MHHC Chapter 32

I Remembered

"Yaaaah!"

The next moment, a roar of celebration thundered across the training grounds—loud enough to shake the very foundations. Even the knights who had collapsed in exhaustion clapped their hands and stamped their feet, chanting Ansgar's name. To their eyes, the Grand Duke's recovery must have appeared complete. A faint smile flickered across the expressionless face of Knight Commander Günter, who had been observing from the corner.

In the North, strength was justice. The power of a lord who must personally lead his armies into war was not merely authority—it was the most powerful foundation of trust for his vassals.

"Ansgar! Ansgar!"

"Glory to the King of the North!"

Adelheid watched the cheering knights with curious eyes. Strange, that despite having shared life and death together, none of them had noticed that Valentin's soul had changed. The thought troubled her as much as it mystified.

Valentin, who had retrieved his sword with indifference, seemed only now to have noticed Adelheid standing at the entrance to the training grounds. He issued a brief command to his knights.

"Today... is over. Dismissed."

He strode toward Adelheid with long, purposeful steps. He looked nothing like someone who had just engaged in intense sparring. His breathing was even, and not a single bead of sweat glistened on his brow.

Grinning with an expression quite unkightly, he gently cupped Adelheid's cheek.

"Adele."

"Your Grace."

She bent her knee in proper deference to her lord. Immediately, Valentin waved his hand as if flustered. He grasped her forearm urgently, pulling her upright.

"Don't... kneel. You're my... wife... after all."

Adelheid tilted her head in confusion. Even as the lord's wife, it was only natural to show proper respect to the lord himself. A woman's value, at best, was as a useful tool for securing marriage alliances—while men were the pillars who maintained and upheld the family. That was what she had been taught. That was how she had lived.

Was this something he could think only because he was a monster? Because he possessed a fundamentally different way of thinking from humans?

"How... did you come... all the way here?"

Whether Adelheid was confused or not, Valentin appeared extremely pleased. The way he tilted his head with wide, round eyes as he asked seemed almost innocent.

He smiled, touching the corner of his mouth, then curved his eyes devastatingly and lifted the corners of his lips.

"You were... worried about me. Right?"

He must have known exactly what expression would make his perfect face look most magnificent. Adelheid, who had been staring blankly at that smile, flushed and averted her gaze.

"Something urgent came up that I needed to discuss with you."

Valentin chuckled softly and stroked Adelheid's cheek gently before speaking in a voice filled with concern.

"Your body... is cold."

"I'm fine. It's because Your Grace's hand is warm."

"Let's go... inside."

Valentin's eyes narrowed as if Adelheid were being needlessly stubborn. He wrapped his large hand around her small one. He adjusted his stride to match her narrow steps, moving carefully alongside her.

The gaze that watched over her as naturally as breathing was unbearably uncomfortable. Whenever he acted this way, she felt nothing but bewildered, utterly uncertain how to respond.

"Ah."

Before she knew it, they had reached the muddy path. Without thinking, she extended her free hand toward Yanik—but Valentin swiftly stretched out his arm and grasped her waist.

It was a posture that brought to mind the women in sacred paintings, abducted by Death from the underworld. Yanik, who had been standing nearby, flinched and looked away. Given Valentin's expression, he was clearly giving the boy quite a pointed look.

That sharp wariness she had once witnessed—that was when Adelheid first learned that warm golden eyes could burn so blue.

"Adele. You need... to pay attention."

"......"

"Hold on... tight."

After whispering that contextless warning into her ear, he lifted Adelheid easily into his arms. Startled, she swallowed her breath and wrapped her arms around his neck. Valentin let out a low laugh.

"Good girl."

His steps through the mud were unhesitating. He climbed high stairs and crossed long corridors without a single adjustment to his breathing. As they entered the main castle, every servant they passed widened their eyes and stared at them. A few sent them pleased smiles, but most looked bewildered.

Adelheid buried her flushed face against his neck and pleaded.

"P-put me down, please......"

"Why?"

"Everyone's watching. If you do this... it doesn't preserve your dignity as lord. You know that."

"I don't... know."

"......"

"Adele, your steps... are small and cute. I'm... faster."

Adelheid was taken aback by that shameless statement. His attitude suggested she had simply forgotten something perfectly obvious. As if to say: Why insist on inefficiency when I can work more efficiently?

Adelheid surrendered somewhat helplessly to being carried in his arms, swaying with each step, until she realized they had reached the third-floor stairs leading to the bedroom and began struggling again.

"The b-bedroom won't do."

"Why?"

Why, indeed...... The memories of the 'Dragon of Bitzleben' had been so intense she'd forgotten briefly, but she remembered clearly the strange current that had flowed between them just before that incident. Moreover, he didn't seem to care in the slightest that she was 'another man's' wife.

If he was the one who had asked why he shouldn't be considered her husband when he shared the same body, memories, and even possessed a soul—he wasn't likely to show mercy now.

'I'll just have to be doubly careful...'

However naive she might be, Adelheid was well acquainted with what transpired between husband and wife. The guards never bothered moderating their speech just because Adelheid was passing by. In every corner, they would loudly discuss women—how women were this way or that, what they'd done with which body parts—half joking, half serious. Especially whenever Adelheid walked past.

The fact that she had blushed and fled whenever she caught even a whisper of such talk when she first came North had been her downfall.

Lost in thought, Adelheid realized that Valentin was calmly watching her. Heat rushed to the back of her neck.

"It's too early in the day...... That's right. D-doing such things is surely against proper etiquette."

The excuse came out rushed. Her stammering voice sounded utterly unstable. Valentin's eyes narrowed.

"Really?"

She pressed her lips together firmly and nodded emphatically. He adjusted his hold so her bottom rested on his left forearm, then used his free hand to stroke her lips. Her soft, pliant lips compressed beneath his touch.

"Adele."

"Y-yes?"

"What exactly... are you thinking... that makes you say... entering the bedroom... during the day... is against etiquette?"

"......"

"Hmm?"

The teasing look in his eyes was playful. She suddenly felt wounded.

"You've had your memories from the beginning, haven't you?"

"......"

"That's why you already know... everything..."

Valentin swallowed a hollow laugh. Adelheid's round eyes had sunk miserably, somehow deeply aggrieved. Instead of answering, he carefully set Adelheid down on the ground.

"There."

Adelheid's pale green eyes widened in surprise. When she had been pleading so earnestly to be put down, she'd seemed one way—but now that he'd actually released her, she looked suddenly frightened. He could feel her gaze following him anxiously, checking whether his mood might have soured.

Her slender back, straightened with such effort, trembled uselessly.

"......"

Adelheid was often like a small forest creature. With her dainty frame, she would scurry about so earnestly, wrinkling the bridge of her nose, nibbling away at food, thinking. Always wary of being devoured at any moment, yet unable to refuse the warmth offered, gradually pressing her small body closer, bit by bit. Always.

He chuckled softly and grasped the doorknob.

"Let's go in... and talk."

"This is."

"The library. You said... you wanted to come... here."

Adelheid looked back and forth between his face and the door in astonishment. When his mind hadn't been sound, she had mentioned it only in passing.

The longing had been genuine, but neither then nor now had she expected him to actually grant her access to the library. What surprised her even more was that he had remembered it all this time.

Valentin opened the library door and extended his hand to her.

"Be careful. It's... dark inside."

Normally she would have been flustered and refused the courtesy, but her desire to see the library with her own eyes as soon as possible was far stronger. Adelheid forgot her embarrassment and seized Valentin's hand.

As he'd warned, the interior of the library was dim. With her vision blocked, the peculiar musty scent of decaying old paper felt especially pronounced.

"Just... a moment......"

As if able to see perfectly even in darkness, Valentin walked without hesitation to a certain point in the library, released her hand, and disappeared. Soon came the sound of curtains being drawn back, and brilliant light poured in. Adelheid narrowed her eyes against the brightness, then looked around and let out an exclamation of wonder.

"Wow."

She surveyed the library with eyes full of curiosity. A large table occupied the center, with massive bookshelves arranged at regular intervals around it. Parchments and ancient tomes packed every shelf.

'They said they moved Nassau Castle's entire library here—it must have been true.'

At least regarding the library, Oskar's words had been correct. Adelheid was thrilled to discover the shelves where herbology was organized. For that moment at least, she even forgot her worries about Valentin.

"Use it... as much as you... like."

"May I really do that?"

"They say... no one else... can enter anyway, so... this is better... for talking than... the bedroom."

He responded teasingly.

"So. What was it... you needed... to discuss?"