MHHC Chapter 15

Adelheid rubbed her fatigue-laden eyes with her fingertips. She hadn't managed any sleep until dawn, having stayed up rewriting the ink-stained letter from the previous night. Despite drinking several cups of strong tea to wake herself up, her head still felt foggy.

'I didn't expect the Grand Duke to come find me suddenly in the middle of the night. And after we'd parted that way, too...'

The reason for his visit had been trivial. It was close to a complaint about why they weren't sleeping together.

Thanks to that, the fear she'd been feeling had settled considerably.

'Because I kept watch at his bedside these past few days, he must have thought we always slept together.'

Valentin was someone who had miraculously come back from death, which also meant he was an unstable existence whose health could deteriorate again at any moment. 'Sleep' in particular was the most precarious element.

Because of that, she'd entered the bedroom as if standing night watch, which he'd apparently mistaken for always sharing the same bed.

'I didn't even manage to keep proper watch, either. I was too exhausted and kept passing out.'

She'd definitely sat in the chair at the head of the bed and dozed off briefly, but when she came to her senses at dawn, she'd find herself on the bed. The problem was that each time, she was held tight in Valentin's arms.

For Adelheid, whose hearing was sharp to the point of sensitivity, it felt exactly like being possessed by a ghost every time.

'Just last night, I ended up being dragged to His Grace's bed again.'

Her cheeks heated as she traced back through her memories. Even thinking back on it now felt embarrassing.

'It goes against propriety—completely against it...'

That's what she'd been taught, anyway.

The more dignified a couple, the more they should keep separate bedrooms, and even on the rare occasions they spent the night together, it should be done dryly, without initiating first, without showing coquettishness. Lying in the same bed until sunrise was considered indulgent behavior deserving of criticism.

Before marriage, Adelheid had memorized such 'propriety' word for word. She'd been told hundreds—no, thousands—of times that this was the scripture a noblewoman must uphold for the rest of her life.

And yet.

'We're... married... aren't we.'

Valentin's hurt expression weighed on her mind. Of course, there were still unsettling aspects. Until just a few hours ago, he'd been so inarticulate that he could barely repeat words she said, and now suddenly he could hold a conversation?

In any case, he'd mobilized every word he'd ever heard even once to stubbornly insist, and thanks to that, Adelheid had broken into a cold sweat making excuses.

'Even between married couples, there are rules of decorum that must be observed.'

'Ah, no. That.'

'Doing this goes against propriety...'

'Don't, no need, but this... do.'

Adelheid let out a thin breath. After arguing back and forth like that for quite a while, she'd been the one to give in first. Since it was something they'd been doing all along anyway, her reputation wouldn't drop any lower from doing it one more day.

'Not getting proper sleep is the biggest problem.'

In truth, the most troublesome thing was that when Valentin was beside her, she felt needlessly conscious of him and couldn't fall asleep easily. Was it because she'd slept alone her entire life? Even her husband's body heat felt awkward and uncomfortable.

Moreover, strictly speaking, they had never once spent a true 'night' together. Between such a relationship, one couldn't comfortably rest while sharing a bed. Adelheid yawned, pressing her tired eyes with her hand.

"Your Grace!"

The head housemaid respectfully blocked the path of Adelheid, who'd been walking with her arms full of ink-stained skirts and laundry. Adelheid looked at the head maid with surprised eyes. She was a woman who always kept her distance with cold eyes and only bowed from afar, never speaking first.

"What is it?"

Adelheid asked, hoisting up the laundry basket. Margaret, the head maid, seemed momentarily speechless at her appearance. Though she'd neglected her, the maid apparently hadn't known she was doing her own laundry.

"Please give me the laundry. From now on, I'll send maids to take care of it."

Adelheid watched with slight unfamiliarity as the head maid took the basket from her hands.

The Margaret she knew was someone who hadn't cared much whether Adelheid did laundry, drew water from the well, or did needlework for money to build up savings. Consistently so for the past three years.

There was only one reason such a woman would change overnight.

"Does the Grand Duke urgently need me?"

"No."

Adelheid blinked.

"Then why, so suddenly..."

"If I may speak out of turn, from now on Your Grace need not go all the way to the northern tower."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"You know the mistress's quarters have been under repair for a long time. So while the room was being prepared, we temporarily provided you with the room in the northern tower."

The head maid's cheeks were slightly flushed. She seemed to know full well that what she was saying was nothing but an excuse.

"That's right."

"Fortunately, we finished all the repairs as of yesterday. If it's acceptable, I can show you there right now."

Adelheid gazed at Margaret, who stood politely with her hands clasped before her, with a mixture of bewilderment and bitterness.

The repairs that had been postponed for the past three years finished as soon as Valentin came back to life? No one could take that statement at face value. Whether the room repairs had been a false pretext from the start or an indifferent truth, it meant one thing.

Valentin had given permission to offer her the 'Grand Duchess's quarters.' And receiving the 'Grand Duchess's quarters' meant she had truly become a Grand Duchess recognized by the Grand Duke.

'After a full three years.'

The only reason the northerners, who revered Ansgar like the heavens, could be rude to Adelheid all this time was one thing. Because they firmly believed their Grand Duke disliked, even detested, the Grand Duchess.

However, the devotion that the actually-revived Valentin poured onto Adelheid consistently defied their expectations and common sense. Even those who'd suspected his actions stemmed from sympathy or duty now believed there was some 'sticky' relationship between the Grand Ducal couple that they didn't know about.

The Grand Duke's attention had changed the situation more effectively than any effort Adelheid had made over the past three years.

'I didn't mean to deceive anyone, but the situation is turning out a bit strange. Now everyone thinks His Grace and I were lovers.'

It was both absurd and pathetic that all this goodwill stemmed from a misunderstanding, but even that feeling was a luxury. Her pride had already been sold off at a high price by Count Reichenau long ago.

They'd misunderstood on their own from the start; it wasn't as if she'd acted differently or lied. Adelheid swallowed her uncomfortable feelings and nodded.

"Please show me."

"Follow me."

Margaret skillfully tucked the laundry basket under her arm and strode ahead. The maids who encountered them in the corridor pressed themselves against the wall to avoid blocking their path.

It seemed Adelheid herself was the last to learn that she would be entering the Grand Duchess's quarters.

Curious gazes poured painfully onto her back every time they passed by.

"This is it."

Adelheid looked at the door and corridor where the head maid had stopped, confused.

"This is..."

It was right next to the Grand Duke's bedroom. Not only was she on the same floor as her husband, but the very next room?

Seeing Adelheid's bewildered face, Margaret asked carefully.

"Is there some problem?"

"I never thought the Grand Duchess's bedroom would be here. I mean, according to proper decorum, it should be far from His Grace the Grand Duke's bedroom..."

"This is correct."

Compared to the flustered Adelheid, the head maid replied matter-of-factly.

"Since you came from the south, you may not be accustomed to it. Unlike southern customs that place a married couple's bedrooms as far apart as possible, in the north we place them as close together as possible. It's normal."

Normal, she said. Her neck heated up, as if she'd made a fuss over nothing.

"But..."

"Since Ansgar Castle was built, the Grand Duchess's quarters have always been here. Of course, when a couple's relationship is particularly good, they sometimes share one bedroom."

Would you like us to prepare that? The head maid's meaningful expression seemed to ask.

Adelheid shook her head, startled. She felt so hot that steam seemed to be rising from the top of her head.

"N-no. This is better."

"Then I'll open the door."

The head maid announced politely and threw the wooden door wide open. Inside the room, all the curtains were pulled back and sunlight poured in generously, which was rare. Adelheid slowly looked around the room.

"......"

The quarters were neat and appropriately splendid. Below the large window fitted with transparent glass sat a long couch, and logs blazed in the fireplace. The curtains and carpet were all red with wolf heads—Ansgar's symbol—embroidered in gold thread.

The table and chair for reading letters or doing embroidery, and the dresser were all ivory-colored, and through the sitting room into the bedroom beyond stood an enormous canopied bed.

Adelheid gazed admiringly at the delicate crafts placed on the dresser. They were items stamped with artisan's marks she'd only seen in Charlotte's room.

"Do you like it?"

The head maid, who'd been carefully observing her looking around the room, asked. Adelheid's cheeks flushed. Had she shown too much obvious admiration?

However, Margaret calmly explained the room's furnishings one by one without any mocking expression.

"We brought over the wardrobe you'd been using as is. The mirror was shabby so we brought in a new one, and the white wolf fur carpet was specifically instructed by His Grace the Grand Duke. He said he wanted to give Your Grace only good things."

"His Grace did?"

Adelheid's eyes widened. Just yesterday evening, Valentin hadn't even made eye contact with anyone besides Adelheid.

And he gave such proper instructions overnight? Was he a quick learner? Or were his memories returning rapidly?

But Margaret seemed to have no intention of solving Adelheid's questions. The head maid continued in a businesslike manner.

"I'm glad you seem pleased. I'll soon select maids to serve Your Grace and send up a list."

"Maids? But Greta alone has been more than sufficient. Is there really a need to select new ones?"

"Now that His Grace the Grand Duke has returned, Your Grace must also fulfill your duties going forward."

"...Duties."

"You must unite quickly and produce an heir, must you not."

At the head maid's words, Adelheid's expression became momentarily blank. At that naive reaction, the head maid asked suspiciously.

"...Surely you know what uniting means?"

Adelheid barely managed to nod her pale head a few times.

The night before her marriage, Charlotte had shown her horses mating, supposedly to tease her. Saying that since she was marrying a barbarian no different from a beast, her wedding night would be just like that...

It was a horrible memory every time she recalled it.

The horse's black eyes glistening with some unknowable emotion, the rough mounting, the saliva flying white, the heat...

'I... have to do... that...'

Adelheid's youthful face turned white in an instant. Whenever she recalled that memory, her whole body trembled. She froze from deep in her belly. It felt like a terrible, utterly vile, filthy act.

Moreover, Valentin had thoroughly detested her. She'd never once even imagined that such a man would desire her in 'that way.' And what about the difference in their builds? If she were pinned under that massive, solid frame, she'd be crushed to death instantly.

Adelheid clasped her trembling hands together tightly, gripped by fear.