Chapter 28
The night was deep, but Heinrich couldn’t rest easy and couldn’t fall into a sound sleep.
Because of that, every time someone passed down the corridor, the sound woke him.
And from earlier, someone had been pacing very slowly near his bedroom.
At first, he thought it was the butler or the nanny.
Since Heinrich’s spirits had been down, the two of them must have been worried.
But when the sound kept repeating and he woke, he realized it wasn’t either of their footsteps.
It was so regular, so precise, that it made even the listener sit up straighter.
Heinrich slowly realized who it belonged to.
‘I think my wife is standing outside my room.’
Blinking, Heinrich threw off the covers and got up.
He had countless thoughts, but above all he couldn’t bear not knowing why Rivenia had come looking for him.
When Heinrich opened the door and peeked out, Rivenia gasped in surprise, swallowing hard.
But as always, she immediately composed herself and spoke in a calm tone.
“Your Grace, are you well?”
“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt so much as it itches a lot, so I can’t sleep.”
Heinrich deliberately tried to sound casual, to appear dignified.
But Rivenia still frowned with concern.
“We should also bring in a physician from outside the ducal estate. There must be one knowledgeable about skin treatments.”
That wasn’t what Heinrich had meant.
After a moment’s hesitation, he opened the door a little wider.
“My lady, would you come in instead of standing in the hallway and talk with me?”
Normally, Rivenia would have refused, but somehow tonight she seemed likely to accept.
And just as Heinrich expected, she nodded.
As soon as she entered, Heinrich hurried to light the magic stone lamp but then struck a match to the candle in the corner instead.
It was said Rivenia barely used magic stones for the sake of running Baldwin’s household, and using one before her felt childish.
Heinrich was embarrassed by these immature little thoughts of his, but he couldn’t stop himself.
“Your Grace, please sit here. I’ll light the candle.”
“No, it’s fine. Let’s sit together.”
Rivenia didn’t insist further, and matched her steps with Heinrich’s as they sat together on the sofa.
The two of them sat side by side, gazing at the flickering candlelight.
Maybe it was because he had been scolded earlier.
Heinrich couldn’t think of what to say.
Perhaps Rivenia had come to finish scolding him for the things she hadn’t said before.
But after a long silence, the words Rivenia spoke were the complete opposite of what he imagined.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
“…Pardon?”
“For raising my voice earlier today. I regret it.”
“N-no, not at all. I did wrong, so being scolded was right. I even asked you first to teach me many things!”
Heinrich waved his hands in denial.
But Rivenia still looked unconvinced.
“Since Your Grace is faithful to the duties of a husband, I too wish to be honest with you.”
“About what?”
“My mother, the former Countess Priscillin, was ill for a very long time. And until her final moment, she suffered terribly. Perhaps because of that… it pains me deeply to see anyone in front of me suffer.”
Rivenia lowered her head. Perhaps ashamed to confess it, her pale face flushed bright red.
“Isn’t it truly foolish? Because of this weak, foolish heart, I must have treated Your Grace harshly.”
“Harsh? Not at all!”
“No. In my shock, I was careless toward you. The first thing I should have said to Your Grace was something else.”
Rivenia carefully raised her lowered head.
She lifted Heinrich’s injured hand, and brought her lips close without touching. As if to kiss it, yet unable to do so.
“Truly, thank you. You saved my life.”
The most beautiful, graceful golden-haired angel Heinrich had ever seen. A woman proud and easily embarrassed, yet who always said what needed to be said.
“I too, if it were to protect Your Grace’s life, would throw myself into fire or water without hesitation. And yet I dared blame Your Grace’s courage… how shameful of me.”
It was the most solemn sight Heinrich had ever beheld.
He stared, speechless, lost. Then Rivenia blushed around her eyes and lowered her head again.
“Such words are but an excuse—you must hardly find them convincing. If you wish to punish me, please do as you see fit.”
“Punish? I would never…”
Heinrich rushed to deny it, then suddenly, an idea struck him.
“Not punishment, but I do have one request…”
In the end, the recent poison incident gave Heinrich everything he had wished for.
To the world, it appeared that it was on his orders that Rivenia punished the traitors.
Heinrich had initially refused, feeling it robbed her of her credit, but Rivenia had been firm.
“It was only because Your Grace began the investigation first that I could act.”
So Heinrich accepted.
Because in truth, this way he could more easily obtain what he wanted.
With the traitors gone from the household, Rivenia’s attitude clearly changed.
At meals, when Heinrich made a light joke, she responded with a natural smile. When he suggested tea in the garden, she did not refuse.
Sometimes, she even came to his bedroom to wake him herself.
Those were Heinrich’s happiest moments.
When her warm hand brushed his forehead, cheek, or ear, Heinrich was gently pulled up from his deep sleep.
“It’s morning, Heinrich.”
And when she called his name in that gentle voice, there was no happier morning.
What Heinrich had asked of her that day was simply to call his name.
He still called her my lady, but Rivenia seemed to think of it as no more than a cute term of address.
If he asked her to call him dear or darling, she would surely balk.
But Your Grace sounded far too distant.
So his name was best.
Fortunately, Rivenia had not refused, and now she faithfully called him Heinrich.
And the two of them spoke far more than before.
Since they often shared tea in the garden, he could also ask her little things he had been curious about.
The first thing Heinrich asked was whether she had been disappointed in him during the poison incident.
When he asked, Rivenia was so genuinely shocked that she even covered her mouth with both hands.
“Me, test Heinrich? How could I possibly?”
“But when I was injured, you immediately rooted out all the traitors. I couldn’t understand why you hadn’t done it sooner, since clearly you could have…”
“I’ll be clear. It wasn’t a test.”
Rivenia raised her index finger upright. In such moments, she looked so much like a teacher that Heinrich wanted to put a big pair of glasses on her face.
“First, I couldn’t have uncovered every traitor myself. A few people, like the head maid, were suspicious, but there was no solid proof. And punishment without proof only breeds distrust among the servants.”
Whenever Rivenia switched into teacher mode, Heinrich automatically slipped into student mode, nodding eagerly.
Punishment without proof only plants distrust. He would have to remember that.
“Second, their target wasn’t you, Heinrich. It was me. So I didn’t want to turn the household upside down, when it was already unsettled, by dragging them out too soon. If you hadn’t been harmed this time, I would have watched them longer.”
“But that means…”
Heinrich student tried to raise a question, but Teacher Rivenia shook her head firmly and continued.
“Third, you wanted to catch them yourself, Heinrich. I believed you might succeed, and if so, I wanted to give you the chance. For these combined reasons I left them be, not because I was testing you.”
Not a test, but an opportunity.
And giving someone an opportunity meant trusting them.
Heinrich’s heart pounded fast.
As he turned her words over in his mind, Rivenia smiled softly.
“What were you about to say earlier?”
“Ah, about the second reason. If their target was you, then weren’t you the one truly in danger?”
“What matters most to me is your safety and Baldwin’s. That is why I am here.”
But that sounded strange to Heinrich. His cheek puffed out in displeasure.
“My mother said that being sixteen doesn’t make you an adult.”
At that, Rivenia’s eyes widened in surprise.
Heinrich felt proud that his words had startled her.
“By that logic, aren’t you too a child who deserves to be protected by an adult?”
For a moment, Rivenia seemed at a loss for words.
