“Yuriella Ielheim.”

“Yes.”

He approaches slowly.

Slowly, he gets closer as if about to touch.

Eyes resembling the blue sea gently curve as he softly holds her newly acquired name on his lips and calls out in a low voice.

“Yuriella Ielheim.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Seeing Yuriella respond obediently, Frost smiled faintly.

“That’s right. You are ‘Ielheim’. Let’s start from there for now.”

“Pardon?”

Frost burst into clear laughter. His cool, refreshing breath that resembled him tickled Yuriella’s round nostrils.

Yuriella tried hard to firmly grasp her dazed mind.

‘I should avoid this. This is really dangerous.’

She couldn’t move an inch, as if her whole body was paralyzed after being stabbed by the venomous fangs of a demon beast.

The only thing she could move was her trembling eyelids. Yuriella unconsciously closed her eyes with a slight flinch.

Intense heat rises from the strong arms pinning Yuriella to the training ground floor, from the robust body visible through the loose shirt.

She trembles. Her heart feels like it will burst from trembling.

Her eardrums are ringing and her insides are churning more than when fighting in high altitudes.

This moment passing slowly as if time has stopped is harder to endure than torture of having nails pulled out, so Yuriella furrowed her nose bridge dotted with tiny freckles.

Another burst of clear laughter. And soft breath tickling her cheek.

Yuriella slowly opened her eyes.

Frost was still smiling down at her, stopped at that same distance from earlier.

“Is this as far as you allow? You didn’t push me away.”

Yuriella, her cheeks flushed pink, chewed her lips for a while before managing to nod.

“Um… Yes.”

Frost slightly pulled the corners of his mouth and nodded as if understanding.

“Then I haven’t crossed the line, have I? I didn’t cheat either.”

“Uh… No.”

“I won’t cross the line in the future either.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

“I’ll make you cross the line to come to me.”

Frost got up and pulled her hand to help her stand.

“They say only amateurs openly seduce. But what can I do? I’m too much of an underdog in this battle. So you’ll have to go easy on me.”

Then he gently pulled Yuriella’s chin to meet her eyes and softly narrowed his eyes enticingly.

“I’m declaring war right now. Rain.”

Frost lowered his head and whispered in Yuriella’s ear.

“I intend to do everything I can right in front of this line you’ve drawn. I will court you very earnestly so that you have no choice but to cross that line of your own will.”

“Your Highness…”

“Yuriella Ielheim. You should brace yourself. Northern men don’t know how to give up.”

Though it was a quiet whisper, the clear baritone voice befitting an undefeated swordsman pierced Yuriella’s ears and lodged itself in her heart.

*

‘A declaration of war…’

Yuriella sat with her knees pulled up in the bathtub with steam rising from the hot water and let out a deep sigh.

She had wandered countless battlefields. She had overcome countless near-death crises.

‘But this…’

This was the first time in her life she’d received such an absurd declaration of war.

“His Highness the Grand Duke is truly a lonely person. After losing his parents at nine, he has lived alone, lonely and lonesome, bearing the heavy burden of the North.”

Rosalinne sighed as she worked fluffy soap bubbles into Yuriella’s hair.

“But he had you. And the butler. And loyal vassals.”

“Servants and family are different.”

The head maid sniffled.

“Poor Your Highness. During the Empress Dowager’s regency, and even after the current Emperor ascended, they kept pushing him into danger as if on purpose. Does he have siblings to lean on in his lonely and weary heart? Does he have relatives he can open up to and rely on?”

This is dangerous.

The Grand Duke isn’t the only one fighting this battle. He has many powerful allies. Especially this woman currently kneading her hair.

Yuriella almost shed tears at the story of the Grand Duke’s childhood.

“The Grand Duke is the most robust and spirited man I’ve ever seen.”

The head maid launched another attack, this time shedding tears from her amber eyes. This one stung.

“He’s just pretending to be strong on the outside. Please be a hill for His Highness Rain to rest his lonely heart on, a lighthouse he can return to with his tired body. Can you do that? Please?”

Yuriella couldn’t even think of counterattacking and remained lost in thoughts of ‘the lonely Grand Duke’ until the head maid finished drying her hair fluffy.

But above all, the hardest thing to endure was…

“Yuriella.”

That bewitching gaze of the Grand Duke that enchants people.

Yuriella’s face felt hot as she was conscious of Frost’s gaze constantly following her face while she applied acupuncture to his wounded area in the bedchamber.

“From today, I’ll sleep here.”

True to his declaration of war, Frost threw a strong punch.

Yuriella coughed lightly at the surprise attack.

Frost shrugged and flashed a refreshing smile at his wife.

“The butler scolded me. He said rumors of us living in separate rooms would make my reputation, which is already rock bottom because of Shavell, sink even further.”

“Oh. Then, I’ll sleep on the sofa-”

“We’ll just hold hands while sleeping.”

“But-”

“Is holding hands crossing the line too? It’s just hands?”

Yuriella pondered for a moment before nodding.

“Hands are, okay.”

“Then how about a goodnight kiss before bed?”

“That’s crossing the line.”

“That’s a shame.”

The brief sound of clicking his tongue is sweet as honey.

“Then how about on the cheek? My mother used to do it often when I was young. Is that troublesome too?”

Of course it’s troublesome.

Not just the lips, but even the persistent gaze sweeping across her cheek is so hot that Yuriella’s earlobes turned red.

It feels like a hundred bees are stirring in her heart.

Yuriella shook her head vigorously.

“My wife is quite stingy. Alright. For now, just hands are within the line.”

Frost nodded plainly.

Yuriella let out a sigh of relief, thinking the negotiation had ended at hands.

But when Frost gently intertwined his fingers after finishing the acupuncture, Yuriella immediately realized that allowing the line of hands was a mistake.

“Rain’s hands are so small.”

Frost lay on his side, propping his chin with one arm, and fiddled with Yuriella’s hand as if fascinated.

“Who would believe that I’m completely captivated by these thin, small hands and can’t move an inch?”

Thick, knotted fingers gently stroked the back of Yuriella’s hand.

“These small hands saved my life and treated my people’s wounds. Such grateful and pretty hands.”

As Frost pulled their intertwined hands and kissed Yuriella’s fingers, a cold icy energy started to rise and gather in a circle around her pinky finger.

“Huh…?”

The energy gathered in a circle slowly began to take the shape of a ring. And a white flower formed in the center.

“It’s an edelweiss. A noble flower of the North incomparable to mere geraniums.”

It was Frost’s ambitious gift, still bothered by the geranium in the snow globe given by the Tower Master.

“I may not be a magician, but I can perform small tricks too.”

Frost’s lips lightly touched down on the back of her hand.

It’s just hands, but why are her toes curling? Her knees tingle, her trapezius muscles tingle, and her mouth feels dry as her salivary glands dry up.

Yuriella made a tearful face.

She learned for the first time that one can do quite a lot with just small hands within the line.

“Shall I sing you a lullaby? That’s not crossing the line, is it?”

Yuriella thought for a moment before nodding readily.

‘Right. A lullaby is fine. If I fall into deep sleep, the night will pass quickly.’

Frost gently placed Yuriella’s hand he was holding tightly on his chest and began to sing a lullaby he said his mother often sang when he was young.

– When night falls in the small forest, our baby goes to sleep. Without having scary dreams, my love falls asleep. Sleep well, my baby. Sleep well, my love.

It was a low and deep voice. Like warm comfort you want to lean on and trust.

Yuriella regretted then that she had allowed the lullaby within the line too easily.

– I will guard your night. A beautiful meadow surrounded by edelweiss. I will come find you there.

It wasn’t the enemy’s rough battle cries or the sound of advancing drums that crumbled the hearts of tired soldiers on the battlefield.

It was the soft songs floating from the enemy camp.

Sorrowful songs longing for the homeland and family they left behind.

That’s when deserters were most common. How much trouble they had catching the fleeing soldiers…

The heart she had locked up tightly keeps trying to escape.

Whether knowing Yuriella’s heart or not, Frost just continued singing while gazing at her deeply.

– Meow. Meow. Meow.

As Nero’s cry of scratching the door with his claws was heard from outside, one of Frost’s eyebrows went up crookedly. While secretly spreading icy energy low across the floor under the bed, Frost raised his singing voice a little louder.

Softly enough that his wife wouldn’t notice. Cold enough to frost over the body of the annoying intruder.

*

– Meo-

Before he could finish the ‘w’, Nero’s mouth froze and frost formed over his fluffy black fur.

[Nero!]

Aerie, who discovered Nero covered in white frost, flew over in a flurry. She summoned a wind bubble to float Nero and melted his frozen body with warm wind.

[That Grand Duke!]

As Aerie puffed up her cheeks with triangular eyes, she suddenly got pulled back and flew away.

[Whoa!]

Aerie looked down at the earth spirit holding her ankles with its two front paws and shouted.

[Popo! What are you doing?] [Shh! Shush! How dare you raise your voice in front of the newlyweds’ bedchamber.]

– Meow!

[Oh dear. I forgot about that guy.]

Popo approached Nero while holding Aerie with his front paws and floating in the air.

Gripping Nero’s scruff tightly with his small mouth, Popo quickly flew away from the bedchamber towards the guest room assigned to the Tower Master.

[Let go! I said let go!]

– Meow! Meow!

Despite Aerie and Nero’s fierce protests, Popo paid no attention.

[Popo. Do you really want Yuriella to become a real couple with Frost? You don’t either, right?] [Don’t call me Popo. I never gave you permission to use that name. Call me Gaius.] [Popo. Are you really going to just stand by and watch?] [Yuriella is already Frost Ielheim’s lawful companion. Don’t cross the line, wind fragment.] [Popo. Are you okay with your master living and dying as a lifelong bachelor?]

The turtle flinched.

Popo knows too. That Ricarion has held Yuriella in his heart for a long time.

That he broke his self-imposed rules for the first time to help her, and crossed lines he never crossed before several times to revive her.

Is there any guarantee that Ricarion will meet such a cherished person again?

[But… We are holy swords. The morality befitting the dignity of holy swords-] [Popo. If we don’t eradicate the demon poison, the terminally ill Grand Duke will die, and Yuriella will become a widow with a broken heart. I want my master to be happy in his second life. I want him to smile, not cry.]

Aerie clenched her small fists resolutely.

[I’m going to find the best man for Yuriella. With the noble council meeting being held on the island now, it’s the perfect time to find a good man. Popo, if you don’t want your master to live a lonely life alone forever, change your mind. I’m willing to cooperate anytime.]

The wind spirit with extraordinary drive flew away through the open window.

Popo, who had been staring blankly at the empty space where Aerie disappeared, fell into deep contemplation while slowly circling the room.

[To cross the line, or not to cross. That is the question.]

-Meow. Meow.

Nero, tired of scratching at the door, ran to Popo and smacked his shell before flopping over. Rolling around. Pant. Pant.

[Ugh.]

The fluffy paws of the cat kicked out of its master’s bedchamber seemed especially fierce and sharp today.

– Meow! Meow!

[Stop. Stoooop!]

The great earth spirit, particularly weak to small and fragile things, was flipped over and over by the flea-ridden cat until he was exhausted, unable to make any decision that night.

[Master. Master!]

Popo called out to his master desperately.

But Popo’s master did not return until dawn broke.

This was because he was caught by his father, Duke Greco, at the family mansion on the island he visited after a long time, and had to listen to a long and tedious lecture on ‘lines that must not be crossed.’

“Get out of the Grand Duke’s house right now! No, don’t go back like this.”

Ricarion shook his head at the duke’s firm order.

“I haven’t finished my work yet.”

“Work? What work? Are you going to steal your first love or something?”

“…Pardon?”

“The Grand Duchess is that child, isn’t she? The street child you led to Plama. The Flame Knight the Emperor loved.”

“…!”