Chapter 42

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 42

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

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Fortunately, the message from the Winter Lands arrived after the funeral had ended.

That spared Ilrin any further turmoil in her heart.

Aden regarded it as a small mercy, at least.

But Ilrin's mind remained uneasy all the same.

She didn't bother to bid farewell to the Viscount in person before leaving the mansion.

Instead, it was the Viscountess Arlen's coffin that received her greetings.

Next came Verdi.

"Truly,"

It was sudden, but also a parting that had long been inevitable.

Her grandmother had firmly declared she wouldn't be going to the Winter Lands with them.

Still, the regret was unavoidable.

"I can't enter that place myself, but..."

Verdi glanced around before pointing her staff at Milo.

She thrust the tip of the staff she'd gotten back from Ijis right up to his nose.

Milo flinched.

"Since the young lady will miss me, I'll send word from time to time."

It wasn't that she'd contact Milo himself.

She meant she'd reach Ilrin through him.

Aden shot Milo a look.

It meant to grant Verdi's wish.

Catching on, Milo bowed deeply.

"Until we meet again."

It was a promise with no set date.

Verdi gripped Ilrin's reluctant hand tightly.

After staring at Ilrin for a long moment, Verdi turned away.

Unable to stay in Arlen Territory on Viscount Arlen's orders, she was off to somewhere else.

And so, Ilrin departed from the Viscount's estate.

As she left the mansion, her unease deepened.

"Ilrin."

Aden couldn't have missed the change in her.

Atop the horse heading back to the Esid Merchant Group, he gently clasped her hand.

"Are you all right?"

Ilrin drew in a long breath.

But the tightness in her chest wouldn't fade.

It felt like something was squeezing her heart.

"I'm fine."

I'll be fine.

Ilrin let out a long exhale.

Her heart pounded wildly.

The foretold future—her return to the Winter Lands—was nearly upon them.

Preparations were already complete, so they could set off right away.

But the return journey wasn't what the Delroz followers who'd accompanied them to Byeon had expected.

"The other carriages will depart tomorrow."

It was an order tailored to Ilrin's precognition.

In front of the wide-eyed maids, Aden issued further instructions.

"And no separate escort forces."

Of course, Milo would station knights at a distance where Ilrin couldn't see them, but on the surface, at least, that was the plan.

It was all to deceive her precognitive dream.

Etra, Ijis, and Milo—who already knew the plan—didn't react with surprise.

But Milia and Nis, Ilrin's escort knights, responded immediately.

"But, Your Grace—"

"Watch your words."

Milo cautioned her.

Milia, flustered into speaking without thinking, covered her mouth.

It wasn't an appropriate form of address outside Delroz territory.

"...Knight Commander."

After pondering the Byeon honorific, Milia spat it out.

"This place isn't secure."

It was a natural objection from a knight's perspective.

"I'll give separate orders through Milo on that front."

But Aden had no intention of entertaining objections.

Milia started to say more but then backed down.

He was the Knight Commander who'd led battles nonstop in the Winter Lands.

The man who'd adeptly handled the irregular raids from Winter monster tribes wouldn't issue pointless orders.

Arguing further would be tantamount to doubting her lord.

"...Don't worry too much."

Ilrin took both knights' hands.

She couldn't pretend not to know their concerns.

"See you back home."

Her light farewell eased their heavy hearts, if only a little.

Under Aden's escort, Ilrin headed to the carriage.

"Then, until next time."

Milo bowed deeply to the two of them.

Aden acknowledged the brief greeting and stepped forward.

Only Ijis and Etra followed behind them.

Ilrin looked up at the carriage.

It was the same one they'd arrived in.

And the one that shattered in her dream.

She took another deep breath.

"Easy now,"

Aden whispered soothingly as he stood before the carriage.

"Nothing will happen."

Still, Ilrin couldn't bring herself to board easily.

'Your Grace!'

Ijis's scream-like cry from the dream rang in her ears again.

She'd clearly seen an arrow lodged in his back.

A fatal wound by any measure.

Ilrin closed her eyes.

Right, it wasn't death she'd foreseen.

"..."

Still, she was afraid.

Ilrin gripped Aden's hand tightly.

He would get hurt somehow.

That was the thought that had consumed her most at the funeral.

Foreseen futures couldn't be avoided.

Her mother hadn't been able to prevent Syd's death, just as she herself could only be at her mother's bedside at the end.

Knowing the future earlier than others didn't change the inability to prepare for it.

'This cursed prophetic blood of dreams...'

Yes.

This was a curse.

A curse that forced her to worry sooner than others and suffer longer.

Then Ilrin's vision tilted sharply.

"Eek!"

She flinched involuntarily.

Her body had been lifted suddenly upward.

She blinked in surprise, and clear sky filled her view.

Aden, holding her up, leaned his head slightly toward her.

In the blind spot hidden from those behind, he pressed his lips firmly to the bridge of her nose.

Ilrin let out a breath at the ticklish sensation.

"Ah."

A giggle escaped from the tickle, brushing lightly against Aden's dark hair.

Aden watched her half-lidded eyes and slid his lips downward.

He buried them on her adorably upturned nose.

Ilrin shrugged her shoulders.

"Den, people are..."

She wanted to add, watching.

Aden pulled back slightly from her face and smiled deeply.

His deep blue eyes were half-hidden by long lashes.

"—Any subordinates worth their salt would know to look away."

From Ilrin's position in his arms, she couldn't see the people behind.

Thus, she missed the sight of the knights and maids simultaneously averting their gazes downward.

Aden chuckled softly and grew bolder.

After tapping her nose again with his lips, they covered hers.

Ilrin jolted sharply.

Being held like this, her startled kick might have been visible from behind.

"Den...!"

In the brief parting of their lips, her voice lingered between them.

"Yes."

Though he surely knew why she called, Aden surprised her again.

Grazing the soft inside of her upper lip, he teased her repeatedly as she shyly pressed her mouth shut.

"..."

The kiss was persistent yet intensely deep.

Just before her surrender, Ilrin pleaded.

"Den..."

It was her most compelling appeal.

Her trembling voice carried complex emotions.

Embarrassment that flushed her cheeks, mingled with thick excitement.

Aden was satisfied with that alone.

He had no intention of startling her further anyway.

Above all, he was the one who didn't want to show this secret side of his beloved bride to others.

"We'll finish the rest once we're back at the mansion."

He smiled.

His softly escaping breath made her cheeks burn hotter.

Her mind was growing hazy.

"Do I seem like the type to break a promise?"

Still holding her, he stepped into the carriage.

Ilrin shook her head as she settled onto the plush seat.

"Of course not."

"Then, will you feel a bit more at ease?"

At this point, she had no choice.

Uneasy as she was, he was a man of his word, just as he said.

Ilrin finally nodded.

"Shall we go, then?"

Aden gestured outside.

Etra boarded the carriage.

Ijis took the driver's seat as the temporary coachman.

Their group numbered just four.

—Rumble!

The moment Ilrin had foreseen was beginning.

Aden left the window open.

She couldn't see anything following from inside, but it was better than blocking out sound entirely.

Cool night air poured into the quiet carriage.

A cloth from Azure Noz draped over Ilrin's head.

Beside her sat the mobil Viscountess Arlen had given her.

It was the item that had sat between them during their conversation with Verdi.

A mobil, huh.

Ilrin had once said her dreams counted as precognitive only if a mobil appeared in them.

Given that it came from Viscountess Arlen—who had precognitive powers—and sat between two people with the same ability, it was hard not to link it to her gift.

Above all, its purple sheen, matching the Azure Noz cloth, drew the eye.

Aden narrowed his eyes as he peered out the window.

"..."

An irritating presence was closing in.

Not quite ten, it seemed.

Sounds came from other directions too.

Aden watched the suspicious horses drawing nearer beyond the window.

His eyesight was sharp enough to spot the black-masked figures they wore, beyond what anyone could imagine.

It wouldn't dull in Byeon after fighting in places where sky and earth blurred amid endless fog and white snow.

"Ilrin."

Aden took her tense hand.

Ilrin's hand was rather cold.

"...Are they coming?"

She asked cautiously.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't tense.

Aden straightened up and spoke.

"In the dream, were we riding together on the same horse?"

Ilrin nodded faintly.

"I see... We should prepare, then."

At his words, Etra rose from her seat.

Just then, the carriage jolted hard, as if a wheel had hit a rock.

But only Ilrin, seated on the cushions, lost her balance.

"Eek!"

Aden steadied her to keep her from shaking.

In the meantime, Etra opened a compartment beneath the seat.

Ilrin's eyes widened—she'd never thought of it as a drawer.

Weapons like small daggers were stored inside.

"Madam, here."

Etra handed Ilrin a small, light dagger.

Ilrin raised a hand to stop her.

"I can't use any weapons at all."

Ilrin pushed the dagger back toward Etra.

"You should take it instead."

In the dream, Etra had wielded a sword.

Etra's eyes widened briefly at her words.

Her expression seemed to ask how she knew.

But only for a moment.

She's the Madam.

No point trying to hide anything from someone who saw the future.

Etra soon smiled, bowed silently, and distributed the weapons to Aden.

"Then, Ilrin, hold on a moment."

Aden scooped up Ilrin, who faced away toward the driver's seat beyond the wall.

He moved her to the opposite seat, where he'd been sitting, then rapped on the wall toward the driver's side.

"...?"

As Ilrin blinked in confusion at what he was doing,

Aden drew his sword, still in its sheath, and swung it toward the carriage wall.