- Episode 3
A week passed. Adelheid visited Dominic every day with a book in hand.
She even went so far as to place a table and chairs in a nearby shady spot, showing a relaxed attitude and telling Dominic to sit down if he was tired.
Of course, Dominic never once followed her.
"Doesn't your leg hurt? Sit here and let's talk."
“I’m on duty.”
"Does the Captain enjoy reading books too?"
"Yes."
“I don’t really.”
That seemed to be true. Adelheid always carried a few books with her, but she would often just skim through them and close them.
With no other business to attend to, she spent most of her time here.
Even while wearing a look of utter boredom, as if uninterested in anything, she gave Dominic a gentle smile and struck up a conversation about this and that.
"Are there any women in the Captain's Order of Knights?"
"Yes."
"What about commoners? Are there only nobles?"
"Legenon does not discriminate based on status."
"I suppose that makes them the greatest knight order. They've been to a lot of wars, haven't they?"
"Yes."
"I'm jealous. You must have traveled around a lot. I want to be a knight too."
Dominic narrowed his eyebrows. He was displeased. He was angry at the empty words that lacked any mission or sense of responsibility.
It was not something that someone who had grown up pampered, receiving nothing but love, should have spoken of lightly.
Everyone becomes a knight through painstaking effort.
Every knight never takes the way of a knight lightly.
At least the Knights of Legenon were like that.
"...War is fought when you never know when you might die."
"Is it so?"
Dominic was instantly choked up at the indifferent answer.
Even though he was by no means an emotional person, strangely, whenever he talked to Adelheid, he felt inexplicably annoyed.
There was something about her that strangely kept getting on his nerves.
He took on the position of bodyguard; at least in name, it was even more so because they couldn't just carelessly cast her out.
Watching Dominic in his bad daytime state, Adelheid smiled while resting her chin on her hand.
A small shadow fell beneath the deep dimple.
She seemed to know how to smile to look her most beautiful.
"...If I become a knight, or even if I am not a knight but whatever, I will enter the Mountain of Time."
"..."
"There is a dragon I want to kill."
The dragons have not emerged from the Mountain of Time for a thousand years.
A thousand years ago, every nation had a guardian dragon, but now they have all hidden their forms in the mountains, and only their blessings remain.
The types of blessings differed from country to country, and when the dragon died, that blessing also vanished.
Dominic risked his life and personally entered the mountain to kill the enemy's dragon and seize victory.
In the case of Dominic's homeland, Genomes, whenever times are difficult, a hero appears. That is the blessing bestowed by the dragon.
And Dominic was treated as a hero of his time because he was the only one who had succeeded in entering the Mountain of Time for a thousand years and killing the dragon, thereby winning the arduous war.
"...There is a dragon that must be killed."
Adelheid's words were not entirely baseless.
Only the beneficiaries of the blessing could enter the Mountain of Time, and since Dominic also had the blessing of Genomes, He was good at it.
So, strictly speaking, Adelheid was indeed the beneficiary of the blessing.
Because she was the last royal of the fallen kingdom of Henburg.
The blessing bestowed upon Henburg was that the lineage of descendants with noble blood would never end.
'One who possesses noble blood' refers to royalty.
According to the blessing, the lineage of Henburg is unbroken and eternal.
Hemon II, the current king of Genomes, said that the fact that he came to favor Adelheid and spared only her life was also due to the power of the blessing.
However, not all beneficiaries of the blessing succeeded in killing the dragon.
To be precise, everyone died except Dominic.
However, Adelheid has been blessed with an unbroken lineage, so as long as she does not leave behind descendants, she will not die even if she goes to the Mountain of Time.
Dominic spoke a little coldly.
"When entering the Mountain of Time, one must not necessarily become a knight. If you want to go, go."
"I can't go."
"..."
"I can't go in this position."
In the end, it's just words.
There was no need to give up this comfortable life and go out of her way to endure hardship.
Killing the dragon doesn't mean her homeland will be rebuilt.
"...Captain, do you intend to kill other dragons in the future?"
"No."
“Why?”
Why do you ask?
"If you intend to do so, ask them to kill the dragon. You said there is a dragon you want to kill. Since I can't go, ask them to kill it for you instead."
“...I have no other intention. The reason I killed the Dragon of the Nine Heavens was that it was the only solution to the war. Had there been even a single other way, I would never have killed the dragon.”
"What is the way to avoid war?"
"I have no authority regarding that. The decision rests with the King."
"Then why... if there had been another way, wouldn't you have killed the dragon?"
"Because blessings are great things."
“It is a great thing...”
Adelheid muttered, covered her mouth, and laughed.
It was a laugh tinged with irritation and frustration.
Dominic turned his head away, feeling uncomfortable with the blue eyes staring intently.
As the King's woman, she should have been even more careful with her body and mind; her behavior toward an outsider, and toward the King's knight at that, was highly inappropriate.
Dominic placed great importance on integrity and principles.
And by his standards, Adelheid lagged far behind.
It was so lagging that it seemed as if it didn't exist at all.
"Anyway, does that mean you have no intention of entering the Mountain of Time again? Forever and ever?"
“Yes.”
Adelheid did not ask any further questions, and Dominic did not speak first either. A long silence ensued.
A slightly rough wind blew. She, who seemed to be staring intently at Dominic for a moment, suddenly raised her finger and tapped her left forehead.
“This is it.”
It was in the same location as Dominic's stab wound.
"Is that how it is in war?"
"Yes."
"It has a slightly unusual shape."
"..."
"...I don't like being in pain."
Dominic could not make any sense of the flow of this unpleasant conversation.
He detested unproductive idleness, and Adelheid's useless words were not even enough to kill time.
She, who seemed about to say something more but then turned her head away.
It was a rare expressionless face.
Adelheid snapped off the flower stems one by one. She replaced the tedious silence by chopping things up. Before long, her fingertips turned blue.
She quietly looked down at her fingertips and said something that might have been a monologue, as if making an excuse.
"It doesn't really mean anything, but doing this calms me down a bit. I can never seem to stay calm...”
Dominic did not reply.
It was only when the sun was slowly setting that Adelheid got up from her seat.
Books she didn't even read sat neatly on the chest. They were stacked on top of each other.
She stroked the spine of the book and asked as if deep in thought.
"What book will you bring tomorrow?"
***
The King entered Mont Palace.
It had been exactly ten days since Dominic arrived here.
From the moment she received the news, Adelheid adorned herself beautifully and restlessly lingered near the door.
The thick blonde braid at the back was shaky.
"When will the King come?"
Adelheid had frequently asked over the past few days.
It was not intended to demand an answer from Dominic, but was closer to self-reflection; in any case, he had heard that question quite a lot.
He could not understand why, while waiting so long for the King, she was talking excessively to another man and engaging in behaviors that could easily be misunderstood.
"Your Majesty!"
Upon seeing Anton, King of Genomes, Hemon II, Adelheid smiled like a blooming flower and embraced him. Her slender white arms wrapped around his firm waist.
Anton smiled dryly and put one arm around Adelheid's shoulder. Adelheid spoke in a whining tone.
“Your Majesty, my King, why have you not come all this time?”
"I was busy cleaning up after the war."
"I thought you had forgotten me."
"Hmm."
"I waited. For a long time."
Adelheid was somewhat desperate. Dominic himself wondered why he felt she was desperate, considering it was merely whining.
Anton nodded with an unenthusiastic expression and looked at Dominic, who was standing neatly.
Adelheid was still burying her face in Anton's chest.
"Sir, how have you been? Have you been doing well?"
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes."
"It is a quiet and beautiful place. You have worked hard, so take a rest for a while."
As Dominic lowered his head, Anton walked away with his arm around Adelheid's shoulder.
Just as the sound of footsteps faded into the distance, Dominic raised his head.
Where his gaze fell, narrowed blue eyes were watching him. The meaningless gaze was soon withdrawn.
Dominic thought that for some reason, his feet felt stuck to the ground.
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