MHHC Chapter 111

Original Sin

This was the second time the Count had mentioned the oracle in Adelheid's presence. The first had been a drunken slip; the second came now, half-resigned.

What both occasions shared was his inability to look her in the eye while stammering through it.

As though it were some great original sin.

Adelheid's pale green eyes narrowed as she studied her father.

Whatever the man was so desperate to hide, a strong instinct told her that if she didn't hear it now, she never would.

"The oracle you mentioned—you mean the one you received when I was born?"

As she stepped closer, the Count's shoulders flinched.

"What exactly did it say? I heard something from Greta, but the content was… difficult to make sense of."

Besides, she'd been barely half-coherent at the time. Whatever oracle he'd received, it couldn't have lodged deeply in her mind.

Reindeer, a crown of thorns… Only a few words and impressions had managed to take root in her memory.

Adelheid pressed her stubbornly silent father again.

"Even the smallest detail would help."

"…Why not solve this first, if you have favors to ask of me?"

A faint glimmer of triumph entered the Count's fearful eyes. She could feel him wanting to seize the upper hand in their conversation again, using this as leverage.

"Releasing you isn't difficult, but…"

Adelheid watched her father regain his composure with cool detachment. Luisa had been right. In any negotiation, the more desperate party always held the weaker position.

When Luisa had given her that 'bribe'… had she predicted even this situation?

If not, it showed remarkable insight. If so, the thought sent a chill down Adelheid's spine.

Either way, regardless of why it had been given, it remained her sharpest weapon in this moment.

Adelheid met the Count's gaze with clear eyes.

"I know Charlotte's healing abilities aren't what they used to be."

A flash of dismay crossed the Count's expression. But it was fleeting, and he quickly composed himself, stubbornly retorting:

"Nonsense."

"Whether it's nonsense or not, time will tell. Such things are nearly impossible to hide. What I'm saying, Father—"

Adelheid let the word 'Father' linger a moment longer. In truth, it was a title she hadn't been permitted to use until that forced wedding ceremony.

She'd always had to address him as 'Master' or 'Your Lordship.' Thinking of that past made her current boldness feel surreal.

"—is that trying to bargain with me is pointless. If you won't tell me about the oracle… I won't keep Charlotte's secret either."

"…"

"The choice is yours, Father."

With those words, Adelheid released the magic binding him.

Without the restraining force, the Count's body pitched forward. He managed to catch himself against the table, barely avoiding an undignified collapse.

"…"

The Count hesitated for a long moment, finally beginning to speak—when the sound of the lock turning echoed through the room, and the door burst open.

Adelheid whirled toward the entrance, catching the faint disappointment that flickered across the messenger's face at the front.

As though he'd been hoping to find Count Reichenau's corpse. The messenger quickly masked his disappointment.

"Come now. We cannot delay any longer."

"Understood."

Adelheid turned toward the door. As she passed close by the Count, who still clutched the table, wheezing—

"…If you're truly that curious, look into… the tragedy at Nassau."

The unclear, scattered voice made her pause mid-step. Her father's face, surprisingly, was filled with shame. Even as she waited silently for him to continue, the Count pressed his lips shut with stubborn finality.

"Come this way at once."

At the messenger's stern urging, Adelheid was about to move again when the Count whispered urgently:

"Will you keep the secret?"

Adelheid studied her father for a moment, then passed by without a word.

She'd never intended to spread Charlotte's secret in the first place.

No matter how cruelly Charlotte had treated her, she had no desire to use someone's desperation as a tool for blackmail.

House Reichenau would self-destruct soon enough without her intervention.

Still, her refusal to reassure him had been a small revenge against the father who'd always been so cruel. A final act of rebellion against the 'family' she'd once desperately wanted.

"Enter. The trial regarding Your Grace's charges will begin shortly."

Adelheid looked through the wide-open doors with composed eyes.

The messenger had brought her not to the Emperor's audience chamber or study, but to a courtroom. Unfamiliar with the palace layout, she only realized this upon arrival—though she wasn't surprised.

'So this is why he deliberately summoned me when Valentin was away.'

Adelheid cast an anxious glance back down the corridor, then lowered her eyes and asked:

"Didn't you say this was a private audience with His Majesty?"

"Did I say that? I merely informed you that His Majesty requested your presence."

"…"

"Make haste."

At the messenger's urging, Adelheid crossed the threshold into the courtroom.

The heavy wooden door immediately closed behind her with a resonant thud. At that ominous sound, she flinched mid-step, shoulders hunching.

When she raised her head, everyone in the courtroom was staring at her.

"…"

Adelheid surveyed the courtroom with slightly tense eyes.

High-ranking nobles sat in tiered seating along both sides. On the raised platform at the front, the Emperor lounged in a slouched posture.

Directly below him sat Mikhail, unsurprisingly.

"…"

Mikhail was watching her with an intense gaze whose meaning she couldn't decipher. Simply receiving that tenacious stare made her pulse beat unpleasantly.

"Adelheid von Ansgar, to your position."

At the bare name 'Adelheid,' several nobles burst into laughter disguised as coughs.

A sparse inherited name meant one parent was of low birth—or that the child's arrival had been unwelcome.

Adelheid slowly knelt in the center of the courtroom, steadying her taut nerves.

The Emperor nodded languidly, and the trial began. A man standing below the platform unrolled the indictment and began reading.

"Adelheid von Ansgar stands accused of using inappropriate demonic power—that is to say, magic."

The man drew a breath and continued:

"On the twentieth day of the third month past, inappropriate power was used in the 'Shelter' of the Grand Cathedral. Multiple priests on duty simultaneously felt an unnatural flow of force…"

Murmuring voices drifted like a blurred backdrop. Adelheid clasped her hands tightly to keep from collapsing.

"…She fled the scene immediately, but there are clear witnesses and a victim to the act. For disturbing order and daring to commit such wicked deeds on the sacred ground of the Grand Cathedral, severe punishment is unavoidable."

"In summary, you're saying the Grand Duchess is a demon who uses magic."

The Emperor leaned back in his high throne with a thoughtful hum, resting his chin on his hand.

"Well? Do you have anything to say to that?"

His tone suggested: 'Go ahead, try to make excuses.'

His languid manner radiated the clear intention to make a spectacle of her. Several nobles snickered.

"…"

Adelheid kept her eyes lowered, enduring the situation designed to humiliate her however possible.

"Does your silence mean you admit to all charges?"

"…I am not a demon."

"Ha. Stubborn, aren't we."

The Emperor waved his hand as though thoroughly annoyed. At his gesture, all the witnesses were called forward.

Adelheid easily spotted Joachim and Oskar among them.

Joachim stared straight ahead, his face pale. Oskar gazed at her with eyes that held some unreadable regret.

Each swore to speak only the truth, then testified thoroughly about the 'magic' they'd witnessed.

"…It was definitely another power, not sanctity. I swear it before Morig."

"Next."

After Joachim's passionate testimony, the next witness was someone Adelheid had never seen before.

The man had been trembling from the moment he stepped forward. Mid-ramble, his eyes grew hazy and he said something strange:

"I can't say with certainty that the power was truly magic. It felt different from sacred power, alien somehow, but ultimately it saved a life…"

At this more sympathetic testimony—so different from those before—several nobles in the back seats began muttering amongst themselves.

"Enough."

Just as the testimony began veering dangerously off-course, the Emperor raised his hand to cut it off. He straightened from his leisurely reclined posture.

"Still unwilling to admit the charges, I see."

"…"

"I truly didn't want to go this far."

Despite his words, a trace of petty enjoyment colored the Emperor's sigh.

"The Count told me something interesting about the education you received. That he once stabbed your nursemaid with a knife, trying to awaken your healing abilities."

At those words, a gagged woman was dragged into the courtroom, her arms gripped by knights.

The color drained from Adelheid's cheeks as she recognized her.

"You may have failed then, but let's see how this attempt goes."

The woman was Margaret.