HSMDW 3

Chapter 3

At that moment, the merchant’s expression changed subtly.

Anyone else might have simply thought that he was smiling again, but Illin knew better.

She had seen countless maids at the Viscount’s estate subtly change their attitudes toward her.

It was usually the newly hired maids.

Once they realized what Illin’s position was within the household and began to look down on her little by little, their attitudes would change in a strange way.

But the merchant was the opposite.

His reaction had become more serious.

Having confirmed that, Illin spoke again.

“Bifalten doesn’t trade with many places. It’s also a place that everyone is reluctant to have dealings with.”

Instead of handing the merchant a letter bearing the Bifalten family’s crest, she gave him a letter she had written herself.

“It would be difficult to believe that a merchant who is delivering goods to the Bifalten family at a time like this, rather than in summer, has no connection to the Bifalten family.”

Even in summer, the Bifalten territory was difficult to reach because icy winds raged there. If he was going there in this weather, then it was almost certain.

Illin continued.

“You are at least on friendly terms with the Bifalten family, or perhaps even loyal to them. If that’s the case, then you have an obligation to deliver my letter.”

“Why is that?”

The merchant asked in return.

He no longer denied it.

“As has happened every time before, if no one volunteers to become the bride this time either, I’ll enter the Bifalten household directly without even needing a bride competition.”

Illin spoke softly.

“Then at the very least, I will become the mistress of the Bifalten household, or remain there as a guest.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“Is that still not enough reason for you to deliver my letter?”

“……I understand.”

The merchant finally bowed his head.

“I will deliver it as soon as possible.”

“If necessary, you may read the letter.”

It wasn’t some sweet love letter that no one else was supposed to see.

Illin thought to herself.

The merchant shook his head.

“No. But…”

He looked genuinely curious.

“How did you know?”

He was referring to the relationship between Bifalten and the merchant guild.

Illin gave him a roundabout answer that meant she had no intention of telling him.

“More importantly, I would like to hear the Duke’s answer as soon as possible.”

After all, there was no way he would believe her even if she told him that she had dreamed of the future.

Exactly one week later.

A letter bearing the Bifalten family’s crest arrived.

It took three days just to reach Boro Territory, which was relatively close to the capital.

So it was puzzling how they had managed to travel all the way to Bifalten, at the far northern edge of the empire, and return in only a week.

[We welcome the visit of Lady Illin de Arlen.]

[We will have a carriage waiting in front of the Arlen Viscount’s residence. You may board it whenever you wish.]

The contents of the letter were polite, but they also seemed rather indifferent.

Come if you want to.

We aren’t desperately waiting for you.

Was that what the letter was implying, or was it simply her imagination?

Illin lifted her eyes from the letter and looked beyond the estate’s walls through the window.

An unfamiliar carriage was waiting outside.

However, there was no recognizable noble crest to indicate whom it belonged to.

Illin lowered her gaze back to the letter.

[The coachman bears the Bifalten family’s insignia.]

With that, there was no danger of her getting into the wrong carriage.

Now that what she had been waiting for had arrived, there was no reason to delay any longer.

Illin rose from her seat.

“What is it this time?”

The Arlen Viscount, whom she was seeing again after a week, naturally did not welcome her.

He looked extremely displeased that she had come yet again.

Illin quietly looked at her father.

Had he been a good father when she was young?

Not at all.

He was a man who cared more about the family’s image than his own family.

Rather than feeling sorry for his wife after she had gone mad, he had been furious that mud had been splashed on the name of House Arlen.

There was nothing for her to leave behind.

She had no memories of ever being loved by her father.

“I’ve decided who I’m going to marry.”

“What?”

The Arlen Viscount was naturally surprised.

Marriage was, in any case, a celebration for a noble family.

Depending on which family one married into, the things that had to be displayed to the outside world were different.

“Which family?”

“The north.”

Illin answered only that much.

The Arlen Viscount openly clicked his tongue.

Boro Territory, the largest territory in the north, already had a mistress.

The small territories surrounding it belonged only to minor families whose names carried even less weight than House Arlen.

‘It would be better not to reveal it.’

Having reached that conclusion, the Arlen Viscount waved his hand.

It meant she should leave.

There was nothing good that would come from announcing her marriage anyway.

It would only drag the family’s name even further into the mud.

“Then.”

He hadn’t even intended to bid her farewell.

Illin turned around.

“Illin.”

At that moment, the viscount called her name.

Illin stopped.

It had been more than ten years since she had last heard her father call her by her name.

“Yes.”

Her voice came out slightly softer than she intended.

When their eyes met, the Arlen Viscount asked,

“Have you ever dreamed about me?”

“……”

Illin let out a hollow laugh.

Even the slightest trace of expectation vanished.

“No.”

The Arlen Viscount did not call her name a second time.

Not a single person came out to see Illin off from the Arlen estate.

Yes. From now on, both her father and mother would live as though she didn’t exist.

The servants beneath them would do the same.

Illin did not look back at the estate disappearing behind the carriage even once.

She would never have to return.

“Bifalten……”

Illin looked outside the carriage.

The carriage had quickly left the capital and was now heading north.

The coachman, who wore a sword with the Bifalten family’s crest engraved into the end of its hilt, silently urged the horses to go faster.

The road was well maintained, so the carriage wasn’t shaking too badly, but there was no telling whether it would remain that way until they reached Bifalten.

Illin wrapped her thickest coat from the estate around herself once more.

Bifalten was a place where even corpses frozen to death in the cold were difficult to find.

Winter clothing suitable for the relatively mild climate of the capital would hardly be enough to endure it.

“The coachman doesn’t seem to be dressed that warmly.”

Perhaps that was because the coachman was a native of Bifalten.

Illin looked around the carriage.

The seats were upholstered in soft black microfiber velvet.

The walls were also covered in thick, cushioned velvet fabric, presumably to keep out the wind.

Rather than the decorations, what caught her attention more was how carefully everything had been sealed to prevent cold air from entering through the gaps around the windows.

“What is this?”

Illin examined the fabric lying on the seat across from her.

It had a sheen like silk, but its texture was somewhat cotton-like.

The luxurious cloth, trimmed with silver, was warm enough to make her fingertips twitch.

It felt as though the fabric itself was generating heat.

Is this a fabric made only in Bifalten?

There was no way a noble lady who had to keep up with dress fashions would be unfamiliar with a fabric.

Even though Illin had never participated in high society, she had often received guests at the viscount’s estate in place of the viscountess, who suffered from madness.

She had encountered enough clothing in her life, yet she had never seen fabric like this before.

Can I touch it?

If it were something precious that she wasn’t supposed to touch, they wouldn’t have left it here.

Besides, there wasn’t even a case or chest for storing the fabric.

Is it meant to be used as a blanket if it gets cold?

Illin carefully unfolded the fabric.

It was close to sky blue, but when the outside light struck it, it reflected a mysterious purple sheen.

It looked more like a veil meant to be placed over one’s head than a lap blanket.

It was thin enough to see through.

Illin cautiously placed the fabric over her head.

At the same time as her vision became slightly tinted blue, a warm sensation spread down to her neck.

“Wow.”

Illin couldn’t help but marvel.

If this were an ordinary item, then perhaps the people of Bifalten even dressed differently from the people of the capital.

‘I’m really going somewhere completely different.’

Bifalten had so little interaction with the empire that it would not have seemed strange to call it the Duchy of Bifalten rather than the Bifalten territory.

Would she be able to adapt?

And would she be able to survive?

It was unfamiliar land. Although it was still part of the same empire, there was no one who could punish the Duke of Bifalten even if he violated imperial law.

In practice, it was practically its own country under House Bifalten.

She didn’t know a single person there.

Even if she safely survived her wedding night, she had no idea what might happen if she fell out of the Duke of Bifalten’s favor.

And besides, the Duke of Bifalten…

‘Don’t make eye contact with him.’

The rumor that the first nobleman to make eye contact with the Duke of Bifalten had died with his body completely frozen had initially been dismissed as nonsense.

But when the knights who had served under that nobleman were later found with their bodies frozen as well, the twisted curiosity surrounding the Duke of Bifalten abruptly disappeared.

Who would want to satisfy their curiosity only to have their body freeze and die?

‘Never make eye contact.’

It was the household of the Duke of Bifalten, which was even recruiting brides in a way that could bring disgrace upon the family’s honor.

The Duke probably wouldn’t freeze his bride’s body and kill her, but one could never know what might happen.

Illin pulled the blue cloth more tightly around her head.

She had no idea how fast they were traveling or what shortcut they were taking, but her legs were already trembling.

“It’s all right.”

Illin reassured herself.

Her dreams had not yet foretold her death.

The world outside the window had turned white.

The somewhat unusual carriage continued traveling north.

Perhaps because it had been designed to travel through blizzards, the driver’s seat was enclosed in a separate compartment, and even the horses were equipped with protective gear.

“Wow……”

It was hard to believe that it was still close to the end of summer.

Rather than traveling north, it felt as though they had turned the calendar backward. The unbelievable snowstorm whipped past the window.

The white snow streaked past the carriage in rough, uneven lines.

And the temperature inside the carriage began to drop drastically as well.

To think it was cold enough to see one’s breath in late summer.

“Hoo.”

Illin repeatedly rubbed her hands together and blew warm breath onto them.

Her hands seemed to warm slightly when the white breath touched them, only to become even colder moments later.

Illin blew on them again before quickly hiding her hands beneath the blue cloth.

Only beneath the cloth was it warm.

Clatter!

The carriage shook incessantly.

She either fought the cold or fell asleep.

Even when she fell asleep, she woke again almost immediately.

The cold was so severe that she couldn’t sleep properly.

Her toes had begun to ache from the cold.

Illin rubbed her legs with the hand she had pulled out from beneath the cloth.

Despite the blizzard raging outside, the carriage was getting faster and faster.

There were no landmarks by which she could tell the time, and the sun had already disappeared behind the snowstorm and clouds.

Occasionally, they even passed through places that looked like caves.

Just when she thought they must be traveling through the mountains, she realized that they were passing through tunnel-like paths dug beneath the snow.

“!”

The carriage shook violently.

Illin gripped the wall of the swaying carriage tightly.

It rocked as though it might tip onto its side, but it did not stop.

What was happening?

Illin turned her gaze toward the window, though she could barely see anything outside.

“……!”

She covered her mouth without even being able to scream.

Bright red creatures were rushing toward them from outside.

They paid no attention to the raging blizzard.

The creatures caught up to the carriage at incredible speed.

They were running on four legs.

Monsters?

Illin didn’t know much about monsters.

But even the knights of the capital probably wouldn’t know what kind of creature could run that fast through a snowstorm where it was impossible to see anything ahead.

“I’ll speed up!”

The coachman’s voice was half-drowned out by the rattling of the carriage.

The other half was drowned out by the shrill screeching of the monsters as they charged after them.