Chapter 6

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 6

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

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It was already night.

The only light piercing the pitch-black darkness came from the Biplten mansion, illuminating its surroundings.

In the distance, torches flickered at regular intervals, but amid the thick gloom and swirling snowstorm, they appeared as mere feeble glimmers.

Faint lights barely enough to outline human silhouettes.

Ilrin gazed beyond the mansion's walls into the far-off distance.

Riji offered her a cup.

"This'll chase away some of the chill."

"Ah, thank you."

It was an incredibly tiny cup for tea.

Ilrin brought it to her lips without a second thought.

And nearly spat it back out.

"...Liquor?"

Not tea, but alcohol? The moment it touched her tongue, the sharp, piercing aroma from just those few drops shot straight to her head.

It was incredibly strong stuff.

"It's the wine that the young ladies here usually enjoy."

...It seemed the young ladies of the Winter Lands could really hold their drink.

Living in this kind of cold, it wasn't hard to understand.

Ilrin only wetted her lips with it.

Even that sent a warmth—like a hearth fire—spreading through her body.

Just then, one of the distant flickering lights suddenly went out.

Ilrin's gaze locked onto the window at the abrupt change.

"A messenger has arrived."

Riji said.

Messenger? Ilrin rubbed the back of her heated hand.

Even with the alcohol's warmth coursing through her, chills ran down her spine.

"Looks like it's here to apologize for the recent attack."

Only then did Ilrin realize that Riji's "messenger" didn't mean the god of death, but an envoy.

Yet the shadow visible in the distance didn't look like a human silhouette.

As it drew closer, it became clear.

Under the soldiers' strict vigilance, the thing approaching the mansion's perimeter gleamed with red scales.

"!"

Startled, Ilrin slammed her cup down with a clink.

One person emerged from the mansion.

Even in the mansion's brighter light, it was hard to make out details.

But from afar, his tall, stately stature stood out compared to those beside him.

While everyone else was bundled in multiple layers even as mere silhouettes, this one wore only a light coat.

As he appeared, everyone from the mansion side bowed deeply.

Even the monster averted its gaze from him—it was visible even from here.

"Who is that?"

She had a feeling she knew.

As Ilrin suspected, Riji answered.

"His Grace the Duke of Biplten."

Just as she thought.

No one could meet his eyes.

If I'd been out there, I wouldn't have been able to lift my head either.

The Duke of Biplten and the monster stood like that for a long while.

Assuming the monster wasn't just standing still...

"Do... monsters speak?"

There could only be one conclusion.

Riji nodded.

"Of course. Though it's quite different from the monsters down south."

She said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Ilrin felt like she'd been smacked in the back of the head.

Monsters that could talk?

The monster bowed even deeper.

She could tell even from this distance.

It was a gesture of apology.

It must have been recounting the battle at the walls.

That was Ilrin's thought at the moment—

The red scales caught the torchlight and flashed.

And then something else flashed.

Ilrin's eyes widened.

"!"

The Duke of Biplten slowly sheathed his sword.

The monster collapsed before him with a thud.

Ilrin didn't know the Biplten Territory well yet, but this was still a place where people lived.

Killing an envoy bearing a group's will was a declaration of war.

"The inside of the mansion is safe, so rest easy."

Riji apparently thought her shock stemmed from something else.

Ilrin tilted her cup a bit deeper.

The heat trickled down her throat, pooling in her heart.

Her heart pounded.

Neither the sword-wielding Duke nor those beside him spared the corpse a glance.

The maid Riji nearby felt the same.

Ilrin was the only one startled.

This place is different.

There was none of the capital's peaceful air.

It was nothing like that place where the sharpest things were the double-edged words of high society.

The capital was full of people who would gasp at even a drop of red on their skin, let alone killing.

But here, they ignored the corpse.

That body would be buried in snow by tomorrow.

In that moment, Ilrin truly realized how foreign and cold this place was.

Two days had passed since Ilrin arrived at the mansion.

She hadn't seen the Duke of Biplten even once.

Only from a distance.

The man she was to marry in five days.

Even from the ruling house of Crimson Delroz, no one had been sent to her.

The other two houses had tried every way possible to send people to her, even pushing past Azure Noz maids, but no one from Crimson Delroz came near her.

The only ones she occasionally saw were the Crimson Delroz knights patrolling the mansion grounds.

And they didn't speak to Ilrin either.

'There's nothing good about staying in winter too long.'

Den had said that.

Delroz must think the same.

The Duke as well?

Instead of coming to her, the Duke had marched out.

Ilrin only learned this the next day, upon seeing the procession of knights.

Even after returning, he showed no sign of staying at the mansion—or perhaps he'd left again.

[The Duke rarely stays at the mansion.]

The bride recruitment letter had been spot on.

She couldn't face him anyway.

And the wedding night was mandatory.

Ilrin calmed her racing heart.

A fierce cold wind blew.

She gripped the fluttering blue cloth overhead.

"The daytime isn't so bad."

Humans were creatures of adaptation, weren't they?

Ilrin had grown a little accustomed to the bone-chilling cold.

It was still freezing, but not enough to keep her indoors entirely.

To live here, she had to adapt to the cold anyway.

Ilrin had come out front of the mansion's main building to look around.

The Azure Noz maids attending her stood at a distance, as she'd requested.

"The snow..."

How far had it piled up?

Ilrin stared at the snowbanks the knights had shoveled to the sides to clear a path.

They were nearly as tall as a person.

And even at her feet, snow was steadily accumulating.

It never stopped falling.

Ilrin looked around, then prodded the snowbank with her cotton-wrapped toes, clutching her skirts.

The soft pile gave way without resistance, bursting apart.

Snowflakes clung thickly to the cotton shoes from Azure Noz.

"So fluffy."

She'd half-expected it to be frozen solid like a wall.

Ilrin glanced around again and pressed deeper into the snowbank.

That was when it happened.

A fierce gust of snow-laden wind battered her blue cloth, nearly ripping it away.

Startled, Ilrin grabbed it.

A little adaptation to the cold didn't mean she could go without the cloth.

If it flew off, she'd freeze solid before reaching the mansion.

She clutched it desperately and stumbled, losing her balance.

"I don't intend to ruin your hobby, but there's a staircase right in front of you."

A man caught her arm.

Ilrin jumped in surprise.

As if sensing the cloth might slip, he steadied her head with his other hand.

"I told you to keep it secure."

Warmth seeped through the blue cloth—and his grip on her arm.

She recognized the voice immediately.

"Den?"

She had no idea when he'd arrived.

She'd confirmed no one was around.

Ilrin's face flushed hot.

A short exhale came from above her.

A scoff?

"If you get buried in the snow, you'll go missing."

Den didn't deny it was him.

As he held her arm, her slender white wrist slipped out from beneath her thick clothes.

The cold wind bit straight at her skin, but it burned instead.

"...Let go."

Ilrin pulled her arm free and turned to face him.

Backing away to put distance between them, her footing gave way as her foot crushed into something and sank.

"Ah!"

Den yanked her arm hard.

It was strong.

Ilrin fell into his arms before she could bury herself in the snow.

Red ornaments jingled right before her eyes.

Startled, she pulled away again.

"Thank you."

Sorry.

Ilrin quickly brushed off her clothes.

Den watched her, then asked,

"What are you doing with the Noz maids kept at a distance?"

His gaze fixed on the nearby building.

As if he could see the maids hiding beyond it.

"Do you want to go missing before the wedding?"

Of course not.

Ilrin shook her head.

"No. I just wanted to look around the front a bit. And I need to get used to the cold."

A little distance from the man, and Ilrin caught her breath.

She'd tensed up without realizing.

His deep blue eyes lacked yesterday's sharpness.

"Get used to it...? Do you plan to stay here long?"

Of course.

Ilrin nodded.

She couldn't return to House Arlen anyway.

"Yes."

"Even if the head of Delroz has no interest in you?"

His plain speech made Ilrin realize a beat late that he meant Duke Aden de Biplten.

Were they personally acquainted?

As a man of Crimson Delroz, it was possible.

Ilrin looked up into his eyes.

The blue depths showed no hint of his thoughts.

"As long as I can stay here safely."

I don't want a loveless marriage! That was the stuff little girls under ten dreamed of.

Ilrin had abandoned such dreams before she even turned ten.

"Even if you never see his face your whole life?"

Beneath the blue cloth, her lips—touched with color—parted softly in reply.

"Of course."

I'll become his bride.

Ilrin met his gaze with conviction.

Den's lips parted.

"What if the Duke refuses the marriage?"

The cold wind grew fiercer.

The Crimson Delroz ornaments on Den's clothes swayed in the same direction as the white snowflakes.

Ilrin gripped her blue cloth.

Through it, his deep blue eyes were so calm it was hard to read his intent.

"..."

Ilrin's answer came late, but Den just stared at her, as if time had stopped.

It felt like silent insistence on hearing her response.

The me in my dreams felt no aversion to being called Ilrin de Biplten.

Whatever came after, the marriage would happen.

The Duke wouldn't refuse.

Ilrin already knew the right answer but had no intention of revealing it.

He wasn't the Duke himself, and she didn't even know his true identity yet.

"I'd think about it if he refuses."

Ilrin smiled brightly.

It was a question she couldn't answer anyway.

She grabbed her fluttering blue cloth again.

Biplten's winds seemed to grow stronger the later it got.

Time to head inside.

"Where did you get that?"

He pointed at the blue cloth.

His narrowed eyes suggested displeasure.

Ilrin glanced at his face, then the cloth.

Was it not meant to be worn around?

It seemed precious.

All the maids here wore thick padded clothes—no one used thin cloths like this.

If it were common, they'd have distributed such excellent insulators long ago.

"It was in the carriage I rode in on... Does it belong to someone?"

Elder Ridan of Noz and the maids all treated her wearing it as natural.

The only one bothered was this man from Crimson Delroz.

Ah.

In that instant, Ilrin realized the truth.

She lowered the cloth from her face and asked,

"Is it from Azure Noz, by any chance?"

Cold wind rushed at her uncovered face.

Amid the snow, Ilrin thought his blue eyes sparkled brighter.

"...Yes, but don't worry about it just because I'm from Crimson Delroz."

Den released her hand.

Come to think of it, he'd been the first to tell her to secure the cloth.

Ilrin obediently lowered her hand.

That was when—

"Knight Commander!"

A Crimson Delroz knight was running from afar.

Ilrin looked at him, then back at Den.

The knight was calling for Den.

Knight Commander?

She saw Den click his tongue.

"Then I'll take my leave."

He turned and walked away swiftly.

Ilrin started toward the mansion but paused to look down at her feet.

Snow had piled up even over her shoes.

They'd talked for quite a while.

Yet she wasn't particularly cold.

Ilrin tilted her head slightly and stepped inside the mansion.