About Things That Haven't Occurred Yet
Chapter 4
The chorus of night insects was loud.
Dominic gazed out over the garden, drenched in moonlight down to every corner.
Ordinarily, it was an hour he would have spent in the library, but he had no desire to step inside the building.
It was by no means that he and Adelheid had committed anything improper, yet he felt strangely reluctant to face the King.
That was because he had been vividly reminded of Adelheid’s behavior thus far, and of the precedent set by the former guards who had been punished and cast out.
Dominic felt he understood it a little more clearly now.
Where this sense of revulsion had begun, and where it was heading.
The disgraced former guards had all been the King’s own knights.
The reason for their punishment: on the pretext of ‘coveting the King’s woman.’
Dominic thought that if it were true, Adelheid was just as guilty—and even if it were not, the same held true.
Such an outcome could not have come to pass without any opening given.
Piecing together Adelheid’s actions so far, it was a credible conclusion.
The question of ‘why’ had never been a particularly important matter to Dominic.
Why did Adelheid act that way?
Why did Adelheid, a favored concubine of the King, display such excessive intimacy toward other men?
Why had every single guard before him earned the disgrace of coveting the King’s woman? Why, despite so many incidents, had no sanctions been placed upon Adelheid? Why did the King continue to assign men as her guards regardless?
‘Why’ did not matter.
All that mattered was that such results existed in the present, and such causes had existed in the past.
Just as a knight who obeys his lord’s orders without question asks no reason, so long as it does not violate chivalry.
Dominic had lived a life without questioning. And he would continue to live that way.
Presently, the sound of light, crunching footsteps reached his ears.
At the sight of a figure approaching through the tranquil darkness, Dominic hurriedly rose to his feet.
“Your Majesty.”
“Did I disturb your contemplation, Sir Knight?”
“Not at all.”
Anton let out a quiet chuckle and gestured for him to sit.
As though he had merely thrown something on before stepping out, he was lightly dressed, the front of his robe loosely parted to reveal his bare chest.
Dominic, who never allowed himself to appear disheveled under any circumstance, shifted his gaze aside and stiffly sat back down.
“Is the stay tolerable?”
“Yes.”
“It is a tedious place. Quiet and beautiful, but dull. Don’t you agree?”
“I did not come here for leisure, so it is well.”
“You truly are a dull man, Sir Knight.”
Anton, who had been giggling softly, suddenly stopped laughing. Dominic silently waited for the words that would follow.
The people of the world said the King was mad.
Mad with blood and frenzy, trampling, slaughtering, and reducing all to ash.
And that even after doing so, he was a man who laughed merrily.
Dominic did not think those words were wrong, but that did not mean he could ever voice his agreement aloud.
For he was the King’s knight.
That such a king—such a cruel man—had fallen in love was something impossible to believe.
Yet it was also impossible not to believe.
Mont Palace, which had remained vacant ever since the death of the man the Late King had loved most, now had a master. That single fact was proof enough of the King’s love.
The new master of the palace was royalty from Henburg, a kingdom the King had personally led his armies to destroy.
The King, who had never once spared the royalty of an enemy nation, had fallen in love at first sight with this royal of a ruined kingdom. And so, he had dragged her back on the spot and bestowed Mont Palace upon her.
Even Dominic, indifferent as he was to appearances, recognized Adelheid’s beauty.
Her appearance looked as if the world’s very standard of beauty had been lifted and set upon her face.
Honey-golden hair, jewel-blue eyes, long eyelashes that fluttered with every blink, skin so pale and smooth it seemed almost bloodless, a slender, fragile frame.
Anyone who held a conventional standard of beauty would be unable to tear their eyes away from Adelheid for at least several seconds.
Even if Dominic could not bring himself to value the beauty praised by the world, he acknowledged that Adelheid fit that very standard.
Anton spoke with an indifferent expression.
“How are you getting along with Adel?”
Dominic tensed. He thought he understood the intent behind the question, yet at the same time, he could not be sure.
He chose his answer carefully.
“……She is an easy lady to guard.”
“Well, there isn’t anything to guard here anyway. Has Adel not asked you to let her out?”
“No.”
Is that so, Anton murmured, his lips curving into a cold, faint smile.
For some reason, Dominic felt a chill run down his spine, and he clenched and unclenched his fist.
Anton spoke in a detached, offhand tone.
“She’s an amusing woman.”
“…….”
“A woman without a shred of pride.”
For an instant, Dominic doubted his own ears.
Before he could stop himself, he turned his head to look at Anton, who added with a laugh:
“Isn’t she precisely the type you despise, Sir Knight?”
To say such things about a concubine he had spared when she deserved death, whom he had fallen for at first sight, brought back, gifted a magnificent palace, and sheltered from the world lest she be hurt or sickened—it was excessively harsh.
Beyond harsh, it sounded like a sneer. Dominic remained silent.
“The story about the previous guards being punished for harboring impure feelings toward Adel—do you think it’s true?”
“……I do not know.”
“There may be exaggerations, but it isn’t entirely a lie. Her face alone is splendid, is it not? When a woman like that makes up her mind to smile at you, how many men wouldn’t fall for it? Well…… you are so conservative that you’re an exception, of course.”
Anton’s words only deepened Dominic’s bewilderment.
The King knew all about Adelheid’s behavior.
And he claimed those stories were not false. Yet he turned a blind eye to it and continued to bring in men as her guards?
Dominic was a loyal knight who never asked ‘why’ of his lord, but being human, he could not help but wonder at Anton’s motives.
Did he truly love Adelheid?
If it was love, why did he overlook all this and mock her so?
If it was not love, why had he gifted her this palace and elevated her as his only consort?
“You have the face of a man who cannot understand.”
“…….”
“You are my cherished knight, so perhaps I will tell you this as a special favor.”
Anton wore the face of a mischievous boy.
Nowhere on that remarkably handsome face could one find a trace of the merciless monster he was reputed to be.
Yet Dominic knew just how cruel a man he was.
On the battlefield, Dominic killed out of necessity, but Anton killed not only out of necessity, but for pleasure.
Though both were acts of slaughter, the trail Anton left behind was far more horrific because pleasure lay at its foundation.
“You were in the south during the invasion of Henburg, were you not?”
“Yes.”
“The people of the world say I brought Adelheid back because I was captivated by her beauty. That is not it.”
“…….”
“Hm…… I had killed nearly everyone living in Henburg’s palace, and at the very end, two royals remained. Adelheid and her elder brother.”
And in the end, only Adelheid was left.
Anton said that although he had committed countless murders, he had never seen such a face before.
It was not a face merely drenched in terror.
Nor was it defiance against death. It was an expression beyond description.
With such a face, Adelheid had begged for her life.
She had begged so desperately, so servilely, that one could never believe she was the royal of a kingdom. She had begged and begged again.
Anton thought it was amusing.
When he asked what she would do if he spared her, she answered that she would do anything.
“And she truly did do anything. With her own hands, Adel killed her brother who was already dead once more. I thought it might be amusing since I was feeling rather bored, so I brought her along. She caters to my moods quite well, too…… In any case, I do find her quite pleasing.”
“…….”
“Above all, is she not a rare beauty? If she had been hideous, I might have killed her before she even had the chance to beg for her life.”
Anton laughed as if it were entertaining, but Dominic could not even muster a polite smile.
He did not wish to treat such things as a laughing matter.
‘I am Adelheid. I abandoned my family name long ago. I have so wanted to meet Captain Legenon.’
She had not seemed like such a person.
Dominic did not know what ‘such a person’ truly meant, but the Adelheid Anton spoke of and the Adelheid Dominic had seen felt like two different people.
A person so desperate for life that she could be spared and brought back by that cruel man was not the Adelheid Dominic had witnessed.
“She listens remarkably well. When I tell her not to leave, she doesn’t leave; when I tell her to come, she comes; when I tell her to go, she goes. She knows how to test the waters reasonably well, and she’s quick on the uptake. I have no intention of killing her just yet.”
“……Then the previous guards…….”
“Adel acts that way because she wants my attention. Isn’t that cute? As for the bastards who fell for it, I have my dignity to uphold, so I cannot show boundless mercy, but I can certainly overlook the little antics of my favored concubine.”
It was a quiet night. Anton’s continuing words scattered in the air.
Dominic suddenly felt a gaze upon him.
Looking up, he caught a fleeting glimpse of golden hair at the edge of a window on the building’s top floor before it vanished. His throat felt a little dry.
“At any rate, the war is over, so you may rest, Sir Knight. Until I summon you…….”
Dominic remained silent for a moment, then slowly nodded his head.
In the night sky hung a moon that resembled the color of her hair.
