Yuriella quickly wiped her reddened eyes and scolded Airi again.

“You must never tell anyone. Understand?”

Airi nodded while blowing away the dust kicked up by the giant black horse’s galloping hooves so it wouldn’t fly towards Yuriella.

[Airi is always on Yuriella’s side. If Yuriella doesn’t want me to say anything, I absolutely won’t.]

Airi gently touched Yuriella’s swollen eyelids, completely erasing the redness.

Frost, who had ridden over at a fast pace, leaped off his horse.

“Your Grace. How did you get here…?”

Without giving Yuriella a chance to speak, Frost scooped her up in his arms, lifting her off the ground.

“Your Grace!”

Yuriella squirmed, telling him to put her down, but Frost only held her tighter against his chest. Her face was buried in his firm chest.

Logically, the smell of his sweat should be unpleasant with her newly sensitive sense of smell. But mixed with his familiar scent, it instead made her anxious and tense heart relax.

“What’s going on? Why did you come here?”

“Because I missed you. Because I felt like I would die if I didn’t see you.”

Frost sighed softly and buried his face in Yuriella’s slender neck.

“I came to take you back. It seems I can’t do without you after all.”

Yuriella blinked her round eyes. Ripples stirred in her clear, transparent red eyes.

“Already? I haven’t even found that Nikon yet-”

Before she could finish speaking, his hot breath invaded her.

Airi awkwardly averted her gaze and heaved a big sigh.

[I’m going to go look for Nikon for a bit.]

Her master, who had been frozen stiff until just now, was smiling brightly like a blooming flower.

Yuriella, you fool. How can you say you’ll part ways when you’re this happy? And you’re even pregnant.

While scouting the nearby village, Airi imagined the baby they would meet in nine months.

[Will the baby look like Yuriella?]

Imagining a miniature Yuriella with chubby strawberry blonde hair made Airi’s heart tickle and nose sting.

[Kyaa!]

Airi soared into the air, spinning around and around like a top while exclaiming in admiration.

[What if the baby looks like the Duke?]

She tried imagining a mini Frost with chubby silver hair and blue eyes.

[Kyaa!]

Even if the baby looked like the Duke, it would be so pretty that Airi became a crazed spinning top again.

What if it was a mix of both?

[Kyaa!]

For the third time, Airi became a crazed spinning top, trembling with premature emotion for a while.

[A baby that looks like Yuriella. A baby that looks like the Duke. A baby that’s a mix of both.]

Counting on her fingers, Airi’s eyes became determined.

[This baby needs to be born safely. And for there to be a second and third baby, Yuriella must never break up with the Duke!]

Airi’s shoulders suddenly sagged at the thought of persuading the stubborn Yuriella. The future seemed bleak.

She felt a sudden camaraderie with the Duke who had such a headstrong wife.

[Stay strong, Frost Ielheim!]

With a supportive heart, Airi blew a refreshing wind carrying the scent of wildflowers in the direction of her master and mistress.

Perhaps Airi’s small helping hand worked its magic.

Frost held Yuriella in his arms for a long time, calmly whispering things in her ear that turned it bright red.

Mars rubbed his muzzle against his master several times, asking him to take out a sugar cube from the saddlebag hanging at his side, but the Duke repeatedly pretended not to notice.

Yuriella kicked her feet and pushed against Frost’s chest as he continued raining kisses on her flushed cheek.

“The capital must be in chaos right now due to the Emperor’s abdication declaration. Why did you really come here?”

“As expected, you already know. Did that bastard Matab tell you?”

Frost caressed Yuriella’s cheek with his calloused fingers, furrowing his brow.

“No, Popo told me. Why did you come? You can’t just leave Prince Lewis alone in the capital. This situation calls for you more than ever.”

Yuriella skillfully twisted out of Frost’s arms, putting some distance between them.

Displeased by the increased gap, Frost raised an eyebrow.

“Prince Lewis is not a child left by the water’s edge. I raised him well so that he could wear the Emperor’s crown this very moment without any shortcomings.”

Striding over, he pulled Yuriella back into his arms, a satisfied smile gracing his lips once more.

“Your Grace!”

Yuriella pushed hard against his chest again, but Frost stared down into her eyes without budging an inch.

“I really don’t like that look in your eyes.”

Frost tilted his head this way and that, examining her closely.

“Don’t waver because of the condition the Emperor set for abdicating. I have no intention of agreeing to it at all.”

“Your Grace.”

“Frost.”

Frost kindly corrected how she addressed him.

“Your Grace. I’m not wavering. I simply haven’t forgotten our original promise. Nothing has changed.”

Quietly gazing at his stubborn wife, Frost brushed back Yuriella’s disheveled hair and preciously kissed the long strands wrapped around his fingers.

“No. Many things have already changed. Our hearts are not the same as back then, so what meaning is there in keeping that promise?”

Yuriella sighed.

“I will pave the path you walk, remove any stones blocking your way, and when I’m no longer needed-”

“The day you are no longer needed will never come. I need you. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Until my very last breath. You made me a man who can’t do without you, so take responsibility.”

Yuriella pulled her head back, her face reddening.

“How can you say such things so easily? The Frost Ielheim I knew before wasn’t like this.”

It was a tenderness she could never have imagined from the battlefield in their past life where they watched each other’s backs, a searing passion she had difficulty getting used to even after all this time.

“I want to say even more outrageous things every single day, but I hold back worrying you’ll be flustered. I restrain myself from saying what I want to say a hundred times, then carefully say it once in a while, being mindful of your reaction.”

“This is you holding back?”

Frost nodded and raised his hand to shade Yuriella’s forehead from the sunlight beating down.

“Can I do as I please without restraining myself then?”

“No! No!”

As Yuriella pushed him away forcefully, Frost pulled her back again and gently knocked his forehead against her round one.

“You seem to have forgotten. I’m your patient. You need to treat sick people with kindness. When the body is ill, the heart tends to weaken as well.”

Frost brought his wife’s hands that kept pushing him away to his cheeks.

“You don’t feel well? What’s wrong? How do you feel unwell?”

Looking at Yuriella who was staring at him with a stricken expression, Frost made the most pitiful face he could muster.

Of course, a man who was only pitiful held no appeal, so he didn’t forget to adjust the angle of his face to best showcase the blue eyes his wife adored, which were revealed each time his silvery eyelashes fluttered.

Recalling how Yuriella would hold her breath as if entranced whenever his blue eyes peeked out from his fluttering silvery lashes, Frost also blinked his lush silver eyelashes alluringly.

Like the fluttering wings of a butterfly performing its courtship dance. Like a peacock magnificently spreading its splendid tail feathers.

However, the Duke’s valiant efforts did not work at all this time.

“Don’t joke around and tell me straight. I need to know where and how you’re hurting to treat you!”

“First, calm down and-”

“How can I calm down when you, who never shows any sign of pain no matter how much you’re hurting, are saying with your own mouth that you’re a patient!”

Yuriella, her cheeks flushed red, grabbed Frost’s lapels and shook him, raising her voice.

Only then did Frost intently gaze at Yuriella.

He had been so happy to see his wife that he had missed how unsettled she seemed today. Suddenly he became worried.

“Did something… happen? I wasn’t too concerned since Airi the feeble spirit is by your side. Did something bad occur in the meantime?”

[Airi is not feeble!]

Airi flew towards Frost’s silver hair like a bee.

Frost clicked his tongue and raised his right hand, scattering icy energy towards Airi as if throwing it.

Airi’s hastily created wind sphere frosted over with white ice, and her cabbage-shaped fluffy hair also froze.

[Stupid Duke. Ignorant Duke! You know nothing!]

The camaraderie Airi had briefly felt for the Duke disappeared without a trace at being called a “feeble spirit”.

“Airi…!”

Airi shot towards Frost again. This time, she succeeded in breaking through the solid icy energy and latching onto the Duke’s hair.

[Are you trying to make Yuriella worry? Yuriella mustn’t worry right now! It’ll be big trouble if she’s startled!]

At Airi’s harsh cry, Frost became truly worried.

“Yuriella. Has the bond between your soul and body… loosened? Last time when your soul was ejected… you said it was because you were startled. Has something gone wrong… again?”

Seeing Frost’s face pale, Yuriella’s heart ached.

What was she doing to someone who already had so many worries weighing on him? At a time when she should be alert and attentively supporting him, she was throwing a fit.

“It’s not like that.”

“You’ve definitely lost weight, your complexion has worsened. Your skin has become rough too…”

Frost carefully caressed Yuriella’s face, his expression full of concern.

Yuriella bit down hard on the tender flesh inside her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut.

No matter how much she steeled herself, telling herself to get a grip, her heart kept crumbling at the Duke’s warm touch. Tears threatened to spill from the cracks in her heart she couldn’t quite seal up in time.

They say your emotions become volatile when you’re pregnant. Is that what this is?

“It’s because the eastern winds are harsh. I’m really fine. Nothing’s wrong.”

A deep furrow formed between Frost’s brows. The wet undercurrent in his smiling wife’s voice bothered him immensely.

“Airi. Explain what you said earlier.”

[What? Why? I’m going to go scout around again.]

An ice wall shot up high in front of Airi as she tried to make a quick escape with some excuse.

[Ouch!]

A lump bulged out on Airi’s forehead where she smacked into the ice wall.

“Airi. Did nothing really happen to your master?”

Frost glared coldly at Airi who was rubbing the bump on her head.

Airi rolled her tiny eyes back and forth between the Duke and her master.

From behind the Duke’s back, Yuriella sent her a fierce glare signaling her to absolutely not say anything.

‘I’ll fire you if you so much as open your mouth.’

Though annoyed at her master who threatened to even nullify their sacred sword contract, Airi could guess why she was so desperate to keep the baby a secret.

It likely wasn’t solely to help Lewis bloodlessly enter the imperial palace.

Yuriella was a deep-thinking child who had probably considered the incomplete fusion of her soul and body.

She had already experienced her soul being ejected from her body with a single kiss on her forehead. Whether she could protect the young life nestled in her new body. Whether that was even possible.

That heavy burden of uncertainty and fear was something the child wanted to bear all on her own.

[Nothing happened. Really.]

“Swear on the goddess Yustera and answer again.”

Airi froze at Frost’s words.

“I heard spirits of the sacred swords only speak the truth when they swear by the goddess’s name?”

This time Yuriella turned pale.

“Your Grace. Really, I’m not-”

“I will hear Airi’s answer first. If you refuse, I will return home immediately. I’ll call the doctors, mages, and even priests to check if there’s truly nothing wrong with you.”

Airi, seeing no escape, scratched her head and let out a small sigh.

Then, as if making up her mind, she placed her right hand over her left chest and closed her eyes.

[I, Airi, swear to the goddess Yustera that there is not a shred of falsehood in what I am about to say.]

“Airi…!”

Frost’s hand swiftly grabbed Yuriella’s arm as she tried to go to Airi. His eyebrows twitched slightly.

Her slender arm that he could encircle with one hand bothered him.

Frost gripped her arm even tighter, disliking the sense that she could fly far away at any moment, like an arrow nocked on a taut bow.

[Yuriella is… Yuriella is currently-]

Right then.

A massive whirlwind swept over the field where only a gentle breeze had been blowing.

– Neigh! Neigh!

Blanca and Mars, who had been leisurely grazing, sensed the danger and loudly cried out.

The wind was so powerful that even Mars’s huge hooves lifted off the ground despite still being quite a distance away.

– Airi~! Airi~!

A man’s voice seemed to faintly carry through the fierce wind.

[Nikon?]

Airi opened her tiny eyes wide and stared at the whirlwind.