MHHC Chapter 107

Lies and Truth

Mikhail's manner of speech was cunning.

Cunningly similar to Valentin's, with inflections and tones that sometimes felt completely identical, and so, as a result, compelled one to listen.

Even in this moment, knowing that everything emerging from that mouth was lies and deception. Adelheid drew a slow, deep breath.

'Stay calm. I need to distinguish what I can trust from what I cannot. If that's too difficult, then I simply won't believe any of it.'

Don't listen, don't believe, don't think too deeply. She resolved this as though walking across thin ice.

Only after inscribing this in her mind several times over could she face Mikhail with unwavering eyes.

"Whatever Your Highness says, I find it difficult to understand in my current state."

"Or have you decided not to believe anything you hear, regardless?"

"As you say. In fact, I suspect I would feel that way no matter what I heard right now."

"……."

"I cannot give you a definite answer immediately. My husband will return soon, so I'll discuss it with him then."

It was a polite but clear refusal.

She deliberately invoked Valentin, hoping Mikhail would retreat.

Because she knew that in the past, he hadn't dared even face Valentin directly.

Because she knew that even while that body was being torn to shreds, he hadn't dared violate the sanctuary.

So instead he'd seized the Princess's vulnerable mind, used that pitiful woman as a blade to stab Valentin in his stead.

'In such a way that Valentin would have no choice but to allow it, even knowing.'

She couldn't repeat such a mistake this time. Adelheid raised her hand and pointed toward the doorway.

"If you have nothing more to say, please leave now. And please release the spell you've placed on Ansgar's knights and Margaret as well."

Her resolute attitude seemed to amuse him—one corner of his mouth curved upward in a long arc. Laughter that felt like affectation burst out briefly.

"Your hostility is more severe than I expected, but I didn't think you'd be like this even when it concerns that bastard's wellbeing."

"Right now, whatever you say, I——"

"Even knowing he's dying as we speak?"

Dying? Adelheid stared blankly at Mikhail, forgetting even what she'd been saying. For a moment, she forgot even to breathe.

"You didn't know. How pitiful."

That instant of wavering seemed to be answer enough for Mikhail. He exhaled a brief sigh and continued.

"I don't actually hate the boy that much. I've always thought him shameless, enjoying power that wasn't his as though he'd been lucky enough to claim it, but still—he's my brother."

"……."

"Corruption originated from his power, which humans call 'magic.' I assume this much is common knowledge."

A remarkably shameless statement, coming from the very one who'd created corruption from Valentin's divinity scattered throughout the world.

Instead of pointing this out, Adelheid lowered her eyelids coldly.

"The problem is that prolonged exposure to corruption transforms everyone into twisted beings. Mages and witches who wielded magic all gradually became monsters."

"……."

"Uncontrolled impulses, violent tendencies, eyes turning red. All changes that occur within ten days of exposure to magic. Depending on the person it might take decades, but eventually they lose their resistance and even their reason."

"……."

"But why are you the exception to this transformation?"

"……What answer could you possibly want from me?"

"That what you're using isn't merely 'magic.'"

Whatever he spouted was only a means to unsettle her anyway.

When Adelheid abandoned any response and closed her mouth, Mikhail raised one corner of his lips and elaborated.

"That foolish dragon is pouring the handful of divinity he has left into you without even knowing what a waste it is."

Divinity. Long ago, the original form of power that Valentin had wielded freely. Now torn to pieces, having lost even its original shape.

"……Are you saying Valentin is pouring that power into me? That's impossible. Because I'm clearly——"

……Clearly. Adelheid's eyes clouded as she traced back through the past.

Come to think of it, how had it been? Had gathering magic from the atmosphere ever been as easy as she'd wished? Occasionally she'd succeeded, but each time she'd only managed to gather extremely faint power.

'Thinking back, Valentin always infused me with magic. Otherwise I drew up magic I'd already possessed and used it.'

She curled her trembling fingertips into tight fists. An ominous premonition surged up somehow.

"It's remarkable that such power still resides in that mangled body. Originally it would have taken at least several hundred more years to exhaust all that power."

"……."

"If not for your, shall we say, unfortunate accident."

Unfortunate accident. Mikhail pronounced those words as though they were particularly delicious food.

The peculiarly gentle voice burrowed unpleasantly into her ear.

She realized she'd been listening too intently to Mikhail's words.

'Don't think, don't judge, and if all that's too difficult then just cover your ears——'

Adelheid slowly lowered the hand that had been rising to cover her ears. She knew she should be on guard, but this once she absolutely couldn't pretend not to hear and look away.

"My unfortunate accident……"

She swallowed the saliva pooled in her mouth and continued.

"Surely you don't mean when my 'vessel' shattered?"

"What else could it be? Repairing a broken soul requires an equivalent amount of life force. Generally blood serves as that offering. Of course, even a soul repaired that way is nothing more than fragments barely scraped together and precariously stacked."

"……."

"But your soul, though shattered to pieces then, became this perfectly intact. To be restored so cleanly, well……."

He narrowed his eyes as though he could actually see Adelheid's soul. His gaze grew strangely distant.

"I venture to guess that not only life force but also part of a god's origin was used."

Adelheid recalled the moment Valentin had torn his own flesh, caught the flowing blood and offered it to her. Herself as well, knowing nothing, accepting and drinking it.

'That it wasn't simple blood, but Valentin's origin.'

The sanctuary's collapse accelerating after she'd drunk the blood, Valentin's heart pounding painfully, and…… the dream where Valentin's 'memories' had come flooding in—memories she'd never experienced and shouldn't have been able to know.

'That's when I received the origin and Valentin's memories became entangled with my soul for a time. That's why I could see all of Valentin's past that I'd never experienced…….'

Moments when she'd felt dissonance passed through her mind one by one.

Adelheid wrapped both arms tightly around her torso as it began to tremble. She could no longer pretend to be fine, no matter how hard she tried.

"You're saying……"

"It might be one thing if it were intact, but removing a large chunk of stone from a cracked breakwater. What do you think will happen?"

"……."

"The half-held divine status will be lost before long. Even the remaining divinity he's been barely clinging to will wash away like sand held in his hand. When that time comes, the 'Dragon of Bitzleben' will descend upon the world once more."

She wanted to cover her ears. From the malicious lies Mikhail was pouring out to provoke her.

The more she withdrew, the more Mikhail seemed to gain strength. Horrifyingly so.

"Adele."

Mikhail, watching the confused Adelheid, slowly grasped her shoulder with his right hand as though embracing it.

Adelheid twisted her body trying to evade Mikhail's hand, but holding Margaret greatly restricted her movement, making it difficult.

"Let, go……."

The more she showed her dislike, the stronger Mikhail's grip became.

Eventually it hurt almost as though her arm would be torn off. Adelheid drew harsh breaths like an herbivore with fangs sunk into its nape.

"They say one who possesses even part of a god's origin gains the qualification to become a god. My brother also ascended to that position by inheriting his father's origin."

"……."

"But you're neither dragon nor anything else—merely human. So sell it for a fair price. That's your limit, your best option."

A fair price. Rage surged anew at the base word choice.

"To so casually suggest selling one's soul."

"'We' need a new breakwater. You agree with that necessity, don't you?"

"You're not in your right mind."

Adelheid glared at Mikhail while shaking off his hand with all her strength. He looked down expressionlessly at his hand that had been pushed away forcefully, then soon clenched it into a tight fist.

"I think about it dozens of times a day."

Through gritted teeth flowed an unusually subdued voice.

"That I shouldn't have pushed you toward that bastard even unto death. That it would have been better if it had been anyone but you. That I wish you'd been some woman I could discard without a thought."

"……."

"I regret now having squandered the countless opportunities I had to possess you. I even admit that denying the attraction I felt toward you was my own arrogance."

"……."

"So I must correct it, even now."

The eyes speaking thus were as sharp as a madman's.

"There's no need to be frightened just because it's a soul. We'll find a method. If we can just extract only the 'origin' mixed with your soul, you can be reborn anytime. And in that world, I will be your god……."

It was revolting. Even listening to Mikhail's rambling.

"I can manipulate this trial to favor you, starting immediately. I'll make the witnesses retract their testimony and force the Grand Cathedral to withdraw."

"……."

"If you say you'll cling to that tattered bastard for this lifetime…… yes, I can tolerate that too. Now that the end is clearly defined."

"……."

"Afterward, we'll be together eternally anyway."