The End Of Winter (5)

Similar days continued for some time.

As his condition improved, the Grand Duke became so busy that I scarcely had a chance to see him. A mountain of work had piled up while he suffered from severe sleep deprivation.

Every morning, the Grand Duke ate breakfast with me before going to the Imperial Palace, while I returned to the bedroom, slept a little longer, and woke around noon. Since I had nothing in particular to do, I spent all day reading books and looking around the garden before bathing in water that was always fragrant for reasons I could not fathom.

As the Grand Duke wished, we also ate dinner together. When he expected to be late, he sometimes sent word telling me to eat first, but such days were rare. The Grand Duke faithfully returned and watched me eat at the table, even though he himself never seemed to eat very much.

In any case, I disliked eating alone, so I did not mind his behavior. Whenever I ate delicious food surrounded by him, the butler, and the servants, I even felt strangely warm.

It was odd. I had been so frightened at first.

With each passing day, the Grand Duke appeared to be in a better mood. His amber-like eyes still carried the dignity of a knight, but he smiled often and treated me with great kindness.

Moreover, the servants were astonishingly friendly. At first, they had only been rigidly respectful, but the more often they encountered me, the more they began calling out, “My lady, my lady,” and starting conversations. I did not know how to deal with such kind people, so I always acted stiffly, but the servants paid no mind. They greeted me first and always pressed something into my hands.

What I received was usually food. Everything here, even something as simple as steamed potatoes, was incredibly delicious. I was embarrassed to accept and eat it with such amazement every time, but the servants understood and instead brought me even more. Thanks to their efforts, my emaciated body gradually gained a little flesh.

I was merely one of the masters they served, so why were they so kind?

“They are grateful to you, my lady.”

Madam Sermona spoke while brushing my hair.

I blinked.

“Why?”

“Because His Highness has been sleeping soundly ever since you arrived. While the Grand Duke suffered, it was very difficult for us as well. The atmosphere in the mansion was truly dreadful then. But after you arrived, everything improved.”

“I see…….”

“It will only become better from now on. His Highness was originally a cheerful person.”

Without speaking, I stared at the intricate decorations on the gleaming dressing table.

Cheerful. It was difficult to connect that word with the Grand Duke of Death. I had realized by now that he was not as gloomy as my first impression suggested, but it was still difficult to imagine his brighter side.

His pitch-black clothing, his body that plainly showed he had lived as a warrior, and the dangerous scent of death that seemed to follow every step. Especially when I saw him wandering every night in the grip of nightmares…….

I absently rubbed my palm.

War was truly terrifying.

Our nightly routine was not much different.

I washed, went to the bedroom, and waited for him while reading a book. Before long, the Grand Duke entered in comfortable clothes and lay down on the bed. Whenever I buried my nose in the book, I could feel his gaze.

I cautiously peeked over the top of the book. The Grand Duke was looking at me gently.

“My mind has been clear every day lately.”

“Has it?”

“It is all thanks to you.”

My face twisted strangely. I was still not accustomed to such embarrassing words. Hearing them from someone who was struck by me every night made me feel even stranger.

He propped his head up with one strong arm and stared intently at me. His honey-colored eyes curved like crescent moons.

Why…… was he acting like this?

Still holding the book, I returned his gaze in confusion.

“Will you permit me to use your name?”

“My name?”

“Yes. May I call you by your name?”

He truly was a strange man. I blinked. He had taken a woman he had never met before as his wife, so why seek permission over something as trivial as her name? He could simply call me whatever he wished.

“Do as you please.”

At my answer, his eyes curved as he smiled.

“Amarion.”

“……Call me Marion.”

“Marion.”

His voice was suffocatingly gentle.

I turned my head away. No one had ever called my name that way before.

I heard laughter in his voice above me.

“You should call me by my name as well.”

What? Startled, I whipped my head toward him.

Call the Grand Duke by his name? Even with my limited education, I knew there was no such etiquette. I had heard that under Imperial customs, even a wife addressed her husband by his title.

But he smoothly cut off my protest.

“If the husband calls his wife by name, surely the lady ought to do the same?”

The Grand Duke was now smiling as though he were genuinely delighted.

I searched through every memory of my life. I had never treated anyone, not even my family, with such affection.

But.

After hesitating, I said.

“……Victor.”

“Good.”

He praised me as though praising an obedient animal. Then he gestured to the attendant. The approaching servant expertly drew the curtains and extinguished the candles.

With his eyes shimmering in the hazy candlelight, the Grand Duke looked up at me languidly.

“My offer that you may ask for anything always stands. Tell me, and I can give you anything.”

“…….”

“Then sleep well, Marion.”

He spoke with unimaginable tenderness. In the darkness, his breathing gradually slowed before becoming even.

I put down the book I had been holding and gripped my sword. Out of habit, I hugged the scabbard and curled up.

Unfathomable emotions swirled inside me and tightened around my chest.

It was peace itself. A peace I had never imagined could exist. A choice that had not been entirely my own had carried me beyond the limits of my imagination into an unbelievable world.

I no longer woke at dawn to the screams of gargoyles, clung to children through raging blizzards, or dug corpses from collapsed mines. That alone would already have been an unimaginable life, but everything newly given to me wrapped sweetly around my entire body.

Every object in the Grand Duke’s residence was clean and gleaming. The food was soft, and the people were kind.

Above all, he—the Grand Duke—was the first gentleman I had ever met. He was elegant and so tender that it made my breath tremble. No one had ever treated me that way before, so I was bewildered every day.

My initial fear and anger had disappeared, and now I even felt embarrassed. Giving me all these things merely because I helped him sleep seemed excessive. He was not a dragon, nor was he a horde of ogres rampaging for three days and nights.

While crossing a corridor in the mansion, I looked at a mirror hanging on the wall. Even my skin, which had once been cracked and red from the cold, had become almost completely soft. After getting sunlight and eating good food, my complexion also seemed healthier.

I rubbed my cheek with the back of my hand. I had only recently discovered that I enjoyed basking in sunlight. The southern sun was hot enough to make my skin tingle beneath it. The servants had installed a canopy in one corner of the garden, and I sat there reading books while occasionally stretching out my arms.

Would my skin become tanned if I kept sitting in the sun like this? Like Victor’s?

I quickly erased the thought that had suddenly occurred to me.

“Like Victor.”

Merely comparing myself to him made me feel as though I had committed sacrilege.

I hurried away from the mirror and headed toward the Grand Duke’s study. It was the first time he had summoned me there.

He always said that I could come to the study and tell him whenever I wanted something, but there was truly nothing I desired. What more could I need when my stomach was full and the place where I slept was warm? Whenever I mentioned food I wanted or a book I wished to read, everyone brought it to me as though by magic. I wished he would stop asking already, I thought as I lightly opened the study door.

The study smelled of paper and ink. There were an unusually large number of candlesticks, and the grand ducal family’s black lion emblem was splendidly engraved into the stately mahogany furniture and intricately woven carpet. Seated among them, the Grand Duke and Dideric wore grave expressions as they discussed something.

I became tense as well.

Has some problem arisen?

Before I could ask, the Grand Duke delivered a thunderous declaration.

“Marion. As the lady of the house, you must manage this mansion.”

“What?”

I was so startled that I asked again.

In an ordinary noble family, the lady managed the household. But that had always been something far removed from me. My family’s castle was closer to a fortress than a mansion to decorate charmingly. Even managing the castle had not been my responsibility. My only talent was the sword, so I had been required to spend every day on the front lines.

Besides, I had…… practically been sold here, so I had assumed they would not entrust me with something like that simply because they could not trust me.

I hesitantly said.

“I thought my only duty was to…… help Your Highness sleep.”

“Did I not say I would make you the greatest lady in the Empire? Marion, there is no noblewoman in the Empire who does not possess her own ledgers.”

My eyebrows drooped at his words.

I see. Since I had entered the grand ducal house as its lady, I would at least have to perform the basic duties.

When the Grand Duke saw my dejected expression, his face quickly softened.

“Oh, Marion. I did not say that to pressure or rebuke you. I simply wish to give you something. You are my wife, so is it not only proper that you possess financial authority over the family?”

He gently coaxed me.

“It will not be difficult. Dideric will help you.”

“…….”

“If there is anything you desire, you may purchase it without restraint.”

They were truly generous words.

I could not understand the Grand Duke very well. Did possessing wealth like his make it easy to casually tell someone to buy anything they wanted?

When I glanced up, the Grand Duke smiled like melted sugar. My mouth snapped shut as though I had swallowed syrup. It was a smile I could not possibly defy. In the end, I hesitantly nodded.