2 - How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke
How to Survive as the Monster Duke's Wife
Episode 2: "What if I leave Biften?"
Our relationship might fall apart after the first night.
It was written in the bride recruitment notice.
If you don't like it, you can go back.
But I had no intention of returning to this mansion.
After all, no one would welcome me.
My father, Earl Arlen, doesn't love me enough to accept me back after breaking off the engagement.
Rather, he would probably kick me out, saying that the family's honor has been tarnished.
Bang!
The knight slammed the door shut, and the room echoed.
Judging by the knight's attitude, I'll have to wait a while, but sending people out will be much faster than running around myself.
Either way, the first night will happen.
The mistress of the Biften family has already been decided.
There's no need to be impatient.
Illyin calmed herself again.
It was a dark dawn, before the morning sun had properly risen.
A time when only the shadows of people and objects could barely be seen in the dim light.
A dozen people were moving busily beside a cart.
There were no lights, so they could have bumped into each other or caused a small commotion, but they were moving nimbly without a sound.
Most of what was being loaded onto the large cart was rice and fruit.
They carefully selected the best quality items and hid them under blankets, taking care with the packaging.
The blankets were emblazoned with a green crest signifying trust.
[Essid]
The name written next to it was clearly the name of the merchant group that distributed these goods.
"Hurry! We're leaving before sunrise!"
The Merchant Leader's voice echoed around.
Illyin turned to look.
One person ran up to the Merchant Leader and bowed.
"Merchant Leader, if we leave too early, the men might freeze."
"If we leave now, we'll reach the entrance to the Boro Territory at exactly two in the afternoon. It'll be fine."
Biften?
Illyin watched as the Merchant Leader lifted the blanket and checked the goods.
Inside the blanket, there was thick cotton padding.
It was probably to protect the food from the cold rather than from impact.
"Preparation complete!"
Amidst the orderly movements of the merchant group's people, the Merchant Leader lifted the blanket on the last cart.
Illyin clearly witnessed it there.
Unexpectedly placed among the food supplies was a Mobile with elaborate decorations made of ten different colors of light.
Illyin opened her eyes.
"Ah..."
It seemed that the dream wanted her to reach Biften quickly.
Autumn of her seventh year, her first Precognitive dream.
Illyin still vividly remembered the image of her younger sibling falling from the terrace on a snowy day, which she had seen in her dream.
'Sid...!'
The young her clung to her parents without even knowing what that dream was.
Unlike Earl Arlen, who treated it as just a dream, Lady Arlen, who recognized it as a Precognitive dream, feared winter and soon went mad as the days grew colder.
'Sid will fall from the terrace and die on a snowy day.'
It seemed that only those words were etched in her mind.
The Countess would have a fit even if Sid just went near the terrace, and she wouldn't let him go outside on snowy days.
It was a desperate effort to prevent his death by any means.
'No!'
Then Sid fell down the stairs of the mansion instead of the terrace.
The particularly high emergency staircase on the third floor was the problem.
Unfortunately, the corner of the stairs severely impacted Sid's fragile head, and he eventually died on a snowy day after suffering from his injuries.
No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't avoid the Precognitive dream.
"Have you ever dreamed about me?"
After Sid died, Earl Arlen asked Illyin every time he saw her.
The young Illyin was afraid of such a father.
In front of her, who shook her head every time, Earl Arlen was anxious about whether he might have an accident in the near future and constantly urged her.
"You crazy bastard!"
Illyin's maternal grandmother couldn't stand it any longer and slapped the Baron across the face.
After that, instead of asking Illyin about his future, the Baron treated Illyin as something terrible.
Seeing the future is a terrible ability.
Illyin's maternal grandmother hated that curse that had been passed down through the maternal line.
Illyin felt the same way.
When she was young, she wanted to believe that her dreams were nothing special.
But the dreams that were particularly vivid even after waking up always came true.
It invariably showed the future, and those dreams always came with a Mobile.
The one that had been hanging over her head when she was young.
Illyin sometimes thought of her mother before she went mad while looking at the Mobile her mother had given her.
She was a loving mother.
Until Illyin predicted Sid's death.
'Why did you have such a dream!'
It was as if the resentful voice she had shouted at Sid's funeral still echoed in her ears.
'A cursed dream-seeing bloodline...'
Illyin's maternal grandmother felt sorry for Lady Arlen, who no longer had any reason left.
She hated the Precognitive dream ability.
"Lady. It's Bread."
At that time, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Almost at the same time as she said to come in, the door burst open.
He would have come in even if she hadn't said to come in.
He was the family knight she had ordered to investigate the merchant group last time.
"You've worked hard."
The words that were stuck in her mouth popped out.
The knight left the room without a word.
Just like a week ago, the bang echoed loudly in the room.
The list was only three lines long.
Even though this is the capital, if he had put aside the miscellaneous merchant groups and searched for large-scale merchant groups first, it wouldn't have taken a week to investigate this.
He didn't work properly after all.
[Essid Merchant Group]
But she had the information she wanted.
After confirming the location of the Essid Merchant Group's capital branch, she got up from her seat.
It was time to move.
"Who are you, you say?"
"Illyin de Arlen."
There were quite a few people who knew the Arlen barony, but there were very few people who knew how much of a position the name Illyin held in that family.
The clerk at the Essid Merchant Group's capital branch had a dubious expression on his face.
It was clear that he was sizing up whether the woman in front of him was impersonating a noble.
If you're not a noble who memorizes the genealogy of each family as a culture, you might not know my name.
Anyway, our family hardly does any external activities, and my father, who does external activities, treats me as if I don't exist.
Illyin opened her mouth.
"Illyin de Arlen. Isn't it enough that I'm from the Arlen family?"
"Then please wait a moment."
The clerk couldn't ignore the noble after all and went inside.
Still, was it too much to ask to meet the Merchant Leader right away?
After being inside for a long time, the clerk came out again and said this.
"He will be back if you wait only half a day."
It was an obvious story.
How would he know where the Merchant Leader was and tell her to wait only half a day?
No, the fact that he didn't even give her a chair and told her to wait half a day was no different from refusing the meeting in a roundabout way.
If it comes to this, there was only one way.
Illyin checked that there were no more people around and said quietly.
"I know there are a lot of goods that will be leaving for the north soon."
The clerk replied with an indifferent expression.
"Of course. The Boro Territory is where we mainly go."
The Boro Territory was in the north, but it was much closer to the capital than the Biften Territory.
It was closer to the central part where the capital was located than to the northern part of the empire.
"Much further north than that."
She added in a confident voice.
"I know there are a lot of carts carrying food to Biften. I don't think Biften, which has almost no exchange with the outside world, would have started trading with many merchant groups."
Illyin would not have been able to specify this place if it had not been for her Precognitive dream.
If a mere baron's daughter could easily find out, there would be no reason for Biften to be called an isolated territory.
People live in Biften too.
But in that place where the weather is always colder than winter in the capital, even in the so-called summer, crops cannot grow.
So where do they get their food?
Do they stockpile a year's worth of food in the summer when the weather is relatively mild?
That can't be.
There are many variables in territory management.
There must be a road leading to Biften even in winter.
Only a very few people know it.
It wasn't winter now, but the weather was cool enough.
Biften was probably already a hell of snowstorms.
"...Please wait a moment."
The clerk, who had suddenly become serious, went inside again.
It seems she found the right place.
Illyin was sure.
"This way."
The clerk guided Illyin with a subdued expression, as if he had become a different person from before.
Following the winding corridor inside, a sign that read "Merchant Leader's Office" appeared.
The sign was as flashy as if to show off.
But the clerk passed by it and opened the door to a small room inside.
"Merchant Leader. I've brought her."
"Thank you for your hard work."
As the clerk left, the Merchant Leader greeted Illyin with a smile.
"Did you say you are Illyin de Arlen?"
He was far from the flashy impression that one would usually associate with a Merchant Leader.
The Merchant Leader, wearing a white shirt and active pants, had a simple appearance.
It's the same as what I saw in my dream.
"That's right."
"I hope you will understand that this is a sensitive matter, so I would like to talk inside."
The Merchant Leader bowed deeply and said.
"We are not trading with Biften."
That can't be.
Illyin's eyes narrowed slightly.
"First of all, carts don't go to Biften. I'm not a cruel employer enough to send cart drivers to that Cutting Wind-swept territory."
His smile is natural.
"It's true that a large amount of food is being distributed to the north. But that's because the goods are scattered to the Boro Territory and the surrounding territories. As you know, the north is vast."
If she hadn't seen it in her dream, she might have just gone along with it, thinking, "Is that so?"
But Illyin knew the answer.
"If you don't believe me, would you like to take a look at the carts yourself? They're currently being prepared."
"Okay."
The Merchant Leader personally guided Illyin to the site where the carts were being prepared.
It was exactly the same as what she had seen in her dream.
It wasn't early in the morning, but late in the afternoon, and the carts were steadily filled with cotton padding.
As Illyin looked at the padding, the Merchant Leader smiled.
"It's essential to go to the northern regions. There aren't many roads that are smooth enough for the carts to travel well."
"I know that, but—"
Illyin pressed down on the padding.
The cart was larger than she had expected, and her hand went quite deep.
"Even though it's cool, it's still hot weather to transport fresh goods. If you use this much cotton and travel around Boro, the goods inside will all spoil."
Illyin said, taking her hand off the cotton.
The Merchant Leader gently responded.
"I don't know how you became interested in our goods, but—"
"But."
Illyin interrupted the Merchant Leader's smooth words.
"If you're going to the Winter Territory, things change."
Winter Territory.
That was another name for Biften.
People also called that place, which maintains weather above winter all year round, the Winter Territory.
It was a much more respectful term than nicknames such as the land abandoned by God or the land of monsters.
Illyin took out the letter she had brought.
One was a letter she had written.
And overlapping behind it was a bride recruitment letter from the Biften family.
Illyin showed the Merchant Leader the letter stamped with the Biften family crest.
"If I want to become this person's bride, will your thoughts change a little?"
