MHHC Chapter 66

Encroachment

"I..."

Her throat trembled faintly at the intuition that this would be shocking news. She barely steadied herself.

"I don't understand what Your Highness is asking me. You say there's something I should have heard from my husband?"

"Isn't His Majesty pursuing an annulment of your marriage to the Grand Duke?"

When Adelheid stared at him with utterly blank eyes, Mikhail clicked his tongue lightly. His narrowed gaze touched her face as if viewing something foolish or pitiful.

"You truly didn't know."

Her mouth went bone dry. Adelheid realized her palms had grown damp with perspiration.

Mikhail exhaled deeply and swept back the hair that had been disheveled by the wind.

"I assumed the Grand Duke would have explained this insane situation to you to some degree... Could it be that he's actually consenting to this annulment as well? If so, I've misjudged him."

Mikhail's cold voice held thick contempt for Valentin. Adelheid bit her lip in bewilderment.

She'd wrung and released her skirt fabric repeatedly. Whether she believed the Crown Prince's words or not, the story was so disconcerting she could only stand there stunned.

'If his words are true, since when?'

Thinking back, Valentin had grown extremely busy after they'd come to the capital.

Not only did he leave his place at night, but some days passed without her even glimpsing his face.

Even on the rare occasions he returned early, he was immediately summoned away by His Majesty's call.

'I can't trust it completely, but it's not entirely implausible either. The Crown Prince has no reason to lie to me about this.'

Her thoughts kept flowing in negative directions. The way he'd been desperate to hide everything, hadn't offered her proper explanations.

What if all of this had been a prelude to pushing her away?

'...He's not actually preparing a rebellion, is he?'

If Valentin were human rather than a monster, she might have mistaken this for him secretly agreeing with the Emperor's mad plan.

But why would 'he'? What advantage could consenting to an annulment possibly give him...?

'Perhaps he thinks those would be better conditions for fulfilling the first contract?'

At the thought that suddenly surfaced, she was seized with fear. An actual rebellion.

'If that's the case, I would have understood if he'd told me first. Come to think of it, we haven't had a proper conversation since I fell ill. Even now, I've only heard what the Crown Prince claims unilaterally.'

Perhaps it was a lie. Just as Adelheid's eyes were narrowing with suspicion, she barely managed to recall Charlotte's visit from a few days ago.

Her contemptuous voice and gaze as they rang sharply through the tent.

Holed up in this corner, she'd have no way of knowing how the outside situation was unfolding.

That cutting reproach, reconsidered now, had been entirely correct.

If Charlotte had known of this development from the start, Adelheid—hiding away and listening only to the Grand Duke's words while knowing nothing—must have looked foolish.

"Adelheid, your complexion."

She reflexively pushed away Mikhail's hand as he tried to support her.

That was half a learned wariness. Ever since she was very young, whenever the Crown Prince showed her even the slightest interest, Charlotte's bullying would intensify to an unbearable degree.

From before he was her fiancé, right up until Adelheid married and left for the north.

"I'm all right. Just a moment, dizziness... just came over me briefly."

She hadn't expected that old guarded habit to resurface the moment they met face to face again, but under the circumstances it was rather fortunate.

It let her appear composed despite her profound disconcertion.

Mikhail, who'd been staring down at his twice-rejected hand with resignation, forced a low laugh.

"You make me lower my hand with some frequency."

"I'm... inadequate, my apologies. But if I just... catch my breath... I'll be fine."

"No need for apologies. Take your time."

"If... what Your Highness has told me is true..."

Even as she gasped with dizziness, Adelheid continued speaking clearly.

"Even His Majesty cannot... break a sacred vow made before Morig... He certainly cannot... annul it. The Grand Cathedral won't stand idle."

"The Grand Cathedral seems to agree to some extent. Provided they can find a way to achieve annulment rather than divorce."

"..."

"After all, the story that Grand Duke Ansgar wanted Charlotte is rather famous. And my uncle would dig up every foundation of his own son if it meant laying a carpet beneath his cousin's feet."

Adelheid finally stopped gasping and replied calmly.

"Even so, my father, Count Reichenau, would never consent."

The Count's long-cherished dream had been to connect the imperial family and Reichenau through marriage ties.

No matter how desperately the Emperor pushed forward, it would be difficult without the Count's consent. But Mikhail shook his head as if that premise were mistaken.

"I wonder. He turned his back on my mother quite some time ago. You probably didn't know that."

"..."

"His Majesty is making efforts in all directions to transfer military authority to Ansgar through more legitimate means. Nearly everyone knows now that the pro-Emperor nobles are frantic to make him Crown Prince."

"..."

"And your father has always been sensitive to the flow of such power, hasn't he?"

"..."

"In any case, His Majesty apparently wanted to give Grand Duke Ansgar enough connections to establish himself comfortably in the capital. No one can match your sister in that regard."

Adelheid grasped even the reason he didn't bother adding. Moreover, because she's a powerful healer...

Charlotte's healing arts, born of 'Reichenau's' power, had grown stronger with each passing year, now reaching a level that even talented healers could scarcely achieve through a lifetime of effort.

She could instantly staunch even the gravest wounds and seal them closed.

Of course, using such great power left her bedridden for days afterward, but that was merely inside knowledge known only to a few.

Even those who'd once dismissed Reichenau's healing arts as exaggerated or unreliable rumors now praised Charlotte extravagantly after she'd saved a dying marchioness from death's door.

Thanks to this, Charlotte's standing among Denburg's nobility grew by the day. There was some curious interest in the sister known as 'Adelheid,' but favorable attention seemed rare, likely due to her inadequate abilities.

It was closer to a resurgence of rumors that Grand Duke Ansgar had been deceived into a fraudulent marriage.

She hadn't understood why such belated rumors were only now circulating, but if Mikhail spoke truly, it seemed the Emperor's people had deliberately spread them.

To diminish Adelheid's standing and achieve the goal of annulment more easily. And to hold the Count responsible, thereby promoting a marriage between Charlotte and the Grand Duke.

"How did the time slip away like this..."

While Adelheid remained lost in thought, the Crown Prince raised his head to observe the declining sun.

He clapped his hands once lightly, as if to refocus her attention.

"If we delay here any longer, we'll be late. Let's discuss the details on the way. My carriage appears ready."

"I'm grateful for your offer, but it's unnecessary, Your Highness."

"Didn't you have urgent business? Your carriage seems to have encountered difficulties in its preparation."

At the Crown Prince's words, Adelheid turned her head, following his gaze.

As Mikhail said, the black carriage bearing Grand Duke Ansgar's crest appeared to be struggling with the wheel replacement.

Given that four grown men were attached to it, checking even the undercarriage, some critical defect must have been discovered.

"If you don't hurry, you won't return before the evening banquet. If it's not an important matter, postpone it for another day."

Adelheid bit her lip, caught between choices.

If today's outing fell through like this, she might fail to obtain information about Greta.

She glanced back and forth between the Crown Prince's innocuous smile and the carriage, then asked as if making a momentous decision.

"Would it be acceptable to bring my maid and knight along?"

"That's entirely up to you. The road is long, so prepare quickly."

"I'm grateful for your consideration."

Adelheid bowed her head deeply and gestured toward Margaret, who'd been standing at a slight distance, watching anxiously.

In doing so, she failed to notice Mikhail firmly crushing underfoot a hand that had suddenly protruded from his shadow.

The Crown Prince's carriage belonged to the imperial household, and therefore even with a maid and knight accompanying her, they couldn't sit in the carriage seats.

Margaret sat beside the coachman, with all curtains drawn back, and knights from both the Crown Prince's retinue and Ansgar's followed before and behind the carriage.

When she'd thought she'd ride alone with the Crown Prince, she'd felt somewhat disconcerted, but Mikhail's manner—seemingly designed to completely preclude any action that might tarnish her honor—gradually reassured Adelheid.

'I'm exhausted.'

Whether from aftereffects of her morning magic practice, her entire body had remained languid.

Fearing she might fall asleep if she let her guard down, Adelheid bit the soft flesh inside her mouth, struggling constantly to stay awake.

Of course, outwardly nothing would have shown. Neither the magic nor the fatigue. Adelheid nervously touched the bracelet Valentin had given her, seized by premature guilt.

Whether aware of her underwater thrashing or not, Mikhail, who'd been silently observing her for some time, laughed shortly and spoke.

"Are you always this silent?"