Chapter 14

He felt something very frail fall against his body, and a lady’s white hands pressed on his chest. He could feel her breathing stop in surprise. Her pale and thin arms did not belong in Biflten, as they looked weaker than thin branches that would snap against the winter winds. Then he saw something drop from her head as the woman stepped back in surprise.

Who is this? The harsh winds blew like they wanted to crush the petite woman. She looked up at him, and her deep violet eyes shook, and he saw that she was a human. As she breathed in and out, Aden smelt a welcoming, fragrant scent that had been absent from Biflten. A woman who shook as she did, could not endure the winter here, yet somehow she was standing in the snowstorm. Suddenly, a mollie ambushed her.

Aden instinctively raised his sword to stab it, and the monster shrieked in agony as it fell to the ground and died. The woman’s heartbeat was faint and her voice trembled and Aden discovered what the fallen object was; it was the Blue North’s Divine Object, and Aden came to his senses. He narrowed his eyes and bent next to the woman. Her presence was almost overwhelming as her fragrant scent filled the space between them. He dropped the blue cloth over her head and felt disappointed as her scent was hidden by it. What was he doing? He had rescued the woman by coincidence.

While he did not know her, she was of noble blood, enough to wear a Divine Object. He would just turn around, thinking that the Blue North owed him a favor. However, he could not do so, and it was then that he realized that she smelled like summer.

“Sir!” He heard a knight shout to him and saw the woman lower her gaze. Aden looked at her and thought, she’s probably thinking she should not meet my eyes. It was most likely because of the story which claimed that someone had frozen after looking at the Duke in his eyes. The woman did not seem to realize who she had just met. Only the elders and the knights knew that he was the Duke, and they remained silent as they had promised to do at the previous Duke’s funeral. The Winter Duke had been a monster, in Biflten at least, and that story was not that much of a lie. The summer scent slowly died out and Aden strangely yearned for it.

***

Aden had only briefly met the woman amidst a raging snowstorm and did not know why he remembered their encounter so vividly. He almost thought it had been an illusion and even if she had been real, he would not meet her again as she was from the Blue North.

The lady has come from the sunny lands, he had thought at the time, from the Empire?

The woman looked much more alive in the mansion, and the smell of summer emanated from her.

“I am Ilyin de Arlen from the Empire,” she said confidently.

Aden now knew she had sent the letter, this was his bride and he gazed at her violet eyes which were clear and direct. She did not belong in the winter and Aden knew another person like her. That person had smelled like dry winter; she had been his mother and had always asked him to get her out of Biflten. He thought that those from the Empire would crumble under the harsh winter conditions.

“I am Den of the Red Delroses,” Aden did not like that he was hiding things from her, who came from the sunny lands.

“Thank you for saving my life,” she said politely.

Her voice knocked his head, and he could see that she was not from the Blue North, with her frail neckline and faint laugh. Her violet eyes narrowed as she smiled and her eyelashes were trembling in the cold, which confirmed that she did not belong here.

“You shouldn’t stay out in the winter too long.” It was his last gesture, as he did not want her buried here.

The words from the letter stuck in his mind ‘I will become your bride’. However, he didn’t think she would stay.

When he met her again, she had become much more used to the winter but still smelled like summer. “Are you planning to stay here long?” Den questioned.

“Yes.” She replied flatly.

The woman did not hesitate in her answer. She had been chased by mollies and nearly died on the first day here, and she had been truly frightened. However, she chose to stay and he thought her foolish.

“Even if the Duke is not interested in you?” He said with a quizzical look on his face.

“If I can stay here safely, then yes.”

You can, if you become close to the Blue North. The thought disgusted Aden enough to rip the blue cloth off her head.

“If you cannot see his face forever?” He persisted.

“Of course I will become his bride.”

Aden had thought the conditions were too preposterous to warrant his attention, as no one would last here under them. Could she? “What will you do if the Duke refuses to marry?” He was warning her, but she only smiled.

“I will think about that if I’m refused.”

Her eyes were clear, unlike his mother’s, and her smile was bright and fresh. Aden held his breath for a minute.