Chapter 3

The Grand Duchess of the North, I Can’t Do This Because It’s Too Cold

“He still hasn’t come to his senses. I heard he’s started going in and out of illegal gambling dens again.”

Daven said it as though this wasn’t even remotely the first or second time it had happened.

I-I didn’t see this coming…

My father, a gambler. I reluctantly crammed this new piece of information into my head through my tears.

Damn it. I was starting to get the distinct feeling that this family was a complete disaster.

“That’s certainly behavior befitting a baron. The Grand Duke even wiped out all those debts for him in exchange for a marriage that gave him absolutely nothing.”

“…Huh?”

“The debt he worked so hard to clear is about to pile up again. Of course, I did warn him several times.”

But as you know, it probably won’t do any good.

Daven gave a small shrug.

I had been suspicious from the very beginning. It was strange enough that someone like Mikhail, a Grand Duke, would marry a minor noble from the South. But was I really sold off to him because of my father’s debts?

Now that I was certain, my heart began pounding strangely.

So, the reason I ended up marrying Mikhail was because of my father’s debt.

What on earth had that man been doing to rack up debts all the way in the North?

First things first, let’s add this to the information file.

Father = trash. Do not get involved.

…Right. Mikhail.

He had apparently agreed to forgive all of those debts just for the condition that he marry me.

Why on earth would he do something like that? Since it was his personal decision, there was no way for me to know.

Anyway, even after all that, my father still hadn’t learned his lesson, and now the family was about to be buried in debt again?

It would probably be best to cut ties with him as soon as possible.

“I sent Arion away to an academy in the borderlands, so don’t worry.”

“Arion?”

“Yeah. He’s your younger brother, so I pulled a few strings for him.”

A halo seemed to shine behind Daven’s kind face.

Wait, I had a younger brother too?

…It was unfortunate to realize that I wasn’t the only one suffering in this disastrous family.

Judging by the fact that he hadn’t mentioned her even once, I assumed Mother wasn’t around either.

At least I had a rough understanding of my family situation now.

Still…

Even if he was his friend’s younger sibling, it couldn’t have been easy to take care of him to that extent.

He seemed less like the warm and gentle person I had imagined and more like an actual friend in real life, but apparently his kindness was still very much intact.

“Thank you. I don’t know about my father, but I’ll definitely repay you for what you’ve done for my little brother.”

“What are you talking about? Between us…”

Between us…?

We’re… just friends, aren’t we?

He really said things like that without a second thought.

Caught off guard by the sudden intimacy of his words, I took a sip of tea.

Ugh. I’m really not used to this kind of thing.

Once I had cooled down and a brief silence settled between us, Daven, who had been smiling the whole time, uncrossed his legs and leaned closer.

“Aisha, shall we stop with the small talk?”

“Hm?”

“Why do you think I came all the way here?”

He suddenly stood up, walked over to me, gripped the back of the sofa, and leaned his face close to my ear.

Huh?

I instinctively tried to push him away, but at that exact moment, a bundle of papers was placed into my hand.

At the same time, Daven’s low voice reached my ears.

“I’ve prepared what you asked for last time.”

I quickly unfolded the first sheet, and the bold letters written across the top immediately caught my eye.

“Divorce agreement?”

I looked up at Daven in surprise.

He merely flashed me a grin before releasing his grip on the sofa and returning to his seat.

“All the other documents are in there. Once Mikhail stamps that agreement, it’ll be done.”

“…Did I ask you to do this?”

“Hm? You did. Two months ago, on your wedding day, you secretly asked me to.”

So Daven had been the one behind Aisha’s escape.

That was a shocking piece of information.

She had been planning to divorce him from the moment she got married.

The fact that she had arranged a divorce and then fled meant that she had essentially abandoned not only her family but her entire household.

Either she was absolutely sick and tired of them… or there was some other reason.

Either way, the timing was perfect for me, since I had been planning to run away soon anyway.

It was almost as though someone was pushing me to leave as quickly as possible.

Lost in thought, I looked up at Daven.

Whatever the reason, he had gone out of his way to help me.

“Thank you for coming all this way yourself, Daven.”

“It’s nothing. It would’ve been troublesome if someone spotted me. Anyway, you’re coming to the South, right?”

“No. The South would be difficult.”

“…Why? Because of the Baron? I can take care of that.”

I could feel Daven’s expression harden.

Of course, he had assumed I would go to the South.

“It’s because I think Mikhail would be hurt.”

As it was, my escape would probably become his greatest trauma in the future. If I went to the South, the shock would be even worse.

That was one reason, born from a little guilt.

And then there was the practical reason.

I had spent so much time going on and on about how I was going to the South that if I actually went there, there was a 200 percent chance Mikhail would catch me.

So yes, going South was impossible.

“I’m thinking of going to the capital first and deciding what to do from there. It should be fairly warm there too.”

“…That’s a shame. If anything happens, make sure you contact me.”

“Okay.”

After hearing my answer, Daven stood up again with a smile.

“I’d better leave before the terrifying Grand Duke arrives. Don’t bother seeing me out.”

“Oh, it’s cold, so be careful on your way.”

“You’re right. It’s a truly miserable kind of cold. You should hurry and…”

He trailed off, swallowing the rest of his words.

I smiled knowingly and nodded.

Once Daven closed the door behind him and left, the reality of everything finally began to sink in.

So the story really is starting to follow the original plot now.

Preparing to run away went more smoothly than I had expected.

All the documents were ready, and I had made a plan for what to do afterward.

I had practically memorized the map from staring at it until my eyes hurt, and I had almost completely memorized my escape route.

When night finally came and everyone had fallen asleep, my first escape officially began.

First, I placed the divorce papers and a letter on the table.

The letter contained a long apology and my thanks for everything that had happened.

If I were the original Aisha, I probably would have disappeared without leaving a letter.

But I just couldn’t do that.

I’m sorry. I didn’t want to get possessed either… but at this rate, I really feel like I’m going to freeze to death.

I closed my eyes for a moment and prayed that this would at least lessen the trauma I would leave behind in the future.

I packed only the essentials and secretly left them outside beforehand.

Then I slipped past the knights standing guard outside and made my escape.

What? Isn’t this going way too smoothly?

It was a perfect escape.

I even felt refreshed, as though I were being carried along by the flow of the novel itself.

Forgetting even the bone-chilling cold of the night, I ran toward the nearest dock.

Just then, I saw the last ship of the day coming in.

The closer the ship got, the harder my heart pounded.

I’m finally saying goodbye to this godforsaken cold…!

No sooner had I thought that than knights in familiar uniforms surrounded me.

And so, my first escape ended in utter humiliation.

All thanks to the knights’ excellent work combing through the dock as thoroughly as if they were hunting down a rat.

When I returned to the mansion, the letter and divorce papers I had left on the table had already been reduced to ashes.

They were gone as though they had never existed in the first place.

Haha.

Anyway, there seems to be a tendency for people to lose a screw or two after an attempt at something fails.

There’s no one outside.

For some reason, there wasn’t a single guard stationed outside my room.

Well, if the first time was difficult, surely the second time couldn’t be that bad.

So I made my second escape attempt at dawn the following day.

And I reached the entrance of the mansion without a hitch.

But then—

What the hell…?

A sight I had never seen before unfolded before my eyes.

There were enough knights surrounding the mansion to make it look as though they were about to be deployed into an actual war.

For a moment, I felt like I was the enemy commander.

I-I’m okay. I expected this, so I prepared one last escape route in advance!

I hurried toward a corner of the mansion and stopped in front of a small hole in the wall that was just big enough for a person.

I lowered myself to the ground and was just about to squeeze my face through when—

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The completely filled-out face of Sir Robert, the Vice-Captain of the Knights, appeared directly in front of my eyes.

“Eeeek!”

Overcome by sheer terror, I let out an absolutely bloodcurdling scream.

Soon, an enormous number of knights carried me back to my room.

The image of Sir Robert’s face completely filling the hole flashed through my mind, and my heart continued pounding for quite a while.

Wow.

I really thought I was going to die of fright.

It was straight out of a horror movie.

Anyway, the conclusion was simple.

I had failed both of my escape attempts.

And failed them miserably.

Which was why Mikhail and I were now sitting across from each other.

In complete silence.

If you’ve caught me twice, can’t you at least say something?

He simply stared at me.

The silence became so suffocating that I suddenly turned around to leave the room.

But Mikhail immediately grabbed my arm and spun me back toward him.

…That startled me.

Where does he get that kind of strength?

“I’ll ask you exactly once. My lady, why do you keep leaving the house?”

“…It’s co…”

I couldn’t speak loudly because I suddenly became conscious of the servants discreetly paying attention to us.

Ah, this was so embarrassing now that I had to actually say it out loud!

But this is a really important issue to me!

“If you don’t want to tell me, then forget it. Run away as much as you want. I’ll just catch you every single time.”

“I’m cold! I said I’m cold!”

The mansion fell completely silent at my shout.

As I nervously darted my eyes around, I felt Mikhail place both hands on my shoulders.

“Is that really all it is? You’re running away because you’re cold?”

“…Yes.”

“I see.”

For some reason, Mikhail looked relieved.

And with that expression as the last thing I saw, the entire commotion suddenly came to an end.

I was led away by the maids, who changed me into something more comfortable.

Then I drank down a cup of hot tea they prepared for me.

Once the maids, who had mechanically finished everything they needed to do, all left the room, I lay down on the bed.

Before I knew it, I had fallen into a deep sleep.

It was an unexpectedly peaceful dawn.

And then, late in the morning, unlike the usual mornings when I woke up shivering from the cold, I slowly opened my eyes because of something warm.

What? Why is it warm? That shouldn’t be possible.

“Huh?”

Mikhail was sleeping soundly with his face resting against my bed, completely unaware of the world.

And my right hand was gently clasped in Mikhail’s scorching-hot left hand.

So that’s why it was warm.

…But if he was going to hold my hand, why on earth had he tied our wrists together so tightly?

While I stared at the absurd sight in utter disbelief, Mikhail looked completely at peace, sleeping soundly as if nothing in the world could disturb him.