliva pooled in her mouth while burying her reddened cheeks between her knees.

At that sound, Valentin smiled with narrowed eyes.

"What were you imagining to make such a face?"

"Really, nothing..."

"Was it not enough?"

He caught her cheek with long fingers and lifted it. Tilting his head obliquely, he kissed her parted lips lightly.

"If I'd known, I shouldn't have stopped even when you cried and begged."

His narrowed golden eyes were utterly mischievous. She looked at Valentin with disbelieving eyes.

"The sun's already up... and you say such things."

"The sun rising doesn't make it undoable, so why."

"It, it's improper..."

...Probably. At her uncertain addition, Valentin laughed aloud. He kissed briefly even her reddened eyes that had become tearful.

"Wait just a moment."

He disappeared toward the parlor and soon returned holding a glass of water. Only upon seeing the water glass did she realize her throat had been continuously parched.

"Drink. Your voice is completely hoarse."

Having cried throughout the long night, dehydration was a natural result.

However, it was unexpected that Valentin noticed her physical condition before she did.

She treasured the glass he offered with both hands.

Because the attention from someone unfamiliar with a human body felt like a fresh proof.

"Thank you, I mean... I'll drink well."

At the honorifics that slipped out habitually, Adelheid awkwardly changed her words. Though she was trying, it still wasn't quite familiar yet.

Valentin seemed indifferent, carefully brushing away the hair stuck to her forehead and sweeping it behind her ear.

Whether he used magic, a refreshing and invigorating energy ran across her skin.

It was that moment when she felt something off.

'Why? It feels different from usual. The magic Valentin uses, a bit...'

She widened her eyes in bewilderment. Normally she should feel pleasant fulfillment, but today was slightly strange.

'...How exactly should I explain this?'

"Adele."

At Valentin's call, she quickly raised her head.

"It's almost time for my meeting with the Emperor, so I must leave now. Ansgar's knights will guard outside the door. If you need anything, don't move yourself—call Margaret."

"With knights?"

"Yes. I'll come as quickly as possible, but just in case..."

Did anxiety show in her expression? Valentin stopped mid-sentence and grasped her hand firmly.

"You need worry about nothing. Everything will go as intended."

Valentin carefully lifted Adelheid's hand resting obediently on her lap. He kissed the exposed back of her hand reverently.

"Even that wish to ultimately live as a human, all of it."

His face and voice speaking thus. Anxiety and unease swallowed her instantly.

"What exactly is happening..."

"I'll explain later. I'm already too late."

At the increasingly close knights' footsteps, Valentin slowly straightened from his bow. Adelheid urgently grasped the retreating Valentin.

"Wait, um..."

"Why?"

"Can't you tell me how the situation is unfolding too? I want to know. Especially if it concerns my treatment..."

Expression gradually faded from Valentin's face. Adelheid bit her lip anxiously. What if he refused?

What if it flowed back to the same situation as when they arrived at the imperial palace weeks ago? Like then, when she couldn't go anywhere without permission. Or, like the distant past.

"If there's something I can do, I want to at least hear what it is before deciding."

"..."

"I really don't want to be pushed by circumstances and regret it later this time."

Adelheid grasped Valentin's hand more firmly. When Adelheid's eyes became desperate, Valentin exhaled a short sigh and cupped her cheek with his rough palm.

"I don't want you to feel needless anxiety."

His thumb gently stroked Adelheid's cheek. He hesitated, then spoke honestly.

"A trial concerning you is underway. The Holy Knights who witnessed you saving a woman accused you of being a witch, and Joachim and Oskar testified as witnesses."

"A trial? Tes, testified?"

At the unexpected development, Adelheid blinked in bewilderment. Then, recalling something, she asked urgently.

"Wa, wait... Surely you didn't attend the trial? Are you alright?"

Valentin narrowed his eyes, then immediately lifted Adelheid's chin and kissed her.

Slightly deeper than usual, as if punishing the tongue that spoke wrongly. When she panted excessively, he briefly granted reprieve by separating their lips.

"Ah..."

He devoured again the soft lips that parted like a sigh.

Adelheid panted while clinging to his collar. The neatly arranged uniform crumpled haphazardly under her fingertips.

Gasps resounded between their entangled breaths. When giving her lips to him, life's sensations felt scrambled into chaos.

His large hand swept across the nape flushed red with heat.

At the end of sweet and soft stimulation, their lips parted regretfully. Valentin asked calmly toward her disheveled panting form.

"Alright? What about?"

"Previously, when the holy oil... was applied, you seemed to struggle."

Her waist was grasped and her body fell back onto the bed. Adelheid stammered while cheeks flushed bright red.

"Before standing in the courtroom, holy oil must be applied to forehead and lips. So I asked whether you were alright..."

The 'sacred power' of Morig, known to repel evil beings. Among them, holy oil was one of the things where 'sacred power' dwelled most powerfully.

If she hadn't witnessed its effects with her own eyes in the past, perhaps not—but she had directly seen how Valentin twisted after licking the holy oil on her lips.

Then, even briefly, he had difficulty maintaining even a human shell completely.

"Mm."

But Valentin himself seemed entirely unbothered.

His eyes tilted as if gauging something, then he buried his lips against Adelheid's bare shoulder and asked.

"Do you want to know the reason? Or do you want to hear the result?"

"Both... maybe? I'm just a bit worried..."

His hand pushed aside the thin blanket and traced her slender waist.

As his lips slid below her collarbone, Adelheid's voice gradually moistened.

'Good heavens.'

Beyond a single wall, people were passing through the corridor.

At such a time, entrusting herself so defenseless to someone—it was utterly unbelievable.

Adelheid bit her lip helplessly, hand resting on Valentin's shoulder.

"Valentin..."

Unable to push him away completely, yet unable to embrace him fully... Her eyes kept losing focus and clouding.

"After all, there are many high priests in the courtroom."

"It doesn't matter."

His veined hand gently grasped and pressed down her wrist.

Valentin's eyes meeting her gaze were deep. As deep as the profoundly low voice scattering at her ear.

"Because it's fine now."

"Fine now? You mean it's okay to be exposed to... holy oil?"

He narrowed his eyes as if unsure where to begin explaining. Even while doing so, he faithfully didn't forget to move his hands.

"'Sanctity' initially originated from me, but now its nature has changed somewhat. The world recognized it as an independent power. Humanity's firm belief in 'Morig' made that possible."

"..."

"Thus 'sanctity' and 'magic' were divided. Now humans believe I am the ruler of evil beings and shadows, the wicked dragon itself."

"..."

"Just as you once believed."

"Ah..."

"I'm not trying to blame you. When I'm the one who sealed your memories, how could I dare."

"..."

"However, to dwell in a human body first exposed to 'sanctity,' the formed 'vessel' must be broken."

Even in her heat-addled mind, she remembered hearing such words. Perhaps because of Valentin's sorrowful expression conveying them?

Since her soul was first exposed to magic, to contain sacred power again, the soul as 'vessel' must be shattered.

"And to restore a broken soul requires blood. For a time... it becomes almost instinctive craving."

The mass death of sheep. Even now the acrid smoke burning those corpses seemed to rise.

The stablemaster's ominous whisper that all blood had vanished from the sheep carcasses revived in memory.

The euphoria felt freshly strange. That she was clinging like this from morning with such an eerie, frightening existence.

"Val, entin..."

She called his name while panting. He stripped away all the sheets from Adelheid, who trembled pitifully.

Sensuality pooled on Valentin's beautiful face as he gazed at her body revealed without concealment under bright light.

He gathered and gripped Adelheid's hair, kissing along her white skin. His rough, hot palms slowly stroked her stomach.

"At that time, since I'd roughly pieced together the soul of the human who made a wish to remake the 'vessel,' it broke easily even at faint stimulation."

"...Ah."

"But there's no such concern anymore."

No such concern anymore. Valentin's voice making that assertion was supremely elegant. Adelheid felt subtle dissonance from his attitude.

Even so, his lips were too tender...

"Adele."

At the voice calling her name low, Adelheid barely opened her eyes.

Golden eyes narrowed finely. The moment that sensual smile devoured her entire consciousness, Adelheid knew instinctively.

He was still hiding something from her.