“I……”

Adel’s throat trembled faintly with the intuition that it would be shocking news. She barely managed to gather her thoughts.

“I don’t understand what Your Highness is asking me. What do you mean by something I should hear from my husband?”

“His Majesty is pushing for the annulment of your marriage to the Grand Duke.”

When Adel looked at him with utterly bewildered eyes, Mikhail clicked his tongue lightly. His narrowed gaze, as if looking at something foolish or pitiful, touched her face.

“It seems you truly didn’t know.”

Her mouth went dry. Adel realized her palms had become clammy with sweat.

Mikhail heaved a deep sigh and brushed back his hair that had been disheveled by the wind.

“I thought the Grand Duke would have explained this insane situation to you to some extent… Don’t tell me he was also in agreement with this marriage annulment? If so, it seems I misjudged him.”

Mikhail’s cold voice was laden with deep contempt towards Valentin. Adel bit her lip in bewilderment.

She clutched and released her skirt several times unnecessarily. Whether she believed the Crown Prince’s words or not, she was simply stunned to hear such a perplexing story.

‘If those words are true, since when?’

Come to think of it, Valentin had become extremely busy since coming to the imperial palace.

He was out even in the middle of the night, and there were days when she didn’t even see his face.

Even on the rare occasions he returned early, he was immediately summoned away by His Majesty’s call.

‘I can’t believe it completely, but it’s not entirely implausible either. The Crown Prince has no reason to lie to me.’

Her thoughts kept turning negative. The way he had been so intent on hiding something, not giving her a proper explanation.

What if all of this was a precursor to pushing her away?

‘…Surely he’s not really preparing for treason?’

If Valentin were human and not a demon, she might have mistakenly thought he secretly agreed with the Emperor’s mad plan.

But why would ‘he’? What benefit would there be in agreeing to annul the marriage…

‘Perhaps he thought it would be better conditions for fulfilling the first contract?’

The sudden thought made her terribly frightened. Treason, really.

‘If that were the case, I would have understood if he had told me first. Come to think of it, we haven’t had a proper conversation since I fell ill. Even now, I’ve only heard the Crown Prince’s one-sided claims.’

Just as Adel’s eyes were about to narrow in suspicion that it might be a lie, she barely managed to recall Charlotte’s visit a few days ago.

The scornful voice and glare that had rung through the tent.

Saying that cooped up in a corner like this, she wouldn’t know how the outside situation was unfolding.

In retrospect, that sharp criticism was quite right.

If Charlotte had known this flow of events from the beginning, Adel, who was hiding and only listening to the Grand Duke’s words without knowing anything, must have seemed foolish.

“Adelheit, your complexion…”

She reflexively pushed away Mikhail’s hand that tried to support her.

It was actually half-learned wariness. Ever since she was very young, whenever the Crown Prince showed even a little interest in her, Charlotte’s bullying became unbearably severe.

From when he wasn’t her fiancé until Adel married and went to the north.

“I’m fine. Just a moment of dizziness… It’ll pass soon.”

It was unexpected that the cautious habit from those times resurfaced as soon as they faced each other again, but it was rather fortunate now.

It made her appear calm even in the midst of utter bewilderment.

Mikhail, looking dejectedly at his hand that had been rejected twice, forced a low laugh.

“You often make me lower my hand.”

“I’m… sorry for my inadequacy. But if I just… catch my breath, I’ll be fine.”

“No need to apologize. Take your time.”

“I… if what Your Highness told me is true……”

Adel continued speaking clearly despite gasping for breath from dizziness.

“Even if it’s His Majesty… he can’t break a sacred vow made before the God Morig. Much less… declare it void. The Great Cathedral won’t stand idly by.”

“It seems the Great Cathedral agrees to some extent. If only they can find a way for it to be a marriage annulment rather than a divorce.”

“……”

“The story that Ansgard Grand Duke wanted Charlotte was quite famous to begin with. And my imperial father is the type to dig up all the foundations of his own son to lay a carpet under his cousin’s feet.”

Adel barely stopped panting and calmly replied.

“Even so, my father, Count Reichenau, won’t agree.”

The Count’s long-cherished dream was to connect the imperial family and Reichenau through marriage ties.

No matter how much the Emperor insisted on pushing it, it would be difficult if the Count didn’t agree. But Mikhail shook his head as if that premise was wrong.

“Well. He turned his back on my mother quite a long time ago. You probably didn’t know that.”

“……”

“His Majesty is trying hard in all directions to hand over military power to Ansgard in a more legitimate way. Almost everyone knows now that the pro-Emperor nobles are desperate to make him Crown Prince.”

“……”

“And your father has always been sensitive to such flows of power.”

“……”

“Anyway, it seems His Majesty wanted to give the Grand Duke of Ansgard enough connections to comfortably settle in the capital. Because no one can match your elder sister in that regard.”

Adel guessed even the reasons he deliberately didn’t add. Moreover, because she was also a powerful healing mage…

Charlotte’s healing magic, born with the power of ‘Reichenau’, grew stronger year by year, now reaching a level that even talented healing mages would find hard to achieve in a lifetime.

She could instantly staunch and close even the largest wounds.

Of course, she would fall ill for days after using such great power, but that was just inside information known only to those close to her.

Even those who used to dismiss Reichenau’s healing magic as exaggerated or unreliable rumors praised it openly after Charlotte saved a nearly dead marchioness.

Thanks to this, Charlotte’s standing among the nobles of Denburg was growing day by day. There were some curious gazes towards ‘Adelheit’, known as her younger sister, but due to her lacking abilities, there seemed to be little friendly interest.

It was closer to the re-spread of rumors that the Grand Duke of Ansgard had been deceived into marriage.

Anyway, she hadn’t known why the belated rumors were circulating just now, but according to Mikhail, it seemed the Emperor’s people were deliberately spreading them.

To lower Adel’s standing and easily achieve the goal of marriage annulment. And to hold the Count responsible, in order to promote Charlotte’s marriage to the Grand Duke.

“When did time pass like this…”

While Adel was deeply lost in thought, the Crown Prince raised his head to look at the setting sun.

He clapped his hands lightly once as if to bring her back to her senses.

“If we delay any longer here, we’ll be late. Let’s talk in detail as we go. It seems my carriage is ready.”

“I appreciate your offer, but I’m fine, Your Highness.”

“Didn’t you have urgent business? It seems there’s been a problem preparing your carriage.”

Adel turned her head following the Crown Prince’s gaze.

As Mikhail said, the black carriage bearing the Grand Duke of Ansgard’s emblem seemed to be struggling with wheel replacement.

Seeing several strong men clinging to check even the underside of the carriage, it seemed some fatal flaw had been discovered.

“If we don’t hurry, we won’t be able to return before the evening banquet. If it’s not important business, we should postpone it.”

Adel just bit her lip, unable to decide either way.

If today’s outing fell through like this, she might not be able to get information about Grita.

She looked back and forth between the Crown Prince’s seemingly harmless smile and the carriage, then asked as if she had made a big decision.

“Then may I bring my maid and knight along?”

“Do as you wish. Prepare quickly as the road is busy.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Adel bowed her head deeply and beckoned to Margaret, who had been anxiously watching from a distance.

In doing so, she failed to notice Mikhail firmly stepping on and bursting a hand that had suddenly sprung out from her shadow.

The Crown Prince’s carriage belonged to the imperial family, so even if a knight or maid accompanied, they could not sit in the carriage seats.

Margaret sat next to the coachman, and with all the curtains drawn, the Crown Prince’s and Ansgard’s knights followed before and after the carriage.

When she first thought of riding in the carriage alone with the Crown Prince, it was a bit embarrassing, but Adel gradually felt relieved by Mikhail’s attitude that seemed to completely exclude any actions that might tarnish her honor.

‘I’m tired.’

Perhaps due to the aftereffects of concentrating on magic practice in the morning, her whole body still felt languid.

Feeling like she might fall asleep if she let her guard down for a moment, Adel bit the soft flesh inside her mouth, trying hard to stay awake.

Of course, it probably didn’t show on the outside. Neither the magic nor the fatigue. Adel carefully fiddled with the bracelet Valentin had given her, feeling guilty in advance.

Whether knowing or not of such underwater struggles, Mikhail, who had been quietly observing her for a while, smiled and opened his mouth.

“Are you always this quiet?”