MHHC Chapter 20

Promise

He looked as if he were crying. Beneath his trembling fluttering eyelashes, moisture seemed to glint faintly in his golden eyes that gazed quietly at her. Like a young child who didn't know what to do at all.

That desperation pierced her heart. It was exactly like watching a baby bird separated from its flock all alone. It was funny, too. What was there about a robust man two or three heads taller than her that felt young?

Moreover, he was still a person who hadn't cleared himself of the 'shadow' suspicion.

"Hmm? Adele."

He called her name as if begging for an answer and smiled dimly. A faint smile that seemed as if it would break away futilely even in a light breeze.

Adelheid impulsively reached out her ungripped hand and lightly touched Valentin's cheek. In that instant, Valentin was so startled that Adelheid briefly wondered if he'd mistaken her hand for a knife.

"……."

That made sense because Valentin was gasping huff, huff for breath like someone whose life had been threatened. Strength entered tightly into the opposite hand that had been gripping her.

Only at that hypersensitive reaction did Adelheid belatedly realize that her action might feel like seduction to most men.

'Good heavens.'

Adelheid's face flushed bright red in an instant.

"Well, that, of course..."

"……."

"Because Your Grace is my husband..."

She was merely following the customs of the north. Adelheid glanced at him and added.

"...Ah."

Valentin finally exhaled after a long silence. It seemed like a sigh too. A vein bulged pop on the back of Valentin's hand as he stared at Adelheid with a blank face, whatever answer he'd been expecting. At the same time.

Rip, tear.

"Ah, my clothes..."

The seam on the part of Adelheid's clothes he'd been gripping finally tore. Adelheid's face instantly became tearful. With her already insufficient clothes repeatedly doing this, it seemed she wouldn't even have anything left to wear tomorrow.

"S-sorry..."

At Adelheid's face crumpling as if she'd cry, Valentin startled and shook his hand off from her. His ears reddened a bit, as if he thought he'd made another mistake.

"Still, not, used... to body, sorry..."

He seemed to have bitten his tongue a little while trying to speak quickly.

Adelheid stretched out her neck and examined the shoulder area. The fortunate thing, unlike last time, was that it only resulted in the seam tearing a bit. A few stitches would be enough to make it wearable.

Adelheid let out a sigh of relief.

'At least that's fortunate.'

No matter how well the castle's household had been treating her lately, Adelheid's impoverished circumstances remained unchanged.

It was butler Hermann who had received the castle keys from the Grand Duke of Ansgar. No matter how many years he'd worked for Ansgar, the money a mere retainer could use 'at his discretion' was extremely limited.

If Valentin had allocated a generous budget for Adelheid's portion each year, the situation would have been different, but from the butler's position, it wasn't easy to expend money beyond what the master had approved.

'Though I didn't even receive that in full.'

In any case, no matter how favorably Valentin had changed toward her, her husband was currently in no condition to make any proper judgments or approve any documents. And Adelheid was in a position where she couldn't even have a single plate without her husband's permission.

Aside from the money earned by helping the butler and doing paid sewing...

"Any... thing... say, the, clothes... compen... sate."

Say anything, he would compensate for damaging her clothes. Adelheid quietly looked into Valentin's upright face. His lightly closed lips and brilliant golden eyes shining with firm will.

At least right now, he seemed sincere.

Without a trace of the appearance of him pouring malice toward her long ago.

'If he's not the shadow, and confusion from the shock of revival made him mistake me for someone else.'

Asking for clothing compensation, or asking him to allocate some budget so she could maintain her dignity as the Grand Duchess... If she showed even a hint of such things, he might later think of her as a woman who cornered a person in mental distress to fill her own private greed.

She didn't want to be cornered that way. As a woman who pretended to care for him while filling her own greed, like her father, as such a person.

Even if it was a choice based on nothing but pride that couldn't even secure practical benefits.

"Say... please. Will, do... any... thing... can."

Because of the impatience in Valentin's voice, the already hard-to-understand words were becoming increasingly harder to understand.

In any case, it was a rare opportunity for her. Even if she was ignorant, she knew she shouldn't waste this opportunity carelessly. But what should she get out of it?

Adelheid bit her lip as was her habit when thinking deeply. She chewed crunch, crunch and sucked on it without realizing.

"……."

Valentin's gaze was drawn like a magnet and nailed to her lips. To her small pearl-like teeth and the red tongue visible through the gaps, the soft petal-like thing that bounced up springily each time it was pressed between her teeth and released.

With a face that didn't even know why he craved that with burning eyes.

"Then, well."

After pondering for a while, Adelheid finally opened her mouth.

"There's one wish I'd like you to grant."

She looked at her husband, who was smiling somewhat awkwardly, with innocent eyes.

"Say... please."

"Even though you haven't been feeling well lately, I'm worried that you're living only indoors... I thought it might be good if we occasionally walked together in the outside garden."

"Walk...?"

"Yes. Well, breathing clean air would help your health in many ways, and since you've been only indoors until now, going out will surely refresh you."

"……."

"Perhaps while looking around other familiar spaces, your memory might suddenly return."

When Valentin remained silent for a long time, Adelheid added like an excuse. Her heart beat thump, thump rapidly.

'This is the best way to create a situation where I can naturally meet with Padre. Plus, if we walk, Your Grace's stamina will decrease a bit, so in the evening you might be tired and fall asleep...'

Then wouldn't making him let his guard down become even a little easier? Whatever Padre had her do, at least more so than when he was fully conscious.

"……."

Whatever he was thinking so deeply about, Valentin wore that initial smile. That only made people more anxious. Adelheid waited with her hands clasped tightly for him to open his mouth, then carefully added one more thing.

"Wouldn't this side also be good for building your stamina? If you stay in your room all the time, you'll become more tired later..."

Of course, Adelheid knew nothing about exercise. Did she know anything beyond the fact that consistent exercise builds stamina and that, on average, men have more stamina than women? The rest fell short of common sense.

"Why... staying in room, make... tired?"

So she was briefly at a loss for words at Valentin's sharp question pointing out the flaw in her statement.

"Curious."

"Well, that, you see... Stamina builds when you exercise, after all. Since you've been lying down for a long time, your stamina must have dropped significantly from before, so I thought consistent walking might help..."

"How... consis... tent?"

"Two laps around the training ground per day..."

She was about to answer readily but trailed off.

Honestly, Adelheid had no idea how good ordinary knights' stamina was, or to what degree of pain they could endure in what situations.

She only vaguely guessed that since the maids carrying laundry baskets would be exhausted after completing one lap around the training ground, sturdy men would probably manage two or three laps.

'Your Grace is a knight among knights, and originally a robust person. Should I add at least one more lap to two laps to exhaust you?'

Valentin, who had been silently watching Adelheid deliberate this way and that, chuckled and shook his head.

"Adele, don't know, don't have to, answer."

"...I'm not saying I don't know."

"It's, okay... If you, want. Any... thing. Can, do."

"Really? Will you really follow whatever I want?"

Adelheid unconsciously brightened, then forced her expression to become rigid, thinking he might find it strange. Not realizing that, because she pulled her lips down so suddenly, it looked even more suspicious and awkwardly funny.

"……."

But Valentin didn't interrogate or mock her, just gazed quietly. Rather, his face looked unfamiliar, as if he'd even forgotten to breathe for a moment.

Only after some time passed did he finally smile with a husky voice.

"Y-yeah. If Adele, likes... any... thing."

"I'm fine anytime. Then how about starting three days from now?"

"Three... days?"

That would be the full moon. Adelheid nodded, skillfully hiding her ulterior motive.

"It would be best to go once in the morning and once in the afternoon, but let's gradually adjust the schedule by consulting with the butler."

"……."

"Your Grace?"

"Ah, yeah."

Only then did Valentin seem to realize he'd been staring at Adelheid intently. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly and turned his gaze away.

"Adele. Do, what... want... freely."

"Really?"

"Yes... doesn't, matter."

This was the answer Adelheid had been dying to hear. With her tension released, Adelheid finally smiled broadly and properly.

"Then, it's a promise for three days from now."

On the morning of the promised day. The maids rushed in from early dawn.