MHHC Chapter 41

Whim and Mercy

His whisper was both despicably cunning and dangerously seductive—a combination designed to ensnare.

He couldn't possibly be unaware that Adelheid, who trembled at the mere thought of secretly creating gold coins, would never accept such an offer.

It was despicable in how it stoked futile desires, dangerous in how it made one forget reality.

"......"

She didn't know the full extent of the Dragon of Bitzleben's abilities, but he seemed capable of granting most human wishes.

When such a powerful being offers to grant anything, it strips a person of their grip on the real world all too easily.

One's feet must remain planted on the ground. Flailing about trying to step on clouds while staring at the sky only dirties one's back.

Growing closer to the earth than ever before was inevitable...

"Mm? Adele."

No matter how much the false warmth Valentin offered might be more comforting than anything else, forgetting reality remained nothing but escape.

Ansgar was something she'd finally grasped after being pushed from place to place.

Even if she'd only assumed the responsibility temporarily, Adelheid intended to give it her absolute best.

"......"

Yanik and Hermann, Margaret... Adelheid had already learned their good qualities, and Ansgar would be the land where they continued to live.

Even if she someday followed the shadow and vanished from this land forever, the land and its people wouldn't disappear with her.

Adelheid flexed and clenched her hands several times, still tingling from how tightly she'd gripped them. Then, with a face drained of color, she asked stiffly:

"Will this require payment as well?"

"Payment?"

"You never make transactions without compensation. You form contracts, or—"

Valentin laughed softly.

"Ordinarily, yes."

"......"

"Right now I'm offering because I, want to."

"That won't do."

After a long hesitation, Adelheid shook her head.

The option of resolving this isolated situation immediately was so seductive that refusing proved difficult. But still.

"I can't manage the territory by relying on Your Grace's whims and mercy."

"Why not?"

He tilted his head at an angle.

As though she'd suddenly begun speaking an incomprehensible foreign language.

If she'd said "it's too risky of exposure" like last time, Valentin would have accepted and withdrawn.

But the excuse Adelheid offered was far too fragile for him—leaving ample room to probe.

"The human emperor wields, whim and mercy like, weapons."

"That's—"

"You're the same, Adele. You treat me with whim and, mercy."

More precisely—there was room to exploit her soft heart. He didn't understand why she kept giving him these openings, but Valentin decided not to let this opportunity slip away.

Because when Valentin said that, though Adelheid's expression remained impassive, he'd seen her rounded earlobe flinch and tremble.

He swallowed his smile and stepped closer to her.

"......"

The nearer he came, the more her eyes widened like a wary herbivore.

When he grasped her wrist, he felt Adelheid's taut tension directly. This was one of her old habits.

She generally pretended to be indifferent, composed—but the moment she encountered even slightly coercive circumstances, she immediately grew guarded and withdrew into herself.

"Ngh."

It was a trace of having grown up suppressed for so very long, now settled into her nature like instinct.

Valentin opened his mouth, pretending not to read any of it.

Because regardless of how pitiful she was, such reactions always created openings.

"You said you'd look after me, well until the contract was fulfilled, yet you've just, left me like this."

"That's..."

When he twisted his features into a dejected expression, Adelheid chewed her lip, not knowing what to do.

"You wouldn't even cooperate with recovering my, memories."

"That issue—we can discuss it again another time."

Adelheid, clearly flustered, tried to quickly conclude the situation while concealing her face.

It seemed she'd learned from months of repeated lessons that she couldn't respond properly when pressured.

She'd learned, too, that whatever she said in reply, things would ultimately go as he wanted.

Ah, how clever.

While Valentin smiled coldly, Adelheid retreated step by step, trying to escape the situation.

Just as she turned to bolt, he seized her skirt hem with a strong hand.

Adelheid's body, trying to slip away quickly, was yanked backward.

She flailed her limbs, barely maintaining balance, then whirled around.

She found Valentin gripping her skirt hem as though prepared to tear it apart.

"...Please let go."

"Why?"

Valentin asked as though she'd made an unreasonable demand.

Far from releasing her, his grip on the fabric tightened further.

Adelheid's face crumpled into tearful distress.

"If—if you pull on my clothes like this, they'll surely tear."

"You can buy as many, clothes as you want, now."

"But, Your Grace—"

Valentin made no effort to hide his displeasure. He narrowed his eyes into thin lines and twisted his mouth into a predatory curve.

"If you dislike 'Valentin,' then call me, 'husband' instead."

"This violates pro-proper etiquette..."

"Ah, etiquette."

Perhaps because the edge of her petticoat was visible, her small face had flushed completely crimson.

One would be hard-pressed to find a more prudish noblewoman in all of Denburg.

Valentin clicked his tongue inwardly while outwardly maintaining a pleasant smile.

"I wasn't taught such things, so I didn't, know. You never, taught me."

More precisely, she'd made only token attempts before abandoning the effort entirely after Greta's disappearance. Adelheid's cheeks reddened slightly at his reproach.

"Using force to coerce a lady is improper. No knight would do such a thing."

"Then, teach me."

"Pardon?"

"Teach me what violates, etiquette and what doesn't. Teach me, wife."

Adelheid narrowed her eyes at his absurd assertion.

She strained to reclaim her skirt from his grip.

But Valentin didn't budge. Eventually Adelheid abandoned the attempt and answered.

"I understand your memory has fully returned. There's hardly any need for you to learn etiquette from me..."

"Who said that?"

At Valentin's raised eyebrow—as if to say what on earth are you talking about—Adelheid hurried to add:

"Your vocabulary has improved so dramatically that I naturally assumed your memory had returned."

"Ah, this."

He shook his head dismissively, as though discussing someone else's affairs entirely.

"I've been in the library all this, time. My vocabulary was due to, expand. You know that in, learning, practice is always more important than, theory."

"......"

"Liar. You promised to teach me to, dance."

Adelheid's brief indignation faded as she quickly realized that regardless of what Valentin said, she was at a disadvantage.

She had indeed made that promise, and whatever her reasons, she was the one who'd begun avoiding him unilaterally.

Moreover, though the sudden heavy snowfall had freed up time, learning dance and etiquette remained an urgent matter for Valentin.

Continuing this discussion would only make her fault more apparent. Adelheid nodded.

"All right."

"Now."

When he smiled brilliantly, it couldn't be mere imagination that the surrounding temperature rose as though a fireplace had been lit.

The space around them seemed to brighten threefold... When he snapped his fingers, hands emerged from the floor's shadows and dragged the desk and chairs toward the library wall.

Adelheid froze in shock at the sight.

"......"

Those hands. The horror of them, as though risen from hell itself—the ill omen, the malevolence beyond human comprehension...!

Goosebumps erupted across her entire body.

From that brief glimpse alone, she felt as though she'd peered into an abyss whose depths could not be fathomed.

For the first time, Adelheid truly understood that he existed on a plane immeasurably higher than her own.

Her teeth chattered together involuntarily. Click, click.

"Hor, horrifying, isn't it?"

Noticing her reaction, he hurried toward her—and Adelheid instinctively shrank back from him.

"I'm, sorry..."

His voice had dropped so low it practically crawled along the floor, leaving Adelheid uncertain whether she'd heard him correctly.

Valentin crossed his arms over his chest, clutching himself tightly, and his eyelashes trembled.

"I was happy, so I... forgot that humans fear such, things. It's been so, long..."

Biting his lip as he trembled, he looked utterly forlorn—so much so that Adelheid nearly forgot what she'd just witnessed.

"Do you, hate me now?"

He gazed at her pitifully while biting his faintly trembling lips.

The hand that had risen as if to grasp her fell back down, clenched into a fist.

She could feel his terror—the fear that she might abandon him.

All trace of the malevolence and ill omen from mere minutes ago had vanished without trace.

Moreover, his anxiety was a kind intimately familiar to her.

Adelheid had spent her entire life being discarded by those to whom she'd failed to prove her worth.

Knowing the wretchedness of rejection, Adelheid couldn't bring herself to turn away from Valentin. She opened her mouth cautiously, as though soothing him.

"It's not that. I was just... simply startled because I'd never seen such a thing before."

"You don't, hate me?"

"I don't hate you."

At her words, faint color returned to Valentin's pallid cheeks.

"Then will you come to my, chamber tonight?"

Adelheid hesitated briefly, but eventually nodded.

She found herself feeling increasingly guilty for having kept her distance from him, even briefly.

"If you need me, then yes. I'll stay beside you at least until you fall asleep."

"Can I hold your, hand then?"

Adelheid wavered before finally nodding.

"...Only until you fall asleep."

He smiled radiantly and brought her hand to his cheek.

His smile was so happy, as though he'd gained the entire world from such a small permission.

And it was precisely that night when the foreign substance within Valentin awakened.