MHHC Chapter 108

Confession

Adelheid, who'd been listening to Mikhail's words with an expressionless face throughout, burst into hollow laughter.

Though she was laughing, her cheeks and the nape of her neck had gone so haggardly pale that it was difficult to find any sign of human vitality.

"To truly call that……"

Adelheid raised cold eyes to look at him directly.

"I refuse. Ultimately what you're saying amounts to making the trial slightly more favorable for me, but I don't feel the need to stake my soul on it."

"……."

"Moreover, I understand Valentin has already discussed the trial with His Majesty."

"Indeed. With that capricious emperor? Such arrangements can fall apart at any time."

"I trust that Valentin will resolve it well."

"Trust? That bastard?"

"I have no reason not to trust him. Unlike you, Your Highness."

"……At least I'm explaining everything to you and answering honestly."

Mikhail's green eyes flashed with vivid malice.

"Unlike when he deliberately hid his plan to make you into a god from you."

"……."

"If you still don't know whom to trust, Adelheit."

Mikhail's elongated fingers jabbed at her chest.

"See what kind of monster the one who firmly promised to let you live as a human ultimately transformed you into. He sacrificed even his origin to save you? Sacrifice sounds noble, but……."

"……."

"You've become a monster that lives eternally. Without even knowing it yourself."

Mikhail's cruel claws finally dug into her innermost heart.

Tearing through tender skin, leaving deep scratches, scattering blood droplets, planting seeds of base suspicion.

'You need not concern yourself with anything. Everything will go as intended.'

A memory from dawn surfaced unbidden.

Eyes steeped in sensuality, a tender voice, the elegant and powerful body that had enfolded her fragile form completely, the pleasures that had continued as though to prevent deep thought.

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

The fingertips of Adelheid's hands clutching her knees trembled finely, unable to overcome her agitation.

Mikhail, watching Adelheid's wavering with satisfied eyes, slowly stroked her pale cheek. His smile was cruel.

"Now you understand who truly deceived you?"

Immediately after Mikhail departed, the spells placed on Ansgar's knights and Margaret were all released.

Margaret didn't even notice she'd fainted. The other knights were the same.

Though three or four hours had vanished entirely, no one found it strange.

Even Valentin hadn't sent anyone to inquire after her wellbeing all this time, suggesting Mikhail's power had activated more effectively than expected.

That realization struck her as more chilling than she'd anticipated.

Only now did she seem to understand why Mikhail had chosen 'this method' rather than a seemingly proper Crown Prince's visit.

'It was a warning.'

Adelheid acknowledged it somewhat helplessly.

'That he could come anytime, unknown to anyone, and commit any deed.'

Perhaps he'd wanted to gloat in his base way. That now he possessed ability enough to blind even Valentin's eyes.

'He's the one who tried to massacre all humanity just to protect you alone.'

Mikhail's phantom voice found its way in tirelessly, chattering at her ear.

That malicious sound was like ashes scattered—the more she tried to clear it away, the more it dispersed.

Clinging stubbornly, gnawing from the edges of her consciousness with a scraping sound.

'Do you truly think such a being can coexist with us humans? Sincerely?'

'It's like releasing a wolf in sheep's clothing among the flock. There's no way he could understand humanity.'

'You should be outraged that he deceived you. He acted as though he'd respect your choice, but completely disregarded it again this time.'

She lowered her weary eyes. As though that were wordless permission, the phantom voice grew louder and louder.

'Did he give you even a single hint before transferring his origin to you?'

The origin of a god. In other words, Valentin's spirit, his life, the wellspring that made him exist as himself.

'Foolish Adelheit.'

'Will you truly become something other than human like this?'

Ultimately, if she could dismiss it all as lies, it wouldn't be this agonizing.

But what if, just possibly. If Valentin had transferred his 'origin' to her, and if that act was accelerating Valentin's corruption and driving him toward death.

"……."

Her throat burned dry with anxiety. Though Mikhail's intent was sowing discord, absurdly, from some point on she'd felt no sense of betrayal.

Only the fact that Valentin hadn't given her even a single word of warning pierced her.

Even in the moment of giving his entire life, as though it were such a trifling matter it wasn't worth mentioning.

Such self-destructive, blind devotion.

That constancy of being willing to give anything if needed was both heartbreaking and somewhat frustrating.

No matter how much Valentin himself might deny it, such an attitude was also proof that he remained captive to 'that day' in the sanctuary all this time.

'Adele won't fear me anymore. Because if the same thing happens again, she can just kill me anytime.'

'…….'

'So first cultivate your magic, Adelheid. Think about other things later.'

At the memory of the past that surfaced unbidden, Adelheid bit down hard on her palely trembling lips.

That Valentin had been projecting the 'Princess' onto her all this time was natural, if one thought about it.

However free his mind might be, his body had been fixed in that place for hundreds of years as though preserved.

No mind can be completely free from the body. Even if one is a god and a dragon.

'I decided to trust Valentin and remain by his side.'

Adelheid deliberately continued her thoughts calmly.

'First, let's just think about resolving this matter well. For now I need to know at least something about the trial. Go to the Grand Cathedral and meet Father Padre and His Holiness the Pope…….'

Adelheid, who'd been thinking of the next best course as habit, exhaled a thin sigh. This entire situation felt somewhat overwhelming and exhausting.

Adelheid habitually rubbed her arm that had been resting on the armrest. The flesh that had gone ice-cold didn't feel like her own skin at all.

No matter how much she pinched and scratched with her nails, the sense of reality wouldn't return.

"……Ha. Y-Your Grace."

At the maid's summons, Adelheid barely collected herself.

The young girl who'd been calling her continuously for some time now, it seemed, had a face full of distress as she touched Adelheid's shoulder.

Only then did Adelheid separate her back from the chair where she'd been sitting.

"What is it?"

"For-forgive me, from the main palace, that is, um, a, a message came."

The maid bowed her head repeatedly with a terror-stricken face. Only then did Adelheid notice that Margaret had briefly stepped away.

"……."

When Adelheid stared at her silently, fear gradually rose in the young girl's face. She was at most only two or three years younger than Adelheid. Probably the youngest among the maids.

Adelheid tried to smile to reassure the maid, then gave up and asked.

"From the main palace?"

"N-no. I mean, that is……."

"You can speak slowly. Don't tremble."

Told not to tremble, now she looked ready to clasp her hands together and wail.

In the north, reactions tended to be matter-of-fact since they encountered monsters constantly, but in the south monsters were regarded as extremely wicked and malevolent beings.

Especially for a devout-looking girl like this, the thought would be all the more horrifying.

"Tw-two came. That is, one is from His Grace the Grand Duke of Ansgar……."

When Adelheid looked at her silently, the maid hastily unfolded the note she'd been clutching. The paper that had been badly crumpled from her tension unfurled with a rustling sound.

"As much as possible…… do not leave where you currently are……."

"And the other?"

"His, His Imperial Majesty sent it. A message urgently summoning you to the main palace for a private audience."

"……When?"

"N-now, i-immediately……."

Adelheid closed her eyes as though in lamentation. Of all things, messages that made it difficult to do either this or that.

She knew it would be better to follow Valentin's words, but ignoring the Emperor's command and holding out was close to impossible.

'Valentin seems unable to come immediately. Surely nothing serious has happened?'

She felt anxious not knowing why the Emperor, who'd supposedly concluded their conversation well, was suddenly being capricious.

Adelheid chewed her lower lip hard.

Should she claim illness? That her physical condition wasn't good yet? They'd deliberately added that it was an urgent message—would feigning sickness even work?

'Should I just break my leg instead?'

"Um, Your Grace……."

Adelheid, who'd been contemplating while staring at her own ankle, raised her eyes again at the maid's summons.

"F-forgive me, but actually a little while ago, that is, the messenger His Majesty sent came with, with knights. They're w-waiting outside right now."

"Your Grace."

Before the maid's words could even finish, there came the sound of someone gently knocking on the door. It was a man's voice she was hearing for the first time.

"His Majesty summons you. I will escort you immediately."

The way they kept pressing in succession, as though refusing to give her any escape route, was exasperating. Adelheid hesitated briefly, then raised her voice in reply.

"Please give me just a little more time. I'm still in the middle of changing clothes."

"The situation is urgent."

"If I appear in attire unbefitting proper etiquette, His Majesty will be displeased. Do you mean that doesn't matter?"

"……Please hurry. It cannot be long."

The man responded curtly in a troubled tone. Soon came the sound of him stepping several paces away from the door. Adelheid carefully lowered her voice and asked the maid.

"Was that all of the Grand Duke's message written in the note?"