Chapter 11

How to Survive as the Monster Duke’s Wife

A commotion swept through the mansion.

The uninvited guests filling the corridors immediately lowered their heads deeply the moment they saw the robe embroidered with the magnificent red Delrose crest.

It was less out of loyalty than a matter of survival.

It was the robe worn by the head of House Bifften.

The head of the family always wore his hood so low that his face could barely be seen, but his masculine jawline and lips that uttered chilling words were so striking that even the briefest glimpse was impossible to forget.

“This way.”

Aegis was the only one who spoke.

Only after they had passed did the guests begin whispering among themselves in groups of three or four.

How could the knights of Delrose move around so freely in front of him?

The situation was no different on the sixth floor.

Aegis informed the maids waiting outside the room before the Duke had even reached the corridor.

“His Grace the Duke is coming.”

“What?”

The maids of Blue Nose stared back as though they had heard an illusion.

Rather than spending the night with a woman, whenever the elders had tried to push a woman into his bedroom, the head of the family had simply gone off to the battlefield and not returned for several days.

This time, too, there had been talk of marriage and all that, but every maid had thought the same thing.

She would spend the night alone.

Yet not only had the Duke spent the night with her, he had even come to see her himself.

“Because she’s a Sun Person?”

A maid who had retreated farther down the corridor said it, and Aegis heard her clearly.

His cold gaze turned toward the distance.

Though the Duke had heard the same words, he simply passed Aegis and headed toward the door.

Just then, the doctor who was coming out of the room saw him and hurriedly bowed his head in alarm.

Fortunately, this doctor did not collapse from a heart attack merely because he made eye contact with the Duke.

He was a physician affiliated with Delrose who had worked with the knights for many years, and he was also the chief physician’s prized disciple.

“What is it?”

“I never expected you to come in person…”

The doctor, who had seemed dazed, cleared his throat and collected himself.

Then he glanced toward the room before reporting.

“She has severe muscle pain throughout her body, and her fever isn’t coming down.”

Muscle pain?

One of Arden’s eyebrows rose.

Aegis, who had been listening quietly, subtly turned his gaze away.

Perhaps realizing what they were thinking, the doctor waved his hands.

“It isn’t because of the night. Of course, that may have been a contributing factor, but she apparently had no symptoms throughout her body until this morning.”

“Then?”

The doctor carefully explained.

“This morning, the maids of Blue Nose brought her Nened, a painkiller…”

“Nened?”

Arden narrowed his eyes.

It was a medicinal herb with excellent effects and virtually no side effects, so much so that it was frequently used even on the front lines.

“The thing is, it seems that herb doesn’t agree with Sun People.”

“Father was someone who longed for summer.”

Snow lay thickly across the ground.

On top of it, huge snowflakes continued to fall heavily without end.

In the middle of it all, two people sat side by side on the snow.

Illin looked around and spotted a mobile swaying inside the mansion.

It was the familiar mobile she always saw in her prophetic dreams.

This is a dream.

Illin turned her attention back to the two people.

In the dream, she was sitting on a piece of Blue Nose cloth.

She wondered if it was really all right to use a sacred object like that, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped if they needed something to sit on.

And facing her was Den, the captain of the Red Delrose Knights.

“Father was content simply to show Mother the Light of Ello, but that isn’t real sunlight.”

Den continued in a calm voice.

“The summer that disappeared from Bifften long ago was nothing like that.”

He smiled faintly.

His deep blue eyes were not entirely cold.

“Though, as a Sun Person, you probably know that better than anyone.”

After a brief silence, he spoke again.

“I will bring summer back to Bifften.”

It sounded like an extraordinary resolution.

Illin, who had been watching the two of them, widened her eyes.

Bifften was already famous enough to have earned the name of a land of winter.

Here…

Summer was going to come?

Was that even possible?

“How?”

The Illin in the dream seemed curious as well and asked.

Den opened his mouth.

“That is—”

“Are you there?”

Illin opened her eyes.

Her body felt sluggish.

Perhaps because she had been sweating, her forehead and the nape of her neck felt cool where the air touched them.

She blinked several times.

Instead of the snowy wilderness from her dream, she was greeted by a ceiling that looked similar, yet much warmer and more comfortable.

It was the same bed where she had spent her first night.

Knock, knock.

Illin stared at the door visible through the fluttering white curtains.

Someone was knocking.

“Who is it?”

There was a brief pause before an answer came from outside.

“It is Den of the Red Delrose.”

Illin blinked, unable to understand the situation.

She looked around the room and confirmed that the mobile was nowhere to be seen.

This wasn’t a dream.

But why was Den…?

Illin’s mind became tangled in an instant.

What was she supposed to say?

This was clearly something that should have been handled by the maids.

How could they allow an unrelated man to come into the room of a bride who had spent her first night with her husband?

Yet the maids were nowhere to be seen.

Even though she had repeatedly fallen asleep and awakened while suffering from a fever, they had never once left her room.

“What is it?”

Illin asked in a faint voice.

Her voice was so quiet that she wondered if it would even carry to the other side of the door, but Den somehow caught it.

“I heard you were ill.”

…I’m ill, so the captain of the Red Delrose Knights came to see me?

Illin pushed herself upright and pulled the blanket up to her neck.

This situation made absolutely no sense according to everything she knew.

“……His Grace ordered me to come and check on your condition.”

Den added those words from outside the door.

Illin blinked.

Apparently, he was just as embarrassed by the situation as she was.

She was grateful that he was concerned about her.

It was an unexpectedly considerate response, quite unlike the rumors about him.

But he had sent the captain of the knights?

A Red Delrose maid could have done this. Why send a man?

With the severe headache she was already suffering from, Illin’s mind became even more confused.

Was this perhaps normal in Bifften?

Her thoughts became complicated again.

“……Please think carefully before coming in.”

Illin spoke cautiously.

Even the way Bifften governed its territory was different from the Empire.

Perhaps, in Bifften, it was not considered improper for an unrelated man to enter a woman’s room.

If that were the case, then it might actually be rude for her to send Den away.

So her words meant: Come in if you believe it is appropriate.

“Then, excuse me for a moment.”

The door clicked open.

A neatly dressed man with black hair entered through the opening.

His blue eyes reflected the light from the white ceiling with clarity.

Perhaps he had come in some haste, because his clothes looked slightly less neat than usual.

A white shirt was visible beneath his uniform jacket, which had been left unfastened.

Illin turned her gaze away from him.

It was because she suddenly remembered the Duke as she had seen him last night.

The glimpse of his body she had caught while they were signing the marriage vows.

“How uncomfortable are you feeling?”

For a moment, Illin recalled the Den she had seen in her dream—and herself alongside him.

The two of us had looked close.

Very close.

“……”

No way…

Illin shook her head slightly, as though trying to drive the thought away.

It was a dream she absolutely shouldn’t have had immediately after her wedding night.

Her mind felt hazy.

“Are you all right?”

“I-I’m fine.”

The answer slipped out before Illin could stop herself.

She tightened her grip on the blanket.

It was pulled all the way up beneath her chin.

“But, normally… is this considered natural in Bifften?”

In the end, she had to ask.

She couldn’t help being more wary of him.

Den tilted his head slightly.

“Pardon?”

His expression wasn’t that of a shameless lawbreaker who had no idea what he had done wrong. Rather, he genuinely seemed confused about what she was asking.

Was Bifften really that different culturally?

“If this were the Empire, it would be a serious crime for you to come here.”

Illin spoke as calmly as she could.

Den seemed to understand what she meant only belatedly and flinched.

“Ah.”

A brief silence followed.

“……It’s all right here.”

Oh.

So that was how it was.

Illin let out a sigh.

Still, she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.

She supposed she would have to adapt to the cultural differences, but what bothered her most was the prophetic dream.

Surely…

Illin told herself that she was simply being too sensitive.

If entering a woman’s bedroom wasn’t considered improper in this culture, then a man and woman simply talking together…

“A doctor told me your illness was caused by medicine.”

“Medicine?”

Illin pulled herself out of her thoughts.

She had been feverish and half-conscious because of her dream, so she didn’t even remember hearing what the doctor had said.

She did remember that a doctor had come.

She had been surprised because he was a man as well.

“The Nened you took is something the people of Bifften commonly use… but because of the constitution of Sun People, it isn’t suitable for you.”

Den hesitated before adding,

“We are currently having medicine suitable for Sun People brought through the Esid Merchant Guild. If you rest for a little while, it should arrive soon.”

“I understand.”

Fortunately, Den seemed to notice that she was uncomfortable and soon stepped away.

Illin let out a short sigh.

Den was only doing his job.

She had heard that the Duke rarely stayed at the mansion.

It didn’t seem like the sort of man who would simply ignore it after hearing that she was ill.

After all, last night, he had been far too gentle to be considered such an indifferent person.

Illin took a deep breath.

“Your Grace, this is a violation of tradition. Please reconsider.”

Lidan of Blue Nose had become one of the frequent visitors to the Knights’ Hall lately.

Arden narrowed his eyes and looked at him.

His gaze flickered toward the clock and away again.

It was quite late for someone to come visiting.

“I don’t know what you’re so dissatisfied about.”

“I am referring to Her Grace’s maids.”

Illin’s maids?

Ah.

Arden tilted his head slightly.

“You mean the fact that I replaced them all with maids from Red Delrose?”

“Yes. Traditionally, it has always been Blue Nose that serves the brides.”

In other words, he was saying that Arden had trespassed on their territory.

Arden made no effort to hide his obvious displeasure.

“We were the ones who served Lady Elena as well—”

Elena was the name of the previous Duchess.

“That wasn’t the case when I was a child.”

Arden slowly spoke, cutting off the elder.

“After Mother fell ill, there wasn’t a single Blue Nose maid to be found around her. Was there?”

Lidan’s answer came a beat late.

“……That was because Lady Elena preferred the maids of Red Delrose.”

“No. It was because Blue Nose failed to properly serve my mother.”

Arden’s cold gaze settled on Lidan.

“Serving the bride is traditionally the duty of Blue Nose. I know.”

That was why he had allowed them to use the Red Delrose carriage road as well.

In fact, the carriage carrying the bride had traveled along Delrose’s carriage road, the fastest of the routes to the Sun available to the four houses.

Arden thought back to when he had first met Illin.

She had been so thin and fragile that he had been afraid even to touch her, as though something might go wrong.

And the only person who had accompanied her all the way here had been a single coachman from Blue Nose.

Arden hadn’t expected Blue Nose to welcome a Sun Person.

A hollow laugh escaped him.

Red Delrose was a family that avoided anything too extravagant.

Although they also bore the name of Bifften, which represented the land of winter, they preferred practicality over adornment.

Blue Nose, on the other hand, had once possessed the most beautiful fields back when summer still existed. As a result, it had been the house where successive Duchesses stayed the longest.

Their lands were now buried beneath snow as well, but their beautiful buildings had survived.

The history of the Duchesses staying there for long periods had eventually become tradition itself.

Brides had always been received by Blue Nose.

Yes, serving the bride was Blue Nose’s duty.

It was tradition.

“That was when you served them properly. But Blue Nose apparently doesn’t know how to care for a Sun Person.”

He placed a leaf of Nened, an herb readily available throughout the Knights’ Hall, on the desk.

“The coachman, too.”

Lidan’s face hardened.

Arden rubbed the leaf against the desk.

A thick, pale-green liquid smeared across it, leaving irregular marks scattered over the surface.