Chapter 16

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 16

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

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How to Survive as the Wife of the Monster Duke

A soft chuckle echoed through the air.

"Curious, are you?"

Well, if she couldn't see, how had she endured that first night?

Ilrin's cheeks flushed even deeper.

As she lowered her gaze, her body was suddenly lifted upward.

"Eh?"

Her startled exclamation was drowned out by laughter.

The sound came from very close.

Right in front of her face, as if he were about to kiss her.

Ilrin closed her eyes.

He seemed about to carry her somewhere, but instead, he set her down on the table.

Perched lightly on the edge of the table, Ilrin cautiously opened her eyes.

Whether her eyes were open or closed, there was nothing beneath her feet either way.

Noticing her panic, the duke leaned in closer, overlapping his body with hers.

As her body was pushed back by his weight, Ilrin flailed her hands, unsure where to grab.

"Here."

A hot hand pressed hers down onto the table.

'Ah.'

Aden thought of Ilrin, who had let out a short breath.

She had seemed terribly tense.

He wondered if he'd been a bit too mischievous, but what was done was done.

From the moment he'd entered the room, it had been filled with the scent of summer fruit ripe on the vine.

He'd realized why when he learned she'd drunk peach liquor.

He'd wanted to spend a long night with her, but his bride was too fragile, like glass.

In the end, he'd stopped his playful teasing and laid her down on the bed.

'Your Grace.'

That form of address nagged at him.

It bothered him that she used the same title as other women, despite being different from them.

'You can call me by name.'

Her voice saying Aden had sounded far sweeter, whether it was his imagination or not.

'I have something to tell you.'

Before he could draw close again, his bride spoke in a breathless voice.

He'd heard that some women tried to secure their position by the bedside.

Aden lightly kissed the tip of her nose.

That hadn't been bad either, more than he'd expected.

He'd wondered what happened to the tyrants in books who drowned in lust for women; apparently, this was it.

'Are you perhaps heading out on campaign?'

But it seemed that depended on the woman.

What Ilrin had whispered at his bedside was entirely different from what he'd imagined.

'Beware the avalanche.'

A laugh burst out of him.

Ijis turned to look at him at the tension-free chuckle.

"Your Grace?"

"Focus."

Aden quickly schooled his expression and pressed a finger to his lips.

Ijis felt unjustly accused but stared straight ahead anyway.

The horse he rode seemed to sense its master's mood and let out a soft whinny.

This breed, evolved to dash across snowy fields, looked very different from sunland horses.

'Beware the avalanche.'

Biplten wasn't called the Winter Lands for nothing.

Avalanches were commonplace here.

Moreover, the monsters of the Winter Lands wouldn't have settled in an area prone to them.

They had lived here long before humans arrived, clashing among themselves.

"It should be in sight soon."

Ijis said curtly.

Crimson Delroz knights followed silently behind them.

Aden scanned the surroundings with his deep blue eyes.

The gentle hill, blanketed in heavy snowflakes, was the usual Biplten landscape he'd known since childhood.

If not for the imminent appearance of the Molri Tribe's red-scaled dwellings.

'Beware the avalanche.'

The words kept resurfacing, and Aden ended up laughing again.

Ijis flinched, but other thoughts crowded in even more.

Before the advance, he'd worried about lacking tension, but the peach-scented memory refused to fade.

"Entire force, prepare to charge."

Aden said quietly.

Ijis relayed the order verbatim behind him.

His hand signals reached the rear in seconds.

No need for loud shouts in a charge.

Just before they charged.

Aden heard a strange sound.

Rumble rumble rumble!

It was like something boiling over or a massive thing shuddering.

"What's that noise?"

One Delroz knight glanced around.

Aden felt the ground's vibration before the sound.

He raised a hand, halting the knights behind.

Ijis's signal relayed it rearward in seconds.

Biplten horses had unusually strong bonds with their riders.

Most were finicky, refusing anyone but their owner, but they obeyed sudden commands well.

The formation held steady.

"This is..."

This area had been the Molri Tribe's home for centuries.

Major storms in January often upended the land, but not now.

No way.

Aden scanned incredulously.

Then, far off where a cliff looked like a finger, a broad blue light spread.

"Withdraw."

Aden spat the word.

Ijis turned to him.

"Pardon?"

"Withdraw! Back to the castle!"

Ijis questioned the incomprehensible order.

"Withdraw?"

Aden gestured urgently instead of answering.

If his guess was right, they needed to flee now.

"Your Grace, withdrawing means we can't strike here again easily."

His lord never gave meaningless orders.

Knowing that, Ijis had to ask again.

Hadn't they traversed this snowfield for this very reason?

"If the Molri Tribe regroups by April―"

"Entire force, withdraw!"

No time to explain.

No, it would be odd to.

The rumbling could be something else.

Whatever it was that even he, who'd lived his whole life in Biplten, couldn't imagine—it was possible.

But Aden couldn't dismiss Ilrin's words.

If it truly was an avalanche, it would be too late if they didn't evade now.

He recalled his bride from the night, her clear eyes speaking plainly.

Even if she'd averted her gaze fearing eye contact, her violet eyes up close had been pure.

The knights' horses wheeled back the way they'd come.

"Full gallop on the withdraw!"

Ijis's booming voice rang out.

At the same moment, the rumbling grew loud enough for all to hear.

Finally grasping their lord's intent, the knights' horses surged forward.

Behind the Delroz knights, a massive snow heap began to crumble slowly.

The Winter Duke returned to the Biplten estate that very afternoon.

The servants were thrown into confusion by his much earlier-than-expected arrival.

Only the Crimson Delroz maids had properly prepared clothes and water timed to his return.

They said the lady of the house had instructed them to prepare in advance, just in case he returned early.

Aden headed straight to the seventh floor upon hearing that.

His mind swirled with questions.

In the end, all the Delroz knights had survived.

The Molri Tribe had suffered the fatal blow from the unforeseen avalanche.

Aden clearly remembered the blue light bursting from the cliff.

He could only conclude the Molri Tribe had triggered it with magic.

Monsters using magic wasn't rare.

The problem was that burying their own home in snow meant they had somewhere else to go—likely allying with other monster tribes.

He needed to discuss urgently, but first, there was somewhere to be.

"......"

Hardly catching his breath, he'd ascended to the seventh floor as if marching to battle.

Before the door where Ilrin surely waited, he finally halted.

A faint summer scent wafted from Ilrin's room.

It calmed his agitation.

Aden took a deep breath and knocked.

"Are you there?"

A very faint presence, barely audible unless listening closely.

In all Biplten, only Ilrin made such a sound.

"Come in."

Aden, poised to barge in, now exhaled evenly.

His suddenly quiet breath, as if he'd taken medicine, scattered his thoughts instead.

Suppressing the dizzying whirl of ideas, he pulled the cord by the door.

Click.

The sound of the room's light going out.

Ilrin blinked in surprise.

Even blinking, the darkness was too thick for anything to change.

The door clicked open.

Before the corridor's dim light revealed a silhouette, Ilrin lowered her gaze.

She could see the shadow.

By the time she glimpsed his neatly combed hair and the hand on the door, it closed, plunging everything back into darkness.

"You returned early."

Ilrin spoke first.

She could tell he'd returned from here.

The avalanche had been massive enough to send faint tremors through the estate.

The Crimson Delroz knights, galloping back as if chased by it, seemed mercifully unscathed.

She wasn't sure about stragglers, but most appeared safe.

Their leader had pushed past the bowing underlings and hurried inside.

By then, Ilrin had dismissed the maids from her room.

"It seems you knew I'd come."

Well, he must have been curious.

About how she'd known an avalanche would strike.

Ilrin had braced herself from the moment she'd warned him.

But she couldn't just watch her unfamiliar husband get buried in snow.

This stranger of a husband had cherished her enough.

Probably why his underlings' attitudes had shifted.

Precognitive dreams weren't a secret anyway.

Treating them as mad ravings and urging her to keep silent had been Viscount Arlen, not her.

She'd stayed quiet because no one believed her.

The Duke of Biplten would be the same.

Ilrin thought of her faceless husband.

At night, who knew—but by day, as the Duke of Biplten whom all trusted and followed, he was cautious.

By now, he probably knew about her.

At least what kind of person she'd been in Viscount Arlen's house.

Her father had hidden it like his life depended on it, but the viscountcy wasn't that thorough.

It had never been involved in intelligence or war to begin with.

He might even have learned she'd foreseen Syd's death.

But he wouldn't believe it.

Ilrin turned toward the window.

Her voice trembled slightly.

"I saw it from the window."

Ilrin sat by the bed.

She thought his breathing was a bit ragged.

Was he angry? Or just out of breath from rushing up?

Ilrin's body trembled faintly.

There was no reason for the former, but sounds in the dark spurred needless imaginings.

"......Then you must know what I'm curious about."

A calmer voice than expected came from nearby.

He sat beside her on the bed; she felt it sink softly.

As the center of gravity shifted sideways, Ilrin startled.

Right next to her.

His body brushed her slightly tilted shoulder.

"Hm―"

She'd planned to tell him anyway.

She figured the Duke of Biplten, having witnessed the foreseen avalanche firsthand, wouldn't dismiss her words as utter nonsense.

Reason told her so.

But Ilrin struggled to stay calm.