21 - How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke
How to Survive as the Monster Duke's Wife
Episode 21: "So You Do Have a Brain, It Seems?"
When Illyin didn't answer, the Baron sighed.
"To think, an ominous woman who sees death. The North is already full of superstitions, I can only imagine how shocked His Grace the Duke must have been—"
The sound of his tongue-clicking was vivid.
Still, it's a dream.
"But it's not like there's no chance. You did spend the night with him, didn't you?"
Well, she'd been there for at least a month; she'd have to be a stone statue not to.
The Baron clicked his tongue.
Illyin simply closed her eyes and let his words wash over her.
"Is anyone out there?"
The Maid from earlier cautiously opened the door and entered.
The Baron gestured towards Illyin with his chin.
"Show her to a doctor. And you are to say nothing."
He clicked his tongue.
"Live the rest of your life with your mouth shut. If there's a child, I might be able to speak to His Grace the Duke with that as a condition."
I told you to keep your mouth shut, you fool.
"To be abandoned for flapping your lips, is it because your mother's blood is so lowly?"
As the Baron gestured, the Maid grabbed her arm and pulled.
"Let's go."
It's a dream.
Illyin kept her eyes closed, refusing to open them.
A vivid dream.
She occasionally had such vivid nightmares.
And whenever she did, she looked for only one thing.
Whatever happens in the dream is fine.
Whatever happens from now on is fine.
Before leaving the room, she turned her gaze around.
Past the Baron's indifferent face, she looked around the room, and as expected, there was nothing she feared.
As long as the Mobile is not there.
If the Mobile is not there, I,
I won't be abandoned.
\\
Aden first performed the Lord's succession ceremony when he was eleven years old.
The succession ceremony, which he had performed several times since then, was nothing special, despite its grand name.
All it took was someone with the blood of the Biften family and the four Divine Relics.
When he placed his hand on the black round table along with the Divine Relics, the mirror on the round table flashed with brilliant light for a brief moment.
When he was young, he wondered what that light was.
Because he seemed to have seen some kind of picture at the very first succession ceremony he performed.
But as he grew older, he lost interest.
He was so exhausted from thinking about the conditions that the elders of the three families presented at each succession ceremony that he later wanted to freeze the person who created the succession ceremony to death.
'It is the power to protect Biften.'
The elders coaxed and soothed the young him like that, but they always drove him to the battlefield on the grounds that he had inherited the Lord's Authority.
The more he wielded his sword, the more comfortable the knights of the three families became.
'His Highness can easily defeat a hundred Monsters, but if the knights were to defeat a hundred Monsters, at least dozens of them would have to fight risking their lives.'
Lidan of the Blue Nose's words were a masterpiece.
When he was young, he was weighed down by the faces of the knights and went to every battlefield, but not anymore.
When they tried to divide and eliminate the Red Deloz, his childhood ended.
"Nothing will happen."
He reassured Illyin while listening to Lidan's incantation.
Lidan was chanting in a language that had been passed down from ancient times in the Biften region.
Something passed down to the elders who had to perform the succession ceremony for generations.
It was a story that didn't really concern him.
What concerned him more was the woman in his arms.
Was she nervous? Her hands were cold.
He held Illyin's trembling hands.
It will be alright, he kept whispering.
After all, the succession ceremony was nothing special.
The faint breath of the bride spread.
A fragrance that calmed people's hearts.
Aden gently stroked the back of her hand.
Even at night, when he stroked her tense hand like this, Illyin would soon take a deep breath.
It was the same now.
In the arms holding Illyin, he felt the throbbing of a small, fragile life.
The sound that had been beating rapidly seemed to have regained its usual rhythm, as if it had found stability.
"—"
When Lidan's long incantation ended, Aden led Illyin's small hand and placed it on the black round table.
"!"
Illyin was startled by the light that burst out at that moment.
He wrapped his arm around Illyin's small shoulders.
"It's okay. It'll be over soon."
He kept whispering.
Illyin's trembling subsided somewhat at his voice.
But the light burst out brighter and for much longer than he remembered.
"……?"
Even the elders began to panic at the unusual reaction.
Illyin remained still, her gaze fixed on the round table.
"Illyin?"
Even though the light was flickering wildly, Illyin stood there without blinking.
"Something's wrong!"
The elder of Mille broke away from his seat and approached Illyin.
At that moment, the light suddenly went out.
In the darkness that fell in an instant, something else went out as well.
"……Illyin?"
Aden enjoyed listening to the sound of Illyin's small heartbeat.
Even when he held her, even when he was outside her room, he would listen carefully and hear her sound.
It was the same now.
He had never missed her small breaths and heartbeats, not even for a brief moment.
Because it was the only sound she had in this Winter Territory.
But that sound stopped as if it had never existed in the first place.
Illyin, who had lost consciousness, collapsed next to the round table.
\\
Aden knew well what it felt like for a life to lose consciousness.
Anyone who had taken the lives of countless creatures would know.
Now, he felt nothing even when he saw the pulse of life stop, whether it was a Monster or a person.
At first, he had to do it to survive.
To protect himself, he had to kill the Monster in front of him.
It wasn't that he didn't think that they were also living beings that could communicate and had a will.
But it was more important for him to live.
As he became accustomed to it, taking lives became something he had to do while living.
"Fortunately, her life is not in danger."
The physician, Bess, stood before Aden in a more nervous state than ever before.
"I don't know the reason why her breathing stopped, but it was only for a brief moment. She is asleep now."
Aden gestured silently.
It meant to leave.
The atmosphere was so sharp that it felt like a person could be cut.
An atmosphere so precarious that it seemed like it could explode with even the smallest thing.
"All she needs to do is wake up."
Bess, who bowed deeply, deliberately added those words as if trying to reassure his lord.
As he opened the door, countless presences outside the room poured into Aden's ears.
Immediately after Illyin lost consciousness, Delos went on emergency alert.
The 7th floor of the mansion was more crowded than ever before.
It was originally a place where only a minimum number of people moved around quietly because the owner of the 7th floor hated noise.
But now, moving quickly was more important than moving quietly.
Aegis, the adjutant, contacted the Sunlands through the snowstorm of Biften, which was close to April.
Essid's Milo, who had been scheduled to not show his face in Biften for about a year, returned to the Winter Territory with a mountain of Sun Elixir herbs.
And the Maids who had served the former Duchess Elena arrived one after another on the 7th floor.
They were among the few people who had experience caring for Sunfolk even in the Winter Territory.
The mansion had been cool all along.
It became colder than usual, as if the warmth of the past few days had been a lie.
The Maids initially thought it was a mistake, but when they could no longer bear it without wearing another layer of thick outerwear, they acknowledged that it was true.
And they further fueled their vague fear of the Lord.
He was the only one who could freely change the surrounding temperature, not only in this mansion but also in the Winter Territory.
If it was any colder than this, it would be no different from being outside the mansion.
"Your Highness, this is Aegis."
Aden had been in Illyin's room all along.
Aegis cautiously opened the door after knocking.
Milo's figure could also be seen through the crack in the door.
He had a face full of mixed emotions as he stood again in front of the bride's room, where he had recently faced a disaster that was not a disaster.
"The report?"
The temperature difference between the hallway and the inside of the room was severe.
Aegis eventually took off his thick fur coat and answered while holding it.
"The records of the succession ceremony are kept in Blue Nose, so it took some time to look through them."
"So."
Aegis paused for a moment before looking at Illyin.
"It has never happened before. I wondered if the problem was that she came from the Sunlands, so I focused on looking at the records of the former Duchesses who were Sunfolk, but there was no one who had an abnormal reaction."
While he was reporting, Milo diligently delivered herbs to the Maids next to him.
No matter how much the Maids had cared for Sunfolk, they were still people from the Winter Territory.
There was a lot to explain.
Next to him, the physician Bess was also busy examining the herbs.
He was also a person from the Winter Territory, but he was still a doctor, so it was better than nothing.
"The Sunlands doctor?"
"I tried to bring one……."
Aegis paused for a moment to choose his words.
"There is no one who wants to come. First of all, whether they believe that I am from Biften is secondary…… It is almost April here, Your Highness."
April.
It was the coldest month of the four months that Biften, which was all winter, was divided into.
The Sunlands were also in winter now.
But there was no way that the Sunfolk, who trembled at the cold even in their winter, would come to Biften, where April was approaching.
"……Get out."
Aden issued an order to leave, his head becoming complicated.
In the room that had become quiet again, Aden carefully sat at Illyin's bedside.
His hand gently stroked Illyin's hair.
It was a touch so careful that it trembled, as if touching it would cause even a scratch.
Her breathing was even.
But her consciousness had not returned.
Illyin was in a very deep sleep.
What if she doesn't wake up like this?
Biften was always cold.
Aden thought he would just live coldly in the Winter Territory and go coldly.
He had never recognized what summer was.
He couldn't understand his mother's words that she wanted to go to a hot place when he was young.
She said that the Sunlands were sunny, the wind that touched the bare skin was cool, and it was so dazzling that you couldn't even open your eyes.
He thought it would be quite annoying.
It was also unfamiliar to have to take off clothes.
So he never really coveted summer.
Unlike his father.
But the scent of summer that he smelled for the first time was so intense that he couldn't forget it.
He thought that it might be the scent of sunshine rather than summer.
Illyin was a person with silver hair that might look cold.
But even standing in the middle of winter, she looked warmer than anyone else.
Biften without you would be too cold.
Aden was afraid of the cold for the first time.
\*
Illyin thought she didn't know how many times she had reopened her eyes.
The dreams were that long and numerous.
The dreams, which were initially beautiful landscapes of Biften, gradually became distorted, and the events that took place in Arlen Fief continued.
Some of them were past events, and some were events that she had never experienced.
Every time she saw Earl Arlen, she looked for the Mobile.
She had never seen the Mobile even once in her dreams.
Where is it again?
There was nothing to be seen when she opened her eyes.
Illyin blinked.
I don't know what kind of dream I'm having again.
When she tried to move, she finally felt something touching her back.
Illyin blinked.
She was lying down.
In a soft place.
"Illyin?"
The voice heard in the darkness was clear.
Illyin forgot to close her eyes for a moment and turned her gaze in the direction of the voice.
