8 - How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke
How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke
Episode 8: "A Woman?"”
Aden spat the word out as if questioning it, unable to believe it.
The small woman looked up at him as if reacting to his words.
Her deep Violet Eyes trembled.
Perhaps it was because he confirmed she was human, but the woman’s shallow breath burst out.
As the breath she had been holding back spread, Aden was swept up in a strange feeling.
“……”
It was a serene fragrance.
A scent that could not be found in Biften, which had long lost its warmth.
Incredibly, a warm scent emanated from the woman, who was trembling and unable to withstand even this short time in the winter.
She stood bravely amidst the fierce snowstorm that seemed as if it would bury her.
—Kyaak!
At that moment, one of the Molly chasing her pounced on her from behind.
Without realizing it, Aden drew his sword and stabbed it into the creature.
—Kiek!
The Molly, having lost its life, trembled and slumped.
Even in the moment of losing its breath, it emitted a stronger pulse of life than this woman.
From the woman before him, he could feel a shallow pulse, as if she would crumble away at any moment.
“Ah……”
The woman’s voice trembled.
Perhaps she thought he was going to cut her throat, as her tightly closed eyes fluttered.
Aden, who had been quietly watching her, discovered an object that had fallen at her feet.
“This is…”
The relic of the Blue Nose.
In an instant, Aden snapped back to his senses as if splashed with cold water.
He narrowed his eyes and leaned his body towards the woman.
Fragile as if she would break, yet her presence was immense.
A full fragrance, as if he had entered her space, consumed him.
A warm fragrance that absolutely did not belong in Biften.
“…Unless you want to freeze as you are.”
He slowly dropped the relic of the Nose onto the woman’s head.
As the Biften object covered her, he felt a sense of regret at the feeling of the deep fragrance being covered.
Without realizing it, he took a deep breath as if trying to inhale even the lingering scent.
“You should take good care of this.”
What am I doing? He asked himself.
It was just a coincidence that there was a woman in the Blue Nose’s carriage.
If he happened to have saved her, that was all.
She was a woman of high status, whoever she was, enough to use the relic.
Even if he had no interest in women, he could at least recognize that much.
He could just turn around, considering it a debt owed by the Blue Nose.
But he couldn’t turn around.
The deep, warm fragrance continued to pull him in.
He, who had never seen a bright season, realized it then.
The scent emanating from her was the scent of summer.
“Your Highness!”
At that moment, a Delos knight shouted from afar.
He saw the woman quickly lower her gaze.
Aden looked down at her.
Her thoughts beneath that Blue cloth were obvious.
You mustn’t make eye contact with the Duke.
“……”
Aden turned his body.
If you make eye contact with the Duke, you will freeze.
That must be the reason for that story.
She didn’t even imagine that I, who had just made eye contact with her, was the Duke himself.
After all, apart from the Delos knights who roamed the battlefield together, only the elders of each family knew that.
Even they had closed their mouths.
They had sworn to do so at the funeral of the previous Duke.
It was immediately after the Winter Duke realized that he was a monster, at least in Biften.
That the rumor that you would freeze if you made eye contact wasn’t entirely a lie.
As he turned his body, the scent of summer faded.
Aden found that strangely, annoyingly, bothersome.
The time he had shared breaths with that woman was very short.
It wasn’t even that close of a distance.
It was literally a distance where their breaths barely touched.
Even that was quickly scattered by the fierce blizzard.
He couldn’t understand why that brief moment remained so vividly in his memory.
Aden thought that perhaps it had been an illusion.
That appearance that absolutely did not belong in Biften.
Let’s not pay attention to it.
After all, she was a Blue Nose person, so there would be no further encounters.
“This time, she is a young lady who came from the Sunlands.”
He thought there would be no further encounters.
“A Sunfolk?”
The woman he encountered in the mansion, where there was no blizzard, looked much more vibrant.
And that scent of summer remained the same.
As if it hadn’t been an illusion.
“She is Illyin de Arlen from the Empire.”
At that moment, Aden was unusually surprised.
[I will become your bride.]
She was the owner of that audacious letter.
The Violet gaze that met his was clear and upright.
A woman who did not suit winter.
Aden knew one more person like that.
She was also a Sunfolk, but she emanated the scent of withered winter.
He didn’t know what she looked like when she was a Sunfolk.
Because she was his mother.
‘Den, let me get out of here.’
She said that every time she met him.
Until she died.
Sunfolk are such people.
People who wither when they touch winter.
He thought so.
“I am Den of the Red Deloz.”
He was bothered that the words he barely managed to utter were a lie.
He was Den, the commander of the Deloz Knights, in the mansion, so it wouldn’t be a complete lie, but still.
A Sunfolk…
“Thank you for earlier.”
Those trivial words echoed in his head.
She was definitely not a Blue Nose woman.
Above all, this scent of summer was something that people from the Winter Territory could never possess.
A slender, white neck.
A soft smile.
Violet Eyes that curved like a half-moon and were faintly veiled.
The adorable eyelashes that covered them were fluttering.
Even inside the mansion, she felt the winter, and she was a person who did not suit Biften at all.
In winter, she was so frail that she would be quickly erased by the blizzard.
“…It’s not good to be in winter for too long.”
That was his last kindness.
No, it was reason.
He didn’t want her freshness to be covered in dry winter.
[I will become your bride.]
But indeed, would that audacious bride return to the Sunlands?
“…It’s fluffy.”
And the woman he met in front of the mansion was much more accustomed to winter.
The scent of summer still emanated from her, swaying in the cold wind.
“Do you intend to stay here for a long time?”
“Yes.”
There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in the bride’s answer.
She was a strange person.
On her first day in Biften, she was in danger of being chased and killed by a Molly.
That trembling breath was real.
But she doesn’t go back.
In Aden’s eyes, she was foolish.
“Even if the leader of Deloz has no interest in you?”
“Even so, if I can stay here safely.”
You can stay…
If you become close to the Blue Nose.
Strangely, he felt a twisted feeling inside.
So much so that he wanted to tear off the Blue cloth she wore on her head, as it bothered him.
“Even if you can’t see his face for the rest of your life?”
“Of course.”
The reason he hadn’t even cared about the bride recruitment was because of the absurd marriage conditions.
This land, where one had to live without even knowing the face of the husband one would spend a lifetime with, was a terribly exclusive land of winter for Sunfolk.
Can you endure it?
“Then what if the Duke refuses the marriage?”
It was a mischievous question.
If you are someone who will gradually fade away and disappear in winter, leave early.
At his question, the bride smiled softly.
“I’ll have to think about that if I’m rejected.”
Unlike his mother’s cloudy eyes, her eyes were clear.
Even in the snowfield, she was clear.
With a fresh and dazzling smile, she emitted a bright fragrance that only Sunfolk could possess.
Aden was momentarily breathless.
Wow, that was cheating.
After that day, Aden rarely went outside the mansion.
Because he was bothered by the woman standing precariously in the winter mansion.
But it was difficult to approach her.
It was strange.
Illyin knew him as the commander of the Red Deloz Knights.
If one were to be precise, it wasn’t a lie.
When he showed his face in the mansion, he was always just the commander of the Red Deloz Knights.
He was bothered that he had hidden his identity, but thanks to that, Illyin wasn’t afraid of him.
“……”
Aden tapped the desk.
The knights outside, realizing his displeasure, held their breaths.
The Deloz Knights’ quarters, where he stayed instead of the main building, froze more coldly than usual.
You mustn’t make eye contact with the Duke of Biften.
That was the reason he couldn’t appear before the bride.
Because the bride, who believed that rumor, wouldn’t be able to treat him like ‘Den.’
[The Duke of Biften can freeze people just by making eye contact.]
It was a rumor that had comforted him from the time he received the Dukedom as a child until now.
But this time, he hated that rumor.
It was uncomfortable.
That rumor that blocked the bride and him made him unbearably uncomfortable.
“Lord Aden. The elders have come to see you.”
Aden stopped tapping the desk.
“Tell them to come in.”
Soon, the quiet knight’s quarters began to become noisy.
The presence of those who were not knights was always so noisy and annoying.
Aden thought of the faint pulse that seemed to stop even breathing.
If it were a faint presence like Illyin, that Sunfolk, he wouldn’t want to kill her.
“Your Highness.”
The elders of the three families bowed deeply.
Aden knew.
What moved them was fear, not loyalty.
“What is it?”
“The wedding is soon.”
Lidan of the Blue Nose brought up the story.
I was more concerned about it than you were, at least.
Aden thought without realizing it.
“The wedding preparations will be done by our Mille…”
“What are you saying? I thought it would naturally be held at the Dazzling Eloe.”
These guys came in a group of three, but didn’t they even coordinate their words? Aden watched the debate with a bored face.
“Until now, weddings have been overseen by Verdant Mille.”
“That was when the other party was from the Winter Territory. Didn’t the previous Duchess also like the Eloe wedding hall the most?”
The previous Duchess.
They were talking about his mother.
His mother, who was a Sunfolk.
Aden’s gaze was fixed on the Eloe elder.
The elder who received his gaze coughed dryly.
“That’s because she stayed in Biften for a long time. Would someone who was in the Sunlands until a few days ago be moved even if they saw the light of that wedding hall?”
The Mille elder couldn’t suppress his excitement and snapped back.
Aden raised his hand.
It was a signal to shut up.
He slowly opened his mouth.
“I don’t know why you’re so naturally mentioning Eloe or Mille.”
Aden thought of Illyin.
Even during the few days he hadn’t met her, she occasionally went outside the mansion, saying she would adapt to the winter, or opened the windows of her room.
But she was still someone who couldn’t even dare to go out without the relic of the Nose.
Aden had no intention of letting her go outside the mansion.
“We will skip any special procedures. The wedding will be held at the mansion.”
As it is, until the first night.
This wedding was a very unusual case even in Biften.
It was unusual just that the bride was a Sunfolk, but since the previous Duchess was also a Sunfolk, it wasn’t a surprising event that made eyes pop out.
But the previous Duchess’s was a love marriage.
She stayed in Biften long enough to adapt to the climate before moving to the Dazzling Eloe wedding hall to get married.
Eloe had a wedding hall with dazzling lights like the sunlight of the Sunlands that she hadn’t seen for a long time.
She liked it very much.
But this bride’s circumstances were very different.
Above all, this was a contract marriage.
The bride could leave whenever she wanted.
Aden thought of Illyin’s eyes.
Her clear Violet Eyes were strong, unlike his mother’s.
She had no intention of leaving this land.
At least for now.
“Sunfolk are weaker than Biften people. They are naturally weak to the cold.”
“You must soothe her as gently as possible.”
Advice in the name of interference poured in from all directions.
In the end, all the troublesome wedding procedures were omitted.
Illyin’s side also said they understood when they were told that they would have to endure the cold weather outside to hold the wedding ceremony.
After all, it was a contract marriage.
The bride had come to Biften to gain something, and Aden had also started the bride recruitment to silence the elders’ noisy voices.
It didn’t matter as long as they got married.
After the marriage, the elders would demand an heir, but the next succession ceremony, which was repeated periodically, was only in three years.
Until then, the elders would have no choice but to keep their mouths shut.
“……”
The bride was visible in the distance.
The bride was looking at the marriage certificate placed in front of her.
She wore a light coat over her usual Blue cloth on her head.
It was a garment equivalent to a gown in Biften, but it looked particularly large on her.
He didn’t know, but it was a fairly thick winter coat from the perspective of the Sunlands.
She seems buried in her clothes,* Aden thought.
He approached the bride silently.
The thought that she would be surprised to the point of fainting if they made eye contact swept through his mind with complicated emotions.
After all, it was a loveless marriage.
Aden organized his thoughts that way.
But still, his heart was pounding.
