MHHC Chapter 84

Your Meaning

Curious. Adelheide's pale green eyes widened. She didn't understand why those words made her heart drop with such a jolt.

"..."

At first, she forgot her place and felt her heart flutter, but soon she let out a bitter laugh.

Everything was absurd.

Her lonely life, the fact that the first tender words she'd ever heard came not from a human, and even her own heart—rejoicing so wretchedly at the words of this being whose identity she didn't even know.

'As if it truly didn't matter who it was.'

Words she'd once longed desperately to hear felt utterly hollow at this point. Her voice took on an edge.

"If you say such things, it causes misunderstanding."

[What do you mean?]

"That I... could have meaning to you..."

Answering as if entranced, Adelheide bit her lip firmly. It was a feeling that would only seem pitiful if expressed aloud.

Even if it was her very old longing—to become someone precious to another person.

From those words alone, the man seemed to have grasped her entire heart.

Since he could read 'consciousness' itself, he might have perceived even the parts she hadn't spoken.

Adelheide startled and raised her head when she suddenly sensed the man had drawn very close.

'He has no shadow, so I didn't notice him approaching. I can't sense his presence at all...'

The man hesitated slightly, then reached out with extreme care. He held her face so she couldn't look away.

[Your emotions are difficult to understand. Do you want me as someone to embrace you?]

She tried to push his hand away, but he wouldn't be moved.

As her intimate desires were laid bare in explicit language, shame surged through her more intensely than ever before.

"..."

From the beginning, it could have been anyone. No, it felt like anyone would be fine—as long as it wasn't this rude man before her.

Adelheide glared at him, then gave up and spoke in resignation.

"Please refrain from peering into my heart so freely."

His face took on an expression as if he might burst into laughter at any moment.

He reached out and traced his thumb across her soft lips and tender cheeks. Then he swept down as if caressing along her ear, nape, small rounded shoulders, and down to her elbows.

"..."

He seemed to find her existence somewhat curious. His gaze followed his hand, then he suddenly raised his head.

Their eyes met again.

[Normally this would be bothersome, so why do you seem pretty to me?]

"..."

[Is it because your consciousness is brazen? Or perhaps because it's admirable that you'd give me a name even after seeing me?]

"..."

[Or maybe it's because unlike the humans before, you're small and soft.]

The voice transmitted directly into her mind seemed to carry a faint trace of laughter.

"The humans before you mean..."

[They were all tall enough to reach my chin, with rigid frames. I thought humans only came in that variety.]

"..."

[You're small, as if you'd melt away softly if swallowed.]

A warm light appeared in his golden eyes. His 'will' seemed tinged with admiration and a low sound.

It felt exactly as if he desired her, and even forgetting the situation, her breath rushed hot. Even though that couldn't be.

'Has he truly never seen a human woman before?'

Come to think of it, guarding the sanctuary had always been the domain of male priests through the generations.

Even provisions came only once a month. It was a place that extremely restricted human entry.

So if he had lived here alone all this time, it made sense he'd never seen a woman.

'Then he must surely be a dragon, so why does he pretend otherwise?'

Though he must have heard her distinct doubt, the man didn't respond to that.

[Tending the temple requires magic. Without magic, you cannot endure here.]

"If I cannot endure..."

[The basin water has already dried up, hasn't it?]

At those words, she turned her gaze back toward the basin.

She'd only thought about how to draw clear spring water, never realizing that maintaining it required magic.

She could only blink, speechless.

[Everything else will be the same. The lights that come on each evening still operate on remaining magic. Since you have no magic, everything will soon become inconvenient. Human survival requires much effort—you'll be at a severe disadvantage.]

Her pale green eyes dimmed for a moment. The day she'd decided to take lifetime vows as a priest.

She remembered the high priest's face as he gleefully announced the sanctuary priest position was vacant. She remembered her own self, thinking she finally had a purpose and feeling grateful.

'They'd actually planned to discard me from that moment.'

It would have been the best choice for the royal family.

They couldn't keep her in the palace once she came of age, and no noble would want her as a wife...

Yet to cast her completely outside would waste the noble blood she carried—half 'Bathildian,' half 'Nürnberg,' from precious families.

So they'd lock her in a suitably presentable prison, hoping she'd die of illness at a suitable time.

For that purpose, they'd planned to have her—magicless—take vows at the sanctuary.

And the moment they realized the Crown Prince's feelings were not ordinary, they simply accelerated that plan...

[Shall I awaken your magic?]

At the sudden proposal, Adelheide blinked in bewilderment. She'd missed what she just heard for a moment. Magic... he would give her?

"Wh-what do you..."

Words tumbled out in her urgency.

She quickly grasped his hand before he could retract his words. She forgot who he was, even whether her action was rude or not.

"C-can you truly do that? Do I have magic?"

[If you wish it. Though there will be a price.]

"Whatever I must pay, I'll pay it willingly. Even if it's anything at all."

[The price isn't something you pay now. It will be engraved on your soul. However... yes.]

"..."

[For now, I'd like you to give me a name and tell me more about humans.]

If that was all the price required, she could pay it a thousand times over. She nodded hurriedly.

"If it's something I can do, I truly will do anything."

[One warning—many things may change from now. Your mindset, or anything else.]

Adelheide nodded that it didn't matter, then looked directly at him, struck by a sudden sense of dissonance.

Only then did she realize she was about to enter a kind of 'contract.'

And one that would be engraved on her soul, no less.

"...Have you made such an offer to the other priests before?"

[The priests?]

He tilted his head as if he didn't understand why she would suddenly ask such a thing.

Then, perhaps reading her wariness, his lips curved smoothly into a smile.

[Would I have given the same choice to those priests when they weren't you?]

Adelheide felt unsettled by the fact that even though his laughter echoed in her mind, his lips never parted in the slightest.

Only then did she properly recognize the situation she was in. Impossibly sacred, yet far beyond human comprehension...

[Now choose.]

Before I change my mind. Was it her imagination? She thought she heard those words faintly.

In that moment, she forgot to weigh things carefully.

"I don't care what price I pay."

[Is that so?]

The man's golden eyes disappeared into a smooth smile. His narrowed gaze looked pleased.

He gently lifted her chin. At the end of their confused meeting of eyes, he tilted his head at an angle.

Frozen with startled eyes, Adelheide couldn't bear it when his lips drew very close and squeezed her eyes shut.

Amusement threaded through his will.

[You need to open your mouth to receive and swallow the magic.]

She opened her lips in confusion. Soon, his lips and hers met softly.

He skillfully stole every held breath and returned it with his own.

"Ah..."

Through her parted teeth like a sigh, a refreshing energy flowed in gently.

She felt the energy gathering firmly below her navel. It was hot, as if a small furnace had formed inside her body.

Adelheide's eyes flew open in that moment. In her vision—now able to perceive magic for the first time—she saw clusters of light rising to embroider the dim room.

It was a sight beautiful enough to blind her.

"Ngh."

Tears spilled down her cheeks, beyond any control.

A salty, sour taste traveled along their entangled lips. The magic flowing gently through his breath was movingly tender.

As she panted, he gently swallowed her lips again, laughing into her mouth.

She felt so embarrassed she wanted to cover her face. Her expression must have been terribly distorted.

"Ah."

When their lips finally parted, Adelheide felt the tremendous power that had settled within her.

She could feel the magic dwelling in the world with every single breath. Now it was possible.

She barely lifted her tear-soaked face to look at the man. Her entire body trembled with ecstasy.

[Now you must give me a name.]

Her god whispered.

"Valentin."

Adelheide barely opened her mouth.

"I will call you Valentin."

From that day on, Valentin began staying at the priests' quarters.

The bed in the quarters was wide enough for two, and chairs and dishes were already prepared in pairs, so there was no need to prepare anything new.

"Must we... really stay so close together?"

Before they first shared a bed, Adelheide was flustered, but she had no choice but to retreat when reminded that she'd agreed to teach him everything about humans.

He was her new law.

From that day, they shared every aspect of life. They tended the vegetable garden together, read books, and sometimes when she dozed off, he lent her his shoulder.

'Because he's a dragon, because he simply doesn't know things, because a mere human couldn't possibly inspire feelings in him...'

The anguish was always Adelheid's alone. Secretly nurturing desire as she looked at him, sometimes unable to close her gaping mouth at the sight of his bare body.

[Did you sleep well?]

Every early morning when she opened her eyes to find him gazing at her, her heart would drop.