“Are you feeling any pain or discomfort? I was worried since you’re probably not used to this.”

“I’m fine. It’s not the first time I’ve experienced this.”

“Not the first time?”

“When I first married His Highness, we rode in an even more dilapidated carriage under worse conditions than this.”

Adelheit, who had been responding calmly to his words, noticed Valentin’s expression darken. It seemed her answer had somehow irritated him.

‘Valentin’ wasn’t the real Duke of Ansgar, so did mentioning anecdotes about the Duke upset him? It was hard to understand, making it difficult to offer words of comfort.

“…”

Valentin, who had been silent, seemed to sense that Adelheit’s mood was sinking along with his own.

Eventually, he smiled as if to change the atmosphere.

“Your hair is wet.”

“Ah…”

“You’ll catch a cold like this. Humans are fragile, after all.”

He reached out towards Adelheit’s wet hair, which had been dripping steadily until now.

As soon as the back of his hand touched the damp locks, a soft, warm heat suddenly wafted from somewhere.

In an instant, the golden hair that had shot up into the air settled neatly down her back. It was now completely dry and fluffy, without a trace of moisture.

Was this magic too? As Adelheit marveled, gently stroking her hair, he suddenly asked as if remembering something.

“…Do you still miss that man?”

That man? Adelheit just blinked, not immediately understanding who he meant.

However he interpreted her expression, the smile on Valentin’s lips twisted instantly.

“How unfortunate. You’ll never see him again now…”

Adelheit looked at him suspiciously and asked.

“Are you perhaps referring to His Highness the Duke of Ansgar?”

“Are there other men too?”

He asked, almost growling. It was a completely baseless leap in logic.

Moreover, though it was rare, the more excited he became, the more precise his pronunciation became. It was rather strange…

She looked at him suspiciously and asked back.

“But according to our contract, you were supposed to return the Duke’s soul. Don’t you remember?”

“…Who said I won’t return it?”

“But your words…”

“After I return him, you’ll have to come live with me at the end of the world forever. Where no human can ever approach again.”

Ah, if that’s the case. Adelheit nodded faintly as if she finally understood. At her docile acceptance, Valentin narrowed his golden eyes.

“Aren’t you scared? I might look terribly frightening to you.”

Though it was a question casually thrown out, she read the anxiety hidden beneath his light manner.

Perhaps it was more apparent because it was the anxiety she had always carried with her.

The anxiety of being abandoned at any time, the wish for someone to desperately want her…

Sometimes when looking at Valentin, it felt like looking into a mirror.

Was that why? Even in moments when Valentin was very frightening and difficult, Adelheit felt sorry for him.

“…”

Valentin was looking at her with eyes ready to be hurt at any moment.

As if the blade in her hand was poised over his bare skin.

When she took a step closer, Valentin flinched.

Adelheit hesitated a little, then gently placed her fingertips on his cheek. She saw his golden eyes widen in surprise.

“To be honest, I’m still very afraid of you even now.”

“…”

“When that day comes, will you treat me more cruelly than now? Or was everything you’ve done for me until now all a lie?”

“No! That’s… not possible. I… I…”

“Then it’s alright.”

The end result of her intense deliberation was always the same.

Appearances didn’t matter at all.

As long as he continued to shower her with warm affection like this. As long as he remained constant like this, having gently seeped through the walls of doubt and wariness she had built up.

Adelheit gathered a bit more courage. She lightly scraped up the inner feelings that had been stuck to the bottom like soot all this time.

“Do you perhaps wish for death?”

“That’s…”

“You’re the one being contradictory. You said you’d stay with me for life, didn’t you?”

He was frozen, eyes wide open. He looked like someone who had heard an answer he desperately wanted at a moment he least expected it.

Adelheit worried if he was even breathing properly.

“Valentin.”

When she called his name again, he let out a long breath. His breathing was rough, as if he had just woken from a terrible yet sweet nightmare.

Valentin pressed her hand firmly against his cheek, almost urgently and roughly.

The back of her hand stung painfully as it was rubbed against his large palm that had not a single soft spot.

“Ah…”

But she couldn’t even properly voice a complaint because Valentin’s gaze looking at her soon contorted.

A transparent teardrop fell from Valentin’s eyes as he looked at Adelheit sorrowfully.

“You’re a liar, Adelheit.”

It was a scene so beautiful it felt surreal. Valentin desperately grabbed Adelheit’s arm as she stood dazed.

“But I still can’t let you go.”

With that, her whole body was pulled into his embrace.

Valentin, who had tightly entwined his hands and arms around her concave waist and slender nape, finally let out a satisfied sigh.

She could hear a heart beating incessantly against her ear buried in his firm chest.

She couldn’t tell if it was his or hers. It didn’t matter. It would have been the same regardless of whose it was.

Adelheit hesitated, really hesitated, then carefully raised her hand to stroke his back.

She felt his large body, which had been leaning on her, suddenly stiffen. Adelheit thought he had fainted right then and there.

However, soon after, his rough fingertips lifted her chin.

“You chose this.”

Valentin’s gaze was as hot as molten gold bubbling in a furnace.

The desire churning in his stomach was vivid on his beautiful face.

“Knowing everything. Right?”

Knowing everything, he asked. She wasn’t so naive as to not understand the meaning of those words.

She wasn’t so unsophisticated as to not recognize the longing in his eyes, nor so cruel as to ignore the tenderness swelling in her own chest.

As she nodded as if enchanted, his lips surged in hotly, as if they had been waiting.

It was sensuality.

“How… could you do this?”

Valentin lamented in a soft voice, as if hurt. Yet his hands were busily delivering food to her mouth.

The moment of sweetly exploring each other ended as soon as a growling sound came from her stomach.

Valentin regained his composure as if he had been doused with cold water.

He seemed to have realized that there wasn’t much time left for her to rest comfortably in a warm and stable place.

“We don’t have much time left to rest in a place like this.”

As he scooped up a spoonful of the stew that had gone cold, steam rose from it again as if it had just been boiled.

He brought the spoon right to Adelheit’s lips.

“How could you seduce me like that, knowing everything?”

“I really had no intention… not even a little.”

“I respond like a dog to your slightest gesture. Don’t you know that?”

Adelheit blushed as she ate the stew. His language was too direct; she couldn’t help it.

He accused her as if she had made some great seduction, but all she had done was lightly stroke his back.

It would have been no different from a leaf brushing against him. Yet Valentin was indignant as if he had been deceived.

“We’ll have to ride in a carriage for quite a while soon. And you’re so fragile. How could you make me forget that…”

“I’m not that weak.”

He snorted as if he had heard something utterly ridiculous.

“I admire your courage. To think you could ride a carriage normally after having me.”

I must be crazy. Adelheit swallowed a scream internally. He narrowed his eyes, which were still tinged with sensuality.

“Or. Should we just run away together like this, carriage or not?”

“…”

“I’d like that too. I’m confident I won’t fail this time.”

“…But, earlier.”

He set down the bowl of stew on the table and gestured for her to continue. Adelheit carefully voiced the words that had barely reached the tip of her chin.

“Didn’t you say that contracts must always be fulfilled? Is it alright not to do so?”

“…”

He muttered something that sounded almost like a curse. The excitement that had briefly flared up subsided before Adelheit could even blink a couple of times. He quickly regained his composure.

One way or another, the time to depart was drawing very near.

He roughly brushed back the black hair that had fallen over his forehead and continued speaking.

“Anyway, this wasn’t my intention from the start. I came today…”

As he opened his palm facing up, the dagger that had been hidden among her clothes quickly flew over and landed on it.

“…because I was curious to see how much you could handle magic now.”

Adelheit looked back and forth between the dagger resting on his hand and him with wide, surprised eyes.

Moments like this always made her keenly aware that he wasn’t human and reminded her of the profound meaning of his ability to freely wield magic.

She still couldn’t even come close to matching that.

“Here. Try holding it.”

Valentin suddenly held out the dagger to her. Adelheit took it reflexively.