He looked as if he was crying. Beneath his trembling eyelashes, moisture seemed to glisten in his golden eyes as he gazed at her quietly. Like a helpless child who didn’t know what to do.

That desperation stuck in her heart. It was like looking at a baby bird separated from its flock. It was also amusing. What was there to feel young about a robust man two or three heads taller than herself?

Moreover, he was still someone who had not shaken off the suspicion of being a ‘shadow’.

“Hm? Adel.”

He called her name as if urging a response and smiled hazily. It was a faint smile that seemed like it would crumble at even the slightest breeze.

Adel impulsively reached out with her free hand and gently caressed Valentin’s cheek. Valentin was so startled that Adel briefly suspected he had mistaken her hand for a knife.

“…”

Indeed, Valentin was gasping for breath as if his life had been threatened. The grip of his other hand holding her tightened.

At that sensitive reaction, Adel belatedly realized that her action might be perceived as seduction by most men.

‘Oh dear.’

Adel’s face instantly flushed red.

“Well, that, of course…”

“…”

“Since Your Highness is my husband…”

Just following the customs of the North, Adel added, glancing at him.

“…Ah.”

Valentin finally exhaled after a long silence. It sounded like a sigh. Whatever answer he had expected, veins bulged on the back of Valentin’s hand as he looked at Adel with a blank expression. At the same time.

Rip, tear.

“Ah, my clothes…”

The seam of Adel’s clothes where he was gripping finally tore. Adel’s face instantly fell. With clothes already scarce, things kept ending up like this, leaving her with nothing to wear tomorrow.

“S-sor…”

Startled by Adel’s distraught face, Valentin hurriedly let go of her. Thinking he had made another mistake, his ears turned slightly red.

“Ah, not. Body, used, not… sor…”

He seemed to have bitten his tongue a little in his haste to convey his words.

Adel craned her neck to examine her shoulder area. Fortunately, unlike last time, it was just a few stitches that had come undone. A few needle pricks would be enough to make it wearable again.

Adel let out a sigh of relief.

‘At least that’s fortunate.’

No matter how well the castle’s people had been treating her lately, Adelheit’s impoverished situation remained unchanged.

It was the butler Hermann who received the castle key from Archduke Ansgar. No matter how many years he had worked for Ansgar, as a mere vassal, the money he could use at his ‘discretion’ was extremely limited.

If Valentin had allocated a generous annual budget for Adelheit’s share, the situation would have been different, but from the butler’s position, it was not easy to spend more than what the master had approved.

‘Even that, I didn’t receive in full.’

Anyway, no matter how favorably Valentin had changed towards her, her husband was now in no condition to make proper judgments or approve any documents. And Adel was in a position where she couldn’t even have a single plate without her husband’s permission.

Other than helping with the butler’s work and money earned from sewing…

“Wha… say, that, clothes… compensa…”

Say anything, I’ll compensate for damaging your clothes. Adel quietly looked at Valentin’s handsome face. His tightly closed lips and brilliant golden eyes shining with firm resolve.

He seemed sincere, at least for now.

Gone was the appearance of spewing malice towards her from long ago.

‘If he’s not a shadow, and his confusion is severe due to the shock of coming back to life, and so he mistook me for someone else.’

Asking for compensation for clothes, or for a budget to be allocated to maintain dignity as the Archduchess… If she showed even a hint of such intentions, later she might be thought of as a woman who took advantage of a mentally unstable person for her own selfish desires.

She didn’t want to be pushed that far. She didn’t want to be seen as a woman who pretended to care for him while fulfilling her own greed, like her father.

Even if it was a choice based on mere pride that couldn’t even secure practical benefits.

“Say… What, give… Can, do… for you.”

Due to the urgency in Valentin’s voice, his already difficult to understand words were becoming even harder to comprehend.

Anyway, it was a rare opportunity for her. Even if she was ignorant, she knew enough not to waste this chance carelessly. But what exactly should she ask for?

Adel bit her lip, as was her habit when deep in thought. She chewed on it unconsciously, then sucked on it out of habit.

“…”

Valentin’s gaze was drawn to her lips like a magnet. To her small, pearl-like teeth and the red tongue visible between the gaps, the soft petal-like thing that bounced up elastically each time it was pressed between her teeth and released.

With a face that didn’t even know why he was longing for it with burning eyes.

“Well then.”

After much deliberation, Adel finally opened her mouth.

“There is one wish I’d like you to grant.”

She looked at her husband, who was smiling somewhat awkwardly, with innocent eyes.

“S-say… it.”

“Even though you haven’t been feeling well lately, I’m worried that you’re staying in your chambers too much… I was thinking it might be nice if we could take walks in the outer garden together sometimes.”

“Wa-walks?”

“Yes. Um, breathing fresh air would be beneficial for your health in many ways, and since you’ve been in your chambers all this time, going out would surely be a nice change of pace.”

“…”

“Perhaps as you look around familiar spaces, your memories might suddenly come back.”

As Valentin remained silent for a long time, Adel added as if making an excuse. Her heart was pounding rapidly.

‘This is the most suitable way to create opportunities to meet Padre naturally. Besides, if we take walks, His Highness might get tired, so in the evening he might fall into a deep sleep from fatigue…’

She thought it might make it a little easier to catch him off guard. At least easier than whatever Padre might order her to do while he was fully conscious.

“…”

Lost in deep thought, Valentin wore that same smile from before. That made people even more anxious. Adel waited for him to speak with her hands tightly clasped, then carefully added one more word.

“Don’t you think this would be good for building up your strength too? If you stay in your room all the time, you might get more tired later…”

Of course, Adel knew nothing about exercise. She only knew that consistent exercise builds stamina and that men generally have higher stamina than women on average. The rest didn’t even reach common sense levels.

“Why… staying in room, tir… ing?”

So when Valentin pointed out the flaw in her words with a sharp question, she was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Cu-curious.”

“Well, um, that is… After all, strength comes from exercise. Since you’ve been lying down for a long time, your stamina must have decreased a lot compared to before, so I thought regular walks might help…”

“How… much… regu… lar?”

“Two laps around the training ground per day…”

She was about to answer readily but trailed off.

Honestly, Adel had no idea how good the stamina of ordinary knights was, or to what extent they could endure pain in what situations.

When maids became exhausted after carrying laundry baskets around the training ground once, she vaguely assumed that strong men would probably do two or three laps at most.

‘Since His Highness is a knight among knights, and naturally a very strong person. Would it take at least two laps plus one more to exhaust him?’

Valentin, who had been quietly watching Adel pondering this and that, shook his head with a smirk.

“Adel, don’t know, no need, answer.”

“…It’s not that I don’t know.”

“It’s o… kay. If you, want. Can, do, any… thing.”

“Really? Will you really do as I wish?”

Adel brightened up without realizing it, then tried to harden her expression, thinking he might find it strange. Not knowing that forcefully pulling down her lips suddenly made her look even more suspicious and awkwardly funny.

“…”

But Valentin neither questioned nor mocked her, just staring at her silently. Rather, it was an unfamiliar face that seemed to have forgotten even to breathe for a moment.

After some time passed, he finally smiled with a husky voice.

“Y-yes. Adel, if you… like, any… thing.”

“I’m fine anytime. How about starting three days from now?”

“Three, days… later?”

That would be the full moon. Adel nodded, skillfully hiding her calculations.

“I think it would be best to go once in the morning and once in the afternoon, but we can gradually adjust the schedule in consultation with the butler.”

“…”

“Your Highness?”

“Ah, y-yes.”

Valentin seemed to have just realized he had been staring intently at Adel. He scratched the back of his head embarrassedly and averted his gaze.

“Adel. Do, as you, wish…”

“Really?”

“Y-yes… Doesn’t, mat… ter.”

This was exactly the answer Adel had been hoping for. With the tension released, Adel finally smiled properly.

“Then, it’s a promise for three days from now.”

On the promised morning. From early dawn, maids rushed in.