Valentin was tightly held by the shoulders by the knights. It took six strong men to barely restrain him. There were clear signs of a fierce physical struggle moments ago.

His hands and feet were covered in blood, his clothes were tattered and torn, and his neck was pinned down by crossed spear shafts.

Wounds from glass shards were visible all over his body. To prevent self-harm, a soft cloth was placed between Valentin’s lips.

The color drained from Adel’s cheeks at the horrific sight. Even beasts would not be treated this way.

“What on earth… What offense has he committed against Your Highness?”

The captain of the knights, Gunther, raised his face, weary with fatigue. He was gripping Valentin’s right shoulder.

“My apologies. It may look harsh to the Duchess, but it was the best measure for the Duke’s safety.”

“…What do you mean?”

Gunther hesitated slightly.

“He tried to… harm himself…”

Self-harm? Adel was too shocked to speak for a moment. She barely managed to regain her composure.

“Even so… To treat the master of Ansgar like a beast.”

“I apologize.”

“Someone please bring a damp cloth and some medicine. Sir Gunther, I think you can dismiss the knights now. The Duke seems to have calmed down.”

At the butler Hermann’s signal, one of the maids standing by the door quickly weaved through the crowd and retreated. Gunther still looked worried.

“However, Your Grace. Even six strong men can barely handle His Highness’s strength.”

“I’m not worried. His Highness seems to recognize me.”

Sir Gunther’s eyes clouded for a moment. Well, strangely enough, that was true…

“Please release His Highness.”

At Adel’s firm request, Gunther nodded to his subordinates. The knights carefully released their grip on the Duke’s body.

As soon as the spear shafts pinning his neck were removed, Valentin shook them off as if brushing away an annoyance. The sturdy knights fell away like ripe grains of wheat. He spat out the cloth that had been in his mouth.

Then he stood up without anyone’s help. As if his earlier frenzy had been completely false, he now appeared completely subdued.

“…”

Valentin’s intense gaze fell on Adel’s face. He walked straight towards her. The people in the room were holding their breath, looking back and forth between them.

“Um… Your Grace. I’ve brought the damp cloth and me-medicine…”

The maid who had just returned carefully stepped between them and set down a tray. On the tray were a damp cloth, medicine, and clean bandages. The maid flinched as Valentin gave her a cold look.

Adel quickly took the tray from the maid’s hands.

“Thank you. Now everyone, please give us some space.”

“…But…”

The old butler interjected with a frown. Adel shook her head and said,

“His Highness has just calmed down. Somehow… I’ll try to handle this.”

Hermann looked worriedly between his master and Adel, then gestured for people to leave. Soon after, the sound of the door closing was heard behind them. Hermann had succeeded in driving everyone out.

Now there were only the two of them in the room, lit by a few candles and the fireplace.

“…”

Adel was the first to break the suffocating silence that followed.

“Your Highness.”

As if responding to her voice, Valentin’s ears twitched. An inexplicable, ominous light filled his eyes. His gleaming golden eyes stared at Adel as if they would devour her.

In fact, it was an unwavering gaze that had been fixed on her since she entered the room. Whether it was filled with desire, anger, or some other poignant emotion… it was not easy to distinguish.

“Let me look at your wounds.”

Adel carefully met Valentin’s gaze and pointed to the couch in front of the fireplace. For some reason, he seemed even more unfamiliar today.

The moment she looked him directly in the eyes, Adel immediately realized why. His pupils in the firelight were… different from usual. They were vertically slit like a reptile’s, not a human’s.

‘What is this?’

In the blink of an eye, as she startled, Valentin’s pupils had returned to their normal round shape.

‘Was it an illusion? If it was real, what did I just see?’

The surroundings were eerily quiet. The cries of horses, chickens, and dogs that had been chilling the blood earlier had vanished without a trace.

A shrill voice she had heard somewhere before pierced through the silence.

The dragon of Bitzleben would be a cunning, vicious, and enchanting beast…

Adel barely swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth. The fear that had transferred from Grita slowly raised its head like a snake. It hissed poison into her ears.

It can freely manipulate shadows, cleverly hide among people, mimic human actions, and imitate language…

“Adel.”

Suddenly, a chill ran down her spine. As Adel stepped back hesitantly, Valentin’s eyebrows twitched. At the same time, his forearm visibly tensed.

He urgently closed the distance Adel had retreated.

Crack. The sound of glass shards scattered on the floor breaking under his bare feet was heard. Yet he didn’t even flinch. As if he couldn’t feel pain at all. He grabbed Adel’s wrist.

“Uh.”

Adel let out a surprised gasp. Contrary to her expectation that it would hurt with the veins standing out on his forearm, Valentin’s grip was only a bit strong, not painful.

“Adelheit.”

It was a perfectly aristocratic accent. Elegant and refined, and lingering. How could he pronounce only her name so close to perfection, while unable to say a single other word?

‘Is he really mimicking someone?’

Adel reflexively checked Valentin’s shadow. They say the ‘dragon’ has a living, moving shadow unlike humans.

However, Valentin’s shadow was ordinary. It was a perfectly normal shadow that didn’t seem to breathe or move differently from its owner, nothing special about it.

Only then did her heated mind cool down as if doused with cold water. Adel felt relieved.

‘There’s no way he’s not human. Look at that. He’s even bleeding. Grita was just overreacting…’

“Adel.”

He grabbed Adel’s chin, which was looking at the floor, and lifted her face. As his hand came closer, Adel smelled blood. Come to think of it, his palms were covered in blood too.

‘Did he get like that from breaking the window?’

Just as she was idly following that train of thought…

“…”

Valentin was gazing at her silently. Adel quickly noticed that he was unusually flustered.

“…”

He rubbed her cheek and chin hard with his thumb. As if wanting to wipe something off. He repeated it several times, as if it wasn’t working well.

Only after looking at a half-broken mirror did Adel realize that her cheek was smeared with blood in the shape of Valentin’s handprint. And that the more he tried to wipe it off, the messier it was getting.

Adel gently pushed his arm away and said,

“I-I’ll do this. It hurts if you rub it with your hand like that.”

“…”

“If you do it like this, it’ll just keep spreading. If we wipe it with a damp cloth, it’ll quickly…”

Adel couldn’t even finish her sentence. He gently lifted her chin and bent down. Adel just blinked dazedly at his face getting closer and closer. She couldn’t understand the meaning. Why suddenly…

His lips touched Adel’s chin for an instant. Adel’s eyes, like tender new buds, widened. Then his red tongue darted out and licked the bloodstain on her chin.

Good heavens.

Adel’s pale cheeks instantly turned as red as ripe tomatoes. She shuddered at the eerily soft and moist sensation.

“S-stop…”

“Ah, pret-ty… My… Adel.”

She felt him breathe a suppressed laugh against her skin. Adel pressed her hand tightly to her chest. Her heart was beating too fast.

* * *

‘He’ looked at the pitiful woman before him.

Her white, clear cheeks, eyes like summer, hair falling damp over her fingers, and slender shoulders like willow branches. Just looking at her made dark desire tighten in his belly.

While all the northern lands were celebrating and toasting the man’s return, a shadow of doubt could be seen on the woman’s, Adelheit’s, face. It was so persistent that no matter what he did, it wouldn’t lift.

‘He’ was concerned.

What was lacking? Did he seem too ignorant for a human? Or did he act too pitifully?

His tongue, not yet having swallowed all his desire, darted out to lick his lips. ‘He’ narrowed his eyes when Adel wasn’t looking.

So, how exactly…

Could he break down that wariness like before?

* * *

Kisses trailed from her chin to her cheek, then back to her chin. If at first there was at least the pretext of wiping off blood, later Valentin seemed intent on simply fondling her. He seemed to enjoy how Adel startled with each touch of his lips.

She pushed desperately against Valentin’s broad shoulders with a tearful expression. Only then did he straighten up from his hunched position, looking satisfied.

“F-first, let’s treat your wounds.”

Adel placed the tray the maid had brought on her lap, her cheeks flushed. Whether the man before her was really her husband or a beast wearing his skin, at least he was a person who was bleeding.

If these wounds were left untreated, it would cause great suffering later. Adel gripped the cloth tightly and warned with a worried expression,

“It might sting a bit.”

Adel spread out his large palm face up and gently wiped the wound with the cloth soaked in alcohol.

“…”

Every time the cloth brushed against him, his taut shoulders flinched. It seemed less from pain and more like the sensation was unfamiliar. His face looked like he was observing it, as if it wasn’t his own skin.

Adel placed a generous amount of crushed hemostatic herbs on Valentin’s palm and wrapped it tightly with a bandage.

“Does it hurt? Or is it too tight and uncomfortable…”

Valentin tilted his head. As if asking what she meant. Or as if it was a question he simply couldn’t understand.

Adel’s ears turned slightly red. She timidly changed the subject.

“Luckily the other hand isn’t as bad, but we should look at your feet since you stepped on glass earlier. If there are any other injuries, please show me. It’s best to stop the bleeding before calling a healer…”

She couldn’t even finish her sentence. Valentin crossed his arms and stripped off his tattered tunic.