Chapter 30
"I don't ride larvae on my horse."
"It’s a great honor, Your Highness."
"That sounded sarcastic."
"How could I do that to the noble benefactor of my life."
Lesche looked at me and smiled. He gave some instructions to the knights and said, holding the reins of the horse,
"Hold on tight, my lady."
"Yes, Your Highness."
I didn’t want to fall off anyway.
In fact, if Lesche had thrown off this blanket, I would have felt much more comfortable, even if it was a little cold. I could have held on with my arms.
But Lesche tied me tightly in the blanket with my arms inside, and I really had no choice but to stay still. I depended entirely on Lesche to hold me.
"Though it’s heavy, I won’t take it off."
Although he had tied me tightly with a blanket and cloak, my body was still cold.
I heard that winter in the center feels like being drunk. That was true.
"Isn’t this person cold?"
I raised my head and looked up. Lesche's silver hair looked a lot like the scene of snow in winter. It was hard to differentiate between it and the snowflakes.
I opened my mouth while he continued riding silently.
"Your Highness."
The sound of the wind was loud because it was snowing heavily. I asked Lesche in my usual voice, thinking it would be fine if he could hear me or not.
"Aren’t you cold?"
I thought he hadn’t heard me, but surprisingly, the response came quickly.
"There’s no reason to be cold in the arms of Stern."
"I’m not talking about the armor. It’s just cold."
"I’m used to this."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Lesche's voice was calm. Just like people from the plains don’t think about strong winds.
How long have we been riding?
Numb from the constant cold, I suddenly realized that the pace of my speech was slowing down. Still, it was hard to lift my head and annoying, so I blinked, feeling my heavy eyelids, but something as cold as my face touched my cheek. I discovered a little late that it was Lesche’s gloved hand.
I couldn’t respond immediately and just blinked, but this time my face was lifted. Then a warm touch, different from what I had felt before, touched my cheek.
Why were Lesche’s eyes so close? I could see my face reflected in his pupils.
I slowly realized that he was ridiculously close. Lesche’s tongue touched my cheek. Did you lick me? No, are you licking me?
Lesche, licking me?
My slow breathing instantly recovered. I trembled in consternation.
"Your Highness, what are you doing?"
"This is how you wake up. If you sleep in a cold place, you’ll die, my lady."
"I-If that’s the case, just say so."
"I have been calling you."
"What?"
I just blinked at his response. That was the first time I heard it. I really hadn’t heard Lesche calling me before. I suppose I was seeing if I should unknowingly swim in the Jordan River or not*. Lesche gently brushed my head, shoulders, and back. Snow fell to the ground every time he did so.
(*N/T: This took me literally more than half an hour to understand, so please appreciate it ㅠㅠㅠ.
In short, it comes from a Protestant hymn. The chorus of the song is “I’ll see you on the other side of Jordan in a few days.”
Because Jordan is the boundary of Canaan, the promised land of Christianity.
Crossing the Jordan = Entering the Promised Land = which can also mean you went to heaven aka you died.)
"Your Highness, miss, are you all right? She’s regained consciousness!"
Linon gasped. His appearance was quite spectacular. Snow piled on his hair and shoulders, and above all, his face was pale. He looked like a man dead from the cold. Soon he would be in trouble, but Lesche didn’t pay much attention to Linon.
"We’re almost there."
I thought about Lesche’s words again. Soon a low exclamation came out of my mouth.
"It’s a green building."
The mansion from afar was beautiful. The outer walls were made of light green marble to match the name ‘Laurel Mansion.’
"It’s very beautiful."
I could see from here that it was designed with great care. The thriving three-story building seemed to be the size of a count’s mansion in the imperial capital. It was different from the overwhelming majesty of nature, but it didn’t feel small or shabby. Just as the moon is beautiful in a different way from the sun, so was this place.
Finally, we arrived at the mansion. But.
"Wow. It’s really bad."
"It must be a bit gloomy because it’s winter...?" Despite the reduced expectations, the appearance of Laurel Mansion nullified my expectations.
Laurel Mansion was the name of the mansion. Naturally, it had an attached garden, which was practically in ruins. No. I correct myself. It is in ruins.
I briefly recalled the vast garden attached to the main mansion of Berg. In fact, it’s so large that it looks more like a park than a garden.
The garden management was very well done despite it being winter. Although it’s not technically beautiful, many expensive crops were planted in the vast land, making it quite appealing to the eye.
The guests who stayed at the main mansion for my wedding took a walk in the garden at least once a day.
But what’s up with this place? It’s not that they didn’t take care of it, but it feels like the plants were rotting and damaged. It seemed like a very eccentric hostess lived here. But I am the only wife of the Grand Duke. Although, to be fair, Seria has a very eccentric past.
I never received a separate report on this.
Is it because the garden is more grotesque than I imagined or because of the heavy snowfall? But I was surrounded by an unpleasant feeling.
It seems that without knowing it, I tightly gripped Lesche’s arm.
"What is it?"
"No, just…"
Lesche looked at me silently and then lowered his gaze.
"I’m getting off."
He dismounted as quickly as he did when he mounted the horse with me, and this time, again, he took a step towards the mansion with me in his arms. First, Linon, who took the lead, took the key from his arms and opened the door. As I entered, my heart pounded hard.
How would it be? Would it be as beautiful as the exterior of the building? Or would it be a disaster like the garden?
I was speechless for a moment.
"Pretty mold..."
To summarize, the name the green mansion fit perfectly. The beautiful mansion was all black and moldy. It was hard to guess what color the wall was originally, and the floor was no different. The pillar was also unpainted, and the doors creaked.
However, the reason why this mansion is so beautiful is because of its unusual appearance. I don’t know much, but there were many points that caught Seria’s extraordinary eye.
How should I put this?
A wealthy aristocrat put a lot of effort and swagger into building a small castle that would go down in history, but in the end, he went bankrupt and left it in ruins.
Anyway, it must have been a shock in many ways to see how the laurel mansion, which was called the cradle of the Glick Empire, was so disastrous.
I was busy looking around the mansion without saying anything.
It was when.
At that moment, a middle-aged woman came out from behind the stairs and looked this way, her eyes widening.
"…Your Highness? Your Highness, Lesche?"
She washed her hands on her apron and looked at Lesche and me alternately, looking increasingly surprised.
"Who is this beautiful frozen lady?"
Haven’t you heard who I am?
It was a bit surprising. Linon was a meticulous aide. Above all, all the vassals of the Grand Duke Berg know, although the laurel mansion… Anyway, it was a bit strange that this seemingly important person didn’t know.
Lesche pointed at me with his chin.
"The Grand Duchess. Temporarily."
"What?"
Those words were misleading enough for any ignorant person to misunderstand.
"What do you mean by ‘temporarily’? Your Highness! It’s not a knight’s virtue to see if he marries a lady or not! Besides, does this seem like a kidnapping? Did you kidnap the bride?"
"It’s not like that."
Then I heard something collapsing from outside. When I flinched, she said in a friendly voice while glancing at Lesche like a marriage scammer.
"Don’t worry. It broke because there’s too much snow on the branches."
It wasn’t long before the door burst open, and Linon, who was holding the horses outside, rushed in and said.
"Your Highness, there are still knights on the border..."
"I should go see."
Lesche called her "Martha" and tried to hand me over. My eyes widened.
Is he going to hand me over to a lady who looks shorter than me?
"I have feet, Your Highness."
"The floor is dirty."
"No...!"
Lesche easily ignored my words. Put me on the ground! Put me down! Put me down! I can wash my feet! You know? Even though the floor was full of strange mold.
"Argh!"
I screamed in anxiety. But contrary to my expectations, I didn’t fall. Rather, Martha held me steadily. It was even better because it felt soft and warm, unlike Lesche’s hard and cold arms.
"Y-you're very strong, madam."
"Thank you, miss. Please call me Martha. But you can’t talk to me about..."
Click.
The door opened and closed before Martha finished.
Lesche had gone out.
Martha and I looked that way, and then we returned to our original position.
"You’re not going to talk to Linon either, are you?"
"Huh? Yes."
"Oh, no Martha-nim. That can’t be true."
At the same time I agreed, the words matched those of Linon, who opened the door and entered. But it seemed that Martha understood me correctly. She lifted her head and looked directly at Linon.
"Linon."
"....."
Linon flinched. Martha spoke in a stern voice.
"Give me a sufficient reason to understand."
"Yes…"
"I had never seen him tremble like that."
It was amazing and refreshing. That didn’t mean Martha was looking at Linon with a rigid expression. Martha still had a soft expression on her face, but when I looked at her with a curious look, Martha looked at me and said.
"Oh, let’s prepare a bath first. You’re frozen."
