Chapter 11

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 11

Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Wife of the Monster Duke

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A commotion broke out in the mansion.

The guests-who-weren't-quite-guests filling the corridor bowed their heads deeply the moment they spotted the robe embroidered with the ornate emblem of Crimson Delroz.

It was for survival, more than loyalty.

This was the robe worn by the master of House Biplten.

The family head always wore his hood so low that his face was scarcely visible, but even a fleeting glimpse of that masculine jawline and those cold lips that uttered chilling words left an indelible impression burned into the mind.

"This way."

Ijis was the only one speaking.

The guests only began whispering among themselves in small groups after he had passed.

How could the knights of Delroz move so freely up ahead like that?

The situation was the same on the sixth floor.

Ijis had already notified the maids in front of the room before the duke even arrived in the corridor.

"His Grace the Duke is coming."

"Pardon?"

The maids of Azure Noz looked as if they'd misheard, blinking in disbelief.

The family head was a man who not only avoided spending nights with women but would march off to the battlefield for days if the elders dared push one into his bedroom.

There had been talk of marriage this time too, but every maid had assumed deep down.

She would spend the night alone.

Yet not only had the duke spent the night with her, he had come to see her himself.

"Because she's a sun-dweller?"

Ijis clearly overheard the maid whispering from where she'd retreated down the hall.

His icy gaze flicked toward the distance.

The duke, having heard the same, simply passed by and headed for the door.

The physician, who happened to be stepping out just then, spotted him and bowed in terror.

Fortunately, this one wouldn't drop dead of a heart attack from merely meeting the duke's eyes.

He was a Delroz physician who'd long served in the knight order and was the prized disciple of the head physician.

"What is it?"

"I didn't expect you to come in person..."

The flustered physician cleared his throat and gathered his wits.

He glanced at the door before reporting.

"Severe muscle pain throughout the body, but no fever."

Muscle pain? One of Aden's eyebrows arched.

Ijis, who had been listening quietly, subtly averted his gaze.

The physician, sensing what they were thinking, waved his hands frantically.

"It's not from the night. Though it might have been a factor, there were no symptoms like this until morning."

"Then?"

The physician cautiously reported to him.

"This morning, the Azure Noz maids brought up Nened as a painkiller..."

"Nened?"

Aden narrowed his eyes.

It was an herb with excellent effects and minimal side effects, used frequently even on the front lines.

"It seems... it doesn't agree with sun-dwellers."

"Father was a man who longed for summer."

Snow blanketed the ground thickly.

Even larger flakes continued to pour down relentlessly atop it.

In the midst of it all, two people sat side by side on the snow.

Ilrin glanced around and spotted a mobile swaying from inside the mansion.

It was the familiar shape she always saw in her precognitive dreams.

This was a dream.

Ilrin turned back to the two figures.

The her from the dream sat on a spread of Azure Noz fabric.

Was it really okay to use holy cloth like that? She wondered, but there was no helping it if she wanted to sit on the ground.

And facing her was Den, the knight commander of Crimson Delroz.

"Father was content showing Mother the light of Ello, but that isn't true sunlight."

Den continued in a calm voice.

"The summer that vanished from Biplten long ago wasn't like that."

He smiled faintly, his expression softening.

His deep blue eyes weren't cold at all.

"You, as a sun-dweller, would know better than anyone."

After a brief silence, he spoke again.

"I will bring summer back to Biplten."

It sounded like a tremendous vow.

Ilrin, watching the two, widened her eyes.

Biplten was already so famously known as the Winter Lands.

Summer... here?

Was that even possible?

"How?"

The Ilrin in the dream echoed her curiosity.

Den opened his mouth.

"That is—"

"Are you there?"

Ilrin opened her eyes.

Her body felt melted.

Her forehead and nape felt cool where the air touched, as if she'd been sweating.

She blinked a few times, and instead of the snowy landscape with falling flakes, a ceiling greeted her—similar, yet far cozier.

It was still the bed where she'd spent her first night.

Knock knock.

She fixed her gaze on the door visible through the billowing white curtains.

Someone was knocking.

"Who is it?"

The reply came a beat late from outside.

"Den of Crimson Delroz."

Ilrin blinked at the incomprehensible situation.

She scanned the room and confirmed there was no mobile.

This wasn't a dream.

But why was Den...?

Her mind grew tangled in an instant.

What should she say?

This was clearly something the maids should handle.

How could they let an outsider—a man—approach the bride's room right after her first night?

Yet there wasn't a trace of the maids.

They were the ones who hadn't left her room even once while she'd drifted in and out of fevered sleep.

"What is it?"

Ilrin asked in a faint voice.

It was so soft she wondered if it would carry to the door, but Den caught it somehow.

"I heard you were unwell."

...So the knight commander of Crimson Delroz came because I'm sick?

Ilrin sat up, pulling the blanket up to her neck.

This was utterly absurd by her standards.

"...His Grace ordered me to check on your condition."

She heard Den add.

Ilrin blinked.

She was flustered too.

She was grateful for the concern.

It was surprisingly considerate, unlike the rumors.

But sending the knight commander?

They could have just sent a Crimson Delroz maid. Why a man? Her head, already pounding with a fierce headache, grew even more muddled.

Was this normal in Biplten?

Her thoughts tangled again.

"...Please think carefully and come in if appropriate."

Ilrin said cautiously.

Biplten was different from the empire, starting with how it governed its lands.

Perhaps, in Biplten, it wasn't rude for an outsider to enter a lady's room.

If that was the case, sending Den away might be the rude thing.

Enter if you judge it proper—that was what she meant.

"Then, excuse me briefly."

The door clicked open.

A man with neatly trimmed black hair stepped through the gap.

His blue eyes clearly reflected the light from the white ceiling.

He seemed to have come in haste; his attire was a touch less pristine than usual.

A white shirt peeked from inside his unbuttoned uniform jacket.

Ilrin averted her gaze from him.

It reminded her of the duke she'd seen last night.

His body, glimpsed briefly when they signed the vows.

"Are you in much discomfort?"

Suddenly, she recalled the image of Den and herself from the dream.

We looked close.

Very close.

"..."

No way...

Ilrin shook her head slightly, as if to dispel the thought.

It was a dream she shouldn't be having right after her first night.

Her mind felt hazy.

"Are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine."

Ilrin's response blurted out unbidden.

She clenched the blanket pulled up to her neck.

"But... is this normal in Biplten?"

She ended up asking.

She couldn't help feeling wary of him.

Den tilted his head slightly.

"Pardon?"

His expression seemed genuinely puzzled, closer to confusion than a brazen criminal's.

Was Biplten's culture truly so different?

"If this were the empire, Den coming here would be a grave crime."

Ilrin cleared her throat as best she could and said.

Den flinched, belatedly grasping her meaning.

"Ah."

A short silence fell.

"...It's fine here."

Ah, I see.

Ilrin let out a sigh of relief.

Still, it didn't make her any less uncomfortable.

Cultural differences—she'd have to adapt, but what nagged at her most was the precognitive dream.

No way.

Ilrin thought she was just being oversensitive.

If entering a bedroom wasn't improper here, then two people talking alone...

"I heard the illness is from the medicine."

"Medicine?"

Ilrin snapped her wandering thoughts back.

In her feverish, dream-hazed state, she had no memory of hearing the physician.

She did remember him coming, though.

Because he was a man too, and she'd been startled.

"The Nened you took is what Biplten folk commonly use... but it doesn't suit sun-dwellers' constitutions."

Den added after a hesitation.

"We're fetching medicine suited for sun-dwellers through the Esid Merchant Group right now. Rest a bit more, and it should arrive soon."

"I understand."

Fortunately, Den seemed to notice her discomfort and quickly excused himself.

Ilrin let out a short sigh.

Den had only been doing his duty.

His Grace didn't stay in the mansion much, they said.

But she doubted the man who'd heard she was ill would ignore it.

He hadn't seemed that indifferent—last night, he'd been so gentle.

Ilrin drew in a deep breath.

"Your Grace, this disregards tradition. Please reconsider."

Ridan of Azure Noz had lately become a frequent visitor to the knight headquarters.

Aden narrowed his eyes at him.

His gaze flicked to the clock and away.

It was quite late for visitors.

"I don't see what you're so upset about."

"It's about Madam's maids."

Ilrin's maids? Ah.

Aden tilted his head slightly.

"Replacing them all with Crimson Delroz maids?"

"Yes. For generations, Azure Noz attended the brides."

In other words, he'd encroached on their territory.

Aden didn't hide his growing discomfort.

"Even Lady Elena was attended by our Azure Noz."

Elena was the name of the previous duchess.

"Not when I was a child."

Aden cut in slowly, interrupting the elder.

"After Mother fell ill, there wasn't an Azure Noz maid to be seen. Isn't that right?"

Ridan's reply came a beat late.

"...That was because Lady Elena preferred Crimson Delroz maids."

"No, it was because Azure Noz failed to attend her properly."

Aden's icy gaze fixed on Ridan.

"I know attending the bride is traditionally Azure Noz's role."

That was why he'd even allowed use of Crimson Delroz's final road.

In fact, the bride's carriage had raced here via Delroz's road—the swiftest path among the four houses' sun passages.

Aden thought back to first meeting Ilrin.

Her body was so slender and fragile, he hadn't dared touch her for fear something might go wrong.

And for her journey all the way here, Azure Noz had provided just one coachman.

He hadn't expected them to welcome a sun-dweller, but still.

A hollow laugh escaped him.

Crimson Delroz shunned ostentation.

They bore Biplten's name, representing the Winter Lands, yet preferred substance over show.

Azure Noz, by contrast, hailed from the lands with the fairest fields back when summers existed—where duchesses stayed the longest.

Their territory was now buried in snow too, but their beautiful estate endured.

The history of duchesses lingering there had become tradition.

Brides always came from Azure Noz.

Yes, attending the bride was Azure Noz's role.

Tradition.

"That's only when you served without fail. But Azure Noz doesn't know how to care for a sun-dweller."

He placed a Nened leaf—easy to find anywhere in the knight headquarters—on the desk.

"The coachman too."

Ridan's face hardened.

He rubbed the leaf against the desk.

Deep green sap smeared haphazardly, staining the surface.