Transparent tears filled Yuriella’s wet eyes. The dazzlingly sparkling letters lost their shape behind the tears, rippling like the sheen on a winter sea.

“No… No…”

To say they’re happy because of me.

It can’t be. It’s not possible.

I haven’t done anything good.

Looking back, it’s all just painful regret and self-blame.

Rather, it would have been right if someone like me was never born. To the point where I want to cut up my entire past life and burn it somewhere to erase it forever…

“Master of the Magic Tower, you know too… I wasn’t someone who brought happiness to people.”

“Your Highness.”

“I… gave death and despair. Where I passed by… only grief and tears remained. I… I…”

Eventually, large teardrops flowed endlessly down Yuriella’s pale face, falling drop by drop below her delicate chin.

“Should I… live? Is it okay for someone like me to live? Eating… sleeping… laughing… Sometimes being happy… Is it okay to live like that? It’s too shameless, isn’t it? I shouldn’t do that, right? I shouldn’t…”

Yuriella buried her face in her hands and sobbed, her shoulders shaking.

Even crying felt too shameless, so she had tried to hold it back by gritting her teeth. Was it because the guilt from Colina Rosa was too great? The dam of tears she had been pressing down finally burst.

“Lady Yuriella…”

“No, I-”

The Magic Tower Master, who rarely gets flustered, ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair as he alternately looked at Aery spinning round and round above his head angrily and Yuriella sobbing profusely.

Aery blew hard with her pointed mouth, scattering and blowing away the letters the Magic Tower Master had created.

And then she inhaled deeply, her cheeks puffing up, and then forcefully exhaled, hwoo~, in the place where the shimmering silver letters had disappeared.

Then, red lights resembling the color of Yuriella’s eyes formed a large heart shape in the air. Inside it, letters took shape, blinking so brightly it hurt the eyes.

Yuriella raised her head and stared blankly at the message sent by the wind spirit.

It was a somewhat rough and blunt message to write inside a pretty heart.

But seeing the spirit afraid that its master might have terrible thoughts, the dam of tears she had been trying to close burst again.

“Aery… I’m not worthy of being your master…”

It was already a failed role as the master of a holy sword once.

The holy sword Flama, which had bestowed its power and love generously, is now fighting its last battle as a demon sword.

Maybe, no, surely it must be enduring with all its might waiting for its master. But the path there was so slow. She was an incompetent master who could only pray that she could get there before it was too late.

Yuriella hugged her knees, burying her face in her skirt as she sobbed.

The wind spirit, who had been confident it could stop the dam of tears its master had burst because of the Magic Tower Master, hung its head dejectedly.

And then.

Clank! The carriage came to a sudden stop, causing Yuriella and the Magic Tower Master’s bodies to sway with the rebound.

Aery, who had been looking down at the crying Yuriella, also bumped her head on the carriage ceiling while floating in the air.

The carriage door flung open, and Frost stretched out his arms to lift Yuriella out just as she was.

His blue eyes, filled with murderous intent, glared at the Magic Tower Master as if to kill him.

“Don’t overdo it with your petty tricks.”

Yuriella twisted her body, trying to escape from Frost’s embrace, but Frost held her even more tightly instead.

“Shavell. Get in.”

Shavell, who had been standing quietly behind Frost, slipped into the seat next to the Magic Tower Master.

“We’ll arrive at the lodging in two hours. Let’s go quietly.”

As the Grand Duke carrying his wife walked briskly towards the carriage stopped in front, Aery fluttered out through the carriage window.

“Aery. Your place is next to the Magic Tower Master you like.”

Frost reprimanded Aery without even looking back.

“Yes. You made your master cry well. Shouldn’t you be more mature by now at your age?”

Under the Grand Duke’s cold gaze, as frigid as ice floes floating on a frozen sea, the wind spirit, which had existed since the beginning of time, drooped its shoulders like wilted grass and floated back into the carriage window.

The carriage carrying only the newlywed couple set off again.

“Yuriella.”

Yuriella kept her head bowed deeply, only trying to escape from his embrace.

“Yuriella. Look at me, please.”

Yuriella shook her head slightly and curled up into a tight ball. As if doing so would make her smaller and smaller until she disappeared from sight.

“Yuriella.”

“I think I’m broken.”

Yuriella wiped her face carelessly with the back of her hand and let out a wet sigh.

“Shamefully, why do I keep crying… I’ve never done this before.”

“Never?”

Yuriella mumbled with her head still bowed.

“I’ve become too comfortable. I’ve become lazy and lax. I’ve lost my mind. To be so defenseless, to be so absent-minded like this… How can I be of any help to you, Grand Duke, like this…”

Frost gazed intently at his wife, who was picking up words disjointedly and incoherently, as he gently combed the disheveled hair on her slender nape with his fingers and whispered softly.

“Is the reason you’re crying also because of me? Because you feel like you’re not being helpful to me?”

Yuriella raised her head, thought for a moment with a pondering face, then nodded slightly.

“Then I’ve done well. You should praise me.”

“Pardon…?”

Yuriella made a bewildered expression.

Frost chuckled, finding her cute with her cheeks and nose tip flushed bright red.

Yuriella’s neck and earlobes also turned red, and she tried to quickly lower her head again, but.

Large hands gently cupped Yuriella’s cheeks, softly pulling her towards him to prevent her from escaping.

“I’d like you to praise me.”

“…? You did well. You did very well.”

“What did I do well?”

“Pardon?”

“If you’re going to praise me, you should give reasons, right?”

Yuriella’s eyes wavered slightly, looking troubled. She couldn’t follow the flow of the conversation. What was he asking to be praised for, and why?

“I’m sorry. I… don’t understand.”

“You should be. Sorry, that is. Not to me, but to yourself.”

“To… myself?”

“Saying you’ve never cried before is not something to be proud of.”

“I’m not proud, it’s just… I keep showing you shameful sides of myself-”

“Being ashamed of yourself is also something you should apologize to yourself for.”

Looking at the clear red eyes filled with pure confusion, Frost became genuinely curious about what kind of life this woman had lived.

Judging by her stepfather and the people from the medicine peddler group, it seemed like she had grown up receiving a fair amount of love.

So why does this woman always look so cold and frosty? As if she had been alone from the very beginning.

“There are reasons to cry when you do, and even children don’t cry just anywhere. They burst into tears in front of people they feel comfortable with. Adults are no different.”

“…? I’m not a child. I’m not a weak person.”

Yuriella clenched her fists and protested.

Weak people can’t do anything. Weak people can’t protect anyone.

This was a lesson etched into the bones of a child abandoned on the streets right after birth. None of the children who lived with tears hanging off them survived.

“I’m glad you can cry now. It means you’ve felt at ease. The fact that you can cry now means the tightly closed latch of your heart is starting to open.”

Frost’s fingers with thick knuckles gently wiped Yuriella’s eyes, which were still moist.

“You know what? I was a crybaby until I was nine years old.”

And not just an ordinary crybaby.

Thanks to his mother, who was unusually tolerant of her son’s tears, or rather, who patted his back and encouraged him to cry to his heart’s content, Frost was such a monstrous crybaby that even his father, Gideon Ielheim, known as the monster of the North, was disgusted.

After losing his parents at the age of nine, Frost, who had to shoulder the fate of the North on his young shoulders, no longer cried.

He was terribly sad that there was no one left to receive his tears, but.

When he wanted to cry, he remembered his father’s broad chest in his memories, which had embraced him unconditionally. And in moments of unbearable despair and sadness, he would secretly visit his mother’s grave to throw tantrums and cry.

His parents were his secret sanctuary, non-existent yet existing.

That’s what the memory of being loved was like.

“If you’ve been able to cry since you came to my side. Then I deserve praise. It means I’ve managed to make you feel a little more comfortable.”

Frost tucked Yuriella’s fallen hair behind her ear and gently pressed his lips to her reddened eyes.

“Frost…!”

Frost’s lips let out a low laugh, tickled by Yuriella’s fluttering eyelashes in surprise.

“This is a reward for me. I took it upon myself on your behalf, since you’re struggling.”

Frost’s lips briefly touched Yuriella’s flushed cheeks and nose tip before reluctantly parting.

Fortunately, his wife didn’t complain or refuse the reward he had taken upon himself. Frost lightly bit his lips, which were about to become more greedy.

“It’s not just you who made me cry, is it? There’s also Father, Aery, and the Magic Tower Master-”

Frost’s eyebrows twitched slightly at his wife, who quickly recalled ten things when taught one.

“It’s not the same. My case is completely different from theirs.”

“How is it different?”

To the very reasonable question of how it’s different when they all burst the long-closed dam of tears, Frost did not give the unreasonable answer of ‘because I’m your husband.’

That’s what amateurs do. It could easily make him look like a petty person only asserting his rights.

Moreover, the comparison targets are her father, her lifesaver, and the spirit of the holy sword. This requires delicate handling.

He needs to find a way to change the difficult topic and make his wife feel better. And Frost already knows a very quick and effective method.

“Yuriella. Did you bring the silver needles?”

“Why? Are you not feeling well?”

Worry immediately clouds his wife’s face.

“No. I want to get treated when we have time. Do you have the silver needles?”

“Yes. I put them in my handbag to give you acupuncture when we arrive at the lodging.”

“I can get treated now, and again when we get to the lodging. We haven’t had many sessions lately because we’ve been busy.”

Yuriella’s face lights up as if a lamp has been turned on.

“That’s a great idea!”

Yuriella’s red eyes sparkle with life, as if she had never been crying.

Frost’s face also brightened in response.

His wife’s mood has completely reversed. His choice was excellent.

Yuriella hurriedly took out the silver needle case from her handbag, lest the Grand Duke change his mind.

“I actually ordered new silver needles. The ones I used before couldn’t reach the deeply rooted poison. These should be more effective.”

Yuriella, holding needles twice as long and thick as the previous ones, took deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling, as if nervous. Her expression was full of anticipation.

Frost looked at the large needles with horrified eyes and swallowed a deep sigh inwardly.

“Now. Breathe, Frost!”

The spacious carriage interior transformed into his wife’s private treatment room in an instant.

Even if he took off his coat and shirt to reveal his statuesque body, said to be the finest in the empire,

His wife’s eyes would only see the acupuncture points where the large needles, filled with healing energy, should be precisely inserted.

‘Ugh!’

He missed the first breath, distracted by looking at his wife’s pretty smile, but fortunately, he was able to swallow the internal scream of pain that felt like his ribs were being split apart.

“Does it hurt?”

It hurts like I’m dying. It hurt like I was dying last time too. Now I realize that was just like being tickled by a kitten’s soft fur in comparison.

“It tickles…”

“If it hurts, you can scream. Don’t hold it in.”

Seeing the other large needles waiting their turn, he felt like screaming, but Frost put on the most charming smile he could muster.

And because he wanted to keep seeing Yuriella smile, he bravely endured the pain throughout the process of his upper body becoming a porcupine, saying nonsense like ‘It tickles,’ ‘I could do this all day.’

While he was glad that his wife could now cry comfortably by his side.

Seeing his wife’s smiling face was also a great joy he couldn’t miss, even while screaming internally.

‘Ugh! Aah…! Aaack! Huck! Ugh!’

Aery, sitting dejectedly on top of the carriage behind, narrowed her eyes as she watched the endless green aura emanating from the carriage Yuriella was in.