MHHC Chapter 89

Truth and Lies

"Forget the sanctuary and Betitha."

Adelheid's elegant eyes twisted with the faintest distortion.

In such a distant, formal relationship as theirs, even the kindest counsel tended to breed resentment first.

All the more so when delivered with such brutal force—no consideration, no explanation.

"……."

Adelheid gathered her composure and clasped her hands together demurely.

Twenty years of degrading treatment in the imperial palace had carved patience into her bones.

"I understand your warning. Going forward, I'll conduct myself with greater care…"

"Do you not grasp the situation? This isn't something that can be resolved through careful conduct on your part."

Nadia stamped her foot in frustration. Adelheid met her defiance with equal force.

"No matter what you say, I cannot simply abandon everything and leave. I am a priest in the middle of her vows. In five days, I must return to the sanctuary."

"The sanctuary is impossible. The situation will spiral completely out of control."

"Out of control? Nadia, what exactly do you know?"

"That's…… something I cannot tell you."

Nadia bit her lip as though the words were physically impossible to speak. Adelheid's eyes narrowed to slits.

"If you cannot share everything you know, then lukewarm warnings are worse than useless."

"……I did warn you."

Nadia shook her head and opened a 'door.' She'd clearly judged further conversation pointless—Adelheid would not be persuaded.

Before the vertical tear in reality, Nadia turned back. She raised one finger to deliver a final warning when—

"Please remember. At least because we're cousins, I…"

Her words cut off. Her eyes went wide and round, frozen.

She looked utterly shocked, as though struck by an unexpected blow. Adelheid's confusion matched Nadia's alarm—

"Oh…… good, Lord…"

The rift that had opened in the air tore wider, left and right, and from within it an arm suddenly thrust out.

The hand groped through empty space and snatched Nadia with brutal efficiency. The sight was bizarre beyond words—grotesque. The hand closed around Nadia's throat with crushing force.

"Urk, hkk……."

"Unnecessary meddling, Nadia."

A voice, low and sinking with fury.

From the first syllable, Adelheid recognized the owner of that hand. Crown Prince Mikhail.

She watched with startled eyes as the rest of Mikhail's body emerged piece by piece through the tear.

His face—blank with a rage so blue it had frozen into expressionlessness—then his shoulders, waist, thighs, legs, feet…….

"How, how did you… My abil, ity……."

Nadia, pale as plaster, struggled in Mikhail's grip, but he gave no quarter.

At last he stood fully formed, free of the rift.

His voice dropped into Nadia's ear with mockingly elegant softness.

"'Magic' is not your exclusive domain, Nadia."

"……Your, Your Highness. I, I never meant to……."

Adelheid stared at Nadia with stunned eyes.

When had she ever seen the kingdom's Grand Mage—always so confident—grovel like this? Even if he was the crown prince and future king, such abject submission seemed excessive.

"I'll overlook it once, but know there will be no second mercy."

"Of, of course, I'll rem, remember……."

When Mikhail released her throat, Nadia clutched her trembling body with both hands and bowed her waist frantically.

Then she staggered through the open rift and vanished.

"……."

"……."

At last Mikhail straightened his spine and turned to face Adelheid.

His green eyes resembled a portrait painted over with layer upon layer of colors—thick, chaotic, unreadable.

In those eyes she sensed grasping obsession, fury, and paradoxically, a strange exultation.

"Adelheid. My sister."

A smile—impossibly smooth—curved across Mikhail's lips.

When he spoke her name and stepped forward, Adelheid instinctively retreated. My sister?

Mikhail had never once addressed her that way in twenty years.

Moreover…… that atmosphere. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed, but Mikhail's entire presence had transformed.

In only fifteen days. Was that enough time for a human being to change at the root?

Unless he possessed an 'ability' and had lived through those tedious, repetitive years in their entirety…….

'Morig.'

A name surfaced in Adelheid's mind. In that instant, she cried out with a sharpness that startled even herself.

"Do not come closer."

At her warning, Mikhail stopped and let out a short, empty laugh.

"Are you giving me an order? Me?"

"No matter that you are the crown prince, Your Highness has committed a gross discourtesy. Are you not aware that the temple strictly forbids the use of 'doors' without the High Priest's permission?"

Even at her sharp accusation, Mikhail watched her with eyes whose depths could not be read. She bit her lip and spoke again.

"No matter how ignorant I may be, I know that interfering with magic in progress can warp the caster's mana. Lady Bathildis could have been harmed. If His Majesty the Emperor learns of this……."

"Mana."

He cut through her building explanation with a single word.

Only then did she notice that the smile had completely vanished from Mikhail's face.

His expression twisted with something like disbelief—devastation, even.

Mikhail drew a sharp breath into his pale face, then exhaled the words:

"You have it now, Adele."

His voice carried forced leisure, but his actions betrayed him. Mikhail closed the distance before Adelheid could retreat again.

His outstretched hand seized her wrist like a barricade cutting off escape.

Adelheid's eyes sharpened instantly.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What am I doing? That's what I should be asking you."

"You're, you're hurting me. Let go of my……."

As he tightened his grip around her wrist, a moan escaped her lips unbidden.

It felt as though the bone might snap.

What came next was even more shocking. With his free hand, Mikhail brutally tore open the buttons fastening her priestly robes.

Adelheid screamed in horror.

"……Your, Your Highness!"

She thrashed desperately to escape him, but Mikhail subdued her slender body with practiced efficiency.

His hands were merciless as they ripped away the fabric at her collar.

Green eyes—venomous as a serpent—slowly traced the exposed skin revealed between the torn robes.

"Hah."

Adelheid's body was a ruin. Skin that should have been pale was mottled with bite marks, covered in bruises where she'd been sucked and gnawed.

It would have been easier to find a place without teeth marks. Mikhail's expression twisted with something like devastation.

"You've grafted yourself to him already."

"……."

"To become this ugly and defiled…"

As his hand traced every mark on her body, his grip slackened as though struck dumb.

Adelheid didn't miss the opening—she shoved Mikhail away with all her strength. He stumbled back with surprising docility.

Perhaps 'too stunned to hold on' was the more accurate description.

At last Mikhail's expression settled into something cold.

"I should have noticed sooner. From the moment time began repeating itself for over a year."

Adelheid stared at him with shocked eyes.

That statement was tantamount to admitting he was 'Morig.' He no longer seemed to care about hiding it.

"I…"

Adelheid gasped for breath as she clutched the torn front of her robes together.

Her entire body trembled with an emotion she couldn't name—fury or fear—but she could not afford to collapse in tears.

"If you have nothing more to say, I'll take my leave. Next time we meet, please observe proper courtesy. Though there won't be a next time."

She spat the words at him and turned to leave quickly.

She had to escape this place before anyone saw her in this wretched state. Behind her back, Mikhail's calm voice arrived:

"You cannot return to the sanctuary. Your vows will be annulled."

At those words, Adelheid's steps froze. She raised eyes filled with hatred to look at him.

"This was approved by His Majesty the Emperor. Even the crown prince cannot revoke it now."

"Is that so? I'm not certain the sanctuary should house a priest who has lost her purity."

Pure sophistry. When had purity ever mattered?

Mikhail watched Adelheid's defiant face, then suddenly smiled.

"A new oracle has been received."

"……."

"It declares that something wicked, falsely claiming divinity, has nested in the sanctuary—defiling the primordial dragon and desecrating the sacred."

At that endless slander, Adelheid's heart plummeted.

Valentin. He was speaking of him. Adelheid clenched her trembling fists and protested.

"The dragon in that place is not wicked. You know that better than anyone, don't you? Because you are his Shadow……."

At the word 'Shadow,' Mikhail's eyes glinted with cruel amusement.

"You know much about the 'Nameless One,' it seems, Adelheid."

Simultaneously, Adelheid felt the air around her grow heavy, constricting her entire body.

As though submerged in deep water, her limbs became sluggish and weighed down. Magic to restrain movement.

Frozen in place, able only to blink, Adelheid watched as Mikhail walked slowly forward. He took a strand of hair that had fallen over her shoulder and held it with tender cruelty.

"So—do you think everything he told you is the truth?"