About Things That Haven't Occurred Yet
Chapter 3
One week had passed since then. Adelheid sought out Dominic every single day, always carrying books.
She had even arranged a table and chairs in the shade nearby, leisurely offering that Dominic take a seat if he grew tired.
Of course, Dominic never once complied.
“Don’t your legs hurt? Come sit here and talk with me.”
“I am on duty.”
“Do you enjoy reading books, Captain?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t, particularly.”
That statement appeared to be true. Adelheid always arrived with several volumes tucked under her arm, only to skim through them half-heartedly before snapping them shut.
With nothing else to occupy her, she spent the majority of her days there.
Even after wearing a look of utter boredom as if interested in nothing in the world, she would suddenly curve her eyes into a smile and strike up conversation about this and that.
“Are there women in your order, Captain?”
“Yes.”
“What about commoners? Are there only nobles?”
“Legenon does not discriminate based on status.”
“Well, I suppose that is why it is the greatest knight order. You have fought in many wars, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I am envious. You must have traveled to so many places. I want to become a knight too.”
Dominic furrowed his brow, displeased.
He felt an irritation flare at those empty words, completely devoid of any sense of duty or responsibility.
It was not something to be tossed about so lightly by someone raised delicately within the safety and beauty of a palace, showered only with love.
One became a knight only through flesh-searing, bone-carving effort.
No knight ever treated the code of chivalry lightly.
At least, not in the Regenon Knights.
“……A battlefield is a place where one could die at any moment.”
“Is that so?”
At her indifferent reply, Dominic felt a sudden surge of resentment.
He was by no means an emotional man, yet strangely, whenever he spoke with Adelheid, an inexplicable irritation bubbled up inside him.
There was something about her that relentlessly got on his nerves.
It was all the more aggravating because, holding the post of her guard even if only in name, he could not simply cast her aside.
Watching Dominic’s sour expression, Adelheid rested her chin on her hand and smiled.
A slight shadow formed beneath her dimples.
She seemed to know exactly how to smile to look her most beautiful.
“……If I become a knight—no, even if I’m not a knight, whatever I might be—I will enter the Mountain of Time.”
“…….”
“There is a dragon I want to kill.”
Dragons had not emerged from the Mountain of Time for a thousand years.
A millennium ago, every nation possessed a guardian dragon, but now all had vanished into the mountains, leaving only their Blessings behind.
Each nation received a different kind of Blessing, and if a dragon died, that Blessing perished along with it.
Dominic had risked his life to enter that very mountain and slay the enemy nation’s dragon in order to seize victory.
In the case of Dominic’s homeland, Genomes, a hero would appear whenever times were turbulent. That was the Blessing bestowed by their dragon.
And Dominic was hailed as the hero of this era, for in a thousand years, he was the only one who had succeeded in entering the Mountain of Time and slaying a dragon, thereby securing victory in that grueling war.
“……There is a dragon I must kill.”
Adelheid’s words were not entirely absurd.
Only beneficiaries of a Blessing could enter the Mountain of Time, and Dominic had been able to do so precisely because he held the Blessing of Genomes.
Thus, strictly speaking, Adelheid was indeed a beneficiary of a Blessing.
For she was the last surviving royal of the ruined nation of Henburg.
The Blessing granted to Henburg was that ‘the lineage of descendants possessing noble blood shall never end.’
Those of noble blood signified the royal family.
According to the Blessing, Henburg’s line would never be severed; it would endure for eternity.
It was said to be the power of this Blessing that King Hemon II of Genomes had come to favor Adelheid and spared her alone.
However, not every beneficiary of a Blessing had succeeded in slaying a dragon.
To be precise, everyone except Dominic had died.
Yet, because Adelheid carried the Blessing of an unbroken line, as long as she left behind no descendants, she would not die even if she ventured into the Mountain of Time.
Dominic spoke somewhat coldly.
“You do not need to become a knight to enter the Mountain of Time. If you wish to go, then go.”
“I can’t go.”
“…….”
“Not in my current position.”
In the end, it was nothing but talk.
There was no reason for her to discard this comfortable life and needlessly brave such perils.
Even if she slew a dragon, it would not rebuild her fallen homeland.
“……Captain, do you intend to slay other dragons in the future?”
“I do not.”
“Why?”
“Why do you ask?”
“If you had such intentions, I was going to ask you to kill a dragon for me. I told you, there is a dragon I want dead. Since I cannot go, I was going to ask you to kill it in my stead.”
“……I have no such intention. The only reason I slew the dragon of the enemy nation was that it was the sole answer to ending the war. Had there been any other way, I would never have done such a thing as slaying a dragon.”
“What about the method of not waging war?”
“I have no authority over such matters. That decision rests with the King.”
“Then why…… why wouldn’t you have killed the dragon if there had been another way?”
“Because a Blessing is a sacred thing.”
“A sacred thing, is it……”
Adelheid murmured, covering her mouth with a laugh.
It was a laugh tinged with an elusive mix of annoyance and frustration.
Uncomfortable under the gaze of those staring blue eyes, Dominic turned his head away.
As the King’s woman, who ought to conduct herself with utmost discretion in body and mind, her behavior toward another man—and the King’s own knight, no less—was thoroughly improper.
Dominic placed immense value on loyalty and fidelity.
And by his standards, Adelheid fell far, far short.
So short, in fact, that such virtues seemed entirely nonexistent in her.
“In any case, you have no intention of entering the Mountain of Time again? Never again?”
“That is correct.”
Adelheid asked nothing more, nor did Dominic ever speak first. A long silence settled between them.
The wind blew with a slight roughness. After gazing intently at Dominic for a moment, she suddenly raised a finger and lightly tapped her left forehead.
“This, I mean.”
It was the exact location where Dominic’s scar lay.
“Did that happen in the war?”
“Yes.”
“It is a rather peculiar shape.”
“…….”
“……I hate pain.”
Dominic could not fathom the direction of this unpleasant conversation at all.
He despised unproductive indolence, and Adelheid’s idle chatter failed to serve even as a decent way to pass the time.
Looking as though she were about to say something more, she soon turned her head away.
Her expression was unusually blank.
Adelheid filled the dull silence by snapping flower stems and tearing them to pieces. Before long, her fingertips were stained with green sap.
Staring quietly down at her hands, she offered what sounded like an excuse, whether to herself or to him.
“It doesn’t mean much, but doing this helps calm my mind. I am never quite able to stay calm…….”
Dominic did not answer.
Only when the sun began to sink below the horizon did Adelheid brush off her dress and rise.
The unread books remained neatly clutched against her chest.
Caressing the spine of a book, she asked as if in deep thought.
“What book should I bring tomorrow?”
The King visited Mont Palace.
It was exactly ten days after Dominic had arrived there.
From the moment she received word, Adelheid dressed up beautifully and paced restlessly near the door.
The thick braid of golden hair down her back swayed with every step she took.
‘When will the King arrive?’ Adelheid had frequently asked over the past few days.
It had not been to demand an answer from Dominic, serving more as a question to herself, but regardless, he had heard it quite often.
He could not comprehend why someone waiting so eagerly for the King would strike up excessive conversation with another man and engage in behavior ripe for misunderstanding.
“Your Majesty!”
Upon seeing Anton, King Hemon II of Genomes, Adelheid smiled like a flower in full bloom and threw herself into his arms. Her slender, pale arms wrapped around his firm waist.
Anton smiled dryly, draping an arm around Adelheid’s shoulders. Adelheid spoke in a whining tone.
“Your Majesty, my King, why haven’t you visited all this time?”
“I was busy dealing with the aftermath of the war.”
“I thought you had forgotten about me.”
“Mm.”
“I waited. The whole time.”
Adelheid seemed somehow desperate. They were merely wheedling, spoiled complaints, yet Dominic himself wondered why he sensed such desperation in them.
Nodding with an unmoved expression, Anton looked toward Dominic, who stood at attention with proper decorum.
Adelheid still kept her face buried in Anton’s chest.
“Sir, how have you been? Have you been well?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Nothing uncomfortable?”
“None, Your Majesty.”
“It is a quiet and beautiful place. You have worked hard all this time, so take some rest for a while.”
As Dominic bowed his head, Anton walked away with his arm around Adelheid’s shoulders.
Only when the sound of their footsteps had faded into the distance did Dominic raise his head.
Where his gaze landed, a pair of narrowed blue eyes was looking back at him. That indecipherable gaze was soon pulled away.
For some reason, Dominic felt as if his feet were glued to the ground.
