MHHC Chapter 110

Bribery

"...What?"

"Did His Majesty mention collective punishment? Is that why you fabricated these absurd witnesses and evidence?"

Adelheid had always been a daughter who cowered at the mere raising of his hand, unable to even meet his gaze properly.

When this girl he'd thought he could easily manipulate to his will looked him straight in the eye and spoke in an accusatory tone, the Count's face flushed bright red in an instant.

"You've always been this way, but this time your selfish demands go too far. I cannot comply."

"You, you dare right now...!"

"Not just Mother and I, but this will clearly deal a severe blow to my husband the Grand Duke's honor as well... How could I possibly sign?"

"You ungrateful wretch! You don't even recognize the debt you owe for being raised! You should protect your family and house from such filthy scandal! If only your conduct had been proper, we'd never have come to this!"

The carefully maintained expressionless mask on Adelheid's face began crumbling bit by bit. Her trembling lips spilled out emotions that welled up without her understanding what they were.

"...If you were going to cast me aside this easily, you shouldn't have put me on the registry stone to begin with. You shouldn't have married me off, at the very least."

"..."

"If only you'd kept me entrusted to the temple, as Mother's dying wish that Greta conveyed..."

"Do you think I had any other choice!"

The Count cut off Adelheid's rambling words. His bloodshot eyes glared as veins stood out even on his forehead.

At the Count's face, flushed crimson with rage, Adelheid reflexively hunched her shoulders. By long habit, her fingertips trembled faintly.

"What exactly have you done well to be this defiant? How dare you bring such scandal upon yourself when you have nothing to blame yourself for!"

"..."

"If I'd known you'd be this useless, back then I should have just...!"

For a moment he seemed unaware of what words were leaving his mouth, then hastily shut it as if coming to his senses.

Though Adelheid didn't know what the Count had almost blurted out... at least he seemed quite shocked by the fact that he'd been about to speak those words aloud.

Seized by a strange rebelliousness, Adelheid looked straight at the Count even as she trembled.

"Please continue. What exactly should you have done back then?"

"..."

"I've known for a long time that you don't treat me as your child. You've spent my whole life measuring my usefulness. As if you'd acquired some decent beast or tool."

Adelheid pressed down on her arms as though holding her shaking body, continuing to speak. Just the thought of defying the Count made her breath quicken and her chest heave.

"I once thought that was truly what it meant for you to 'cherish' me."

"..."

"Locking me in solitary confinement for over ten days with barely a sip of water, the whip constantly flying to correct my speech and bearing, even stabbing my thigh with a knife each time you insisted I learn healing arts..."

At her words, the Count snorted loudly.

"Don't make baseless accusations. All of that was entirely to develop your talents, as you well know!"

"I was ignorant and mistaken about everything. I didn't know that providing meals, checking on sleeping quarters, applying ointment to wounds... these are things done even for livestock."

"You're getting increasingly impudent and out of line."

The Count stepped closer to her. As a dark shadow fell over her from above, Adelheid flinched as though she'd been struck.

"The only reason I'm still tolerating you is because I haven't forgotten that you must soon stand before His Majesty. So watch your words. This is your last warning."

Adelheid bit her lip hard to steady her ragged breathing.

Though she was doing her best to seem unaffected, just standing defenseless before her enraged father brought terrible dread crashing over her.

Whenever she faced that expression, the dank basement humidity, the smell of blood, the pain of flesh swollen from the whip—all of it rose vividly in her memory.

Still, she couldn't back down here. For Valentin's sake, if nothing else—he who was surely doing everything possible to protect her life even now.

"I know now what it truly means to be cherished. So even if it kills me, I cannot comply with your..."

The next instant, it felt as if sparks flew from her eyes, a searing heat. Adelheid gasped and clutched her cheek.

The tender skin had apparently split already—even touching it burned, and a ringing filled her ears.

Though it was brutally familiar violence, the long interval made it hurt enough to bring tears prickling to her eyes.

"Looking at you now, I see that all that education had no effect whatsoever."

The Count shot the words coldly at the faintly trembling Adelheid.

"You're in no condition to be presented before anyone like this. I misjudged you completely. After you meet His Majesty, I'll immediately..."

Just as the Count reached to grab her by the collar again, Adelheid quickly removed her bracelet and drew up her magic.

As if responding to her emotions, invisible threads flew from all directions to seize the Count's arms and legs in a taut grip.

The magic came out far more violent than she'd intended.

"Wh-what is this...!"

The bewilderment coloring the Count's expression, the dazed look in his eyes—his disbelief at the situation showed plainly.

"Release me at once!"

"If you promise... to calm down, I'll... I'll release you."

Adelheid met the Count's gaze directly, breathing hard. In the past, pulling up this much magic would have left her reeling with dizziness severe enough to make her faint.

But now, strangely, her body felt increasingly light. As though she'd accomplished something utterly simple.

"You, you mad wench, surely you didn't really..."

"What on earth is happening in there?"

Perhaps sensing the movement of 'power,' the knight waiting outside pounded hard on the door. Adelheid hastily covered the Count's mouth and called out.

"Mmph, mmmph!"

"N-nothing's wrong! We're almost finished talking."

The knight fell silent for a moment, as if listening carefully to what transpired inside. But apparently sensing no particular suspicion, he soon withdrew.

"...Whatever it is, you'd better finish quickly. I'll open the door immediately when time's up."

"Y-yes, understood."

At the knight's unexpectedly compliant withdrawal, Adelheid exhaled in relief.

Then suddenly she wondered—might they be waiting for her to attack the Count?

If the Count's corpse were found bearing traces of magic, it would serve as perfect evidence.

'It was strange from the start, putting an innocent civilian and a prisoner suspected of being a monster in one room.'

The longer Adelheid's silence stretched, the more the Count's face drained moment by moment with shock and fear.

Only after completely losing control over his own body did he seem to viscerally grasp that Adelheid had gained the ability to use 'magic.'

Adelheid gazed at her terrified father, seized by a strange emotion.

She couldn't believe the man who'd once been her greatest fear now cut such a pathetic figure.

"Let me be clear: I cannot relinquish the Reichenau name right now."

The Count glared at Adelheid with eyes half hatred, half terror. But then he lowered his head, avoiding her gaze.

The intimidating presence that had always made Adelheid cower vanished, and he shrank miserably as if he'd aged ten years in an instant.

Adelheid hesitated, then gently removed the hand covering the Count's mouth.

"If you understand, let's end this conversation here."

"Do you think... this will change anything...?"

Finally he opened his mouth, the words emerging like a groan. Though his voice came out indistinct and garbled, it rang clearly in Adelheid's ears.

"The trial's outcome is already decided. His Majesty won't protect you."

"...What do you mean?"

"His Majesty was the one who first made plans to nullify the marriage. Initially, he intended to pull you out from under Grand Duke Ansgar's protection and pin some appropriately disgraceful charge on you."

"..."

"For a Grand Duke with no backing in the capital, a noble lady from an established family with solid foundations would serve better than an empty shell of a girl like you."

The temple didn't permit divorce. But it did recognize annulment for marriages to those who'd committed adultery. Though the charge the Emperor had originally intended to pin on her might not have been 'monster' from the start, he'd ultimately found a fine ground for annulment.

"So..."

Adelheid dimly realized that Charlotte was the likely candidate to replace her.

Though from the same family, unlike herself—whose mother was known as a maid—Charlotte had solid standing among the capital's nobility.

Even after Reichenau sank into debt, Charlotte had been treated as the prospective Crown Princess, her value renewed daily through her exceptional healing abilities.

"...You asked if I shouldn't have brought you from the temple? Yes. I regret it now too."

"..."

"I never should have believed... that oracle saying you had the power to restore Reichenau..."

Oracle. At the Count's muttering, Adelheid recalled a forgotten memory. About Greta and the reindeer ring, and the oracle.

She felt around her chest and found the ring she wore beneath her clothes. It was something she'd never removed from her body even for a moment since Greta had given it to her.

"The oracle..."

As Adelheid mulled over the Count's words, her eyes clouded for an instant. If the voice descending from God was the 'oracle,' then it had most likely been Morig's scheme from the very beginning.

He might have planted it as a mechanism to drive her life into an even more miserable pit.

Yet somehow, a strong intuition seized her that she shouldn't simply let this pass.