MHHC Chapter 90

Sin and Punishment

"……."

"You have a tendency to believe every word whispered in your ear at face value. Even after rolling through the lowest depths a human can reach, you remain naive."

"……."

"The new Pope will interpret the delivered oracle correctly. Based on that, I intend to issue a subjugation order. In place of my father, who has collapsed unconscious."

Subjugation order? At those words, her heart dropped like a stone. The situation was spiraling utterly beyond control.

Was this what Lady Bathildis had been trying to warn her about? Adelheid lifted her tear-filled eyes. She forced her trembling lips to move.

"I don't understand why Your Highness is doing this."

"Do you need a reason?"

"Are you truly doing this because you love me?"

"Love?"

Mikhail's mouth twisted upward as though he'd heard something utterly ridiculous.

"If I'd wanted to possess you, I would have bound you like this long ago and kept you in my chambers."

"……."

"A woman stained with infamy—not worth picking up. That's what you've always been."

"……."

"I'm rather fond of this shell I'm wearing, and by human conventions, you're a woman who must never be joined with this 'shell,' no matter what."

"……Then why on earth……."

"Because that bastard coveted you."

The base malice in that inflection—

"The nameless bastard who's been enjoying what should have been born to me as though it were his own—how dare he, not knowing his place."

"……."

"That bastard should feel what it's like to have something stolen from him, too."

Adelheid looked at him with contempt. Even horror couldn't be this repulsive.

Even baseness shouldn't sink to such depths.

Further conversation was meaningless. Just as Adelheid tried to summon her mana to forcibly break Mikhail's magic—

"……!"

In an instant, Mikhail's body staggered as though struck by something.

He grimaced and lowered his head.

"What is this now."

Betitha. She must have heard Adelheid's scream and come running.

The tiny child threw her small body at Mikhail with all her strength.

Her young face flushed entirely red. If she could have made sound, she would have let loose a thunderous scream.

Her tightly clenched fist struck Mikhail's thigh repeatedly.

"Ah."

His lips twisted with bitter amusement.

"So this is the beggar brat you took in?"

He grabbed Betitha by the scruff of her neck and lifted her, dangling. The child choked and gasped—the sight was pitiful. Adelheid's face went white as paper.

"Betitha!"

Was there nowhere left to retreat? Fierce mana surged from Adelheid's body, shattering Mikhail's spell.

In the instant he faltered, caught off guard, Adelheid rushed forward and snatched Betitha from his hands.

She stared straight into his eyes and snapped:

"I'm leaving for the sanctuary right now."

"No. You'll be confined in the palace dungeons."

"Why should I obey? I have the power to choose my own future now."

"Adelheid, you naive child."

Mikhail laughed as though he'd heard an amusing joke. Then he narrowed his eyes.

"You seem to believe I've been treating the 'Nameless One' unjustly, but I've shown him patience in my own way."

"……."

"Divinity is power born from people's faith. And faith requires no truth."

"……."

"What if people began to believe the 'dragon' is no longer divine? If the 'dragon' became known as something falsely claiming sanctity, defiling the sacred grounds?"

She barely managed to blink.

"If you flee to the sanctuary, Adele—I will spread rumors that the dragon dwelling there is wicked. The Grand Temple will lead the charge in denouncing the dragon. Because that's what power does."

"……."

"And after that? Perhaps I'll kill people and arrange their corpses around the sanctuary's perimeter. So that every moment you eat, drink, sleep, and breathe becomes unbearable. So the stench climbs over the sanctuary's high walls."

"……."

"The 'Nameless One' will never understand. Why you're withering. Why his divinity is fading…"

How long had he been planning this? The more seamlessly Mikhail's words flowed, the more Adelheid's revulsion reached its extreme.

"So that was it."

She pressed down hard on her trembling arms.

"That's why you imprisoned him in the sanctuary. So people could no longer see or feel the 'dragon.' So his existence would become like a mirage, a legend, a story from ancient folklore."

So people could abandon him easily, feeling no guilt whatsoever…

"Yes."

What appeared on Mikhail's face was, astonishingly, deep satisfaction. He seemed pleased that someone understood his vile scheme, that he could discuss it. Fury glinted cold in Adelheid's eyes.

"You truly believe he'll still keep his 'promise' after all this? The 'promise' relies entirely on Valentin's goodwill, doesn't it?"

"……Valentin?"

Mikhail's eyes narrowed like a serpent's. The vile joy that had glittered there vanished in an instant.

"You've given the 'Nameless One' a name. Out of mere pity."

"Not pity. I…"

"Do not recklessly pledge your feelings toward a non-human being, Adelheid."

Mikhail's voice became impossibly soft. Adelheid instinctively stepped back, clutching Betitha tightly to her chest. He approached her slowly.

"And you think he'll keep his promise? You can't possibly be that naive. The only thing I trust, Adelheid, is you."

"……."

"You're not the type to abandon someone just to live comfortably yourself. Foolishly, consistently—you've always thirsted for people's affection and approval."

His method of speaking was insidious. He peeled away the shell she'd built to seem strong, dug down to the softest, most painful part, and hammered it with chisel and nail.

It was a kind of conditioning that had been repeated since early childhood.

'If you have no ability, at least be gentle in speech and good in character. You must know how to care for others. Don't be so stubborn.'

'Fifth Princess has not a single endearing quality, I tell you.'

Not lovable, so love could not be given. Not good, so she had not been born with mana and power.

'That thing' was no different from livestock to be sold off at any time for the royal family's prosperity.

The endless yoke of original sin that had been placed around her neck from birth.

She'd lost herself for just a moment. In that instant, Mikhail's knights tore Betitha from Adelheid's arms as though peeling away flesh.

"Wait, wait……! Betitha!"

Adelheid resisted with all her strength, but for a fledgling mage who'd only just awakened, it was futile.

She was immediately forced to her knees, arms bound, as though thrown to the ground.

Adelheid looked directly at the faces of the knights restraining her. Among them was Joachim.

Her eyes blazed blue, the way one looks at something utterly loathsome.

"Do you think you'll escape unscathed after this? His Majesty will never forgive you."

"Ah. No need to worry about him. He'll be dead soon enough."

Adelheid's eyes widened. For a moment she couldn't believe what she'd heard. Most shocking of all was the knights' reaction—or lack thereof—to Mikhail's treason.

"……What, how can you, such mad……."

Adelheid's breathing grew ragged. Her slender body trembled finely with shock.

Mikhail walked slowly until he stood directly before her, then bent at the waist and grasped her chin.

The leisurely gaze that met hers sent chills down her spine.

"My sister. I can offer you only one mercy. Admit all guilt at your trial and accept confinement."

"……."

"If you do, I'll stop everything. The subjugation order, the rumors about the 'Nameless One'—all of it."

Adelheid clenched her trembling hands. She had to stay calm. If this was an 'offer,' then room remained for negotiation—she could steer it to more favorable terms.

"……If I obey Your Highness's will without resistance, how long would the confinement last……."

"Until you die."

The moment Mikhail's firm voice fell like a sentence, Adelheid saw a vision of Valentin in the distant sanctuary.

Standing alone in the place they'd shared, waiting endlessly for her return.

"Until that bastard believes you've truly abandoned him."

The vision of a lonely dragon, imprisoned for life in the sanctuary he'd locked himself within—believing for ages that even she had forsaken him in the end.

"……."

A vicious trap. She could neither avoid nor ignore it. The moment she realized this, the fighting spirit that had boiled in her until moments ago guttered out like a doused flame.

Suddenly, a single tear dropped onto her cheek.

"How can I trust Your Highness will keep your word?"

"Beings like us don't make promises lightly. We feed on human faith, so if we betray that faith, our very existence becomes precarious."

"……."

"I promise. If you simply obey my will, I swear on this name of 'Morig' that I will not touch him."

"Why on earth…"

Her voice trembled pathetically. Adelheid gripped her skirt with her last shred of pride, determined not to show Mikhail her fear.

"What could Your Highness possibly gain from treating me this way?"

"Adele. This isn't about gaining anything. It's punishment for the 'Nameless One.'"

The 'Shadow' whispered, seated in satisfaction among ruins where acrid smoke rose.

"Punishment for breaking his promise and daring to covet something from the human world."