Although she was a bride brought in through a fraudulent marriage, Adelheit was still officially the Grand Duchess of Ansgar. Naturally, there was money allocated as her share each year.

It was still meager compared to other noble ladies, but at least it wasn’t so desperate as to live like a maid.

She was not unaware that Grita had diverted it here and there in between, and that Hermann and Margaret had knowingly allowed it.

“Actually, I’ve known for a long time. I just left it alone because I thought it was fine.”

“……”

“Because she wasn’t originally that kind of person.”

Grita’s heart, which had cherished her like a niece, dulled as the years of oppression continued, changed to pretending to care, and eventually transformed into viewing her as a burdensome object reluctantly taken on.

After being driven to the north together, Grita sometimes even forgot to keep up the pretense.

Unable to contain her anger, she would shout that she was suffering because of the young lady, but the next day she would beg until her hands and feet were worn, saying she had been crazy. Each time, the name on Grita’s lips was not Adel, but Laura. The name of the maid who was said to be her mother.

Adel’s sense of debt to Grita deepened year by year. Perhaps it was all her fault after all. If Grita hadn’t pitied the motherless Adel, she wouldn’t have fallen out of favor with the Countess of Reichenau. She would still be enjoying the warm sunshine of the system.

She wouldn’t have been driven out to the north, as if sold along with Adel herself…

Moreover, after such an outburst, Grita would become doubly kind for a few weeks. She would worry attentively again, prepare meals, and repeatedly check the surroundings, warning to be careful of men. She would even secretly bring sweet snacks.

With that lukewarm warmth, Adel could endure and persevere through anything.

‘I don’t want to become any lonelier here.’

So it didn’t matter at all how much Grita had embezzled between the butler and herself, or how she had eroded her reputation. People change, that’s natural. Just as Grita’s foolish sincerity had changed, just as Margaret’s indifferent attitude had changed.

So she only needed to remember how precious Grita had been to her at first.

‘As long as I don’t change.’

Adel forced a smile towards Margaret.

“Thank you for your concern. But really, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry too much.”

It felt so strange that someone was worrying about her. She actually felt a bit uncomfortable, not knowing what expression to make or what to say other than smiling.

‘I just wish I could get out of this situation quickly…’

As she fidgeted with her fingers thinking this, Margaret finished Adel’s grooming with a complicated look and stepped back. Just as Margaret was about to open her mouth to say something, the bedroom door opened.

Adel unknowingly brightened as she looked at Valentin who entered through the door.

“Your Highness.”

Valentin paused for a moment upon seeing Adel smiling brightly at him.

Was it bewilderment, or enchantment? The eyes looking at Adel lost their usual luster and sank into a murky haze. It was instantaneous.

Even after Margaret tactfully closed the bedroom door and left, he stood still for a while, staring at her intently like someone at a loss for words.

“……”

Unlike the morning when warm affection had simply poured out, this quiet yet intense gaze felt unfamiliar. Human desire could be seen slowly settling into his face, perfect like a statue of a god. His gaze slowly moved. Her cheeks and lips, neck, collarbone, chest and slender waist, and below…

His Adam’s apple moved slowly up and down.

“……”

Adel retreated hesitantly, clutching the front of her robe. She felt oddly sensitive to the thin clothes touching her skin under the robe. Just as she lowered her head, unable to withstand the gaze she had barely endured, a shadow suddenly fell over her head, and Valentin, who had approached close, lifted her chin.

“Why……”

Sparks could be seen simmering in eyes that were usually somewhat coolly subdued. He slightly contorted his straight brows.

“Your eyes, keep…… avoiding, me.”

“……”

“Adel. Is it, because you find me…… unpleasant to look at?”

“No, Your Highness. That really wasn’t my intention.”

Adel shook her head as she answered and hastily added:

“And, Your Highness. You shouldn’t speak formally to me.”

“Adel, you…… speak formally to me, don’t you?”

“I’m younger than you, and, um, it’s rare for nobles to speak formally to their wives. It would only make you a laughingstock.”

“But, I, like it. Being…… the same as you.”

He replied, narrowing his perfect eyes slightly.

‘The same’. It was a strange nuance. Adel didn’t think the ‘same’ he spoke of meant literally wanting to imitate everything about her. Rather, oddly enough, it sounded like a will to live as the same human being, regardless of what their original identity was.

‘Am I thinking too positively?’

Perhaps she was interpreting it too favorably. Maybe she had already become irreversibly attached from the moment she thought it would be nice if he were just a human blessed by Morig.

As Adel hesitated, his smile deepened a little more.

“Let’s go, to the bed.”

He gently rubbed the tip of Adel’s chin that he was holding up and lowered his head. He whispered playfully in her ear.

“We should, sleep. Together.”

Adel’s light green eyes widened at those blatant words. Was this really the same person who had forgotten even language until a few days ago? The tone was too strange to have been said unknowingly…

“Adel.”

She squeezed her eyes shut at the voice calling her name. Without even thinking of running away, half-consumed by Valentin’s shadow, she stiffened.

He laughed softly at her innocent reaction. Her fine hair fluttered in the breath that escaped between his lips. Adel finally came to her senses and pushed against his chest.

“I’m, I’m tired. I really need to sleep now. It’s too late.”

“……”

“Um, you must be tired too, right? You were out in the fresh air for a long time today after so long.”

Pushed back as Adel pushed him, he made a strange expression as if he had heard something extremely funny.

“Adel, you must be…… very tired.”

“I feel like I could faint at any moment.”

Adel answered nonchalantly, glancing sideways at the basket hidden under the bed. As far as she was concerned, she was hiding it very well, forgetting that it might look quite clumsy to someone else’s eyes.

“You, you go to bed first. I’ll lie down after reading a book for just a little longer.”

“Didn’t you say, you felt like…… you might faint?”

“It’s important that you rest comfortably. You’re just starting to recover. If I’m by your side, you might just worry unnecessarily.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than he lifted Adel up with one arm around her waist, as if he had been holding back a lot. As if holding her with both arms in the morning was only out of consideration for others’ gazes.

He strode across the room and laid her down on her back on the soft bed.

“What to do. I don’t…… have any intention of sleeping…… alone.”

He held both of Adel’s wrists and quietly trapped her beneath his body, looking down at her. With the firelight behind him like a backlight, Valentin looked ridiculously more sacred than anything else.

It was as if all the darkness in the world had fallen over her small body. It was pitch black all around, as if devoured by a huge shadow. Golden eyes, gleaming even more yellow in the absence of light, stared at her intently.

The moment she realized this, her breath was choked with tension. Adel gently pushed against his firm chest.

“Stop joking around.”

“It’s not…… a joke. Adel. I said, I’d stay…… by your side.”

“I was obviously thinking of putting a chair or couch nearby.”

“We used to, sleep here…… together before, didn’t we?”

“That was when you held onto me, Your Highness.”

“Then I can, do that…… now too.”

Everything she said was blocked. She felt like she might actually cry. In fact, she wasn’t even in the right mind to continue the conversation. It was because she never thought something like this would happen. The resolve she had vaguely made in the past was truly for ‘someday’.

According to the padre, Valentin should have been asleep long ago. The reason she had been able to act so calmly until now was perhaps because deep down, she had the conviction that Valentin might be a demon.

Because he was a demon, because he had been exposed to holy oil, not even holy water, he would surely fall into an unbearable sleep…

So such an awkward situation would never come to pass.

“……Ah.”

Adel let out a short gasp. Valentin’s thick fingers had somehow slipped between her widely spread fingers. He gripped Adel’s hand tightly, making the veins on the back of his hand bulge.

“……”

Was it fear? Does the heart pound like this from such a thing? It felt exactly like there was a small fish inside her heart.

Adel squeezed her eyes shut.

“Adel.”

He called her name as if soothing her. Adel’s tightly closed jaw trembled. She felt vividly the sensation of light lips touching her forehead. It continued to her eyebrows, temples, soft cheeks, and round ears.

Soft, or perhaps sticky.

“Adelheit.”

Ah.

The moment she opened her eyes helplessly at that call, golden eyes captured her gaze. Valentin’s sturdy back arched like a bow, and his head tilted as he came close abruptly.

Hot breath scattered over her lips.