“Your Highness. The Grand Duchess is the daughter of Duke Grande.”

Leo circled around Frost, who showed no openings whatsoever.

The dust of the training ground rose hazily with his movements.

“I know.”

Whack! Frost’s wooden sword struck Leo’s forearm.

“Ugh.”

“For a captain, you have too many openings.”

Leo gritted his teeth, gripped the wooden sword with both hands, and leapt into the air.

“The Duke is not a trustworthy person. He’s a card to be discarded when no longer needed. When you discard him, you must discard the Grand Duchess as well.”

Clack! Leo’s wooden sword, shooting down like an arrow, was deflected by Frost’s sword.

Whack! Leo, hit again on the same forearm as before, crashed onto the training ground floor.

Frost twirled his wooden sword and thrust it into the ground.

“If you plan to keep regressing in skill, submit your resignation. There might be a new knighthood and a new bride to save you, though I’m not sure.”

“What?”

“You’re notorious for your foul temper, so no knighthood would take you. And who would live with an unemployed, powerless man? Withdrawing voluntarily would be the right attitude for both an unqualified knight and husband.”

As Frost tried to leave the training ground, Leo blocked his path.

“Stop dodging the issue. You already have mountains of work to do, so why are you insisting on going on a honeymoon? You’ve already shown enough favor to Yuriella Grande.”

“It’s Yuriella Ielheim. Is your mind regressing too?”

Frost corrected Leo’s mistake in a firm tone.

“You keep saying ‘regression’, but I’m the strongest among the imperial knights’ captains!”

“You’ve regressed compared to before your marriage.”

“Well, that’s because I’ve become a head of household. There are many things to worry about, and when you worry, training time decreases…”

“One who wields a sword must be the same, whether an apprentice or a captain. Whether single or married, there are no exceptions.”

“That’s because Your Highness doesn’t understand what marriage is.”

“I’m married too.”

“It’s a fake marriage. You and Her Highness are strangers who haven’t even consummated the marriage. You just keep her by your side out of necessity. You summon a black mage to cast spells, and now you say you’re going on a honeymoon. And to Collina Rosa, of all places.”

“The Duchess also said she lost precious people in Collina Rosa. She said she couldn’t say her final goodbyes, so it’s not a bad choice.”

“Going to a place the Duchess chose, for the Duchess’s sake! Like a henpecked husband who’s given up control from the start! And you’re not even a real husband!”

Frost’s neat lips twisted.

“Whether it’s a real marriage or a political marriage out of necessity. I am Yuriella Ielheim’s husband.”

A threatening blue aura suddenly flowed from Frost’s body, but the Angelus Knights’ captain, with the spirit of a bear, gritted his molars and stood his ground.

“Is that your answer? Are you acting purely on principle, without any personal feelings?”

“What do you mean?”

“I see personal feelings. Not the look of someone viewing the daughter of Grande, but the gentle gaze of someone looking at a truly beloved wife keeps haunting me!”

Frost quietly gazed at his right-hand man and friend he had relied on since childhood.

His friend seemed to have no intention of letting him off easy.

“When the end comes, are you confident you can end it?”

“Leo.”

“Don’t call me so affectionately. I’m determined to get an answer.”

“I will give my mother’s sword to my wife.”

“What?”

Leo could only open and close his mouth, unable to continue speaking, as if he had heard something terrible.

When Frost gave Yuriella Grande the tiara and necklace of the late Grand Duchess Adelia Ielheim, Leo had nodded silently. He thought it was to have her publicly recognized as the Grand Duchess.

But Adelia’s treasured sword was Frost’s personal treasure, unknown to the public.

It was a poignant keepsake that young Frost had clutched even in bed, instead of the warm embrace of his mother who passed away early.

A longing that only grew deeper as time passed. It was the very embodiment of beautiful family memories.

“Frost.”

Leo unknowingly called his childhood friend’s name like a sigh.

“Why…?”

How long has it been since they met? How much do you know about that woman?

Leo stared into the steady blue eyes of his old friend. He let out a low moan at the strange fervor he had never seen before.

“Frost, I could give my life for you.”

“I know.”

“But if you harm even a single hair on Frida’s head, I will kill you.”

“If you want to kill me, you’ll need to hone your skills much more.”

“I’m not joking. They say a princess of the Eastern Continent who fell in love with a prince of an enemy country tore apart the North guarding the border and caused her country’s downfall. Love is like that.”

“Leo.”

“But you mustn’t be like that.”

Because you are the master of the North, and the North itself. If you waver, the North will collapse.

Just as the head butler and head maid had taught the young lord Frost Ielheim.

Just as countless Northerners yearned for the Grand Duke to be not an ordinary human, but a guardian deity.

Even the Grand Duke’s only friend ended up saying the same thing, leaving a bitter taste in Leo Dominici’s mouth.

Frost approached Leo and brushed off the dust from his training clothes.

“Don’t worry, Leo. Not for a single moment have I forgotten what I must do and who I must protect.”

The hand that lightly patted Leo’s thick shoulder carried the warmth and firmness he had always trusted.

“…”

Leo was too sorry to even say he was sorry.

Unable to give his newlywed friend warm wishes to love deeply and live happily.

Despite noticing that the feelings he harbored in his heart for the first time were not just simple fondness.

“It will be a passing wind. A feeling like… a fleeting snowflake that melts in an instant.”

Leo erased all emotion and bowed deeply to advise his lord.

“Everything has its rightful place. And it’s beautiful when it’s in its rightful place. Yuriella Grande’s rightful place is not by the Grand Duke’s side. A wildflower can live vibrantly when it’s in the field. So please, when the end comes, return her to where she belongs, Your Highness.”

It was what I had to say from where I should be…

*

At that time. The Grand Duchess’s chambers, which had been closed by the Grand Duke’s order, were bustling with the head maid and maids busy with wedding preparations.

But the luggage carefully packed by the maids was all rejected by the Grand Duchess, who was leaning against the doorway with a displeased face.

“No. I don’t need those dresses. Or those jeweled accessories! And throw out those holey chemises and nightgowns!”

“But, Your Highness…”

“You all! What do you think I’m going there for?”

The maids shrank their necks like turtles and glanced at each other in front of the Duchess, who glared at them fiercely with her arms crossed.

Unable to bear it any longer, the head maid Rosalinne stepped forward.

“Your Highness. If the marriage ceremony is an event that declares to people that you two will become one. The honeymoon is a trip for a couple who have become one by law to become one in body and soul.”

Alexis also slipped in and added to the head maid’s explanation.

“You should plan your life as a united couple during your honeymoon. As you know, the most important part of your planning will of course be the lovely and adorable little Grand Duchess.”

Rosalinne put her hands on her hips and shot a sharp look at Alexis.

“Rex. Don’t mention wrong plans. Your dream of a little Grand Duchess who looks just like Her Highness is definitely not a prophetic dream. A dream of a blue dragon flying to the Grand Duke as himself would be a real prophetic dream.”

“Prophetic dream?”

Yuriella furrowed her brow.

Sandra, who was unpacking the rejected luggage, shook her head and said,

“Your Highness. Did you know there’s a bet going around among the servants? They say the stakes are getting higher on whether the head butler’s dream of a little Grand Duchess or the head maid’s dream of a little Grand Duke will come true. Everyone agreed that the first baby will be born on this honeymoon, so it’s not even a betting matter anymore.”

“What? They’re even betting on prophetic dreams?”

Yuriella looked at the two old servants with an incredulous expression.

The head butler and head maid, who had been worried until just now whether the Duchess, who seemed as delicate as a single lisianthus flower, could handle the honeymoon to Collina Rosa, stiffened at the cool energy Yuriella emitted.

“Did you two know about this?”

The same sharpness they felt when the Grand Duke occasionally revealed an energy like a finely honed blade filled them with awe.

Of course. How could the Grand Duke have chosen his lifelong partner carelessly?

The dignified appearance befitting the mistress of the Grand Duke’s household seemed to be surrounded by a dazzling radiance. Judging by her robust spirit, she seemed more than capable of creating a baby on this honeymoon, whether it be a little Grand Duchess or a little Grand Duke. What did it matter?

Tears of emotion finally overflowed, rolling down their wrinkled faces.

“…! No, I’m not scolding you two…”

A flustered Yuriella quickly grabbed a handkerchief from the bag Sandra had unpacked and handed it to the two.

Although she didn’t know they were even betting on prophetic dreams. Yuriella also knew that the servants were decorating four baby rooms in colorful ways.

She also knew how desperately they longed for the warm breeze that children resembling the Grand Duke would bring to the bleak Grand Duke’s residence.

She had intended to firmly nip it in the bud because it was an unfulfillable wish.

‘I was too harsh. They don’t know anything…’

Yuriella, quick to reflect, decided to go along with those who firmly believed her to be the real Grand Duchess.

“Which side of your two prophetic dreams did more people bet on?”

As Yuriella asked with a gentle smile, changing her attitude, the head butler quickly answered.

“Seven out of ten bet on my dream. The little Grand Duchess dream won overwhelmingly!”

“We won’t know who wins or loses until the real baby is born. By the way, Ielheim has historically had many little Grand Dukes born.”

Rosalinne snorted and rebutted the head butler.

Thinking it was quite a reasonable argument, Alexis was momentarily at a loss for words before turning his gaze to Yuriella.

“What do you think, Your Highness? Um, well, don’t you have something like a mother’s intuition?”

Yuriella nimbly perched on the windowsill and calmly replied.

“Since which baby comes is up to the stork’s heart, wouldn’t asking the stork be the fastest way?”

The head butler looked at the Grand Duchess with eyes full of shock.

“St-stork?”

“Doesn’t the stork find babies in the sea of creation and bring them in its beak? I know as much as I need to about the mysteries of life.”

Yuriella smiled innocently as she dangled her feet, letting her body sway in the breeze from the garden.

“Oh, right. I heard that if couples wanting a baby put sugar cubes on their windowsill, the stork will stop to eat the sugar cubes on its way to deliver a baby and leave the baby at that house. Make sure to tell the kitchen not to forget to pack sugar cubes in the travel luggage.”

The head butler’s jaw was about to hit the floor. The head maid and maids also stared blankly at Yuriella, their busy hands stopped in the middle of unpacking.

Yuriella smiled faintly.

There was a need to deflate the expectations that were growing like a balloon with no limits.

There was also a calculation that if the reason for the absence of the baby they longed for was attributed to her ignorance of the mysteries of life, unnecessary misunderstandings or glares would not be directed at the Grand Duke.

Alexis trembled, his fists tightly clenched.

‘Stork… Sugar cubes…! I found wine in a vineyard.’

Rosalinne, biting her lips tightly, wrung her skirt and blamed herself.

‘I was missing the most important thing. Rather than Her Highness, who has a long way to go, I should give special education to the Grand Duke.’

As the head butler and head maid hurriedly left the room, Yuriella instructed the maids to load the luggage cart with medicines and supplies needed for treating patients and refugee relief.

Rosalinne barged into the Grand Duke’s office and educated Frost until his ears were sore about the proper attitude a husband should have.

The head butler sought out Captain Leo, who was overflowing with newlywed bliss, grilled him on the secrets to being a beloved husband, and wrote them down densely in a notebook. He then placed it in the hands of the Grand Duke, who had just escaped from Rosalinne, and began a second round of special education.

That night. Yuriella, troubled by the thought of leaving for Collina Rosa, was walking alone in the garden when she inadvertently looked up at the Grand Duke’s office, which was still brightly lit.

‘Is he working until this hour? He shouldn’t overwork himself when we have a long journey ahead.’

Yuriella’s face clouded with self-reproach as she thought about the Grand Duke’s health.

She had just realized that, lost in thoughts of Collina Rosa, she hadn’t given the Grand Duke acupuncture for two days, yesterday and today.

Yuriella hurriedly grabbed her silver needle set and ran to the Grand Duke’s office.

– You must remember this if you want to plan your life as a couple on your honeymoon.

The head butler’s voice could be heard from inside.

– I understand everything, so please leave!

The Grand Duke’s voice could be heard snapping back.

– Even if you forget everything else, you must not forget this if you want to overcome the trials of storks and sugar cubes and welcome the little Grand Duchess.

The Grand Duke was unable to return to his chambers until the bird announcing morning sang.

Yuriella had to admit that she had underestimated the head butler’s obsession with the cute baby Grand Duchess.