Young lady.

I was chosen early on to be a lady-in-waiting serving noblewomen, but I never learned to read or write. It was a time when even noblewomen guarding inner chambers were often illiterate. As a maid, it was enough to be good at embroidery, diligently do laundry, keenly observe superiors, and provide subtle assistance as if invisible.

The wise Laura tried to teach me letters several times, but I didn’t want to put in that much effort then. After working from dawn until my hands were blistered, I had just entered the inner chambers – how could I study without even warming my body by the fire? After I cried my eyes out, Laura promised with an embarrassed face never to force me again.

Now I’m left only with deep regret.

If I had known how to read and write, would he have broken my wrists too? He might have taken my eyesight. But at least I could have conveyed my words to you somehow, young lady.

Instead of being unable to do anything, just blankly watching over you with open eyes.

I’m still tied up that night. Whether I’m awake, lying down, eating, or living some semblance of daily life among the maids… I still feel his fingers clinging tightly to my neck. I feel the pressure choking me. I can’t even remember when I last slept since that night.

Don’t look at me like that, young lady. I’m fine…

Adelheit. There’s only one thing I want to tell you.

That sinister thing has bewitched everyone. It has bewitched you, young lady. Everyone is like blind men with open eyes. They don’t peek behind the curtain, they block their ears from the sounds. So you must flee. Far away from here.

You must take Oscar’s carriage. Before the moon rises again, before that thing’s wicked tricks take root in your soul.

Before it is nailed to you forever.

If you can’t do that, at least keep your distance from it. No matter how pitiful it acts, don’t look back, don’t listen to its voice, don’t give or receive anything.

This is all a catastrophe brought on by my complacency. It’s because of my stupidity in not recalling the prophecy.

Please, young lady. You must hear my voice. You would know just by looking at my face. You would feel it just by seeing my eyes. Even though I acted so terribly, we…

“Your Highness.”

It was a sudden voice. Adel, who had been carefully tucking Grita in, straightened up from her bent posture.

The head maid was standing at the doorway with her hands respectfully folded. Having been stuck in the room without even a single candle lit due to Grita’s anxiety, Adel slightly narrowed her dazzled eyes.

“What is it?”

“I apologize for the rudeness, but there is an urgent matter to discuss. His Grace the Grand Duke…”

“Discuss? Is His Grace not looking for me?”

“That is not the case, but it seems he is still feeling unfamiliar with the attendants serving him.”

“…”

“He coped well until yesterday, but today he seems particularly uncomfortable. Of course, as a lowly servant, I dare not presume to judge His Grace’s feelings, but…”

Adel understood everything the head maid left unsaid. Though he had not directly asked for her, he was requesting her to look in on him. Since he was someone who could have an anxiety attack at any moment…

“I understand.”

No sooner had Adel nodded slightly than Grita, who had been lying quietly in bed, suddenly sat up and tightly grasped the sleeve of her dress. Her grip was not just strong, but desperate.

“S… h…”

A wheezing moan escaped Grita’s lips. Adel could see Grita’s gentle face contorted in distress. Since injuring her throat, Grita often became anxious. Whether Adel was there or not…

“Your Highness.”

“I’m going.”

At the head maid’s urging, Adel carefully unfurled Grita’s fingers one by one. Though she felt uneasy, her imposed priorities were clear. She briefly kissed Grita’s trembling forehead.

“I’ll be back soon.”

After guiding Adel to the Grand Duke’s room, the head maid bowed politely and left. Left alone, there was a moment of silence. She zoned out briefly, then glanced towards the window at the sound of fireworks coming from outside.

The Ansgar domain had been in a festive mood for days. It was as if they had decided to receive all at once the compensation for enduring the past 3 years with the gates firmly closed while the lord was away at war. People clinked glasses together whenever they gathered.

‘Everyone is excited.’

Adel cooled her flushed cheeks with the back of her hand.

The people of Ansgar had become as generous towards Adel as their relaxed spirits. As she passed through the corridor, Ansgar’s long-standing retainers gave her warm greetings.

They offered her drinks so casually several times that she couldn’t refuse and only lightly touched her lips to the cup, but it seemed to have already affected her.

‘They needed an excuse to hold a festival, and the Grand Duke even came back alive…’

Originally, even if the lord had gone to war, they wouldn’t have needed to be this closed off, but Ansgar’s situation was different. In the Grand Duke’s absence, the ‘official’ role of protecting the castle fell to the lady of the house, Adelheit.

But she had not even received the key to the castle from her husband, and was merely a doll draped in the noble name of Ansgar’s Grand Duchess.

It would have been better if she were at least in a position to be shown off like a trophy or ornament. In reality, her situation was worse than a doll’s. Something broken and tattered, bought expensively without knowing its true value, an unwanted object.

It was the anger, mockery, and contempt she had prepared for since being forced to the wedding altar by her father’s con. The future of a woman without even her family’s protection was singular.

A life of trembling and clinging while trying to read her husband’s mood as if she didn’t exist. A life of being her father’s possession before marriage, then her husband’s possession after.

A woman’s life was always just to be used as a breeding ground for the family.

“Adelheit.”

Valentín gently pulled in the reins of Adel’s thoughts, which had been running loose unlike usual due to being slightly drunk. He awakened her to reality.

He was dressed in a light shirt. His bangs were still damp, not fully dried from washing, and his previously disheveled hair and nails were now tidied. Facing him like this, she was struck anew by his beauty.

Even the arrogant noble ladies of the capital, who had looked askance with prejudiced eyes thinking all northerners were barbarians, were quick to blush upon seeing Valentín.

If his status had been even slightly less noble, he would not have taken a half-baked noblewoman like Adelheit as his wife. Their marriage involved not only the will of Count Reichenau, but also the Empress’s desire to keep the Crown Prince’s political opponents in check.

Without such backing, even a count would not have dared to try to con a grand duke, no matter how audacious.

“…”

Though thoroughly cowed by her own thoughts, Adel’s eyes busily scanned her husband’s scantily clad upper body.

It was a somewhat shocking sight even for Adel, who prided herself on being accustomed to Valentín’s appearance by now.

The broad, firm chest and upper body revealed through the loose shirt collar, the slender waist in contrast, down to the smooth abdomen.

“Your cheeks are red.”

As he said, the heat rushed to her face. Whether from the alcohol or for some other reason.

Adel pretended not to have seen anything, averting her gaze slightly from Valentín’s chest. Not realizing that Valentín was faintly smiling at her reaction.

“Um, I heard you’ve been having trouble eating.”

“Eat…ing?”

“I’m talking about food. Putting it in your mouth, chewing, swallowing.”

“I, did… eat. As, Adel… said.”

“If you eat so little, even your body that should be recovering will recover more slowly. Was there perhaps something else uncomfortable? Like the food not suiting your taste…”

Valentín smiled with a troubled expression. As if he had difficulty understanding her words. Or as if he didn’t know how to react.

Instead of answering, he returned a question.

“Where, did you… go?”

“I went to check on Grita. You saw her once before, do you remember? She’s my chamber maid.”

“…Ah.”

“Grita hasn’t been feeling well lately so I need to watch over her often. She gets anxious often at night too.”

Adel added, as if making an excuse.

“Is that… why we can’t, sleep… together?”

“Pardon?”

“I told you… to wait, for sleep…”

For a moment, Adel’s cheeks flushed red. It seemed he was asking if Grita’s injury was the reason they couldn’t sleep together. If she had understood correctly…

“Why do you keep saying such things?”

Though she spoke as if scolding him, her vision went dark. Even though it was common sense in the North for couples to share a bed. Really, it made her wonder if he was using his memory selectively for convenience…

‘Wait a minute.’

Adel’s eyes widened in surprise. The conversation that had barely been connected yesterday with just necessary words exchanged was flowing quite smoothly today, albeit sporadically.

Could the recovery rate be this steep? As if a person had changed overnight…

Adel, quickly growing anxious, habitually picked at the hangnails on her fingers. Blood spurted from the flesh torn deeper than intended.

“…Ah.”

At that moment, Valentín, who had been looking down at Adel, took a deep breath. His complexion turned pale in an instant. As if he had smelled a terribly awful scent. Or as if a person starved for dozens of days had encountered appetizing food.

“…Your Grace?”

His golden eyes glistened particularly brightly as they stared directly at Adel. For an instant, his round pupils narrowed vertically like an animal’s. It was a sight hard to believe even though she witnessed it with her own eyes. Just as Adel flinched and leaned her upper body back, Valentín grabbed her hand.