ATTNH - Chapter 4

- Episode 4

The sound of insects was loud.

Dominic looked out at the garden, where moonlight had permeated every corner.

It was a time when he would normally be in the study, but he didn't feel like going inside the building.

Although it was by no means true that he and Adelheid had committed any wrongdoing, for some reason he was reluctant to look at the King's face.

This was because Adelheid's past actions and the previous guards who had been punished and expelled were suddenly recalled.

Dominic seemed to know more clearly.

Where this feeling of hatred started and where it is heading.

All of the previous guards who suffered disgrace were knights of the King.

The reason for the punishment was 'coveting the king's woman'.

Dominic thought that if that were true, Adelheid would also be guilty, and the same would be true even if it wasn't.

There is no way such a result could occur when there is absolutely no room for error.

Considering Adelheid's behavior up to that point, it was a plausible idea.

The question of 'why' was not a very important part for Dominic.

Why does Adelheid do that?

Why is Adelheid favored by the King? Is she a concubine, yet showing excessive intimacy with another man?

Why have all the guards up until now earned the disgrace of coveting the King's woman?

Why was there no sanction against Adelheid despite all those incidents?

Why does the King continue to take men as bodyguards despite this?

It didn't matter 'why'.

It is only important that such results exist now and that such causes existed in the past.

A knight who obeys his lord's orders as long as it does not violate the code of chivalry does not ask for a reason

Dominic has lived a life without questioning. He will continue to live that way.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heard.

At the figure approaching in the calm darkness, Dominic hurriedly stood up from his seated position.

"Your Majesty."

"Did I interrupt your contemplation?"

"No."

Anton smirked and gestured for him to sit down.

He looked as if he had just haphazardly put it on, as his light attire had the front undone, revealing his chest.

Dominic, who never showed a hint of disarray in anything, sat stiffly while looking elsewhere.

“Is it worth staying?”

"Yes."

"It's a boring place. It's quiet and beautiful, but not fun. Isn't it?"

"It’s fine, I’m not here to play."

"You are truly a boring person."

Anton, who had been giggling, suddenly stopped laughing.

Dominick silently waited for the next words.

The people of the world said that the King was crazy.

It was said that he would go mad with blood and madness, trampling, slaughtering, and burning.

He was said to be someone who laughed happily even after doing so.

Dominic thought it wasn't wrong, but even so, he couldn't voice his agreement. It was impossible to speak.

Because he was the King's knight.

It was unbelievable that such a King, such a cruel man, had fallen in love.

However, he also couldn't help but believe it.

Mont Palace, which had been empty ever since the death of the woman the former King loved most, found a master, and that fact alone was enough to prove the King's love.

The new owner of the palace is Princess Henburg, whom the King himself led an army to destroy. She was royalty.

The King, who had never spared the life of an enemy royal, fell in love with the enemy royal at first sight. Consequently, he brought her over and bestowed Mont Palace upon her.

Even Dominic, who was indifferent to appearances, recognized Adelheid's beauty.

Her appearance was a face that perfectly embodied the beauty standards praised by the world.

Honey blonde hair, jewel-like blue eyes, long eyelashes that flutter with every blink, skin so white and smooth it looks pale, and a slender body.

Anyone with universal beauty standards would not be able to take their eyes off Adelheid for at least a few seconds.

Although Dominic could not accept the world's standards of beauty, he acknowledged that Adelheid fit those standards.

Anton opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.

"Are you getting along well with Adele?"

Dominic was nervous. He felt like he knew the intention behind the question, yet he couldn't quite figure it out.

He carefully chose his answer.

“...She is an easy person to escort.”

"I guess there isn't really anything to escort here. Didn't Adele ask to be let out?"

"Yes."

"Is that so?" Anton muttered, raising the corners of his mouth in a bitter smile.

Dominic felt a chill run down his spine for some reason, so he clenched and unclenched his fist.

Anton said in an indifferent voice, as if tossing it out.

"She's a fun woman."

"..."

"She has no pride."

Dominic couldn't believe his ears for a moment.

As he unconsciously turned his head to look at Anton, he smiled and added.

"Isn't that exactly the type you hate?"

It was excessively harsh to speak to a concubine whom he had fallen in love with at first sight, saved from the death of a royal family member of an enemy nation, brought back to embrace a beautiful palace, and kept hidden from the world for fear that she might get sick or hurt.

It was beyond harsh; it sounded like a sort of sarcasm. Dominic remained silent.

“You mean the story about the previous guards being punished for harboring impure thoughts toward Adele? Does that sound true?”

“...I don’t know.”

"It’s exaggerated, but not entirely false. Isn’t her face excellent? How many men would be able to resist a woman like that who is determined to smile? Well... You are an exception since you're so conservative."

Anton's words only increased Dominic's bewilderment.

The King knew about all of Adelheid's actions.

And he said those stories aren't false. Yet, he turned a blind eye and continued to bring in men as her bodyguards?

Dominic was a loyal knight who never asked his liege 'why,' but being human, he was curious about Anton's intentions.

Whether he truly loves Adelheid.

If it is love, why condone all of this and engage in such mockery?

If it weren't for love, why would you present this palace? And whether he raised her alone as the sole Queen.

"You look like you can't understand."

"..."

"Since you are a knight I cherish, shall I speak to you specially?"

Anton had the face of a mischievous boy.

Nowhere on his rather handsome face could one find any trace of such ruthlessness.

However, Dominic knew how cruel he was.

Dominic committed slaughter out of necessity on the battlefield, but Anton slaughtered not only out of necessity but also for pleasure.

The reason Anton's traces are more brutal, despite the same act of slaughter, is that pleasure lies at its core.

"You were in the south during the invasion of Henburg, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"People say I brought Adelheid here because I was captivated by her beauty. That is not true."

"..."

“Hmm... I killed almost all the people living in the Henburg palace, and in the end, only two members of the royal family remained, and those were Adelheid and her brother.”

And in the end, Adelheid was left alone.

Anton said that although he had committed countless murders, he had never seen such a face before.

It wasn't simply a face drenched in fear.

It wasn't resistance to death, either. An indescribable expression.

With that look on her face, Adelheid begged to be spared.

She begged desperately and abjectly, to the point where one could not believe she was royalty of a nation. She begged and begged again.

Anton thought that was interesting. He asked what she had to do to be spared, and she replied that she would do anything.

“She really will do anything. Adele killed her already-dead brother with her own hands. I was feeling a bit lonely, so I brought her over thinking it would be fun, and she’s actually quite good at getting on my nerves... Anyway, she’s a woman I’ve come to quite like.”

"..."

“Isn’t she a beauty rare above all else? If she had been ugly, I might have killed her before she could even beg for her life.”

Anton laughed as if he found it amusing, but Dominic couldn't laugh even out of politeness.

He did not want to make a mockery of this.

'I am Adelheid. My last name is a thing of the past. I really wanted to meet Captain Legenon.'

It didn't look like that.

Dominic didn't know what it meant to 'look like that,' but the Adelheid Anton was talking about, and the Adelheid Dominic saw, seemed like different people.

The person desperate for life, enough for that cruel man to bring her back alive, was not the Adelheid Dominic had seen.

"She is extremely obedient. If I tell her not to go out, she doesn't; if I tell her to come, she comes; and if I tell her to go, she goes. She knows how to gauge the situation and is quick-witted, and as of now, I have no intention of killing her."

"...Then the previous guards..."

"I understand that Adele wants my attention. Isn't she cute? I have my reputation to uphold, so I cannot show infinite mercy to those who fell for it, but I can certainly turn a blind eye to the antics of my favored concubine."

It was a silent night. Anton's continuing words scattered in his ears.

Dominic suddenly felt a gaze.

Blonde hair caught a glimpse at the edge of the window on the top floor of the building he looked up at, then vanished. He felt a little thirsty.

“Anyway, the war is over, so you may rest. Until I call you...”

Dominic remained silent, then slowly nodded.

A moon resembling the color of her hair was floating in the night sky.

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