When the freezing winter winds sweep in [Novel] Chapter 25 – A Matter of Common Ground

Still sprawling face-down, I craned my neck to look up, and there stood His Grace the Duke. My wildly fluttering heart refused to settle. Well, if it stopped entirely, I would die, but the sheer terror and racing shock had brought me close to tears.

Pressing a hand over my chest, I took a deep breath to collect myself. Even so, my nerves refused to quiet down, and it took quite a while before I could steady my breathing.

His response brought me to my senses. That was hardly my question to ask. After all, this was his library, and I was the uninvited guest. Belatedly grasping the situation, I picked up the book sprawling on the floor, dusted it off, slid it back onto the shelf, and then respectfully clasped my hands and lowered my head.

At his word, I immediately sat back down on the sofa. Quite apart from the vast gap in our stations, his voice carried an indescribable weight of authority.

He then walked over to stand directly across from the chair where I sat. That made for an awkward picture. By all rules of propriety, shouldn't he be the one sitting while I remained standing?

“…”

A brief silence fell between us.

Over the course of a few brief exchanges, I was gradually realizing that what the Duke wanted was the honest truth, not empty pleasantries.

The Duke prompted.

I hesitated, at a loss for words. Lost in my own reverie, I hadn't taken in much of what was written on the page.

When I offered no answer, he pulled the volume I had just shelved, glanced at the cover for a brief moment, and slotted it back into place.

“…”

Nothing came to mind in response to that.

It was true that spectacles and entertainment overflowed there day after day. But I had never been the subject of any of it. In that world, I was no different from the maidservants burdened with menial chores.

His remark was inscrutable. What could he possibly mean by ‘so it seems’? That I looked too rustic to belong in fashionable society?

He looked down at me while his hand idly brushed against the bookshelf. When I lifted my head to meet his gaze, he averted his eyes slightly for some reason.

A brief silence followed my answer.

Silence settled over us once again.

I was at a complete loss before the Duke’s praise. It was fortunate that things had ended well, but had I handled the situation properly from the start, it never should have happened in the first place.

He pulled out a book, turned it in his hands, slipped it back into place, and asked:

My attempt to alter our awkward arrangement came to a sound defeat.

“…”

I could not quite grasp what he meant.

“Don't you think we have much in common?”

the Duke of Skadi asked.

‘Me? With Your Grace?’

My eyes were far closer to brown than green. And between the Duke and me, there were vastly more differences than things in common.

‘Um…?’

Unable to find an answer, I fidgeted with my hands. I had often been told in my life that I was slow on the uptake. But I could sense that something—something had shifted. I simply could not tell what it was.

‘I see.’

Was the Duke simply saying whatever came into his head right now?

When I directed my gaze back toward his face, he had been glancing my way, but promptly shifted his green eyes elsewhere—up toward the chandelier. I looked up at the chandelier as well. Clusters of crystals hung like ice formations.

I looked back at him. Our eyes met. This time, he turned his head clean toward the opposite bookcase with a jerk. Then he scanned along the spines as if searching for a book. I looked over as well. The vast collection along the shelves was arranged by subject, and the section his eyes were fixed on was culinary arts.

He kept his mouth shut. It seemed… he had nothing left to say to me.

‘I should stand up.’

This was his private domain, and I had lingered far too long. Thinking I ought to clear the way quickly, I gripped the armrests with both hands, shifting my weight while watching his reaction.