Please forgive me for skipping greetings and getting straight to the point due to my urgency. I remember you said it was alright to send a letter whenever an unbearable situation arose.

Father Padre, a most peculiar thing has happened.

I presume you have heard that my husband, Grand Duke Valentin Karzu Albrecht von Ansgar, sadly became a visitor of no return on the battlefield. The news must have reached Falkenheim, as all of Denburg was in an uproar. As the Grand Duchess, I duly presided over the funeral.

It took three days for the Grand Duke’s coffin to tour the Ansgar territory, and two days to receive condolences. I stayed by the Grand Duke’s side throughout this period. That day was no exception.

Midnight. I remember hearing the bell toll. The fierce wind continuously battered the windows, making the priests’ nerves extremely on edge.

It’s overwhelming to explain the situation in detail. Everything happened very suddenly. The tightly closed windows shattered all at once, and a strong wind rushed in. The wind soon calmed, but an inexplicable tension lingered among us.

It was then that my husband awoke, taking a long, deep breath.

‘Adelheit.’

With a face still pale with death, my husband called my name. The instinctive fear that surged at that moment… no words can adequately describe it.

The people of Ansgar are quick to praise the miracle performed by the god Morig. But I am still afraid. It was clearly a lifeless body. I saw and felt that closer than anyone else. But what could I have said?

The roosters began to crow even in the middle of the night. Young livestock tremble before the Grand Duke. Though I should rightfully rejoice at my husband’s return to life, I, in my unworthiness, am troubled by persistent other thoughts.

When you see this letter, please come to Ansgar territory in Bitzleben as soon as possible…

“My lady.”

It was a sudden call. Adelheit was so startled that she accidentally knocked over the inkwell with her elbow. The spilled ink instantly blackened the parchment. Upon confirming that the writing had become an unreadable mess, Adelheit felt rather relieved.

She barely managed to raise her gaze to meet Valentin’s face. His pale lips trembled slightly.

“Your Grace. What brings you to my chamber at this hour?”

“Why… not come?”

A sorrowful reproach seemed to settle on Valentin’s sculpted face. It was only this morning that he had become able to imitate human speech even a little. Before that, all he could do was groan monotonously like an animal’s cry.

But suddenly, a proper conversation? Could it be a sign that his memories were returning?

Adelheit swallowed a damp breath.

“Where do you mean, Your Grace?”

“Yesterday, together, lay… laying down…”

He meant why she didn’t lie down with him in the bedchamber like yesterday. Since her husband’s mind had become like that of a young child after returning from death, it surely meant exactly what it sounded like. Like a child finding comfort in its mother’s embrace.

Nevertheless, Adelheit’s innocent cheeks quickly flushed red.

“Your Grace, our sharing of a bed is only allowed on days deemed auspicious by the priest. Yesterday was… because you were confused, but it’s not proper to continue.”

“…”

“Your Grace, you are accustomed to sleeping alone. Right now, you’re just after a great ordeal, so there might be some confusion in your memory…”

“Why…?”

“Pardon?”

Unable to find words appropriate for the situation, Valentin creased his elegant eyes and strode across the room. He grabbed Adelheit’s waist with a rough hand. Ignoring her shock, he lifted her lightly and pushed her to sit on the desk, which was now a mess of ink. The swept items fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

“This, this is…”

Adelheit’s beautiful face, shocked for a moment, quickly turned tearful. The dress she wore today was one of the few decent ones she owned. It had no patches and she had been taking good care of it, but now it was covered in ink and completely ruined.

“Don’t… cry.”

As Adelheit’s eyes contorted as if about to cry, he urgently cupped her cheeks. His beautiful face, hardly seeming human, drew very close. She quickly inhaled.

“Why…”

Why are you crying? Or why are you upset? Concern was fully readable in Valentin’s short words and expression. It was amusing. Originally, her husband was a man who found even brushing against her clothes horrifying.

If he had lost his memory, he should have forgotten her name as well. It was frustrating not knowing why Valentin, who had forgotten etiquette, memories, language, and even blood relations, was fixated only on her.

They had not even consummated their marriage yet. No matter how she thought about it, there was no reason for her husband to be so affectionate towards her.

‘Unless he’s not my husband.’

At this chilling supposition, Adelheit’s face turned pale in an instant. Seeing her pitiful appearance, Valentin’s golden eyes became as sweet as if filled with honey. They were close enough for their breaths to intertwine.

She quickly denied her own supposition. There couldn’t be two men in Denburg with such a sculptural appearance.

“Are… you… afraid… of me?”

Adelheit, who had been reflexively shaking her head, suddenly came to her senses. No matter if he was her husband, allowing a man into her chamber without the priest’s permission was against the norms.

“You must go back now. If the servants or guards were to see…”

His strong hand desperately grasped her struggling arm. With his other hand, he undid the firmly fixed hair ornament, causing her hair, like spun gold thread, to cascade down below her waist. Seeming satisfied with her disheveled appearance, Valentin smiled like a picture.

“No… more.”

Affection dripped like the juice of overripe figs. The man’s firm and massive frame pressed closer to her. As his face approached, Adelheit closed her eyes in trepidation. However, nothing she had prepared for happened.

‘…What?’

Adelheit’s eyes, barely open to a slit, saw Valentin’s chin. Hot breath scattered over her forehead. He seemed to be gently tracing her face with his lips. Perhaps he was savoring her scent. Forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, soft cheeks and chin… and finally, lips.

“…”

His lips, which had been pressed close as if about to devour her, stopped with just a slight gap. As if satisfied with just stealing the edge of her breath. As if that was the reward he had desired all his life.

“My… wife…”

A cool intelligence gleamed in Adelheit’s eyes, which had been lowered submissively. Although still confused, she could be certain of one thing.

Her husband had changed. And quite seriously at that.

* * *

“Who are you?”

The first time she faced her husband without a veil was immediately after entering the bridal chamber. As soon as she removed the thick veil that had covered her face throughout the wedding vows, Valentin Ansgar said that, as if dumbfounded. Adelheit felt a vague terror as the man’s handsome face contorted in an instant.

“I am… Adelheit.”

“I’m not asking for your name, but why you are here. Where’s the bride? Where’s Charlotte?”

“I, I’m sorry, but the bride you married today is me…”

Adelheit bowed her head deeply, trembling all the while. As the silence lengthened, what little courage she had disappeared moment by moment. She didn’t have the confidence to face the man’s anger.

Eventually, Valentin rose from the bed and roughly grabbed her chin, lifting it.

“You say you’re my bride? How dare you pull such a farce in front of me?”

Adelheit’s pale green eyes filled with terror.

The man’s, now her husband’s, anger was justified. What he had wanted from the beginning was not Adelheit, the half-blood count’s daughter, but the beautiful and strong Charlotte.

“It’s just as I said. I am the second daughter of Count Reichenau.”

“You say you’re Count Reichenau’s daughter? Didn’t the count have only one daughter?”

In fact, almost everyone except a select few believed this. Her existence had been kept strictly secret by Count Reichenau from the moment of her birth.

Adelheit barely swallowed words she couldn’t bring herself to utter. Meanwhile, Valentin scrutinized Adelheit from head to toe with sharp eyes.

It was a very blatant gaze, as if pricing a fish displayed at a market stall.

“Are you a healing mage too?”

Adelheit bit her pale lips in shame. The women of Reichenau are rarely born with powerful healing magic. Her half-sister Charlotte, born to the Countess, was a lady among ladies who had awakened as a healing mage.

In contrast, she was the daughter of a nameless maid. If she had been born with healing magic, her circumstances might have been different, but unfortunately, Adelheit had no power at all.

Naturally, what Valentin wanted, even going so far as to pay off the enormous debt of the Reichenau family, was Charlotte, not Adel. However, the Count had no intention of handing Charlotte over to the Grand Duke’s family.

The first daughter was coveted by the Crown Prince. She was too precious to be given to a mere northern barbarian. It was under these circumstances that the half-blood Adelheit was chosen as the bride.

It was clearly a fraudulent marriage, but there was nothing Adel could do. She too had been dragged to the wedding venue.

“Dreadful.”

Having guessed all this from her silence, Valentin glared at Adelheit with terrible eyes and then left the bridal chamber.