After Valentin’s revival, the biggest change Adele felt was the attitude of the servants and the guards.

Previously, the courtesy they reluctantly showed her was barely something to be grateful for, but now they displayed a rather polite demeanor. Of course, it was still only an outward show for the time being.

“Oh, at this hour, I wonder what kind of business…”

Even a slight delay in answering caused the stable keeper’s expression to change by the minute like this. In the past, he would have poured out grumbling remarks to her face, asking if she was trying to act like the mistress of the house.

‘Seeing this, they are quite simple-minded. Everything revolves around the logic of power, like among the barbarians.’

Adele adjusted her shawl to cover her nose and mouth and looked around. The pungent smell of horse dung with each breath was so strong that she almost missed the chilly wind outside.

“I came to look for something briefly. It won’t take long.”

“Then, if you tell me what you’re looking for, I will find it right away…”

The stable keeper followed closely behind Adele, as if he was afraid of being scolded.

Adele moved on as if she didn’t hear him. What was she looking for? Even she herself didn’t know the answer yet. She just had an instinctive feeling that she needed to check this place first, and a vague expectation that she would recognize some ‘sign’ at a glance.

“What kind of sudden thunderbolt is this, really…”

Ignoring the stable keeper’s dissatisfied gaze, Adele carefully looked around the large stable. From the stallion that groaned as if it only received dead days, to the newborn filly from a few days ago, to the haystack piled up like a mountain, she examined everything.

Ridiculously, the ominous feelings or signs she had expected were nowhere to be found. Only then did she finally straighten her back.

“I heard that the horses made a big fuss last night. Was there anything different from usual?”

“Ah, that was not a big problem from the beginning.”

Only then did the stable keeper’s expression lighten a bit.

“They seemed to be strangely startled by something they saw, but they quickly quieted down. When one got scared for no reason, the others followed suit and caused a commotion.”

“And there were no horses that were injured or attacked?”

“Yes, well. I don’t know if you know, but horses are naturally very timid. This kind of thing happens all the time. Especially in the winter when forest animals come down close to the village.”

At that moment, a pungent smoke drifted in through the open window. Adele approached the window where the smoke was seeping in, half-listening to the stable keeper’s words. Smoke was rising from the wide open space behind the castle, connected to the Regenbach forest.

“That is…”

“Ah.”

The stable keeper opened his mouth as if it was nothing significant.

“It seems there was an attack by a pack of wolves at the pasture. I heard that sheep died in droves.”

“…In a pack? Are they certain it was the work of wolves?”

“That’s what they say, but there are more than a few suspicious points. Normally, even if forest wolves are starving, it’s rare for them to attack a village, right? Even if they do, only one or two disappear, but this time, a dozen or so died at once.”

“…”

“The priests may hush it up and say it’s the work of wolves to prevent people from getting anxious, but it’s all a trick to cover their eyes. At a glance, it’s suspicious that it’s the work of demons, isn’t it?”

Animals don’t hunt more prey than they can handle. At the stable keeper’s added remark, Adele crossed her arms in front of her chest, hugging her elbows. Somehow, it felt eerie.

“Just seeing that the meat and entrails are intact, but the blood has completely disappeared, you can tell. Anyway, they’ve been diligently burning them since morning. If the rotting smell spreads, even non-existent demons will swarm like crazy.”

“…”

“Don’t worry too much. It may be rare in the south, but in the north, it’s something that happens every few years.”

Adele silently gazed at the dark smoke rising into the sky. As the stable keeper said, such incidents were commonplace in Bitzeleben. The northerners always lived close to death.

Life itself was dry, desolate, fierce, quarrelsome, sparking with molten iron, muddy, with barbaric behavior, fighting in chaos and then gathering cozily by the fire. At first, everything was terrible, but after about three years of this life, it became as familiar to her as her own flesh.

So she knew. Somehow, the ordinary daily life was constantly being distorted. An inexplicable ominous feeling kept rushing in incessantly.

‘Even if it’s clearly the work of demons, it’s strange.’

The highest Ansgar territory was close to the barrier, and it wasn’t unusual for one or two demons to occasionally flow in. Livestock or people were sometimes injured, but it was rare for them to cause trouble to this extent.

Getting closer to the castle where humans lived meant being exposed to the purifying power of Morig that much longer.

‘Normally, they can’t even cross Morig’s barrier, and even if they do, they would stagger and turn to ashes. Even if the barrier was slightly broken, there should have been some power left… Was there an exceptionally strong individual?’

Moreover, they couldn’t even find the ashes left behind after the demons were exterminated. If such a thing had been discovered, priests would have been summoned immediately and all sorts of commotions would have arisen, so there was no way she wouldn’t have known.

‘The assumption that can be considered is that the demons have not been caught yet, have not been exterminated, and are hiding somewhere…’

Adele nervously bit her lip.

‘How on earth?’

If there was nothing inside Ansgar Castle to replenish their power, they should have already…

“Your Highness!”

Lost in deep thought, Adele was startled by the voice calling her. Turning her head in the direction of the voice, a young messenger was standing at the stable entrance.

It was a boy the head butler kept by his side and cherished.

The boy, who frowned as much as he could at the terrible smell, hurriedly walked up to Adele.

“I heard you were here and had a hunch, but I didn’t expect you to actually be here. In the future, please go through me, Yannik, for such trivial matters.”

He had a tone that he absolutely could not tolerate her being so casually like this. His face was filled with indignation to the point that she felt embarrassed instead. She looked at the young messenger with slightly curious eyes.

Was it because he was still young, or because his ambition and desire for power were so great that he caught the head butler’s eye at such a young age? He seemed to be twice as flexible in changing his attitude compared to adults. Adele looked at the boy with curious eyes.

‘It’s not… unpleasant though.’

In any case, it wasn’t her own prestige, but her husband’s. Such a light power that would quickly disappear if Valentin favored another woman at any time.

Shaking off her thoughts, Adele asked Yannik with a worried look.

“What’s the matter? Is the head butler urgently looking for me? Or did His Highness have another fit?”

“Excuse me? No, it’s neither.”

“I told His Highness before I left… He may not have understood. I keep forgetting that communication hasn’t been easy recently.”

“Oh, that’s really not the case. The Grand Duke is regaining his former astuteness and vigor day by day. It’s all thanks to Your Highness, the Grand Duchess.”

He politely said that the Grand Duke didn’t cause a disturbance even in her absence. Adele made a gloomy face at the obvious flattery.

“It’s not my doing, His Highness was just flustered during that time. On top of that, the only familiar face he remembered was mine… He mistook everyone around him for strangers, so he felt more anxious.”

“As you said, as time passes, he is gradually calming down. The fact that he was able to recover this smoothly so far is entirely Your Highness’s merit, no matter what anyone says.”

The flattery flowed like water. Adele shook her head.

“I really didn’t do anything. Anyway, it’s fortunate that His Highness’s condition is rapidly entering a recovery phase. It was also against the law for me, who should only stay in the women’s quarters, to enter and leave His Highness’s bedchamber without the priest’s permission…”

“…Ah, um.”

“Yes?”

“The laws of the north are a bit different, but… No, no. Of course, Your Highness’s words are absolutely correct.”

“…”

“But still, please check on him first from time to time. He will be delighted.”

Who knows? It was uncertain. Unless his memory never returned, Valentin once found it repulsive to even brush sleeves with her.

Perhaps if he came to his senses, he would want to completely erase the memory of being obsessed with her even for a brief moment.

“Who knows? Anyway, from tonight, I will retire to my own room, so please inform the head butler.”

“Yes. Of course, the head butler will prepare without any disruption.”

Adele tilted her head. Prepare? For what? Was something changing? At Yannik’s words, Adele narrowed her eyes suspiciously. But he seemed to have no intention of telling her right now.

‘What on earth is he up to?’

Sighing, she casually turned her gaze and it landed on the corner of the stable. At first, she passed over it, but immediately looked back. Adele’s light green eyes widened instantly.

‘What is that?’

At first, she thought it was dust clumps moving in the wind. But upon closer inspection, it was a swarm of rats and spiders. They were moving in an orderly manner as if fleeing in a line.

“…”

As if a huge disaster was about to strike.

The moment she realized that, the horses in the stable suddenly started stamping their hooves. The stable keeper was startled and grabbed the reins of the raging horse, patting its neck.

“Whoa, whoa. What’s wrong all of a sudden? Calm down, calm down.”

The sound of the agitated horses snorting became more and more rough. Yannik, surprised, hastily stepped away from the entrance.

‘Demons roaming freely, dead animals, Grita’s unknown wounds, the resurrection of a corpse that was dead, Grita’s warning, and the old legend’s verse that the beasts would be the first to know.’

Was all of this really just a coincidental overlap? It could happen once or twice, but at this point, it was certain that there was something behind it. Adele suddenly raised her head.

Now, there was only one way to verify it.

“About the hunting dogs that the Grand Duke cherished and raised before, where are they now?”

* * *

In conclusion, not a single hunting dog managed to cross the threshold of the Grand Duke’s room. They were too busy tucking their tails and whimpering. They were all large in size, and even the well-built Yannik had a hard time holding them back against their strength.

The kennel master, worried that the precious dogs might get injured, hesitated for a while, and when Yannik let go of the leashes, he took all the dogs back to the hut.

“Adele.”

Adele, who was blankly staring in the direction the kennel master disappeared, was startled by the hand that tried to hug her from behind. Raising her shoulders sharply, she turned around to avoid his hand.

“…!”

However, Valentin looked more surprised by her rejection. He seemed to have not expected her to react so sensitively. The bewilderment in his golden eyes was clearly visible.

It was Adele who became embarrassed by that reaction. Feeling self-conscious for overreacting to nothing, she stammered an excuse.

“You, su, suddenly surprised me…”

“…”

“I apologize. I didn’t expect you to appear so suddenly.”