The mansion of Grand Duke Ielheim, located northeast of Yurahil, the capital of the Yustera Empire.

The heavy main gate opened and the waiting carriages passed through the inspection of the Angelus Knights one by one and entered.

They were carriages loaded with dresses, jewelry, and accessories ordered for Yuriella.

Countless invitations flew in for the Grand Duke couple who had headed straight to Yurahil from their honeymoon destination, Colina Rosa, to attend the grand noble council.

It was natural for the attention of the imperial nobles to be focused on the Grand Duchess chosen by the lord of the north. Since the first banquet the Grand Duchess would attend was like a debutante ball, there was fierce underground competition among the nobles to claim that first stage.

The Grand Duchess’s choice was the imperial ball.

The imperial ball, which His Majesty said was being held to soothe the turbulent public sentiment and for the peace and unity of the empire, was to be held in the Blanc Casa Grand Banquet Hall of the imperial palace.

“How does an imperial ball soothe turbulent public sentiment? Do they have mouse droppings instead of brains in their heads?”

Yuriella, on the verge of suffocation buried in the colorful mountain of dresses, grumbled and tried to sneak away.

“You can’t leave until you’ve tried on all of these.”

The head maid blocked the Grand Duchess’s path with outstretched arms, faster than a wind spirit.

“I can already picture it clearly. When Lady Adelia came to the imperial social season, even Empress Dowager Sophia bowed her fair face and sat in a corner shedding chicken-drop tears. The lady of the north was the queen of social circles!”

“But Lady Adelia was a princess. She was exceptionally beautiful.”

“You too, Your Grace, can be called the finest lady in the empire like Lady Adelia.”

“I don’t want to be something like the finest lady in the empire-”

Ugh! Yuriella let out a painful groan. It was because Rosalinne had sharply pulled the strings of the whalebone corset from behind.

“Your Grace has already stepped onto the bloody battlefield. There’s no turning back. Go and conquer! Annihilate your enemies at every party you attend without leaving a single one. Plant the Ielheim flag in the heart of enemy territory! Ring out the victory from the heart of Yurahil!”

“Can’t we just ring out the victory at one imperial ball? Usually, if you catch the head, it’s as good as winning everything, right?”

Casandra, who was attending nearby, quickly put her index finger to Yuriella’s lips and grimaced.

“Head…! Your Grace! Please watch your language…!”

The dark mage Casandra, though persecuted as an illegitimate child, was a noble lady who had received strict etiquette education in the eastern high noble family of Duke Figuera, which had produced an empress dowager.

Therefore, she was extremely worried that her beloved Grand Duchess might be torn apart by the noble ladies in the den of fierce foxes that was the imperial social circle, without a proper weapon.

“From today, we start special training. Walking! Expressions! How to speak! Dance steps! I’ll teach you everything!”

Yuriella shook her head.

“No. There’s a better way. Just don’t go anywhere. Refuse everything. Balls, tea parties, garden parties, riding clubs. Refuse them all.”

As Yuriella tried to escape through the forest of piled-up dresses, jewels, and accessories, Casandra whispered gently to her back.

“But it’s for the Grand Duke’s sake, you know?”

Yuriella’s feet stopped abruptly, and she slowly turned around.

Casandra knew her mistress’s weakness very well.

“For… the Grand Duke’s sake?”

Casandra placed a thick stack of invitations in Yuriella’s hand as she tilted her head curiously.

“These are carefully selected from the noble ladies and young ladies who came to the imperial capital following the heads of houses. If Your Grace can hook them, wouldn’t the support of the grand nobles naturally follow?”

“Are you telling me to do bedroom politics?”

Yuriella frowned fiercely, crossing her arms.

“That’s bad. Even if you gather decent opinions, if women whisper and overturn them, what will become of the country?”

Having been the captain of the imperial knights, there were things she could see even without trying.

It wasn’t once or twice that she had watched factions formed among noble ladies pursuing only their own interests, biting and scratching each other without realizing they were dying together.

“The opposite is also possible. By injecting the wise influence of women, a terrible consensus made by men outside can be turned into quite a good opinion.”

“But I’ve never even talked to noble young ladies or noble ladies. It’s impossible, impossible. The Grand Duke can go to the rest of the parties alone, it’s enough.”

“No! If you only send the Grand Duke, there might be a situation where you’ll be alone at night, shedding chicken-drop tears and stabbing your thigh with a needle!”

“Why would I stab myself with a needle?”

As Yuriella tilted her head, Casandra raised her voice, throwing her arms up.

“The world is wide, and beautiful flowers bloom everywhere! Red flowers, blue flowers, flowers blooming voluptuously, flowers just forming buds. You have eyes, so you must know that the heads of all those flowers are turned towards the Grand Duke, right?”

“Hmm. Women are not flowers. Women are strong.”

Yuriella had once found a large snowman in the snowy mountains when she went to war against the barbarians.

Upon closer inspection, the snowman was actually a naked barbarian woman who had died in the snowy mountains, and in her arms was a baby, wrapped in layers of clothes the woman had taken off one by one, pale blue but still breathing.

“I’m speaking metaphorically now. Noble ladies never speak directly, they always speak indirectly like this.”

“I know. Peeling from the front, peeling from behind. You’re peeling me right in front of my face now.”

Casandra sighed deeply as she put a dress on Yuriella.

“No, what I mean is that there are beautiful women everywhere who might catch the Grand Duke’s eye. If you don’t want to lose your man to other women, you need to be vigilant and protect your man from threats-”

“Everyone, stop this nonsense.”

The Grand Duke’s cool voice cut off the dark mage’s passionate argument in one stroke.

At Frost’s appearance, the head maid, Casandra, and the attending maids were startled and quickly curtsied, grabbing their skirts.

“Dear. You don’t have to go anywhere. If you don’t want to wear those colorful flower bunch dresses, throw them all away.”

Frost approached Yuriella, smiling like a blooming flower as he held out his hand.

“Really?”

As his wife’s vibrant red eyes sparkled like stars, Frost’s lips melted into a smile.

“Whether you step out or not, you’re the best in the empire. So there’s no need to go to such useless places and struggle to prove it.”

That doesn’t seem right. Yuriella’s head tilted to the side.

“If you don’t want to go to the imperial ball either, you don’t have to.”

“But it’s the official first meeting place before the grand noble council.”

“If there’s someone you want to meet, just tell me. I’ll summon them. The Grand Duchess is noble enough to do that.”

Frost lightly kissed Yuriella’s hand, frowning disapprovingly at the heap of dresses on the floor.

“It’s excessive.”

When the head maid said these were things his wife needed, he had happily approved. But seeing the result before his eyes, it was too much.

His wife was too excessively beautiful.

The dresses put on a woman who would be beautiful even in rags were all excessive.

Even dresses that covered up to the neck satisfactorily were, upon closer inspection, too seductively clinging to her slender figure.

Dresses that revealed glimpses of bare skin were dangerous, tickling and teasing the hearts of onlookers.

Dresses that fully exposed pure white skin were dizzyingly seductive and harmful to the heart.

He absolutely did not want to show his excessively beautiful wife to other men.

Frost unconsciously raised his right hand and lightly stroked Yuriella’s bare shoulder exposed above the dress.

“Did the head maid sprinkle pearl powder? It’s… sparkling white.”

“They didn’t sprinkle anything? Is it strange?”

“No. It’s pretty. Very.”

Yuriella quickly stepped back, tickled by the Grand Duke’s touch.

Frost’s face flushed red as he lowered his hand regretfully. He cleared his throat a few times, clenching and unclenching his hand, but his voice still cracked slightly at the end.

“Cancel all of dear’s schedules for today. Tomorrow too, the day after, and the day after that. Cancel everything.”

“Your Grace! Important schedules are lined up waiting!”

There wasn’t enough time even working through the night to prepare properly for the carefully selected parties.

“Today, dear will play with me. Tomorrow too, the day after, and the day after that. She’ll play with me every day.”

“Your Grace! That can be done later when you return to the north-”

Hup! Casandra’s mouth was roughly covered by Rosalinne’s hand.

Rosalinne signaled with her eyes.

‘Young master! Young mistress! The baby comes before social gatherings!’

The ball is important, and dominating the social world is important. But that can’t be more important than the arrival of a lovely baby.

Rosalinne, who had been worrying about the constantly postponed and thwarted issue of the couple’s consummation, looked at the Grand Duke couple with brimming expectation.

“Dear. What do you want to play with me?”

“Hmm. I’ve never thought about it.”

“Think about it now. Wasn’t there anything you wanted to do when you came to the imperial capital?”

“Not really.”

At Yuriella’s indifferent answer, the head maid’s eyebrow twitched.

If a man and woman’s day is beautiful, naturally the night is likely to become beautiful too!

A list of the best spots in the imperial capital perfect for lovers to grow closer sprang to mind.

“How about walking the Felice Forest Path?”

Rosalinne recommended the walking trail more famous as the ‘Lovers’ Forest Path’ than by its original name.

As you walk along the winding, secluded forest path, before you know it, one kiss under a tree, two kisses by a flower bed. The history of their first night, now hazy like a past life, was made possible because of that forest on that day.

A faint smile spread across the head maid’s face as she recalled her courtship days with her husband who had gone to heaven before her.

“Better yet, go to the restaurant my friend just opened. You can dine in a pitch-black interior where you can’t see an inch in front of you.”

At Casandra’s words, Yuriella frowned.

“Is it a horror experience? Hmm. I’m not picky about food, but it’s uncomfortable to put food in my mouth that I can’t even see. What if someone targeting the Grand Duke poisons it?”

Casandra froze for a moment in disbelief, then narrowed her eyes at the Grand Duke and winked busily.

“Just trust me and try it once.”

Darkness allows many things. It will surely give courage to the shy newlyweds who haven’t even had their first night yet.

“How about boating on Lake Del Cigno?”

The place recommended by the butler who had followed the Grand Duke in was a tranquil lake.

“The scenery is quite exquisite, with swans gliding about.”

If you’re lucky and fall into the water, you might be able to warm your chilled bodies with each other’s body heat in a nearby cabin.

The solemn butler conveyed the deeper meaning of his location recommendation to the Grand Duke with a meaningful look, but.

Their mistress’s face showed no interest at all.

“That’s enough. I’ll just follow Your Grace’s wishes. Grand Duke. What do you want to do with me?”

Just the thought of escaping the mountain of colorful dresses made Yuriella feel as light as if she had wings, and she smiled like a hollyhock.

“On such a sunny afternoon, nothing beats strength training.”

Dark shadows fell heavily over the faces of the butler and head maid.

“Strength training?”

Joy and excitement filled the red eyes that sparkled even more transparently in the sunlight.

“Really? Will you really spar with me? Hand-to-hand combat or swordsmanship?”

“Probably both?”

Frost smiled more sweetly than sugar maple syrup as he placed Yuriella’s hand on his arm and led her out of the reception room.

“I was actually itching to go to the training ground. I was really frustrated when I crossed swords with Didio.”

Watching the back of the Grand Duchess, excited like a baby bird clinging to the Grand Duke’s large arm, a long sigh escaped the butler’s lips.

“What on earth is His Grace thinking.”

“The Grand Duke must have gone mad.”

The head maid lit twin flames in her eyes and tightly grasped her skirt.

*

Yuriella, changed into comfortable shirt and pants, brought a flush to her white cheeks as she took her stance before Frost.

First, today’s training would start with hand-to-hand combat!

They decided to learn hand techniques and foot techniques that could be used for both attack and defense, as well as various striking methods appropriate for subduing the entire body and the distance from the opponent.

“You attack first.”

The Ice Grand Duke, his strong muscles visible through his loosely unbuttoned shirt, smiled with the corners of his mouth barely raised.

Yuriella’s body tensed like a tightly drawn bowstring.

“Here I come!”

And then, like an arrow released, she ran towards Frost and beautifully executed a flying roundhouse kick, one of Solas’s main weapons. But.

“Wha-!”

In the blink of an eye, Yuriella was pinned to the floor.

The Grand Duke’s blue eyes, having subdued her, were suddenly gazing down at her from right above.

“Surrender.”

Yuriella tried to wriggle free.

“I surrender.”

But Frost didn’t move an inch. Only his gaze, fully capturing his wife, deepened.

Yuriella’s cheeks burned bright red.

The eyes of Alexis and Rosalinne, peeking through the training ground window, widened.

‘The Grand Duke had it all planned out!’

The two old warriors ducked below the window and exchanged grins.

If their day is beautiful, their night should be beautiful too.

The butler and head maid’s footsteps were as light as feathers as they hurried back to the main building to make all the preparations.