Chapter 2

The Northern Grand Duke’s Wife Can’t Take the Cold

Before I knew it, I was sitting on the bed, facing Mikhail, and the two of us were left alone in the room.

The extreme cold had gotten to the point where I could barely think straight, but even then, one strong question kept nagging at me.

‘What on earth is wrong with him?’

Even if I gave him the benefit of the doubt, his wife had collapsed right in front of him twice, yet instead of letting her recuperate somewhere warm, he was saying, “Absolutely not the South!” Where did he get that stubbornness from?

“Gasp.”

A memory suddenly surfaced like déjà vu, making me catch my breath. Right. I had definitely wondered about something similar before.

It must have been the episode where Mabel first visited the North. Mikhail had gone to all sorts of lengths to keep her from returning to the capital.

Of course, most of the readers had loved it.

‘Aaaah! Mikhail is so cute I’m dying!’

‘Please let Mabel and Mikhail live happily together in the North.’

And so on…

But I simply couldn’t understand the comments. As I’d mentioned before, I was a die-hard Daven fan. In the end, I’d furiously pounded away at my keyboard and left a particularly rebellious comment.

‘What kind of obsession comes out of nowhere like that? It gets annoying when he’s that stubborn. Author, please let Mabel grow old happily with Daven.’

I’d even remembered to flatter the author right at the end.

To be fair, I didn’t completely fail to understand Mikhail’s obsession. I knew that he had lost his family at a young age and grown up alone, and that as a result, he had an extreme case of emotional deprivation.

So, really, I’d only left that comment in a moment of frustration.

Am I seriously getting that comment thrown back in my face now?

“Try understanding that inexplicable obsession yourself.”

Ugh.

“Why are you pulling your hair?”

“Ah.”

When had I started doing that? I released the handful of hair I hadn’t even realized I was clutching.

Mikhail still had a rather intimidating appearance, but he was looking at me with genuine concern.

So, he was worried about me, but…

“There’s something I’m curious about. Is there some reason I can’t go to the South?”

“……”

“If you think about it, that’s my hometown. If I can’t even go there to recuperate, there should at least be a reason for me to understand.”

Besides, Mikhail didn’t even love Aisha. In the novel, he had described Mabel as “the first woman I ever loved,” so these two were probably nothing more than a married couple who didn’t have any particular feelings for each other.

Which made me even more annoyed.

So you’re a married couple who are only staying together out of loyalty, yet you still won’t let me have any freedom?

Mikhail slowly raised his head, which had been bowed low, and hesitated.

Well, let’s hear this supposedly amazing reason!

“…You’re my wife.”

“Again.”

“…I don’t have another reason.”

Unbelievable.

Just as I was about to say something else, he plopped down beside me and placed his hand over mine.

Uh… what are you doing now?

“Aisha, that place is filled with dangerous men.”

“What? What do you mean by—”

“Especially that irritating bastard. He’s been smiling sarcastically at me for years, calling himself your friend and all…”

“Your friend?”

I stared into Mikhail’s eyes with a completely baffled expression.

Apparently, I had a friend bold enough to make sarcastic remarks at Mikhail.

That made no sense.

“Anyway, Daven… You need to be careful around that bastard.”

“Daven? The Grand Duke of Moltian?”

“Yes.”

I… I was friends with Daven?!

My heart began pounding from the shock.

What an incredibly sudden lottery-level revelation.

Rather than feeling touched, I was utterly bewildered.

‘But that’s strange.’

The Daven I knew was nothing like someone who would make sarcastic remarks or provoke others.

“Daven is really kind, though.”

I muttered it to myself, but then the sudden silence made me whip my head around to look at Mikhail.

‘Oh, no.’

His expression was so terrifying that I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes.

I was genuinely aggrieved.

Daven really was the epitome of kindness. He was famous for being friendly to everyone and smiling warmly at them—in other words, he was the textbook definition of a sunshine male lead.

“I suppose I’ll have to make sure you can’t set foot in the South from now on.”

After saying that, Mikhail abruptly stood up, threw on his clothes, and walked out of the room.

I wondered if he was sulking, but then I shook my head.

‘What kind of obsessive male lead would get sulky over something like that?’

They say that sometimes the things you think could never happen really do happen.

Mikhail had genuinely sulked after that day.

For three whole days, to the point that we couldn’t exchange a single word.

Apparently, there really was an obsessive male lead in this world who would get upset over something like that.

“Your Grace, are you all right?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Lara looked at me worriedly as I trembled and sipped hot Earl Grey tea.

I found out later that this girl was my personal maid.

‘No wonder she’s been following me around ever since the day I possessed this body.’

I seemed to have spent the entire three days sleeping as if unconscious thanks to this primitive cold, but it had at least been enough time for me to accept one thing.

Whether I liked it or not, I now had to live in this body.

No matter how unfair it was that my constitution had come along with me, there was nothing I could do about it anymore.

That was also why I was walking around dressed in clothes that completely sacrificed my dignity.

Fur-lined earmuffs and several layers of thick outerwear.

Even when I occasionally felt the servants staring at me, I simply pretended not to notice.

‘There’s no magic in this world, so there’s no warming magic either. No matter how many layers I put on, I’m still freezing, and Mikhail won’t even let me go to the South to recuperate.’

No matter how much I thought about it, the only answer was to run away.

It was a decision I had reached after quite a bit of careful consideration.

‘I didn’t want to do this right after possessing the body, either, but…’

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before I spent the rest of my life suffering and eventually froze to death.

I solemnly placed my teacup down and turned toward Lara.

“Where’s Mikhail?”

“His Grace is on his regular patrol with the knights today, so he’ll probably return late tonight.”

I see.

Today would have been perfect.

Too bad I hadn’t made any preparations for my escape yet.

I should have made up my mind sooner.

“Your Grace! Your Grace!”

“Yes, come in.”

The moment I saw a maid hurriedly open the door and rush inside, I had a bad feeling.

…What is it this time?

“A guest has arrived. The head butler has already escorted them to the drawing room.”

A guest?

There hadn’t been a single visitor until now.

I was surprised to learn that anyone actually came to this mansion.

‘Ugh. Since Mikhail isn’t here, I suppose I have to go.’

I stood up and straightened my clothes.

When I glanced to the side, the maid who had come running was still gasping for breath.

“…Who came that has you so startled?”

The maid hesitated, as if the words were difficult to say, before slowly opening her mouth.

“T-The Grand Duke of Moltian has arrived.”

It was a meeting with my favorite character from the novel—something I had never even dreamed would happen.

Daven Moltian.

The male lead who had gone from being an unfortunate prince to becoming the Grand Duke of the South, the warmest place in the empire, and the man who was the perfect match for himself.

He was standing right before my eyes.

Daven set down the teacup he had been holding and rose from his seat.

Then he gave a warm greeting to me, who was standing dumbfounded in front of the open door.

“It is a pleasure to meet the beautiful Grand Duchess of the North.”

His sunshine-like smile was so warm that it seemed almost out of place in the frigid North.

That warm brown hair and those sparkling amber eyes.

He looked even more like a male lead than the Daven I had imagined.

“Uh, what brings you here?”

The day had finally come when I could actually speak to Daven.

Even though we were supposedly friends, this was still an incredibly moving moment for me.

“I happened to have some business here, so I thought I’d stop by while I was in the area and see an old friend.”

An old friend?

My eyes widened in surprise.

Not only were we friends, but apparently we were close.

Rather than being happy about it…

Something felt strange.

‘Aisha… was she really a supporting character?’

To be honest, she wasn’t even important enough to be considered a supporting character.

She had appeared in exactly one line in the novel, so she barely even qualified as an extra.

While I was struggling to make sense of everything, Daven remained completely relaxed, smiling brightly.

“Looks like the Grand Duke of Riterban isn’t here. I suppose the fact that his wife is greeting me alone means he’s away.”

“Ah, he has a regular patrol today.”

“I see.”

Daven smiled brightly as he looked at my face, then casually glanced toward the servants standing behind me.

Was he trying to give me a signal…?

It seemed like he wanted me to send them all away.

What on earth could we possibly need to discuss in private?

It was a little suspicious, but I decided to play along for now.

“Since you’re here, I’d also like to hear about your family.”

“…Of course.”

I subtly emphasized the word family and gave the servants a little signal.

They immediately filed out of the room and closed the door behind them.

Surely Aisha isn’t an orphan or something, right?

That would really put me in a difficult situation.

I watched Daven’s expression as I sat down on the sofa opposite him.

He showed no particular reaction.

So I definitely did have a family.

That smiling face of his…

Seeing it up close, he looked exactly like the Daven I had always imagined.

He was certainly a completely different type of character from Mikhail.

“I never thought you’d bring up your family, even if it was just an excuse.”

Daven grinned as he refilled my teacup.

With no one else around to hear us, he immediately switched to informal speech.

‘He never thought I’d bring up my family? Are we not on good terms? How am I supposed to know anything?’

Just as I was thinking that, Daven spoke first.

“Oh, since we’re on the subject, I’ll tell you. I actually came to give you this news, too.”

“What is it?”

Judging from his behavior, Aisha and Daven seemed to be close enough to speak casually with each other.

So I cautiously answered him in informal speech as well.

“You know your father, Baron Marianne?”

Marianne…

I knew that was Aisha’s surname before she became a Riterban.

It was the only piece of information given when she appeared in that single line of the novel.

‘And he’s a baron. So she really was from a minor noble family. And she does have a father.’

Besides, a baron was considerably lower in rank than a grand duke, which meant the two of us must have been close enough to speak informally despite the huge difference in status.

I diligently stored the information away in my head.

Soon, a small sense of curiosity began to grow.

‘What kind of person is my father?’

I had never had a father of my own, so although I didn’t say it aloud, this was a moment I had secretly been looking forward to.

Daven’s eyes soon curved beautifully at the corners.