The road to Colina Rosa was peaceful.

At least on the surface, it appeared so.

For the safety of the grand duke and duchess, Commander Leo had assigned so many knights to escort the carriage procession from front to back and sides that it seemed almost excessive.

At each village entrance they passed, citizens who came out to welcome the newlywed grand ducal couple only waved their hands enthusiastically and cheered. There had not been a single assassination attempt that Leo was worried about so far.

However, in the middle of the procession.

Only in the hearts of the newlywed man and woman riding in the grand duke’s carriage and the one following it, a fierce storm was raging.

“Your Grace, darling. Aren’t you happy at all that Delilah has come?”

Shavell brought his pretty face close to Frost’s, cupping it with his hands, and fluttered his thick, lush black eyebrows like a butterfly’s wings.

“Is it because Delilah isn’t as pretty as Shavell? Should I ask the Archmage to change me back to Shavell?”

Frost, who had been leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed and eyes closed, pushed Shavell’s forehead back with his index finger, making him sit back.

“Let’s go quietly, Lewis.”

Lewis carefully brought his wide-spread legs together and placed his hands neatly on top of them.

When Frost addressed him as ‘Lewis’, neither ‘Shavell’ nor ‘Your Highness’, and spoke down to him, he needed to be on high alert.

“Are you… very angry?”

Frost slowly opened his eyes.

When Lewis met the gaze of those blue eyes that were staring silently, he unconsciously gulped.

It was a cold, piercing gaze that seemed to thoroughly search through the head and heart of the person facing him, as if it could freeze the blood and bodily fluids flowing inside.

“I’m sorry……”

He had been a bit playful, finding it fascinating to see his usually unshakeable cousin flustered and at a loss only in front of his wife. He had clearly gone too far.

“No. I’m the one who’s sorry. I was short-sighted.”

“Pardon…?”

“I only thought about how the people of the North wouldn’t welcome Shavell Allery, the grand duke’s mistress. I didn’t consider that you, Lewis, would naturally want to go to Colina Rosa.”

Frost rested his chin on his interlocked hands and gazed at Lewis with a shallow sigh.

“Yes. That’s why I decided to serve you as my lord.”

A faint smile gradually spread across the grand duke’s lips.

“You must have missed it. Your land, your people that you need to rule are there.”

“……”

“How much the people of Colina Rosa have been hurt. What kind of comfort they need. You wanted to see it with your own eyes, to personally hold their hands. Because that’s the kind of person you are.”

Three years ago. When Lewis Della Ponti, the prince who should have been buried next to the tombs of the previous emperor and empress in the imperial cemetery, came to find the grand duke.

Even though he was in a beggar’s state, all skin and bones and nearly dead, he knelt down and pleaded for help for the western border villages that had fallen to monster hordes, rather than for his own safety. In his appearance, Frost had glimpsed the image of the empire’s master he had dreamed of.

Upon investigation, it was found that after his nanny died, Lewis didn’t come straight to the North, but went around all the villages ravaged by monsters, helping to rebuild collapsed houses, and moving and caring for refugees and injured people in shelters and treatment centers.

He had reportedly used up the small house and few trinkets left by his nanny to help the refugees.

The tragedy of Colina Rosa must have been painful for Lewis as well. He was a ruler born with a love for his people without needing to be taught.

Therefore, imagining what kind of future he would create for the empire was quite a pleasure for Frost.

He had no doubt that the new lord he would serve would be an emperor who would bring laughter rather than sorrow, happiness rather than despair, unlike Justin Della Ponti.

“……Thank you for understanding, elder brother.”

Lewis’s eyes reddened. The broad embrace that understood his heart without him having to say anything was always surprising and grateful.

“It was rash of you to ask the Archmage for an illusion spell. What if the Archmage catches on somehow?”

He had returned to using honorifics from speaking informally. Lewis relaxed his tension and comfortably stretched out his legs that had been gathered.

“Catch on? He just thinks I’m the grand duke’s pathetic mistress without any thoughts of my own.”

“I haven’t finished speaking yet.”

Lewis gathered his legs modestly again and straightened his back.

“For everything else, I don’t know, but,”

Frost’s blue eyes narrowed.

“I certainly need to receive an apology for chasing my wife out of my carriage. This is supposed to be a honeymoon, after all.”

“Ah… I was trying to make the act convincing…”

Lewis sheepishly twisted his long, ebony hair with both hands and shrugged his shoulders.

“Don’t worry. Your sister-in-law won’t mind at all. She’s the type to say, ‘Jealousy? What’s that? Is it edible?’ To her, you’re just a superior as high as the sky, right? Haha! Ha… ha…”

Lewis awkwardly stopped laughing and closed his mouth with a gulp. His legs were neatly gathered, but his heart seemed to have loosened.

Rather than getting angry. Seeing his mountain-like cousin’s shoulders drooping like seaweed washed up on the shore looked quite pitiful.

‘Oh dear. It seems I’ve poked at the most painful spot.’

*

“Are you feeling very unwell, Your Highness?”

The Archmage asked worriedly to Yuriella, who was leaning her arms on the window sill and staring blankly at the passing scenery.

Yuriella’s complexion was pale without a hint of color.

“Ah… I’m sorry. I made a difficult request and couldn’t even pay attention to you……”

Only then realizing that she hadn’t said a word since boarding the carriage, Yuriella apologized to the Archmage in embarrassment.

“I have some motion sickness medicine prepared. Would you like some?”

While clearly guessing that the reason Yuriella had been feeling unwell all along was Colina Rosa, Ricarion gave her a plausible excuse.

“The North is vast land, so we need to stay overnight on the way to Colina Rosa. The road is quite rough too.”

Yuriella’s gaze turned to the distant view beyond the window.

The memories of that place, which would take another day and a half to reach, were vividly clear in Yuriella’s eyes.

Flaming arrows flew, and the once sturdy castle walls crumbled.

The land that had been their home was trampled, and houses burned.

The sound of swords clashing against swords. The screams of women and children.

Her kind father and gentle grandfather, fighting to protect their family and land, to protect the master of that vast land, being stabbed by spears and cut by swords, bleeding and dying as they wielded sickles and hoes…

Yuriella closed her eyes tightly to cut off the thoughts, but. The painful memories only became more vivid as they got closer to Colina Rosa.

It was a place she had to go, a place where there were things she had to do.

But now that she was actually on the road to Colina Rosa, her carefully controlled emotions kept threatening to crumble.

Every time she recalled the moment she realized that her last battle as a knight was actually nothing more than a miserable slaughter, fragments of blood-stained memories lacerated her heart.

‘What does that place look like now…?’

Since waking up as a dancer in a wandering medicine peddler’s troupe. She had only thought about going, going, but. She couldn’t bring herself to set foot in that place she met in nightmares every night.

If Aery hadn’t recommended Colina Rosa as their honeymoon destination, she probably wouldn’t have dared to visit for a long time.

Afraid to face the consequences of what she had done…

Yuriella bit her lip until it bled, swallowing what might have been a sigh or nausea.

“You must be displeased, aren’t you?”

Ricarion, who had been quietly observing, finally spoke after a while.

“Pardon?”

“About Lady Shavell accompanying us. I’m sorry. I overstepped by using an illusion spell and ended up disturbing Your Highness’s mood.”

The Archmage gave her another plausible excuse.

“Ah……”

Only then did Yuriella smile slightly and put on a pretend sulky expression.

“That’s right. What were you thinking? What if Shavell makes a mistake and causes trouble for the grand duke in Colina Rosa?”

Watching Yuriella act sulky while still diligently putting the grand duke’s concerns first, Ricarion felt a little envious of Frost. No, actually quite envious.

“I’m sure the grand duke will keep her in check properly.”

“The grand duke is soft on Shavell. Well, if I were a man, I might be even more so than the grand duke, not less.”

Ricarion narrowed his eyes and looked at Yuriella.

“Are you not upset, Your Highness?”

“What have you been listening to? I’m very displeased because of my husband’s mistress right now. Can’t you see my angry expression?”

She raised her eyebrows and pouted her lips, but her eyes showed no anger at all.

Thinking about how much Frost Ielheim must be seething inside at a wife who wasn’t jealous of his mistress at all, a smirk escaped his lips.

He’s probably straining all his senses right now trying to hear what conversation is going on in this carriage.

The next thought that came to mind was concern and worry for Yuriella.

The pressure she must be feeling on the way to Colina Rosa must be enormous if she doesn’t even have the energy to be jealous… His heart ached for her.

How did she wander through so many battlefields, soaking her whole body in blood, with such a clear and delicate nature…

“What can I do to lift Your Highness’s spirits?”

“Can you use magic to send Delilah back to the grand duke’s side?”

Ricarion let out a low laugh.

“That might be better for you to order Aery directly.”

[No need. Let the grand duke play with Shavell. Let him play with the joy-filled Delilah. Yuriella needs Aery the most. She doesn’t need the grand duke.]

Aery, who had been braiding Yuriella’s wavy strawberry blonde hair with her small hands, narrowed her eyes and glared sharply towards the grand duke’s carriage.

‘Should I blow the carriage with the grand duke and Delilah away to the ice sea with a strong wind?’

“Aery. No.”

Yuriella reached out her hand to place Aery on her palm and gave her a stern look of warning.

[What did I…?]

“The thought you’re having right now. I’ll be angry with you if you lay even a finger on the grand duke.”

[Tch. Does Yuriella like the grand duke more than me?]

“I like Aery because she’s Aery. I like the grand duke because he’s the grand duke.”

[I want to be more special.]

“I told you, Aery. Liking someone can’t be compared.”

Yuriella gently stroked Aery’s head with a soft smile.

“By getting to know you, Aery, I got to know the world you showed me, and my thoughts and heart grew that much more. It’s the same with the grand duke. As much as I like you and like the grand duke, I’ve become a better person than before. You are both very precious and special beings to me that can’t be compared and shouldn’t be compared. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

[I understand. But to me, Yuriella is the most precious. The most special.]

Seeing Aery nodding her head obediently, Ricarion inwardly clicked his tongue.

He could only admire Yuriella’s ability to easily handle this stubborn and arrogant spirit.

Well. She had been a pure and upright, truly lovely soul even when she was a naked, wandering beggar child. Anyone who faced that warmth couldn’t help but be captivated. Just as he himself had been.

“Then, shall I use a small trick to ease Your Highness’s worries a little?”

Ricarion raised his hand and made a small circular motion, and snow like cotton started to fall inside the carriage.

Yuriella flinched and frowned as the cold snowflakes touched her cheeks and disappeared without leaving any moisture, but soon burst into clear laughter.

When she reached out her hand to catch the snowflakes, the small snowflakes bounced up from her palm and transformed into snow-white peacock doves that fluttered their wings.

“Oh!”

As Yuriella let out a low exclamation of wonder, the white doves that had circled in the air a few times landed gently on her hand and pecked at her palm with their small beaks.

Wherever the bird’s beak pecked, a silvery light spread like stardust, scattering in the air and slowly forming a shape.

“Oh! It’s a geranium!”

It was the same shape as the geranium inside the snow globe that Leon had given to Yuriella.

Below the sparkling geranium, words began to form.

The meaning of geranium, ‘I am happy because you exist’ sparkled like stars.

“Don’t forget. There are far more people who are happy because you exist than Your Highness thinks. Like the stars in that sky.”

Yuriella’s eyes reddened as she took in the silver words flickering in the air.

“Archmage……”

‘Am I… really allowed to live again?’

The question that she couldn’t bring herself to voice aloud formed as tears in Yuriella’s eyes.

It was a question that had continued to exist at the very bottom of her heart, which had been churning like motion sickness.

“Your Highness is a person who brings happiness. A being that brings joy.”

“No. I… I……”

The Archmage smiled gently. It was a rock-like smile befitting the owner of the Earth’s Sword.

“…Believe in me. In me who believes in you.”