“You’re being rude.”

Adel’s round eyes suddenly sharpened. She struggled to free her wrist from Oscar’s grip. The more she struggled, the stronger his grip became. He sneered as he bent down to meet her gaze.

“You shouldn’t be asking me about rudeness, but your inferiors.”

“……”

“Being called the Grand Duchess, yet walking around wearing this rag like mockery.”

His eyes were full of pity, as if wondering what noble lady would receive such treatment.

“Adelheit. Are you truly satisfied with this?”

As Oscar said, her life was different from other noble ladies. She didn’t have new clothes made each season, didn’t host social gatherings, and rarely even ate warm food.

Outwardly, it was a self-imposed austerity, meaning she couldn’t live comfortably alone while the Grand Duke was away on campaign. In reality, it was a semi-forced choice pushed by pressure and watchful eyes.

“……”

Even so, she couldn’t readily admit it in front of Oscar. No matter how trampled and insignificant, this was her last shred of pride…

Adel managed to nod slightly.

“Of course I’m satisfied with what I’ve chosen. Steward Hermann is fair, and also…”

“Lies.”

Oscar cut off Adel’s words. He painfully pulled her wrist up as if to show her. Though her wrist felt like it might break in his grip, Adel barely managed to hold back a groan.

The moment she showed fear or pain, it would become a weakness.

“Clothes even maids wouldn’t wear, worn-out shoes, outerwear unsuited for the season.”

“……”

“And not a single knight in sight to protect the noble Grand Duchess enduring such rudeness.”

“Let go. Otherwise…”

He snickered as if he’d heard something ridiculous.

“Otherwise what? Will you call for your ragged maids?”

“……”

“This scene, it will all become gossip.”

Tears welled up in her pale green eyes that she had been barely holding back. A sense of powerlessness weighed her down. Grita always denied it, but her situation was that of a criminal with only a uselessly noble status.

Whether maids, guards, or mere knights – there was no one who would stand up to the master’s flesh and blood for Adel’s sake.

“Naive Adel. You’d best know how men look at you.”

How could she not know? It had been months since the guards began to subtly eye her increasingly mature body. It had been even longer since she obtained a dull dagger, sharpened it herself, and carried it with her.

If not for the empty name of Ansgar’s Grand Duchess, the northerners’ shallow respect for Ansgar serving as a thin shield…

Oscar looked at her with strange eyes as she understood his words. Adel’s body stiffened at his blatant gaze.

“So, stop wandering alone like this. At least have Grita accompany you always.”

He roughly rubbed Adel’s pale lower lip with his thumb. Her breathing grew slightly rapid. What Oscar wanted from her had been one thing from the start.

Fear and submission.

Adel pushed him away with all her might, but Oscar didn’t budge an inch. She had no idea why he was suddenly acting like this. Though he had always behaved like a ruffian with no sense of propriety, he used to run away at the mere sight of his brother’s shadow.

“Your Highness!”

Oscar abruptly raised his head at the urgent call. People were approaching from the far end of the corridor. He immediately released his grip on Adel and stepped back about five paces.

“Your Highness. So you were here. We’ve been searching for you.”

The old man at the head of the approaching group bowed to them. It was Steward Hermann. He had several guards behind him.

The steward alternated glances between Adel, who still hadn’t calmed down, and Oscar, quickly grasping the situation. The old man’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“And, Young Master. If you had sent word of your return, we would have properly sent someone to greet you.”

“Why bother with such hassle? It’s my home, I can come and go as I please.”

Oscar shrugged lazily. Hermann turned his head as if he hadn’t heard the words. Then he asked Adel with minimal courtesy.

“Your Highness, you don’t look well. Are you alright?”

“Of course I’m… I’m fine. I was just a bit startled, that’s all. But what brings you here?”

“A messenger just arrived from Northoven.”

Northoven. The name wasn’t unfamiliar. Adel searched her memory.

“Northoven… isn’t that where the Grand Duke is campaigning?”

“Yes. They pushed the front line to the Janu River early last week. After exchanging Renal and Barta, they reached an agreement for a ceasefire. It’s a victory.”

During Hermann’s report, Oscar had stepped back into the shadows of the corridor. As if he already knew all of this, he wore a twisted smile. That triumphant expression felt ominous.

“And…”

Adel sensed that what was to come next was the main point. Hermann hesitated for a moment, unable to say it easily.

“The Grand Duke fell in the final battle.”

For a moment, Adel couldn’t comprehend Hermann’s words. The Grand Duke, that is, her legal husband.

“Fell in battle?”

Adel’s green eyes widened in shock as she finally understood.

“That can’t be. What…”

Denial burst out instinctively, and

“The urgent messenger from the battlefield confirmed it repeatedly. Grand Duke Valentin Karzu Albrecht von Ansgar has passed away. This sword is his memento and proof.”

An articulate answer came right back, as if barely tolerating someone slow to understand.

Adel received the sword covered in the Grand Duke’s dried blood from Hermann’s hands. Her fingertips trembled.

“They say the coffin will arrive within three days. According to the proper funeral procedures…”

Not even half of Hermann’s words registered in her mind. Her mind, frozen in shock, creaked like a rusty hinge. Suddenly she felt an intense gaze on her from the darkness. It was Oscar.

As if licking, like looking at soft food that would melt sweetly in one’s mouth.

She saw his lips curl up in what seemed to be great amusement. His lips grinned in a cursed shape.

‘Smile, Adel.’

A sticky,

breath.

‘Isn’t this good news for us?’

* * *

The coffin of Grand Duke Ansgar arrived exactly three days after the news was delivered. This was because the messenger with news of the Grand Duke’s death and the coffin had departed from the battlefield at the same time.

Adel confirmed her husband’s face as the coffin was opened in the presence of a priest.

“……”

It was already a corpse over ten days old. Having come urgently from the battlefield, there wouldn’t have been time for salt treatment. Unlike the horrible sight she had braced herself for, Valentin looked fine except for his skin turning bluish. As if he might come alive and move at any moment…

Without taking her eyes off Valentin’s face, Adel asked the priest standing beside her.

“Is this normal?”

“Pardon?”

“Is it normal for them to look like this, as if they’re just in a deep sleep…”

Adel trailed off. Ultimately, it was like asking why he looked so intact. The priest answered straightforwardly, not reading too much into her words.

“Actually, it’s a bit unusual for a body recovered from the battlefield. There are no wounds that could be suspected as fatal, and while the pulse and breath have stopped, there’s no sign of decay at all… It’s remarkable.”

Adel murmured without taking her eyes off the coffin:

“…It’s as if His Highness might come back to life at any moment.”

“Perhaps it’s due to the grace of Morig watching over him. As the lord of Ansgar.”

It was a mythical tale that the lords of Ansgar have always been under Morig’s protection. She nodded faintly.

“That may be so.”

“If you’ve finished confirming, we’ll close the coffin now. Your Highness, I recommend you retire to your chambers as well. The schedule will be quite demanding starting tomorrow.”

Adel watched the priest close the coffin, overcome with strange emotions. Her husband’s death was shocking, but it didn’t leave a great wound on her soul.

It was a world overflowing with noble ladies who had lost their husbands to war. The moment she married the Grand Duke of Ansgar, who frequently went on campaigns as commander-in-chief, her life had already been as good as confined to a convent.

The next morning at dawn. Adel boarded a carriage with the priests. It was due to the custom of covering the coffin with a black cloth and touring the domain upon a lord’s death. At every stop along the funeral procession’s route, the people of Ansgar who had gathered threw wreaths made of fir branches to pay their respects.

Ansgar was a family that ruled two-thirds of the vast Bitzleben. It took a full three days just to tour the major cities with cathedrals.

On the fifth day of this long journey. The Grand Duke’s coffin, having returned to the main castle, was moved to the central reception hall.

“…that’s the rumor going around.”

It was just as Adel was about to climb the stairs after confirming the stone coffin had been placed. She heard voices whispering in the upstairs corridor. She was about to awkwardly move away when the next topic made her stop in her tracks.

“By that logic, wouldn’t that make the Grand Duchess Saint Degunda? What nonsense.”

“Still, at such a young age, she’s so composed.”

“It’s admirable how well she’s holding up. She’s still so young, yet she hasn’t shown any sign of distress.”

“You guys are ridiculous. Have you already forgotten the old days? How much severe damage our Ansgar suffered from that fraudulent marriage.”

“That’s true… The Grand Duke sold even our… that had been passed down for generations to obtain a healing mage.”

Adel missed part of the conversation as the voices suddenly dropped. After a brief silence, another maid spoke up.

“So what will happen to the Grand Duchess now?”

“Probably take lifelong vows at a convent if nothing unusual happens? In the end, it’s up to the Young Master to decide.”

The fate of a Denburg woman was always in the hands of the men of the family. Before marriage, from father to husband, when the husband dies to the son, if there are no children then to the direct male bloodline, or further down… It was a dreadful chain.

And Valentin’s only brother was Oscar. Adel barely swallowed the breath that had risen in her throat.

‘First, I should write a letter to the diocesan priest expressing my intention for lifelong vows. I need to proceed as quickly as possible, just in case.’

Adel was lost in thought, pondering various considerations. Suddenly she raised her head at the shadow cast before her.

“So this is where you were?”