MHHC Chapter 61

Morig

"You look troubled."

She lifted her gaze weakly from the window.

Valentin sat across from her, leaning back with deliberate ease, watching. Adelheid felt a flicker of surprise that he appeared so unaffected.

'Even after witnessing such horrors just moments ago.'

Then she realized—she had seen something similar before, in Valentin's shadow long ago. The memory made her fumble for words.

"It's just..."

She avoided his eyes, fingers twisting together in her lap.

"I was startled, that's all."

Unlike Adelheid, taut with tension, Valentin appeared calm as always.

The sharp coldness she'd felt from him when Morig's light consumed the world had already vanished without a trace.

Adelheid clenched her hands where they rested on her skirts. Her stomach felt uneasy.

She didn't need a mirror to know her face had gone pale as death.

Valentin asked, anxiety creeping into his voice, "You look ill. Should I stop the carriage?"

"No, no... If anything, please go faster."

She wanted distance from the cathedral—as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Valentin opened the driver's window and instructed him to increase their speed.

Even that small opening brought wind into the carriage, and the suffocating tightness in her chest loosened slightly.

When he settled back into his seat, she asked carefully, "Are you all right, Valentin?"

At his questioning look, Adelheid continued, "Morig sometimes sends down divine oracles. What if an oracle came and the high priests noticed something about your true nature?"

"Don't worry. Morig is merely anxious. If I don't move, neither will he."

"......"

The blood drained further from Adelheid's lips. Valentin answered with casual indifference, loosening his collar ornament.

"He won't provoke me like this again. Greedy as he is, he's not a complete fool. At most, he'll resort to underhanded schemes in the shadows."

"......"

"I won't let you get caught up in it. This is between me and Morig. Not worth your concern."

"......"

"Yet you still look frightened."

"......"

"Are you afraid of me now too?"

When he reached out, Adelheid flinched without thinking.

Valentin's face hardened as he caught her chin and lifted it. His voice came through clenched teeth, anxious. "Don't pull away. Please."

She barely managed to raise her ashen face to meet his eyes.

Even in the dim carriage, his gaze burned with unnatural clarity. Like meeting the eyes of a beast rather than a man.

Suddenly, a passage from an old theology text surfaced in her mind.

The Dragon of Bitzleben is both calamity and apocalypse to mankind. Those who behold him are destined for misfortune.

She had never felt the chilling truth of those words so viscerally until today.

Before, she'd thought them the product of ancient peoples witnessing tsunamis and earthquakes, imagination layered onto natural disasters. After knowing Valentin, she'd dismissed the accounts as exaggerated records.

But now—after seeing 'Morig.' After witnessing the power of his twin, his replicated half.

Those hands of light crawling over people's heads. The horror of that sight would haunt her until death.

And in that moment, Adelheid understood something else.

Perhaps both 'Valentin' and 'Morig' would simply stand by and watch if mere humans were swept away by their power.

'Just as tsunamis and storms show no mercy for human circumstances.'

Valentin watched her trembling eyelids, then smiled faintly.

"If I'd known you'd be this frightened, I should have kept you safely in Ansgar Castle."

How she wished that had been possible. Since leaving Ansgar Castle, everything had been slowly unraveling into chaos.

Adelheid struggled to find words, then smiled with an expression caught between tears and laughter.

"How could I? His Majesty summoned us..."

"Just keep doing that."

At his unexpected answer, she looked at him. Valentin continued matter-of-factly, "Pretend you see nothing, hear nothing. Live a human life. Nothing will change. I promise."

Ironically, his words first brought to mind something the Valentin of the past had once told her.

That he wanted her to live life fully. That he wished to see what kind of life she'd wanted badly enough to abandon everything for.

In truth, she wasn't the one who should have heard those words from him.

Adelheid clenched her fists. The anxiety felt like treading on thin ice that might crack at any moment.

"...You're skilled at hiding things, Valentin."

"......"

"So you never truly tell me anything I need to know."

Valentin's eyes widened at her candid statement. Then he smiled, as if to soothe her.

"Don't you remember? I promised to tell you everything honestly once you're ready."

"By then, you might deceive me with lies."

The words shot out before she could stop them. Adelheid bit her lip hard.

She'd known all along that Valentin hid much from her, and that what he did reveal was minimal.

Still, she'd managed to stay by his side—not because of some flimsy promise, but because she'd believed in what he'd shown her.

She'd judged that at least Valentin's affection for her was something she could trust.

But looking back on today, she realized she knew nothing about him at all.

Even the affection she'd believed he'd given her—those were merely fragments he'd offered at his whim.

'It was never mine to begin with.'

Valentin watched her expressionless face, then suddenly grasped her hand and pulled her toward him.

"Still, keep believing in me."

He laid her across the seat as she lost balance, then entwined his large hand rather roughly with her small, delicate fingers.

In the darkened carriage with drawn curtains, his golden eyes curved with mischief.

"This life is already too late anyway."

Adelheid looked up at him through tear-dampened eyes. The moment she was held in his arms, a surprisingly deep sense of relief washed over her.

Her mind knew this was wrong. Yet she felt like she could finally breathe again.

Her heart pounded warnings. Adelheid ignored them and asked, "And when this life ends?"

"Then I'll have to prevent you from escaping."

"...See? There you go again... Lying."

"By whatever means necessary."

He answered firmly and kissed her fingers. Absurdly, all the anxiety in her head flew away with that touch.

Adelheid gazed at the clean stone path leading to the hunting grounds and the ornamental trees stretching along both sides.

The scenery was beautiful beyond compare, yet she felt oddly unmoved by it.

The fact that the Emperor spent more than half the year at the Schwarzwald hunting grounds, that he maintained them like a temple—this was such stale scandal it no longer qualified as gossip.

Every attempt to consolidate imperial power had been blocked. Even the military authority he'd barely held had been seized by the Ernst family.

His plan to stabilize his reign by taking a woman from that family as Empress had only half-succeeded. For more than a decade since, the Emperor had lived like a man who'd given up on life itself.

The handful of ministers in the Emperor's faction handled the aftermath, barely managing to keep things from complete collapse...

Meanwhile, the Emperor hated the Crown Prince—the Empress's son—more than anything in the world.

Perhaps fearing his own meager power would crumble as the boy matured, the Emperor engaged in endless interference and petty jealousy under every excuse imaginable.

And when hunting season arrived, he would retreat to Schwarzwald for months at a time with young boys in tow.

If such a place isn't beautiful, what place in this world could be?

"Halt."

As they approached the hunting grounds, soldiers with spears blocked the carriage's path.

The knight who appeared highest in rank approached the window.

"This area is restricted. Have you brought an invitation?"

Valentin silently produced a paper from inside his coat. The knight received it with both hands, examined it, then responded with almost embarrassing deference.

"Ah! His Grace the Grand Duke of Ansgar. We didn't recognize you without emblems on the carriage. You may pass."

At the knight's gesture, the soldiers blocking the road hastily withdrew.

They traveled a short distance further before reaching a clearing where tents had been erected everywhere.

The carriage came to a complete stop. Adelheid carefully descended onto the grass, holding Valentin's hand.

As she looked around, the Emperor's chamberlain hurried over and bowed respectfully.

"I'll guide Their Graces to the tent prepared for your use."

In the clearing at the hunting grounds' entrance, tents stood resplendent where nobles would stay for three days.

Women already dressed appropriately for the hunt were visible here and there.

Groups of people gathered in threes and fives, laughing merrily, and from the distance came the cheerful sound of a minstrel plucking a lute.

The chamberlain stopped before a massive tent closest to the Emperor's own.

"You may use this one."

Inside the tent, carpets were laid, and she could see a luxurious bed, a portable table, chairs, and other furnishings.

It looked like a modest transplant of a palace chamber. The chamberlain quickly spoke up.

"If Her Grace prefers, we can escort you to the villa."

The villa? At her puzzled look, the chamberlain hastily added, "Although it's a hunt, some noblewomen cannot endure camping outdoors. There's a villa nearby that His Majesty uses each hunting season. We've prepared it fully for your comfort."

Just then, Valentin gripped her hand tightly.