Chapter 24

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 24

Chapter Title: A Night of Dreams and Whispers

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"You must still be choosing which question to ask."

He smiled.

Ilrin found his faint chuckle just a touch irritating.

He clearly knew exactly what she was thinking when he asked.

Aden reached out and brushed her hair aside.

Because she had lowered her head, his hand slipped in even deeper among the strands.

His fingers, tangled in her long, soft silver hair, caressed her ear.

After toying with her soft earlobe a few times, he stroked the edge and the back of it.

Ilrin flinched at the distinct sensation that spread from her ear throughout her entire body.

She had no chance to press him.

"You've always closed your eyes whenever you looked at me."

Or turned your head away.

Aden's gaze now freely followed the end of her stare, something she could finally meet head-on.

Ilrin couldn't avoid his eyes until the very end.

Come to think of it, he had said even in the darkness, he could see her.

That meant every night, he had watched her desperately trying to look away from him.

Ilrin parted her lips softly.

"...So that's why you came as Den."

'It's safe here.'

"It wasn't safe here—it was just you who was safe with Aden."

Poor Milo.

Thinking of Esid Merchant Group's leader, who had been in such a bind, Ilrin burst into laughter without realizing it.

"You should treat your subordinates better."

Aden thought of the Delroz members who had been scurrying around the seventh floor just recently.

"...I am treating them well."

Milo would have wailed and beat the ground if he'd heard that.

Aden leaned forward, toppling her onto the bed.

The cloud-like down comforter enveloped her.

So small, he thought.

"But lying is still a bad thing, isn't it?"

He recalled the lie that had ended so quickly thanks to Ilrin's cleverness.

What if she hadn't figured it out for much longer?

Getting caught was scary enough, but that terrified him more.

Could a relationship built on lies truly continue even after the truth came out?

What if she found out at an irreversible point—wouldn't she leave him, disappointed?

"Ah."

Ilrin wanted to say yes, it was.

But instead, all she could do was clutch the comforter tightly.

"I gave you everything I had in the countryside. So there's nothing left to punish you with."

You said there was nothing a lady of the house shouldn't do.

Aden whispered as he poured himself into her.

She had lied, so she deserved punishment.

Aden chuckled softly.

With Ilrin trapped between his arms, he lifted one hand to grasp hers.

"But since you've got my weakness now,"

He guided her hand to his throat.

The fierce pulse of his artery throbbed straight into her palm.

"Use me."

Ilrin, who now held power in her soft hand, made two demands of Aden that night.

"Then, for tonight... that's enough."

Her first command was a terribly cruel one.

Lying with her back against the bed, Ilrin raised her index finger to block his mouth.

Aden, the Winter Duke who ruled Biplten, possessor of the strength to sever a monster's neck with a single sword stroke—yet he halted instantly at that tiny gesture.

As if he'd hit a solid wall.

"Is this a guest dismissal order?"

Ilrin laughed at his words.

"No. Instead, stay with me until dawn."

I've never once watched the sun rise with you.

Ilrin stroked his cheek.

After that, it truly was a wholesome night—one that Beth, their physician, would have approved of.

Ilrin lay with her head on his thigh and shared her dreams.

She had seen so many landscapes.

"The fields stretched endlessly. There was a huge cliff too..."

The scenes of Biplten flowing from her lips were both strange and familiar to Aden.

Thanks to his long years of combat experience, he could guess roughly where the terrain she described was located.

He didn't know every inch of the Winter Lands, but he couldn't be ignorant of the major features.

But the landscapes she described were different from what he remembered.

In his memory, Biplten was naturally blanketed in snow.

Whereas what Ilrin described was so vibrant, it was hard to believe it was Biplten.

Ilrin had never once toured the Winter Lands.

Aden said it must have been the influence of the succession rite that let her see those scenes.

"Have you ever seen landscapes during a succession rite too, Aden?"

But to that question, he could only shake his head.

After some thought, he shared a story from his childhood painting.

"I'm not sure if it was exactly a painting or just an afterimage."

What he had seen was a landscape painted entirely in yellow, like it was covered only in yellow paint.

And only for a brief moment.

"So you've never had a dream as long as mine."

"It's a first for succession rites."

That's why he had been so worried.

Aden let out a short sigh.

Seeing the worry on his face, Ilrin stroked his cheek with the back of her hand.

"And... I had a nightmare too."

It was around four in the morning, after she'd spent a long time talking about the landscapes, that Ilrin finally brought up the nightmare.

Aden listened silently to her tale of the long dream.

"It was... a dream where I left the Winter Lands."

The story started cautiously.

After hesitating, she unfolded a bit more.

"I woke up in Viscount Arlen's estate... Well, more precisely,"

Ilrin hesitated as she looked at him.

"It was a dream where I divorced you and got chased out of Biplten."

Aden summed up the dream in a very curt phrase.

"What nonsense."

He deliberately used such crude language as a strong assertion that it would never happen.

Ilrin laughed.

"I know. I know now."

Still, it was scary in the dream.

She whispered.

The dream talk continued after that.

Aden recalled Viscount Arlen's estate, which Milo had investigated.

Milo had found it particularly odd that Ilrin, the Arlen family's precious only child, didn't even have a dedicated maid.

Whenever she seemed anxious while talking, Aden gave her a light kiss.

But as his touches grew more intense, Ilrin playfully swatted his hand away with a mock-angry face.

"Naughty hand."

At that, he obediently pulled away.

Still, much of the anxiety had faded from Ilrin's smiling face.

Limited to just stroking her cheek, he sneaked his hand to the back of her head as he thought.

If it manifested as such a concrete nightmare, he couldn't even imagine what her time at Viscount Arlen's estate had been like.

Biplten was a terrifying place that even sunlight dwellers shunned.

Yet coming here had been less frightening to her than staying at the viscount's estate.

That meant her life there had been truly horrific.

"You'll never leave this place, Ilrin."

Never.

Aden pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Because you've seen Aden's face?"

...He'd had no intention of letting her go from the start.

Aden couldn't help but laugh at her words.

A moment later, he was scolded again for that 'naughty hand'.

"I've had precognitive dreams since I was seven."

During that long night, he heard the story he'd wanted to hear.

Knowing he couldn't ask easily, Ilrin shared it soothingly, as if comforting him.

"You don't have to talk about anything difficult."

Aden said cautiously, but Ilrin just smiled.

"It's okay now."

Her little heartbeat thumped against him.

"I don't know why I have this ability. My mother had it, my grandmother did, and I've heard everyone on that side dreamed like this."

She couldn't explain the origin of the power.

Instead, she shared something else.

What happened when she was seven.

"I saw my little brother die."

And after that, everything seen in dreams with the mobile always came true.

Ilrin whispered.

"Mother wanted to prevent Syd's death, but..."

She wouldn't even let her near the terrace, but he fell down the stairs.

Aden gripped her trembling hand tightly.

"I'm scared of having bad dreams."

Because if I foresee it, I won't be able to stop it from happening.

"It must have been terrifying when you saw the avalanche too."

"But... at least that time, no one got hurt."

It was somewhat okay.

Ilrin buried her face in his chest.

"Don't get hurt, Den."

Clutching him tightly, she shook her head gently.

I don't want to see anything scary.

In dreams or in reality.

Aden, comforting her, earned the 'naughty hand' label for the third time.

Still, Ilrin was smiling.

As he wiped away her tears, he became the fourth 'naughty hand'.

The tyrant-who-wasn't-Ilrin teased him like that all night.

He attempted a small rebellion before leaving, but ultimately crumbled under her hand.

The two spent a very quiet night together.

Fortunately, the succession rite concluded properly.

The elders of the three houses had worried that the strange phenomenon might have botched it, but Aden's power was intact.

The problem was the cause of the phenomenon.

Aden ignored their demands to prove the power had transferred correctly.

His strength had returned fully, so whether they wailed about losing their shield mattered not to him.

'Your Grace, are you alright?'

Aden chuckled, recalling Ridan of Azure Noz rushing over to ask.

What he worried about wasn't the duke inheriting the power or the bride who collapsed—it was Ridan himself.

Surviving in Biplten without the house head's power would be tough.

Especially this year, with its unusually harsh winter and fierce northwest winds.

The Yester Tribe rampaging too must have made him anxious.

'I had a long dream.'

Aden tapped his desk.

That night, Ilrin had said her precognitive dreams came down her maternal line.

From what he'd heard of Viscount Arlen's reaction, he knew nothing of the dreams and had married the viscountess regardless.

"There were many sunlit brides..."

He recalled Ijis's report.

In the records Ijis found while Ilrin slept, there were tales of previous duchesses from sunlit lands.

The only unusual thing about Ilrin compared to them was her precognitive dreams.

A power of unclear origin.

Aden spread his hand.

The house head's power was similarly mysterious in its beginnings.

The same went for the abilities used by monsters unknown in sunlit lands.

"Ijis."

"Yes."

Ijis responded immediately from outside the room.

"Look into Viscountess Arlen. Find out where she's from."

He wanted to ask Ilrin directly, but that would make his intent too obvious.

He couldn't pry into her wounds out of mere curiosity.

Even that night, he hadn't delved deeper.

He'd only listened to what she shared.

No matter how many times he wanted to ask more, he kept his mouth shut.

Sensing his restraint, Ilrin smiled endearingly.

'It's okay.'

Do you know what expression you made while saying that?

Aden closed his eyes.

No matter how much she said it with that pained face, it held no conviction.

After Ijis left, Aden spread his hand again.

His power, more stable after the rite, illuminated the estate's surroundings.

Today, the estate would be warm.