“Do you know me?”
I expected you might. Even though I’ve been holed up in the North, I’ve kept a steady interest in the center, so if you’ve heard the rumors, you’d probably know a bit about me.
In fact, it would be strange if you didn’t know. There aren’t many who are as famous as me when it comes to the bad rumors.
She, who had been staring at me with a look of curiosity, finally chuckled and opened her mouth.
“People think I don’t care much for politics. They say I’m just some sword-wielding fellow who’s always busy in the North.”
“I don’t think that at all.”
“Well, most do, but I’m different. I’m quite interested in the capital.”
The black sword with blue jewels at her waist was exuding a strong presence.
After glancing at the sword for a moment, she seemed to sense my gaze and brought her hand closer to it.
“Are you interested in swords?”
“No, not really.”
“True, these days there are people who succeed through academia. Anyway, the reason I know you is exactly that. I heard a rumor about a romantic man who realized reality and broke off his engagement—did that really happen?”
It seems the rumor didn’t just spread to the North; it meant she had her spies in the capital already.
Understanding this, I smiled lightly, and Adele mirrored my smile while drawing her sword.
With a clean sound, the sword came out, radiating a clear light.
It was no ordinary sword.
I realized that in an instant due to the transparent shine of the blade kissed by the moonlight.
As she caressed the blade, Adele’s gaze turned toward me.
What should I say? It seems she’s still an unpredictable woman.
In fact, the Grand Duke of the North had many nicknames.
Sometimes called a tyrant, other times a guardian deity of the Northern Empire.
Receiving both praise and criticism, he himself didn’t seem to care much about his reputation.
He just wanted to live life as he pleased, and perhaps he had no particular reason for coming to the party today.
If I had to guess his reason…
Maybe he just wanted to come.
“Your eyes are completely vacant. It’s completely different from what I knew.”
“…How do you know me?”
“This is just a rumor, but I heard you’re a weak and pathetic fellow, utterly useless. People say it’s pitiful that the Lady Violet is marrying such a man…”
In that moment, the atmosphere around Adele shifted.
A chilling sensation wrapped around me, and my body screamed to flee.
It was a sensation I remembered all too well.
It didn’t take long to recall the feelings I had just before death.
But I wouldn’t run away. Knowing how she would move already, I understood that staying still was probably safer.
As I subtly lowered my gaze, I saw Adele’s sword touching my neck.
Though it hadn’t pierced me, I felt a slight trickle of blood, as if soaked by the magic power flowing from her.
One reason for Adele’s bad reputation was exactly this.
Due to her bad habit of acting entirely on impulse, most people kept their distance from her.
I thought I’d experience something like this when meeting her, but I was taken aback by how quickly it came.
I thought it was going to be tough, but my eyes narrowed at the surprisingly quick experience.
But that was not all; my gaze returned to Adele’s eyes.
In those still unwavering eyes, a glimmer of blue flickered for a moment.
There was no need to be flustered. After all, I already knew her to some extent.
The reason behind her actions towards me was likely an attempt to test me.
“How do you find me? Do I resemble the rumors?”
Death was no longer something I feared, so naturally, my expression was as calm as could be.
I had once been devoured alive by beasts.
Dying from a severed neck would actually be a blessing in disguise, wouldn’t it?
Adele looked a bit surprised at my answer.
“…You were completely different from the rumors. I certainly understand now.”
“Well, that’s quite a relief.”
Her gaze, now devoid of the sword, shifted toward my neck.
Blood flowed beneath the slender line, and as I attempted to wipe it with my sleeve, she quickly grabbed my wrist.
“Wait. Don’t wipe it with your sleeve.”
Her hand, pulling out a handkerchief from her bosom, touched my neck.
The menacing aura from earlier, when she was brandishing the sword, had long since dissipated.
Instead of the rough hand that held the sword, a gentle and warm touch began to wipe away the flowing blood.
She probably just wanted to test who I was.
Whether I was the pathetic man of the rumors or someone worth her interest.
If she had expected it, she would have reacted appropriately, but somehow I ended up showing my true self.
Which meant that I must have somewhat piqued her interest.
“I’m sorry. I hadn’t really thought of Belle.”
“Do you think just saying sorry will be enough?”
So, I pushed back a little. Normally, I wouldn’t dare say such words to someone who was a ‘Grand Duke’ from the North.
But right now, I was undeniably a victim.
Blood soaked into the handkerchief she gave me, seeping from my neck.
She needed to control her strength a bit better; I couldn’t help but let out a sigh at how deep the cut was.
As my eyes narrowed, Adele subtly averted her gaze and cleared her throat.
It seemed she realized it was her fault.
She needed to fix the habit of thrusting swords at people right after meeting them, but I knew it wouldn’t be something easily corrected.
After all, even the last time we met, she had abruptly pressed the sword to my neck.
Was it a chronic issue?
With this, I couldn’t very well go back to the office.
Adele’s body flinched at the sight of blood dribbling down to the collar of my shirt.
“What… do you intend to do?”
“I never expected you to be so weak. I thought blood wouldn’t spill without a hit…”
“What will people say when I return to the office? Showing up with blood dripping from my neck—what kind of shape is that to be in?”
The plan to meet with the princess had also gone awry.
Furrowing my brow for various reasons, Adele looked at me in a strange way.
It was as if she was looking at something fascinating, and unlike earlier when she was apologetic, there was clearly a sense of curiosity in her golden eyes.
What could be so surprising?
“Are you really that surprised?
But that feeling of bewilderment disappeared almost instantly. It was fast enough to believe it was an illusion of the moment.
After pondering for a moment, Adele took a confident stride toward me and opened her mouth.
‘Come to the North later. Let’s have a drink or two.’
‘A drink, huh? You’re serious about that.’
‘Right, you know I don’t say this to just anyone. Hmm, should I be more direct?’
Upon hearing the word ‘direct,’ I tilted my head for a moment. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind, and I frowned.
Then Adele spoke as if affirming my thought.
‘I liked you.’
‘Ah-ha.’
It was truly an honest answer.
It was also a response that made me regret my earlier actions.
While it was true that I had positive feelings toward Adele compared to others, I didn’t want to get too entangled.
So, I displayed a somewhat arrogant attitude, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
‘Forgive me, but I’m curious about what exactly you liked about me.’
I thought it might be my calmness in the sudden situation that appealed to her, but the answer that came back was quite unexpected.
‘Your eyes are concerning.’
My lips that just smiled froze. For a moment, I was at a loss for words, unable to find a response.
As I briefly pondered over what I just heard, a somewhat cold voice slipped into my ears, as if not allowing me a chance to speak.
‘What you just showed was like someone accepting death. Even knowing the sword is coming, you’d just accept it, as if dying would be the easier option.’
‘…Haha.’
‘So next time, come to the North. I’d like to hear a bit about why you think that way.’
The Grand Duke of the North didn’t prolong his words.
Once he seemed to have finished everything he wanted to say, he attempted to vanish, just like when he first appeared.
When Adele turned her back, the wolf’s fur sparkled in the moonlight.
Staring dazedly at her hair of white falling over the silver mane, she added,
‘Just don’t die before that.’
I felt like I was struck at the core, and I couldn’t argue anymore.
The image of Adele walking through the garden suddenly disappeared in an instant.
If it weren’t for the handkerchief at my neck, I might have mistaken our encounter for an illusion.
I definitely understood the message to come to the North.
Perhaps it would be a formal invitation, urging me to come to a place where I would belong, granted in the name of the Grand Duke of the North.
Indeed, it was a compensation too generous for a mere nick on the neck.
Yet, despite that, there was a reason I didn’t want to get deeply involved with her.
She was someone who would leave this world sooner than I did.
Just as I bore a false charge, she too received unfounded accusations and faced execution.
…Truly, it’s a strange connection.
I stood there, looking at a corner of the deserted garden.
More precisely, I gazed at the spot where she had vanished, and the full moon above it.
#
I look at the moon.
The moon, with its pale light that seemed to freeze, was not much different from the North or this place.”
He didn’t come to the capital. Unlike when he stayed in the North, there were various restrictions in the capital.
Still, the reason he visited on this princess’s birthday was simple.
Just because he wanted to. More precisely, it was because he had a strong intuition that he had to be here.
Growl—
Instead of a carriage, he rode a giant dire wolf, and the lone wolf, which had been quietly waiting in a secluded spot, let out a low growl when its master arrived.
“Yeah, you were waiting for me.”
Auh—
As I patted the wolf, which was much larger than me, like a puppy, it just trembled.
Having grown up together since childhood, it wasn’t awkward to call it my only friend.
It was a lament that animals were more reliable than people.
Adele stroked the coarse fur, recalling the earlier incident.
The man she had met in the garden, where she escaped from the crowd, was surprisingly intriguing for a chance encounter.
Didn’t the rumors in the capital speak quite a bit about him?
“I thought he was an inconsequential man.”
Being weak was one of Adele’s least favorite traits.
She was well aware of the hardships of encountering a wishy-washy superior.
Now, although she didn’t have a superior around, there weren’t many times in her life when she had suffered as much as back then.
So the feeling she had at their initial meeting was discomfort.
However, it didn’t take long for that feeling to turn into curiosity.
Typically, the nobles she encountered would all have sparkling eyes.
Whether that was awe or fear, she was well aware of the looks that resembled seeing something other than a human.
But Robert Taylor merely appeared slightly surprised upon seeing her.
The emotion behind his gaze was close to calmness.
No, it would be more accurate to say it was emptiness.
Even when she placed a sword against his neck, his eyes didn’t change.
The murky blue color reflected nothing, only showing her own face in that muddled color.
Moreover, he had audaciously not demanded an apology from her. She found that aspect appealing.
To be precise… it seemed more fitting to say it nagged at her concern.
“Should I let him hold a sword next time?”
However, her interest ended there.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of her; it was merely that the emptiness in his eyes was bothersome.
Wasn’t it too hasty to label this as some sort of emotion?
“Let’s head back. Home.”
Adele murmured as she mounted the wolf.
Normally, she would have tried to find the cause of the intuition that brought her to the capital, but the moment she met Robert, the heaviness in her chest felt instantaneously relieved.
The source of that feeling was Robert. She didn’t know why.
Thinking about reasons was something Adele did infrequently in her life.
Reasons… As Adele pondered this, the corners of her mouth curved into a gentle smile.
There was no need to think too hastily. Life isn’t it supposed to go with the northern wind and the flow of snow?
She would probably see him soon. Even if not, she could make it happen.
That was the way of the North and the way of Adele.
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