The color drained from Valentin’s beautiful face.

His pale visage felt closer to a plaster statue or sculpture.

It was rather fortunate that not a hint of humanity could be felt. As there was no need to fathom his pain, even difficult questions that might wound him were not hard to ask.

“What was the ‘foreign substance’ you mentioned earlier?”

“……”

“Will you tell me someday, even if not right now?”

“……”

“Do you…”

A voice thin with emotion that could not be suppressed trembled finely. A cool air settled in Adelheit’s once docile eyes.

“Do you care for me?”

“I, do. More than any, thing in the world. Adelheit. That… do not doubt. Please……”

As if coughing up blocked breath, he sputtered out words incoherently.

His characteristic arrogance was nowhere to be seen, his handsome face entirely crestfallen.

As if pleading how dare he not care for her. Tears fell drop by drop from his beautiful eyes, contorted in supplication.

“Uugh, I’m, I’m sorry. It must look unsight, ly……”

Innocent eyes like an abandoned child painfully pierced the heart. That was all the more vexing.

While bursting into such sorrowful tears at the question of whether he cared for her, he would end up sharing nothing in the end.

The more affection was poured, the more it would blind her eyes forever.

Later, even that alone would be thought enough…

“Adelheit, please…. I won’t, won’t do it again……”

This kind of relationship was not good.

Not because he was a demon and she was human, but because they were like parallel lines that could never understand each other.

She wiped away the tears that had flowed abundantly down her cheeks and got off the bed.

He jumped up in shock and hurriedly stepped down to the floor after her.

“Adelheit, no, don’t……”

He rushed to block Adelheit’s path.

His hand that had risen as if about to grab her stopped midair, not daring to actually grasp her.

It was because Adelheit flinched and shrank her shoulders upon seeing his hand. He slowly closed his hand and withdrew it.

Adelheit coldly glanced at his face, then took a step to the side to avoid him. He immediately followed to block her path again.

“Please move aside.”

“Just, a moment…. If, if you answer this….”

Barely managing that much, his face turned pale as if he had done something unforgivable.

His tightly clenched fist trembled with some indescribable emotion. Adelheit took in all of this with calm eyes.

“Tell me if I’m, pitiful…. If I still……”

“……”

“If I seem pitiful to you……”

Ah. She let out a short, hollow laugh.

Even as tears streamed down as if her tear ducts had malfunctioned, it was so ridiculous she could not help but laugh.

She glared. Her face must be as much of a mess as his disheveled face, but she no longer cared how she appeared to him.

“You ask for an answer from me while refusing to give me any answers yourself, Your Highness.”

“……Please……”

“What’s so difficult about answering that question that you have to beg? I’ll answer you.”

A desperate hope flickered in Valentin’s eyes. Adelheit looked straight at it as she opened her mouth.

“You are not pitiful.”

If he had asked if she loved him, she would have said she didn’t know.

If he had asked if she liked him, she might have said perhaps she did. But to ask if he was pitiful?

In a situation like this, there could be no more ridiculous question.

Still, how could he do this to her unless he regarded this whole situation as some kind of amusement…

“Not at all.”

Moreover, what was that statement that he wore such an expression as if the world had ended?

Adelheit quickly left the room, passing by Valentin who seemed to have lost even the mind to stop her.

Aha. There you were.

Did you enjoy it? Did you taste a vicious pleasure? Sitting atop the god’s head despite being a mere foreign substance, did you feel like you amounted to something?

You’re trembling pitifully. If you dared to peer into the abyss, you should have been prepared to be swallowed by it.

Don’t come closer, you say? Remember that Adelheit wished for your soul, you plead? Ah, yes. That’s right. My wife made such a request of me. I almost made a mistake.

But what to do…

I’ve already devoured your head.

The seasons passed quickly.

The snow that seemed it would never melt suddenly thawed, and the biting winds also subsided.

Pale green began to tinge the tips of the bare winter branches.

The garden trees thick with frost and the frozen river melted away as if it had all been a lie.

The upper road regained its vitality, lambs and foals were born in the stables, and the wooden panels covering every window disappeared without a trace.

And through the passing of winter and the arrival of spring, Adelheit did not seek out Valentin. Valentin likewise did the same.

It was a day of gently falling spring rain.

A few days after an urgent message arrived from the imperial palace, Ansgar Castle had been in an uproar for days preparing luggage.

From Yannik to Hermann, they threw themselves into the task as if moving the entire castle, filling two carriages full of luggage and even requisitioning a new third carriage.

It was because the schedule including the victory ceremony, commemorative hunt, and ball would require staying in the capital for a full month.

“How about this cloak? It would look splendid if you wore it for the hunt.”

Margaret said, lifting a magnificent cloak trimmed with fox fur from the wardrobe. Adelheit shook her head with a faint smile.

“We’ve already packed several cloaks, Margaret.”

“But… we haven’t packed one with fox fur.”

“The temperature in the capital isn’t as cold as here.”

“This white fox is very rare, caught only in the north. If Your Grace wears it, no one would dare look down on Ansgar as poor barbarians.”

Margaret was generally obedient to her wishes, but once she started being stubborn, she rarely backed down.

Adelheit nodded instead of arguing.

“Alright. But don’t forget we need to pack plenty of other things besides my cloaks. The main figure of this banquet is not me, but Valen…”

“……”

Adelheit quickly bit her lip, having almost mentioned Valentin.

Margaret busied herself rummaging through the luggage bags, pretending not to notice Adelheit’s suddenly gloomy face.

Adelheit was grateful for that unobtrusive consideration.

“……”

It was no longer a secret that she had been unilaterally ignoring Valentin since a certain day.

Everyone in Ansgar Castle knew.

How could they not, when a cold wind whipped through the air whenever they happened to pass each other in the corridors?

Of course, it was entirely Adelheit’s one-sided avoidance. His Highness Valentin’s face overflowed with lingering attachment, yet he did not dare approach.

Remaining rooted to the spot without moving a finger until the lady of the house completely disappeared from his sight…

No matter how biased they tried to think, the servants could only come to one conclusion.

“He must have committed some terrible wrongdoing, surely?”

Adelheit looked up at Margaret’s quiet question.

It was the first time this quiet and thoughtful maid had asked about that day, directly or indirectly.

Margaret had always been loyal since the moment she decided to serve her as the lady of the house.

She wasn’t an affectionate and caring family member like Grita, but whenever Adelheit needed her, Margaret was there when she looked around.

So Adelheit could answer Margaret honestly.

“To be honest, I’m not sure.”

“I suppose it must have been heartbreaking enough that you don’t want to think about it again…”

“……”

Well. Heartbreaking, you say? Having intentionally detached her thoughts from that day, even the emotions that had welled up then were now hazy.

Only the dried remnants of bitter resentment towards him remained, and as an aftereffect, she still found it uncomfortable to see him.

“Forgiveness must be difficult?”

Adelheit gazed out the window silently, neither affirming nor denying Margaret’s words.

Perhaps. If he had given a proper explanation that day, she might have forgiven him long ago.

No matter how difficult it was to explain, if he had persuaded her convincingly over and over again. If he had been that persistent.

Instead of giving up on everything like this. Now she was angry even about that.

“Your Grace.”

Adelheit snapped out of her reverie at someone’s call.

She saw Yannik, who had entered carrying all sorts of ledgers on an errand from the butler, frozen awkwardly under Margaret’s fierce glare.

He seemed to have understood the unspoken reproach that he had ruined a golden opportunity to hear about that day from Adelheit’s own lips.

“Um… should I come back later?”

“No. What is it?”

“The butler sent the next month’s budget. We need to order a particularly large amount of iron to forge new weapons, and since monsters become especially active in spring, we need to ask the priests to reinforce the barrier walls, so expenses have increased a bit.”

Yannik laid out the thick ledger on the table, adding a brief explanation. Adelheit nodded.

“Ah. Thank you. Leave it there and I’ll look it over slowly.”

“And below that is the list of knights who will escort both of Your Graces to the imperial palace this time. I request that you confirm this today.”

“…Aren’t the affairs of the knights under the Grand Duke’s jurisdiction?”

“Well…”

At her pointed question, Yannik trailed off as if finding it difficult to answer.